Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1101. Salary Demand Representative

Dong Qiangqiang thought to himself: It seems that the feud with Lei Lanting has been settled this time. I can only wait for an opportunity to explain to him later. As for whether he can accept it, it depends on luck.

Dong Qiangqiang has visited several of Italy's most famous cities on foot countless times in the past two years. He is familiar with all the scenic spots, luxury stores and outlets. Sometimes he misses the ignorance he felt when he first drove to Italy, but he can't remember what kind of mood he felt when he first stood on the streets of Italy and looked around the country of his dreams.

The members' love for the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum is mainly reflected in posing for photos, which is far less than the time they spend shopping in outlets and luxury stores. Dong Qiangqiang and Lao Ding's income mainly comes from the latter, so they are happy to respond to and handle various questions raised by the members.

During the lunch break, the group members gossiped about their shopping results and had no time to talk to the tour guide and driver who had lost their voices. Dong Qiangqiang took Lao Ding to the smoking area outside the restaurant to have some fun.

Although he said he was smoking, Dong Qiangqiang was not addicted to smoking. He just wanted to learn more about the recent situation of Lao Bai and others through chatting.

Dong Qiangqiang knew that after divorcing Hua Ling, Lao Bai was very wary of others. Apart from himself, only Tong Lele and Lao Ding were close to Lao Bai and talked with him more. Lei Lanting was never in Lao Bai's eyes, just like Duanmu never looked down on Lao Bai. After Tong Lele left, only Lao Ding knew Lao Bai better.

He took out a pack of unopened soft Zhonghua cigarettes bought from Wanfu Restaurant from his pocket, tore off the plastic film of the cigarette box in front of Lao Ding, and lit a cigarette for Lao Ding and himself, but he didn't rush to puff like Lao Ding, but put the remaining cigarettes into Lao Ding's pocket. Lao Ding hurriedly declined, Dong Qiangqiang smiled and patted his shoulder, indicating that he had plenty of cigarettes. Lao Ding knew that Dong Qiangqiang was rich, so he thanked him embarrassedly and accepted it.

Dong Qiangqiang held the cigarette between his fingers, looked through the thick smoke at the crowds of people gathered together in the crowded commercial street on the other side of the river, and asked, "I want to ask you something."

"Brother Dong, ask." Lao Ding hurriedly took the cigarette that he was about to put into his mouth.

"I heard that Lebai had a salary cut in the first half of the year. Is that true?"

"Not once, but twice," Lao Ding took a deep breath while Dong Qiangqiang was asking questions, "Once before the Spring Festival, Brother Bai... The second time after Mr. Bai came back from China."

After saying this, Lao Ding exhaled a long, straight puff of smoke toward the dark green river water.

Noticing that Lao Ding's way of addressing Lao Bai had changed, Dong Qiangqiang was stunned for a second and did not correct him.

"Are many people dissatisfied with the salary cut?" Dong Qiangqiang thought for a moment, but still did not mention Lei Lanting's name. "During China Week, I saw someone come to Old White to ask for his salary, asking him to make up for the shortfall."

"You are talking about Lei Lanting, right?" Old Ding dusted off his cigarette ash and smiled meaningfully, "He rushed to the front because he was the representative to demand wages, not just to demand wages for himself."

"Representative for seeking salary?" Dong Qiangqiang was confused. "Representing whom?"

"Who else could it be? The tour guide and driver who worked with Le Bai."

"Does it include you?" Dong Qiangqiang asked half-jokingly, "Your income has also decreased, don't you object to (a pay cut)?" Dong Qiangqiang didn't quite believe it.

"I don't object. Why should I object? Lei Lanting can't represent me." Old Ding asked cheerfully, "From the beginning, Lebai's cooperation with all tour guides and drivers was not a salary system, but a project system. If you can't accept the salary cut, just go out and take the tour yourself. Mr. Bai didn't restrict this. After all, everyone couldn't take domestic tour groups at that time, so I think opposing the salary cut is somewhat moral kidnapping, and I don't like it. I definitely need money, the more the better, but it also depends on the time and the matter, so I don't need to be represented by others. In fact, Mr. Bai's difficulties are not difficult to understand. At that time, no one knew how long SARS would last. If we finally opened a business and had to give the tour guides and drivers the same amount of money as before, then we wouldn't have to do business. So I understand that the salary cut was a delaying tactic that was forced to be adopted, and it was not a normal situation. Facts have proved that I was right. Before SARS was over, Mr. Bai started to send me tours. The Four Countries Tour was already the eighteenth... No, nineteenth group I took this year."

"If everyone thinks like you, then everything will be fine. Does that include Walter White himself?"

"When we first cut his salary, Mr. Bai made it clear that he would not receive any commission or tips this year. As for his salary, I'm not sure, but that's not something I should be concerned about." Old Ding smiled shyly but firmly. "As for taking this opportunity to make trouble with Mr. Bai, forget it. That's not my style."

“Now that SARS is over, have hourly wages been restored?”

Old Ding shook his head: "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury." "Then who chose Lei Lanting to be the representative to demand wages? Was it the other tour guides and drivers?"

Old Ding nodded vigorously, flicked down the cigarette that was already full of ash and said in a deep voice, "As for why, I don't know."

"Then could the fact that they abandoned the tourists on the road and walked away without paying any attention to anything also be related to the salary cut?" Dong Qiangqiang thought that the two things must be related. He didn't need to beat around the bush with Lao Ding and could just ask his doubts directly.

"I think so, too," Old Ding said in a serious tone, his face stern, "some drivers and tour guides must have been instigated."

Dong Qiangqiang was moved when he heard this, and blurted out: "Lei Lanting?"

"I can't say anything without evidence," Old Ding obviously had something to say in his heart for a long time, "I can only say that the people who caused trouble before were close to Lei Lanting. As for why it was such a coincidence, I don't know. I remember that I happened to have a tour group at the time, and I was the only tour guide and driver, so a driver came to ask me to act together, but I still felt that I couldn't do it. If I had an idea, I could communicate reasonably. It's too rubbish to throw tourists away halfway. If they are not compatriots, they shouldn't (throw) them. It's too unprofessional. If I really do it, it will be a professional stain."

Lao Ding unconsciously emphasized twice that he didn't know, and Dong Qiangqiang realized that there was something else behind his words.

"What about now? Does Old White know all of what you said? Does he not care?"

"How can I not care? Anyone who caused trouble was blocked by Lao Bai. He said that as long as he controls Le Bai, he will never cooperate with those people again."

Dong Qiangqiang thought to himself: This is what Lao Bai always does, but then he was confused: Lao Bai and Lei Lanting have always been at odds, why didn't he blacklist Lei Lanting this time, but cooperated with Lei Lanting and let Lei Lanting and Lao Ding continue to work together? Could it be that he was short of manpower? Dong Qiangqiang didn't understand the reason for a while.

"Brother Dong, you know I'm not the type to gossip behind people's backs. Although I also suspect that Lei Lanting might have done something, I must admit that he has been very good to me so far. He has taken good care of me every time we've been partners, and he's generous with his tips. He even introduced me to a group when I was in trouble."

"He introduced you to a tour group? A domestic tour group? A German business tour group?" Dong Qiangqiang was confused: If Lei Lanting could get tour groups without relying on Lao Bai, why would he bother about a pay cut? He could just walk away.

"It's a domestic business group that's already in Germany," Lao Ding replied, not noticing that Dong Qiangqiang was still thinking, "Lei Lanting asked me if I could provide them with a free tour in Germany and take them shopping."

"How did you answer him?" Dong Qiangqiang asked subconsciously.

"I declined." Old Ding laughed, as if he had guessed what Dong Qiangqiang wanted to say, "It's not that I don't need money, but even if I'm dumb, I can see that Mr. Bai doesn't like the people around him to be too close to Lei Lanting, except for you. Another reason is that Mr. Bai's group will only be more than Lei Lanting's, not less, and I can't lose the big picture for the small."

Dong Qiangqiang did not have as much contact with Lao Ding as Lao Bai and others. He always thought that this man was a fool who did not care about his life for money. It was not until today that he realized that Lao Ding was a rough but meticulous person. It turned out that he was short-sighted.

"Speaking of shopping," Dong Qiangqiang naturally thought of the question that Duanmu was concerned about, "Did you and Lei Lanting take them to buy luxury goods before coming to Rome? How is their fighting ability?"

Old Ding misunderstood, thinking that Dong Qiangqiang wanted to ask about the commission, and said with some embarrassment: "Because of SARS, people in China are also very depressed. They did buy a lot in other places before. The commission for this trip must be high, but those commissions... Brother Dong, don't get me wrong, I don't mean anything else. Maybe they all have to be counted as Lei Lanting's. Mr. Bai is very clear about this kind of thing. Only the commission for shopping starting from Rome will be yours, and the commission for places like Venice will probably be..."

"You misunderstood. I'm not asking for commission," Dong Qiangqiang waved his hand. "I just want to understand their purchasing power after seeing luxury goods when they traveled to France and Germany."

"Absolutely, he spent money lavishly without blinking an eye." Old Ding said as he recalled, "I didn't buy much in Germany. I mainly went to France and the Italian cities mentioned above. Otherwise, Lei Lanting wouldn't be so upset."