Linxia

Chapter 187, Production

The Gu, Ma, Shao and Duan families sent Yang Zongyi to negotiate peace. After the other party left, Fang Lin went to the factory outside the city to prepare to change the rules.

The person in charge here is called Dang Zhixian, who was introduced by Xu Kuo's old relationship. He took the blame for the people who were called to work and announced: "From today on, the wages will be reduced... In addition, the free meat soup will also be cancelled..."

When the workers heard this, they naturally burst into an uproar.

"With this reduction, we are just like other factories, and the work we do is even heavier than theirs."

"The free broth is gone too."

"Why? How come it's gone just like that?"

……

Snapped!Snapped!
Fang Lin clapped his hands, signaling them to be quiet, and announced two pieces of good news at the right time: "Due to some reasons, the wages have been reduced. However, in the future, on top of the fixed wages, we will increase the incentive system, the more work, the more pay... The free broth has also been cancelled, but I will personally take out three taels of silver every day to buy food and vegetables to subsidize the canteen..."

Hearing this, the workers became happy again and started talking about it.

"If you work hard, you will get more wages, that's what you deserve! By this calculation, maybe you can get even more than before."

"Yes, Lord Fang also takes out three taels of silver every day. He is really generous. If this money is given to the canteen, the food in the canteen will definitely be affordable."

"Lord Fang is a good man. He doesn't seem like the party leader who only knows how to bully us."

……

Fang Lin listened and nodded with satisfaction. As a big boss, he always had to play the good guy and have a good image.

Next to him, Dang Zhixian was also satisfied. As the person in charge of the workers, why did he need to have such a good image? He had to be fierce, evil, and majestic.

What's more, how can your future be bad if you take the blame for your boss?
Some of these workers understand this routine, but people have their own standards. No matter who plays the good cop and who plays the bad cop, they will be grateful as long as they benefit.

So, this little setback was resolved smoothly.

In the following days, among these workers, there was a rumor that there was a secret kitchen: the big families in the city were not happy with Lord Fang's kindness to them, so they came to force Lord Fang to reduce the wages and cancel the free meat soup. But Lord Fang was a good person, and he compensated them in various ways... As a result, the victims had a better impression of Fang Lin. Although they dared not offend these big families in the city, and dared not speak out, they could choose not to work in their factories.

In fact, under the same conditions, most of the victims would choose Fang Lin's side due to his better reputation. After this incident, their determination has been strengthened in disguise.

As a result, workers in the four factories of Gu, Ma, Shao and Duan continued to leave. The more people came to work on Fang Lin's side, the more his side would reach the upper limit. Otherwise, Gu, Ma, Shao and Duan would suffer a great loss.

……

Faced with Fang Lin's apparent disobedience, the reaction of the Ma, Shao, and Duan families was no reaction.

It was just as Fang Lin expected. If Fang Lin did not give face in this test, the three families would unite with the Fan family to target them and give them a warning. If Fang Lin took a step back and let them save face, then forget it.

After all, Fang Lin is not a soft persimmon. He has already taken a step back on the surface. They no longer have the burden of face, and they don't have to establish their authority.

In addition, if we talk about the influence on the Ma, Shao, and Duan families, it is true, but the Gu family was affected even more!

——Most of the money earned from their three overseas businesses was used to buy land, but the Gu family used the money to build factories and expand their fleet. Fang Lin's move was the biggest blow to the Gu family.

The Ma, Shao and Duan families were all waiting for the Gu family to step up and fight Fang Lin so that they could reap the benefits.

Finally, there is another important reason: Ma, Shao, and Duan don’t have the time! Yes, they just don’t have the time!

Now, just after the disaster, it is a good time to annex land. Compared with the factory, the three of them love the land more and have no time to cause trouble for Fang Lin.

……

Gu family.

"What's going on? Lord Fang reduced the wages and cancelled the free broth, but why do our workers continue to leave?" asked Gu Shiyu, the eldest son of the Gu family.

Butler Chang smiled bitterly and replied, "Young Master, you don't know that Lord Fang's wages have been reduced, but he has introduced some kind of incentive measure; the free broth is gone, but he subsidizes the canteen with three taels of silver every day."

"It's outrageous that they would play such a trick. Aren't they making fun of us? Dad, we must contact the Ma family, the Shao family, and the Duan family and teach them a lesson." Gu Shiyu said coldly.

"It's not that simple. The last time we were able to unite the Ma, Shao and Duan families to put a pressure on Lord Fang, it was because we were exaggerating, saying that he was too powerful and if we weren't contained, he would probably sweep all four of our families out in the future. That's why we started testing together... Now, Lord Fang has taken a step back and given us face, so the Ma, Shao and Duan families will not join us anymore." Gu Tongren narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, the Ma, Shao and Duan families have all sent us messages saying that fighting and killing is not good and that harmony brings wealth. They also advised us to be calm." said Butler Chang.

"It's really not worth discussing with!"

Seeing that the Ma, Shao, and Duan families were trying to evade this question, Gu Shiyu sneered, "Are you still scheming against each other at this time? I think they just want us to be the first to take action. After all, we have the biggest loss in this matter!"

"Yu'er, it's great that you can see this."

Gu Tongren nodded, thought for a moment and said, "Well, let's follow his example and use incentives and canteen subsidies to stabilize the situation first!"

"No, Dad, then we should just admit defeat this time and let it go after suffering this loss?" Gu Shiyu said unwillingly.

"Yu'er, remember, interests should always come first, and fighting for personal gain is not acceptable. In addition, after the 'Strange Farmland Case', there were voices within our family who wanted to follow the example of the Ma, Shao, and Duan families and invest the money they earned in the farmland... Now is the best opportunity to expand our farmland after the disaster..."

Gu Tongren sighed: "I have to say that Mr. Fang has a sharp eye and chose a good time!"

As he spoke, he looked at his eldest son, who was becoming increasingly dissatisfied because he had praised Fang Lin. He thought for a moment and said, "The other party also has a background, and many of his methods cannot be used. If you really can't bear this, how about this? The factory construction requires a lot of food every day, so you can do something about it, which will benefit you without spending any money."

The Gu family's fleet is the largest in the city. Every time they go out to sea for business and return, they have to buy some cheap grain in Luzon and other places to store their food. Therefore, they stockpile a lot of grain. They have a great influence on the entire grain merchant community in Huai'an City and can affect Fang Lin's supply of grain.

"Okay!" Gu Shiyu said excitedly.

……

This day.

Xu Kuo Lao came over in a hurry and said, "Brother Fang, something terrible has happened. Our food supply has been cut off. I have asked several people for help but to no avail. After careful investigation, I found out that it was the Gu family who took action."

In fact, it is not impossible to purchase grain in small quantities, but that amount of grain is not enough for each individual, but it is a drop in the bucket for factory construction.

"Brother Xu, don't worry. I happen to have some food here, which is more than enough for the construction of the factory." Fang Lin invited Xu Kuo to sit down, poured him tea and said with a smile.

"Huh?" Xu Kuo's eyes widened. "Brother Fang, with the Fan family's connections in the grain business in the city... If we don't buy grain from the city, we can't buy it from other places in time. It's not that fast. Where did you get the grain from?"

"Yang family." Fang Lin slowly uttered two words.

He cooperated with the Yang family in the Nanyang fleet, and also bought grain for storage when he returned from overseas. The last time Yang Zongyi came to negotiate peace, he took advantage of the situation to make the deal and purchased a large amount of grain at the market price.

For the Yang family, they sold the grain as soon as they brought it back, saving the time, space, and labor costs of selling; for the other party, even though grain was still in short supply and normally purchases needed to be limited, they could buy a large amount of grain at the market price, which was definitely not a loss, because weren’t they using it now?
Of course, it was a precautionary measure. If it were now, even if the other party was willing to sell it, it would definitely not be at that price, but much higher. "Okay, it has to be you, Brother Fang!" After hearing the news, Xu Kuo Lao also relaxed and asked, "What are you going to do next, Brother Fang?"

"This matter has been resolved, what should we do next?"

"Brother Fang, I don't know you yet. You are not the kind of person who will not fight back when being beaten."

"Haha, Brother Xu knows me. I am not like that. But I really have no plans to do anything to the Gu family recently."

Fang Lin said, "The Gu family also has a background, so many of their tactics are useless. There are no major flaws at the moment. Even if I want to take action, the only tactics I can think of are to hurt the enemy with my own hands, and both sides will suffer. The key is that the Gu family has a stronger foundation than us... To vent my anger, I will hurt the enemy by 800 and myself by 1,000. Why would I have to fight for my pride?"

"Besides, our weaving workshop is under construction. If we attack the Gu family and they fight back, we will suffer even greater losses if they really resort to some tricks."

He shook his head: "A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even after ten years. The Gu family is trying to trip me up this time, so I'll remember this first. There's always a long way to go."

"What Brother Fang said makes sense. I feel relieved to see that Brother Fang is so sober. If Brother Fang had said just now that he wanted to take action immediately, I would still be thinking about how to persuade him! Now is the perfect time..." Xu Kuo Lao laughed and stayed to drink.

……

Fang Lin resolved the Gu family's move this time with ease. Afterwards, the Gu family seemed to feel that Fang Lin's group was not easy to mess with and remained restrained.

This made Fang Lin, who was keeping an eye on the Gu, Ma, Shao and Duan families, feel a little relieved.

'Now, not only the Ma, Shao, and Duan families, but even the Gu family have not missed this opportunity and have joined the ranks of annexing land.'

The Ma, Shao and Duan families wanted to see Fang Lin's family fight with the Gu family, but the Gu family didn't fall into their trap and instead tried to snatch land from them, starting a fight between the Ma, Shao and Duan families.

Under such circumstances, Fang Lin enjoyed a brief period of peace.

"Land annexation is naturally a great harm to Daxia. The people who lose their land are a hidden danger. In addition, after the land annexation, the land will fall into the hands of these big families. Imposing taxes on the Jianghuai area is like cutting meat from them, which is bound to lead to counterattacks..."

But this is not easy to stop.

For the big families, as long as they don't use their influence in the government to seize property by trickery, conceal tax revenue, and create "fake fields", even Prefect Pu would not be able to control them if they sell to each other.

'Never mind, I think these are useless, as long as I know that the current situation is in my favor.'

Fang Lin shook his head: "Let them annex the land. I will just use this time to build the factory, put it into production, and gain a firm foothold."

In addition, he really hasn't been paying much attention to these things recently. As Tian Xuan's belly is getting bigger and bigger, the delivery is imminent.

……

Now, Tian Xuan's belly is already very big, but she still does everything she can by herself, even helping Fang's mother by picking vegetables, fetching water, and cooking.

The neighbors all said that Fang's mother was blessed to have such a good daughter-in-law. However, Tian Xuan herself would feel uneasy whenever others looked at her big belly. She would always bend down slightly and hide her belly little by little.

Summer has passed and now it is autumn. This morning, the white mist covered the sky and the earth like a huge fishing net, without any gaps.

After dinner, Fang Lin said he would go around the store, look at this month's accounts, and then come back to accompany Tian Xuan.

Not long after he left, Tian Xuan suddenly felt a severe abdominal pain.

Seeing her pale face, Fang's mother hurried over to support her: "Xiaoxuan, it hurts so much, right? You're about to give birth!"

"Not bad." Tian Xuan paused and said, "Don't call Lindi. I don't want him to see me like this."

Next door, Grandma Man also heard the noise and went to ask Grandma Mo from the entrance of the alley to come over. Grandma Mo was a very famous midwife, and she had delivered many babies in the neighborhood.

Here, Tian Xuan held her belly, trying to suppress her moans at first, but finally she couldn't help it anymore and turned over and over in pain, with liquid flowing out from under her body - her amniotic fluid had broken.

"Xiaoxuan, you are going to be a mother! Giving birth is like this, it is very painful. When I tell you to push hard, you push hard. If I don't tell you to push hard, just close your eyes and take a rest..." Granny Mo instructed.

Fang Lin came back and heard the voice outside. He asked quickly, "Dad, how is Sister Xuan?"

"I don't know. Granny Mo and your mother are both in there." Father Fang said with an anxious look on his face.

But no matter how anxious they were, they could not go in. Even the neighbors who came over were asked to leave, because there is a saying here that if one more person is present, one more hour will be added.

A full hour.

"Hurry, push harder, it's coming out." said Granny Mo.

Tian Xuan held the bed frame with both hands, exerting force, resting, exerting force, and resting... Every time she exerted force, she saw the child's hair, and when she stopped exerting force, she went in again.

Finally, Tian Xuan was almost dying, her hair dripping wet and sticking to her face, and the bed frame was shaking non-stop: "Mom, Granny Mo, I feel like I can't make it anymore, save the baby."

"Xiaoxuan, what nonsense are you talking about?" Fang's mother choked and scolded.

Granny Mo's face was surprisingly calm. She had seen too many women with difficult births, which gave her the calmness she had today. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Bring some wine, Shaodaozi wine!"

Tian Xuan was trembling all over, her lips were blue and purple, and she drank the wine without hesitation. Immediately, a fire started burning in her heart.

At this moment, she felt as if she had regained some strength, and then, she seemed to be gripped by pain. She held her breath, her teeth were chattering, sweat was pouring down her body, and her hands were shaking the bed frame so hard that it made a crackling sound, and the wooden bed was almost shaken apart.

The pain was like a rolling wave, reaching the peak after a few breaths, and then slowly going to the trough, fluctuating between the peaks and troughs of pain. Later, there was no peak or trough, only a continuous and crazy pain.

Tian Xuan was in so much pain that she was confused and screamed at the top of her lungs: "Brother Lin, save me, I'm dying!"

——Later, Fang Lin heard from the doctor that when people are on the verge of death, they will call out to the person they are closest to and trust the most. Most people call out for their mother. Tian Xuan has no mother and was brought back from another village by Fang's father. The closest person to her is Fang Lin.

At this moment, accompanied by a sound of tearing cloth, the cloth that Tian Xuan was holding on Fang's mother's wrist was torn, and a thin baby girl fell to the ground.

Because she struggled for too long in her mother's womb, she was almost suffocated and fell to the ground in a hoarse and silent state. Granny Mo was experienced and quickly cut the umbilical cord, disinfected it with the prepared strong alcohol, lifted the baby girl's feet upside down, and tapped the soles of her feet dozens of times in succession.

"Wow! Wow!" The baby girl made a tiny cry, like a kitten.

"Sister Xuan!" Fang Lin heard the voice and finally couldn't help but rush in.

"Mother and daughter are safe!" said Grandma Mo.

At this time, beads of sweat the size of soybeans were on Tian Xuan's head. She regained some consciousness. She didn't even look at the child, but just looked at Fang Lin: "Brother Lin, I gave birth to a child for you."

Hearing this, Fang Lin, who had seldom cried in his two lives, burst into tears at this moment.

……

(End of this chapter)