I update my girlfriend's financial power every month.

Chapter 21 8-Hour Work Schedule

"Dad! Dad... Dad!"

"Dad! I...I...I..."

Inside Wu Daxing's general manager's office.

Tian Wenming was completely panicked. He stumbled as he entered the room and fell to his knees.

After listening to his son's stammering account of the entire incident involving the car scratching, Wu Daxing realized the seriousness of the problem.

He smoked one cigarette after another, coughing violently as the smoke filled his lungs.

Wu Daxing remained silent, racking his brains, and made several phone calls to friends, but still couldn't come up with a solution.

Until another cigarette was about to burn out, the ash burned his knuckles.

With a cigarette butt still in his hand, Wu Daxing slapped Tian Wenming across the face.

"You idiot!"

"Dad..." Tian Wenming covered his face, all his former arrogance gone, his voice trembling and choked with sobs, "Dad, you have to save me..."

"The only thing we can do now is try to settle this privately and prevent Zhou Lang from calling the police."

Wu Daxing's lips moved, thinking that his son's actions were no different from those of a stupid pig.

"If he can accept a settlement, this matter is easier to resolve..."

"I just asked someone in the know. If Zhou Lang insists on refusing to forgive, you'll be detained for at least a few days."

"If things escalate to a criminal case, you'll be lucky to escape with your life!"

Wu Daxing reached into the cigarette box, but it was empty.

He exhaled, grabbed Tian Wenming by the back of his collar, and shoved him onto the sofa.

"Sit here and don't move."

A few minutes later.

Wu Daxing walked to Zhou Lang's office door, his hand trembling slightly as he knocked.

"Please come in."

Wu Daxing entered the house, and a man and a woman were standing next to Zhou Lang.

Zhou Lang nodded and introduced: "Mr. Wu, these two are the store manager and deputy store manager of Jisu Pai Company. They are here to deal with the vehicle being scratched. Store Manager Kong, and Mo Mo, this is Mr. Wu Daxing, the general manager of Feichi Power Technology."

"Hello, Mr. Wu."

Store Manager Kong said with a stern face, "I never expected to find such scum in your company. His character is utterly despicable."

"Speedy?" Wu Da-xiang tried to establish a connection. "I know a Mr. Chen, who invested in Speedy. He has a good relationship with several of the group's executives."

"Boss Chen doesn't handle the daily operations of Speedy Party anymore. Previously, it was managed by his nephew, Little Chen, but now it's all been entrusted to Boss Zhou Lang."

Store Manager Kong said, "Boss Zhou is also a major shareholder of our company. In other words, Speedy Party is now his."

"this?"

Wu Daxing's heart skipped a beat; he hadn't expected Zhou Lang to actually have a business with a solid background.

He still harbored a sliver of hope that he could bypass Zhou Lang, find the real car owner directly, and reach a private settlement and understanding.

Now, this illusion has been shattered—the entire store belongs to Zhou Lang, let alone a single car.

Zhou Lang pulled a USB drive out of the computer case: "Mr. Wu, the sentry mode captured the person very clearly."

"Director Zhou, could you...?"

Wu Daxing's words were tinged with awkwardness and restraint: "Please ask the two store managers to step aside for a moment and have some tea in the VIP room to rest. I want to talk to you about something... something..."

Zhou Lang nodded and instructed Manager Kong and Mo Mo, "I'll call you later."

With a soft "bang," the door slammed shut.

"Sigh..." Wu Daxing sighed heavily.

"Zhou Lang, could you please... show some mercy and let Tian Wenming off the hook?"

Zhou Lang remained unmoved, simply spinning the USB drive like a fidget spinner.

Wu Daxing lowered his head even more humbly: "We can compensate you tenfold, twentyfold, for the losses we caused you. You can have hundreds of thousands if you want..."

Zhou Lang waved his hand to interrupt: "So you're going to turn around and sue me for extortion?"

"Director Zhou, I didn't mean anything by it, it's just that... one should be forgiving when possible..."

Zhou Lang shook his head. When these two scoundrels were exploiting their employees and acting like officials, why didn't they ever think of showing mercy?

"Money is not a problem." Zhou Lang put away the USB drive and said seriously, "To borrow a line from a famous work, 'Heh, who wants your stinking money?'"

Wu Daxing sighed heavily again, then knelt down in front of him without hesitation.

"Director Zhou, I'm kneeling before you..."

Zhou Lang shook his head even more: "Wu Daxing, this won't work. Everyone in the company knows you're petty and hold grudges."

"You knelt down before me today for your son, but you've been holding a grudge all this time. One day you might suddenly want to take revenge. No one deserves to kneel like that."

Zhou Lang stood up and left the USB drive on the table: "This is a copy. I uploaded the original video to several cloud archives. Show it to Tian Wenming."

"An engineer at an automotive supply chain company earning 20,000 yuan a month is a good-for-nothing, good at drinking, gambling, and womanizing, but doesn't understand the basic principles of Sentinel mode. Isn't that ridiculous?"

Wu Daxing stood up, supporting himself on the edge of the table: "Then... Director Zhou, what about the cost of the car repairs?"

"The compensation will be based on the assessed damage amount, including repairs and depreciation. You should contact the store manager, Kong Xiangfeng, who just spoke to us."

Before Wu Daxing came to plead for leniency, Zhou Lang had also asked Momo to inquire with people in the relevant industry.

First-time offenders like this are unlikely to receive a prison sentence.

However, if they insist on pursuing Tian Wenming's legal responsibility, and Wu Daxing manages to smooth things over and get away with it, it will most likely end up being a case of relative non-prosecution.

In the end, Tian Wenming will never learn his lesson.

If he is merely detained, Tian Wenming will lose his job upon release. Coupled with his gambling debts, he will truly become a restless and unstable element.

If you can't kill him with one blow, you'll have to be careful that he doesn't bite when cornered.

It would be better to have the sentry video in hand; that would be more effective in deterring the two scoundrels and making them more cautious.

Zhou Lang pointed to the USB drive: "The statute of limitations for property damage is five years, as far as I remember. Whether to report it to the police, whether the video will be used as evidence, and whether Tian Wenming will end up in jail for a few days and lose his job, that's all up to you two."

Zhou Lang then asked, "Could we maintain consistency with headquarters and other branch offices in the future, strictly adhering to the eight-hour workday, with normal working hours and holidays?"

Wu Daxing was stunned. In his eyes, these were two completely different things. How could they suddenly jump from talking about scratching cars to talking about other colleagues' vacation benefits?

"Yes, yes!" Wu Daxing readily agreed.

"Over the past few years, you've embezzled a lot of your colleagues' overtime pay and travel expenses. Can you reimburse them for those losses?"

Wu Daxing was even more confused, but in order to keep his son's job, he pleaded repeatedly, "Yes, yes! We'll make up for it all! If we don't have enough cash, we'll sell the house to make up for it!"

"Okay, remember what you said. If you don't have the money, pay it back slowly with interest. Nobody's forcing you to sell the house."

Zhou Lang grabbed his coat and left work.

Wu Daxing looked incredulous and asked hesitantly, "Director Zhou, is this all it takes?"

"What?" Zhou Lang turned around.

Wu Daxing couldn't understand: "You're not calling the police or sending Tian Wenming to jail just so that other people won't come to work at night and can have a weekend?"

"Do you think this is something unimportant?"

Zhou Lang wanted to say something more, but after a pause, he shook his head and stopped.

"For many people, an eight-hour workday is more than enough to determine their normal quality of life."

"Forget it, you wouldn't understand the principles of being a good person or living a good life even if I told you."

"Just remember that I have the video."