Chapter 435: Misunderstandings Arise from a Lack of Understanding

When the two vehicles arrived in Chaoge, it was three o’clock in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day.

It wasn’t easy for Feng Jun either; he had been in Yangcheng at ten in the morning, and now he had reached Chaoge, enduring the blazing sun along the way.

The accommodation Mou Miao chose was a hotel in the outskirts of Chaoge. The lodging was quite decent, but most importantly, he had rented a large area in the backyard to park the Boiler Camel Motorcycles, and there was also a piece of wasteland nearby for test running them.

Wang Haifeng’s Q7 and Xu Leigang’s Jeep were both parked at the hotel entrance, and the lobby was teeming with people.

As Feng Jun and his group walked in, they drew many eyes; his towering presence and good looks were one thing, but the key attractions were Sister Hong, Feng Jing, and Zhang Caixin—all stunning beauties of considerable height. Such a combination was indeed rare in Chaoge.

Even the two male followers were robust men, obviously not the sort to be trifled with.

Wang Haifeng and Xu Leigang were also in the lobby. Wang Haifeng was accompanied by two younger men, while Xu Leigang had four soldiers with him—one a second lieutenant, another a corporal, and two privates.

Feng Jun stepped forward and asked under the gaze of all present, “Lei Gang, how’s the situation been handled?”

“They’re blocking General Mou and won’t let him leave,” Xu Leigang replied soberly. “Luckily, I have some friends in the military district here, or else it really could have been troublesome… This is Yao Counsel.”

Yao Counsel, a second lieutenant and Elder Jiang’s godson, knew Xu Leigang as well, but he stepped in this time due to Elder Jiang’s influence, which could also be seen as the reward for Feng Jun’s good deeds.

However, he could only somewhat hold them back, as instigating a military-civilian conflict was a responsibility he could not afford to take on.

The two young men with Wang Haifeng were from the Wang Family’s local partners. The elders hadn’t stepped forward, not out of fear, but to show their attitude was enough; however, their absence indicated the situation was rather tricky.

Sister Hong took Wang Haifeng aside and asked sharply, “What’s the police’s attitude?”

Wang Haifeng gave a wry smile, “No attitude.”

“No attitude?” Sister Hong was dumbfounded, “What does that mean? With so many people gathered and causing trouble, the police have no attitude?”

Wang Haifeng gave another wry smile and answered quietly, “Sister Hong, General Mou’s business is not small, but it doesn’t contribute to the locality…”

And indeed, Mou Miao had no company in the locality, no sales to speak of, and hadn’t even paid personal income tax.

Keep in mind that in the past six months alone, he had spent over twenty million yuan in Chaoge.

Local industrial and tax authorities were definitely feeling the imbalance. Was twenty million yuan in turnover a lot? Not really, and particularly not in Chaoge, but… you shouldn’t ignore our presence, right?

Sister Hong, an old hand in the game, asked directly, “Then what do you suggest?”

“The key is the car,” Wang Haifeng spoke gravely, “sort out the traffic violations, and once Mou Miao is cleared, the rest will be easy to handle.”

“Traffic violation?” Feng Jing took out her mobile phone, “I can ask about this, but… is the car insured?”

“Only the compulsory insurance,” Wang Haifeng answered with a grimace. President Feng’s classmate really was something, buying a car worth hundreds of thousands but only getting this single policy. In Chaoge, while many locals also have just this insurance, you are an outsider after all.

“Let’s go up and have a look,” Feng Jun led people towards the stairs.

The crowd outside, seeing this, wanted to rush over, but they were stopped by others, especially the two young men brought by Sister Hong, who sternly asked in Zhengyang dialect, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Are you from Zhengyang that great?” the other side retorted with curses, but the arrival of someone from the provincial capital was somewhat intimidating to the locals, and the manner of Feng Jun’s group suggested they were not to be messed with.

On the second floor, Mou Miao and Liu Xiaoxuan were in a room, urgently speaking with two locals. They finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the others arrive, “Feng Jun, you’ve finally come.”

Mou Miao explained more clearly that there were four Xu brothers from a local clan who ran a small factory. They had undertaken some work for the Boiler Camel Motorcycles in the past, but the quality was barely acceptable, and they were uncooperative when dealing with Mou Miao’s quality inspections, with an attitude of “you have to pay once I’ve done the work.”

Mou Miao argued on principle, refusing to pay when it wasn’t due, which often led to heated arguments on the verge of physical confrontations.

Thankfully, it was not too bad, as intermediaries had stepped in to mediate and prevent any true violence, but relations had soured.

This time around, in the bidding process from over ten suppliers, only four had made the cut, and Mou Miao had excluded this particular one—poor work and too much trouble, a headache no one needed.

The Xu brothers did not take this well. They warned Mou Miao through connections that if he dared to mess with their livelihood, he wouldn’t leave Chaoge.

Of course, Mou Miao ignored them: Under the broad light of day, what could they do?

But he was being overconfident. He had often quarreled with the Xu brothers before, but it never escalated into anything serious.

Later, someone reminded him that the Xu Family was an influential clan in Chaoge, with a former commissioner in their ranks, and currently, many Xu clansmen were working within the system. None were particularly outstanding, but there was the director of the city’s science and technology bureau, and three deputy directors at the department level.

The four brothers were only moderately successful with their small factory.

A few days earlier, a tax office chief from one of the districts had approached Mou Miao, wanting to know how much he paid his employees each month.

This chief didn’t bear the Xu surname, but his spouse did.

Upon hearing this, Mou Miao knew something was off. Since when did paying four people’s wages attract the attention of the tax office?

So he never admitted it was a salary; he just said it was paying someone to help out, a thousand a month.

Anyway, he knew that his employees would definitely not file taxes.

The section chief was a bit angry and said, “The amount you’re paying doesn’t even meet Chaoge’s minimum wage standards.”

What I paid was never a salary! Although Mou Miao was a technician, he understood the importance of this point. “I temporarily hired two people, just giving them a bit of remuneration.”

The section chief couldn’t do anything to him and threatened him before leaving, “You’d better clear this up, this is Chaoge.”

Then the car accident happened, and driving the Cadillac was the Xu Family’s third son.

After the accident, three young men got out of the car and without a word, beat the driver Xiao Meng severely, breaking his nose, fracturing his ribs, gashing his head in several places, and causing a mild concussion.

Xiao Meng is now lying in the hospital.

By the way, it wasn’t the traffic police who handled the accident, but a patrol officer who was passing by, who also had the surname Xu.

The most heartbreaking part is that there are five Boiler Camel Motorcycles stored in the back yard of the inn, all taken over by the Xu brothers, and there were ten more undergoing aging tests that were forcibly halted.

Mou Miao didn’t care about the Highlander—that’s not to say he didn’t care at all, but what he cared about most were those fifteen Boiler Camel Motorcycles.

If the Highlander was gone, it was his personal loss, but if the Boiler Camel Motorcycles were gone, it would affect Feng Jun!

Feng Jun glanced at the two people talking to him and asked in a deep voice, “What about those four partners? What’s their attitude?”

A middle-aged man stood up and gave a wry smile. “We’re coordinating.”

“Coordinating?” Feng Jun glanced at Mou Miao, then looked at him coldly again. “Are you sure…you haven’t picked the wrong object of coordination?”

Now the Xu Family was troubling Mou Miao, and you keep going on and on about what to Mou Miao?

The middle-aged man’s face darkened. After hesitating, he still patiently explained. “I mean, the Xu Family has strong influence here; if… if General Mou still wants to continue making Boiler Camel Motorcycles here, it would be best to show them some compliance.”

“I can’t possibly comply with them,” Mou Miao stated decisively. “Their manufacturing process and work attitude are not satisfactory to me, and I won’t tarnish my own brand.”

“They can subcontract to someone else,” the middle-aged man said gravely. “Let them do quality control; no one dares to disobey.”

“Heh,” Mou Miao scoffed coldly. “My man is still lying in the hospital.”

“It was just a momentary altercation,” another middle-aged man spoke solemnly. “The misunderstanding stems from lack of understanding. Xiao Meng’s issue is just a minor detail. As long as we handle things well on our side, his side will be easier to manage.”@@novelbin@@

Feng Jun looked at the man, “And what do you do?”

“I’m a small fry at the district government,” the middle-aged man spoke frankly. “I’m here to alleviate the leaders’ concerns, after all, we live in a harmonious society now.”

Feng Jun scratched his chin, pondering as he asked, “What do you think, did Mou Miao do anything wrong in this case?”

“He did nothing wrong,” the person from the district government replied seriously. “Theoretically speaking, there’s not a single issue…”

After waiting a moment, Feng Jun couldn’t hold back, “You may say ‘but’ now.”

The middle-aged man indeed had a “but” as he spoke solemnly. “But theoretical correctness doesn’t mean it is correct in practice. The chief designer once said that practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.”

“General Mou’s issue is that he overlooked practice. He focused on doing good deeds, right? Definitely right, but you need to consider the specific environment… This is Chaoge; you must respect the local customs and practices.”

Sarcasm heavy on his face, Feng Jun said, “So, letting others pass off inferior products as superior goods is part of Chaoge’s customs?”

“Young man, don’t be so impatient,” the district government official sounded a bit unhappy. “I’m not encouraging passing off inferior goods as superior ones; I’m just saying, Chaoge isn’t Zhengyang, let alone the capital. Local clan power is still quite strong here.”

“Alright, you may leave now,” Feng Jun waved his hand, then turned to the other middle-aged man. “You can leave as well.”

The two men glanced at Feng Jun and left without hesitation.

Wang Haifeng tactfully closed the door behind them.

Feng Jun looked at Sister Hong, “Local thugs… Can underworld figures keep them in check?”

In his mind, even the most stubborn villagers were afraid of hoodlums.

Without waiting for Sister Hong to speak, Feng Jing spoke up first. “I can’t say for other places, but it won’t work in Chaoge. The people here… aren’t very open-minded; they’re very obstinate. If you bring in hoodlums, they may back down once, but soon enough, they’ll trouble you in other ways.”

They’re not that they aren’t afraid of underworld figures, but after giving face to the other party, they would find all sorts of ways to trouble you again.

Her implication was clear; seeking help from underworld figures once was feasible, twice too, but constantly seeking help also incurs significant expenses.