Chapter 144: Is this person a big deal?

The man subconsciously touched his forehead.

"Hairline? What do you mean by hairline?"

Chai Jin smiled slightly. "It's nothing. Did you come from Hedong?"

"Yes, how did you know?" The man became even more apprehensive, completely failing to understand what this young man was up to.

"Your Hedong accent. I have quite a few friends from Hedong Province."

"Are you looking for a job?"

Chai Jin asked, looking at the bulging bag in the man's hand.

The man smiled bitterly. "Yes."

"Let me see your resume. Our company was just registered today, and we need a lot of people."

Chai Jin spread his hands and crooked his finger.

After the man came to his senses, a look of joy appeared on his face.

He was originally the director of a state-owned factory in a certain province in Hedong, and his performance was exceptionally brilliant.

He had single-handedly revived a heavily loss-making small factory into the county's top taxpayer, earning himself the local reputation of "Little Emperor" and "Management Expert."

Influenced by the surging spring tide of the south, he resolutely abandoned a promising future and headed south.

However, things turned out contrary to his wishes.

He had originally thought he could display his grand ambitions, but reality turned out to be brutally harsh.

For over a month, he—a former factory director—had not received a single offer from any company or enterprise, making him look rather down and out.

He took out a stack of official stationery with letterheads bearing the names of various government units from his bag and placed them in front of Chai Jin.

When Chai Jin picked it up and saw the name clearly, the stone in his heart finally settled.

He smiled and asked, "What kind of compensation are you looking for?"

The man was stunned for a moment. "What is the situation on your end?"

Next, Chai Jin did something extremely bold and utterly incomprehensible to everyone present.

He offered the man a high monthly salary of one thousand!

This was already equivalent to the salary of top-level management in a large state-owned factory.

It was two to three hundred higher than what the man used to earn as a factory director.

Afterwards, he had the man leave this stack of more than thirty pages of resumes, along with a pager number.

After the man left, Lao Huang walked in, looking quite puzzled. "What's the background of that young man just now? Is he reliable?"

Chai Jin was tidying up his things and smiled. "There is no one more reliable than him. With his joining, I firmly believe our journey will be much smoother."

"Oh right, from now on, focus our recruitment on people who have jumped into the commercial sea from the bureaucratic system."

"These people all have a massive network of connections behind them, and their past experiences will work to our advantage."

Lao Huang naturally understood what Chai Jin meant.

Seeing that Chai Jin and Ji Yuan were about to go out, he asked, "Where are you going? It's already lunchtime, let's eat together."

Chai Jin waved his hand. "Going over to Master Long's place. There's a matter I need to look into."

With that, he left the office.

Lao Huang felt a bit strange behind his back.

He walked up to Chai Jin's desk and picked up the resume.

"Xu Jiayin, 34 years old, director of Wugang Factory. Is he that remarkable?"

"Why offer him such a high salary?"

That's right, the man who had conversed with Chai Jin all morning was none other than Xu Jiayin of Evergrande Real Estate from his past life!

In 1992, he plunged into the business world with twenty thousand yuan, clutching a thirty-plus-page resume as he searched everywhere for a job, briefly becoming the laughingstock of others!

He was one of the leading figures of the "92 Class" of entrepreneurs.

His appearance gave Chai Jin the bold idea to poach the entire legendary "92 Class" of his past life!

...

The car skirted around the urban area and arrived at a road outside the customs checkpoint an hour later.

The entire world felt dusted in earthy yellow. Farmers drying grains by the roadside wore old blue cloth sleeveless shirts, reflecting the mottled texture of this era.

Amidst clouds of dust, the car arrived at a grove near Shenzhen Bay.

Across the bay lay Hong Kong, a place yearned for by everyone in the mainland.

After circling through the grove, the car parked outside a rural residential house.

The house was tucked within the woods, but many cars were parked at the entrance.

Outside stood some young Hong Kongers wearing bell-bottoms and toad-shade sunglasses, the atmosphere thick with gunpowder.

Inside the house were two factions.

On one side was Master Long, and facing him in a standoff was the other faction—Boss Mo, who found himself in a very compromising predicament.

As soon as Chai Jin walked in, Boss Mo stood up and spoke with icy sarcasm, "Hello there, Boss Chai. Long time no see. I've missed you dearly."

Chai Jin ignored him.

Ji Yuan brought over a stool from the side.

Chai Jin sat in the middle and lit a cigarette. Though he wasn't part of the underworld, his gangster aura was palpable.

He raised his head. "Speak. What do you want with me?"

On the other side, Master Long held a teacup, scraping the lid against the rim as he sipped slowly, remaining silent.

The muscles on Boss Mo's face twitched slightly. "Stabbing people in the back, aren't you being a bit despicable? We're all men of the underworld, do you think this is appropriate?"

"Someone over in Hong Kong had me bring a question for you: do you really have to keep hounding us relentlessly?"

Chai Jin had been invited here today by Master Long.

Because Chai Jin had poked a hornet's nest over in Hong Kong.

The kingpin of that nest had already approached Master Long, implying that if Chai Jin backed off, there might still room for negotiation.

Chai Jin knew who this kingpin was—Lai Changxing.

Though Chai Jin hadn't focused much on this front recently, he had never given up on targeting Boss Mo.

Master Long couldn't bear to listen any longer, so he set down his cup. "Little Mo, if you're here to negotiate, you should show the attitude of someone negotiating, instead of being so aggressive."

"The times have changed nowadays; no one can threaten anyone anymore. Don't try to bluff people with that stuff from the eighties."

Boss Mo calmed his mind slightly, let out a cold snort, and sat back down. "That depends on his attitude!"

Chai Jin smiled and said nothing.

Next, the two factions sat together to lay their cards on the table.

Chai Jin had originally thought the other party would show some sincerity, and if they did, Chai Jin might have stopped targeting them.

He had no desire for a life-and-death struggle, especially since there was no fundamental conflict of interest.

However, he had still underestimated the arrogance of this kingpin.

The attitude presented by the kingpin felt more like a warning.

They demanded that Chai Jin immediately stop submitting materials to Beijing, go to Hong Kong to apologize, and then the matter would be considered settled.

If he behaved well, they might even toss a sugar pill his way.

It was dripping with condescension.

Chai Jin felt rather helpless as he listened to Boss Mo's endless rattling.

Unable to hold back any longer, he interrupted, "Alright, stop yapping endlessly. Go back and tell your master: if he wants to negotiate, he needs to show some sincerity."

"If there's no sincerity, don't bother coming to find me again. Of course, I've never minded fighting him to the bitter end."

Boss Mo slammed the table. "So there's nothing to talk about?"

Chai Jin said coldly, "Get lost."

"You motherf—say that to me again..."

Whoosh!

Dozens of men behind Master Long all stood up. Master Long said coldly, "Have you lost your mind from arrogance? Do you really think I don't exist?"

Boss Mo breathed heavily, staring fiercely at Chai Jin, but forced himself to calm down.

Finally, he pointed at Chai Jin. "You little grandson, don't really think newborn calves aren't afraid of tigers. Whether you're afraid is one thing, but which newborn calf doesn't end up with the tiger chewing down to every last bone!"

"Starting today, the death knell has tolled for you."

"And you," he pointed at Master Long, "I respect you by calling you Master Long, but don't fail to appreciate what's good for you!"

"Let's go!"

With a grand wave of his hand, he led his men swarming out of the place.

And at that moment, Monk made his move.