Volume Four: Awakening of Insects Chapter 137: Awakening of Insects

Time passed quickly, and more than a month slipped away in the blink of an eye. Yu Menglan had long since returned to Guangzhou, and several projects at the Shepan Mountain construction site were now completed. The outer wall had been fully erected, completely enclosing the entire Shepan Mountain. The housing and facilities for breeding white mice and other feeds were also nearing completion.

A great deal had happened during this period. To everyone's astonishment, Mayor Wang was placed under shuanggui. The reason traced back to the Shuangqiao Town Brick Factory. Ever since the Yang brothers had a conflict with Le'er, Secretary Feng had secretly sent investigators to look into the Shuangqiao Brick Factory, and the investigation inevitably uncovered serious wrongdoings. Not only was the Shuangqiao Brick Factory engaged in forced buying and selling, but the Yang brothers had also beaten and maimed quite a few people. Several investors who had wanted to come to Shuangqiao Town to open factories and invest had left precisely because of their unruly and reckless behavior.

Naturally, the Yang brothers met with misfortune, and Mayor Wang was deeply implicated as well. Many of the bosses who had been subjected to the forced transactions at the Shuangqiao Brick Factory had been funneled through him, and deeper investigations revealed financial corruption on his part as well.

Nowadays, as long as any official was investigated, who wouldn't turn up with problems? Whose hands were truly clean? It was simply Mayor Wang's bad luck that the investigation landed on him.

Deputy County Magistrate Yang was also implicated. The brick factory itself had ties to him, but his several cousin brothers kept their mouths tightly shut. Although he was entangled, it had not yet reached the level of warranting shuanggui. Among other reasons, Secretary Feng did not yet intend to completely pull him down from his horse. Longshan County was currently Secretary Feng's domain, but opposing and balancing forces still existed. In certain matters, compromise was still necessary where compromise was due. Furthermore, if another official were to be transferred from the municipal level, there was no guarantee whether that person could be kept under control.

Although he retained his position as Deputy County Magistrate, he was squeezed out of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee. Though his official title remained the same, he had been pushed out of the central circle of power within the county. This blow was beyond ordinary.

County Magistrate Long met with an even worse fate. Although he escaped shuanggui, he was demoted and transferred away from Longshan.

While Deputy County Magistrate Yang was pushed out of the County Party Committee Standing Committee, Xie Weicai, the Director of the Public Security Bureau, stepped into it. Since he belonged to Secretary Feng's faction, Secretary Feng gained yet another voice within the Standing Committee.

On the surface, all these events seemed connected to Le'er, but in reality, they were inevitable. Secretary Feng needed to clean up Longshan County's investment environment and also desired a firmer grip on the county's power; thus, Deputy County Magistrate Long and Deputy County Magistrate Yang naturally had to become casualties of this purge, while Mayor Wang was merely a sacrificial lamb. Le'er was, at best, nothing more than a fuse. Yet, as a result, Le'er became a notable figure. Few people in the county did not know of him, and no one dared to cross paths with him ever again.

The greatest beneficiary was Feng Shuya. With Mayor Wang placed under shuanggui, an older deputy mayor was promoted to acting mayor, while she became the acting deputy mayor, concurrently serving as the village chief of Taosha Village.

Her first leap had successfully landed her in position, and her next target was naturally the mayoral seat itself. As long as the current acting mayor made no mistakes, he would undoubtedly enter the People's Congress in the next term to hold a nominal position before retiring, leaving her as the rightful and proper mayor for the subsequent term.

Even the position of mayor was merely a stepping stone for her. She was a person of grand ambitions, which was clearly visible from her current trajectory.

All these matters seemed intertwined with Sha Le'er, yet he turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to them. He cared only for the construction of his snake farm, pouring his heart and soul entirely into it.

Boss Hong made a trip over, bringing along technicians specializing in breeding white mice and mealworms, as well as breeding stock of mice and worms. Before raising snakes, the feed supply had to be secured first. He was exceedingly satisfied with the construction of the snake farm; not only was the progress rapid, but the total expenditure came to less than one million and five hundred thousand, achieving a scale he had never anticipated.

Boss Hong's arrival also finalized the company's breeding strategy. In the first phase, the company would focus solely on raising meat snakes. Meat snakes were easier to raise, had a massive sales volume, and the techniques were relatively easier to master. This decision was primarily driven by the fact that the snake houses could not all be completed at once, and with the snake hibernation period drawing to a close, they could not afford to miss the snake-rearing season, leaving them no choice but to construct and breed simultaneously.

With Boss Hong on board as a shareholder, everything became much simpler. Technical support went without saying, and various facilities were familiar terrain, making procurement cheaper as well. Boss Hong himself stood to gain handsomely; the current supply of breeding mice and the future supply of breeding snakes would naturally originate from him, which constituted another lucrative stream of income.

The breeding of white mice and mealworms required hiring caretakers. Many people applied, but only women were recruited, with Tao Haiying and Shen Lili among them. Aunt Ma was appointed as the administrative manager for white mouse breeding, while Tao Haiying secured the position of manager for mealworm breeding.

Both of them were overjoyed, knowing that from then on, they were the company's management personnel. Aunt Ma smiled from ear to ear, while Tao Haiying wore a gentle, quiet smile. She, along with Tao Youneng and Shen Lili, had dropped out of school solely to work for the Great Snake King Company—an opportunity too rare to miss. Ever since the incident at the village committee, she had never sought out Le'er again. Whenever she saw him, her expression remained unchanged, as if nothing had ever happened, though Le'er would invariably blush.

However, in secluded places devoid of others, her gaze toward Le'er burned with fierce intensity, though she never crossed the line into reckless behavior. This provided Le'er with a considerable sense of relief.

The staff responsible for breeding white mice and mealworms began their work. White mice were divided into mice and large rats, but the breeding methods were identical, while mealworms came in only one variety. Guided by the technicians brought by Boss Hong, the caretakers learned as they worked. The caretakers were required to have at least a junior high school education, meaning knowledge gaps were non-existent, and they picked up the skills quickly. Especially Aunt Ma and Tao Haiying, who not only had to master breeding techniques but also learn management, bore heavier burdens and expended much more energy.

Yet, the two of them were more exhilarated than anyone else.

This was also a hallmark of progress, not to mention that their wages were higher than those of others, providing them with even greater motivation to learn.

In addition to raising live feed, feed preparation was also required. For instance, baby snakes initially had to be fed things like egg mixtures using syringes, while meat snakes undergoing fattening required high-protein liquid feed pumped into them. This was a task with a higher technical threshold, though its management was relatively more relaxed. Le'er selected several male employees with high school education, and Tao Youneng was appointed as the team leader for this division.

With the caretakers recruited, breeding operations commenced. The staff for raising the snakes also needed to be enlisted. All personnel for this division were males, and their numbers were substantial. Shengui Shu, Tao Qiang, Jin He, and Da Gen were trained as the first batch of team leaders, while the rest, such as Dalong and Dahai, would join the ranks of snake breeders once the snake houses were completely finished.

These individuals were currently only registered on the roster and would undergo training under the guidance of technicians once the snakelets arrived. In this domain, Le'er was likewise an expert.

Everything proceeded in a tense and orderly fashion.

Li Ying served as the general manager, and the operational regulations had already been promulgated. Aside from mastering techniques, employees were required to study the operational rules and farm regulations. Concurrently, every employee entering the company signed a contract with a three-month probationary period, becoming an official employee only upon its successful completion. Formal technical personnel were required to deposit two thousand yuan as a technical training security fund to prevent these technicians from jumping ship to other companies.

While the salary and benefits were attractive, the management system was strict; without sound management, there could be no successful enterprise. Only by properly managing the company and ensuring its prosperity could the employees' wages and benefits be guaranteed.

Le'er would serve as the first farm manager, responsible for day-to-day operations. However, in Li Ying's view, Le'er was not naturally suited for administrative management and was merely filling the role temporarily. It was very likely that she would eventually bring in professional management personnel from Boss Hong or cultivate outstanding farm administrators from the existing staff.

She also had no desire to bog Le'er down in trivial administrative affairs. As both chairman and deputy general manager, he was destined to study business management under her guidance. Arrangements such as having him study academic materials and participate in self-study examinations were all made with this purpose in mind.

During the plum rain season, torrential rains poured incessantly while the construction site hummed with fervent activity.

Amidst the plum rain, Sha Qiang hurried back. He had set out for Guangzhou on the fifth day of the lunar new year. Barely having arrived in Guangzhou and before he could even eat a hot meal, the security patrol brigade arrived, inspecting this and that, and hauled them off to the brigade office. After holding them for five or six hours, they finally released them to return to their shed.

Thinking he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, workers began trickling back into his workshed, and the construction projects left unfinished from the previous year were set to resume. Yet before work could even officially restart, the security patrol brigade launched a sudden midnight raid on the workshed, and the moment they inspected, problems emerged. Not a single worker possessed a temporary residence permit; all of them were hauled off to the security patrol office and made to squat for the entire night. Several workers lacked identity cards altogether, making their situation even more grim. Among those without ID cards, the authorities even flagged an individual suspected of criminal activity.

This time, a colossal mess had been stirred up. Sha Qiang was summoned to the police station, where he was initially left cooling his heels in a corner for three or four hours, ignored by everyone. As dusk approached and the shift was ending, someone finally deigned to question him. Yet after exchanging only a few words, they told him to go back first and return the next day.

Upon returning home and checking the workshed, he found that over half the workers had fled.

With great difficulty, construction finally resumed, but every few days the security patrol brigade would show up for a surprise raid, disrupting the workers' sleep so severely that complaints filled the air, driving many more workers to leave. Strangely enough, the worksheds of other construction sites were not subjected to such rigorous inspections; only his workshed was frequented on a regular basis. He had previously cultivated a decent relationship with the captain of the security patrol, frequently treating him to drinks and meals at considerable personal expense. Yet now, meeting the security patrol captain was an impossibility, and even when he managed to cross paths with him, the man would coldly claim he was busy and brush him off.

With the construction progress lagging desperately, the major building contractor came looking for him. If he failed to finish on time, he was told to pack up and get lost. With no other recourse, Sha Qiang had to pay exorbitant prices to enlist smaller subcontractors similar to himself, getting them to spare some workers to help him complete the project. Fortunately, the construction had already reached its final stages, and the work was barely scraped through to completion. However, when the time came to collect the project payments, the major contractor simply refused to show his face.

Just like that, over a month slipped by in a flash. The wages could not be collected, and the workers raised a ruckus demanding their money, leaving Sha Qiang with no choice but to pay a portion of the wages out of his own pocket. Desperate to take on new projects, he contacted several major contractors, but not a single one deigned to acknowledge him.

Panic consumed him, yet he remained utterly oblivious to where the root of the problem lay. Finally, one day, he managed to catch sight of the security patrol captain. Reminded of the considerable sums this fellow had spent on him in the past, the captain reluctantly agreed to have a meal with him.

Across the dining table, the security patrol captain finally leaked a piece of intelligence to him:

"You've offended someone you shouldn't have."

"I haven't offended anyone of consequence around here," Sha Qiang said, furrowing his brow with a tearful expression. "How would I ever dare to offend anyone here?"

"Not only did you offend someone, but you offended a major figure. Even I am nothing more than an ant in front of him," the security patrol captain spoke the truth. "For the sake of our past acquaintance, I agreed to share this meal with you today, but don't come looking for me ever again."

Sha Qiang finally recalled Li Ying's harsh parting words threatening to ruin him so he could no longer remain a small subcontractor. He hammered his fist against his head, his complexion instantly turning ashen and dead. With no other options left, he had no choice but to rush back from Guangzhou in a panic.

By the time he hurried back, Le'er and Li Ying were out on the construction site. Dark clouds billowed across the sky, a sudden clap of thunder shattered the air, and a torrential downpour lashed down violently.

"Ah, the spring thunder... the Awakening of Insects has arrived," Le'er gazed up at the sky. "The snakes are about to awaken, and Jin'er should be coming back soon."

With the rumble of spring thunder, all things stirred back to life.