Chapter 26 - 23: Righteousness Among the Rough

The earlier commotion in the office had completely wiped out the last shred of affection Chen Jue had for Taisheng Finance.

He used to be as naive as his apprentice, Jiang Lin, thinking he could grow with a company and find value in his life.

But reality was often more melodramatic than a TV show.

You treat the company like family, but the company treats you like a burden, wishing they could kick you out without spending a single cent.

’Once I get the compensation, I’ll quit as soon as possible,’ Chen Jue thought with a sigh.

Returning to his workstation, he glanced around.

Since most of his colleagues had been coerced into signing unfair severance agreements, many had already left for the day, cursing and grumbling.

There was no work to do anyway, and it was pointless to keep hanging around.

It was better to get out and find a new job sooner rather than later.

It was time to schedule interviews and enjoy some freedom.

Even Chen Jue’s apprentice was packing his things, looking like he also wanted to just get out of there.

"Brother Jue, are you coming in for the next two days?" Jiang Lin asked in a low voice.

As a recent college graduate, he still retained a bit of the discipline from his school days. He felt it was inappropriate to just leave, so he decided to ask his mentor, Chen Jue, before making a final decision.

"Probably not."

"It’s a waste of time to come in," Chen Jue said with a wave of his hand, urging him to go home early.

"Then... I’m gonna go, then!"

"Message me on WeChat if you need anything, Brother Jue." Jiang Lin hesitated for a moment, then slung on his backpack and left as if escaping from the devil’s clutches.

Who knew if he was off to meet his girlfriend or to break the news to his parents.

In any case, having been inexplicably cheated out of their compensation by the company, no one present was in a good mood.

Except for Chen Jue, of course.

Because he was one of the few employees who had used forceful means to secure his legal benefits from the boss.

...

He spent some time at his desk looking up information related to Darts and watching some online videos.

Chen Jue realized his perspective had been a bit narrow before, focusing only on competitive, steel-tip darts.

He never would have imagined that Hua Country’s Darts Skill was so vast and profound!

Standing 2.44 meters away to hit a target with steel-tip darts was totally lame by comparison.

It was just better promoted, more widespread, and had a larger player base.

The dart experts in the videos used everything from custom-made Flying Knives, short swords, and daggers to Flying Needles, flying playing cards, and even flying axes, wrenches, and chopsticks!

They had practically reached a state where anything and everything could be used as a dart.

Most importantly, these experts threw from great distances, with many easily surpassing ten meters.

They could still hit whatever they aimed at, and they were ridiculously skilled.

’This is a real eye-opener!’

’You can even play Darts like this?’ Chen Jue thought as he studied the videos, planning to learn the stances and power-generation techniques of these experts.

His [Darts] Skill was now at Lv3. Although it was still at an amateur level, he could roughly discern the body postures of the experts in the videos after just a few glances.

This was a case of grasping things by analogy; one look was enough for his brain to decide it was a lost cause.

As for whether he could hit any target from over ten meters away like these experts, that would only be possible with frequent, hands-on practice.

...

After slacking off for a while, Sister Li came looking for him.

She handed Chen Jue a brand-new severance agreement.

He glanced at it, and seeing that the N+1 cash compensation had been changed to a company vehicle of equivalent value from their inventory, he signed it with satisfaction and added his thumbprint.

The severance agreement was in duplicate; the company kept one copy for its records, and he took one with him.

With this agreement in hand, it would prevent any future unpleasantness between the two parties.

Seeing Chen Jue sign the agreement without any fuss, Sister Li, the HR manager, breathed a sigh of relief.

The sight of him piercing the sofa with a pen had left her deeply shaken; she probably wouldn’t be sleeping well for the next few days.

Fortunately, the last troublemaker in the company had also signed, finally completing the task assigned by the bosses.

This way, her own N+1 compensation was secure. On top of that, it was a blessing in disguise, as she had also received an offer for a new position with equivalent pay and a signing bonus. She was inwardly ecstatic.

...

After signing the severance agreement, Chen Jue had no desire to waste any more time at Taisheng Finance.

In the time he’d been slacking off, the company’s 50-odd employees had dwindled to just over a dozen.

The only ones left were from the finance and post-loan collections departments—people who still had work to do.

He packed up his things and headed over to the post-loan collections department’s office.

Inside, a few burly young men were making collection calls in rough, gruff voices.

When dealing with customers who were only a day or two overdue by accident, these guys were generally polite and careful with their words.

Because these were good customers who were unlikely to default.

But once they called the seasoned delinquents who were frequently overdue or had missed several payments, the calls became extremely nasty.

All sorts of beeped-out profanities were spewed, and sometimes they’d even get into shouting matches with the customers over the phone.

All in all, it was a very high-stress department.

"Chen Jue, perfect timing! President Zhou just gave the word, said you should go to the lot and pick out a car." The post-loan collections supervisor, Hu Liang, hung up his collection call, greeted Chen Jue, and then pulled a metal box out of a safe.

The box was full of car keys of all makes and models.

Each key had a customer ID number on it, which could be entered into the company system to look up the vehicle’s information.

"See any model you like?" Hu Liang handed the metal box to Chen Jue.

"Brother Liang! Can you help me find a domestic SUV to use as a daily driver? Something with more space, a newer model year, that I can drive right away. Preferably one that won’t cost a fortune to maintain," Chen Jue listed his requirements.

Although he had never bought a car himself, having worked at the company for so long, he had picked up enough to be considered half an expert.

"Then take this 2020 Geely Haoyue. 1.8T, National VI emission standards."

"The original owner only drove it for just over 30,000 kilometers before defaulting on the loan. The court case just closed recently, and all the title paperwork is complete."

"This car has been sitting in the lot for a few months. I’ll take you to jump-start it and give it a test drive." Hu Liang winked at Chen Jue, signaling him to keep it quiet, then grabbed the keys and led him out of the company’s main entrance.

They went down to the underground garage, got in Hu Liang’s car, and drove to a warehouse in the suburbs over ten kilometers away.

Amidst a crowd of inventory vehicles gathering dust, Chen Jue saw the black Haoyue.

On the way there, he had already logged into the company’s back-end system and checked the car’s residual value. The wholesale price for used car dealers was over 80,000 yuan, which was clearly almost 20,000 yuan more than his N+1 compensation.

Chen Jue did a walk-around inspection. There wasn’t a single dent or scratch. The original owner had taken great care of it; it would be ready to drive after a quick wash.

"Brother Liang, this car is great!"

"Are you really transferring it to me?"

Chen Jue felt his pockets awkwardly. He had quit smoking, so he missed the chance to offer a cigarette to build some rapport.

"Fuck, Zhou Yong and those old bastards are always squeezing us dry. I’ve been sick of them for a long time! It’s rare to have someone like you make them bleed a little."

"Don’t you worry. I’ll just fudge the mileage a bit in the back-end system. I guarantee they won’t find anything wrong!"

"I don’t have time to handle the ownership transfer, but I can call a guy I know to do it for you. Just give him a carton of Zhonghuas and it’ll be taken care of," Hu Liang said with a dismissive wave.

As the head of the post-loan collections department, Hu Liang basically had the final say on how to dispose of the vehicles.

Besides, the bosses and shareholders at the company were all high and mighty; few of them were willing to come out to this remote wilderness to inspect assets, making it very easy to pull a few strings.

"You’re the man, Brother Liang!"

Chen Jue knew the other man had his own methods, so he got into the car with a grin.

They jump-started it and he drove it for a couple of laps. The power was good, and the space was sufficient.

He then went to a small shop in a nearby village, bought a carton of Zhonghuas, and stuffed it into the other man’s hands.

They say righteousness is often found among common folk. After witnessing the selfish calculations of the bosses, Chen Jue had finally found the one good thing left in the company.

Of course, Hu Liang didn’t refuse.

He accepted the cigarettes from Chen Jue, and they chatted amiably all the way back to the company.

...

He spent the afternoon at the vehicle management office with the contact Hu Liang had arranged, getting the ownership transferred. However, he couldn’t get Hang City plates.

Because Hang City had a license plate lottery system to limit traffic, and Chen Jue didn’t have a quota slot.

The car was a gasoline vehicle, so he had to entrust a scalper to get him plates from his hometown, Wen City.

Hu Liang had a lot of connections in this area. He pushed a WeChat contact to Chen Jue, who transferred 500 yuan, and the matter was settled.

’Temporary plates are the best. No need to worry about traffic violations or driving restrictions.’

Chen Jue drove the SUV, which was now his, back to Changhe District. Along the way, he spent 400 yuan to fill up the tank, and then paid another 450 yuan at the security booth at the district entrance for a month of temporary parking.

Although the day had been one of vindication—

not only had he gotten his own back against the company bosses, but he had also acquired a suitable car for his daily commute.

But when he looked at his expenses for the day, his head started to ache.

’I’ve got to find a way to make money!’

Jobless and now with a car to maintain, a sense of crisis began to creep into Chen Jue’s heart.

Just as he was worrying about what to do next, his phone rang.

He picked it up and listened to the voice message. It was from his roommate, Jiang Zhe.

"Old Si! Great news!"

"A big client of mine has a company that’s hiring! I even asked specifically for you—it’s also a finance company, right up your alley!"

"What do you say? Want to meet up tonight and talk about it?"

Jiang Zhe’s tone in the WeChat message was very excited.

Hearing that it was related to a job, Chen Jue’s interest was piqued.

After a moment’s thought, he sent a location pin for the Jingtang Club, along with a sticker that read, (Tonight’s bill is on Master Zhao).

When Jiang Zhe saw the address, he immediately replied with three exclamation marks: "!!!"

Then he followed up with three goofy reaction images: (Wicked Smile), (The Boss is Generous), (Does the Boss Need House Calls?).

Men!

Their happiness is always so simple~