Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 1229 - 1014: A Lesson Learned (Wishing You a Healthy Dragon Boat Festival)_2

Chapter 1229: Chapter 1014: A Lesson Learned (Wishing You a Healthy Dragon Boat Festival)_2

......

At 9:30 in the morning, in the same large meeting room as yesterday, personnel from all three parties had already arrived.

However, compared to yesterday, there were fewer people.

On Wang Ye’s side, there were only him and his assistant Nova; the Mayor of Petersburg wasn’t even present.

There were also only two representatives from the employees’ side, one of whom was Kima, who was rather active in yesterday’s meeting, and the other was the manager of the aluminum factory.

The representative from the headquarters of the Russian Aluminium Group was, of course, Drepaska, who had just rushed over, and his assistant.

Besides the representatives of the three parties, the rest were media reporters.

In particular, the live TV broadcast team from the TV station had set up their cameras early and were ready to broadcast live.

Although this live broadcast was only for the Peterburg area, the real-time viewership was not low, as many residents of the Petersburg City District were following the negotiations closely.

After all, the result of these negotiations was related to the upcoming heating supply issue!

With the heating and hot water cut off for several days, if the supply wasn’t resumed, many would truly be unable to bear it any longer...

Sitting in the central position, Wang Ye’s expression was as usual, while the expressions on the faces of the representatives on either side were much more complex.

The expression on Drepaska’s face kept changing. He still hadn’t fully digested the words that Wang Ye had dropped before leaving breakfast.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t detect the threat in Wang Ye’s words, but he was considering what the consequences would be if he truly resisted to the end.

Whether he could withstand those consequences...

As for the employees’ representatives, it was unclear what they were thinking.

......

After everyone took their seats, Wang Ye announced that the meeting had officially begun.

He didn’t give the representatives of both sides a chance to speak, because both sides’ demands had been expressed in yesterday’s meeting, and he had already received them.

Today’s meeting had only one purpose, which was to resolve the dispute and restore heating as quickly as possible; other issues were secondary.

Therefore, Wang Ye directly had Nova bring over a document and place it in front of Drepaska, saying with a smile,

"This is the document agreeing to pay the employees’ back wages, please sign it."

Once Drepaska signed this document, it would immediately be sent to the relevant banks, and the owed salaries of the employees would also be disbursed instantly.

Looking at the document placed before him, Drepaska frowned, indecisive. He had not expected Wang Ye to play such a move right from the start, leaving no room for maneuver.

After hesitating for a long time, Drepaska gritted his teeth and turned to ask Wang Ye, "And if I don’t sign?"

As soon as these words were uttered, the atmosphere in the entire meeting room immediately tensed.

Because this was Drepaska’s challenge to Wang Ye!

Let’s not forget that the meeting was being broadcast live on TV; who knows how many were watching.

Wang Ye had also dropped "big words" yesterday, saying that today’s meeting must resolve the employees’ strike and restore the heating supply in the Petersburg City District.

Now Drepaska had directly confronted him!

If he didn’t handle this well, he was going to be truly embarrassed...

Even Nova, sitting behind Wang Ye, felt the tense atmosphere, as fine beads of sweat appeared on her normally pert nose.

......

Wang Ye, however, was calm and composed, his eyes narrowed, with a smile that was not quite a smile as he looked towards Drepaska.

Wanted to play tough with him?

He could only say that this Drepaska was too naive!

Did he really think he could do whatever he wanted because of the big shot backing him?

Really thought everyone had to give him face!

If Drepaska’s backer was still sitting in the Kremlin, Wang Ye might have had some reservations, but now...

He was here representing the highest level to address the issue, not to discuss how to solve it with them!

Being willing to listen to their ideas and opinions was a courtesy to them.

But if they didn’t want to take the face given to them, then he could only announce the solution unilaterally. There wasn’t so much patience and time to discuss back and forth with them.

As long as he was fair in his dealings and unbiased, the decisions he made would represent the highest authority, and no one would dare to defy them!

Even his father-in-law couldn’t say much about it, and of course, even if he did, it wouldn’t matter!

As for the person behind Drepaska, would they really come out and challenge Wang Ye to a "duel" for this guy?

Wang Ye thought it was completely unlikely!

Drepaska was merely "borrowing the tiger’s ferocity", relying on his name as someone’s "son-in-law" to cow ordinary people into not provoking him, truly believing he could run amok unopposed.

That was simply because he wasn’t high-level enough and hadn’t provoked a real tough nut to crack!

Today, Wang Ye would teach him a lesson!

......

"Please be clear, I didn’t ask if you agreed, I’m just notifying you to sign.

Of course, if you really don’t want to sign, that’s also simple. I will issue another document.

However, once that document is issued, the consequences may be more than you can handle."

Wang Ye said, speaking lightly.

He wasn’t threatening Drepaska; he truly had a backup plan ready in case Drepaska was too stubborn to recognize the situation and insisted on resisting to the end. Wang Ye would really do so.

Even the paperwork was already prepared!

Wang Ye would sign the document as the Director of the National Economic Committee, announcing the temporary "regulation" of the Pikalevo Alumina Plant by the Economic Committee, meaning the management and financial rights of the aluminum plant would be unrelated to the Russian Aluminium Group during this period.

The accounts the aluminum factory had with banks would also be managed by the Economic Committee.

The workers’ wages would still be paid out immediately, and the problems would be solved.

According to the authority defined when the National Economic Commission was established, Wang Ye indeed had the power – in special circumstances, the Economic Committee could intervene in any problem and any enterprise related to the economic field, regardless of whether it was state-owned or private!

Of course, what counts as "special circumstances" was for Wang Ye to determine...

This was also where Wang Ye’s confidence in resolving the strike incident came from!

Drepaska might not understand these details, but he was not foolish, and he could hear the confidence and implications in Wang Ye’s words.

He hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, picked up the pen, and signed his name on the document agreeing to disburse the workers’ wages.

After signing, Drepaska was still a bit defiant, and said provocatively to Wang Ye, "I’m agreeing to sign only because I don’t want to impact the lives of the ordinary people in Petersburg. As for the issues of corruption within the aluminum factory, they will still be thoroughly investigated!"

Wang Ye didn’t care to deal with these trivial matters and merely said nonchalantly, "That would be an internal affair for your Group. However, I only have one requirement: there must be no recurrence of similar collective incidents, and you must not disrupt the heating supply in Petersburg City District again."

After getting Drepaska’s signed documents, Wang Ye turned his head to the aluminum factory workers’ representative with a serious expression, saying:

"Now that the workers’ demands have been met and the wages will be deposited in full today, I expect you to keep your promise and immediately instruct all workers to return to their posts on time and restore the heating."

Kima grinned and said, "That... shouldn’t be a problem in theory, but we need to see the wages in the account before we get back to work."

The sitting factory director also chimed in, "Right, right, although he’s signed, who knows if there will be some tricks later? What if it gets held up at the bank again? So we must first see the overdue wages in our accounts, and yes, there has to be compensation for such a long delay..."

Wang Ye frowned, knowing this matter wasn’t going to be that simple.

Neither side was easy to deal with!

Drepaska was relying on his background, wanting to be unyielding to the end. This was a bit easier to handle; if someone who didn’t care about his background and was more powerful than him appeared, then Drepaska would become timid.

But the situation might be even more complicated on the aluminum factory workers’ side...

Possibly some people didn’t want the workers to return to work smoothly; their goals were more complex!

However, Wang Ye was not unprepared for this situation either; he had his own contingencies...