Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 881 - Chapter 881 Chapter 881 Human Greed is Insatiable Like a Snake

Chapter 881: Chapter 881: Human Greed is Insatiable, Like a Snake Swallowing an Elephant Chapter 881: Chapter 881: Human Greed is Insatiable, Like a Snake Swallowing an Elephant Young Master Dou’s death caused some turmoil among Zhengyang’s upper echelons.

However, this was typically a case of being tight on the inside yet relaxed on the outside, as the incident involved both the Dou Family and the Wen Family, and they had to prevent ill-intentioned people from seizing the opportunity to cause trouble.

Therefore, a gag order was issued promptly, issuing stern warnings not just to the families involved, but also to the parties concerned.

The owner of Elite Gathering, a local power broker, actively cooperated with the information lockdown. The incident happened at his property, and he was already in deep trouble. If he didn’t handle the situation well, the consequences were sure to be unthinkable.

For most of the public, the shooting at Elite Gathering was nothing more than a rumor, unsure if it ever took place.

Nevertheless, Ye Qingyi acutely felt the recent unrest in Zhengyang.

Originally, she was under constant pressure from others, reportedly a young master surnamed Dou from Beijing had taken an interest in Spiritual Wine.

Later, Gao Qiang told her not to pay them any mind, and if push came to shove, just let them seal the door and keep quiet about any business secrets.

In the following days, the tax authorities stopped threatening to seal the business. However, a small-time leader surnamed Shen made daily visits to the brewery to inspect the accounts and demanded information on sales recipients, causing so much hassle that the company couldn’t operate normally.

Ye Qingyi insisted that she didn’t know who was buying the wine; after all, the customers paid in cash, and the company couldn’t refuse to sell.

The tax people were relentless. They directly brought in several tobacco and liquor company dealers who also expressed a desire to purchase Spiritual Wine–if you insist on settling in cash, that’s also possible.

Sorry, I won’t sell to these people! Ye Qingyi appeared frail and flat, but she had a stubborn streak–“Why won’t I sell to them? Well, there’s no particular reason. I just don’t want to.”

Head Shen was so angry it hurt his liver, but he didn’t dare to throw a tantrum.

He heard that there had been a message to support local private enterprises more, and to create favorable conditions for their development.

Now, he definitely couldn’t act rashly, but since the national tax service was a relatively independent department, conducting tax investigations was their legitimate duty, hence the following days of slicing flesh with a blunt knife.

Head Shen was practical in his thinking; he had people backing him too. As long as he didn’t blatantly break any rules, who could do anything to him?

The impact of the blunt knife was felt, and over four or five days, Spiritual Brewery only produced four hundred bottles of wine–the key issue being that Ye Qingyi had to mix the Spiritual Wine secretly, and now she was under strict surveillance and with limited mobility, naturally affecting production.

Ye Qingyi wasn’t particularly worried; the storeroom was filled with over six hundred cases of Spiritual Wine and vintage wines, close to eight thousand bottles, which would suffice for a while. The slow recent production might even release a false signal–low yield of the wine.

To mislead someone like Shen, she was actually quite pleased.

But one day she arrived at her workplace to find not only Shen present but also the police.

Without a doubt, this brewery could be considered one of Young Master Dou’s adversaries.

However, after investigating, the police learned that it was actually the tax people who had been causing trouble for the company. Young Master Dou hadn’t had any contact with them at all, and so they merely reported his name.

Common sense suggested that at this time, most people would complain about the tax authorities being over-zealous–even without Young Master Dou’s involvement, the tax authorities had every right to scrutinize these matters.

In short, even if Dou’s issue was resolved, the tax troubles would still persist for the brewery. But if the tax authorities were taken care of, Young Master Dou would no longer be able to exert pressure in this way.

Thus, the police thought it unlikely that the brewery was involved, and Ye Qingyi was able to present various favorable pieces of evidence to clear any suspicion.

However, the day after the investigation, Head Shen brought people over and sealed the brewery.

Ye Qingyi was furious, seeking reason with him, but he coldly stated, “We now suspect you of tax evasion.”

In truth, as soon as Head Shen learned of Young Master Dou’s death, he had concluded that taking action now would go unquestioned.

He was leveraging the situation, brazenly borrowing the power of the Dou Family.

His calculations were precise; Young Master Dou’s persistence in troubling Spiritual Brewery indicated substantial interests at stake. Since the young master had died, why couldn’t he covet a piece of those benefits?

Whatever CEO Ye had said about ten yuan of profit, he didn’t believe a word of it–there had to be some trickery involved, and right now, what interested him was how much profit he could garner from this trickery.

Of course, if this situation could lead to forging a connection with the Dou Family, all the better.

Ye Qingyi was unable to prevent it, so she could only instruct a few trusted individuals to take their mobile phones and film inside the factory while sternly warning Shen, “It’s easy for you to seal us, but reopening will be much harder.”

Head Shen scoffed disdainfully, “Do you really think I’m scared? Give up on the idea of reopening; first go find a lawyer and ask about the fines and sentences for tax evasion.”

Although the factory had been sealed off, Ye Qingyi didn’t leave. Unable to enter the factory, she rented two minibuses, offering high wages for workers to sit inside and guard the factory around the clock.

You see, there were over eight thousand bottles of Spiritual Wine in the factory. Even though she only made ten yuan per bottle when she settled accounts with Gao Qiang, she was well aware of how much the wine could fetch outside.

Two minibuses–one blocked the factory entrance, while the other was placed across the small path. It’s lucky the distillery was built in such a remote location–to access the main road, this was the only path available.

Since the distillery had halted operations, the workers were supposed to be out of a job, but now the boss gave them this new task. Not only did their wages increase, but their job was simply to watch the factory, which was really quite relaxed.

Although guarding 24/7 was a bit tiring, there would be a reward if they caught a thief.

However, Ye Qingyi’s response played right into Head Shen’s hands; all he could do was seal the place, but given the situation, he sent two temporary workers to stay in the factory’s office area, claiming “to prevent you from transferring assets.”

Seeing this, Ye Qingyi could almost admire the maneuver, but since they had done it, she had to monitor even more closely. She even arranged to buy cameras the same day, planning to enhance surveillance around the area.

This action greatly displeased Head Shen. He scolded her for not trusting the authorities, but since he had brought few people, he couldn’t stop her from installing cameras outside the factory.

In truth, setting up cameras here was not something that could be done immediately. The location was remote, not to mention there was no electricity, so battery power was the only option.

The next morning, some distillery workers noticed footprints on the grass outside the factory. They suspected that the two temporary workers might have sneaked some wine out at night.

Of course, without catching them in the act, there was no bonus, and there was even the suspicion of negligence. However, they still informed Ye Qingyi–among them were CEO Ye’s relatives, who couldn’t just watch her suffer losses.

Upon hearing this, CEO Ye indeed turned pale with anger, but there was nothing she could do. She had to install the cameras immediately that day, even adding several infrared cameras.

The two temporary workers guarding the distillery heard their complaints, but to them, it didn’t matter. As long as the others didn’t try to enter the distillery, it wasn’t their problem–you could defame them all you wanted, but had you caught them red-handed?

That night passed relatively peacefully, at least with no apparent actions from the other side.

The next afternoon, Head Shen arrived in an off-road vehicle, claiming he wanted to check on the situation from the past two days. He even shared a drink with the two temporary workers, and then drove off.

But the workers wouldn’t let him get away so easily. They stopped the car to inspect it, checking if he’d smuggled anything.

Head Shen cursed loudly but couldn’t stop the workers as they rummaged through the car, leaving a mess.

In the end, the workers didn’t find anything, and Head Shen, bolstered by liquor, cursed fiercely, threatening to call the police sooner or later to deal with this bunch of troublemakers.

He was so infuriated that he returned again that evening by car, and this time, aside from the driver, he brought two more people, declaring it was time to switch shifts so the same two wouldn’t always be stuck in the factory.

He also said that shift changes would become routine, happening daily.

He said his piece, but when he left, the workers came forward again to inspect the vehicle.

Head Shen was completely fed up this time. “Fucking hell, I’ve seen bullying, but never have I seen bullying like this!” he exclaimed.

There were six people on their side, and a scuffle broke out between the two groups, on the verge of escalating.

The workers were starting to falter; after all, their opponents were in uniform and not few in number. Any trouble would surely be no minor issue, and the workers lacked a leader.

But at the crucial moment, Ye Qingyi appeared. She decisively declared, “We must inspect. It’s coming from my factory, and I have the right to do so. If something happens… I’ll take the blame! Even if people get hurt, it’s on me!”

Xiao Yezi may look gentle and delicate, but in a critical moment, she really dares to risk it all–in fact, she had quite a temper at home.

With a leader to rally behind, the workers surrounded them with an aggressive attitude.

Seeing this, Head Shen shouted, “Call the police, call the police! Get the cops over here!”

Ye Qingyi replied just as firmly, “Go ahead and call the police; who’s afraid of whom!”

The workers didn’t care; seeing their boss taking on so much responsibility, they were naturally unafraid.

Soon enough, two police cars arrived with sirens blazing, four police officers stepping out.

After the police understood the situation, they were somewhat at a loss, with one of the younger ones saying, “If they want to inspect, just let them take a look… It’s not that big a deal.”