Chapter 452 On Fire


    The bodyguard lifted the man by his cor, dragging him through the crowd. Meanwhile, Maria''s


    assistant wiped her hair with a wet tissue. "Ms. Song, what should I do with this one?" he asked.


    Maria nced at the worker and said to her bodyguard, "Let him go!"


    She could tell that many of these people had been bribed to participate in the rally.


    Due to his anger, the bodyguard want to disagree. "But-"


    "I said let him go!" Maria interrupted.


    The sternness of her voicepelled the bodyguard to let the worker go. At once, the worker


    rushed into the crowd, disappearing.


    Maria stopped her assistant from cleaning her up. With a piercing gaze, she looked at the women


    who had hit her and said, "The reason I''m here today is to solve this problem. If anyone dares to


    use violence again or try to hurt an innocent person, I won''t show them mercy!"


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    The women felt guilty for what they had done; they stepped back, holding their baskets tightly.


    "I won''t let anyone speak ill of me again! That man who just ran away, I will make him pay for doing


    so. Perhaps he''ll be able to go home, have a meal, and take a shower, but he''ll be receiving a letter


    from mywyer very soon!" Maria announced. That wretched man had no escape because the


    of justice was infallible.


    Due to Maria''s warning, the crowd''s tant disrespect of her had died down.


    "No matter what titudes I say, and no matter how many times I say it, the best thing to do would


    be to give you the wages."


    The workers were in agreement with her. "Yes, that''s right."


    "Indeed, Ms. Song. We don''t want to cause trouble either. We just want our wages!"


    Maria took out her phone and called the manager of the finance department. Once the manager


    received her call, he was put in a very difficult situation. "Ms. Song, it''s not that I don''t want to


    transfer the money; it''s just that thepany has already allocated money for several other


    projects. We can''t take out that much cash at the moment. Can we please make them wait two


    more days?"


    ''Two more days?''


    Maria looked at the hundreds of pairs of expectant eyes before her. None of them were greedy.


    They were just waiting for the money they deserved; money that they pinned their hopes on to


    continue living.


    Shortly, she hung up the call. Unfortunately, DS Group couldn''t afford that much money for the time


    being. Fosun Entertainment Group and DS Group were two differentpanies. It wouldn''t be


    impossible for her to use Fosun Entertainment Group''s money. However, if she didn''t follow the


    formal processes, this would be illegal.


    In the end, she said to Cesar, "Give me the bank ount number of the finance department." She


    still had something that could save her situation-her own savings.


    "Yes, Ms. Song."


    Once she had transferred millions of dors to distribute to the workers on the spot, Maria was


    faced with another problem. She had gone beyond her withdrawal limit.


    Taking a deep breath, she decided to call the only person that could save her: James. "I need your


    help. I''ll give you an ount number. Please transfer five million dors to the ount."


    A few minutes after she sent her ount number to James, she received the five million dors.


    Maria felt warm. Whenever she was in a bind, James would stop at nothing to help her.


    An hourter, Maria sent him another message, saying, "I need another five million dors."


    There were hundreds of workers. Adding to their regr sries, bonuses and overtime pay for


    several months should be given to them as well. Maria had spent nearly twenty million dors to


    settle all ounts.


    By the time the matter was settled, it was already dark. However, the problem with the partners still


    hadn''t been solved.


    In the evening, Cesar arranged a banquet at a restaurant. Maria invited all the partners to attend.


    Just when she was about to enter the restaurant, she caught sight of Summer. At first, she thought


    that her eyes were deceiving her. But upon closer inspection, she realized that it was actually


    Summer, walking towards her.


    "Maria," she greeted.


    "What are you doing here, Summer?" Maria wasn''t expecting to see her here.


    There were two other people standing behind Summer. "Mr. Xi asked me to be here. He mentioned


    that you haven''t settled the problem with your partners yet, so you probably need the money. These


    two are bankers sent by Mr. Xi. Maria, if you need money, no matter how much it might be, they''ll


    transfer it to you."


    Maria was so speechless. ''Wow, James is so powerful.''


    Suppressing the gratitude she felt, Maria nodded and said, "In that case, let''s go inside and have


    dinner first!"


    Now that she had the liquidity to pay the loss of the partners, this matter was solved much easier.


    She also promised that she would give them an additional two percent of the profits after the goods


    had been delivered, despite the fact that the wholesale price would remain the same.


    Later that evening, Maria didn''t go home yet because she had to keepforting the workers


    tomorrow and persuade them into continuing working for the factory.


    After she went out of the restaurant, she told Summer to go back to the hotel first.


    Afterwards, she went back to the factory along with her chauffeur and Cesar. This factory was ten


    thousand square meters wide.


    Maria went to the warehouse to check the goods. At present, there were already many products in


    stock, ready to packaged and released at any given moment.


    At her side, Cesar said, "Before Farris left, he urged the workers to go on strike, and said that the


    company was refusing to pay them their wages."


    "It''s my fault that it happened." Maria thought that the reason she was betrayed was because she


    was too trusting. Farris was just one of many. His sincere and loyal demeanor had her fooled.


    Despite the fact that it was already summer, the temperature in the town wasn''t that hot. When they


    went to the packaging room, a man rushed in from outside. "Bad news!"


    Maria''s heart sank at once. As he caught his breath, the man said, "The products are on fire!"


    Maria wasn''t sure how to react to that.


    Just now, the products perfectly fine. How did a fire start within a few minutes?


    Immediately, they all ran towards the warehouse that stored the products.


    The second they stepped out of the packing room, thick smoke rising from a certain direction


    greeted them. Judging by the density of the smoke, the fire wasn''t small. Maria was getting more


    and more anxious by the second.


    Sure enough, when they went into the warehouse, they found that half of therge room had been


    set aze, and there were already many people going in and out to put out the fire.


    "Have you called fire service?" asked Maria.


    "Yes, Ms. Song."


    "Good. Do what you can to stop this fire, and wait until help arrives."


    Maria was about to rush into the warehouse, but her driver stopped her. "Ms. Song, it''s too


    dangerous to go inside!" "It''s fine. I''m just going to take a quick look inside. I''ll be careful!" Shortly


    afterwards, she shook the chauffeur''s hand away and walked forward.


    The size of the fire rendered everyone unable to get close to it. Those who had enough courage to


    try and put it out were now too scared to get any closer. The water they had brought was only a


    drop in a bucket. And all they could do was watch as the fire devoured all their inventory.


    Thick smoke billowed, causing Maria to cough.


    Just then, she caught sight of a figure at the corner of the warehouse not far away.


    "Who''s there?" she asked.


    Upon hearing her voice, the person hiding in the corner immediately ran away.


    There must be something fishy about that person. Without hesitation, Maria ran after the strange


    man.


    The chauffeur and Cesar exchanged nces before they ran after her.


    There was a back door in the warehouse, which the strange man used to escape.


    Maria also went through the door, but before she could see which direction the culprit was heading


    towards, a voice stopped her in her tracks. "Don''t move!" Suddenly, two people appeared from


    behind her. One of them pressed a gun against her temple, and the other was holding a dagger to


    her throat.


    By the time the chauffeur arrived, it was all toote. He could do nothing but watch as the dagger


    was pressed against Maria''s neck.


    Taking out his gun and pointing it at the two criminals wouldn''t make a difference.


    Nobody had expected that something like this would happen to Maria in the factory. It turned out


    that what happened today was just a setup for something far bigger and more sinister than they had


    imagined.


    In H City Restaurant


    James was talking business with some government officials when his phone vibrated on the table.


    He nced at the caller ID and found that it was from Maria''s chauffeur.


    "Mr. Xi, something bad happened to Mrs. Xi!" said the chauffeur.


    James was too devastated to speak.