strictlysupreme Chapter 762 is full of bitter tears.
Chapter 762 is full of bitter tears.
Inside were about twenty strong young men. I chatted with them for a bit; they were all there to work. I didn't think much of it, ate something, and went back to sleep. I slept like a log for the next two days. Two days later, I found myself in the middle of nowhere. They just made us work; we didn't even know which way to run.
Sister Zhao slapped her thigh and said, "Oh dear, you're so carefree! How could you sleep all the time in a strange place all by yourself?"
"That's just how I am; I fall asleep as soon as I get on the bus. I'm a grown man, not a timid wife. I never imagined that a grown man like me would be scammed by human traffickers."
Sister Zhao was shocked. "A human trafficker?"
"Yes, I saw with my own eyes the leader take money from them, several large stacks of cash. He sold us out to them."
"Oh, and then what? These grown men can't have kids, so what's the point of buying you?"
"It was pitch black all around, just coal. They took us straight into the mine to dig coal."
"What? You've stumbled upon an illegal coal mine?"
Yang Guangzong nodded, and with tears streaming down his face, recounted his life in the illegal coal mine.
They have to dig for more than ten hours a day, and when they're rushing to finish, they might have to work through the night. Those who don't want to work will be electrocuted.
Those who try to escape will also be electrocuted.
They do get paid, and it's not a small amount; they get a hundred a day.
Upon hearing this, Sister Zhao said it was alright, even though it was a bit hard work, because it would bring in money.
Yang Guangzong immediately retorted, "What a load of rubbish! The salary is one hundred, but that's just an excuse to appease the higher-ups when they come to investigate. Everything we eat, drink, and use costs money, and it's several times the price outside. For example, a steamed bun costs five cents outside, but we get twenty cents in the mining area."
Sister Zhao exclaimed, "Oh? It's so expensive?"
"Yes, and they're much smaller than the steamed buns outside. We do manual labor, and if we don't eat a lot, our bodies simply can't handle it. They say it's a hundred a month, but to ensure we don't starve, at least sixty will be deducted. If we want to eat our fill, eighty or ninety will be gone."
Sister Zhao was shocked. "It's not like we did it for free?"
Yang Guangzong nodded and said, "Yes, and we get paid every six months. After all the deductions, I only got fifty yuan in the first six months."
Sister Zhao: "Tsk tsk, it's better to collect recyclables."
Yang Guangzong nodded again.
Sister Zhao then said, "If it's so bad, why don't you leave?"
"I'd like to, but I'd have to pay the referral fee if I left."
"Huh? What referral fee?"
Yang Guangzong sighed again, "Introduction fee is just a nice way of saying it; to put it bluntly, it's money for selling yourself. Didn't I say before that the people who took us there sold us out? The money they got from the mine owner is actually called an introduction fee."
"Oh my, tsk tsk, isn't this just money for selling yourself? What referral fee?" Sister Zhao clicked her tongue several times.
"Yes, that's the money they get for selling us. That's how it is. Back in my hometown, human traffickers call it 'receiving a gift from the matchmaker,' but it's just a different name. What do they call it? Avoiding legal risks."
Sister Zhao raised an eyebrow at Yang Guangzong, who was in a disheveled state, and desperately suppressed her laughter.
Actually, she had heard Fang Qing talk about Yang Guangzong before.
A man who abuses his wife keeps complaining that she was bought.
So he thinks he knows everything? Now it's his turn to be sold out.
"How much is the referral fee?" Sister Zhao asked.
"I don't know the exact amount, but I saw someone else ask and they said it was three thousand."
"Three thousand... Goodness, it doesn't even cost three thousand to get a wife."
"Of course! My wife..." He paused here and quickly changed the subject.
"It takes me half a year to save fifty yuan, a hundred yuan a year, and three thousand yuan for thirty years. In thirty years, I will be almost sixty. I will be too old to work, and that will be when I can come back."
He felt a pang of sadness as he spoke, his voice trembled, and he lowered his head, falling silent.
Sister Zhao looked down and saw that he seemed to be crying.
Sister Zhao said, "It hasn't been thirty years. You came back in less than three years."
Yang Guangzong sniffed, and it took him a while to raise his head.
"I didn't pay compensation to get out; I escaped on my own."
"Hey, didn't you say you'd get beaten up if you ran away? How did you manage to escape?"
“Our mine collapsed, killing several people. I was lucky; I survived and managed to crawl out. While they were busy rescuing people, I ran away.”
"Oh my, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. You're lucky. Now that you've escaped, don't think about those things anymore. Find a decent job and be a good person. Good fortune is yet to come."
Yang Guangzong was furious. "Hmph, this matter isn't over yet! I want... I want..."
Sister Zhao said, "What are you going to do? You can't fight a whole company by yourself. Besides, there's a salary, and I've never heard of charging referral fees being illegal. You probably won't win the case."
Of course he knew about these things. People had investigated before, but the investigations always came back the same.
People say his food is expensive, and that he has to bring it all over the mountain, which increases the transportation costs.
They accused him of illegal detention, but he said he could leave anytime after paying the referral fee.
Of course, some families also offered money to ransom their children.
Call home, and you'll have to pay for your own trip down the mountain; all sorts of expenses are exorbitant.
If you complain about the referral fee being expensive, they'll say it's collected by the agency and tell you to go find an agency.
They've all disappeared; where are we supposed to find them?
As for the claim that they assaulted someone, that's completely untrue.
They don't hit people, they just shock them.
Suing the company? You can't win.
Of course, he had heard about it too. He was lucky; at least this mine had some semblance of legitimacy and was considered semi-regular.
There was that completely unregulated illegal coal mine; it was ruthless and predatory.
If you disobey, no one will know even if you're beaten to death.
Unable to deal with such a large company, he could only blame Fang Qing for it.
"Sister Zhao, all the old houses where I used to live are gone."
"Yes, the whole place has been demolished, and the new houses are all ready."
Yang Guangzong muttered, "This is too fast."
Sister Zhao said, "This area is surrounded by residential buildings and schools. I heard that the deadline set by the authorities was tight, so they demolished it and rebuilt it immediately. It was done in a few months."
Yang Guangzong nodded. "What about Fang Qing and her family? Where did they move to?"
“Lu Jiangting’s work unit allocated him a house, so naturally he moved into the new house.”
Yang Guangzong clenched his fist, cursing Fang Qing inside and out in his mind.
If she hadn't brought him to Nancheng and introduced him to an illegal worker, he wouldn't have suffered all this.
He lost his wife and almost lost his life.
She, on the other hand, went off to live a good life with that pretty boy and even moved into a new house.