Chapter 403: Chapter 388 Naked Murder_1
 

The tradition of our people seems to always hold foreigners in high esteem, as if foreign monks could chant scriptures better. This mentality cannot be changed overnight. In the country, the central government espouses economic construction and never advocates toughness towards foreigners. Therefore, local governments are generous with various preferential policies towards foreigninvestors, especially wholly foreign-owned enterprises. In the eyes of local governments, bringing in foreign capital is a victory. However, local government leaders overlook one issue. These foreigners come in droves not out of kindness, but to make money.

So, by extension, whether it is the government or functional departments, they are at an inherent disadvantage when dealing with foreign businesses.

At this moment, a Caucasian gatekeeper, just a gatekeeper really, using his half-baked Chinese mixed with English, has managed to intimidate a group of zealous police officers. They completely lose the righteous indignation, eloquence, momentum and attitude they had when dealing with the public.

The law enforcement personnel from various departments behind them have also stopped. If the police in front aren’t moving, they don’t move either. After all, these officers are no fools. They know not to stick their necks out.

A single white man has blocked the entire team, causing some embarrassment among the city government leaders. Nie Zhenbang doesn’t look pleased either. He glances at Zhao Xintian and Zhang Keqiang next to him, both of whom look worried. If any diplomatic incident is caused involving foreign businesses, it could shock the central government. At that time, it would be minor if the foreign businesses were the ones in trouble. But if they lose their future prospects, that would be serious.

Nie Zhenbang harrumphs, and Chen Le next to him tenses up. He knows well the temper of the Mayor. Back in New Li City, Nie had quietly removed a county party secretary. This attitude, this boldness. Chen Le still remembers it clearly till now.

Then, Chen Le steps forward, pushes through the crowd and stands in front of the gate. The police officers next to him, seeing their superior taking action, also step forward. At this moment, Chen Le’s attitude is unquestionable. These individuals are sharp, who doesn’t want to curry favor with their superior? If they get in his good graces, their official career would be smooth sailing.

“Private factories? Foreign companies?”

Chen Le coldly harrumphs and repeats, glaring fiercely at the Caucasian man in front of him, sternly saying, “Sir, you need to understand what place this is.”

Upon seeing the puzzled look on the Caucasian man’s face, Chen Le says again: “Remember, this is the People’s Republic of Huaxia, the land of Liangxi City in Jiangbei Province. Here, you only have the right of use, not ownership. Any enterprise or company on the territory of Huaxia must comply with Huaxia’s laws and regulations and cooperate with the local government. You call it a private factory and refuse entry? Do you think this is an extraterritorial area?”

“No, shit, you can’t go in, I’m going to complain to your government. You have no reason to go in. I can refuse, if this were in the United States, I would definitely shoot you.” The white man starts to rant again.

Westerners’ long-standing discrimination against people of color still exists, although there have been significant changes nowadays. Nevertheless, the phenomenon persists, and the number of people with such ideas is not small.

“Steven, what’s the matter? God, what are these people here for, a robbery? Huaxia is just too unsafe. We chose to invest in here and it’s a thoroughly disappointing decision.” At this point, an even more exaggerated voice rings out from behind.

Inside the factory, a middle-aged white man in a suit walks towards this side, his gaze unfriendly as he stares at Chen Le and the others.

The gatekeeper, which is the “Steven” from the middle-aged man’s mouth, breathes a sigh of relief at this sight. Judging by his appearance, this man must hold quite a high status.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Bob. These people are unreasonable. They want to enter the factory for an inspection.” After explaining, Steven steps aside. With a higher-ranking official stepping in, Steven tactfully steps out of the way.

Hearing Steven’s words, Bob frowns and steps up, “Gentlemen, what are you trying to do? We have an agreement with your Deputy Mayor Li, our Welgan Pharmaceuticals is a key enterprise to be protected, and our production workshop is a Level 100,000 clean room. Can you bear the consequences of what you’re doing?”

No sooner had his words fallen than Nie Zhenbang stepped out and spoke gravely, “Mr. Bob, right? I am Nie Zhenbang, the Mayor of Liangxi Municipal People’s Government. Did your agreement have an official document? I was not aware. Moreover, it is every enterprise’s duty to cooperate with the local government, regardless of its nature. Can I ask if factories in the United States also refuse regular inspections from local governments? To be blunt, if you were to manufacture drugs in your workshop, are we not supposed to ask questions?”

Nie Zhenbang spoke in Chinese, confident that anyone sent to Huaxia would know some of the language. As expected, the man named Bob immediately protested upon hearing him, frantically waving his hands and saying, “No, no, honorable Mayor, this is a false accusation. I will lodge a complaint against you to your Foreign Trade Commission, and our U.S. Embassy. You are insulting our dignity.”

Observing the typically obstinate behavior of these foreigners, Nie Zhenbang furrowed his brows and said to Chen Le, “Director Chen, draft our administrative decision. Let’s go through the regular procedure first. No matter how high this issue escalates, I am determined to get a clear resolution. The living environment of six million people in Liangxi City cannot be devastated by a few foreigners.”

Hearing Nie Zhenbang’s words, Chen Le nodded. The various law enforcement departments, not only the Bureau of Public Security, but also the environment and industry departments, had plenty of administrative decision forms readily available. They promptly filled in various administrative decision forms and handed them over.

Following this, at Chen Le’s signal, the police officers swarmed in, securing all the key passages. The technical personnel from the environmental bureau, who were the highlight of this surprise inspection, rushed directly to the workshops with their diverse instruments.

The dedicated staff from the City Environmental Bureau were particularly efficient in their work. Even over the phone, the Mayor made sure the Bureau’s Director understood the importance of the situation, and he promptly selected a few of the best engineers from the city bureau for the task.

Although these people might not be powerful politically, they were incredibly skilled technically. In no time, they identified the factory’s pollution discharge outlet as per the layout of the workshop and factory area.

Upon seeing Welgan Pharmaceuticals’ pollution discharge outlet, the environmental bureau technicians were horrified. One of the slightly older technicians trembled and said, “There’s no purification pool. There’s no recycling treatment facility. All the waste water and residual waste from the pharmaceutical factory is being discharged directly into the Liangxi River. If this continues, even the high water volume of Liangxi River would only endure for three years. For rivers with smaller water volume, the whole basin would probably be polluted. These foreigners, they are basically committing murder.”

“Professor Liu, I feel like I’ve fallen behind by a decade. Even our domestic pharmaceutical factories know how to design basic sewage treatment facilities, let alone those from developed countries like the U.S. How come there is nothing here, and they are openly discharging waste?” A young technician asked Professor Liu by his side.

“Humph, foreigners are indeed not reliable. Nowadays, if pollution processing were to be considered, the U.S. and Europe have the best technology. They know, but they are just not willing. Waste disposal facilities are expensive to build, and require regular cleaning and periodic replacement of certain core components. This is a significant expense. In their countries, they are required by law to do this. But here, they act like overlords, backed by foreign businesses while the government turns a blind eye. The government has spoiled them.” Professor Liu huffed and said discontentedly. Then he looked at the young man beside him and said, “Xiao Zhang, I think there’s no need to go elsewhere. The main pollution from the pharmaceutical factory is air pollution and waste water. Looking at the air quality here, it’s not good. There’s no need to test it. Could you please invite the city leaders over?”

After Xiao Zhang reported the situation, Nie Zhenbang and others immediately came over. When they saw the pollution outlet, they were appalled. The factory had not yet ceased operation, and from where they stood near the river on the factory side, they could see four wastewater outlet channels, all more than two meters in diameter, within a few hundred meters. There were no treatment measures in place, not even pipelines. Instead, they were discharging waste openly and continuously into the river. The black, yellow, and even green liquids discharged were corroding and polluting the river. The clear water that flowed from upstream began to darken from this point on.

“What are you doing? Stealing Welgan Pharmaceuticals’ commercial secrets? Who is in charge here? I am the person responsible for Welgan Pharmaceuticals. Now, I am officially lodging a protest on behalf of our company to your government. We reserve all rights to seek redress.” A white man in his fifties jumped in at this point.

At this moment, Nie Zhenbang was seething with rage. These foreigners were too audacious. Instead of showing any remorse, they defiantly tried to turn the tables.

“Director Du, Director Chen, instruct your personnel to take pictures and keep the evidence. In addition, collect samples of the waste water and residual waste for testing and sealing.” Nie Zhenbang ordered decisively. After a pause, he continued, “Director Du, according to the relevant provisions of the ‘Environmental Protection Law,’ immediately issue an administrative penalty notice to them, order them to cease operation for rectification within a specified period. Afterwards, they must pass your strict inspection before they can resume operation. Now, Director Chen, send someone to instruct all the factory workers to stop working. Seal off the factory. If such a factory continues to operate for one more day, it is irresponsible to the health and lives of the local people.”

After finishing his speech, Nie Zhenbang stepped forward, walked up to the man, and said in a deep voice, “You are in charge here? Good. Let me introduce myself. I am the Mayor of Liangxi Municipal People’s Government. Now, I officially notify you that your factory has violated the relevant provisions of our ‘Environmental Protection Law.’ From now on, your Welgan Pharmaceuticals must cease operation for rectification until your pollution discharge level meets the mandates of our national law. Do you understand?”

Once Nie Zhenbang finished speaking, the man reacted as if his tail had been stepped on, immediately jumping up and zealously retorting, “No, you can’t do this. You don’t have the right. We have an agreement with your government. I will report you to our Embassy.”

“Sue us?” At this moment, Nie Zhenbang looked at the man dismissively and replied curtly, “As you wish. Even if you report this to your president, my stance remains the same.”

Without paying any further attention to the man, Nie Zhenbang turned to the people behind him, saying, “Director Du, have your people deal with this issue along with Director Chen’s personnel. The others, follow me to the next factory, the Bose Chemical Company.” (To be continued. If you like this novel, please come to qidian.com to vote for us and support us. Your support is our greatest motivation.)