More than 50 reporters were locked in the auditorium for a whole day.
It was seven o’clock at night, and they had spent eight hours there in the auditorium. All of them were extremely hungry and exhausted. Some people were so eager to go to the bathroom that their faces twisted in discomfort. During the eight hours of confinement, they had suffered tremendously both physically and mentally and were on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Some people tried to barge through the door yet were beaten harshly to black eyes and broken noses. The security guards even showed no mercy to women and slapped them on their faces. Feng Wuhen and his people who were wearing the security guards’ uniforms looked no different from a gang in the reporters’ eyes.
Some female reporters cried. Their will was almost crushed by the eight-hour torture of Feng Wuhen’s cruelness, adding to exhaustion, hunger, and desperation for the toilet. They were like prisoners in a holding cell, dreaming and craving for the free world outside.
“Good news, good news. President Xiao, the person you want to interview, is finally coming!”
The sharp and hoarse voice of Zhang Dashan sounded.
His announcement was music to the reporters’ ears. They all bucked up immediately as they knew that the tormenting wait was about to be over, and they would be able to get out of here soon.
Xiao Luo strolled in slowly and walked directly to the podium.
He was wearing a slim, long sleeve black sweater with bright red and white stripe. The sleeves were rolled up and showed his forearms. A slight smile was hanging on his smooth and fair face.
The reporters were all taken by surprise and thought to themselves: Was this the head of the Luo’s Workshop? How could he be so young!
No wonder they were stunned by Xiao Luo. The president of this type of company was usually a middle-aged man. They had never seen a CEO this young.
“I bet you’re all hungry? I have dinner ready for you!” Xiao Luo spoke while looking at the reporters.
Right after his voice faded, the staff of the Luo’s Workshop pushed in trolleys that were full of pastries and desserts and handed out several freshly baked bread to every reporter in the room. Xiao Luo had a share as well.
He sat down in a natural and poised manner and started to eat the food with great relish in front of the reporters. He said while eating, “The Luo’s Workshop is a company that produces baked goods. We only have these to serve you. Go ahead and eat it. You need the energy to interview me after finishing dinner.”
A male reporter who was wearing a pair of black-frame glasses snapped. As hungry as he was, the hunger was nothing comparing with the humiliation he had suffered today. He grabbed the bread in front of him and threw it on the ground with all of his strength, then stomped on it repeatedly and roared at Xiao Luo, “You don’t need to be such a hypocrite. You have locked us up here for a whole day. Wait to receive summons when we get out of here. More than 50 summons. I don’t believe you can get away from prison!”
The smile on Xiao Luo’s face turned into a gloomy look right away. He said, “I hate people who waste food the most.”
Feng Wuhen put on a vicious face and took a big step forward. He pointed at the black-frame glasses guy and yelled, “Pick up the bread!”
He menacingly enunciated each word.
The guy with the black-frame glasses trembled slightly. Tamed by Feng Wuhen’s despotic power, he picked up the bread unwillingly.
“Eat it!”
Two dispassionate words sounded up.
It was not from Feng Wuhen, but Xiao Luo, who was standing on the stage.
His voice was soft and quiet, yet enough to make every reporter present feel a quiver with fright from the depth of their souls.
Xiao Luo initially left a refined, courteous, and amiable impression in their minds. But that image collapsed abruptly at the moment. They realized that it was not these security guards who were brutal, but this seemingly harmless young boss.
The face of the guy with black-frame glasses changed suddenly. Shivering, he looked up at Xiao Luo on the stage and tried to speak, “You… You…”
He never expected the polite and good-humored Xiao Luo would be such a callous and cruel person who asked him to eat the dirty bread that was stomped by foot. He was deliberately humiliating him in public.
“You what? Brother Xiao asked you to eat the bread. Didn’t you hear him?” Feng Wuhen said with venom. With his ferocious features, he gave off a fierce look.
The fear for Feng Wuhen trumped everything else. The guy with the black-frame glasses didn’t dare to defy him and nibbled the dirty bread in his hand. He cried. A grown man was tortured to tears at the moment.
Xiao Luo put on a smile again and became a vastly different person from his dark self moments ago. The former was sunny and simple; the latter was wicked and merciless.
Other reporters met his eyes and hurried to lowered their heads to bite the bread.
“It looks like you are hungry indeed!”
Xiao Luo stood up in satisfaction and waved his hand. Zhang Dashan handed a folder of file to him.
The file documented the reporters’ information in detail. Zhang Dashan gathered those through his connections based on the reporters’ names. He didn’t do anything else all day except for trying to sort through the data here.
“Ding Xiaozhen!”
Xiao Luo announced a name, then continued to say, “Who is Ding Xiaozhen?” ”
“It’s… It’s me…”
A sweet-looking female reporter stood up awkwardly.
“Your hometown is the county of An in Hu province. Your parents are still alive and you have a younger brother still in school. Did I get it right?” Xiao Luo asked her with a smile.
The female reporter’s eyes widened. She nodded by instinct.
Xiao Luo ignored her and continued to read out the next reporter’s name.
“Lu Dehua, your home is at Tian city of He province. You have a six-year-old son…”
“Luo Jinyuan, you’re from Tang county of Jiangcheng…”
“Gong Lili, you’re from the county of Hehua in Shan province…”
All the reporters who were mentioned by name, along with their exact home addresses and family members, turned pale in an instant. Even though Xiao Luo’s tone was not threatening, they felt an indescribable sense of danger and horror.
Xiao Luo read aloud more than a dozen reporters’ background, then shut the folder close with a bang. His hawk-like eyes swept the room coldly and said, “Now, you can interview me!” He turned his head to face Zhang Dashan and said, “Return their equiment to them.”
“OK!”
Following the order, Zhang Dashan ran out obsequiously.
Soon after, he brought back the reporters’ microphones, cameras, and cellphones.
However, the reporters stood where they were motionlessly, staring at each other vacantly…
Interview? How were they going to interview him?
Their home addresses and family members were checked out by the other side. It was clearly intimidation!
At the moment, they were convinced of one thing, which was the Luo’s Workshop was really backed by the underworld.
The journalists were usually puffed with pride and didn’t care for stars or rich tycoons. They were even confident that they could take down any public figure if they wanted to. But they were frightened from the bottom of their hearts when it came to the underworld.
The underworld had no principles. They had to be prepared for retaliation if they offended the gansters.
“No, no. We will not interview you anymore. President Xiao, I promise, there will be no negative news about the Luo’s Workshop on any major media outlets.”
“Yes, yes. The bread of the Luo’s Workshop is up to standard and tastes delicious. We sampled it ourselves. It’s much better than Taste Buds’s.”
“We are too shallow to recognize your eminence. President Xiao is a magnanimous and generous man. We hope you won’t take umbrage at the likes of us.”
Conceded. The reporters all got down from their high horses and smiled apologetically at Xiao Luo.
In their eyes, Xiao Luo was the head of a gang who would harm people by underhand means that they could never afford to offend. They were now deeply regretful about listening to Chen Jianbai and coming to the Luo’s Workshop to look for trouble. In the end, they fell into a pit of their own digging.
