Chapter 809: A new road (please vote for the big chapter)
Chapter 810 A new road (please vote for the big chapter)
Scattered snow blew into the wide balcony.
The old man with white hair looked up to the sky.
"It's snowing again."
The blond girl with twin ponytails on the side also stretched out her hand to catch the falling snowflakes.
"The last time we met was almost eight years ago,"
The old man stared at the snowflakes melting in the palm of the girl's hand, then looked up at the girl and whispered, "In the blink of an eye, you have grown so big."
He slowly raised his hand, as if he was recalling something, "I remember the last time I saw you,"
He put his hands a little higher on his waist and said, "You are only so tall."
"Although we haven't had time to meet each other for so many years, we have always kept in touch on the Internet, Uncle Endil."
Willie took back her hand and looked at the old man amusedly, "It's not like we haven't made video calls before, but you are watching me grow taller."
"Hahaha,"
Endil laughed and turned to look at Willy, "As I get older, I always like to recall things from my youth."
He reached out and picked up the books on the table,
"Speaking of which, when I was young, I hated what others said the most, like, 'Last time I saw you, you were just this old,' and 'I hugged you when you were a kid.' Unexpectedly, I became the
This kind of person laments the changes in others."
"Rather than lamenting the changes in others, it's better to say that you are lamenting the passage of time in yourself."
Willie closed her palms and let the warmth of her palms melt the snowflakes that had just fallen into her hands. She looked at Endil's old face and said, "Uncle Endil, you have aged a lot."
"yes,"
Endil turned around and looked at the empty and lonely office, "Time is not forgiving,"
He turned his head, glanced at Willy, and asked softly, "So, little girl, have you made your choice?"
"Um,"
Willy nodded, "I want to run for office."
"Where to start?"
Endil turned around, took the book in his hand, and walked towards the office.
"Let's start with the city councillor,"
Willie thought, "I want to change this city."
"Change this city..."
Endil was slightly dazed. He raised his head and looked at the huge oil painting hanging in the middle of the office.
What is painted on the oil painting is the scene when United Industries was established. Two young people stood in front of the podium and stared outside the oil painting with high spirits.
"Your father also said this to me back then."
The old man slowly lowered his head and staggered towards the desk.
"careful."
Willy quickly walked up and helped the old man.
The old man turned his head, glanced deeply at the blond girl, and suddenly smiled, "You are much better than your father back then. When he was your age, he was still a playboy. He only knew how to eat, drink and have fun every day until later.
He started taking over his family's business, and things gradually changed."
He lowered his head and sighed, "If your father sees you like this, I don't know whether he will be happy or sad."
"So my father..."
Willy's voice lowered, "Did United Industries do it?"
"It was the Eternal Secret Cult that did it,"
Endil shook his head slightly, "Of course, the Eternal Secret Cult may have already been in contact with United Industries by that time."
"So what did you do in the first place?"
Willie supported the old man and spoke in a slightly lower voice. After a brief pause, she continued to ask, "With your reputation and power back then, you could completely contain United Industries."
"Contain United Industries, and then what?"
The old man held his desk with his hands and turned around to look at the blond girl with twin tails.
"Then you might be able to control United Industries..."
Willy was stunned by the old man's question and answered subconsciously.
"Control United Industries, then what?"
Endil looked at Willie and continued to ask.
"Then you can continue my father's reforms. Haven't you been trying that kind of reform? There are still many people who miss my father's era..."
Willy looked back at the old man and said quickly.
"Um,"
The old man nodded slightly. He raised his head and looked at the huge oil painting in the middle of the office again. "Girl, do you still remember how your father 'stepped down'?"
"Vincent colluded privately to convene a shareholders' meeting and dismissed my father from his position."
Willy replied softly.
"Then do you know why Vincent was supported by the shareholders' meeting?"
Endil looked at Willy with a smile, "A company held a meeting and fired the founder who had a high prestige in the company. How did such an unreasonable thing happen?"
"Vincent colluded with some shareholders and suddenly attacked his father..."
Willy expressed what she had always heard.
"The removal of the chairman of the board of directors requires the approval of shareholders accounting for at least two-thirds of the total shares,"
Endil leaned on the desk, still looking at Willy with a smile, "This is the charter formulated by your father back then. More than half of the people voted to have your father step down. Vincent colluded with the 'part'
, actually the majority within the United Industries."
"But,"
Wei Li actually knew this. In the previous conversation with He Ao, He Ao clearly asked United Industries about its attitude towards her father. She actually also figured out that United Industries must be dissatisfied with her father.
She paused, and continued under Endil's gaze, "Don't they know that what my father did is beneficial to this city, and to the people in the Storm District and Akka District?"
Endil glanced at Willy in surprise, seeming a little surprised that Willy skipped asking about United Industries' true attitude towards her father.
"Girl, you have grown up a lot,"
He continued hoarsely, "The shareholders of United Industries naturally know that your father has done a good job, and even most shareholders admire your father, but my son, what is most beneficial to Winter City is not necessarily what is good for United Industries.
The best thing for industry.”
"ah?"
Willy was a little dazed.
"As a shareholder of United Industries, what do you think shareholders want most?"
The old man walked behind the desk little by little, pressed the book in his hand on the table, and asked in a low voice, "Want City can produce and supply its own cheap industrial products, or can the people in Aka District and Storm District smile happily?
?”
"no,"
Weili shook her head subconsciously. As the largest individual shareholder of United Industries, she knew very well what the shareholders of United Industries wanted. After a brief pause, she whispered, "It's 'money'."
"In order to prevent United Industries from being controlled by Rockville Energy Group again,"
Endil said in a hoarse voice, "Your father rejected all proposals to go public. In order to rapidly develop the industry, he spent almost all his profits on the construction of factories in the Novit District, and the price of all this was..."
"The shareholders of United Industries cannot get any dividends, and they cannot quickly realize their property through the stock market, so the shareholders of United Industries are dissatisfied with my father,"
Willy answered in a low voice, and after a brief hesitation, she continued, "But my father could have divided part of the profits and attracted a group of shareholders, and as an industrial zone, the Novite District is also profitable."
"it's useless,"
Endil shook his head, "That's what your father did back then, but the price offered by Rockwell Energy Group was higher. Compared with the income from the financial market and energy mining, pure industrial profits are not enough. What's more, your father also
Through various guarantees, the factory’s labor costs have been greatly increased.”
His eyes looked at the oil painting again, scanning the bright crowd standing around the two young people in the oil painting.
"In the eyes of many shareholders, your father is a madman who gave up higher profits and instead pursued low profits or even losses."
He continued slowly, "The biggest source of profit for United Industrial shareholders now is to obtain high profits by selling energy ore to Rockville Energy Group, and then use these profits to buy back stocks to increase the stock price, and at the same time invest in purchases
Real estate and other financial industries.
"Rockville Energy Group now holds more than 30% of the shares of United Industries and is the largest shareholder of United Industries.
"Your father gave United Industries this name in the hope that it could unite, get rid of the control of Rockville Energy Group, and develop Winter City's own industry."
Speaking of this, the old man smiled mockingly, "Now it is neither a union nor an industry."
Willie opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but she didn't know what to say.
The original purpose of her father's establishment of United Industries was to resist the control of Rockville Energy Group, to make Winter City stronger and relieve the people of Winter City from their plight.
But now, United Industries has become Rockville Energy Group's helper in controlling Winter City. The city has not changed at all, and is even worse than before.
It was as if their years of hard work were all in vain.
"We spent decades proving that a conglomerate was not going to work,"
Endil withdrew his gaze and looked down at the book he was holding.
"After your father was dismissed, your father and I reviewed the situation countless times and conceived countless possibilities, but we all ended up with the same outcome.
"As long as there is such a consortium, whether it is called United Industries or United Mining, it will eventually pursue higher profits.
“This is the route it will inevitably take as a consortium.
"Unless we can create a joint industry that is fully controlled by someone, but under the external pressure of Rockville Energy Group, without any funds, we will be annexed by Rockville Energy Group before annexing other mining companies."
At this moment, Willie could somewhat understand why Endir gave up resistance completely after her father's death.
At this moment, the old man raised his head and looked at the blond girl,
"Actually, the city government is not as powerful as you think. The tax revenue we can receive is actually very small.
"United Industries has many ways to avoid taxes, even by influencing the city council to pass laws that are beneficial to them. However, in fact, this situation has been maintained before the establishment of United Industries, but at that time, what influenced the city council was lax
The Mining Union of the City of Winter.
"The situation was better when your father was in power, but it got worse after your father stepped down.
"Now the main tax sources of the city government are consumption tax and personal income tax. However, the income of Wente citizens has been getting lower and lower in recent years, which makes the consumption tax and personal income tax received very low. Maintaining the existence of the city defense army is already
Very reluctantly.
“We have no money to invest in building roads, and even because of government debt, we have to sell previously built public facilities to United Industries to increase income.
"In the end, all changes will still come from United Industries, but United Industries will inevitably lead to the pursuit of profits."
He raised his head and sighed,
"Actually, everyone knows the current situation in Winter City, I know, and your father knows.
"Even Vincent was one of your father's most fervent supporters back then. He knew very well that Winter City should change, but his interests and his rights pushed him to take the path that was most beneficial to the United Industries.
"All of us are bound by invisible threads, leading to our destiny's ordained ending."
The old man turned his gaze and looked at the blonde girl with cloudy eyes, "So you still want to run for election? Even if you sit in my position, you may not be able to accomplish anything."
Willy looked at the old man in front of her silently.
She could feel the depression and despair, as if everything had been fixed, and the wheels of history were moving toward the end.
It seems that this is how the hungry and wandering people in the Acre and Storm areas, and this desperate city, should reach their final destination in the fate of hunger and wandering.
She felt that this was wrong, but she was unable to break away from the thin thread of fate.
At this moment, she finally understood why her father would often sit there alone in a daze after he stepped down.
She finally walked on the road that her father had walked. The road ahead was dark and foggy, and she couldn't see the slightest hope for the way forward.
The air around her was so quiet, so quiet that she could hear her own dull heartbeat.
For some reason, she suddenly recalled the scene of sitting in the funeral parlor hall. The young man holding milk tea looked at her calmly, and the low voice of inquiry rang in her ears again.
"Is it the poor people of the Storm and Acre districts who support your father's rule, or is it the joint industry?"
The invisible arrow shot from the past pierced her thoughts at this moment.
When she first heard this question, she didn't give an answer. She didn't know how to give the answer, but now she suddenly realized that the question itself might be the answer given to her by the young man.
It is impossible for United Industries to betray her and seek benefits for the poor in the Storm District and Akha District, so her father, who relies on United Industries, will inevitably be dismissed.
If she wants to change the fate of the people in the Storm District and Akka District, and change the fate of Winter City, she cannot rely on the power of United Industries, but must rely on the power of this city.
Rely on the power of the silent, silent one.
This may be a road that no one has ever walked before, or it may end at the beginning.
But she still raised her head, looked at the cloudy eyes of the old man in front of her, and nodded slowly and heavily, "I will do my best."
"You seem to be in good company,"
The old man looked into the girl's eyes, as if he had realized something, and the cloudy pupils seemed to be a little clearer. He handed the book in his hand to the girl, "This is a summary of my investigations on various areas of Winter City over the years, and
All my experience over the years, I hope it helps you and your companions,"
His voice was long and slow, "I hope you can find a new path, I hope you can change everything we cannot change."
"Thanks,"
Willy reached out and took the book, nodding heavily, "I will work hard."
She knew that the boy actually saw much further than she did.
——
storm zone
Lena, who was carrying the boy on her back, stood in front of the open church door.
