CHAPTER 633: CHAPTER 591: ALREADY HAD A PLAN (PART 2)

Her heart skipped a beat as her fingers clicked on the top link to the authoritative news agency’s report faster than her brain could react.

Row upon row of boldfaced keywords slammed into her vision like heavy hammers: "To implement the new national energy security strategy and promote green low-carbon transformation, with... with xx’s approval, it has been decided to establish the Haidu New Energy Industry Pilot Zone... with a focus on developing..."

"Core area of the pilot zone delineated... covering the original Haidu Port bulk cargo operation area and East Port Sea Area tidal flats..."

Li Yuanyuan’s breath suddenly stalled, her eyes locked onto the clear and striking "Haidu New Energy Industry Pilot Zone Core Function Area Planning Map" accompanying the report.

The location marked in striking deep red blocks tightly covered... the tidal flats where she played since childhood and where her dad worked his entire life! That area of nearly a thousand acres of sea and shoreline for which Sea Star Company had a fifteen-year use right!

On the computer screen, the design draft she was editing instantly blurred, and a deafening boom echoed in her mind.

She grabbed her phone abruptly, her trembling fingers almost failing to hold it steady, and frantically dialed her dad, Li Guozhu.

The call connected almost instantly, and her dad’s familiar loud voice came through the receiver, mingled with the roaring machines and the workers’ chatter in the factory area: "Daughter? What’s up? I’m busy here..."

Li Yuanyuan opened her mouth, only to find her throat so dry that she couldn’t make a sound, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She took a deep breath, using all her strength, and squeezed out a few words through her trembling teeth, her voice hoarse and distorted:

"Dad... don’t be busy... quickly... check the mobile news... the farm... and our family’s side... it’s... it’s going to be seized by the state!"

On the other end of the line, Li Guozhu’s rough voice suddenly stopped.

...

In the afternoon.

In the meeting room of Sea Star Company, freshly painted and still smelling faintly of lime, it was so quiet that you could hear the dust falling.

Lei Ran was blocked at the door by dozens of employees; to avoid chaos, he had gathered everyone here.

The air seemed to solidify into a sticky gel, pressing heavily on everyone’s chest.

Old Zhang’s skinny fingers unconsciously adjusted his glasses, Xiao Wang’s face turned ashen as he nervously touched the wedding ring he’d worn for years with worn edges, and Old Fang pressed his lips tightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as if swallowing a tremendous shock and an indescribable bitterness.

They looked at each other, unsure of how to begin.

"Boom—!" A dull thud sounded as a young employee accidentally dropped his phone on the table.

On the screen, the news page flashed, that eye-catching red-framed planning map shining glaringly.

The dead silence was shattered.

An elderly technician, his hair gray, and his family very poorly off, finally couldn’t help but speak first: "Manager Lei, this... this red frame... is sealed tightly... the company’s... this piece of sea, and the land facilities... it’s all inside! Without this sea, wouldn’t the farm... be gone?"

He dared not utter the word "bankrupt," but everyone understood—their jobs, their livelihoods, were hanging by a thread!

A month ago, had they seen their increasingly declining company teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, mentally prepared, it might have been easier to accept.

Especially since the company had gotten increasingly better over this past month...

The benefits they received were tangible!

Their hopes for the future were equally aspirational!

But now, to suddenly say the company’s done for, who could accept that in their hearts?

The young technician who dropped the phone suddenly looked up; like Li Yuanyuan, he had just been officially hired through recruitment. President Yan offered welfare and benefits comparable to those in the Imperial City and Magic Capital. With plans already laid out for the next five or six years, he could see himself growing here.

Who would have thought that happiness would be so short-lived after just a month?!

"Is there a chance that this thing could change?"

"The state has issued a document, what could possibly change?"

"Without this sea, what fish are we going to raise?! Without a farm, what will we eat?!"

"We toiled for a month, the company was just coming back to life, now it’s about to fold again!"

Li Guozhu pondered: "The state provides compensation for requisitions, surely they wouldn’t let President Yan suffer a loss. She’s so kind, she won’t leave us hundreds of employees in the lurch—I believe, under President Yan, we’ll surely have a way to make a living."

Wang Daman, who had been staring intently at his phone screen, repeatedly enlarging details of the planning map, suddenly let out a short, sharp, cold laugh.