Chapter 15: The Barefoot Have Nothing to Lose

Still, he politely explained why he was there. “It’s true I was fired, but I worked for over twenty days this month. The company is obligated to pay me. Let me in to settle my wages, and I’ll leave right away.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the two guards mocked him ruthlessly. “You still want a salary? Do you even know who you offended the day before yesterday? That was our female CEO’s fiancé!

Getting fired was getting off light. If you have any sense, you’ll beat it right now. Otherwise, if CEO Xia spots you in a minute, a few superficial injuries will be the least of your problems.”

That instantly set Chen Liyang off. “You call this a superficial injury?” He pointed to his face.

If he hadn’t transmigrated into this body, the original owner might already be dead.

“I was injured on the job, so the company has to take responsibility. Besides, when a company fires an employee, they don’t just pay the current month’s salary; they also have to give proper compensation.

If you don’t give it to me, I’ll make a scene right here at the entrance. I’m barefoot, so I’ve got nothing to lose against you people in shoes.”

When reading novels in the past, he hadn’t thought much of it. Only now, when it happened to him, did he realize how little the protagonists cared about people at the bottom.

Just because they were the main characters, they didn’t have to give a damn whether minor characters lived or died. And to the readers, that seemed completely justified.

Figures as grand as them supposedly deserved free help from everyone else, and ordinary people were expected to serve happily as stepping stones.

Sacrificing everything for their career paths and romantic plotlines without a single complaint.

But now that he had transmigrated here, he was the main character.

Whether it was the crooked-smirk God of War or the female CEO, all of them could step aside.

After hearing him out, the younger security guard tried to reason with him. “We’re busy and don’t have time to waste bickering with you. CEO Xia explicitly said you’re not allowed to set foot in the company ever again. If we let you in, we’ll lose our jobs too. We’re all just working stiffs here, so why make things hard for us?”

Chen Liyang was never one to be soft-hearted. If he didn’t make things hard for them, he and his five kids would end up starving.

Being merciful to others was simply being cruel to himself.

“Fine. You’re not letting me in, right?” Chen Liyang flashed an unreadable smile.

The two young security guards felt unnerved by his smile. Just as they were wondering what Chen Liyang was planning to do…

Chen Liyang was already bellowing at the top of his lungs, “Excuse me, everyone, give me just one minute of your time! I’m an employee of Shengxia Group.

“I was fired for no reason, and they won’t even pay my wages! Whatever you do, don’t interview at this company!”

Right outside the building was a sidewalk with heavy foot traffic.

His voice successfully drew the attention of many passersby, as well as job seekers heading inside for interviews.

Seeing Chen Liyang slander the company in front of so many people, the guard panicked. “What nonsense are you talking about?! You were the one trying to play big shot, kicking someone out for no reason just to flatter some rich kid! And the person you kicked out was our female CEO’s fiancé! Firing you was a light punishment. You still have the face to ask for wages?”

Some onlookers who had initially felt a bit sympathetic toward Chen Liyang instantly changed their tune upon learning the whole story from the guard, deciding he had gotten what he deserved!

But Chen Liyang didn’t care about their judgmental looks. Instead, he seized on the loophole in the guard’s words and declared with righteous indignation, “Everyone heard him! I turned that guy away because I didn’t recognize him!

“Company policy explicitly states that visitors without an appointment aren’t allowed entry under any circumstances! I was just following the rules! Not only did I get beaten up for doing my job, but they also fired me and withheld my pay!

“I ask all of you to judge for yourselves, isn’t that just bullying?

“Just because the visitor was the CEO’s fiancé, I deserved to be beaten up?

“Would any of you dare to work for a company that treats human life like trash and doesn’t give a damn about frontline staff?”

In the novel, the original owner hadn’t even touched a single hair on the male lead’s head before being beaten within an inch of his life. It wasn’t even a mutual fight, nor self-defense on the male lead’s part; it was a pure one-sided beatdown of the original owner.

Even if the police came, they should be arresting the male lead.

He was going to see if this world truly trampled the law underfoot.

Before long, stirred up by his impassioned speech, many in the crowd began pointing and whispering about Shengxia Group, and a few even uploaded videos online.

No company, no matter how big, could afford bad publicity. Handled poorly, it could cause stock prices to plummet or even drive them into bankruptcy.

That was why so many giant corporations did charity work, all to maintain their public image.

Either way, Chen Liyang was going all out. Until he got his wages and compensation, he wouldn’t back down.

He refused to believe that he, a transmigrator, couldn’t win against paper characters in a book.

Seeing that things were escalating out of control, the security guard rushed upstairs straight to the CEO’s office.

At that moment, Xia Wei was processing documents. As for firing someone two days ago, she had long since put it out of her mind.

So when the guard mentioned that the security guard fired two days ago was making a scene downstairs, she didn’t react immediately.

It wasn’t until she walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window and caught sight of the glaring yellow hair at the front entrance that she finally remembered him driving Lin Fan away.

Seeing him making a spectacle while a crowd watched, her brows furrowed. “Are you all completely useless? You’re just letting him throw a fit outside?”

“Should… should we go chase him away right now? But looking at him, he seems set on getting what he wants. I’m afraid even if we drive him off today, he’ll just come back tomorrow!” the guard whispered, bowing nervously.

Xia Wei wore a look of disgust. The company was about to host a new product launch conference, so there couldn’t be even a speck of negative publicity right now. After a moment’s thought, she instructed the guard to bring Chen Liyang inside.

“Take him straight to the finance department, let him get his money and scram.”

The original owner’s monthly salary, including the perfect attendance bonus, was 4,500 Yuan.

It was a major enterprise, after all, so even a doorman’s pay was higher than elsewhere, complete with social security and housing fund^[1] contributions.

Since he hadn’t worked the full month, he naturally lost the attendance bonus. After all the deductions, it came out to only 3,455 Yuan. Even Zhou Bapi^[2] didn’t strip people down this badly, turning a complete blind eye to his workplace injury.

The finance manager looked impatiently at the man who took the money but still hadn’t left. “What are you still standing here for?”

“What about my injury compensation and severance pay?” Chen Liyang asked.

“Higher-ups only authorized me to pay out your salary for this month. There was no mention of injury compensation or severance. You ought to learn to be content. You know full well why you were fired,” the finance manager said coldly.

If the CEO’s secretary hadn’t called her personally, a minor issue like this would never have landed on her desk.

He knew that without orders from above, he could talk until he was blue in the face and this woman still wouldn’t give him another dime.

So he still had to find the novel’s female lead. With that, he turned and left the finance office.

As he exited, he heard the woman’s disdainful voice behind him: “A piece of trash like him expecting compensation? Keep dreaming!”