"Damn it. Jobs are so hard to find nowadays. College students without connections can only be tutors or poorly paid copyists. Swire Shipping has so many ships now; it was supposed to be a great opportunity."
Suddenly, someone complained loudly.
This instantly struck a chord with the others.
Yes, jobs were scarce and life was hard, which was why they had been so enthusiastic towards Old José and his group.
But the opportunity had suddenly vanished.
And for such a ridiculous, unacceptable reason. No one could swallow that. As they began venting their frustrations, a hint of a smile flashed across the eyes of the man who had started the conversation.
Seeing that the time was ripe, he quickly said, "Actually, I have a great idea."
"What idea?"
"All these problems exist because that Eastern woman is a wicked anti-white racist. If we make her get out, leave Portugal, and leave Swire Shipping, and let our own people be the boss, there naturally won't be any problems."
The air fell silent for a moment.
"But she's the largest shareholder, and she brought in so many ships..."
Someone said hesitantly.
"So what!"
The man forcefully interrupted before the other could finish, speaking rapidly. "This is Portugal, our country. How can we let an Easterner bully us? If we all protest and march together, the government will definitely consider our opinions."
The crowd paused, tempted.
Yes.
This was Portugal.
Su Ning was an outsider. Even if she didn't try to win them over, she actually dared to blatantly discriminate against white people. She had simply sparked public outrage.
What did it matter if she had shares?
As long as the government stepped in, deporting her would be an easy task.
Similar scenes were taking place everywhere.
Lisbon was like a pot of water on the verge of boiling, bubbles forming at the bottom, just waiting for the right moment to boil over and explode!
...
On the other side.
"The situation is very serious. It's not that simple. Although Thomas and his people aren't as wealthy as you, they have been operating for years and have extensive networks. Plus, those shareholders of Swire Shipping are also helping them in secret."
Not long had passed since the funeral.
Madam Anna's complexion had become much rosier. Fortunately, her figure remained slender, her mannerisms elegant and moving, and she exuded even more of the old aristocratic grace.
At this moment, however, she emphasized her tone:
"Su, don't think they are ridiculous. Beneath God's grace, there lies another set of filthy, dirty rules. They are very likely to succeed!"
The person opposite her still looked nonchalant, as if she had just snapped back to reality. Blinking, she rested her chin on her hand and suddenly smiled at her.
"What are you laughing at?"
Anna didn't understand and even felt a bit frustrated. After all, she had rushed over to deliver the news as soon as she received it, even though she had been about to set off for a trip abroad to relax.
"It's nothing."
Su Ning sat up straight and had someone bring in pastries and tea.
A small piece of cheesecake with just the right amount of sweetness, paired with slightly bitter black tea, made for an absolutely perfect combination. She recommended it to Anna.
Taking a small bite.
Even the anxious Madam Anna let her brows relax a little.
It was indeed delicious, and novel too.
Hearing her praise, which sounded like poetry, perhaps a line from some long poem, Su Ning took the opportunity to give her the recipe. It had to be said that Su Er truly deserved the title of the most expensive robot. Even his culinary skills were second to none. He was skilled in almost all cuisines in the world, including desserts, of course.
At this time in history, cheesecake had not yet been invented.
According to the rules, the recipe was not included in Su Er's database.
But Su Ning only had to mention a few words.
And he knew how to make it.
After taking a couple of bites of cake, Su Ning smiled, though the curve of her lips was as sharp as a blade. "A bunch of snakes and rats. Even if they gather a crowd, they are merely disgusting. I'm not afraid of them."
Anna's heart stirred.
She didn't ask anything more, only softly telling her to be careful.
"I will."
The two chatted about other things, such as how Antonio, in order to pay off his debts, went to court with the Faust family to demand back a deposit. But he was no match for the Faust family, and the money he finally received had shrunk significantly.
He had no choice but to continue selling off other things, even cutting the jeweled buttons off his clothes to sell. Even this wasn't enough; with each passing day, his debts grew substantially.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Naturally, he set his sights on the things in his mother's hands, causing a whole lot of chaos.
Anyway.
When he came to repay the money, the scratch marks on Antonio's face hadn't even scabbed over. He applied several layers of powder but still couldn't cover them up, showing just how heavy-handed the blows had been.
Anna noticed that she wasn't that happy, but rather found it ironic.
Back then, their family of three was so harmonious and deeply affectionate, praised and envied by the outside world, yet this was the final outcome.
On the other hand, Su Ning was no longer thinking about Antonio. He was just useless trash whose rewards had been squeezed dry, worse than even an NPC, and completely unworthy of her attention.
She was thinking about those shareholders.
Speaking of which, they had brought this upon themselves. In order to pressure her, they had listed dozens of restrictions in the contract. They couldn't break free, couldn't escape, and even the time limit was kept extremely short.
It seemed there were less than ten days left.
If they didn't inject capital soon.
Their shares would inevitably be diluted. A cornered dog will jump over a wall, let alone humans. So, it was only natural for them to collude with those truly desperate executives and join forces to deal with the big villain, Su Ning.
She just hadn't expected that the path they wanted to take was inciting the masses to drive her away directly.
This was simply.
Great!
Thinking of the NPC reward line chart that had been skyrocketing these past few days, occasionally even dropping a ten-thousand-dollar grand prize, Su Ning couldn't help but laugh.
At this moment, Anna took her leave.
Before leaving, she couldn't resist saying, "No matter what plan you have, you must implement it as soon as possible. Perhaps you could first send someone to pacify those employees, promise not to cut their salaries and benefits, or even increase them, and then open up recruitment. Then naturally, no one will participate in the protests."
"That way, even if Thomas and his group manage to persuade certain government officials, they won't be able to pull you down."
After thinking for a moment, she suggested tactfully:
"The cost of doing this is also small. Once the storm passes, you can just revert things back to how they were."
She wouldn't even need to fulfill the promises.
Just drag it out, drag it out until her position was secure, and pretend it never happened.
Su Ning: ...
This felt so familiar.
"No."
Su Ning said righteously, "I am an honest person who keeps my promises. How can I casually deceive others? This is my bottom line as a person."
"..."
Anna tried hard to restrain herself from saying: So you actually have a bottom line?
Taking a rather inelegant deep breath, she still couldn't hold back, "I'm sorry, I can't think of a way to save Swire Shipping without trampling on your bottom line."
"Then let me tell you."
Su Ning said generously: "Of course, it's to utilize my greatest advantage. It's true that this is Portugal, but is there anyone in the world who doesn't like money?"
She then asked sincerely:
"By the way, is the Portuguese government strict on cracking down on things like bribery?"
The room fell quiet for two seconds.
"Not strict."
Anna's voice was a bit weak. Yes, the key to the matter did not lie with the incited masses, nor did it lie with Thomas and his people. The ones who truly mattered were the officials!
As long as they fed them well with money and benefits first, then everything would be perfectly fine.
No matter how many people protested, it would be useless!
At most, Su Ning's reputation would just get even worse—but did she care?
The answer was self-evident.
However, doing things this way would definitely cost a fortune, or at least far more than Anna's proposed method. It was impossible for Su Ning not to know this, yet she stubbornly refused to compromise...
"Su, you aren't actually racist against white people, are you?" Anna asked faintly.
Originally, she hadn't believed it at all. In her eyes, the likelihood of Su Ning looking down on absolutely everyone was far greater than her discriminating against white people in particular.
Everyone knew that Su Ning was arrogant, but Anna, who was an equally proud person, felt that Su Ning's arrogance was extraordinarily unique.
It was as if she were looking down on the entire world.
Su Ning did not answer this question. After seeing Anna out and returning inside, she let out a long-suffering sigh to the system. "Alas, so the feeling of intentionally smearing one's own name and not being able to defend oneself is actually this painful!"
System: ...
Sorry, I really couldn't tell.
...
Although Portugal didn't have the exact idiom "a long night is fraught with dreams," the underlying sentiment was exactly the same.
And so.
Soon, the "water" completely boiled over. On the night before the protest, countless people were too excited to sleep. Some excitedly described to their families the beautiful future that awaited them once Su Ning, that damn racist, was finally gone.
Others simply gathered together to party.
Someone generously provided drinks, and everyone drank and chatted, bragging loudly about how they were going to humiliate that Eastern witch. The atmosphere grew increasingly fiery.
