The situation did not allow him to ponder further. He quickly stepped forward and said loudly, "Everyone, please listen to me. There must be some misunderstanding. Our company would never consciencelessly use inferior materials."
The crowd’s chatter subsided slightly upon hearing him speak.
Lin Qi continued, "I don't know how you learned about this, but I assure everyone that our engineering quality is absolutely fine. All raw materials have undergone strict company checks, and there is absolutely no issue of using inferior materials."
"Don't listen to his nonsense!" Liu Qiang said hatefully, glancing at the broken camera in his hand.
"Do you all see? The camera in my hand is proof. I am a reporter from the Provincial Daily. After I discovered that this company purchased substandard reinforcing bars, they not only smashed my camera but also attempted to transfer this substandard reinforcing bar away!"
"You are talking nonsense. These two vehicles are from the scrap metal recycling station we hired. Our company was indeed unfortunately deceived, but we never intended to use this batch of reinforcing bars. If you don't believe me, ask him."
The driver beside him, seeing Lin Qi look at him, quickly nodded, "This young brother isn't lying to everyone. We were indeed here to take the reinforcing bars to the scrap metal recycling station."
Liu Qiang sneered, "Ridiculous. How can what you say be credible? Who knows if you are all in cahoots? Now that the matter is exposed, you naturally speak for him."
"Yes, who knows if you are all in cahoots? Are you treating us like fools? Hurry up and get out! We don't want your black-hearted, broken company." The elder once again led the shouting.
Another man chimed in, "Yes, we trusted you and handed over our houses, only for you to deceive us like this. You must give us an explanation today!"
The crowd's emotions were highly agitated, and someone even moved to attack Lin Qi.
"What are you doing? If you want to cause trouble, look at where you are." Wang Kuo arrived with over a dozen people. They were originally there to move the reinforcing bars, but upon seeing the crowd causing trouble, they quickly stepped in front of Lin Qi.
"None of you are good people. Can't we even speak our minds? You want to get physical, don't you? Do you know that this place where you are standing used to be our homes!"
The relocation had already been delayed by more than a month due to the Jiang family's affairs, and now this incident occurred. They had originally hoped to move in by the end of the year.
The more they thought about it, the angrier they became. They showed no fear of Wang Kuo and his group, and the two opposing sides were on the verge of a physical confrontation.
Suddenly, a car approached from not far away, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"Someone who can afford a car must be the black-hearted boss," said one of the relocated residents.
As his words fell, three or four people got out of the car. To everyone's surprise, the person in the lead was a young and beautiful woman.
"Assistant Zhu?" Lin Qi was visibly stunned when he saw her arrive. "Why do you have time to come here?"
He had seen the woman once when he signed the contract with Gu Xingdong. He knew she was the General Manager's Assistant at Dong Sheng Company and had come from the capital. She rarely stayed in the provincial capital, and he hadn't expected her to be on-site now.
"Your company has caused such a commotion, it's impossible for me not to have time."
Upon hearing her words, Lin Qi knew things were going south. It looked like she had come to assign blame.
"Assistant Zhu, this is all a misunderstanding. Our manager has already gone to..."
"I don't care what he's doing. With so many relocated residents here, I, as the developer, must make decisions for them." Zhu Shasha interrupted him unceremoniously.
It was even better that Gu Xingdong was not present. Once she had definitively settled the matter here, she would see what he had to say.
"Everyone, all the events that have occurred at Hong Yuan Company have absolutely nothing to do with our Dong Sheng Company. We merely contracted this project to their company."
Zhu Shasha turned to the dozens of relocated residents and said with a firm tone, "However, based on our principle of being responsible to everyone, I have specially invited two professional technical personnel in this field. They will know whether this batch of reinforcing bars has any issues after a simple inspection. If there are indeed problems, I guarantee that all the floors built after they took over will be demolished, and we will sue Hong Yuan Construction Company, forcing them to compensate both you and me."
"Our Dong Sheng Company has always prioritized the quality of residential buildings. Jiang Pan Garden was meticulously designed by designers from Hong Kong. Regardless of appearance or internal quality, it is absolutely a leader in the industry."
After introducing the situation and expressing her resolve, Zhu Shasha turned to the two technical personnel who had accompanied her and said, "Go and inspect this batch of reinforcing bars."
Lin Qi, having heard her speech and seeing the actions of the two men, said anxiously, "Assistant Zhu, this is truly a misunderstanding. This batch of reinforcing bars was only brought to the site today. After we discovered the problem, we immediately contacted the scrap metal recycling station. As for the demolition of the walls you mentioned, we have been using qualified reinforcing bars and have strictly followed the drawings during construction. There is absolutely no possibility of quality issues."
Zhu Shasha curved her lips slightly. "Words are not proof. Let's wait until after the inspection."
"There's no need for an inspection."
The sudden voice caused everyone to turn their heads.
"Mayor Yu?"
Zhu Shasha was visibly startled by the arrival of the person. Upon seeing Gu Xingdong beside Yu Guofeng, her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. Why had they come together?
"M-Mayor?" The other people present, especially the relocated residents, were stunned. They had never seen such a high-ranking official before.
"What this young brother said is correct. Not only these two trucks, but there are two more outside, all brought by Hong Yuan Construction Company to transport this batch of substandard reinforcing bars to the scrap metal recycling station."
As Mayor Yu's words fell, everyone's mouths hung open in shock.
So much reinforcing bar, all being sold as scrap metal?!
Gu Xingdong stepped forward and said sincerely, "Our Hong Yuan Construction Company has always put quality first. Nothing is more important than this. This was our oversight, which led us to mistakenly bring in this batch of unqualified reinforcing bars. I have already spoken with Mayor Yu, and all the reinforcing bars will be disposed of as scrap. No matter the loss, our company will bear it all. Please rest assured, everyone."
Everyone present fell silent upon hearing his words.
Gu Xingdong, having grown up in an ordinary family, deeply understood their eagerness to move into their new homes. The company's mistake should not affect them.
With this thought, Gu Xingdong spoke again, "It is difficult to purchase reinforcing bars now, and procuring new stock may delay the construction progress. I apologize to everyone for this. We will do our best to deliver on time. To express our apologies, our company is willing to provide an additional month's rent subsidy to everyone."
"This..." The elder who had been shouting the loudest earlier felt a burning sensation on his face after hearing Gu Xingdong's words.