Chapter 190: The Rose Factory

Inside the abandoned factory.

The freshly picked dried leaf roses were piled up in a mountain in the open space of the factory, next to the dazed exiles who had been rehabilitated by Bai Liu and were staring in awe at the pile of 'loot' that had been brought here only this morning.

A few sweaty stragglers propped up by the rose bushes, shaking the drops of sweat from their hands and breathing a long sigh of relief, were the same laid-off rose factory workers who had been taken away by Bai Liu this morning to help dry the rose petals.

This considerable pile of dried leaf roses was also carried back by them.

Someone was shocked by the pile of rose petals that had been brought back, and stumbled forward to ask the men, with fear visible on their faces, "Why did you steal so many roses? If they catch you at the factory, you'll be executed!"

"Yeah yeah yeah give it back!"

"If you steal more than 1kg of dried leaf roses, you will not be able to work in the rose making industry, except if you are killed.

Following the global spread of dried leaf rose gas, there have been calls from those involved in the rose factory for a specific set of laws to protect this precious and limited resource.

Despite all the controversy, the law was published.

The law covers denunciations of Rose of the Dry Leaves, fines and detentions for civilians who promote the idea that Rose of the Dry Leaves is harmful, exclusive rights to the Rose of the Dry Leaves gas perfume that can be used for 10 million years without being shared with anyone, and private research into the perfume's formula, which is a serious infringement punishable by a fine of 10 million dollars or more.

Any person who steals, steals, smuggles, or deals in illegal dried leaf roses of more than one kilogram or more than three or less than five bottles of low grade dried rose leaf gas shall be punished by death, or by suspended imprisonment with hard labour for life if the rose factory is willing to hand them over privately.

A simple translation of the latter penalty means that if the prisoner commits a crime related to the Rose of Dried Leaves, he can be handed over to the Rose Factory for disposal - alive or dead - if the Rose Factory so wishes.

When the law was first introduced, half the world protested against the severity of the punishment, but no one questioned the validity of the punishment.

At this time the Rose Factory introduced a regulation that the factory was willing to give you a ten year supply of free perfume for reporting people around you who were harbouring illegally obtained dried leaf roses and who were developing perfume.

At one time, there were voices everywhere attacking each other. It was said that at its peak, the Rose Factory could receive 100,000 tip-off calls a day, and after this battle, which saw the Rose Factory dry up a number of criminal civilians, the opposition waned and not many people questioned the rules anymore.

Everyone went from fierce resistance at the beginning to fear at the sight of the pile of stolen roses - not only fear of the regulations themselves, but also fear of betrayal by some of them.

This is because the Rose Factory reward for reporting still exists today, but the reward has been reduced from ten years to one year, but there is still a steady stream of people calling the number.

There are even desperate mothers or sons who, in order to keep their dying children, or parents, alive, take it upon themselves to steal the dried leaf roses and become criminals, then force their own families to report them so that the other can get the ten-year perfume that will renew their lives.

But now no one is saying this layer of why they are afraid.

"It doesn't matter to me anymore if I'm dead or not." One of the stragglers who had carried the roses caught his breath and looked up at the fearful stragglers around him with a bitter laugh, " Mr. Bai for all the risks we took to get this pile of dried leaf roses out, he wasn't afraid to die, is it our turn to be afraid?"

Someone propped up the rose and stood up with a long, complicated sigh, randomly raising his head with a steely gaze, " Mr. Bai, a fabricator who could have been clothed and fed and could have lived a lifetime of wealth and prosperity, yet he was willing to fight tooth and nail to help us, and so openly put such a big handle into our hands... . he really believes in us untouchable rotten folk."

There was a moment of silence, and everyone's eyes heaved as they looked at the pile of roses.

"And I know you're all bitter and you're all scared." The man said, then turned his head to look at a couple of other porters who had stood up, "These flowers were carried by a few of us, and just now on the way we discussed that if any of you really wanted to get that year's perfume reward through that Rose Factory tip- "

He looked at the mutilated and miserable faces of the stragglers, "Then report us porters, we were the ones who moved it in the first place, we can't let the good people who stood up for us get killed."

"In this day and age to be a good man is to break the law, and people are afraid to take the risk of being a good man anymore." He smiled with tears in his eyes, his voice choked as he lifted a hand to wipe the corners of his bursting eyes, "Now without this Mr. Bai, the next Mr. Bai, probably not until after my daughter and grandson are dragged to their deaths, I don't want him to die, he's too rare."

When the man finished, no one moved, standing still and motionless.

One minute, two minutes ...... Finally someone moved.

The young woman who had previously been holding the child asking questions about Bai Liu put down the child in her hands to the person next to her, she took a deep breath and stepped forward, bending down to hold a large pile of roses in her arms, and turned her head to look at these people who had not yet moved.

"This pile of roses must be over 1kg." The roses set off her otherwise dead white face with the rosy anger of a living person, and she looked up at the men and said, "I counted these roses as stolen, they have nothing to do with Mr. Bai, so if you want to report me, report me."

"I believe Mr. Bai will give my children a new, free world where there will be no more death sentences for stealing roses." Her eyes burned, the roses in her eyes were as bright as fire, and she spat out with clear certainty, "I would die for that."

Someone's eyes changed.

Gradually, slowly, hesitantly, as if they had made up their minds, the stragglers moved towards Rose Hill.

They came forward to embrace bush after bush of roses, dried leafy roses that would not wilt, blooming brilliantly and passionately on their chests and under their eyes like fire.

"This kilo is on me ......"

"We are a family of three in addition to children, please give me 3kg ......"

"Can I get 10kg per person? It's a death sentence anyway, it can't be any worse than it is now ......"

The huge mountain of roses faded away into a small bouquet of roses in each stranger's arms, and they stood like actors being offered flowers on an empty construction site, performing a curtain-raiser called [Defiance] as Bai Liu had arranged and intended.

And as a token of appreciation for their perfect, passionate, wholehearted performance, Bai Liu presented a bouquet of dried leaf roses as a token of appreciation for these unknown and unsung performers.

Standing aside, the porter who had first spoken looked at the stragglers in front of him with some bewilderment.

In all those years, there was never a collaboration against the dry leaf rose that could not be dismantled by that reporting reward from the rose factory, he simply did what Mr. Bai told him to do ......

It is surprising that this time not a single person reported them for the more than 1,000 kilos of stolen roses.

This porter recalls the events of the morning.

While he was secretly carrying the roses, he worriedly told Bai Liu about the reward for reporting, and anxiously said that all of them who helped carry the roses were definitely willing to help Mr. Bai and would not betray him, but they were afraid that someone might have a different intention!

Reporting this kind of behaviour simply cannot be stopped! Bai Liu as their leader must be the easiest to target!

Standing in the sun, Bai Liu lifts his eyelids and the rose in his right eye is as vibrant and beautiful as the drifter has ever seen.

Bai Liu, with a very strange little smile on his face, asked the straggler rhetorically, "Why do you want to put an end to this behaviour?"

This straggler was stunned: "But if you can't eliminate it, this thing you've led us to do will be completely scrapped ah ......"

"Firstly, people are self-interested creatures, and it is not logical that anyone would let go of the benefits available to them in front of them and choose to take risks for what another person is going to do, so it is fundamentally impossible to stamp out this kind of profitable prosecution of others."

Bai Liu swept him along and continued, "Secondly, I think you've been getting one thing wrong, I'm not leading you on this, the subject of this is you, I'm just a manager who you've bought a solution from, you're the ones paying the price of the deal."

"IMO, the only way to completely solve this whistleblowing to reporting thing is to make the subject of the revolt against it everyone in your group, not me, a nebulous token."

"The logic of the benefits of reporting the matter itself is not valid when you yourselves can get the most out of it."

Bai Liu looked at him blandly, "All you have to do is get everyone in there to recognise, at your instigation, that they are the subject of the crime, not the object, and that the person they are reporting includes themselves."

"So, what am I to do?" The straggler looked at Bai Liu with a bit of confusion and hope, "Mr. Bai, what should I do to incite them?"

Bai Liu hooked the corners of his mouth as he gave that friendly smile that would make Mu Sicheng, Muke, Liu Jiayi and Tang Erda's backs tingle when they looked at him, "If it were me, I'd probably say this ......"

This straggler's gaze was dazed and disoriented as he watched what was happening in the factory.

Almost every step of what had just happened was as Mr. Bai had told him, and Mr. Bai even mentioned a few times that he should put more emphasis on children and offspring when he spoke, and make more eye contact with the mother who had asked him questions yesterday -

--so that this mother would be the first person he would successfully incite.

As soon as the first person steps out and the window is broken, the rest is well in hand.

It would not have been difficult - the Mr. Bai commented tersely - for such oppressed to the extreme common interest groups to be best instigated.

Because they have no worse option than the status quo.