Chapter 204 Pointing at the Mulberry Tree While Scolding the Locust Tree
This middle-aged woman, Xyla Johnson, had a bigger build than Caroline, but facing Xyla's aggressive attitude, Caroline didn't feel intimidated at all. In fact, she felt more confident.
Someone who's emotionally unstable and quick to anger was the easiest to expose their weaknesses.
So dealing with someone at Xyla's level wouldn't take much effort from Caroline.
She smiled sweetly and spoke slowly and deliberately, "Mrs. Stafford, we've all been waiting for you."
Xyla froze. The tantrum she'd been preparing to throw was completely deflated by Caroline. "Waiting for me? What for?"
Caroline said, "Mrs. Stafford, didn't I mention on the phone? You're the legal representative of the brick kiln factory, and you must be present for our inspection."
Seeing Caroline's cheerful attitude toward his wife Xyla, Parker threw his cigarette on the ground and ground it with his shoe while saying, "What does a woman, as you, know anyway?"
His words had a double meaning and were clearly meant as an insult.
Isaiah said, "What kind of attitude is that? Show some respect."
Parker sniffed and frowned, "Why'd you even answer the phone? What do you know?"
With outsiders present, Xyla's face turned red and white from being scolded, but she didn't back down. "Who are you talking to? My phone rang, so I answered it. Isn't that what phones are for? When it rings, what am I supposed to do, just let it sit there and listen to it ring?"
Parker, having already lashed out verbally, rushed forward to fight with Xyla, but was immediately held back by several quick-eyed people.
"What are you doing, what are you doing?" Isaiah grabbed Parker's arm and pulled him back. "You're going to fight with cops here?"
Caroline also held Xyla back. "It's not a big deal, calm down."
What was supposed to be an inspection got delayed another half hour because of the couple's fight. Finally, when they'd both calmed down, the inspection officially began.
Oliver headed for the electrical meter box. Caroline said, "We're going to check the meter now. Let's all go take a look."
Parker was still angry and turned his face away, saying irritably, "I'm not going."
Ronan said, "You sure about that? Don't come crying later when the power inspection finds problems and you say you didn't see it, so you won't admit it."
Caroline watched Parker's expression. He was clearly calculating something. He pressed his lips tight, then nodded slightly. "Let's go."
The whole group marched toward the electrical meter box. As they walked, Caroline struck up a conversation with Xyla.
"Mrs. Stafford, how many years has this brick kiln been operating?"
Xyla replied, "Seven or eight years."
Ulysses, walking beside Caroline, moved a bit closer, listening extra carefully.
Caroline said, "That's quite a while. The factory must be doing pretty well."
Xyla was about to answer when she heard Parker cough behind her.
Xyla immediately understood and said with a laugh, "Business isn't good these days. Not many orders. You might say we make money, but whatever we earn gets eaten up by raw materials, labor, transportation, utilities, and all sorts of messy expenses. Running a factory costs money everywhere, and we still have to pay taxes. After all the expenses, we barely make enough to support our family of three. We're just earning hard-earned money. Better to work for someone else than run your own business—it's exhausting. You guys have it good, working for the power company with good benefits and job security. We're jealous."
She was crying poor to suggest the brick factory wasn't doing well—no production meant less energy consumption. But from what Xyla just said, Caroline felt she wasn't as simple as she appeared. Xyla definitely knew what was going on. That fight earlier was all to disrupt the inspection's rhythm.
So if this brick factory didn't have problems, Caroline wouldn't believe it.
Caroline asked again, "How many kilns are making bricks now? I see four chimneys in the back, so there should be four kilns, right?"
Xyla said, "When we built the brick factory, we did build four. But the kilns we bought were all second-hand and break down a lot. When a kiln breaks, business suffers. We've stopped using two of them on and off."
"Now only two work, but one of those is seriously worn out and breaks often. When it breaks, we have to get someone to fix it, and the manufacturer is in another city. Takes at least half a month to get it sorted out."
Caroline followed her train of thought. "So only one kiln is running normally?"
Xyla smiled so hard her crow's feet doubled. "Yeah, just one kiln that can work."
Caroline said, "Kilns firing bricks, electric machines pressing bricks, then large blowers to dry them—that uses quite a bit of electricity."
Hearing this, Xyla immediately denied it. "Not much, how much electricity could it use? One kiln firing bricks doesn't use that much."
She wasn't admitting to anything.
Caroline asked, "Have you calculated how much electricity these machines use per day?"
Xyla smiled and shook her head. "Who calculates that? Besides, we don't understand that stuff. The machines are there, so we use them. We pay our electricity bill on time every month, never miss a payment."
They happened to pass by the brick-making workshop. Through the door crack, there were at least twenty-some people inside.
Caroline asked, "How many workers does one kiln need?"
Xyla blinked. "Six."
Then, remembering the other workers in the factory who couldn't hide now, she backtracked, "Parker is a good man. He hires elderly people from the village. The older ones can't find work elsewhere, so he brings them in. Normally, one kiln needs six people, but Parker wanted to help with village employment, so he hired a few extra to do small tasks."
Caroline asked, "So how many workers does the brick factory have now?"
Xyla smiled. "I don't know exactly how many. Sometimes the brick factory rushes orders and needs to hire more people. Some work short-term, like hourly workers, so the number really isn't fixed."
After all that, she still hadn't given Caroline a specific number. Caroline's stride suddenly stopped, and she turned around and walked briskly toward the brick kilns.
Xyla wasn't prepared. Out of the corner of her eye, she just felt the space beside her empty. When she looked back, Caroline had already passed through the archway.
She pushed Parker beside her. "She went that way, hurry up."
Caroline entered the brick-making facility. This one used electric machines to press bricks. In front of her, a row of brick-pressing assembly lines—currently only one was running.
She went to the second production line. There was a large puddle of water on the ground. Her black leather shoes stepped into the water as she touched the production line belt—it still had residual heat. She went to the other two production lines. The belts that powered their operation all had residual heat.
So it wasn't true that only one production line was in use. Just these four production lines alone consumed electricity that didn't match up with their usual payment amounts.
Caroline asked, "Mrs. Stafford, these production lines weren't running today?"
Xyla looked at Parker. "They weren't, right?"
Parker said, "No, absolutely not."
Caroline walked to the front, looking at the power ratings and other parameter information marked on the machines, and called Ulysses over. "Ulysses, come help me calculate this."