Chapter 558 Cutting Corners
“Two companies are in charge of Area One—Serenity Group and Ditto Group. The person in charge of Serenity Group’s construction team is Ianto Jarlberg. He used to be part of the underground circles in Pollerton. The person in charge of Ditto Group’s construction team is Bacco Jasek, who graduated overseas. Both construction teams often got into minor conflicts. Today, Bacco discovered Ianto’s team didn’t carry out the reinforcement construction as specified and refused to pour the concrete. They are currently engaged in a fight.”
To enhance the stability of a high-rise building, reinforcing bars and concrete would usually be used as its main structure. Since concrete was cheap and only cost a few hundred for a huge sack, no one would try to substitute it for subpar materials.
However, it was different for reinforcing bars. The price for reinforcing bars depended on their weight. One could save a lot of money if one were to cut down ten reinforcing bars per floor.
Hence, many project managers preferred hiring experienced construction workers not because they were good at their job but because they knew the unspoken rules of the construction site.
For example, if a particular floor needed over four hundred reinforcing bars according to the blueprint, the construction workers would only use around three hundred reinforcing bars tacitly. They would then bribe the supervisor to pour the concrete over the structure so that no one would realize what they had done. The project manager and other higher-ups could divide the remaining money between them this way.
Ianto’s team consisted of such construction workers. He had also bribed the company’s supervisor. It was a done deal, and all there was left to do was to pour concrete over the structure.
However, Bacco refused to do so as the person in charge of concrete. Ianto did his best to convince Bacco to change his mind and even offered him a bribe, but the latter insisted on doing things according to the blueprint.
Assuming Bacco was deliberately making things difficult for him, Ianto started a fight with Bacco and his men.
When Jennifer arrived at the site with the rest, Bacco’s men were knocked down and couldn’t get to their feet. Ianto was stepping on Bacco’s chest as he declared, “Young man, you’re no match for me. My brother-in-law is the executive director of Serenity Group. Who are you? You’re just a nerd. If you admit your mistake, I shall spare your life.”
Bacco’s face was squished under Ianto’s foot, but he clenched his jaw and exclaimed, “It was your fault for not following the blueprint. I won’t allow my men to pour the concrete.”
“Oh, you’re stubborn, huh? Okay, then. I like stubborn people like you. I’ll break your leg. Let’s see if you can remain this stubborn!” Ianto grabbed a metal bar by his side. Seeing that, Jennifer rushed forward and called out, “Stop!”
Holding the metal bar in his hand, Ianto froze in his tracks when he spotted Jennifer. He had seen many pretty girls but rarely someone as gorgeous as Jennifer.
“Gorgeous, who are you?” “Ianto! This is Ms. Jennifer Wilson. Hurry, put down the metal bar!”
“Oh, Ms. Wilson.” Ianto tossed the metal bar aside and walked to Jennifer with a flirtatious expression on his face. “I heard that our group’s CEO is a gorgeous lady, but your beauty exceeded my expectations. Ms. Wilson, are you interested in having dinner with me tonight?”
Jennifer’s voice was stern. “Filbert told me what happened on the way here. As the person in charge of the reinforcing bars, how could you disregard the blueprint and construct as you wish? Do you know the consequences of cutting corners?”
As Jennifer was obviously here to confront him, Ianto’s smile disappeared. He dusted himself and replied, “Ms. Wilson, you’re the CEO, so you might not know much about construction. The reinforcing bars and concrete stated in the blueprint are actually more than the actual required quantity. Thus, even if we were to use lesser reinforcing bars, it wouldn’t affect the building’s structure.”
