I Am Extraordinary Alone
Chapter 462 - 460: Coffee Shop

Chapter 462: Chapter 460: Coffee Shop

2120, January 2.

The weather finally began to cool down, this year’s summer lasting five months until January of the following year, with temperatures only dropping below 30°C then.

The climate summit convened in Bolabakli with various national meteorological and environmental protection departments participating, but as usual, the meeting intended to address extreme climate changes devolved into a farce of mutual recriminations.

This time, however, Yin Country made significant concessions at the meeting. Environmental organizations demanded that Yin Country further reduce its per capita carbon dioxide emissions by half and close all domestic factories not meeting international environmental standards. Some radical trade unions also demanded that Yin Country purchase garbage from Western countries to process it using low-cost labor.

Yin Country’s delegation initially resolutely rejected these impudent demands, but Li Lianhua, considering the support of Westerners for the new government, still asked the advisory team to agree to this matter.

Several days after the meeting commenced, Venerable Qin instructed Li Lianhua to hold a press conference announcing the complete abandonment of Fengrao City’s disaster relief and reconstruction efforts. Although the new government of Yin Country had never planned to rebuild Fengrao City and had moved the capital early on, this was the official confirmation of complete abandonment.

This move provoked protests from millions of former Fengrao City residents, but the police forces had completely suppressed dissenting voices. Simultaneously, the bodies of several local officials who reported Li Lianhua’s embezzlement of disaster relief funds were retrieved downstream by civilian rescue teams from the Fengrao River, but were immediately confiscated and burned by police forces, and those involved from the civilian rescue teams were threatened to keep silent.

The people of Fengrao became displaced within the country, losing their jobs and properties, forced to move to other cities for survival. In just a few years under Venerable Qin’s leadership, all citizens felt that the government’s efficiency had declined from the past, and the national atmosphere had overnight changed, with nightclubs blooming everywhere, casinos becoming legalized, and even parents discovering vendors selling addictive drug-laced candies at elementary school gates.

Suddenly, panic surged, morals declined, and unemployment soared.

New capital, Bianhai, 2 PM.

At a coffee shop called "Awakening" on Wangzi He Road, 35-year-old Hu You, as usual, came in with his laptop and ordered the cheapest coffee at the counter before going to his usual seat.

The café did good business, and the 100 square meter space was always full in the afternoon.

The long tables were filled with middle-aged unemployed men like Hu You, the individual seats by the glass storefront held some delivery workers resting, and a few women in their early twenties were reading. Four older women had joined additional stools from neighboring tables around a small round one, chatting loudly and cracking sunflower seeds while gossiping about neighbors.

Hu You had been unemployed since last year; however, he had some savings in his pocket and was still able to maintain the dignity of "Tony Hu."

In these small booths at Awakening, the gathered men tacitly agreed never to inquire about each other’s past. Seeing each other regularly, they came to the coffee shop punctually, enjoying an illusion of going to work and temporarily considering each other as "colleagues."

"Did you watch the news yesterday?"

Hu You had just sat down when a bespectacled man next to him leaned over to greet him, his face full of indignation.

This man, Brother Gao, looked young, but his hair was already balding in a typical way of an older programmer.

Hu You glanced at his laptop, its black screen filled with dense lines of code; Brother Gao seemed to have taken on some private tasks to fix bugs and implement features.

"I didn’t watch; what happened?" Hu You replied, opening his own laptop.

"The new regulations from above, from now on, cannot take private jobs in individuals’ names anymore," Brother Gao said.

"What? What did you say?"

"Bullshit!"

As he spoke, the others nearby turned to look.

Hu You quickly searched and indeed found such news, reading it out softly.

"Starting from June this year, all parties in any business activity must be in the form of a company or studio. Those without a registered studio or company cannot have any monetary transactions. Violators will have all their funds seized and face economic penalties ranging from a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 200,000."

After Hu You finished reading, there was initially a period of silence, followed by a chorus of curses.

"Damn that Li Lianhua; it’s definitely a new rule concocted by that state councilor!" one of the men angrily declared.

"What does this rule mean?" another asked, not understanding.

Brother Gao explained, "It means if you want to take orders online, you must start your own company or studio; you can’t continue like now!"

"Eh?! Why?! This is bullshit..." the men around shook their heads.

Hu You shook his head and smiled, saying, "Li Lianhua oversees the Commerce Bureau. Registering a company or studio requires capital and an office. These days are hard; it’s like forcing gig workers to start their own businesses."

"People work gigs because they lack money. If I had money to start a business, why would I work? Does Li Lianhua even think? How could such a stupid policy come out?" others cursed.

Hu You smiled, then added, "You don’t know his intentions. Once you start a company, it’s no longer personal income but business income. Under Zhao Ling’s era, personal income tax didn’t apply to amounts less than 10,000 yuan, and anything over that was only 5%, but business income is different; regardless of how little or much you make, it’s 50%!"

"Half?!" the men’s faces darkened.

Brother Gao, too, was silent and frowned, his face angry.

"Yep, and that’s not the worst of it. Here’s the second part," Hu You continued.

"There’s a second part?!" the men asked.

"Look, if the studio has fewer than 10 people, the business income tax increases to 75%," Hu You chuckled.

The men, at hearing this, were left speechless, contemplating their difficult futures and falling silent.

"This bastard Li, got addicted to pinching pennies; he won’t even spare unemployed gig workers, obsessing day in and day out about kissing foreigners’ asses. Just the other day at the climate conference, our side proposed letting foreign environmental bureaus inspect all factories, and to shut down any that don’t meet their standards—how many more people will that put out of work?" Hu You shook his head.

"Fuck his mother... What’s he trying to achieve? Weren’t we fine before?" Brother Gao was perplexed.

"Who knows, ever since Zhao Ling died, it seems like our country has become wimpy," Hu You stated.

"Damn, I used to be annoyed by that old woman, but now I see, Qin Qiansui isn’t even as good as her!" another man spoke bluntly.

At this moment, the waitress walked over and tapped on the table.

Everyone looked at her.

She kept a straight face, scanned the group, then said, "Do not discuss state affairs."

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