Fair enough!
Fair enough!
"Mr Tong," Gu Yuan greeted, "I would skip the formalities and come straight to the point. I'm sure you've heard about the ongoing rumour about your company."
"Yes, I have. But trust me, Unicharm has nothing to do with it. We maintain high manufacturing standards and use only the best quality products. Don't know who played dirty by dragging our name." Unicharm's CEO, Xu Tong walked over to stand by the floor-to-ceiling window. He was afraid Gu Yuan was holding his company responsible, "We followed the guidelines, and have even included a TSS warning on the packets."
"I know. I've seen the packaging, and it abides by all the guidelines. Frankly, TSS is a common risk associated with Tampons, that's why I'm spreading the awareness about it." Her words calmed down the frantic muscles of Xu Tong, who was literally counting his breaths.
"That's great. Thank you."
She continued, "As my next initiative, I want to show people manufacturing process. Earlier I thought of contacting someone else, but after Unicharm's name being pulled, I think it's best if I shoot a small documentary in your manufacturing unit. What say?"
Xu Tong was stuck, he doesn't know if to accept the offer or reject.
Gu Yuan waited for just a few seconds, "It's okay if you are not interested. It's just I liked the product you send me. Nevermind, I—"
"Of course, Unicharm welcomes you." He said, grabbing the opportunity. Bringing Gu Yuan will benefit him in the long run. Once she's involved with Unicharm, there's no looking back. Even if they were proved guilty, Gu Yuan's husband would keep things hidden to save his wife's reputation.
Killing two birds with one stone!
"Great! Let's get it done tomorrow. I don't want gossipers to fire the issue anymore."
*******
Suyin and team had just gotten off work when they heard the announcement….
[All the employees stop the production and assemble in the back garden. This includes the kitchen staff.]
"Miss. Zhao this…" Long Ju looked at Suyin who had just finished washing a tower of utensils. To play natural, they did all the chores that come with their job. "Is this you—"
"Yup. Time to clean the premises and record videos." She wiped her hands and gave a bundle of Ziplock bags and Q-Tip to both the men. "While cleaning collect as many samples as possible. This will be our additional pieces of evidence stating how disgusting this place is. Just be careful."
Suyin and team joined the other workers to clean the premises. It was funny how to see supervisors' efforts as he directed them to clean the tiniest of places. Wish they have done it before.
Suyin saw the kids shoving their little hands at places where adults couldn't reach. It worried her. She approached one of a kid who had a deformity in the leg and ruffled his hair, startling him who had received this warmth for the first time.
He barely looked nine or ten, but upon asking he revealed his age thirteen. It didn't surprise Suyin as kids involved in child labour are malnourished and affected with diseases because of lack of proper care and sunlight.
She tried to take the cloth from his hand but he hid it behind him, "Don't steal my job. The supervisor will cut my pay."
She held his delicate hand, "I'm not stealing, love. Let me do it for you—" she frowned; he felt hot. Holding her hand against his forehead, she checked his temperature. "You have got a fever. What are you doing here?" Her eyes flicked at the honey-yellow crusting on his exposed skin. Isn't this staph infection? Are these kids the career of the bacteria that had caused so many deaths or they have caught the infection after coming here?
"Do you want me to sleep hungry today as well? Just go away." Sneaking a glance at the supervisor, he yanked her hand and get back to work.
She was rendered speechless and could only stare at the boy's innocent face.
The supervisor cast a sharp glance at her direction and she pretended as if helping the boy in cleaning, "I'm from the kitchen staff and promise to feed you tasty food tonight. But you've to tell me everything about you, your friends, and the jobs you do here."
"Really? You'll give me food? I can have as much as can?" the way his eyes shone just by hearing about food, Suyin felt someone jad pierced needles into her heart. It's just food! Food!
"Yeah,"
"Then keep doing work, we'll talk just like this. Okay?" getting Suyin's nod, he begin, "I'm Maddie. The leader of my group of fifteen. Earlier we used to live on streets and beg, but then one day our boss dropped us here. Since then we have been working here. You know, this place is better than the street, at least we have food, shelter and earn money. You won't get anything better than this. The only cons is- the day we don't work, we don't get money and food. Fair enough!"
Suyin pursed her lips and looked at his face. He was high on fever, starving, yet calling this hell as a better place. "What is this? How did you get it?" she pointed at the yellow crusting on his hands.
"Oh, this? Everyone has it. Don't know why, but it's not going away. We have even applied the rice paste, but nothing worked."
"I have medicine, if you'll apply it, it will go away." She sneakily took out a Q-Tip and placed her hand at his shoulder, taking a sample of the crusting at his neck. "Your job seems to be very important. What does it include?"
"Very important it is. We load thread and fibre in the machine, carry things around and even help in packaging….."
Suyin put the Q-tip in the zip-lock bag, avoiding it from everyone's eyes…..
"What are you doing?" a gruff voice jolted Suyin and the Zip-lock bag fell down from her hands before she could shove it in her pocket. She quickly stepped on it and turned to face the owner of the voice.
F*ck! It was Xu Tong, standing with his bulky bodyguards.
"I asked, what were you doing just now?"
*******