"But the police didn't care to get involved. They brought Wan Jia and the crew of thugs to the police station and left them alone in a room. 'They said, "It's your problem; deal with it yourself,"' Wan Jia told me. 'As long as no one gets hurt too bad, the police don't care.'
"With no one to rely on but himself, Wan Jia called his wife and told a white lie about needing to take a last-minute business trip. He dug his heels in and stayed in the room for the next 26 hours. His opponents worked in shifts; at one point, Wan Jia found himself facing off against 10 men. But in the end, the contractor's general manager agreed to negotiate a new price—and Wan Jia was able to go home."