Chapter 452

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

One bottle of water for 150,000 — Sun Zhuren's first reaction was that he had run into a scam.

He worked in Tibet and often heard stories of fraud back in Neidi, but had never encountered one himself; who would have thought that upon arriving in Jiangning, he would run into this kind of thing? For a moment anger rose to his brows, yet he stayed calm and said nothing.

Just then Bao Xin arrived panting, and spoke first: "Big Brother, they're not from inside the Wuguan Nei Nei."

"Not? No wonder — I was wondering how a student from the first ten sessions would still need to buy Low-Grade Divine Oil." This person straightened the Divine Oil on the table slightly, making it clear he wasn't selling anymore.

Sun Zhuren, anger turning to laughter, asked in a pure and upright tone: "So your Wuguan Nei Nei also practices price-gouging regulars?"

"This isn't an ordinary drink." Bao Xin explained helplessly: "Because the amounts are large, it's customary not to write the 'ten-thousand' character — 15 means 15, 100 means 100 ten-thousands. However, even if you have money you're not allowed to buy."

"Won't sell even for 1 million?" Sun Zhuren simply didn't believe it.

"If outsiders buy Divine Oil, the Hall's own students won't have enough." The young man at the stall, unaware of their identities, explained out of a desire to protect his own interests.

This answer left Sun Zhuren even more baffled; he couldn't help frowning: "If you're afraid students won't have enough, why sell at all? Moreover, a Wuguan Nei Nei should have the responsibility to nurture people — a mere bottle of water priced at tens or hundreds of thousands, isn't that absurd?"

His voice grew louder and louder, culminating in a righteous, stern conclusion.

The few officials who originally wanted to support him turned and left, not wanting to be dragged into this matter.

The young man at the stall didn't care whether Sun Zhuren was some Deputy Bureau Chief or a guest; he curled his lip disdainfully: "The Hall Master said — the problem of demand can only be solved by the market. Inside the Wuguan Nei Nei, a student bidding 10,001 yuan shows he needs Divine Oil more than the one bidding 10,000, and he pays more too. Otherwise what would you do?"

One rhetorical question made Sun Zhuren answer naturally: "Allocate it."

Bao Xin laughed: "Allocate by what standard?"

"Comprehensive consideration. Otherwise it's not the rich getting the advantage and the poor losing out."

"Little money means no ability."

One sentence from Bao Xin nearly choked Sun Zhuren to death.

The latter shouted in rage: "How is little money no ability? I'm the one with little money."

"Nobody said you have ability either." The young Divine Oil seller grinned.

Sun Zhuren, fuming, turned and walked away.

Halfway he ran into a few guys still looking at ferns; the Deputy Director used his signature half-nostril "Hmph" to strongly express his dissatisfaction.

In an instant, the plant they had just endorsed as second-best to orchids became background; everyone who heard the nasal snort surged forward, vying to ask: "Director Liu, what happened?"

"Director Liu's here — we were just waiting for you."

"Go back!" Director Liu's face was black, like a red rose dyed black for Valentine's Day.

Liu Fei, smooth and slick, saw Director Liu wasn't raging anymore and immediately rushed ahead of everyone to press the elevator button.

With a "Ding" the doors opened, but three people walked out.

"President Gao?" Liu Fei asked tentatively.

"That's me. Who are you?" The one who came out was Gao Qiu.

He wore a tailored suit, a straight dark-red tie, every inch the bearing of a foreign taipan; the spirit on his face was remarkably vibrant.

"I'm Xiao Liu from the Tibet Office in Jiangning; last time when High Official Lai came, I accompanied him." After introducing himself, Liu Fei hurriedly added: "This is our Provincial Government General Office Director Sun Shang. Director Sun, this is the Bank President of Jiangning Bank, President Gao."

The previous introduction — Sun Shang's "Director" was prefixed with a character throughout, indicating Deputy Director; but Gao Qiu's "President" had no prefix, so he was the top man.

Sun Shang and Gao Qiu instantly understood; thus the former was enthusiastic, the latter's attitude cold.

A General Office Director is a high official's confidant; a Deputy Director isn't necessarily anything.

Gao Qiu couldn't be bothered to curry favor with an out-of-province Deputy Director; he shook Sun Shang's hand lightly, withdrew it in under a second, said "You carry on," and left.

Buying a bottle of water made him angry; taking an elevator once made him angry — Sun Shang was practically going mad; he vented his anger by glaring at Liu Fei, and didn't show a good face until they left Meijiang Building.

Liu Fei didn't dare make a sound, but inwardly cursed nonstop: Jiangning Bank is that rich now, what's it matter if their Head Office President acts a little smug? We're here to attract investment to get money — do we need the bank to come kowtow to us?

The Military Transferred Cadre's attitude helped Liu Fei out, asking: "What's the deal with that Gao Qiu? Is he the bank issuing Gold Bonds?"

"Director Nie knows too, right? It's Jiangning Bank. They're rolling in money now — heard that Gold Bond thing alone sold several hundred billion."

"Isn't it the Chen Family's money?"

"Heard it's deposited in Jiangning Bank; otherwise why would they push so hard? Also their Gold Bonds seem to sell well — if merchants use bonds long-term, they'll more or less keep some money in Jiangning Bank. Estimated their business expansion in a year isn't as much as the last two months." Liu Fei knew very little, but that didn't stop him describing Jiangning Bank as all kinds of giant, as if only that could balance Director Sun's rage.

It did have a bit of effect.

Sun Shang's attention shifted; he asked resentfully: "Really merchants who use bonds long-term? Don't trust government-issued currency, so they go buy private ones?"

The Investment Promotion Bureau Chief hurriedly said: "I see their bonds as basically the same as mooncake vouchers."

Liu Fei couldn't spout nonsense; he laughed to cover: "Those who sold Gold Vouchers before did indeed exchange them for gold — look at Jiangning's market now, many goldsmiths have hung their signs up again. But they really have a lot of gold and platinum, and surprisingly haven't been crushed by a run on the bank."

None of them understood economics; Jiangning City with 20 million people consumes no more than 20 million grams of jewelry a year — that's 20 tons — fundamentally not affecting bond issuance and redemption.

"Count them lucky." Director Sun still spoke viciously, but his expression was much better.

Director Nie, both smoothing things over and curious, asked: "Now then? Those merchants took the bonds to do what?"

Liu Fei sensibly explained: "Heard many merchants use those Gold Vouchers as checks. You know, companies doing business are all short on cash; sometimes when their accounts run dry, they deliberately write a check with a wrong date or name, the other party takes the goods, but when you take it to the bank it bounces — by the time you go back to find them, the payment just keeps being owed. Gold Bonds are like Bank Drafts — hard to counterfeit, nobody counterfeits. Those businessmen redeem 10,000 to 100,000 yuan worth of Gold Bonds, then trade directly — more convenient than cash, no need to go through bank accounts, convenient for tax evasion and cooking books. And apparently settling foreign currency with Gold Bonds doesn't lose out either — companies with import-export trade really have redeemed gold and platinum for transactions. But I reckon they can't keep it up much longer."

"Grandstanding!" Director Liu immediately gave his verdict: "The Central government says reform the currency system, so they make Gold Bonds — I say it's trying to steal a chicken only to lose the rice."

"Enough about them — best if Chen Yi has money. If he hem and haws and can't produce 10 billion, we'll just have him issue a batch of Gold Bonds to us." Director Nie said it with his mouth, but actually didn't quite believe Chen Yi would issue bonds recklessly.

Bonds redeemable for gold are different from government fiat currency after all; fiat depreciation is painless taxation, but Gold Bonds are still bonds — the redemption result after over-issuance is that he himself must bear the debt.

After everyone settled in at the hotel, Director Nie went to observe Jiangning Bank; the rest gathered around a poker table, shouting and hollering.

The happy hotel life lasted three days; Liu Fei finally got accurate news. He'd gotten smarter this time — first notified Jiangning Municipal Government, coordinated through the Municipal Government Office, then going to see Chen Yi was much more convenient.

"Just lost the advantage of a surprise attack." When Sun Zhuren was in the province, he was always nitpicked; now that he'd finally gone out-of-province, he suddenly got a sense of balanced pleasure.

"It's my lack of thorough consideration." Liu Fei had already started cursing inwardly: We already visited Chen Family Wuguan Nei Nei once — could there still be a surprise attack?

Unexpectedly, when the two sides met, Gao Qiu was suddenly present.

Sun Shang swallowed his words again and again, finally refraining from saying anything out of line.

Nie Tingzhang took over the negotiation duties and said bluntly, "Mr. Chen, our goal this trip is to implement the 10 billion yuan investment you promised Secretary Shen. If you have any requirements, you can propose them to us now; wherever you need us to run errands, just say the word. If it exceeds what we can decide, we will immediately report to the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government and have them make a decision as soon as possible……"

"Fine." Chen Yi rolled up his sleeves, looking completely nonchalant.

"Fine?" Sun Shang thought to himself, if this negotiation fails, I'll definitely give them a good scolding.

Nie Tingzhang took out the prepared photocopied documents from his briefcase and said, "Mr. Chen, our government currently has several preferential policies for attracting investment; you can listen to them……"

Chen Yi interrupted him flatly, saying, "When I said fine, I mean I agreed; the promise of a 10 billion yuan investment will naturally be fulfilled, no need to tell me about the preferential policies."

"Just like that?" Nie Tingzhang was shocked out of his wits.

"What else do you want?"

Nie Tingzhang found Chen Yi increasingly strange no matter how he looked at him, and had to take the initiative to ask, "Then which industry do you plan to invest in?"

Chen Yi raised his head with a half-smile and said, "I'm investing 10 billion yuan; are you going to restrict my investment direction?"

"Of course not; we're just trying to cooperate. For example, regarding trade with Nepal and India, our province will have some tax rebate preferences, and raw material allocation can also be increased……"

"Specifically, you can discuss that with Chen Zhenxing. However, to be specific, I hope to invest in mining." Chen Yi was not someone who threw money into water for fun. Tibet has rich mineral resources; otherwise, the British colonists back then would not have gone to such lengths to stir up the colonization and independence turmoil.

However, many of Tibet's mineral resources are located in harsh natural environments; unless driven to desperation, workers are often unwilling to go. Skilled workers are even more so, which makes costs high in terms of resource development, and money cannot be earned even if one has it.

……(Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)