Chapter 67: Butterfly Effect

"Is this the Foreign Shipyard? We are the Huaxin Bookstore in E City. The books you ordered have arrived in Dawan Town, but there are too many to carry on a bicycle. Please come to the town to pick them up.

Remember to bring five hundred yuan; you only paid half last time. Just let the postman collect it... Thank you."

Tang Wen hung up the phone and then got into the jeep.

Tang Yi ordered too many books in E City; the postman only had a bicycle and couldn't deliver them to the village, so he had to go pick them up himself.

However, he didn't need to make the trip personally; the main reason was to go to E City and happily take delivery of his new car.

The Buick bought from Wang Hu's automotive trading company had finished all procedures and was registered under the shipyard's name, saving Tang Wen a lot of tax.

Moreover, the payment for the car needed to be handled offline at a bank in the city; nowadays, there was no way to transfer hundreds of thousands online.

Coincidentally, Tang Wen had also heard the village head say that an internet cafe had opened in the city, and he planned to go see the current Internet.

The place for collecting books and materials was still the Guo family's small shop; Tang Wen saw the postman and the large bundle of kraft paper packages beside him from far away.

Tang Wen took out five hundred yuan to settle the bill, and seeing Guo Panpan, he said:

"Sister Panpan, I'll leave my books here with you for now and take them away tonight."

"Mm."

Guo Panpan gave a brief reply, her novel held facing upwards, obviously she had no mind to read at all.

Out of curiosity, Tang Wen asked what had happened, but heard Guo Panpan say with deep worry:

"My father has had no news; his friends also say they don't know, all saying he might have run away."

Tang Wen suddenly felt strange; he had only heard of wives running away, never of men leaving home.

Guo Chenliang has a wife, children, and a family business; where could he possibly run to if nothing is wrong?

He then remembered that last time Guo Panpan had asked him to inquire, but he had turned his head and forgotten it completely.

However, regarding finding people, he actually had some ideas now.

"Don't worry, I'll ask someone first."

"Come, Brother Tang, look at this car, isn't it sharp!"

Wang Hu patted the hood of the Lin Yin Avenue, producing a crisp sound.

A salesman from the automotive trading company brought the documents and keys, secretly sizing up this excessively young luxury car owner.

"The fuel is full; if there are any problems with the car in the future, just drive it over, or if not, make a call and someone will come to tow it.

A-Sheng, this is Brother Tang, come and get to know his face."

"Hello, Brother Tang, Brother Hu's automotive trading company is temporarily managed by me; call me if anything comes up."

Tang Wen smiled and shook hands with the other party, feeling somewhat surprised by Wang Hu's enterprise.

This automotive trading company was larger than he imagined; there were already several luxury cars in the store now, so the capital was definitely not small.

If it continued to develop, it was entirely possible that in a few years it would become the regional 4S general agent for a joint venture brand; at the very least, it could make a huge fortune freely for over a decade.

With so much money, he still went into duty-free trade; greed is indeed never satisfied.

After briefly exchanging pleasantries with Wang Hu, Tang Wen casually asked:

"In our township, there is a girl whose father is a thug; their family wanted him to come work at our fishing company to settle down, but they drove him away. Boss Wang, if you have time, could you help me keep an eye out?"

"In E City, I still have a bit of connections, brother. What is his name? Later I'll have my brothers look everywhere."

Wang Hu immediately patted his chest and agreed; finding people was so simple, even paint was "mixed," just a few phone calls.

"Guo Liangchen, he is a local of our Dawan; the township also thinks he is unambitious, not being honest even at his age."

"Alright, brother, I've noted it; there will be news by tomorrow at the latest!"

Tang Wen did not doubt his ability, but he also did not want to owe a favor, so he took out several silver coins from his pocket.

Seeing this, Wang Hu hurriedly said:

"What is this? Helping with a small favor doesn't require this."

"I am an art lover; consider this an exchange of art."

Upon hearing Tang Wen say this, Wang Hu became curious too; taking the silver coin, he immediately felt the heavy weight in his hand.

Picking it up to look, the various warships printed on it indeed looked like works of art.

Without any disgust, he bit it with his teeth, and his eyes instantly lit up:

"Silver?"

"Of course, just added a little wear-resistant alloy."

"Then this is valuable."

Wang Hu played with the silver coin in his hand; although he wasn't short of this money, the exquisite style was indeed worth looking at a few more times.

Casually tossing a silver coin to a subordinate, did it feel good?

Guo Liangchen, Guo Liangchen, it seems I heard of a surnamed Guo.

After picking up the car, Tang Feng was directly chased into the passenger seat, while Tang Wen personally drove the Lin Yin Avenue wandering aimlessly in the city.

Before crossing over, Tang Wen was an old hand at manual transmission; it was just that the Willys jeep was too difficult to drive, so he always let others drive.

But the luxury-car-positioned Buick felt quite good; equipped with a V6 engine, one press of the accelerator brought a push-back sensation.

It was just that arriving in '96, thirty years later he still hadn't driven a car worth 500,000; how could he not take a joyride?

However, after wandering only a few circles, he ran into an "acquaintance."

"Sir Chen?"

"Shh!"

Chen Ming hurriedly raised his index finger to tell Tang Wen not to shout randomly; he had only revealed his identity to Tang Wen!

He had just come out to eat; he didn't expect to run into Tang Wen either.

The latter's domineering Buick immediately caught his eye, and Chen Ming felt instant envy in his heart.

Even in Xiangjiang, not many people could drive such a car; he could already be considered a big boss.

Chen Ming was eating fried noodles by the roadside when Tang Wen sat down and ordered a portion for himself.

"Fry two more portions of noodles, and add extra chili."

The boss was already surprised to see a Prado come to eat his fried noodles today, but he never expected a handsome young man to arrive in an especially long sedan.

What kind of hobbies do rich people have these days, skipping restaurants just to stuff themselves with fried noodles?

"Boss, is there anything else to add?"

Tang Wen let out a cold sneer:

"Add two eggs, and I want sausage, ham, diced meat, and shredded pork strips, all of it!"

"Hiss~"

Both the fried noodles boss and the anti-smuggling bureau duo sucked in a sharp breath, sighing that this fellow was terrifyingly formidable.

Adding all this up is enough to fry another bowl of noodles; is this what being rich is like?

While the boss vigorously stir-fried the family bucket deluxe river noodles, Chen Ming lowered his voice and asked about the diesel engine again:

"Boss Tang, is it really two hundred thousand per unit?"

"This is just for the engine; four engines running in parallel output require a custom transmission and output shaft, plus special propellers, costing an extra few ten thousand yuan. Getting everything done will cost nearly a million."

"Are you sure?"

"It really can't be less, and it must be full payment upfront; otherwise, you simply can't get an order."

Tang Wen made up excuses to stall; he had no intention of doing this deal at all.

But unexpectedly, Chen Ming suddenly sighed:

"You mainlanders really have skills; your methods are just wild."

"?"

Chen Ming continued speaking on his own:

"I reported to the bureau, and they asked the Xiangjiang agent for MAN of Germany for a price quote; a compact engine of 3,000 horsepower costs 200,000 US dollars, not including the intermediary's kickback.

You guys managed to get a 3,400-horsepower unit back here; you must be taking a good profit too, yet it's only a little over 100,000 US dollars.

As expected, our own people are reliable. The bureau said they specially approved this funding to purchase the engines and power systems, and they hope you can send someone to the Xiangjiang shipyard to guide the installation, totaling 120,000 US dollars, exactly one million yuan.

However, our funds can only be transferred; can your account receive foreign capital?"

Wait, foreigners want 200,000 dollars?

Tang Wen didn't expect foreigners to be so ruthless; it directly shattered his imagination.

And is the Xiangjiang Anti-Smuggling Bureau that rich? Are they this serious about their work?

"Is smuggling very rampant over there?"

Tang Wen voiced his doubt, and Chen Ming immediately complained:

"It wasn't before; Xiangjiang had a lot, but places like Jinju and Quangang had quite a few too. Now they've all crowded into Xiangjiang; in the last half month, the number has more than doubled!"

"Did the mainland start strict investigations?"

"Not exactly."

"You don't know, do you? Pirates appeared off Dongsha last month, extremely rampant; I heard they even have cannons.

Now the water police presence there has multiplied several times over; they patrol everywhere like crazy, detaining and inspecting any boat they catch, and they've even issued an international wanted notice for that gang of pirates."

"Smuggling routes originally heading to the mainland were all blocked there, so they all ran to Xiangjiang.

You say, what kind of times are these, and there are still pirates?

If it weren't for them, our director wouldn't have been willing to spend this money!"