Chapter 101

The mayor could still serve for two more years, and he wanted to obtain more political resources before leaving Jincheng.

As one of the engines of federal economic development, Jincheng is watched by many people.

As long as this attention exists, the political achievements he leaves behind will be repeatedly mentioned.

Just like all the former mayors who expanded the docks, people will always repeatedly mention the first and second mayors who expanded the docks, talking about how much they contributed to Jincheng.

So much so that even if some of them have already died, their children can still enjoy the care of these political legacies and live very well.

He also wanted these, but although continuing to expand the docks could bring more economic benefits, it was difficult for him to obtain political benefits from it.

Always be the first and the second, don't be the third or those after.

So he plans to put some effort into expanding the city; currently, Jincheng has a permanent population of about 1.1 million, and federal people don't often count this, and when they do, it's often inaccurate.

He plans to have the city's permanent population expand to over 1.5 million within two years, and this requires continuing to expand the city circle while providing more jobs for the new permanent population.

So recently, his supporters have been vigorously planning the city's expansion, including the funds invested by Mr. Chobafu, which will all be used for the city's expansion infrastructure.

Actually, this money is very little, but it doesn't matter; he will find a way to continue squeezing oil out of this imperial guy.

Just as he was thinking about the city's expansion and how to attract more permanent residents, the phone rang; it was the imperial guy calling.

As long as Chobafu is not in front of him, he only refers to the other party as "the imperial guy," not "the banker Mr. Chobafu."

"Is there anything I can do to help our big banker?", the moment he picked up the phone, although his expression didn't change, his tone changed significantly.

Enthusiastic, gentle, and impeccable.

"I want to see you."

The mayor looked at his schedule, "Three-thirty in the afternoon, you have ten minutes.", and then he hung up the phone.

After waiting in agony until three o'clock, Chobafu had already arrived outside the mayor's office.

Half an hour later, the mayor's secretary notified him that he could go in, and that was when he saw the mayor standing by the window smoking.

The mayor walked over with a smile and grabbed his arm, "Actually, there are some things you could have said over the phone.", this sentence meant don't come and bother me, damn it.

No one knew the emotions in Chobafu's heart, but they must be very complex; having spent so much money, he was still just an outsider.

He sat on the sofa, and the mayor didn't even have the secretary bring him a cup of coffee; anyway, it was only ten minutes, not enough time for him to drink coffee.

"The thing is like this...", he explained the situation, but he emphasized that after his people went to the warehouse, there was no liquor in the warehouse; he had been set up by Arthur.

After listening, the mayor looked at him with a very strange expression, "Why didn't you say so at the time?"

At the time... Mr. Chobafu had gone to the warehouse with Arthur, and even spot-checked the liquor inside, confirming that there were no problems with the liquor, before signing the contract and releasing the funds.

But a problem occurred during the receiving process; it happened to be a heavy rainstorm that day, and with a time difference of at most thirty or forty minutes, a whole warehouse of liquor was gone, damn it!

And at that time, he hadn't joined the mayor's camp yet, and he was afraid that this was Arthur's way of extorting him, so he responded passively.

As a result, once he was passive, he remained passive.

From the mayor's perspective, this was a sign of being scared by extortion; if he had reported it to the police or exposed it at the time, it might not have been so difficult to handle.

Although he would still be extorted, at least the tough attitude he showed of not being willing to pay for extortion would have made that bastard Arthur not dare to extort him at will.

Not just Arthur, others were the same.

"What do you want to do now?"

Mr. Chobafu's teeth were almost biting until they bled, "I... hope you can act as a middleman and let me and them speak clearly."

After listening, the mayor thought for a while, "Speaking clearly is not difficult, but you can't get this money back."

"Didn't you already give him a mortgage loan..."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand.", Mr. Chobafu added.

The mayor nodded noncommittally, "The price of this batch of liquor might be worth four hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand now; you make up the difference to him, consider it as you buying this batch of liquor, and I can help you talk about this matter, and it ends here."

Mr. Chobafu stared at him with wide eyes, "But I..."

"There are no 'buts', Qiao; you have a contract, you have signatures, even if you go to court, you won't win."

"And you don't think that me saying a few words for you will make them give up at least two hundred thousand in profits, do you?"

"Don't imagine me as too great; I can't do that, otherwise I would have been the Federal President long ago!"

"Think about it!", he said, shook his head, and then glanced at his watch, "I have another meeting later, so..."

This meant for him to leave; Mr. Chobafu stood up in a daze, and while saying goodbye, he left the mayor's office stiffly.

The mayor didn't have much feeling for the "difficulties" Mr. Chobafu encountered; in these years, there were not a few foreign big capitalists who had collapsed and gone bankrupt in the Federation.

Some capitalists with larger volumes than Mr. Chobafu were eventually forced into a dead end; a small banker, if extorted, could only endure it, otherwise what else could he do?

Of course, he would also call Councilor Williams and ask him to manage his son well, so as not to scare away all the foreign investors; this was not in his interest.

However, from the mayor's own perspective, his handling of the matter was also not a problem.

If he demanded that Arthur return the money to Mr. Chobafu and not pursue the whereabouts of that liquor, that would be unreasonable.

And this was only Mr. Chobafu's side of the story; who knew if that liquor was actually transported away by Arthur himself.

Even if he really needed to take action in the end, he had to appear as a savior at the critical moment.

Not like this now, a phone call, sitting down and saying a few words, wanting to solve this matter.

Mr. Chobafu, who returned to the villa like a walking corpse, sat on the sofa and couldn't figure it out no matter how he thought about it; he had finally made some money in the past few years and wanted to squeeze into the federal upper class.

As a result, his huge wealth shrank rapidly; if it shrank but he had successfully entered the upper class, that would be fine, considered the price he paid for it.

But the money was gone, and he was still an outsider; he just couldn't understand, isn't it said that the Federation is a... fair and just country?

Why are the things he encountered not fair at all?

The assistant stood by and accompanied him, very worried about Mr. Chobafu's state.

In the past, even when facing extortion from Arthur or others, he would show a spirit of not fearing difficulties, but today's matter seemed to have crushed him all at once.

He sat on the sofa like those demented elderly people with no income, looking ahead with dull eyes, not even knowing that his hair was messy.

It wasn't until after seven o'clock in the evening that he came back to his senses.

"What time is it?", he asked.

The assistant hurriedly said, "It's seven-eleven.", the assistant was very worried about Mr. Chobafu's condition, after all, he was old, "Would you like to eat something?"

Mr. Chobafu shook his head, "No, I can't eat."

He looked back at the assistant, "Do you think... if there is anyone who can solve this problem and reduce my losses to the minimum, who should that person be?"

"You'd better find some among the imperial people; I have completely lost trust in federal people now."

"They let me sit at the dining table not because they want to share food with me, but just to save a few steps when they serve me on the dining table!"

Countless figures flashed through the assistant's mind; there were quite a few successful imperial people living in Gold City, but one could say there were almost none who could compare to Mr. Chobafu.

Other successful people were just some who opened factories; having a few hundred thousand in assets was already considered very successful.

Their wealth could not compare to Mr. Chobafu's, and their influence in society and the upper-class society they could reach were even less than Mr. Chobafu's; he couldn't think of anyone who could help him at all.

But suddenly, a figure appeared in his mind.

Seeing the change in his expression, Mr. Chobafu asked softly, "Who is that person?"

When Lanse heard that Mr. Chobafu hoped to see him, he was a little curious.

When he was at the Saint Naye Cathedral last Saturday, he just greeted him and had no intention of talking at all.

Now suddenly wanting to find him, why?

He couldn't figure it out, but he still agreed.

Because it was too late today, and he also had things to do, so it was arranged for the afternoon.

In the morning, he had to go to the company, and at the same time, he had to go to Mr. White's place; he had entrusted Officer Buleiden to contact him, wanting to see him.

Currently, Lanse's information is still bound to his side, so it was difficult for him to refuse this request.

During this period, he also felt more clearly how much convenience the status of a legal federal person had brought him!

Those who hold power in their hands will first confirm whether you are a federal person before they will talk to you about cooperation.

So he will not easily lose his current status; he must be a native-born federal person!

The next morning, after Lanse handed the list of whistleblowers to Aierwen, he left the company.

When he drove to Mr. White's house, Mr. White was weeding in the yard.

Mr. White was a little puzzled when he saw the car stop, but when he saw Lanse, the puzzlement turned into shock, but then it immediately turned into joy.