Chapter 184

After Branch Director Bulu left, he returned to the bank with a somewhat gloomy expression.

The assistant was standing in a corner chatting with a young man. Seeing Mr. Qiaobafu return, he quickly parted from the young man and walked over alone.

"I know his father and have some acquaintance with their family, but he refused to tell me what happened, only saying they planned to make an investment."

"Investment?" Mr. Qiaobafu's expression shifted, and he returned to his office with his assistant.

He wouldn't leave here until this storm was over. After having his secretary bring coffee, he tasted the fine coffee before asking in a mocking tone, "What do they know about investment?"

During this time, he had witnessed the true face of the federal upper class, which left him feeling shocked while also feeling lucky that he had finally entered this circle.

So now, although he was no different from before, he had gained a new understanding of his self-perception and his positioning within the social class.

This also made him mock the "ordinary people's investment" the assistant spoke of. Ordinary people—they were just lambs of God; what could they possibly know about investment?

The assistant's mood had eased a bit now. "I'm not sure. They said for one hundred dollars, after three months, they could get one hundred and thirty dollars, including principal and interest."

A ten percent monthly return rate—Mr. Qiaobafu's first thought was that it was impossible, but immediately after, he felt it might not be impossible.

Usury and the financial industry were the two fastest-growing industries right now. What was ten percent interest a month? In the financial field, there had even been cases where assets doubled overnight.

However, thinking about how so many people were participating, he had a bit of interest. "What kind of investment? Is it reliable?"

This question was clearly the opposite of what he had just said, but the assistant didn't notice this. "I'm not too sure."

No one knew exactly how much money Mr. Qiaobafu had, including the assistant.

No one could guess a banker's net worth based on some data. Even if Mr. Qiaobafu had no money now, he could apply for a loan from his own bank and then approve his own loan. As long as it followed the process, the bank's money was equivalent to his... borrowed money.

His fingers tapped on the armrest. Since he had defected to the mayor last September or October, he had spent hundreds of thousands back and forth.

This sum of money had already made him feel like he had suffered a heavy blow. The reason he could still hold on now was purely because the money from the depositors in the bank gave him some confidence.

If he couldn't find a way to make money soon, and the demands from the mayor's side were endless, then even if he could barely maintain it, it would be hard to last for too long.

He had even considered going into the usury business during this time. With the mayor's protection, in this city, even if usury wasn't legal, it wasn't against the law!

But if possible, he would try his best not to break the law.

What he actually cared about more was the method of making money that these people were talking about.

Time slipped away bit by bit in such waiting. By the time it was past two in the afternoon, there weren't as many people coming to withdraw money, and the bank's order had returned to normal.

The assistant walked over with the statistical table and placed it on the desk.

This document recorded how much money had been withdrawn in total today, and whose accounts these were.

At first, he didn't pay much attention. He thought... even if a ten percent monthly return rate wasn't low, these investments must be risky, and these people shouldn't be that blind.

But seeing that the figures behind those accounts were almost all neatly "0.00," his expression became serious.

When he saw the very bottom, he was already somewhat solemn.

"Twenty-seven thousand withdrawn?" His hand gripped the edge of the table tightly, already turning white.

The assistant didn't notice this, but he was also shocked by this number. Just as he wanted to say something else, someone knocked on the door and said from outside, "Mr. Qiaobafu, someone wants a loan."

Jin Da Bank had its own loan department and office, as well as a "manager" specifically responsible for reviewing loans. This kind of thing didn't need to disturb him at all.

He frowned and put the document down, gently smoothing out the crumpled edge with his hand. "Send them to the loan office. Didn't the manager come in?"

"He did." The person outside seemed to hesitate. After three or five seconds, they continued, "But there are too many people coming for loans; we can't handle them all."

"Too many? How many?" He gave his assistant a look. The latter opened the door, and the staff member outside revealed an incredulous expression. "About forty or fifty. They seem to have come together."

Mr. Qiaobafu couldn't sit still anymore. "Forty or fifty, coming together? Do they have any collateral?"

"Yes, their houses..."

Houses in the Imperial District weren't considered expensive, but they had nothing to do with being cheap either, especially those apartments in good locations, which required at least eighteen hundred to two thousand dollars.

Apartments that were slightly more remote or had poor neighborhood sanitation also cost fifteen hundred dollars.

It seemed very unreasonable; apartments here were actually seventeen or eighteen hundred, while Jonny's (the bakery owner's) single-family house could only be listed for about twenty-two hundred.

This actually had to do with the location. Although Jonny's house was a single-family home, it was more remote and not as close to the bustling areas.

Looking at the Imperial District, although it was said that the people living here were the social underclass.

But to the south was the New Port District, which was developing, to the north was the city center, and to the east was the Prisia District, which gathered the city's middle class.

Its transportation was very convenient, whether going to the city center or the Port District to work, or going to Prisia to provide services for the middle class, or continuing west to work in the industrial zone.

It was very convenient here; it was the "labor heart" of the city, and forty percent of the more than one hundred thousand residents here were workers.

Coupled with the fact that real estate developers had tried to sell worthless land and villa areas at high prices years ago, touting the "New Bay District," the price of houses in the Imperial District had also risen slightly.

Seventeen or eighteen hundred—a very reasonable price.

The assistant didn't notice Mr. Qiaobafu's dilemma; he was thinking about making money.

"Did you hear how long they want the loan for?"

The staff member answered truthfully, "Between about three and four months."

This answer made the assistant and Mr. Qiaobafu realize that the purpose of their loan was for the "investment" that those people were unwilling to disclose to outsiders.

"I think we can give them the money," the assistant said, sharing his thoughts. "Three months is not long; we can add some handling fees."

"Within the framework of federal law, after three months, they can bring us about ten percent profit, which is one hundred and twenty dollars."

Ten of them would be twelve hundred; forty or fifty would be nearly five or six thousand.

In case someone couldn't pay back this money, houses in the Imperial District weren't hard to sell; seventeen or eighteen hundred was easy, so their profit would be even more.

But what Mr. Qiaobafu was thinking about was how much money was left in the vault!

Spending hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, thousands—his own money was actually almost bottomed out.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have considered doing usury. Now that such a large group had come to borrow money for investment, he was becoming increasingly curious about that investment project!

He gave his assistant a look. "Go find out, but don't open the gates yet. I'm still a bit worried; perhaps this is just part of a conspiracy."

"Many federal banks really don't like us; we can't give them any chance!"

The assistant nodded. "I understand."

Watching twenty-seven thousand being withdrawn, Mr. Qiaobafu was now sweating a little.

It wasn't that he had no money, or the bank had no money; it was just that there wasn't that much cash!

He had to reserve thirty thousand to deal with emergencies and couldn't lend any more money out.

The unexpected change forced him to consider whether he should start the usury business as soon as possible. He knew this business wasn't easy to do, and he also lacked manpower on his side.

But he could talk to Lanse. If Lanse was willing to partner up, he would provide the money, Lanse would provide the people, and they would split the profits fifty-fifty. He believed Lanse would agree.

After all, the mayor only gave him thirty percent, and he agreed to that, didn't he?

Lanse didn't know that his idea of wanting to get rich with everyone had actually caused Mr. Qiaobafu and his Jin Da Bank to almost be forced to close due to a run on the bank.

Even now, it was very unsafe, but even if he knew, he could only say sorry.

Everyone hoped to be the owner of a luxury car on the road of life, rather than a passenger sitting in the trunk. Lanse's car had already started to fuel up and was about to run wild on the road of life.

At this time, it was unlikely that anyone would want to come and stop him.

In the evening, a sales representative from Liji, one of the three major federal agricultural product distributors, appeared in a high-end guest room of a hotel at the port. Lanse was there too, along with several people from the Chamber of Commerce.

Liji had an office at the pier, and Lanse had heard that the manager of this office was himself a senior partner of the company and also owned three-thousandths of the company's stock, so his words carried some weight.

Therefore, the first one he chose was the Liji Group, a commercial group that directly connected farmers and customers, completing the entire intermediate process.

Someone had once accused them of monopoly because they internally graded the federal agricultural products and then purchased these products according to their own rules.

In the past, they had almost monopolized agricultural products in most regions of the Federation. Farmers in some remote areas had no other choice but to accept their unreasonable prices.

It wasn't until new, capable competitors appeared that the situation got slightly better, but only slightly.

There were also rumors that the core shareholders behind the three major agricultural product distributors were the same group of people.

These three companies jointly formulated agricultural product standards and then continued to purchase agricultural products according to their standards. Although the farmers were still dissatisfied, it was much better than before; after all, they felt the current prices were fairer.

What federal capitalists and consortiums liked most was doing this. Anyway, anti-monopoly and the like were just for ordinary people to see; as long as they fooled these people, it would be fine.

You say my personal rules are a monopoly and you're suing me?

Then it doesn't matter; now I have two clones. I discuss with two of myself how much money I should give you. This is democracy, right?

This Liji manager was named Laini, with black hair, a typical mixed-race look, a bluish chin, and a crisp suit that made him look very "elite."

After a simple handshake, everyone sat down separately.

"Mr. Lanse, I have long heard of your reputation. This is our first time meeting. You are younger and more imposing than I imagined."

"Vice President Woen is never stingy with his praise when talking about you."

This "big shot" was introduced by Vice President Woen. Although Vice President Woen was only a vice president of the dockworkers' union, he held a high status in the eyes of these business people who needed to rely on the docks.

At least Woen only needed one phone call to make them lose a large sum of money, and they were unwilling to offend Woen.

So even though Manager Laini was not very willing to meet with a family leader, he still came.

Lanse raised his hand and shook it slightly. "I must thank Woen for his praise of me. I entrusted him to help me make this appointment with you this time because I have a business deal I want to discuss with you."

Manager Laini still had that same look. "Can I know what it is now?"

"I don't want anyone else to know about our conversation today, regardless of whether we can reach a cooperation."

Laini revealed some smiles. "No problem, please trust my professional ethics."

Actually, Lanse didn't trust him, but he had to say it.

It's like when you meet someone who is testing you; he pushes you, you just step aside, then pass him, and say "Don't fucking touch me"—the effect is completely different!

He agreed, so Lanse stopped hiding things. "I want to buy the first season's grapes."

Manager Laini still had that same look. "No problem, how much?"

"Is ten tons enough?"

He felt that these people probably only wanted that much, and this was even with the reputation bonus of Lanse and the Lanse family.

If it weren't for that, he might even have asked something like "Is ten pounds enough? You won't be able to finish any more than that."

Lanse shook his head. "At least ten thousand tons."

Manager Laini still had that look of not having heard, but he didn't continue Lanse's expression and just sat blankly for a while. "Just now, did you say ten thousand tons?"

Ten thousand tons actually wasn't a big deal; they handled hundreds of millions of tons of various agricultural products every year.

But this was different because he wasn't facing a chain supermarket with sales outlets all over the country, nor was he facing a capital giant that monopolized the fruit import and export business of a small country.

This was just a... gang in Jincheng?

Since when did they start doing the fruit business too?

Was gang competition already this fierce now?

"The price of grapes is rising very fast. The company expects the first batch of grapes this year to break through one hundred and ten dollars," he said, not speaking quickly, deliberating as he spoke.

Lanse gave a different view. "We all know that the price of grapes will plummet when they are concentrated on the market every season. Even if you can sell them at this price in the first week before that, after they are listed, they will be at most eighty-something dollars."

Manager Laini was silent for a while. "Can I know how you plan to pay?"

Lanse nodded. "Cash, cashier's check, transfer—all are fine."

This confirmed to him that Lanse wasn't joking. He pondered for a while. "The company's bottom-line price for me is ninety-seven dollars, but I can't give you this price because you are not our 'senior partner'."

"But I have a very good relationship with Vice President Woen. How about this: if you can accept the price of one hundred and three dollars, I can give it to you."

Lanse considered it for a moment. Actually, the price he had discussed with Ailike before was around this, but he also had his own conditions. "No problem, but I will pay half in cash."

Cash is not sensitive to the underclass because, in his cognition, cash is probably three or five dollars.

But for a large company, it might be slightly more sensitive.

However, Manager Laini only hesitated for about a second, which couldn't even be counted as hesitation. "No problem."

For a group company like Liji that covers the entire Federation and also has transnational operations, it was too simple to dispose of hundreds of thousands of black money!

Lanse then put forward a new requirement. "This batch of grapes is very important to us; we must sign a formal contract, including breach of contract compensation, etc."

"If you cannot deliver our goods because of your reasons, causing us to suffer losses, you need to compensate us at least five times the total cargo value."

Manager Laini shook his head directly. "This is unreasonable; at most, it can only be compensated by one time."

"What if we can pay a deposit of at least forty percent or even fifty percent?"

The deposit for agricultural products is generally relatively small, a few percent, and what Lanse said was indeed very correct; the price of any product will plummet when it is concentrated on the market.

From Manager Laini's perspective, this business was a sure win for them!

By then, they could just find an excuse to delay it, collect a batch of grapes when the price was low during the concentrated listing, and sell them to Lanse—a profit of two or three hundred thousand in one turn.

Manager Laini took a deep look at Lanse. "I need to make a phone call."

Lanse signaled that there was a phone in the room. "Please go ahead."

Spring is coming soon. Farmers make trouble in the autumn and will make trouble in the spring; they make trouble every day.

For companies with many crisis events, cash flow is very important.

After Laini communicated with the duty director on the phone for a while, he came out from inside.

"If you can pay a seventy-five percent deposit, then we can sign this contract."

"In addition, I must say one thing: if you cannot pay the subsequent bills, then we will not refund the deposit to you, and there will be no grapes."

He was afraid that Lanse and the others didn't understand, so he had to make it clear.

Lanse didn't care about this because even if he really had no money, the bank would help him take this order, not only paying the money for him but also giving him a large sum!

However, before facilitating this business, there was one last small problem left.

"Do you mind a little more cash?"