Shadow Empire

Chapter 219 Discussion and Favors and Cousin
Lance walked decisively.

Bridge was surprised by the decisiveness without any noise or fuss. The blonde secretary was about to knock on the door with a cup of coffee when she saw Lance coming out.

She was a little stunned and a little overwhelmed, watching Lance walk to the elevator and press the button while she leaned her head into the room.

She didn't know who to give the coffee to or whether to pour it away.

In a large company, it is considered very impolite to give the coffee prepared for Lance to someone else, even if Lance doesn't drink it.

But this cup of coffee was really not cheap, and she didn’t know if she would be punished if she poured it out. She could only stand there stupidly, and no one cared about her.

In the room, Bridge was a little confused. "The intelligence said that Lance was a child from a poor local family. The only thing he could show off was that he formed a gang?"

He wanted to laugh a little.

Whether gangs are scary or not depends on who you are talking to.

If for ordinary people, for those without social background, gangs are people who can take their lives, they will be very scared.

This is indeed the case. Even though it is unreasonable for gangs to collect fees, no one will refuse.

Because they know that if they don’t pay, they will get into trouble.

But few gangs would extort large companies, and big capitalists can cause trouble for these gangs with just one phone call.

If the intelligence said that Lance was from one of the five major families, he might choose other methods to communicate with Lance, or even simply not communicate at all, allowing him to make the money.

But this was just a small gang, and he didn't know what gave Lance the confidence to do this.

Manager Lenny didn't know how to explain this. Even if he told Bridge that it only took Lance half a year to gain a foothold in the city, he believed that Bridge would not listen.

Because from Bridge's perspective, even if Lance did something incredible, he was not on the same level as him.

"Forget it, let the legal department prepare to sue him, and we can also talk to the mayor..." Bridge quickly shifted the focus of his work to the next client instead of continuing to pay attention to Lance.

When the elevator door slowly opened after a ding, Lance noticed several menacing security guards standing outside the elevator door, as well as the manager who had brought him to the elevator earlier.

They looked at each other for a moment, two or three seconds later, Lance stepped out of the elevator car. "So many people are welcoming me?" he asked.

The young manager immediately smiled. He thought Lance had reached an agreement with the company, and continued to compliment him, "Of course, you are our most respected guest!"

Lance glanced at him with a half-smile, "That'd be great!"

This sentence made the manager's smile pause for a moment. He didn't quite understand what Lance meant. Did they reach an agreement or not?
He didn't know, but it looked like the gentleman wasn't going to start an argument or make trouble, so he continued to treat it as if it was a deal.

"Of course, I respect you from the bottom of my heart, sir."

Lance stopped talking to him and strode out the door.

The driver who was standing in the parking lot next to the company and was smoking, threw his cigarette butt on the ground, got in his car, and drove over when he saw Lance coming out of the company building.

"back office."

After he returned to the office in the Imperial District, he asked someone to call over the representatives of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce.

They lived a very comfortable life during this period because they knew that the price of grapes was skyrocketing, and everyone's face showed genuine happiness.

The favorite thing for these people to do every day is to get up early in the morning and buy the latest "Market News" today, then turn the page to the agricultural products column and look for the "grapes" label.

They will compare yesterday's prices to calculate how much money they have earned today!
This speed of making money... is really great, and Lance is not greedy. He only takes a small part of their profits. Every day when I open my eyes, I become richer. This kind of life is fascinating!
They liked, even loved, Lance.

When most people had arrived, Lance had the door closed.

"Today, someone from the Liji Group notified me to discuss our contract..."

Just one sentence caught everyone's attention. This was related to their profits, so they would naturally be nervous.

"There is no doubt that our investment is correct. They think the price of grapes will rise to at least 300 yuan."

"In other words, our contracts are now worth at least two and a half million."

Everyone in the room gasped, even though they knew that not all the money was theirs; about sixty percent belonged to Lance.

But even if there is only 40 percent left, that’s still one million!
Their total investment was only 370,000 or 380,000, and this is one million?
There was a smile on everyone's face, but some people also looked frustrated because they invested too little!
But then, Lance's words made their mood, which had just begun to consider whether to buy a house or a car, suddenly fall to the bottom.

"But they don't intend to recognize the legitimacy of this contract. They intend to sign a new contract with us and give us grapes at a price of 270 yuan."

Someone couldn't help it, "Mr. Lance, we can't agree to them, this is unreasonable!"

Lance nodded, "Yeah, it wasn't reasonable, so I turned them down."

"But they will sue us, and you know, in a lawsuit like this involving huge amounts of money, we will not only face their legal team, but also the lawyers we hired ourselves, who are like hungry wolves."

This sentence made people silent. Federal lawyers...all of them will talk to you about professional ethics, but almost no lawyer will talk to you about the principles and bottom line of being a human being, let alone talk to you about social customs and morals.

Because they don’t have any!
The better a lawyer is, the less human they are, because human nature will only make them make wrong choices and judgments.

In the federal government, people never judge whether a lawyer is successful by how many weak people he has fought for fairness and justice, but by how many capitalists and powerful people he has stifled fairness for.

This society is so cruel and realistic, and it is far less beautiful than people imagine.

For a case like this involving two million, if you want to find a good lawyer, the other party may offer a basic attorney fee of about thirty to fifty thousand, and an additional "commission" based on a percentage of the case value.

Some top lawyers may get an extremely high percentage of 40%, but even ordinary lawyers will ask for more than 15%.

Their reasons are very good - give me 40 percent and you can still have 60 percent.

But if you don’t give me this 40 percent, you won’t have even 1 percent left!
Sparks flashed in the old man's cloudy eyes. "If we find a better lawyer, we might have to pay four or five hundred thousand..."

This is the case if you win. If you can’t win and keep dragging it out, the attorney fees will keep growing…

Everyone else was silent.

Someone asked, "Can we expose them to the media?"

Lance shook his head. "Although this is a way to get public opinion help for us, public opinion help cannot change any actual results. We have to go to court and get bitten on both sides."

"Either they bite me, or the lawyers bite me."

Two and a half million, 30%, 750,000, plus miscellaneous expenses, about 800,000.

After deducting the cost of more than 800,000 yuan, there will only be a profit of 700,000 to 800,000 yuan left (if the lawsuit is won, Liji Group will fulfill the contract instead of paying liquidated damages).

This is when everything goes well.

But this case may not go smoothly.

After they discussed for a while, the old man finally looked at Lance, "Listen to what President Lance has to say!"

People finally quieted down.

Lance looked at the old man with a strange look in his eyes. This old guy indeed had a trait that only old people can show, and that is rich experience.

Of course, in such occasions, one does need someone who is not on his side, who has rich experience and can make people calm down and listen.

Lance crossed his legs. "The market value of Liji Group is calculated in billions. If they insist on dragging the lawsuit with us, it will be difficult for us to gain any practical benefits from this."

"It's possible that just a few of their calls could prevent us from finding a good lawyer, or that those lawyers might offer outrageous prices to embarrass us and force us to back out."

"Now this thing has actually become two things."

He held up a finger. "First, our money."

Then he held up a second finger, "Second, our face."

"For the former, I intend to solve our problem by mortgaging this contract to the bank and giving part of the profit to the bank."

"I think the final sales price will be more than 350 yuan. We sold the contract to them at 275 yuan per ton." "This way we have a profit of about 1.5 times, about 1.5 million yuan."

"The benefit is that we don't have any trouble, they are no match for the banks."

"Then, it's a matter of face."

"But I don't need your help with this part. This is our expertise."

Some people at the scene laughed, and they probably knew what Lance meant.

"So the reason I called you here today is to ask you if you accept this result. You can make a profit of about 500,000 to 550,000 yuan from this, and each of your investments will double."

"If any of you disagree, we can split the shares and let you handle it yourself, or you can come up with a plan and entrust me to handle it for you. Both are fine."

"I can promise that I will do my best."

The scene became lively again, and Lance took out a cigarette.

He could have clearly earned hundreds of thousands more legally, but now he is forced to earn hundreds of thousands less. He will let the Liji Group know what the price is for annoyance they have shown him.

Before they finished smoking a cigarette, they finally made a decision, "Mr. Lance, we agree with your plan."

"The fact that you were able to double our investment is already a remarkable miracle!"

“We are not greedy!”

Lance looked at the old man who was speaking for them, "I forgot to ask last time, what should I call you, sir?"

The old man was a little flattered. "My name is Roger, Mr. Lance. You can call me Lao Luo, Roger, or Jeff."

The smile on his face made him look several years older - the wrinkles were all stacked on top of each other.

What is this mess?

"Mr. Roger, you said one thing wrong!" Lance did not use such a familiar name, but used his full name.

"What?" Old man Roger was a little confused.

"That is, we must be greedy. Only more greed and desire can drive us to keep moving forward."

"Stop being greedy and go back to farming!"

The astonishment on Roger's face and the sudden laughter of some young people seemed to divide time between the two groups, but in the end, everyone was united in their thoughts, even if they were still a little unclear.

Lance patted his trouser legs and stood up. "Now that we have reached a consensus, I will go and do this now. I will inform you if there is any further news..."

If Lance wants to find a bank to take over the contract, he will definitely find Jonathan. The Parkway Bank where Jonathan works is one of the largest banks in the federation.

It may not face up to a comprehensive agricultural group with a certain monopoly position like the Liji Group, but if it is just a contract, they have no problem.

When Jonathan heard that Lance was coming to visit, he turned down other work and received Lance.

The headquarters had already received some information and gave him two options: to go to a slightly less developed area to serve as a bank president, or to stay here and be in charge of all loan operations in Jingang City.

After a comprehensive assessment by Parkson’s risk department, “Salary Loan” was considered to be a product with great potential and they are planning to launch a series of related businesses.

Moreover, the company's think tank believes that society is more accepting of this loan and repayment method.

Because to some extent, it is equivalent to the workers withdrawing their wages in advance!
At present, they only plan to do three phases at most, and the redemption ratio is 89.5%, which means that a worker can get a total of 100 yuan in wages in three months.

Then they can get a one-time loan of 89.5 yuan from the bank, and then they will not be able to receive wages from the company for the next three months because their wages have been withheld by the bank.

What if they take the money and run away?
Banks will not do business with high risks, they will only do business with low risks or no risks.

In short, Jonathan has made great contributions to Parkson Bank and his status has been greatly improved.

"Lance, is there anything I can help you with?" Jonathan smiled at everyone he saw at this time. In the banking system, every upgrade of a level is a substantial change.

Lance was his benefactor, and he knew it.

"Do you have any cooperation with Liji Group?" Lance sat on the chair and adjusted himself to a comfortable sitting position. Although he did not explain his purpose, it also made Jonathan have some guesses.

These agricultural groups have always been like this, want to make money from them?

It's possible, but it will only allow you to earn a little. If you want to eat the meat and let them drink the soup, it is basically absolutely impossible.

Jonathan picked up the phone, "I need to ask a question."

Soon the call was made to the branch in Jingang City. After the branch manager talked to him, Jonathan hung up the phone.

"We have business dealings, what's wrong?"

Lance handed over the contract and explained his purpose at the same time, "I don't want to compromise, so I thought of you."

"This contract will allow you to bring at least 700,000 to 800,000 yuan in profits to the bank. I believe they will not embarrass you."

"In other words, you got 800,000 yuan for free."

Jonathan's perspective changed, and he chose to stay in Jingang City because it was easier to achieve results here.

Although he is no longer responsible for a specific number, it would still be an impressive achievement if he could bring in a lucrative loan.

He read the contract carefully and couldn't help asking, "So you estimate that the price of grapes will rise to 350 yuan per ton in more than a month?"

He was a little bit unbelievable, but Lance's confidence made him believe it. "Wait for me to make two more calls."

"Please."

A few minutes later, Jonathan finally confirmed that there was no problem with the contract and put it on the table. "The price of grapes is indeed rising rapidly, and it is indeed possible that it will exceed three hundred and fifty yuan."

"We need a guarantee from the president. If the final price is lower than 350 yuan, you need to make up for the shortfall to us."

Lance simply extended his hand, "Deal."

The bank earns this money, and he can have better connections with the bank and closer cooperation in the future.

But if he were given to the Liji Group, they would just treat him as a soft persimmon.

Subsequently, a large sum of money was transferred into Lance's account through a bank account, legal funds.

Seeing such a large amount of funds coming in, Lance felt comfortable.

As for Liji Group?

They're in big trouble!

In the evening, Patricia just came out of the Commercial Services Bureau and saw Lance standing on the sidewalk reading a newspaper. The smile on her face suddenly became lively, and she took the initiative to run over to some men in the heartbreak.

"Hi!" She took a small step when she was about to get close to Lance, and then shouted loudly.

Some passers-by on the road looked over here, but soon smiled. Who could show a bad look to a girl in love?

Lance seemed to be frightened and the newspaper in his hand fell down. Just as Patricia was about to laugh at his cowardice, he hugged her.

She was a little shy, "There are so many people looking at us."

Lance just hugged her and didn't kiss her, which made her feel better, but even so, her face turned red.

Amid the jeers of some female colleagues, she quickly got into Lance's car, "Today is not the weekend."

Lance nodded. "Something. Last time Barbara (Patricia's cousin) had her birthday, I remembered that you had a cousin who worked in customs, right?"

(End of this chapter)