"Dad, lend me some money!"
A mansion in the inner city.
As soon as Sid, who had hurried home, entered the door, he met his son's expectant gaze, and an interested expression immediately appeared on his face.
Hey.
The sun really rose from the west.
In the past, this son of a bitch always asked for money, why did he suddenly use the word "borrow" today?
He didn't care how his son spent money outside, his family property could not be spent just by spending money, as long as his son was careful when sleeping with girls, and didn't suddenly bring him a wild grandson one day.
Who hasn't been young?
He also loved to play when he was young, and he restrained himself a little after getting married. After all, his wife's family status was not low, and they had to consider each other's face.
"How much?"
"Ten million!"
When he heard the number of ten million, Sid frowned immediately.
What is the concept of ten million?
Calculated by wages, more than 500,000 people in Boulder City have to work hard for two or three weeks! And even if calculated by output value, those cattle and horses have to work hard for at least a whole day!
Although the chips are just numbers to him, they are not waste paper after all. There is no doubt that this is not a small amount of money. Even if he can afford it, he can't let his son squander it like this.
"You ask the housekeeper to take 200,000 to spend first, and ask me for it if it's not enough."
Seeing that his father misunderstood him, Kumit was immediately anxious and stamped his feet and said.
"Dad! I really need it! If you don't believe me, I can write an IOU!"
Sid glared at him and said.
"Did you get into trouble again? Tell me the truth, don't make your own decisions again!"
Kumit laughed.
"No, what trouble, am I that kind of person? Dad, to tell you the truth, I found an opportunity to make money!"
Opportunity to make money?
Sid almost laughed out loud.
Others don't understand his son, but he understands him too well. This guy can't keep money.
Putting his hand on his shoulder, Sid said patiently.
"You kid, sometimes you are a little naive. Be more careful outside and don't let people fool you. Tell your dad, which bastard told you the pie?"
Kumit opened his father's hand with a smile.
"What? I told you about the opportunity to make a fortune! That Jixiu, you know him, right? He's back from Ideal City!"
"Jixiu? You mean...Melvin's second son?" Sid took a while to remember the name of the bastard.
To be honest, he didn't have a very good impression of the boy. He was too reckless, or to put it more seriously, he didn't think!
He could have hired two desperate men to kill the whole family, but he was so smart as to set fire to it, and he did it himself like a pig. He was so ignorant.
Fortunately, the boy had a smart father who sent him out of the city immediately, first dealt with the militia, and then found a scapegoat to calm the anger of the residents of the outer city, which was considered to be the end of the matter.
They can indeed ignore the rules on the surface, but there is still a set of unwritten rules to be followed under the surface.
If they really don't follow any rules, wouldn't they be plunderers?
If it weren't for the boy's father's face, Sid would never agree to his son hanging out with that guy every day.
Of course, considering that Jixiu has been in Ideal City for five years, maybe with the help of the old fox Melvin, he has established his own base in the local area, so it is still worth investing in face.
He plans to find an opportunity to send his youngest son there, build a good relationship in advance, and take care of him when he goes there. After getting a large amount of Cr, he also wants to go there to relax for two days and experience another kind of luxurious life.
Thinking of this, Sid had a plan in mind and said it in a relaxed manner.
"... Go to the housekeeper to get two million chips."
Kumet's face fell in disappointment.
"Ah? Only two million..."
"You think it's too little," Sid slapped the back of the head of this ungrateful boy angrily, "You have never been a family, you don't know how hard it is to make money! Spend the two million, don't write an IOU, just write a receipt for me, and go to Ideal City to study after losing it! Now the opportunity is so good, the flight can fly directly, at least learn something and come back to me!"
Kumet pursed his lips.
To be honest, he really didn't think it was hard to make money.
His good buddy is the son of the president of the Giant Stone City Bank, and the son of the big boss Weijia is his lackey. For him, making money is not a matter of minutes.
And Jixiu made a very detailed plan. They have a detailed and complete plan that can drive the price of S coins to the sky!
But time is money, so let's just say two million.
When he turns these two million into four million, or even forty million, or four hundred million... I believe this stupid father will look at him with new eyes!
Just when Kumit was dreaming of getting rich, Sid had already gone to his wife Bonnie.
Pushing the door open and walking into the dressing room, he hugged the woman who was sitting in front of the dressing table and being combed by the maid.
Although she was already in her forties or fifties, she looked almost the same as when she was young because of good maintenance and the technology of bionics, except for some faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
If she were a wastelander, she would probably have been buried in the ground at her age.
"What are you so happy about?" Bonnie's cheeks were slightly red, and she glanced at the maid next to her, motioning her to go out first and close the door.
Sid didn't care if there was anyone around, anyway, he had tasted the taste of that girl before, and kissed his wife with a smile.
"Honey, we're going to get rich!"
Bonnie scolded.
"Get rich? Aren't we already rich?"
"We'll get even richer!" Sid sat on the sofa and proudly told him the agreement he and Lister had reached on the bond issue.
Lister agreed to give him half of the pie at the "original price" and gave him professional advice, suggesting that he allocate half of the long and short bonds.
He subscribed to 500 million short bonds and 1 billion long bonds... Although he initially planned to subscribe to the latter for all 1.5 billion, after all, buying 100 chips at the issue price of 85 sounded more tempting, but considering that he had to let Lister make some money, he nodded happily and agreed.
The issue price of 85, in other words, he only needed 850 million chips to buy 1 billion chips of bonds, and the alliance would pay him 40 million chips in interest every year!
Of course, he was not thinking about the interest of 40 million chips every year, only the poor would count on the little interest given by the bank.
He would use a suitable price, such as 1.3 billion or 1.4 billion, to split and sell the total debt of 1.5 billion to the chambers of commerce and factory owners in Boulder City.
After all, he ate the meat, so he had to give them a sip of the broth.
The factories and chambers of commerce that made money from the alliance now have plenty of money and will definitely be interested in this value-added transaction.
They will drink this broth.
And they must drink it!
Thinking of this, Sid couldn't help but feel proud of his genius.
This in and out is 100 million!
He only needs to move his fingers to make the money that would take two and a half years to earn by eating interest.
Honest people like Lister who do business in factories in an honest way have no idea of real "power"!
"I always feel something is wrong. Why does Lister give you this opportunity to make money? Is he a new noble?" After listening to her husband's words, Bonnie still felt something was wrong.
To put it bluntly, she didn't trust the Wastelanders.
Even if the Wastelanders relied on money to get the status of inner city nobles, their blood was still dirty and sinful.
Sid was not surprised at his wife's concerns. A vase like her could not be exposed to the darkness outside. Looking out the window of her house, she could not see even an inch of wasteland.
But he knew it very well.
He knew better than anyone how desperate the Wastelanders outside were, and how much they longed for the life in the inner city. For the black card, they could humble themselves to the dust, take off their dignity and hearts and throw them into the oil pan.
"Yes, he is a new noble, and I even helped him get his black card, but the real core power of the inner city still has nothing to do with him. I can get half of the nobles to vote with me, but he still has to figure out those human relationships and ask me which side to stand on when voting so as not to offend anyone inexplicably. If he wants to gain a foothold in the inner city, he must rely on us, our family, and the intricate veins of this building! You can understand that he is a dog raised by our family."
Looking at her husband's confident eyes, Bonnie relaxed a little and put her hand on his shoulder.
"This family depends on you alone, don't be too tired."
She doesn't understand those complicated things.
Her father protected her very well, but looking at the occasional sadness on the maid's face, the bitter expression when writing letters to her sweetheart, and the fear when facing herself, she can still roughly guess that people outside are not living well.
Holding his wife's waist, Sid said confidently.
"Don't worry, your husband is not fighting alone. We are a group of people - descendants of noble people who created a new world on the ruins of nothing. Our opponents are just a few moles with frozen brains and those wastelanders who have stomach problems from picking up garbage."
"They don't understand what real power struggles are. We see through them completely, and they don't even know how many cards we have in our hands."
"We can't lose!"
...
"Hahaha! Those idiots! You don't know how wonderful the expression on Sid's face was when I told that idiot that he could buy 100 debts with 90 chips! It turns out that an elegant and decent man can really turn from a human into a pig in a second!"
In a mansion in Dawn City,
Lister's face was full of smug and wanton laughter.
He vividly described to Chu Guang how he tricked the greedy fat pig into the cage he had made at the banquet, and lured it step by step to put the rope around its neck.
Chu Guang listened with a smile and clapped his hands gently.
"Excellent."
"You flatter me!"
Restraining the frivolous smile on his face, Liszt nodded slightly and continued respectfully, "No matter how wonderful my performance is, I am just an actor on the stage, not as good as you who designed the entire stage for me."
"Don't be modest! There is no benefit in flattering me," Chu Guang smiled and continued, "Did you bring the things?"
"Here."
Liszt clapped his hands gently.
Soon, his confidant Han Long pushed open the door and walked in from outside the study with two large suitcases.
At the signal of his boss Liszt, he placed the suitcases flat on the empty table on one side of the study and opened the lock.
Inside the suitcase, there were black and white chips with crown patterns printed on them, and the face value of these chips was 10,000.
Liszt looked at Chu Guang and said respectfully.
"Please take a look."
Chu Guang glanced at Lu Bei standing beside him.
"Go and count them."
"Yes!"
Lu Bei nodded neatly and walked towards the two suitcases.
Although Chu Guang knew that Liszt must have counted the chips over and over again and would never dare to lie to him, letting Lu Bei go through the motions would make him feel at ease.
And Lu Bei was still as meticulous as before in his assigned tasks, and he counted them carefully one by one.
Looking at the young man concentrating on counting the money, Liszt's expression relaxed a little, and he smiled and looked at Chu Guang sitting on the sofa.
"According to your instructions, I have transferred more than half of the bonds to a prestigious noble in Boulder City. If nothing unexpected happens, he will resell these bonds to the factories in Boulder City."
If the result of the last round of inflation was that the social wealth of Boulder City was concentrated in the hands of the nobles who held power and the merchants who controlled the means of production, then this round of inflation caused by subprime debt will make the merchants who controlled the means of production begin to taste the "sweet bitter fruit".
Those merchants are the most cunning.
They greedily enjoy the comfortable pool water like a hot spring, but they will be the first to be alert when the water is hot enough to burn their buttocks.
Therefore, when necessary, they will pull the not-so-smart but strong nobles to face external threats together.
So if you want to harvest them, you have to spend more time and effort to sell the meat-cutting knife to the nobles in the inner city first, and use them to do this time-consuming and laborious work.
A total of 3 billion debts is just the beginning.
Neither Lister nor Chu Guang promised Boulder City that this was the last sum of money they borrowed from Boulder City, and they would not use new debt to repay old debt.
"Actually, there is one thing I don't quite understand." Lister suddenly asked.
"What is it?"
"The Alliance has an account in Boulder City, right?" Lister looked at Chu Guang in confusion and asked, "Anyway, the chips have to be brought to Boulder City for trading, why not transfer them directly? Instead, they must use cash?"
Chu Guang smiled and said casually.
"Because this money is not used to buy things, it is bait for fishing. In this game, we can only guarantee our own credit, and it is difficult to say for others, so I need some off-site cash to fulfill our promise."
Chu Guang looked at the briefcase on the table.
According to his instructions, Lister asked Sid to pay the "deposit" of 20 million chips in advance, and it was a cash transaction, and then sent someone to deliver the chips to the Alliance.
No one dared to ask Sid what he was going to do with the money, and the 20 million was stuck at a moderate amount, so the Boulder City Bank would not be aware of the news in advance.
Half of the 20 million was used to pay the debt of the Boulder City Bank, and the other half was for Melvin to see, telling that guy that the Alliance had even prepared the principal and interest for next year.
So don't think of using debt to threaten the Alliance to make concessions!
Melvin is a smart man, and he will definitely realize that making too much money in the local currency is like drinking a belly of bubbles. He will definitely use debt to put pressure on the Alliance, either proposing to open up the free circulation of chips and silver coins, or asking the Alliance to help him find a new place for the excess bubbles.
Whether it is allowing chips to be exchanged for Cr across the bridge, or allowing chips to price the food of the Lion Kingdom and the mineral resources of Xizhou City, these are all means to achieve the goal.
However, Chu Guang would not let the cunning fox run away smoothly, and even planned to take this opportunity to make them fall deeper.
Melvin would never have dreamed that his major shareholder was so impatient that he could not wait to pay the principal and interest for the alliance at the end of the year, stabbing him in the back when he didn't know.
Lister nodded, not quite understanding.
"What about the remaining money? It's not easy to get the cash of 830 million chips. It's not a small amount. Boulder City Bank will definitely keep an eye on this money. Even if Sid takes out the cash first, it may not be easy."
Chu Guang smiled and said, "No need to bring it out. Why do I need so much waste paper? We will use this money to buy some things, part of it will be used to buy back discounted debts, and part of it will be used to buy means of production. Maybe we will need your help at that time."
Lister asked with interest.
"What to buy?"
Chu Guang did not tell him, but just said it briefly.
"Anything that cannot be bought with the 510 million chips that the Boulder City Bank gave us in the medium and long-term loan can be bought with this money. Our Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Economy have made a list, which has just been discussed. I can tell you that this thing exists, but I will not tell you the content in advance."
Because it is unfair to other competitors.
Liszt plans to sell Boulder City for a good price. Chu Guang will let him get the benefits he deserves, but only the agreed part.
The future plan of the alliance is another matter.
Liszt immediately understood what Chu Guang meant, and then stopped asking questions, smiled relaxedly, and changed the dangerous topic without leaving a trace.
"Okay, tell me when you need me... But then again, you are really efficient. You reached a consensus in one meeting. The nobles in the inner city can argue for a week over trivial matters such as who gets to eat more, but they are so quick when they should be more cautious."
"That's their business."
Looking at Lu Bei who nodded to him, Chu Guang smiled, stood up from the sofa, and shook hands with Lister who also stood up.
"But I promise that everyone will have a share, and they will not miss a single bite."
Serly shaking the solid and powerful steel, Lister also smiled and responded respectfully.
"It's an honor to serve you!"
...
Just as the top leaders of Boulder City and the top leaders of the Alliance were scheming against each other, the three-day celebration had entered its finale.
After tonight, everyone's life will return to their daily track and start working again.
But not many people felt regretful.
Instead, they were full of expectations for tomorrow.
Because starting from tomorrow, they only need to work eight hours, and the boss will not only not deduct their wages, but also give them more salary. Because the alliance requires their boss to cooperate, and if they don't cooperate, they will pack up and go to their neighbors.
Compared with a rapidly growing and unlimited potential market, what is the increase in labor costs?
Smart people can do this math problem.
On the other hand, with the help of Fang Chang, Dolly has completed her column.
However, just when she was excited to tell her boss Hal the good news, she found that his boss came from Boulder City.
And he brought a large group of employees with him, carrying luggage with dusty faces, as if he was kicked out.
At the door of his home by Linghu Lake.
After listening to Hal's explanation, Dolly opened her eyes wide.
"The newspaper was disbanded?!"
Hal looked at Dolly with a guilty conscience and whispered.
"...I didn't want to disband it."
"I know...but why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Dolly clenched her fists angrily.
In order to write that column, she spent almost the entire celebration looking around on the streets of Dawn City, and didn't even enjoy the celebration.
As a result, when she finished everything, her useless president told her that her job was gone? !
Hal shrank his neck and said guiltily.
"I thought I was going to come here anyway, so I wanted to tell you in person...By the way, your arm is healed? Congratulations, it suits you well."
Dolly, who was upset, pressed her eyebrows and didn't let him change the subject. She was still upset about the closure of the newspaper.
"But...but...isn't the newspaper invested by the Alliance?"
Hal sighed and said to Dolly who was trying to make a final struggle.
"Yes, but the Alliance's embassy can't put pressure on Boulder City for our newspaper. This is their internal affairs, and the Alliance doesn't want to make a fuss about this... Of course, due to the Alliance's face, Boulder City didn't make it difficult for us and let us take everything away. Except for the windows and doors, I packed up everything I could take back, including your desk." Dolly looked at him blankly. "Then... what are you going to do next?" Hal looked at the setting sun in the west with a slightly complicated expression. "I plan to take my colleagues to Luoxia Province and start a new Survivor Daily there, and expand business from the Lion Kingdom. Of course... if you don't want to go so far, you can also go to Dawn City, where there is also a "Survivor Daily". I have talked to the editor-in-chief here, and they welcome us." He has read the "Survivor Daily" in Dawn City, and it is not as interesting as the one he runs in Boulder City. After all, it takes a little skill to argue with Mr. House. Most educated people in the alliance will find a better unit, and the profitability of newspapers is limited. Editors usually cannot offer too high a salary, so most of what they write is plain language, lacking some humor.
However, their future is still worth looking forward to.
After all, the price of advertising will increase with the growth of the economic scale, and here good days will always be rolled up for those who work hard.
"Survivor Daily" originated in Boulder City.
But their mission has ended.
After explaining the future, Hal did not dare to stay for a meal, and carefully said sorry again and left.
Looking at Dolly who came back from the entrance with a lost face, Fang Chang gently patted her shoulder and comforted her.
"It's okay..."
"But that was a hard-written press release..." Dolly's eyes were full of tears, and she felt indescribable grievance in her heart.
She thought there were many things worth learning from the Alliance's methods. If the working environment of the workers was improved and the residents of Boulder City became wealthy, more new things would spontaneously flow into Boulder City, and it would become richer because of everyone's strange ideas. Even if we can't return to the beautiful era of prosperity, we can make everyone's life a little better than yesterday.
She didn't like the nobles in the inner city. As an intelligence dealer, she knew better than anyone how ugly and dirty those people were.
But if it could make the people of Boulder City live a little better, she was willing to put aside her insignificant hatred and publish the good things she saw in the Alliance in the newspaper, even if some of them were just one-sided or even naive ideas.
Some people conceived, some perfected, and some tried. Three people can always do more than one person can do, and no one can come up with a perfect solution at the beginning.
However, what she never expected was that just when she was about to do these things, the Survivor Daily was forced to close.
The more vicious insult than sarcasm and ridicule is complete indifference.
"Do you think it's ironic?" Fang Chang coughed lightly and couldn't help but tease, "The big bad wolf with a lot of bad intentions was treated as a guest of honor, while the clever investigator lost his beloved job - hiss, are you a cat?!"
Before he finished speaking, Dolly had already pounced on him and bit him with her teeth.
"You're still teasing me!"
Looking at the tears in her eyes, Fang Chang suddenly felt a little distressed, although players don't have such a thing as pain.
He reached out, hugged her gently, and touched her head.
"Sorry."
"You didn't do anything bad, you don't need to apologize!"
With tears in her eyes, Dolly stubbornly sniffed hard, her voice low and hoarse and distressing, "You guessed it would turn out like this... right?"
Fang Chang sighed softly.
"It would be a lie to say I didn't expect it, but it was really beyond my expectation that it would happen so soon."
Dolly looked at him with a heartbreaking look.
"But why! Why did they..."
"The reason behind it may not be as complicated as you think. Maybe one day a noble picked up a newspaper from a civilian's newsstand on a whim. They usually don't like to read that thing, just like they usually don't try beer diluted with water, but after tasting it, they will frown... So it's not your fault, there's no need to be sad for someone who is not worth it."
Fang Chang continued to comfort her without wanting to make Dolly too sad.
"In addition, even if I put aside the newspaper, it's still quite happy for me to look around the streets of Dawn City with you and ask about the 'secret recipe' of the alliance's rise."
This simple happiness is not so easy to obtain in the information age.
In reality, it's too easy for him to know something. He can find out by just moving his fingers or making a few phone calls.
"...but our efforts are meaningless," Dolly lowered her head, "my column...will not be published."
"How could that be? Didn't I say that even lying on the lawn with you and counting the stars is full of meaning, not to mention that we have done so many things these days, and whether it is meaningful or not should not be determined by people who have not done this thing."
Looking at those confused and ignorant eyes, Fang Chang shook her little hand.
"How about trying to contribute to the Alliance's "Survivor Daily"? "
"We care about what they don't care about, and we don't think what they care about is that important. I believe that the editor-in-chief of the "Survivor Daily" will be moved by your meticulous investigation. We need your eyes to discover the "Naguo" hidden among us, and other hidden dangers that we have not yet discovered."
The confused color gradually glowed again.
Very happy to see her cheer up again, Fang Chang smiled gently and made a harmless joke in a very light voice.
"...It would be a pity to give up just like that."
"I'm still waiting for the gentle and kind Miss Dolly to make money to support me."
...
After leaving Lister's house, Chu Guang ordered Lu Bei to take the brothers of the Guards to deliver the chips to the Ministry of Finance, while he went to Linghu North Street where the players gathered to see what new things his little players had done.
And just as he passed by the players' self-built community, he happened to meet Hal who had just come out of Fang Chang's house.
Before he could figure out how to explain, Hal wanted to avoid it, but seeing that Chu Guang had already seen him, he could only bite the bullet and walk up to say hello. Before Chu Guang asked, he told him the whole story.
Lowering his head and not daring to look into the eyes of the manager, Hal whispered an apology.
"Sorry... I failed your expectations and made the newspaper yellow."
Seeing his trembling appearance, Chu Guang happened to be in a good mood and smiled and said.
"Have I ever told you what my expectations are?"
Hal was slightly stunned, confusion in his eyes.
He couldn't remember it no matter what, so he scratched his head.
"What is it?"
"Nothing, I just asked you to do it, and I didn't stipulate how you must do it. But now it seems that this investment has achieved unexpected results, and your choice and decision make me feel that it is worth the money."
Looking at this confused young man, Chu Guang said with a smile.
"It's a good idea to open a newspaper in Luoxia Province. Do whatever you want to do. Remember to say hello to your father for me when you go back. By the way, have you eaten?"
Hal came back to his senses, his stomach growled, and he shook his head with a red face.
"No..."
"Then let's go together."
Hal was stunned when he heard the words, and then he was flattered and waved his hand to refuse.
"Well, how can I be embarrassed."
Chu Guang laughed, patted him on the shoulder, and said jokingly.
"Why should you be embarrassed? I treated you to your first meal in Qingquan City. You didn't seem embarrassed at that time."
Hal coughed dryly.
"That's different... I was hungry."
And how could it be compared to now!
The Alliance has long grown into a towering tree. Even his father has to be respectful to the Alliance's managers.
Not to mention him.
"Just treat it as a farewell before leaving! When you go to the desert, remember to tell the people there what I look like. Don't imagine it based on that painting." Looking at Hal who was still embarrassed, Chu Guang smiled and urged, "Let's go, drink, don't hesitate!"
It would be disrespectful to refuse again.
Hal nodded with a smile and was pulled to the barbecue stall by Chu Guang.
Many residents of the shelter are here.
They were not too surprised by the arrival of the administrator. Most people were still busy with their own things. Only some idle people came up to "pay their respects".
However, Hal could see that the glib titles they made up were not really to regard this adult as an unattainable existence, nor were they sarcastic and ironic. They just wanted to attract his attention through this kind of performance art.
But what's the benefit?
In fact, they knew in their hearts that the administrator would not favor them because of their "flattery", right?
Hal didn't know what they wanted to do, but just observed the residents of the shelter curiously. For him who had been staying in Boulder City, everything here was full of freshness.
After nightfall, the voices were even more noisy, and even melodious music was played.
The people here seemed to be celebrating the last night of the celebration.
They kneaded the cracked crab meat and flour into a ball and sprinkled it with spices to make meat patties, and put the tables together to share the victory wine and stories about adventure.
They seemed to never get tired.
They don't take the wasteland seriously at all.
The smell of oil is more intoxicating than the foam of beer, and what makes people unable to take their eyes off is the rising bonfire and the dancing in front of the bonfire.
And the manager who brought him here has long gone.
Hal, who accidentally drank too much, stared at the increasingly hazy world in front of him, humming his impromptu poem-
"It's good to hang up the lights and decorations, and hyenas also join in the fun, greedily rushing into the oil pan, crying and laughing."
Just wait and see.
Those arrogant guys.
When he thought that after going to the desert, he would not be able to appreciate the mournful expressions of those arrogant old men, Hal suddenly felt reluctant to leave here...