Wandering in the vast darkness

Chapter 48 Beijing Beijing

"Brother Wang, how did you get into this industry? I mean, doing financial business, I don't understand it. Is this what you call financial business?" Yu Wenhao asked.

"That's right, it's all about money. Although they say they're in finance, they're just fooling themselves. What finance? Most of them are just scammers, cheating and swindling," Brother Wang said. "It was very simple for me to get into this business. I was looking for funds, and they were looking for people like me who needed funds. So it was a perfect match."

"All people who lack funds have one thing in common: they are very anxious and like to dream. They draw a pie in the sky to deceive themselves, making themselves believe that once this pie falls, all their problems will be solved. They place all their hopes on this pie in the sky. This makes you particularly easy to fool, and it would be strange if scammers didn't find you."

"Back then, someone approached me and said they could help me bring in a large sum of money. At that time, my company hadn't completely collapsed yet; it was still barely hanging on, struggling, and had some money, but what it lacked was a lot of capital. Someone told me they could help me bring in funds, so of course I believed them. At that time, it wasn't that I hadn't been exposed to this industry before; I didn't know that it was so complicated."

"I went to Beijing with some people and stayed at the Tianlun Dynasty Hotel in Wangfujing. After I settled in, a middleman came and had dinner with us. He then told me that he would take me to meet the investors the next day. He also told me that given my company's current project situation, finding funding in Beijing would not be a problem. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep well that night."

"The next day, we got into a car at the hotel entrance, a ride-hailing car like yours. As soon as I got in the car, I felt something was off. How come the investors don't even have a car to discuss 250 million yuan in funding, and they have to call a taxi? In the car, I thought, maybe the investors are arrogant, and there are many people who come to them. People like me are just small fry in their eyes. That's how I comforted myself."

"The car first drove around Financial Street, and I got excited again. Seeing all those huge bank buildings outside, I felt like Beijing was really full of gold. What is 250 million here? I really came to the right place."

The car turned and twisted and turned into a hutong (alleyway). The houses on both sides were dilapidated, making you not believe that there was such a run-down place hidden behind those high-rise buildings in Beijing. It really was a hidden corner.

The car stopped in front of a small four-story hotel. We got out and went inside. The first floor of the hotel was a place that was neither a coffee shop nor a tea house, with four or five tables. There were quite a lot of people, and every table was full. We couldn't get a table yet, so we could only sit on a set of shabby sofas in the lobby.

"When I got here, my heart sank. I thought, what kind of funds could this godforsaken place possibly have? Then I looked at those tables, and they were all talking about financial deals, hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. It didn't sound reliable at all. There were also people signing letters of intent and interest subsidy commitments. If you closed your eyes, you would think you had come to the headquarters of a bank or Wall Street."

"When he heard that I was leaving, President Qi seemed a little nervous. He stopped glancing at me and kept complaining about the middleman, saying how he handled things. We had arranged to have lunch with President Mao. You know, President Mao rarely sees people. How am I going to explain this?"

"Then I'll wait and see if it's a person or a ghost."

Wang Ge chuckled, "You absolutely mustn't witness this. If you do, you're doomed. So many people have fallen into this trap and can't get out, ruining their otherwise good lives. They're always dreaming, dreaming of getting rich overnight. Okay, Xiao Yu, I'll tell you this as a warning, so you won't be fooled by people like this in the future."

"Another old man came along, still with a runny nose, probably from being cold on his bike ride. He claimed to be from the China Banking Regulatory Commission. Haha, they're trying to put on a show, trying their best to prove they're the real deal. But the more you try to prove something, the more flaws you'll find, and the more suspicious you'll become."

"In the end, instead of taking us to the bank, he took us to a small restaurant next door, into a private room, and said that he had arranged to meet President Mao there. As soon as I saw it, I felt something was wrong. It's not like I haven't dealt with bank presidents before. What president would come to such a shabby place to eat? So I prepared to leave."

"Yes, I want to learn. It's all about gaining experience. I've never even seen this industry before," Yu Wenhao said.

"When I heard that, I almost laughed out loud. I thought to myself, 'You son of a bitch, you probably can't even come up with 25,000. 250 million? And you call that a small deal?' While we were sitting there, people kept going up and down the hotel. They were all managers and executives, talking about money and business. I felt like the people staying in that hotel were all like that."

"Around noon, General Manager Qi said, 'Let's go.' He said he had an appointment with Bank Manager Mao to have lunch together, and it was just nearby. I thought, if we're having lunch at the bank, at least the bank manager is reliable, right? So we stood up and followed him out."

"That guy asked me, 'What's wrong? You're not going to talk anymore?' I said, 'You still want to talk? If you want to talk, go downstairs and talk, then wait to pay the bill. Don't you see these guys don't even have lunch? If you can't scam anything else, at least you can scam a meal.' That's when the guy suddenly realized what I meant."

"Haha, I was right. Later I found out that there are many such small hotels in Beijing, where people who talk big and daydream are staying. There must be tens of thousands of them, all so-called finance people who attract investment."

"I took that guy to the store, and just then an empty taxi passed by. I flagged it down, opened the door and let the guy get in. Before he could even react, I pushed him inside, climbed into the car myself, and told the driver to go to the Tianlun Dynasty Hotel."

"General Manager Qi probably sensed something and immediately explained that President Mao wasn't a native of Beijing, and that the restaurant was owned by one of his fellow villagers, and that President Mao loved the local cuisine. This explanation was somewhat plausible, and just then, President Mao called to say that he had just left the bank and was almost there."

"But then, more and more people kept coming in. An old man came in, his down jacket sleeves were all greasy, and he was carrying a crumpled file bag. He said he was a retired director of the People's Bank of China. He solemnly took out a document with the People's Bank of China letterhead from the file bag and waved it in front of me. I could tell at a glance that the letterhead was printed by a printing shop. As for the contents of the document, you can download it from the People's Bank of China website."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Wang."

I stood up and said to the middleman, "Since Mr. Qi thinks our order is too small and not worth doing, then we won't bother you any longer and let's go."

"The middleman came to me and begged me, saying that if that didn't work, I could meet with President Mao at noon and we could talk about it then. He also said that what General Manager Qi said was right, that people in their line of work all know that President Mao is very high-profile and rarely sees people. I thought about it and agreed. Since I was already here, and I was going to meet the bank president, I might as well meet him and see what happens."

"A man came downstairs. The middleman introduced him as General Manager Qi. He spoke with a Northwestern accent, had yellow teeth, and was very arrogant, looking at people with a sidelong glance. The middleman introduced him to the company and said that we needed 250 million. He just sneered and said, 'Such a small order, the commission isn't much, it's not worth doing.'"

"You still want to hear something so boring?"

At this point, Brother Wang picked up a bottle of Nongfu Spring water, took a sip, screwed the cap back on, looked at Yu Wenhao, and asked:

"Then I'll continue and tell you about my first experience in Beijing," said Brother Wang. "After waiting for more than ten minutes, President Mao arrived. To be honest, President Mao really does look like a bank president. He's fair-skinned and speaks very politely. He's wearing a black woolen overcoat, and when he opens his mouth, he looks like a proper bank president."

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