Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 405 Changing Checks

We had lunch in Heishan, and the car arrived at Nanhu at 3:30 pm.

The road was much easier to travel without ice and snow, and it took almost two hours faster than in winter.

They parked the car in the power company's yard, and the three men went upstairs to exchange the checks, while the three girls waited in the car downstairs.

They arrived at Old Chen's office on the seventh floor, only to find that Old Chen had gone to a meeting in Beijing. So the three of them went downstairs to find Director Liu.

Upon arriving at the general office, Chen Hui knocked on the door, pushed it open, and asked, "Is Aunt Liu here?"

A bespectacled man in the office looked up, a smile spreading across his face. "Xiao Hui, what's up?" Chen Hui stood up, smiled, and said, "I need to talk to Aunt Liu, but she's not here."

The bespectacled man said, "Director Liu isn't in the general office anymore; he went to the bureau office. It's on the seventh floor, with a separate director's office, diagonally opposite Director Chen's office. Shall I take you up there?"

Chen Hui said, "No need, no need, I can go up by myself. I'll find it. Thanks, Brother Wang." He pulled Xiao Wei and Xia Maosheng out, and the three of them climbed to the seventh floor. Following the door number, they found the director's office, and Chen Hui knocked on the door.

A voice could be faintly heard from inside: "Please come in."

Chen Hui pushed open the door, and the three of them went in. Chen Hui said with a smile, "Aunt Liu, I even ran downstairs to look for you."

Director Liu looked up and saw Chen Hui. She smiled and walked out from behind her desk, saying, "Why are you here? Looking for your dad?" She was still a director, but the prestige of that position was completely different from that of the director of the general office. The director of the bureau's office was now a proper leading cadre, equivalent to the secretary-general of the government, and her rank had been raised to deputy director level.

Chen Hui said, "I just got back from Longcheng these past two days. I didn't even know my dad was away on a business trip. Auntie, I need to go to Xingcheng on business and I need some money. Could you exchange some money here and bring a check with me?"

Director Liu asked, "How much?"

Chen Hui said, "One million."

Director Liu paused for a moment, looked at Xiao Wei and Xia Maosheng, and asked Chen Hui, "What do you need so much money for? Does your dad know?"

Chen Hui waved his hand and said, "No, Auntie, you've misunderstood. I'm not taking money from the bureau; I'm using my own money to exchange for it. It's too dangerous for the three of us to carry a million across, and driving is too far."

Director Liu's expression softened, and he sighed, asking, "What are you going to do with a million? Where did you get so much money?"

Chen Hui smiled and said, "We earned it. Xiao Wei's brother is over there and got in touch with a few buildings. We're going to buy some."

Director Liu's gaze fell on Xiao Wei's face. Xiao Wei said, "The buildings built by the military are all being sold off now. We just happened to catch the opportunity, and the price isn't expensive."

Director Liu asked, "Where is your brother over there?"

Xiao Wei said, "My brother works at the military region's camp management office."

Director Liu nodded and said to Chen Hui, "I need to talk to your dad about this. Is everything alright?"

Chen Hui nodded and said, "It's okay, go ahead and ask. Just hurry up, we'll try to leave by train tonight, and come back quickly, we still have a lot of things to do when we get back."

Director Liu walked to his desk, picked up the phone, and made a call.

When the call connected, Director Liu said, "Director, Xiao Hui is here. He said he's planning to go to Xingcheng with his two buddies to buy some kind of building. He wants to exchange a check here to take with him. The amount is one million. I can't make the decision myself, so I'm asking you."

Old Chen asked, "Did he come alone?"

Director Liu said, "No, the three brothers are all here."

Old Chen said, "Let Xiaowei answer the phone."

Director Liu turned his head and said, "Xiao Wei, the bureau chief wants you to answer the phone."

Xiao Wei took the phone: "Uncle."

Xiao Wei said, "Oh, that's how it is. My brother works at the Fengtian Military Region's camp management office. A few days ago, he called and said that the military region is dealing with the camp property. It seems that if it's not sold, it will eventually have to be handed over to the local government. So the military region leaders said to sell everything that can be sold, and we'll deal with the rest if they can't sell it. The prices aren't going up too much. I happen to have some spare money, so I'm thinking of buying one."

After Xia Maosheng's wedding, Xiaohui went too, so I told them about my idea to buy an apartment. They both thought it best to each buy one, since the apartments wouldn't lose money just sitting there, and renting them out would generate income. So, I had my brother ask his boss, and they found three adjacent apartments in Xingcheng, with a large yard, for a total of 900,000 yuan.

Old Chen asked, "How big is the building?"

Xiao Wei said, "The smaller one occupies more than 700 square meters and has six floors. I don't know about the larger one yet, I didn't ask. The courtyard consists of three buildings connected together, which occupy a bit more space than the buildings themselves."

Old Chen asked, "How much for the small one?"

Xiao Wei said, "The two smaller buildings are one size larger. They said the smaller one costs 250,000 and the larger one costs 400,000. I'll buy the larger one."

Old Chen said, "Okay, I understand. Give the phone to Xiao Liu." Xiao Wei turned around and handed the phone to Director Liu. Director Liu took the phone and put it to his ear. Old Chen said, "I understand. Issue the check and complete all the formalities."

Director Liu agreed and hung up the phone. His gaze towards Xiao Wei changed slightly. He smiled and said, "I really didn't expect that you guys are now making millions in business. Come on, I'll take you there to get the checks."

We followed Director Liu to the finance department on the fourth floor.

The finance director was a thin old man with a very serious appearance. He simply nodded when he saw Director Liu.

Director Liu said, "Could you please process this check, Director Liu? It's for one million, and it's for a trip out of the province."

Director Liu glanced at Chen Hui and nodded. The checks and seals were managed by the director himself; subordinates were not qualified to do so.

During this period, checks were all filled out by hand. Even a single wrong stroke, illegible handwriting, a little dirt, or a folded corner would invalidate the check, and it would have to be reissued, which was a very troublesome matter.

Director Liu's movements were slow but steady, and his handwriting was powerful. He filled in the form stroke by stroke, then stamped it. There were five stamps of different sizes, and each one had to be in the correct position; if it was even slightly off, it would be invalid.

After preparing the check, Director Liu searched under his desk, took out a pre-cut piece of thin cardboard, folded it neatly in half, carefully placed the check inside, and then said, "Fill out the form, come on."

Chen Hui filled out a check requisition form, a check borrowing/exchange application form, a check purpose statement, and a fund repayment commitment letter. Director Liu then signed them. After carefully reviewing them, Director Liu signed his name and said, "You must return the funds within the promised period, otherwise we won't be responsible if the checks can't be cashed. Hehe." He smiled at Chen Hui and said, "You'll be sorry later."

Chen Hui smiled and said, "The money is ready. Uncle Liu, just give me your account number and I'll transfer it to you in a bit, so you won't have trouble sleeping tonight."

Director Liu searched around and found a piece of paper about the size of a business card, handing it to Chen Hui and saying, "Use Bank of China notes, don't make a mistake." Then he handed over the check clipped to the cardboard box, saying, "Do you have a large wallet? This must not be bent or folded, and don't get it dirty."

(End of this chapter)