Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 658 Eliminating Hidden Dangers

Li Weibing said, "What can you feel when you're just driving on flat ground? Try driving on a mountain road, you won't need to shift gears."

Wang Gang patted the tall car body: "I'll get a new one when I have the money tomorrow. I can't afford it now."

Xiao Wei said, "Don't worry, it's just a matter of time."

Wang Gang reluctantly touched the car a few times before saying, "Alright, we'll head over now. We need to get things ready for the opening."

Wang Gang and Li Weibing left, and Xiao Wei and Zhang Jun's wife went back to their room upstairs.

After closing the door, Zhang Jun asked, "Did you bring it?"

Xiao Wei said, "I brought it. Actually, it's not necessary. We can just leave it there; no one else will know. Besides, Aunt Chen works at the bank; we can ask her to help. She can exchange it for money or gold bars."

Zhang Jun said, "Come on, don't get cocky about this stuff except for the few of us. One poke and it's done for. Alright, find something to wrap it up, and come with me."

Xiao Wei went to find his bag and asked, "Where are we going?"

Zhang Jun said, "There's a coal dealer from western Shanxi who keeps a mistress here. She likes this stuff. We sell it to her, cash on delivery, and then what she does after that is none of our business. Don't sign any documents or paperwork."

Xiao Wei looked down and said, "Aren't you going to keep some for jewelry or something?"

Zhang Jun said, "What can't you buy with money? Let's go."

The three of them went out and drove Xiaowei's SUV to find the coal mine owner from western Shanxi. Xiaowei was still completely lost in Xingcheng, but he followed Zhang Jun's directions and drove forward, going around in circles, going through tunnels and climbing slopes, until finally stopping in front of a house.

The three men got out of the car carrying their belongings. Zhang Jun said, "This house was built by him, and he bought this whole plot of land. He's a rich man."

The yard was quite large, and there were two cars parked inside, a Mitsubishi and a Toyota, both of which were very popular at the time.

Zhang Jun shouted a few times, and the two large dogs, which were chained together, struggled and barked wildly, constantly lunging forward and stretching the chains taut with each thrust, making a rattling sound.

After a while, a man came out, yawned, opened the iron gate, and welcomed the three people into the house.

The house was very large, with a spacious living room in the middle, furnished with a semi-circle of sofas, three coffee tables, and two televisions.

He helped Zhang Jun's wife, Xiao Wei, and the other two to sit on the sofa. The man went to the refrigerator and took out a few bottles of drinks, handing them over and saying, "I feel like I haven't been getting enough sleep these past few days; I'm really tired. Did you bring the drinks?"

Zhang Jun placed the items on the coffee table and opened the package. The man from Jinxi came over, picked up one, examined it, weighed it in his hand, and said, "Good stuff. It's not a sham; it's genuine, high-quality goods. This kind of stuff is hard to come by these days. Zhang, you're a capable man."

Zhang Jun said, "Luckily, we just happened to be in the right place. Everything's here, what are you going to do?"

Jinxi waved his hand and said, "I've already prepared it, little money. Just don't forget me if you need to use this method again, Zhang. I don't like praising others, I just like this kind of thing, it's reassuring."

Zhang Jun nodded and said, "That's true. No matter when, this thing is real."

The man from Jinxi said, "Your method is not quite right; it's very dangerous." He stretched out his hand, revealing several large gold rings on his fingers, and said, "If I display these things in front of others, they will just glance at them, think that the rings are quite big, and that's it. They won't have any other thoughts. But you can't do it this way; once you show them off, it's a bad thing."

Xiao Wei raised his eyebrows, thinking that what the Jinxi people said made a good point. It was indeed true. If you see a few pieces of jewelry, no matter how big, you can just sigh and say something. But what would you think if you saw several thick gold bars? Where did they come from? What is their value? Neither. It's the desire to possess them.

The man from Jinxi went and got an electronic scale. This was still a novelty in 91, but it was already being used in regular vegetable markets. It was convenient, fast, reliable, and easy to cheat with.

Fifteen gold bars were laid out, weighing 17,353 grams, which is almost 35 kilograms.

The man from western Shanxi took the calculator, pressed a button, and said, "Two million four hundred and twenty-nine thousand four hundred and two. Okay, that's a few hundred yuan. Two million four hundred and thirty thousand."

Zhang Jun gave a thumbs up and said, "Old Xi, you're meticulous and straightforward."

The man from western Shanxi smiled and said, "Don't worry about Zhang, my clerk. I won't let my friends down. Do you want cash or a check?"

Zhang Jun said, "You have cash? Then take the cash. What are you doing keeping so much cash at home?"

The man from western Shanxi said, "It's all the same, just convenient and easy things." He went inside and rummaged around for a while, then dragged out a large bag, saying, "This is the payment someone gave me last time. I was too lazy to deposit it, so it comes in handy. You can count it, okay?"

Zhang Jun and his sister-in-law went to count the money. Jinxi Laoxi wrapped up the gold bars and took them inside. After a while, he came out and found that Zhang Jun and his wife had already counted the money. They stood up to say goodbye, and the two brothers carried the money bag out of the house.

Old Xi'er escorted them all the way to the gate, watching Zhang Jun and Xiao Wei throw the money bag into the trunk of the SUV. Movies often depict extortion of hundreds of millions, with the protagonist carrying or slinging the money around – that's nonsense. Let's put it another way: two million might be manageable for one person, but five million is too much for most people to carry, weighing over 120 pounds.

"That's a nice car. What brand is it?" Old Xi walked over and circled the car. "Mercedes? I've never seen this model before. Where can I buy one?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's not available in China yet. I bought this from overseas; it's a new model that came out last year."

Old Xi said, "How much? I'll give you an extra 500,000 and let me have it." In his eyes, this military license plate was worth 500,000.

Xiao Wei paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, I like them too, but the key is that they can't be bought in China." Back then, although smuggled cars were everywhere, there weren't many real luxury cars. Smuggling also had costs, and they also needed to make money from sales.

Old Xi seemed quite taken with it, saying, "Then can you get me one? No need for customs declaration, I'll handle the paperwork myself. Is that alright?"

Xiao Wei said, "I'll give it a try. I'll ask around for you. I bought six cars at once, and the paperwork was handled by the foreign car manufacturers. I don't really understand the details."

Old Xi said, "Then I'll wait for your news."

The two brothers and their sister-in-law got into the car, and Xiaowei drove back, saying, "People from western Shanxi are really generous and wealthy."

Zhang Jun laughed and said, "It's true that he's rich, but whether he's generous or not depends on how you look at it. He's definitely generous when it comes to spending money on himself, and not just in an ordinary way."

Xiao Wei asked, "What does that mean?"

My sister-in-law said from behind, "Haven't you heard that people from Shanxi are the stingiest people in the whole country? They're incredibly stingy, their hearts are as thin as the eye of a needle."

Xiao Wei said, "I've heard that kind of talk before, but this is the first time I've met someone from western Shanxi. I guess it's an exaggeration? Aren't there stingy and miserly people everywhere?"

Zhang Jun said, "People in western Shanxi are generally generous to themselves and their own people, but they are more calculating towards outsiders."

Xiao Wei said, "No, I think this person was quite efficient today." He had never met anyone from western Shanxi before; this was his first time.

Zhang Jun said, "It depends on who you're doing business with. Does he need me? Do you know how much coal we buy every year? It's almost autumn. Do you think he's just sitting here playing around? He's sitting here waiting for contracts."

(End of this chapter)