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Chapter 249 Argyll’s Dream

"Crazy!"

Jiang Zhe cursed internally, gesturing towards the two accountants behind her, who were both wearing the same expression. "We have a very tight construction schedule, so we don’t have time to waste on you! Just hurry up and find men to move away the machines! We’ve encountered many unreasonable people, but in the end, they all still faced demolition."

"I’m being unreasonable?" Chen Fan looked like he’d just heard the funniest joke on earth. "My dock cost me seven million, and the refurbishment cost over one million! And then you tell me that you want to compensate me three million two hundred and seventy thousand?! You tell me who is the one being unreasonable!"

"Let’s go!" Jiang Zhe arrogantly stalked off, leading the way for his colleagues.

"Hmph!" Chen Fan exhaled heavily through his nostrils. "Tell your boss, if my dock is harmed in the slightest, he can kiss his villa goodbye! Driving a Mercedes-Benz MPV to inspect the land? Isn’t he worried its value would drop? I’m guessing you took out a bank loan? So, if you don’t finish construction in time, and the bank chases you for payment, you’re dead meat!"

"Our boss usually drives a Bentley. He only drove the Mercedes to inspect this piece of land!" Jiang Zhe seemed to be trying to hedge, after being seen through.

95 percent of property developers play the interlocking chain game: the stages are all connected, so a problem arising at any one stage would have drastic consequences.

First, they would borrow a huge sum of money from the bank for a short-term period. They would then use the money to acquire the right to develop the land. Then, using the land as mortgage, they would change their short-term bank loan into a long-term one. If they have a good relationship with the bank, they could even increase the sum of the loan.

Those with money would develop the land themselves, while those without their own funds would subcontract the development of the land to a construction company, which they would only pay upon the completion of the main structure. Up until then, all the costs would be borne by the construction company.

After all, even if the construction company refuses to work without payment, there are still plenty of other companies that are willing to do so. Everybody knows the real estate business is the most profitable business around, along with drug dealing and smuggling!

Once the framework of the first phase is done, the developer would set up a sales office by the door to begin the pre-sales. When most of the houses have been sold off, the money earned would be enough to pay off the bank loan and the construction company’s fees.

If the money isn’t enough to cover all of that, the investor would pay the loan interest first, as well as the construction company’s fees. Once the construction company is paid, they would begin construction of the second phase, omitting the framework and just laying out the foundation. At this point, people would be lining up to buy the property.

The same goes for the third phase. And after all of that, investors with smaller financial resources may even organize a fourth phase.

One more thing, the reason property developers love to buy new cars, with some changing their cars two or three times a year, is because cars are considered as being fixed assets, which can be used as mortgage for a loan from a private or mortgage company. The higher the car’s worth, the greater the loan amount.

As for the loan interest, the tax bureau’s policy is that, if a car is bought in the company’s name, the car’s depreciation, fuel costs, repair fees and all sorts of miscellaneous fees, can be used to offset a portion of the taxable amount to the company.

At the very least, the company would be able to reduce its tax by 20% of the price of the car. For instance, buying a car worth 100W would enable the company to reduce their taxes by 20W, which can then be used to pay off the car loan. (This is only limited to private companies!)

Isn’t that great? This means that, as long as a property developer doesn’t mind being debt-riddled, he can drive a luxury car without technically spending a single cent.

It’s awesome! But, the minute an issue arises at any stage, the huge pile of vicious debts that will amass could drive one to suicide! A human heart is just like a snake swallowing an elephant: a property developer with a billion dollars worth of assets still wants to play the interlocking chain game, just because he wants to get more money.

"Manager Jiang, why do I get the feeling that this young man is not going to be easy to handle?" The bespectacled young accountant in the passenger seat of the Odyssey MPV took the cigarette that Jiang Zhe handed him and said, "These days even a fool knows the ruthlessness of the real estate business. Most property owners would, at most, protest a little, then use this opportunity to get more compensation from the company. But, this guy looks like he won’t budge! His is the confident sort of obstinacy, too. It isn’t the kind of blind hopelessness that people,l who are backed into a corner and are desperate, feel."

"He’s just a guy transporting seafood, so how far can his pig-headedness go?" Jiang Zhe laughed mockingly, while pressing the car horn. "He’s just pretending to be a big-tailed wolf in front of me, as if the smell of Yuxi cigarettes could be the same as paper grass!"

Although outwardly sneering at Chen Fan, Jiang Zhe got back to the office and still gave the boss a play-by-play of everything that had happened that day. After all, there’s no way they were going to recklessly bring the whole exclusive demolition team without getting the details straight!

Chang Le sat on a swivel chair, the back of the chair tilted to the lowest height it could go. A pair of shiny leather shoes was placed on the writing desk.

Under his sleeve, one could see tattooed skin and a neck that was accessorised with gold chains, thicker than a dog collar. He was obviously flaunting his status of being a gangster turned morally grey businessman. The truth is, going back in time to five years ago today, Chang Le would probably be prowling around some dark alley, leading a bunch of his followers to commit crimes.

He was a Henan Thousand Buddha district man through and through, and a well-known menace in the region. He had around 20 followers, all fierce, strong, and fit, two of whom were municipal level wushu and free combat champions.

Back when he ruled the casinos, offering protection in exchange for money and high interest loans, nobody dared owe him money, because those who did either lost their limbs or were forced to flee with their whole families!

Five years ago, a foreign property developer asked him to settle a relocation issue on the east side of town. At first, Chang Le didn’t even bother with the guy. He found the job degrading, and was of the opinion that only a small fry, working for pay lower than that of an average man’s, would take such a job.

"Three million dollars! Take care of those households needing to be relocated within a month, and the three million is yours!"

What kind of temptation did three million pose to a guy who could only drive around in a Santana 2000? Chang Le surrendered after just one look into the bag containing five hundred thousand in cash.

In order to get the money quicker, he even stopped his loan shark work and devoted his time to disturbing the residents day and night. Thanks to his hard work, all the residents left after only thirteen days!

The foreign developer readily paid Chang Le in full, and even gave him all sorts of other odd construction jobs, as well as some tasks to handle involving the stubborn residents, who had been involved in robbery and causing disturbances.

Only once he got involved in the property development business, did he understand why those businessmen were so willing to risk it all, even at the expense of offending others, and even not caring about people’s cursing behind their backs. When they invest five million on a project, with the potential of earning fifteen million, if raiding a few apartments is what it takes to see the project completed, then so be it!

After doing this for five years, Chang Le’s accumulated fortune reached over the hundred million dollar mark. He went around borrowing money, claiming it was for investment purposes, then left for the seaside towns to earn even bigger money.

It is true that seaside towns are very well-developed, but investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars are still rare. The government would naturally take good care of such investors, offering them good investment terms, and thus, making them the envy of all.

Chang Le gathered all the money he could, mortgaging his land, his car, and even his house, before finally managing to gather five hundred million dollars to invest in this project. He had already hired people to make careful calculations for his master plan.

He had figured that, after the first phase, he would be able to recoup half of his investment. After the second, he would be able to recoup all of his investment, with some money to spare. And, after the third, he’d be making a fortune! Then he could begin the construction of bathing beaches, fine dining restaurants, bowling alleys, cruise ship terminals...

"Who’s this Chen Yong Feng? I’ve never heard of this character before in Zhong Yun City." Chang Le rubbed the short prickly hair on his head.

From the homeowners information that had been provided by the Land Office, he could see that the particular dock’s owner was a forty-something year old man called Chen Yong Feng. The guy they met at the docks was probably his son, though what he was called and what he did was none of Chang Le’s concern. He’s just a twenty-something year old cub, who thinks that he can fly, just because his father has a bit of money!

"Jiang Zhe, you’re a local. Have you heard of him before?"

"No boss. Capable locals mostly deal with cargo transport or international trade. Those involved in the seafood business are all small businessmen. No matter how rich they are, they’re still no match for us, who talk with fists, not reason."

"Ask around to find out who this Chen Yong Feng is. If he’s just a small fry, compensate him the standard amount. If he refuses to leave, then use force. Many people are eyeing this project. If we don’t deal with them with a heavy hand, those land snakes, who don’t know how high the sky is, will think that I, Chang Le, am a fat sheep, just here for them to take a bite out of!"

..................

"Argyll, why did you come here from so far away?" Sitting on the soft grass, Chen Fan used gestures to explain what he had said.

Argyll shook his head to show that he did not understand what Chen Fan was saying. Argyll had only been trying to learn Chinese for a day or two, and with Chen Fan’s half-past-six method of teaching, no matter how smart he was, he still wouldn’t be able to learn it well.

"The road to knowledge is long, but I shall persist in my quest!"

Frustrated, Chen Fan put his head in his hands. Why doesn’t this old fellow know sorceries of the mind? Then, he could just cast a spell that would enable him to understand the language!

Done with his grumbling, Chen Fan had no choice, but to use the traditional route to teach the fellow Chinese. He was almost done with explaining single characters, so he could now start teaching him double-character phrases. He bought a small magnetic drawing board especially for this purpose, then he used a metal pen to write down the Chinese characters on the board.

A rat that was slightly larger than a cat emerged from the weeds. Its eyes were intensely focussed on Chen Fan..

Bang!

A gunshot rang out. The large rat’s brains were suddenly blown apart. The bullet ran through the rat, then embedded itself on the ground, leaving a hole about 20 centimeters deep.

Chen Fan blew away the smoke from the barrel of his Beretta M9, then said, "Let’s continue with the lesson!"

Unexpectedly, the gun had attracted Argyll’s interest. Without a single shred of suspicion, he pointed towards the Beretta on Chen Fan’s waist, with an expression that clearly meant: "Can I have a look?"

"Here." Chen Fan generously took out the gun and personally demonstrated its use by shooting a few times.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Argyll looked like an old man with Alzheimer’s, staring at the tree trunk that looked like a beehive after being shot at repeatedly. The tree trunk had a girth of at least ten centimeters, yet it could be penetrated by a small metal bullet?! Imagine what that would do to a human body...

Argyll recalled the rat with its brains blown out, and came to a conclusion: this toy was designed to kill! The metal bullet shot out faster than the eye could see, and a small metal box could contain fifteen of such metal bullets. Using these against normal soldiers would certainly guarantee victory!

A scribe to the royal lawmaking senate at the age of forty, Argyll was not like those old scholars, who sought only to understand nature and control laws. Rather than researching laws, he preferred to research the ways to kill people on a large scale, and the ways to make his home country greater, so that it wouldn’t be bullied by other countries. To put it plainly, Argyll was a patriot from head to toe, with a slight Angry Young Man’s [1] disposition.

"If I can obtain a huge amount of these weapons for the country, our military can immediately vanquish our enemies! If our military is armed thus, we can finally break free of the rule of the Gilnan Empire."

This Angry Young Man, lost in his happy imaginings of the far-off future, became more excited as he spoke. "If every soldier’s pockets are filled with ’metal boxes’, which they can change the minute they finish shooting, then wouldn’t defeating Gilnan and becoming our own nation be something we could look forward to very soon? And, if that’s the case, wouldn’t I, Argyll, be considered the nation’s hero? And if that fella Lenid VII marries his daughter off to me, then I’d certainly be very willing!"

Chen Fan stood at one side watching, stunned speechless and breaking out in a cold sweat. The more excited Argyll was, the harder it was for him to express himself.

Argyll gesticulated and jabbered on for a long time. He even scribbled all over the magnetic blackboard, before Chen Fan understood that Argyll wanted to obtain a huge amount of these weapons.

"I’m afraid that’s not possible." Chen Fan’s pouring cold water all over Argyll’s fantasies almost caused Argyll to keel over in despair. "I only have 20 to 30 of such weapons, but I do have other kinds of weapons, which are equally suitable for arming the military. Besides, they are much cheaper, too."

Chen Fan rubbed off the tiny stick figures that were written on the blackboard, then slowly drew a very realistic drawing of a crossbow, before indicating that there was a virtually unlimited supply of these.

"A crossbow?" Disappointed, Argyll shook his head. There are many crossbows in his kingdom. The more skilled of the Thistle Knights all carried a strong bow, and they could shoot a man off his horse from 30 meters away.

"Hehe!" Chen Fan calmly smiled, then speedily drew a gun, as well as two dotted lines that represented the line of fire from the gun and the crossbow respectively. One could clearly see that the shooting range of a crossbow is clearly twice that of the gun, based on the depiction on the board.

Modern crossbows are made of high quality carbon fibers. These crossbows certainly could not be compared to those old-fashioned wooden toys. Many countries, including China and the United States, equip their special task forces with these crossbows, which were the top killing weapon of all cold weapons!

The Beretta M9’s effective shooting range is 50 meters, but the heavy duty crossbows on the market all have an effective shooting range of over 100 meters, and the ones used by the military have an effective shooting range of 150 meters. While the penetrating power and speed of an arrow are not as high as that of a bullet’s, an arrow can still shoot through a person. Also, its kinetic energy is higher than that of the bullet of a handgun. Paired with tri-edged arrows, the crossbow is matchless, and any god or ghost blocking its path would even be shot down! Its only weaknesses were its huge size, and the fact that it takes a long time to draw and load the crossbow.

Forget it. It’s best to just buy one online, then let Argyll personally witness its power.

[1] youths who hold extreme social and political views, and who are usually activists campaigning for change and justice.