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Chapter 305: Chapter 247: The Problematic Mine, Chai Ren’s Confidence (Please Subscribe!)_1
United States.
On the west side of New York lies a gigantic European-style villa built by the river. The clear river water is slowly flowing beside the villa, with fallen leaves floating on it. It seems that the water quality is excellently preserved. The villa not only has a massive outdoor swimming pool, but also a tennis court, and a huge garden.
Nevertheless, it is just a villa, not a manor. Plus, it is located near New York. Even though it is a suburb, the price is definitely not low. For the chairman of the Nast Group, Boke, having an exclusive golf course is a bit expensive.
At this moment, Boke was painting oil paintings on the second floor of the villa. The entire art studio was filled with various things faintly called ’works’. If these were put outside, no one may buy them even for ten dollars each. As an oil painting enthusiast, though Boke’s skills were poor, he just loved to paint and often drew for fun, as it was his main hobby.
At this time, a middle-aged man who looked like a butler came in and respectfully said, "Sir, a Chinese man is visiting."
Hearing this, Boke also stopped his ’creation’. He had no expression about the butler’s direct interruption. Anyway, he had also given up. He was self-aware that no one would ’appreciate’ his works. What else could he say? He was just painting for fun. He used to learn to be ’attitude strictly’ and not to be disturbed by others, but later he found it was completely useless, so he didn’t care anymore.
After all, he just did it for fun.
"A Chinese man? Hehe, they like to work like this, coming early to build relationships. How many companies will attend the auction tomorrow?" Boke put down his paintbrush, found a chair to sit down and asked.
"Six." The butler replied.
"Who do you think will win the bid in the end?" Boke asked while drinking a sip of cold water, and chuckled.
"I think it will be the Chinese man." The butler thought for a moment and replied.
Boke, upon hearing this, asked curiously: "Oh? Why do you think so?"
"Because they have money." The butler suddenly revealed a smile on his face. Although the shopping frenzies of Chinese tourists are not so crazy now, there are already signs of it, especially for those entrepreneurs and their children studying here, their spending is quite impressive.
Upon hearing this, Boke laughed: "Hehe, indeed, they are quite generous in buying things, and finally I can get rid of this burden. Let the Chinese man worry about those annoying things."
"Yes, shall we call someone to raise the price?" The butler suggested.
"Sure, but don’t make it too obvious or too high, or else it may scare others away and we could be in a very awkward position." Boke nodded.
"Understood. I will call them in now." The butler said and left the room.
Then, under the guidance of the butler, Liu Qian and his party entered the villa. Being experienced and wealthy individuals, they showed no surprise at the scale of the villa. If they wanted, they could build an even larger one in the suburban areas of Beijing at any time.
Boke had quite a few bodyguards, but none of them checked whether Liu Qian and his party had firearms on them. They had investigated everyone participating in the auction, not to mention the identity of Chai Ren, the second generation super-rich, and Liu Qian, the tycoon. Whether they could get guns was still a question. Even if they did, they wouldn’t make a move on Boke. There was no motive after all.
Liu Qian and Chai Ren glanced at each other and shook their heads.
This was the difference between ’professional’ and ’amateur’.
Who would have thought that someone could bring a gun in, right?
Giant drawing room on the first floor.
"Hello, Mr. Boke, long time no see." Chai Ren immediately stepped forward to shake hands with Boke as soon as he saw him.
"Do you know me?" Boke wondered. He thought for a moment, but really couldn’t remember where he had met Chai Ren.
"You might have forgotten. We met at the Sotheby’s Autumn Antique Auction in Washington two years ago. I remember you bought a Ming Dynasty calligraphy and painting from our country. We also chatted a bit at the subsequent banquet," Chai Ren slowly said.
If he hadn’t known him, he wouldn’t have gone to visit him in person, as this auction could not possibly be traded privately. His main intention was to find an opportunity to reacquaint himself with Boke, to make a friend. He was aware that Boke had a wealth of assets worldwide, some were his, and some belonged to other major shareholders of the company. Making a good connection with Boke could be very beneficial to the future development of his own company.
"I remember now, it’s you! We are old friends then." Boke laughed heartily. He did recall the courteous young man of that time, but a few years had passed and people change a lot.
"Yes, I would like to take over that iron mine this time. If your company has good minerals in the future, you can sell it to me first, and price is not an issue." Chai Ren smiled and said.
"No problem. If I had known that there was such a big buyer as you, I would not have held any auction. But it can’t be canceled now." Boke said.
The initial selling price of the mining right to the iron mine was 250 million US dollars. Boke had searched around but found no takers. He finally had to hold an auction, decide for once and all on this ’hole-digging’ project. Otherwise, he might lose all his money.
The money for this iron mine was of course not paid to the country at once, but in installments. However, the political situation in that country suddenly changed, and suddenly a ’king of the mountain’ force emerged, making a lot of ’unreasonable demands’. Continuing to mine would face huge risks, so work had not started yet.
The two hundred million dollars paid in advance were also stuck there. The government of that country would certainly not return it, because they were the ones who initially violated the agreement. If they were to fulfill the agreement, they would certainly lose a lot, so they could sell as much as they could now, and the more aggressive means wouldn’t work, so they have to admit defeat and exit the game.
"No problem, it’s all the same, just a few more competitors." Chai Ren said unconcernedly. His psychological price was much higher than the general company’s estimated ceiling price. Taking down this mine, he didn’t think there was any difficulty.
"Good, I like to deal with straightforward people like you." Boke said satisfactorily. Although in his heart Boke thought Chai Ren was a big spender, he was truly grateful. If they continue to drag on, this bill might not be settled. After all, it was the bank’s money.
"Thank you for the compliment." Chai Ren said ’modestly’.
Afterward, Chai Ren continued chatting with Boke.
Throughout the process, Liu Qian didn’t talk much, at most occasionally joining in the laughter.
Half an hour later, Chai Ren and Liu Qian excused themselves and left. This is not like visiting in rural China, where you have to play until dinner to leave. The cultures are different, and everyone is busy. If it is not a holiday or a special invitation to play, it’s best to leave as soon as the business is finished, or else it might cause annoyance.
After leaving the villa.
"Mr. Chai, it seems that there won’t be any problems this time." Liu Qian said happily.
Chai Ren chuckled and slowly said, "Hehe, Boss Liu, don’t be too naïve when it comes to business, especially when dealing with these smart foreigners. I had someone investigate earlier. The iron mine is being guarded by a paramilitary group that is forcing him to pay a hefty protection fee. He wouldn’t otherwise give away the iron mine so willingly."
Liu Qian was surprised and said, "Are we still going to buy it?"
Chai Ren reassured, "Don’t worry. The truth is, the current president’s son from that country was once a classmate of mine, and we have an excellent relationship. I’ve reached out to him, and he has agreed to help mediate this situation."
"That’s good to hear."Upon hearing this, Liu Qian finally relaxed. So Chai Ren had been prepared all along. Indeed, Chai Ren wouldn’t be the type to leave things to chance.
"Yuan, what do you think of the man who just left?" Chai Ren suddenly asked. He had no particular thoughts, just wanted to check the fighter’s observation skills.
"What do you mean, ’what do I think?’" the fighter asked.
"Your judgment on him."
The fighter thought for a moment and said, "Boke, height 168.3 cm, weight between 71 to 72 kg. He frequently uses illegal drugs, and his body function has begun to decline dramatically. He last consumed drugs eight hours ago. He has hypertension, heart disease and has been on long-term medication..."
The fighter spoke for a full three minutes, detailing everything from head to toe, even making note of a deformity on the right thumbnail and speculated the possible cause.
"..."
Everyone in the car was rendered speechless.
Is this your kind of observation?
Does it need to be this detailed? And how can you even remember all these details?
"Impressive, Yuan. You could be a doctor with all that insight", Chai Ren said with a wry smile. He hadn’t expected the fighter’s observation skills to be so ’detailed’, is this what a bodyguard should focus on? The bodyguard in the front passenger seat once again lowered his head in shame. He hadn’t noticed any of these details that the fighter had mentioned, aside from Boke’s height and weight.
Then Chai Ren, full of curiosity, asked: "Yuan, can you do the same for me? See if I have any illnesses?"
"Judging visually, you appear to be in good health, with no apparent pathological features," the fighter replied nonchalantly. Such information isn’t classified. Personality analysis reports and habit data are. Like with Ba Song, every individual that a fighter comes into contact with enters Little Two’s database. A separate personality and behavior analysis model and report are established. This information is core and classified, and no fighter would divulge a word, except to Tang Qing, as Tang Qing is the big boss.
Chai Ren burst into laughter, "Haha, Yuan, you are truly a professional! I went for a check-up a few days ago, and the doctor told me the same thing, that I am in perfect health."
"What about me?" Liu Qian asked curiously.
"Hypertension, moderate lumbar muscle strain, and two cavities," the fighter again replied without turning his head. Of course, this kind of judgement cannot cure diseases; it only evaluates observable symptoms. The fighter has no way of detecting diseases like cellular mutation that show no symptoms. He’s not a god, after all. Additionally, this skill is not intended for such use; their job is to kill and treat injuries, not cure diseases, at least not at the moment.
"That’s exactly right," Liu Qian said in amazement.
The fighter seemed increasingly mysterious in their eyes.
In the afternoon.
The fighter drove Liu Qian and Chai Ren around New York. Chai Ren had been here before, but without a familiar driver, he had only visited a few famous places.
The three men didn’t go to any entertainment places.
After all, both of them were significant figures back home and certainly not lacking in female company. Did they come to New York for ’excitement’? They weren’t that idle.
The next day.
Chai Ren and his group arrived at the location of the auction--- Boke’s house.
To be precise, it was held on the lawn of the villa.
By the time Liu Qian and his associates arrived, chairs had already been arranged on the lawn, and three groups of people were already sitting there, doing their own things, with their bodyguards standing guard around them.
"Chai, this way, please. Our boss is on the phone with the governor, please forgive any rudeness," the butler respectfully said.
"It’s okay, go ahead with your work. We’ll just sit down," Chai Ren responded.
Everyone then took their seats.
The auction attendees formed their own circles, or rather, everyone else was in one circle, and Liu Qian and his group were in another. The others looked at Chai Ren and murmured discussions, but none came over to chat.
"These people seem very arrogant," Liu Qian quietly said in Chinese.
"It’s normal. This isn’t a party, and right now, we’re competitors. It’s understandable that they’re not minding us. That will change later," Chai Ren explained.
"I thought all of them would be friendly," Liu Qian said.
"Haha, you’ve been watching too much TV. These westerners, especially these capitalists, won’t bother with you unless there’s something in it for them."
"True."
Chapter One.
Another Chapter is coming up, should be finished around eleven.
PS: I recommend a book by a friend of mine titled ’I Want To Become The Perfect Man’. I’ve checked it out myself, and rest assured, it’s an excellent read. Feel free to add it to your collection.
