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Chapter 694: Chapter 598 Different Times than Before (Please subscribe!)_1
In the evening.
After dinner with Tang Kai and Liu Qian.
Once he was back home.
Qin Siming immediately called a good friend in Thailand to inquire about a foreign company. Naturally, he decided to ask a local because he had never heard of this company and it wasn’t convenient to inquire about it at the dinner table.
It didn’t take long.
The call connected.
The time zone of Mengyu County is the same as Thailand, so his friend hadn’t gone to bed yet.
"Old Qin, what’s up?" The reply came in the dialect of Sichuan.
Qin Siming liked being addressed in this familiar way, and he also used his friend’s nickname: "Erhan, help me look into a Thai company, I want to get an idea about its background."
His friend, named Hu Han, was the second son in his family, thus nicknamed Erhan. He was Qin’s college roommate, a native of Shu City. His parents ran a clothing business in Thailand. After graduating from college, Hu Han followed his parents to Thailand.
He had established a home and a business in Bangkok. His business wasn’t too big but not too small either.
The Chinese community in Thailand couldn’t have been that large.
It stood to reason that Hu Han might know about this company.
"Tell me, which company?" Hu Han, who was watching TV with his wife, asked.
"Kaihua Jewelry Group of Thailand." Qin Siming read out from the business card in his hand.
"Thailand Kaihua... What? Kaihua Jewelry Group? What do you want to know about this company for?" Hu Han recognized the company after only hearing a few words, mainly because he was used to speaking Thai and his comprehension of Chinese characters was a bit slow.
Qin Siming was pleased that Hu Han seemed to know about it, so he wouldn’t have to wait for the information back at home: "Nothing much, just that a trader came to invest in our county. The company written on his business card is this one."
"Is the chairman’s name Tang Kai?" Hu Han hurriedly asked.
"You know him too? What a coincidence." Qin Siming said with a smile.
After a moment of silence, Hu Han scolded playfully: "Coincidence my ass, I know him but he doesn’t know me. There’s no Chinese person in Thailand who doesn’t know him, he’s the richest Chinese person in Thailand, lad, you’ve hit the jackpot."
"The richest Chinese person in Thailand?" Qin Siming asked cautiously, suspecting that he had misheard.
Hu Han said, "Yeah, one with tens of billions of RMB in assets, and there’s even a rumor that his net worth will soon exceed one hundred billion because he holds the Asian franchise rights of the fruit wine I offered you last time, you can imagine how much he’s making."
"Really?" Qin Siming was surprised, he didn’t know who the Asian franchise holder of the fruit wine was.
Hu Han disapprovingly said, "Bullshit, why would I lie to you? You should treat him well, he’s glorifying our Chinese name. I myself have been wanting to meet him but sadly, I’m not up to his standard.
Keep good relations with Boss Tang for me, how well I’m going to do in Thailand largely depends on you. Boss Tang is a big shot with a lot of influence in Thailand."
His last statement was obviously an attempt to curry favor.
Qin Siming chose to ignore this.
"Are you exaggerating?" Qin Siming said, speechless.
"Not at all. He is the biggest wholesaler of gems and jewelry in Thailand, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, and he is said to be well acquainted with the military big shots here, there’s hardly anything he can’t handle. It’s also said that he has an impressive network in Myanmar, doing our Chinese people proud.
Old Qin, maybe I’ll need his help one day." Fully inheriting the Chinese understanding of relationships, Hu Han eagerly wanted to move up in the world.
"Alright, I get it, gotta go." Qin Siming said with a bitter smile. A great Buddha was coming and he needed some time to digest.
"Old Qin, you’re hurting my feelings. You move up and ditch me. You ungrateful..." Hu Han was as talkative as when they were in college, and he kept blaming Qin Siming for a while, but it was all in jest.
The two often played like this.
"..."
Qin Siming was speechless. They were not in their youth anymore but still acted so playfully, though, when he thought about it, he really missed those days.
After chatting with Hu Han for a while.
Qin Siming hung up the phone.
He thought for a moment.
Then dialed his father, reporting this situation.
...
October 1.
Xin’an Town.
Today was the first day of the National Golden Week holiday back home, everyone was either resting or traveling, but there was no such holiday in the territory. People went to work or school as usual. But Xin’an Town was a bit different from the usual today.
Many unfamiliar vehicles and strangers appeared on the street.
Because today is the bidding time for the ’Myanmar Economic Zone’ open tender project.
It can be said that it is very urgent. Those companies received the project draft three days ago and had to bid today, which can be said to be the ultimate compression of time, and all the companies wishing to participate these few days were almost driven mad.
Fortunately, the territory also streamlined the bidding process and bidding content.
Otherwise, they couldn’t have made it on time.
Although the situation is urgent, there are still a few companies looking calm and unruffled, namely the two Huaxia companies that are building airports and railways. They earn the most from these projects because they don’t have to compete with others for the lowest bid.
They are the Huaxia Railway Engineering Corporation and Huaxia Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group respectively. They are not required to participate in the bid. As soon as they arrived today, they began to explore the terrain, despite the territory providing complete terrain exploration data.
But this is merely a reference. They cannot directly use the data, and they dare not entirely trust the data provided by this side.
Apart from these, large numbers of construction companies from neighboring countries have also arrived. All want to have a piece of this cake, because settlement of the bidding can be made in any currency, not limited to the Asia Dollar.
Such an important day.
Tang Kai, of course, also came.
In a tea house in Xin’an Town, Tang Kai, Wangsa, and Liu Qian were sitting around a round table with six bodyguards on guard around them.
Knowing how special Wangsa’s status was, Liu Qian was a bit nervous. He drank tea on his own and listened silently to Tang Kai and Wangsa’s conversation, as he could not understand and join in at all.
"Boss Tang, how much of the bid do you think we can win? I didn’t want to bother Leader Ling these past days." Wangsa couldn’t feel calm anymore with bidding starting tomorrow. It felt like waiting for a judgment.
Although Ling had promised to give priority consideration, there was still no final conclusion, and Wangsa still felt uneasy.
"Didn’t you say there is no need to be afraid? Moreover, what are you being ashamed of?" Tang Kai said calmly. With Tang Qing’s words in mind, he was very confident. He knew that Tang Qing wouldn’t cheat him and that they were definitely going to make profits.
"Of course, people say a lot of things, but now Leader Ling’s status is special, and I’m a bit timid," said Wangsa, not shying away from expressing his thoughts.
Rarely seeing Wangsa like this, Tang Kai couldn’t help laughing, "You also feel timid? Ha ha..."
"Why can’t I feel timid? Leader Ling has a different status now. I used to be able to see him anytime, but now I dare not contact him easily. You’re laughing so happily. Why don’t you try to get in touch with him?" Wangsa glanced at Tang Kai.
"I... I wouldn’t dare to either," Tang Kai promptly admitted. It would indeed be psychologically burdensome for him to contact someone with the status of a country’s Deputy Head for the sake of a project.
"Humph, you’re just like me," said Wangsa with satisfaction.
Tang Kai shrugged, "That’s why we can do business together. By the way, how’s your mobile phone business going?"
"Great. Our shipment volume has increased considerably. We’ve captured half of the domestic mobile phone market in Thailand, and our products can be found in large quantities in various countries in Southeast Asia. I heard that the Chinese businessman even sold mobile phones to Africa," said Wangsa happily.
"It seems you’ve made quite a lot," Tang Kai laughed.
"Get lost. You’re just trying to hit me where it hurts. Leader Ling has expanded his territory so much, and you’re still the sole supplier. What does my little money count for? But speaking of making money, fruit wine is the most profitable. Now, more than half of my income comes from fruit wine," said Wangsa with a sigh.
Fruit wine is the real money-spinner. He himself also secretly hoarded quite a lot for black market transactions. Doing this would earn him even more. He knew that Tang Liang and Wei Jun were also doing the same. Only Tang Kai did not do this.
But they weren’t too greedy. Only about three percent of the goods were retained by them.
"True, I... Hold on." Just as Tang Kai was about to talk about his own business, the phone suddenly rang. He took it out and looked at the incoming call. It was a very familiar number. Tang Kai’s face turned serious.
It was Ling.
He quickly pressed the answer key.
"Leader Ling, hello... Uh huh... Uh huh... Yes. We are together... Sure... Wangsa and I will rush over immediately," said Tang Kai respectfully.
After he hung up the phone.
"Ling?" Wangsa asked knowingly.
Tang Kai nodded and cheerfully said, "Yes. He asked us to go to his office right now. I guess it’s about our bidding project."
"Great! Let’s go now."
Wangsa immediately stood up. He didn’t want to keep Ling waiting.
Tang Kai also called Liu Qian, "General Manager Liu, you can come with us. You can just wait outside later. I’ll see what I can do to help you."
"Okay."
The several of them arrived at the service center in Wangsa’s car.
Liu Qian waited outside the car.
Tang Kai and Wangsa followed the soldiers into Ling’s office.
