Chapter 72:
The gentlemen sitting around didn't pay much attention to Lin Qi's business. Auction houses that truly made money were those targeting the upper echelons of society. The benefits created by ten thousand ordinary people couldn't compare to those generated by a single tycoon. Ordinary people would take a long time to consider purchases, and as soon as the price exceeded their affordability, they would decisively give up.
However, tycoons were different. They only discussed whether they liked something or not, never considering the actual value of an auction item. For things they liked, most people claimed there was no limit to their spending.
The conversation quickly shifted from Lin Qi and others' businesses back to the financial market. People exchanged reliable or unreliable insider information. In reality, most of the information they discussed was unreliable because genuinely reliable information wouldn't circulate widely. It was confined to a few individuals rather than being known by everyone far from the federal financial center.
From another perspective, the information they spoke of was unverifiable to themselves, mostly coming from their stockbrokers, and these brokers were not all trustworthy.
A social card game concluded amidst the chatter. Lin Qi wasn't very lucky; he lost around ten bucks, while others had varying wins and losses, but the amounts were not significant. This was a social gathering; the purpose wasn't gambling but to get to know each other, gain some understanding, grasp each other's political stance, business attitude, and judge whether they could be good friends.
After the card game, two gentlemen approached Lin Qi. They warmly invited him to a small gathering they were hosting, comprising community residents and some friends from society.
This was the core of middle-class community culture. However, this community culture was gradually becoming indifferent with the development of the times. After experiencing some social changes and epochal events, people began to refuse to share opportunities.
It might not be the best of times, but it certainly wasn't the worst.
Watching people depart, Lin Qi made a phone call to the community's service company to come and clean up the aftermath.
For the past few days, Lin Qi had been immersed in various social activities. He also started paying attention to the financial market. He observed that in the three social events he attended recently, the core of people's conversations always revolved around how much money they made in the financial market.
When everyone was making money, it meant the risks were growing, and disaster was imminent. The reason was simpleprofit couldn't be created out of thin air; someone must incur losses. However, these losses might not occur immediately but rather with a relative delay.
One morning, while Lin Qi was watching politicians still boasting about the astonishing achievements of the federal economy on TV, the phone suddenly rang. Lin Qi lowered the TV volume and answered, "It's me..."
Sometimes seemingly unrelated celebrity interviews and talk shows would reveal details people might overlook. For example, when a politician spoke about his achievements, he mentioned something that caught Lin Qi's interest.
"Lin Qi, my friend, it's me, Fox. Can you come over? We need to talk."
This call was a bit later than Lin Qi had imagined. He thought Fox would have encountered trouble earlier, but it wasn't too late now. He agreed, did a quick tidy-up, and left.
He was considering buying a better car. A luxury car could make him look more like a successful person. He had encountered someone like that in a small cell before.
That person didn't have any money. He used the money from selling his house to rent a top-of-the-line luxury car, bought a new outfit, used some small tools to merge himself into a photo with certain leaders, and managed to deceive quite a bit of money. What was more interesting was that he turned himself in, and if he hadn't, he would never have appeared in front of people again.
People always would admonish themselves not to be shallow and judge others by appearances, but everyone tended to make the same mistakes.
When Lin Qi arrived at Gettnau Financial Company, there were just as many people waiting as before. While the middle class and the upper echelons were still discussing the dividends brought by financial investments, they failed to notice the enormous problems emerging at the bottom of society.
After Lin Qi entered the office, Mr. Fox warmly welcomed him, "Do you have plans for lunch? If not, let's have lunch together."
Once Lin Qi settled in, Mr. Fox began talking about the challenging situation he found himself in. "We've always been good friends, and our cooperation has been pleasant. I won't beat around the bush. I've run into a problem."
Lin Qi nodded, "I'm listening..."
"Well, as the agreements expire, some of the collateral's rights have been transferred. You know, these things have become mine, but my trouble is that I can't efficiently liquidate these assets."
When Lin Qi proposed the plan to let the borrowers abandon the collateral as his new high-interest-rate loan operation, Mr. Fox was quite pleased. It was a big deal, and he was sure to make a steady profit. However, he didn't expect selling these assets would be so difficult.
From a set of exquisite tableware to an unused oven, even if these items were brand new and priced at half of their original value, it was challenging to sell them now.
Wealthy people didn't want to use things that others had used. They had an inexplicable aversion, and the motivation behind this aversion was the fact that they still had some money.
Those who didn't have money couldn't afford these things, and the people Mr. Fox dealt with were often those who pawned items for loans; they were even less likely to buy these things here.
The items were hard to sell, took up too much space, and Mr. Fox had already rented over ten warehouses in the suburbs to store these items. It was truly a dire situation.
What was more troublesome was that he still had to pay the bank interest. Even with negotiations between Lin Qi, and Joegleman, and some policies implemented by the federal government that slightly lowered the loan interest rates, Mr. Fox still had to pay interest.
He could delay repaying the principal, but he couldn't avoid paying the interest. The money in his hands was rapidly accumulating like a snowball. At least, according to the mortgage loan agreement, he invested most of the money into a money-rolling business, leaving only a small amount for emergencies.
If he were to terminate some agreements now, his losses would become significant, especially in those compounding loan relationships where he didn't stand to earn much after paying the bank interest. Therefore, he was not very willing to terminate these agreements prematurely and could only turn to the "clever Lin Qi" to discuss the matter. He also believed that Lin Qi would surely have a solution.
After hearing Mr. Fox's request, Lin Qi shrugged, casually taking out a solid-colored Colofu from the iron box on his desk. "You can sell those collateral items; someone will need them."
Mr. Fox remained silent. Behind him, Fox Junior continued, "We've considered this approach, but...," he shook his head, "the results are not good. Yesterday, we only sold less than twenty items, and they were all cheap little things. This path doesn't seem feasible."
Lin Qi leisurely cut the ends of the solid-colored Colofu. He opened the lighter, lit one end, and took a slow puff. After Exhaling, he said, "Mr. Fox, and Mr. Fox Junior, if you think these items are difficult to sell, it's because you're not professional enough."
"I have a valuable piece of advice: 'Let professionals handle professional matters.' You're not professionals; you can't do it, but others can."
Mr. Fox's eyes swiveled around before looking at Lin Qi. He paused for a few seconds and then said, "So who are the professionals, and how much do I need to pay?"
Lin Qi smiled, shaking his head. He rested one of his legs on the other one, flicked the ash off the Colofu, and said, "If you don't mind, Mr. Fox, we can talk about our future collaboration."
Mr. Fox couldn't help but chuckle, "Why do I have a feeling that I've been tricked? Is this feeling normal?"
Lin Qi answered cleverly, "People feel this unreal sensation when facing happiness. They don't believe happiness can come so easily. It suits your current situation very well."Please vote for this novel at /series/blackstone-code/
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