Chapter 55: 55: Read the boss like a book.
Benny stood outside St. Lorraine Carpentry for a long moment.
The more he thought about it, the more painful the situation became.
Just yesterday, he had been carrying tens of millions of yuan and today, he couldn’t even buy a bed.
Life truly changed too quickly.
Fortunately, he still had one solution, a familiar solution.
Benny took out his phone and called Lucy.
The call connected almost immediately, "Boss?"
Benny got straight to the point."Lucy, let’s get another loan."
On the other end of the call, Lucy nearly thought she had misheard.
Another loan? Did the boss find another victim?
The thought surfaced instinctively.
After all, the last loan had been from Zhang Qiang.
And that situation had ended in a way nobody could have predicted.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Lucy carefully asked,"How much do you need?"
Benny didn’t answer immediately, instead, he asked another question.
"How much are the wages every month?"
Lucy quickly checked her records.
"For the current staff, it is ninety-eight thousand yuan per month."
"Ninety-eight thousand..."
Benny began calculating.
If it’s for three months, that was already close to three hundred thousand yuan.
Then another expense suddenly came to mind.
"How about the hacker."
Lucy immediately understood what he was talking about.
"Ah, right. We’ve been negotiating with one candidate."
Benny asked, "How much is the wage for that?"
Lucy looked at her notes, "I’m trying to negotiate him down to twenty-eight thousand yuan per month."
Benny frowned,"Trying?"
"Yes. He has only three years of experience."
"Three years?"
Benny nodded absentmindedly.
Then he asked,"How much does he want?"
Lucy hesitated,"Fifty thousand."
Benny blinked and Lucy quickly added,
"That’s actually quite high. For that amount, we could hire someone much more experienced.
A senior specialist with over seven years of experience wouldn’t usually ask for that much."
Benny became interested, "Did he explain why?"
Lucy thought back to the interview.
Then she answered honestly.
"Not really.
It looked more like he was simply throwing out a number and seeing whether we’d accept it."
The moment those words left her mouth, Benny’s eyes lit up.
Someone throwing around absurd salary demands? Isn’t that excellent.
"Hire him for the amount he’s asking."
Lucy froze.
"...Huh?"
For several seconds, she wasn’t sure what to say.
"Boss... That’s fifty thousand yuan per month."
"I know."
Lucy felt a headache coming.
Normally, employers negotiated salaries downward.
Benny continued calmly,"If he’s worth it, then it’s fine."
"And if he isn’t?"
"We’ll find another one."
"..."
Lucy suddenly couldn’t find any flaws in that logic.
After all, technically speaking, that was how employment worked but doesn’t the boss feel anything about spending 50,000¥ a month only to find it a worthless expense?
Eventually she sighed.
"Alright, I’ll arrange it."
The call ended shortly afterward and Benny put away his phone.
His mood improved considerably.
Just like that, another fifty thousand yuan had been added to the monthly expenses.
What a genius.
A smile appeared on his face.
Originally he had estimated needing roughly three hundred thousand yuan to survive the next three months.
Now it would be closer to five hundred thousand.
Naturally, that meant he needed a bigger loan.
Benny nodded to himself.
Everything was going according to plan.
Now all he needed was someone willing to lend him money.
Preferably with compound interest and preferably someone who wouldn’t get arrested afterward.
That last requirement seemed surprisingly important these days.
With his destination decided, Benny hailed a taxi.
A few minutes later, the vehicle headed toward Eastern Prosperity Bank.
After all, where else would he find people looking for money?
Banks attracted borrowers and lenders.
And occasionally...
People who looked like they could arrange a loan with absolutely no paperwork whatsoever.
As for whether any of those strange people would be willing to lend him half a million yuan...
Benny was very optimistic about it.
Benny had just arrived near Eastern Prosperity Bank when his eyes landed on a particularly intimidating man standing near the roadside.
The man wore gold chains thick enough to be used as exercise equipment.
Just as Benny was considering whether he should approach him, his phone suddenly rang.
It was from Lucy so he immediately answered.
"Hello?"
The moment the call connected, Lucy spoke.
"Boss."
Her voice sounded slightly excited.
"The contract is signed."
Lucy continued.
"Also, regarding the loan."
Benny immediately became interested.
"What about it?"
"We can use our Titan Manufacturing shares as collateral."
Benny paused,"We can?"
"Of course."
Lucy sounded confused.
Then she added, "We don’t need to borrow money from those shady people."
Benny froze and his gaze slowly shifted toward the gold-chain man standing in the distance.
Then back to his phone.
How does she know?
A suspicious feeling immediately appeared. Had she somehow figured out what he was planning?
Fortunately, Benny reacted quickly.
Now that Lucy had already guessed his intentions, insisting on borrowing from suspicious individuals would only attract unnecessary attention.
And after today’s experience with the system, the last thing he wanted was more trouble from the system.
Especially since the system appeared unusually feisty today.
With a sigh, he gave up.
"Alright."
"How much do we need?"
Lucy asked.
"Five hundred thousand yuan."
There was a brief pause before Lucy replied confidently.
"That won’t be a problem."
Benny nodded.
As expected of Lucy.
Then her voice came through the phone again.
"Oh, right."
"Hm?"
"Boss."
"Yes?"
"Don’t you think you should have a personal lawyer?"
Benny stopped walking.
A personal lawyer.
For some reason, those two words sounded magical.
Personal lawyer.
Everything about it was expensive.
His eyes immediately lit up, that was a fantastic idea.
Meanwhile, Lucy continued,"It would make handling contracts, acquisitions, disputes, and legal matters much easier."
Benny barely heard the explanation, he was already convinced.
"Good idea."
Lucy wasn’t surprised.
"Then I’ll start looking?"
"Yes."
Benny nodded vigorously, then a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Actually..."
Lucy waited.
"Put up all of our Titan Manufacturing shares as collateral."
The silence on the other end lasted several seconds.
"...All of it?"
"All of it."
Lucy’s eyes widened.
The company’s entire portfolio was currently concentrated in Titan Manufacturing.
Using all of it as collateral could potentially unlock several million yuan in financing depending on the terms.
Then he added, "After setting aside enough money for operations, use the rest to hire a good lawyer."
"...Understood."
Lucy eventually gave up trying to understand his thought process.
The call ended shortly afterward.
Benny put away his phone and his mood instantly improved.
Not only had he solved the funding problem.
He was also getting a cybersecurity specialist and a lawyer.
Both of which was extremely expensive.
The future was looking brighter by the minute.
Satisfied, Benny glanced once more at the gold-chain man standing near the roadside.
Then he shook his head regretfully.
Maybe next time.
