Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Sijiucheng, sanatorium.

Liu Yong suffered from insomnia and couldn't fall asleep. He had never been a good sleeper to begin with, and an old injury he got during a war in his early years always hurt at night, especially on rainy days.

But today, he was not upset because of the injury, but because of what Zeng Wangcai said.

He held sleeping pills and painkillers in his hands, but he was in a daze and didn't take them.

The phone call has been over for half an hour. It is already past eleven o'clock, and the old man has not yet come to his senses.

"Two billion... playing mahjong... damn it..." the old man muttered, "Why is this kid doing things more and more outrageous? Damn it, I have to help him go to the higher-ups to complain..."

The old man had a poor family in his early years, and later he traveled around the country to fight in the war, living a life of displacement.

He was lucky enough not to die on the battlefield. After the advent of the new century, he gradually took charge of a department and witnessed many national affairs.

But to be honest, the old man has never seen anyone decide important matters by playing mahjong.

Twenty billion! Even the country’s foreign exchange reserves don’t have that much.

Money is one thing, but the key is that Zeng Wangcai asked the higher-ups to support the gambling... Can the government support such a thing?

Zeng Wangcai said yes, this bet is reasonable and legal, it is not called gambling, according to the outside world it is called... betting!

But the old man knew that this was inconsistent with domestic customs.

"No, why should I be left alone to struggle?" The old man put away the pills, got up, put on his clothes, and opened the door. He couldn't help shivering when the cold wind blew outside, but he still walked towards his friend's room firmly.

It is not popular to lock the door in the sanatorium. Liu Yong pushed Yang Mingyuan's door gently and it opened.

After entering the room, Liu Yong closed the door and turned on the light. He groped to the side of Yang Mingyuan's bed, lowered his head and took out an iron box of Golden Rooster biscuits from under the bed and pried it open under the gaze of Yang Mingyuan who was in a daze.

There was half a bottle of Erguotou and a half-opened pack of Huazi in the box.

Liu Yong took out a cigarette without hesitation, and then took out the kerosene lighter Zeng Wangcai gave to Yang Mingyuan, lit the cigarette, and took a deep puff...

"I say, you really don't consider yourself an outsider." Yang Mingyuan climbed out of the bed, leaned against the head of the bed and said, "Give me one too, and go back to sleep after smoking this one. We can talk tomorrow if there is anything. I'm telling you, don't look for cigarettes from me in the future. The doctor said that your situation is different from ours..."

Liu Yong has lung problems, so his health doctor doesn't allow him to smoke, but he is a heavy smoker and can't help but smoke secretly.

"Why are you sleeping? I can't sleep!" Liu Yong said unhappily.

"You can't sleep, take medicine!" Yang Mingyuan said with a headache, "Don't bother me, there's nothing wrong with my sleeping condition, didn't the doctor give you medicine?"

"People say that taking too much of that medicine is not good for you..." Liu Yong muttered. Seeing Yang Mingyuan's eyelids fighting, he felt uncomfortable and said in a cold voice, "I have something to tell you. If I can't sleep, you don't have to sleep either. Wangcai called just now and said that there has been progress in the drone issue. There is about 20 billion dollars in revenue..."

Click!

Yang Mingyuan successfully jumped up from the bed, wearing only a pair of shorts and a vest, and asked in shock: "How much?"

"Twenty billion dollars!" Liu Yong said with a proud smile, "Put on your clothes, get out of bed, and let's go find Su Ming..."

Well, when the old man gets bad, there’s no limit to what he can do.

More than ten minutes later, the three old men were all dressed and gathered in Liu Yong's room in high spirits.

Yang Mingyuan and Su Ming each held a cigarette in their mouths, and took a mechanical puff after a while. Their minds were still on what Liu Yong had just said Zeng Wangcai was going to do. Both of them were in a state of not fully digesting the news.

"Don't just stand there, think about what to say!" Liu Yong saw his old friend's state and said with a wry smile, "With so much money, I wonder how much tax I have to pay..."

"What? Pay taxes?"

"He said he paid taxes?"

Yang Mingyuan and Su Ming jumped up at the same time, even more shocked.

Judging from the situation of Zeng Wangcai, the gambling must have been completed on Wangye Island, involving two overseas companies and a company of Zeng Wangcai.

And Zeng Wangcai’s company is most likely also Jiang Dao’s company.

In other words, the three participating companies are all outside, so why should they pay taxes?

Therefore, Yang Mingyuan and Su Ming never thought that Zeng Wangcai would pay taxes. When they heard this...how could they not be shocked?

This is a $20 billion deal...

"Yeah!" Liu Yong nodded sadly, "He said it himself. This matter is difficult to handle."

"What's so difficult about this?" Yang Mingyuan said frankly, "Hundreds of millions of US dollars in taxes, no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it... That guy... I really didn't misjudge him. He said before that he would not donate money. At that time, I still had a problem with him. I didn't expect that he had a sharp tongue but a soft heart."

Zeng Wangcai did say that he would not donate money unless it was absolutely necessary. He would rather use the money to do things, such as building factories, signal base stations, etc.

These investments were actually made and became something, but I still feel more at ease in the hands of those people.

Zeng Wangcai said this because he was indeed afraid. In later generations, he had seen many large cases involving billions of dollars. Although he was not sure whether the situation would get better, he had seen the extravagant eating and drinking with his own eyes.

So, it’s better to find someone to do it yourself.

"In fact, I think Wangcai is right!" Su Ming took a deep puff of cigarette and said, "Some comrades in our team have forgotten their original intentions. They have lost their basic principles and act high and mighty all the time. They can't get much done, but they are quite arrogant. If anyone wants to ask them to do something, they have to beg for help, and it may not be done.

"During this period of time, I have learned about what Wangcai has done. Whether it is the base station or the car factory, if our people were to do it, it would definitely not be the same as it is now. I think it is better not to let Wangcai pay the tax and let him use it to do the work himself."

"You're really going too far..." Yang Mingyuan was very surprised by Su Ming's words and said, "Our team is so big, it's normal for a few people to have problems. We can't blame everyone for one thing, right? Do you know how much this money can do?"

"Of course I know!" Su Ming said firmly, "But I dare say that Wangcai can do much more and faster with this money than those people. Did you see too much on the way back? How much money went into the stomachs of those good-for-nothings?

"Let's talk about the garment factory. It was started by Wangcai and his son, right? They started making money many years ago, but what happened? Wangcai and his son were kicked out, and the factory almost went bankrupt. If Wangcai's father hadn't come back, and Wangcai hadn't come back too, would the factory have survived?"

Yang Mingyuan was stunned and couldn't face Su Ming's words.

Although they didn't know about the eating and drinking they saw on the way back, the incident at the garment factory happened right under their noses. They knew it clearly, and everything was just as Su Ming said.

"Stop arguing!" Liu Yong said bitterly, "I'm just struggling with this. If I tell the higher-ups about this, they will definitely agree. After all, it's a lot of money. I also tend to agree with Lao Su's opinion and let Wangcai do it himself...but I'm worried that I can't convince the higher-ups to come forward."

This is also a problem, a very realistic problem.

"How about this, let's make a decision for Wangcai..." Yang Mingyuan thought about it and came up with a compromise idea, "Let's say Wangcai is willing to donate some money, not to mention paying taxes. After all, Wangcai didn't say how much he would pay. What do you think?"

"The golden mean... this is a good use of it by an old man like you..."