At the end of the millennium, another joint-stock bank opened in the city center, gradually breaking the monopolistic landscape that state-owned banks and credit unions had maintained. The new bank naturally couldn’t shake the established territory of the major state-owned banks, so it inevitably had to be flexible and find alternative paths, seeking growth-oriented enterprises among overlooked gems to develop business. Although the new bank was a newcomer, aside from upper management, other personnel were sourced locally, poached from state-owned banks. Learning about the new bank’s arrival from classmates, Liu Jun began calculating.

Liu Jun had now learned a trick: don’t rashly approach a completely unfamiliar door to discuss matters important to you, lest you start with serious mutual wariness from the beginning.

Through classmates and friends, Liu Jun eventually contacted the credit personnel of the newly opened bank. After good telephone conversations, he visited in person. With some rapport already established, communication between both sides was excellent. Especially since Liu Jun’s financial outsourcing was done by an accounting firm, the credibility of financial statements was naturally several points higher. From the statements, it was obvious that Tengfei had good growth potential.

The newly opened bank had high work efficiency. After preliminary approval, two people came to Tengfei for an on-site inspection. The site naturally spoke for itself, and Liu Jun’s accompanying explanations greatly surprised the bank staff. However, Tengfei’s current scale wasn’t large, so they finished their tour quickly and left, arranging to have dinner together that evening.

What surprised Liu Jun was that two private financing companies quickly called to contact him, willing to lend money at reduced interest rates. But no matter how low private financing interest rates were – even lower than what Liu Jun had painstakingly negotiated – they couldn’t compare with bank loan rates. Liu Jun was just puzzled about how those two private financing companies knew about him and how they understood his company’s growth performance. But regardless, before Spring Festival arrived, Liu Jun saw dawn breaking ahead – that dawn was the gaudy, glittering copper color of money.

In the evening, Liu Jun treated the bank credit personnel to dinner, calling Qian Hongming to join as company, knowing he would enjoy participating in such gatherings. Indeed, he did.

But just as they sat down, Liu Jun’s phone rang. Looking at it, he saw it was Yu Shanshan calling proactively. He quickly answered, and Yu Shanshan asked coolly, “Very busy, entertaining clients?”

Liu Jun quickly smiled apologetically, “Yes, yes, have you eaten?” Qian Hongming joked beside him, “Girlfriend? Why did your expression change completely? Where’s that high school swagger? Invite her to join us for dinner.” But Liu Jun didn’t want Yu Shanshan appearing at such occasions where he needed to be extra careful, so he waved his hand in refusal.

“Haven’t eaten.” Yu Shanshan spoke stiffly, “My parents are coming for Spring Festival…”

“Oh, tell me the time, I’ll pick them up.”

“Today, in half an hour, at the train station.” Yu Shanshan almost added a “hmph” – she had struggled with this decision for days before finally swallowing her pride to give Liu Jun a chance. Her friends had all told her to hold out to the end.

Liu Jun was stunned and had to get up and walk outside the private room. “Shanshan, I can’t get away today, it’s very important official business. How about this – you take a taxi, ask uncle and auntie to bear with it, and I’ll come over immediately once I finish here.”

“Mm, I remember you proudly saying that you would never rely on wining and dining to get things done.”

“Sorry, this time is different. I’ll explain to you later. It’s different.”

Yu Shanshan said calmly, “I understand. Whenever you encounter me, it’s always really, really different.”

Yu Shanshan hung up. Liu Jun stared at his phone for a while, thinking that Yu Shanshan’s parents were returning to their hometown after years away for Spring Festival and visiting their precious daughter – they probably had loads of luggage, so Yu Shanshan’s asking him to pick them up was reasonable. But the problem was that today’s dinner table concerned his company’s life and death, and his company had long-established rules that no driver would handle personal errands for the general manager. He thought of several friends, but time was tight, they didn’t know Yu Shanshan, and by the time he contacted them, it would be too late. He could only call Shen Huadong. Shen Huadong was also entertaining clients, but Shen Huadong responded immediately and went to contact Yu Shanshan himself.

Liu Jun felt extremely frustrated inside, but couldn’t show it on his face. He knew how Shen Huadong would take advantage of this opportunity to meet the parents. But with the comprehensive thinking he’d developed since starting the factory, he had already considered that two exhausted elderly people after a long journey, a pile of luggage full of heavy local specialties, the train station’s underground passages with stairs going up and down – only the careless Yu Shanshan would notify him at the last moment. Yet from his college experience of hopping trains for trips, he knew this situation required buying platform tickets to enter the station platform to meet them and carry luggage. Even with the familiar Shen Huadong going, half an hour might not be enough.

Since he had already done half a good deed, he could only see it through to the end. He called Shen Huadong again to remind him, “A’Dong, there’s lots of luggage, the Yu family are all elderly and weak, go onto the platform to meet them, don’t forget to buy platform tickets to get in.”

“Oh, right. Hehe, A Jun, you’re finished.”

Liu Jun gave a dry “hehe” laugh. “Very good, now I’m relieved.”

“What do you mean?”

“Anyway, I’m extremely grateful to you, thank you, A’Dong brother who slept in the bunk below me.” Liu Jun laughed “hahaha” three times and ended the call. He believed Shen Huadong, on the other end, was lost in fog and clouds. Little tricks – who couldn’t play them? Although he felt quite sorry for Yu Shanshan, he could only resort to this desperate measure.

Throughout the entertainment, though anxious inside, he felt much better overall, and the host and guests were all happy. Unfortunately, the two bank personnel seemed to want more, so Liu Jun had no choice but to accompany them to continue at karaoke. He called Yu Shanshan, but she didn’t answer. He called Shen Huadong, who gave him three “hehehe” sounds, giving no clue what they were doing.

When Liu Jun finished his call and entered the private room, four escort girls had already lined up for action. Liu Jun was assigned one, but not daring to challenge his desires, he had his escort girl sing songs instead. The private room was full of drinking, singing, and revelry. In this harmonious atmosphere, the bank personnel laid out for Liu Jun the bank loan approval procedures and each leader’s preferences and tendencies. They also discussed much gossip and interesting stories from the local financial world, which even amazed Qian Hongming. Liu Jun thought to himself that in this atmosphere below moral standards, everyone set their dignity aside, making it convenient to be frank with each other – this “frank” would be more appropriately written as “bare.”

When the party ended, all four men were drunk, hooking arms and calling each other brothers. From their words, Liu Jun learned that his loan would very likely be approved this time. He also learned that the two private financing companies from earlier had been introduced by these two bank personnel. Often, when they could help enterprises obtain bank loans, they took commissions, and that was that. If they couldn’t, but the enterprise was one they favored, they sold information – they had plenty of enterprises that came to them and could see first-hand materials.

Liu Jun wasn’t surprised anymore; he had grown accustomed to everyone’s professional ethics.

Of course, he wouldn’t go to Yu Shanshan’s place – with his drunken appearance and it being the middle of the night, wouldn’t he just be asking to be disliked? He didn’t know whether Shen Huadong had used all his skills; he desperately wanted to know and was extremely troubled by it. But fortunately, he had the joy of possibly succeeding with the loan. A bank loan – how precious! Although the first time might only be three million, hadn’t they said that with a first time comes a second time? Once hooked, the future would only bring more and more. Liu Jun desperately needed capital. If he could sell himself for money, he would be willing. Working every day with hands and feet tied, robbing Peter to pay Paul, yet not even daring to buy a new car, he was about to die of frustration.