Liu Jun had been carefully observing Qian Hongming under the streetlight, noticing that Qian Hongming seemed much more haggard than before, but his eyes were bright as snow, as if he were in a state of excitement. Thinking about how Qian Hongming could sleep anywhere, yet today he had turned off his phone to sleep in the car, Liu Jun’s mind began to piece things together. “Have you been unable to go home recently? Borrowed money from private individuals to fill the gaps? That Shanghai high-rise renovation project is just an excuse for fundraising?”
Qian Hongming let out a long sigh without answering, spreading his limbs and half-reclining in the back seat, looking up at the car ceiling as if gazing at the starry sky.
“You’re truly crazy, you siblings are both crazy together. What should we do? Stay at my company’s R&D center these next few days – there are security guards and a complete safety system…”
“It’s not that serious, not yet. I can handle it.”
“Continue robbing Peter to pay Paul? Why not consider cutting losses with one decisive move?”
“Easy for you to say. Unless it’s the court making that cut, what use is it if I swing the blade myself? Liu Jun, stop asking. You’re completely an outsider. To explain all this clearly to you would take at least a week. I just need to know you’re here with your phone on, so I can reach you if something happens. Go home and discuss it with A’San. If it works out, have A’San contact my sister tomorrow. Let those two professionals handle this matter – the procedures must be clear with absolutely no loopholes. If I get sued, according to civil procedure law, I must report my financial situation for the year before the execution date. This legitimate transaction would be the easiest to suspect and overturn. So it must be at market price – Liu Jun, you’ll have to bleed a little.”
“Sigh, individuals are as tiny as ants under the greater environment. Do you have enough cash on hand?”
“For now, it’s enough. If not, I’ll ask you for some. If convenient, put some money into my phone account – contacting Jiali costs a lot in phone bills.” Qian Hongming still looked up at the sky, speaking listlessly. “That collapsed group you mentioned – I’ve been following it these past few months. There’s a very surprising phenomenon: those individual creditors are very decisively taking legal routes to collect debts rather than finding their solutions. I’m probably going to face a whole mess of lawsuits myself.”
Liu Jun hesitated for a moment. “The court can restrict debt representatives from leaving the country. If you’re really at the end of your rope, hurry…”
“Fleeing is easy, but coming back would be difficult. Besides, my sister hasn’t immigrated. If I leave, all the blame will fall on her. Regardless of what you think about her, she’s been like half a mother to me, with the grace of raising me. I can’t abandon her. Fortunately, we sent Jiali away early.”
“The money Jiali deposited with me – I’ll give that to you.”
“I don’t have much money in Australia. If something happens to me, Jiali will need that money. You hold onto it for now. Besides, it’s not much – just over a hundred or two hundred thousand. What use is that?”
“I have one additional requirement: no matter what, give me one phone call a day to report you’re safe. Don’t lie to me.”
Qian Hongming smiled lazily. “It’s not that serious. Haha, one call a day might not be possible, but if there are major changes, I’ll let you know first. Don’t worry, the problem isn’t as serious as you imagine. I’m just making retreat preparations in advance, then I can fight with everything I’ve got. I have a plan, but now I’m someone with family burdens, so I can’t act without considering all angles. After all, there are still people who owe me so much money. As long as I can collect it, even if I only collect physical assets, it’s enough for me to offset what I borrowed from others. I’ve made quite a bit these past few years. I also plan to file lawsuits – I can’t not get my money back.”
Liu Jun had gone downstairs to see Qian Hongming and had been gone for so long without calling upstairs to say they were moving elsewhere. Cui Bingbing upstairs was very worried about one thing – she was afraid Qian Hongming would ask Liu Jun for money. Borrowing money was something Qian Hongming had done before, and Liu Jun had never asked him for any collateral. But times were different now. Today, Qian Hongming’s funding chain was probably in critical condition. Based on her understanding of that industry, lending money to Qian Hongming today would be like throwing meat buns at a dog – gone forever. She, Cui Bingbing, wasn’t ignorant about that business. But could she rush downstairs to stop them? No, she could only stay upstairs feeling restless.
When Liu Jun came upstairs carrying a large kraft paper bag and explained Qian Hongming’s request, Cui Bingbing’s heart finally relaxed, but she blurted out, “I never expected Qian Hongming to actually be such a good friend to you. I’ll contact his sister tomorrow about this matter. He’s right – the procedures must be clear. He’s protecting you.”
“I originally wanted to lend him money, to find a way to help him…”
“No, be rational. Lending him money now is like filling a bottomless pit. It’s better to wait until he works out a result, then you can help him make a comeback.”
This time, even Cui Bingbing genuinely sighed for Qian Hongming. After putting Dandan to bed, Cui Bingbing also poured out all her recent work troubles to Liu Jun. The loans issued these past few years suddenly needed to be tightened – how was that possible? Many of those loans had already been misappropriated by enterprises. For instance, working capital loans had been put into fixed assets. If collected urgently, enterprises could only close down for you to see. If not collected, there was pressure from above. If you encountered someone like Qian Hongming who held a passport, when pushed to desperation, they’d just pack up and flee the country, leaving bad debts for the bank. She was on edge every day, weighing the origins and destinations of every loan, whether to collect or release. Now, the only comfortable thing for banks was that the personal service windows finally didn’t have long queues, because stocks had fallen badly enough that investors no longer bothered running to bank windows to apply for funds. Last year, the number of new investor accounts kept rising while bank savings kept falling. Every day’s worry was attracting deposits. Now the windows were deserted, bank savings were rising steadily, yet she was still extremely troubled. Sometimes she wanted to learn from Jiali and just let everything go, go home and enjoy a peaceful life.
After Cui Bingbing poured out her complaints for a long time, Liu Jun advised her to seriously consider retirement, but she refused. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Liu Jun, but she worried about becoming like Jiali, and also feared retirement days would be incredibly boring. Cui Bingbing had another major knot in her heart – the bank stocks she held couldn’t be released with the major and minor non-tradable shares, yet she watched the stock index fall daily, her paper assets shrinking every day. That was simply tragic. At least staying at the bank, everyone could commiserate with each other.
After seeing Qian Hongming, Liu Jun’s mind was full of questions. Hearing the phrase “commiserate with each other,” he couldn’t help thinking of Qian Hongming. “Hongming never tells Jiali about his troubles. As a result, even on days like today, he’s still putting on a peaceful facade for Jiali. In the end, he’s back to square one, commiserating with his sister. He should run now, take his sister with him – it’s not like they can’t get visas.”
“You are something. If he runs now, how much money can he take with him? His heart isn’t black enough. He was still pointing to borrowing money everywhere to fill the gaps not long ago…”
“He believes in his analysis. He judges that the country doesn’t dare keep tightening monetary policy forever. He believes loans will open up again soon. So he wants to maintain the normal funding chain operation. As long as he gets through this hurdle, when banks have new loans available, everything will be fine.” Liu Jun repeated the reasoning he and Qian Hongming had debated before.
“So that’s how it is. I thought his heart wasn’t black enough, but he considers problems quite long-term. No wonder he’s still holding on. And thinking for him, if he ran now, he’d be unwilling too. Pack up and run with just the money from these few of his own least valuable houses? How much is that? Compared to the hundreds of millions he’s handled before, how could he be willing to give up? If he weren’t harboring illusions about loan releases, he would have run early in the year when he saw the bad situation, taking the money private individuals lent him with great difficulty because of his Bentley, and fled. That would have been clean. What a pity. I now genuinely feel sorry for him. Before, seeing how he always wanted to outdo you, I found the couple annoying.”
“What he said today seemed like he was arranging some final affairs… Tell me, if you hadn’t seen his car and I hadn’t gone down to find him, would he still have seen me? Even if he did, when would he have seen me? Is he very hesitant about transferring the houses to me?” But as soon as the question left his mouth, Liu Jun already understood the reason. “He’s been competing with me since childhood. This guy cares too much about such pride. At this age, he still can’t think straight. Who doesn’t encounter difficulties sometimes?”
“Oh yeah, the great god Freud – even though I find him annoying, I still have to admit he has a point.”
The couple talked until very late. Qian Hongming drove alone around the streets. Though full of troubles, he still went to the city’s most luxurious club to indulge himself. After all, there was no one home anyway. Besides, he needed the Bentley to appear frequently under certain people’s noses – he needed certain effects. It was still Qian Hongying who called him away with a phone call. By then, he no longer knew what the cigars he inhaled tasted like. Having smoked so much all day, his mouth and nose were already numb. But he cheerfully told friends in the cigar room that his wife was calling him home, time to be a good husband. In his heart, though, he didn’t understand what his sister wanted, calling him so late.
Arriving at his sister’s house, the huge desk covered with account books. Before his sister could speak, Qian Hongming said, “I’ve sold all the unmortgaged houses to Liu Jun at market price. Sister, you’ll interface with A’San tomorrow. The procedures must be correct. Don’t calculate these accounts. Without bank loans being released, no matter how you calculate, there’s only one result: scaring yourself to death.”
“What should we do? The creditors haven’t reacted yet, but we need to pay several interest payments by the end of this month. Can you come up with the money? If word gets out that we can’t pay interest, how many lives do we have to give people?”
“I’ve been thinking of solutions. Don’t worry, can’t be anxious. Sister, sleep early. Tomorrow, during the day, you need to act like nothing’s wrong. I’ll consider the money issue. But how much more can you borrow from your real estate industry friends? Haven’t they all been afraid to speculate on property recently, so they have cash on hand?”
“I’ve almost borrowed from everyone in the company, including employees, so everyone’s watching to see how I pay interest at month’s end. I’m worried sick. There are still over ten days – where can I find money to pay interest? What I fear most now is someone suddenly having an emergency and asking me for their money back. I can’t produce even a cent.”
“Sister, stay calm. No matter what, we can’t panic and lose our composure. Look at me – I borrowed even more, but I’m still…”
“Calm your ass.” Qian Hongying exploded with anger from nowhere, slamming the table and cursing wildly. “You tell your wife to stay calm! Why do you tell me to stay calm, but don’t stay calm with your wife? I’m here bowing and scraping to borrow money from people, almost ready to kneel, while you send my borrowed money to get your wife out of the country to avoid trouble. What do you take me for? Is your wife a goddess, and I’m your servant? Stay calm my ass. Who did I wrong in this lifetime? A lifetime of working like an ox and horse for others…”
Qian Hongming said nothing, just lowered his head, listening to his sister’s wild cursing. With such pressure lately, being able to curse it out was good. He still had Liu Jun to talk to, but his sister had no one to talk to, so naturally, she could only curse at him. After his sister finished cursing, he said, “Sister, you should still move to my place these next few days. Living together, we can look after each other. At least there’s a housekeeper to cook and clean. My place is a high-rise with good security, safer than your townhouse here.”
“How are we supposed to live?”
“I’m thinking of solutions. Right now, we can only take it one step at a time. Move to my place tonight.”
“I won’t go. Stop your fake concern. If I move away, people will know tomorrow. Who knows what those creditors might think? Do you dare let me move?”
Qian Hongming sighed and stood up. “Sister, calm down. You watched me grow up – you know what kind of person I am best. I’m going home to sleep. Dawn is almost here, you should get some rest, too. If you don’t rest well now, your head will be even more muddled.”
“Hongming, is your head muddled?”
Seeing his sister’s panicked and surprised expression, Qian Hongming smiled calmly. “The ledger in my head is much clearer than what’s on your desk.” He slightly pursed his lips, tilted his neck back, and went out the door. But returning to his own home, he stuck his head under the cold water tap for a full five minutes, freezing until his scalp was numb before lifting it up, staring at himself in the mirror for quite a while in a daze.