boyutpedia 69. Taking shortcuts comes at a price.
69. Taking shortcuts comes at a price.
Brother Yong was being chased by loan sharks and was hiding everywhere, afraid to go home. But when he learned that Li Xiang, the son-in-law of the God of Gamblers, had come to Hong Kong, he immediately straightened his back.
The two agreed to have dinner together.
"How many days can you stay in Hong Kong?"
"What's wrong?"
Li Xiang brought Big Foot with him.
"If I have time, I'd like to go for a few rounds of gambling at sea," Yong said, cracking his knuckles. "I'm a bit short on cash lately; my creditors are chasing me hard."
"You haven't finished paying it off yet?"
"Almost there." Yong Ge's expression froze for a moment, then he scratched his bald head and said, "I forgot, you can read minds. We're still a little over two million short."
"Wasn't it just over two million before?"
"Interest compoundes, it's not that easy to pay it back." Yong didn't want to dwell on the topic any longer, so he smiled and said, "Take me to the casino a few more times, and if I win a few hundred thousand, I can manage for a while."
"You should have your daughter pay it back for you first, and then pay it back to her little by little."
Yong suddenly became a little unhappy.
"I don't want to ask her for help. She thinks I'm a gambler and I can't trust her. If I help her this time, she'll probably ask me again sooner or later. Why bother making things difficult for her?"
"Then who's to blame?"
Yong Ge kept his head down for a few seconds before answering, "It's my own fault."
When Shopee seeks funding in the future, it might have to rely on Zhang Baizhi's connections, as her venture capitalist friend works as an analyst at SoftBank Asia.
Li Xiang also had a fairly good impression of Yong Ge.
"I won't try to persuade you to quit gambling; it's useless. Just scrape together some capital yourself, and I'll go with you across the ocean for a few days. Win or lose, it's all on you. But let's make it clear, this is just this once. Don't ever ask me to gamble again."
"Okay, okay, just this once, help me win more." Brother Yong was overjoyed.
Seeing that Li Xiang was only eating and not talking, Yong Ge forced a smile with an embarrassed expression, "You don't need to win too much, just enough to pay off my debts."
-
Li Xiang's scanning ability has advanced from Lv3 to Lv4, greatly improving his ability to acquire information. Playing games like Texas Hold'em and other psychological games is now like having divine assistance.
Yong Ge only managed to scrape together eight thousand Hong Kong dollars as capital.
He won 8,000 to 70,000, then switched to another casino and won 300,000.
Just enough.
Li Xiang and Yong Ge spent one night in a hotel suite provided by the casino.
The next day, they went to two more casinos and won from 300,000 to 1.7 million. They were just a few hands away from winning enough when casino staff suddenly appeared and very kindly asked them to leave.
"Let's try another one," Yong suggested.
"You'd get kicked out of any other company anyway, because they all share the same blacklist."
"What a disappointment."
"Let's find a place to eat. Call the debt collector over, and I'll pay you back all the money you owe in one go. As for the remaining hundreds of thousands..." Li Xiang didn't trust Brother Yong, so he changed his mind before he could finish his sentence, saying, "Zhang Baizhi has money. Let her pay it back for me."
"Yes, make her pay it back. Just ask her directly." After weighing the options for a few seconds, Yong asked hesitantly, "Your child has already been born, right?"
Born on New Year's Day.
Aren't you going to get married yet?
Li Xiang frowned and said, "You seem to be very concerned about my private life."
"Isn't this just casual conversation?"
Li Xiang casually replied, "I'm against marriage and have no plans to get married."
Yong Ge, trying to make conversation, chimed in, "Young people these days don't want to get married. Of my four children, only the eldest is married, and he wasn't even my son."
-
Nguyen Tuan Anh escorted Tran Thu Thao to Ho Chi Minh City for an interview.
The interviews were conducted by a human resources company that Shopee found in Vietnam.
"So fast." Ruan Junying sat in the car waiting, and in less than an hour, Chen Qiucao came out after her interview.
Standing on the street, Chen Qiucao shouted as if no one else was around, "I passed the interview! I'm a white-collar worker now! I can stay and live in the city!"
"What are you shouting for? People on the street are staring at you," Ruan Junying waved her hand and beckoned, "Hurry up and get in the car, I'll take you to meet a friend."
"Who are we meeting?" Chen Qiucao opened the car door and got into the passenger seat.
"Your future colleague."
The drive wasn't long, only about ten minutes, but Ruan Junying didn't say a word the whole way. She had a tense face and seemed preoccupied, and it was unclear what she was thinking.
Chen Qiucao had a lot of questions in her mind, but she didn't dare to ask.
After turning into the parking lot, finding a spot to park, and turning off the engine, Ruan Junying, seeing that she couldn't delay any longer and had to get out of the car, finally mustered up her courage and stammered, "Xiao Cao, there's something... I haven't had a chance to tell you yet, it's a little difficult to say, but I still have to."
"Shopee's owner, who is also my classmate Li Xiang, is very important to my career development, but because of our different statuses, it's inconvenient for me to get too close to him, and there are some things I can't say directly to the public."
"I need someone by his side who can speak up for me and whom I can trust. After much deliberation, I finally thought of you."
"As long as I'm still useful to him, your development on Shopee will be smooth sailing. He will give you a lot of money through various means, more than you can imagine."
"Keep half of this money for yourself; you can spend it however you like. As for the other half, I'll let you know when you need it."
"I won't force you. If you're not willing, just pretend I didn't say anything, and I'll find someone else."
Chen Qiucao was silent for a few seconds, then asked to confirm, "If I refuse, will I lose this job?"
Ruan Junying smiled and said, "Although I've broken up with your sister, if you call me 'brother,' I promise to find you a job, and I will definitely do it."
"You've already been accepted by Shopee. Even without my connections, you can still get a job, but how well you develop in the future depends on yourself."
"This world is very unfair. People like us can work hard our whole lives and still not catch up with those who were born well. But sometimes it's also quite fair. It's the same for everyone. If you want to take shortcuts, you have to pay the price."
"If I agree, I'll have to give you half of what I earn from work." Chen Qiucao asked earnestly, "Junying, you just said your classmates will give me a lot of money, how much exactly?"
"I don't know either, but you'll never earn that much on your own in your entire life." Seeing that Chen Qiucao was still hesitant, Ruan Junying added, "You have to go to Shopee's headquarters in Russia for standardized training. When you meet my classmate, just tell him directly..."
"If you have nowhere to live while you work and want a house, he will definitely arrange it for you."
"I know this is quite dangerous, and it might even be illegal," Chen Qiucao demanded. "This house has to be given to me, and we can split it later."
Ruan Junying said, "Look at you, so full of yourself. A house only costs a little bit of money. You'll have ten or twenty houses in the future, or even more."
Chen Qiucao suddenly said, "I'm very tight-lipped. I won't tell anyone anything I shouldn't say."
Ruan Junying smiled and said, "Let's get off the bus, everyone's waiting for us."
Chen Qiucao asked curiously, "Who is the colleague you're going to introduce me to?"
"My classmate's older brother, like you, is someone who has connections."
Ruan Junying breathed a sigh of relief. Simply connecting with Shopee's supply chain wouldn't be enough to propel him to success. He wanted Li Xiang to open Shopee stores directly in Vietnam, but the conditions weren't right yet.