Chapter 164: My Ancestors Came from Outside the Pass

"You mean he plans to set up two factories at the same time?"
"Is he that wealthy?"
Cai Dazhi asked purely out of curiosity.

This was Cai Weiqiang's moment to flex, and he was more than happy to do so in front of this overseas relative. Clearing his throat, he said in a ringing voice, "I don't know the exact extent of his wealth, but if my guess is right, the capital at my buddy's disposal is simply beyond human imagination."
"Don't let the current obscurity of their Zhonghao Group in Shenzhen fool you; I doubt there are many enterprises in the entire city that can match their cash flow."

Cai Dazhi drew in a sharp breath. "Then, what exactly does he do?"
Without missing a beat, Cai Weiqiang replied, "A profiteer! A speculator!"
"You know Mu Qizhong, right? That loudmouth who recently claimed he was going to blast open the Himalayas to let the warm monsoon air from the Indian Ocean into Nepal?"
"Didn't he just import an airplane from the Soviet Union a while ago? Well, my younger brother here is doing that exact kind of business."
"Oh, right, didn't Mu Qizhong also mention in the newspapers that he's preparing to launch a satellite into the sky?"
"You should give my little brother a suggestion and have him launch a satellite up there too, just to boost the cell signal for your mobile phones."

Cai Dazhi's hair stood on end, sweat constantly beading on his forehead. He had met plenty of entrepreneurs and wealthy men, but this was the real deal—a genuine heavyweight.
As for the satellite launch Cai Weiqiang mentioned, he took it entirely as a joke. If satellites were that easy to pull off, Motorola's satellite project wouldn't be struggling so hard to operate.
Of course, many years later, Boss Chai actually did launch a great number of satellites into the sky, eventually reaching a monopolistic status—but that is a story for another day.

...

Chen Ni was similarly astonished by Chai Jin.
From the very beginning, she had harbored suspicions about Chai Jin's true identity, but he had handled himself so impeccably in front of her that her feelings remained mere doubts.
This time, during the negotiations with Cai Dazhi, Chai Jin had simply tossed over a blank check and told the other party to fill it in. Moreover, he hadn't once mentioned the so-called "boss" he usually spoke of. This clever young woman could no longer convince herself that it was all that simple.

She had arrived by car today, and Chai Jin was driving her back to the factory.
After the car had traveled a long distance, Chen Ni looked at the silent Chai Jin and finally couldn't hold back anymore. "Transformer, are you still going to put on an act in front of me?"
"Act? Act like what?" Chai Jin genuinely had no idea what she was talking about. His hands gripped the steering wheel as he kept his eyes fixed entirely on the road ahead.

Chen Ni deflated a little. "What do you think?"
"If you were the boss, and you assigned a project to a subordinate to negotiate, would you directly hand your subordinate a blank check and trust them that completely to handle the talks?"
"A project worth tens of millions, yet you don't even show your face. I can't think of more than a handful of people in Shenzhen with that kind of financial muscle."

Now Chai Jin knew what she wanted to ask.
On second thought, there didn't seem to be any need to keep hiding things from Chen Ni anyway. He simply confessed, "I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose. I fold—this is indeed my own project. There is no mysterious boss behind the scenes."
"Oh my god, I knew it!" Although Chen Ni already had her suspicions and mental preparations, hearing Chai Jin admit it so plainly still sent a shock through her heart.
She couldn't forget that as recently as last October, she had seen Chai Jin sleeping under the Zhonghai overpass.
Unable to hold back, she asked, "Are you a rich second-generation heir? Or are you one of those 'princelings' who came down south from the capital to start a business?"

Chai Jin smiled and shook his head. "Do you want to hear the truth?"
"Stop wasting words and just tell me," Chen Ni urged impatiently.
Chai Jin thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I am the descendant of an ancient clan hidden deep in the mountains."
"Back in the day, my ancestors left behind a stash of treasure outside the Shanhaiguan Pass to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming. By the time it reached my generation..."
"Stop, stop, stop! Do you take me for a three-year-old child?" Chen Ni interrupted, looking disgruntled. "If you don't want to tell the truth, fine, but why make up wild stories?"

By this time, the car had arrived at the factory gates.
Chai Jin pulled over to the side, parked the car, and smiled. "We're here."
"Rest assured, the money is clean, and the sources of all my funds are entirely legal."
"As for the past, I certainly hit rock bottom, but I never will again. You can cooperate with me with absolute peace of mind."

Chen Ni let out a long breath. "Do I even have a choice? Look at the state I'm in now."
With that, a look of profound distress washed over her face.
Because of He Kai's marriage, she had completely fallen out with her father, and she had already made up her mind to move out of her family home in a few days.

Knowing she must be fretting over that wretched mess again, Chai Jin asked, "Is that brainless idiot still giving you a hard time?"
"What do you think?" Chen Ni replied. "Right now, I don't even want to step foot through the gates of this factory."
"Forget it, I'll sort out my own problems. I'm heading out."
"Alright, give me a call if anything comes up."
The two waved goodbye and parted ways.

...

Following the newly appointed vice mayor's high-profile announcement of various policy measures in the newspapers yesterday, sure enough, personnel from the relevant departments had visited Zhonghao Group to investigate this afternoon.
They had even taken away a large volume of documents.

When Chai Jin returned, Old Huang and the others were already discussing the matter. Their faces were grave, as if facing an impending crisis.
Chai Jin walked over, holding a cup of water, and sat down among them to listen. He asked a few questions along the way, realizing it was nothing major.
Once that was settled, he looked at Qin Xiaozhou, who was sitting to one side. "How is Miss Bai's situation over there?"
"Is she trying to throw any wrenches in our gears?"

Qin Xiaozhou's expression turned somewhat peculiar, but he quickly replied, "Everything is fine, Brother Jin."
"I've been maintaining the relationship on her end, and all the paperwork is currently proceeding normally."

Old Huang muttered under his breath, "Something feels off. That woman never lets anything go when she feels wronged. After we put her in her place in the warehouse the other day, why hasn't she reacted or taken any countermeasures at all?"
"That's not her personality."
Qin Xiaozhou answered quickly, "Brother Huang, it really is fine. She just chewed me out fiercely during dinner that day, and that was the end of it."
"Women, you know, are emotional creatures. Once you let them vent, it's all over."
"Oh, I suppose so." Old Huang thought for a moment. "Well, never mind then."
"However, Chai Jin, there is one more matter you need to pay attention to. I heard that Vanke Group is also purchasing daily necessities in large quantities in Shenzhen."
"It's already starting to affect our shipping schedules."

"Wang Shi is purchasing daily necessities?" Chai Jin asked with curiosity. "For export?"
"People in the trading business are basically speculators; reselling things is normal."
Old Huang shook his head. "No, I just feel there's something fishy about this."
"Given the scale of Wang Shi's enterprise, logically they shouldn't have the financial strength to swallow up this much merchandise. But I've heard the scale of his procurement is quite substantial."

Fang Yi chimed in from the side, "I heard it from our suppliers, too. They rented a super-large warehouse spanning tens of thousands of square meters outside the pass."
"I see." Chai Jin furrowed his brows.
However, another company's business operations didn't require reporting to them, so he couldn't guess what was going on.
He simply instructed, "Ignore them for now. We have contracts with those suppliers. Keep a close eye on the manufacturers and make sure they fulfill their agreements."