America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 238: Moving trees and establishing trust
Seven or eight people will come down immediately.

They were all wearing black clothes with stand-up collars. The style had never been seen before. They looked like coats, but they were thinner than coats. They were very close-fitting and handsome.

Several of them were carrying a box in their hands.

The hats obscured their faces, making it difficult to see clearly, except for the leader.

The man strode through the door.

Under the gaze of everyone, he raised his head, his sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, his face as still as water, and his chin covered with short and hard beard could not hide the youthfulness of his face.

Most people in the exchange didn't know who he was, but they could all feel an aura coming to them.

They talked a lot:

"Who is this person?"

"I don't know him. Judging from his skin color, he is an Indian, right? He looks like a chief at least."

"Stop talking nonsense. All the Indians nearby are dead. Is he a Chinese?"

"Chinese? I seem to have heard of a powerful Chinese in Roswell before."

"Hey, guess what they carry in the box? It can't be money, right?"

……

The person who came was none other than Chen Jianqiu. He took off his leather gloves, looked around, and found a bench in the last row with Camilla to sit down.

Hanif and Abiot stood behind them.

At this time, the mustache on the stage was very worried. He could not tell the people below that this matter was decided by the judge, and he was the messenger.

"I did a rough calculation and found that the land you marked above was all acquired by Leonard later. These lands are on the outskirts of the town and are worthless at all!" The timber merchant pointed at the wooden board next to Mustache with his cane.

"Those IOUs are all bad debts! Only a handful can be recovered, and all of them together..." The businessman paused and tapped the ground with his cane, "Isn't your starting bid a negative number?"

Only a fool would buy these.

The exchange burst into laughter. After the laughter ended, the creditors suddenly discovered that the merchant's words revealed a reality:
If no one takes this advantage, their money will never be recovered.

As a result, their emotions became aroused again, and the discussion about the matter itself gradually turned into abusing the judge.

"That guy collected dirty money again!"

"What a bullshit mortgage contract, we haven't seen it at all! That damn judge teamed up with others to swallow up the good land again."

"Say quickly! Who owns that villa?"

"Yes! Say it quickly!"

……

These Lincolnshire businessmen have fully inherited the fine traditions of this American frontier town. They are hands-on and never noisy.

They rushed to the trading desk, trying to grab Mustache's clothes.

A voice suddenly came from the back row of seats:
The sound is not loud, but it is clear and majestic.

"It's mine, what's wrong?"

The crowd that was noisy just now fell silent, and everyone looked at the last row of chairs again.

Chen Jianqiu stood up and repeated what he just said:
"Leonard's villa was mortgaged to me, what happened?"

He waved to lawyer Dylan behind him.

The lawyer took out a copy of Leonard's mortgage loan contract from his coat and showed it to the onlookers.

Everyone present more or less understood the meaning of this contract. Even those who were illiterate, Leonard's signature and handprint in the lower right corner were genuine.

If this were New York or Philadelphia, everyone would take a few steps back and maintain some respect for the contract.

However, this is the martial-arts Lincoln County, New Mexico's Lincoln County, a place that has not experienced peace in the past ten years.

"This contract is fake! Don't believe it! These high-quality assets have been misappropriated by them!" said the timber businessman holding a cane.

"Yes! Let them spit it out! These bastards!"

These creditors are not willing to give in. They prefer to believe that there is no good person in Lincoln County from top to bottom in the judicial system.

The excited timber merchant rushed to Chen Jianqiu and pointed his cane at him:
"Don't think you can hide it from me. Fred and Leonard have done all these despicable tricks of yours before!"

He spoke so much that spittle flew out of his mouth, his face and neck turned red, and he tried to strike out with his cane.

However, he suddenly shut up and was replaced by a scream of "Ouch~".

The lumber merchant suddenly felt a sharp pain in the wrist of the hand holding the cane. The cane fell instantly and rolled several times on the ground.

Then, he felt his knees sore again, his calves softened, and he knelt down with a plop.

When he raised his head again, a revolver was pressed against his forehead.

Chen Jianqiu used one hand to twist the merchant's wrist, then kicked him to his knees. At this time, he had returned to the original place with his hands behind his back.

"Do you want to make him quieter?" The revolver in Abiot's hand pushed forward a little more.

The timber merchant's eyes were extremely frightened and his mouth opened wide.

Chen Jianqiu picked up his cane from the ground, and with a little force with his hands, the cane broke into two pieces.

He walked to the businessman's side and put the two severed canes into his clothes.

"I hope you can understand what respect means." Chen Jianqiu looked at the businessman who dared not move and said, "Scott is right, Lincoln County needs order, and New Mexico also needs order."

He stood up and looked at the people around him:

"Now, can everyone chat normally?"

The scene was completely silent. Although everyone was used to the constant firefights around Lincoln County, for the first time, they felt a sense of oppression and suffocation in such a real way.

"Please continue, where did you just say?" Chen Jianqiu turned to the mustache on the stage and asked with interest.

"Well, I mean, this auction is a no-reserve auction." The man with the mustache wiped the sweat off his forehead. What kind of job was this that the judge gave him? If it weren't for the salary, he would have been unwilling to do this crap.

"I'll pay you one dollar." Chen Jianqiu gestured with his index finger.

The exchange was quieter.

Everyone, including Mustache, was stunned.

Everyone's minds are a little confused.

What does this Chinese person mean?
"I am willing to pay one dollar to participate in this auction and acquire Leonard's remaining assets, including the newly acquired land, bonds, and IOUs, and assume all of his liabilities."

Chen Jianqiu emphasized every word, and his voice could be heard both inside and outside the exchange.

Everyone began to whisper. They did not dare to speak loudly for fear of angering the young man in front of them who could not tell his mood.

"If the transaction can be successful, the debtors present can come to us to deal with their debt problems after the trade fair." Chen Jianqiu waved behind him, "We have brought enough cash."

Li Sifu and others who were carrying suitcases opened the suitcases, revealing stacks of US dollar bills that were dazzlingly green.

Everyone was shocked. They stared blankly at the US dollar bills, not knowing what to say for a moment.

"Is it okay for me to say this, sir?" Chen Jianqiu said to the mustache man on the stage.

The sweat on the mustache head was pouring even more heavily. Although it was winter, he felt it was hotter than summer.

"Yes, of course, sir!"

"Then please continue." A smile appeared on Chen Jianqiu's face.

The mustache man quickly continued to perform his duties. He picked up the small wooden hammer:

"Is anyone else raising the price?"

“One dollar a time!”

“Two times for a dollar!”

“Three times for a dollar!”

"Congratulations to this... um, what's your name?"

"My surname is Chen."

"Oh, congratulations to Mr. Chen for winning the ownership of Leonard's remaining assets and debts with one dollar."

The man with a mustache handed a document to Chen Jianqiu, who didn't even look at it and directly handed it to Dylan.

The lawyer glanced over it and nodded at Chen Jianqiu.

Only then did Chen Jianqiu sign his name on it.

After the man with the mustache left, Chen Jianqiu's people took over the front desk. They set up a few tables there and placed the boxes of money aside.

Chen Jianqiu fulfilled his promise and handled Leonard's debt problem for the creditors on the spot.

Lawyer Dylan walked back and forth between them, confirming the authenticity and amount of the loan.

At first, most people didn't dare to believe the truth of this matter. They all came with loan contracts or IOUs.

Almost no one expected to receive the money they were owed on the same day.

Settle the debts of so many people on the spot? Not to mention that this has never happened in Lincoln County, it is extremely rare in American history.

Finally, a fur trader came up.

Leonard had been owing him money for two years, and although the amount was not large and the interest was not high, he had no expectation of getting it back.

When he sat down, he looked doubtful, but ten minutes later, when he stood up with the US dollars in his hand.

Even he thought he was dreaming.

"Thank you, thank you Mr. Chen, you are such a noble person."

The crowd was in an uproar, and creditors rushed forward to go through the procedures for recovering their debts.

Leonard is a shrewd man with a background as a moneylender. Except for the few loans in Chen Jianqiu's hands, which had a slightly higher interest rate because of the urgent need for large amounts, the interest rates of the others were very low.

But the delay is really long.

Leonard died, and they originally thought that they couldn't even hope to get the principal, but now they can not only get the principal as they wished, but also the interest.

When these people left the exchange happily, they were full of praise for Chen Jianqiu:
"Mr. Chen is truly a trustworthy man. He keeps his word and deserves to be so rich."

"Mr. Chen is really very rich and trustworthy."

"From Mr. Chen's appearance, I can tell that he is a well-educated and ambitious person."

……

By the evening, Leonard's debts were basically cleared.

All creditors received their debts, including the timber merchant who was kicked to his knees by Chen Jianqiu.

After receiving the outstanding debt and interest, he kept apologizing to Chen Jianqiu, saying that he was short-sighted and judged others by his own standards. He hoped that Chen Jianqiu would be magnanimous and not hold it against him.

Then he left, holding his broken wrist and expressing his gratitude profusely.

At night, Chen Jianqiu was half lying on the big chair in Leonard's office on the second floor of the big villa.

On the table in front of him was a pile of IOUs and loan contracts.

Chen Jianqiu turned his neck and looked at the table:

"Now, let's see who owes us money."

Second update

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(End of this chapter)