I'm reborn and I'm an international student again?

A few days later, Hu Hao's account was still locked, and Chen Xi dialed that familiar number again.

The same staff member answered the phone as before, but this time he sounded much more awake.

Upon recognizing Chen Xi's voice, the other party's tone immediately hardened: "What, it's you again? I'll say it again, nothing can be done without complete information. Watch your words, we operate according to regulations, and speaking carelessly will result in legal consequences."

"I haven't broken the law, don't throw accusations around, let's stick to the facts. Last time you emphasized that remittances must be made in the name on the contract, but we're in the era of online payments now. By that logic, if I don't like someone, does that mean I can transfer money to their account and then report them, and their account will be blocked? If this becomes the norm, wouldn't things be chaotic?" Chen Xi slowly took a sip of tea, his tone laced with sarcasm.

"It's our responsibility to determine the appropriate course of action! If you continue to make trouble, we will take necessary measures!" The person on the other end of the phone was clearly angry and embarrassed.

"Oh? What measures? You're coming to see me? Sure, you don't need to reimburse my travel expenses, but I can reimburse your travel expenses to get here," Chen Xi replied unhurriedly.

The two exchanged a few words, but ultimately parted on bad terms, and the phone was hung up again.

"Is this really worth getting worked up about? I'll give them a call, it should be resolved quickly." Fan Hongyuan asked with a sullen face as he sat on the sofa.

“It’s not part of the same system, so its effectiveness is limited. Besides, there are so many farmers across the country; you can’t possibly manage them all,” Chen Xi shook his head.

"Then let's talk about subsidies."

"I suggest reporting this to higher authorities and suspending the subsidy payments. The situation isn't just in agriculture; it's even worse in other industries, and it's a complete waste of funds."

“That’s absolutely impossible.” Fan Hongyuan rolled his eyes.

Once a policy is introduced, it cannot be simply stopped. It's normal for problems to arise; the key is to find solutions.

"To increase farmers' income, we must start with grain purchase prices. Going deeper, we need to improve the overall consumption capacity and mindset of the nation. We need to increase income while also changing the habit of solely pursuing low prices. Once grain prices rise, farmers will naturally be more motivated to cultivate, rather than relying on subsidies to force them to. Look at the new energy vehicle companies these days—what are they producing…"

"Let's talk about financial loans. Huaxing has reported that recent investigations have revealed widespread loan fraud..."

"The same principle applies. If the loan process is convenient enough, who would bother to commit loan fraud? It's like using cheats in a game. If you design the game to be more reasonable and convenient, there will naturally be fewer people using cheats."

Fan Hongyuan is considered young among the leadership, and he can fully understand this example, since he plays games himself.

"Ah."

“Similarly, if banks could lower the loan threshold, those loan intermediaries would have no room to survive. The news always talks about how much money has been allocated to support small and micro enterprises, but once the money reaches the banks, nothing happens; it doesn't actually reach any real purpose. Otherwise, the higher-ups wouldn't have sent my father and the others to run a financial company…” Chen Xi then brought up Chen Yifeng’s recent situation.

Chen Yifeng is now considered an internet celebrity, and many people know about his experiences.

Seeing that Fan Hongyuan didn't respond, Chen Xi continued, "What I'm saying is difficult to achieve right now. Look online, how many people are shouting to overthrow capitalists, thinking that low income is all the boss's fault. But if businesses really disappeared, most people would lose their jobs. In the end, it's still a matter of internal power struggles within your organization..."

"You can't say things like that. I'll pretend I didn't hear it." Fan Hongyuan glanced nervously at the tightly closed door.

"In short, this mess is difficult to clean up." Chen Xi spread his hands.

“Problems always need to be solved. Now that we’ve taken on this project, let’s see it through. What do you think the future holds for this project?” Fan Hongyuan asked after a moment of contemplation.

“I knew before the project started that the funding requirements would be huge. Huaxing’s loans plus the profits of each company wouldn’t be enough to sustain it in the short term. I estimate that in the end, we’ll have to rely on the owners of major companies to fill this hole. No matter what industry they were originally in, they might all be pulled into agriculture in the end…” Chen Xi took a sip of tea.

In fact, Fan Hongyuan understood this principle from the beginning of the project. However, his term of office was limited and the project cycle was long. His idea was to make a breakthrough during his term and leave the rest to his successor, which is a common approach within the system.

"Sigh, let's keep going. I'll give my full support where it's due," Fan Hongyuan sighed.

"By the way, that leader who fined me last time, he must be calmed down by now, right?" Chen Xi put on a smiling face.

"Hehe, I got really scolded." Fan Hongyuan suddenly laughed.

Yesterday, he received a call from his superior urging him to resolve other issues as soon as possible, but the matter of subsidies was not mentioned at all. Fan Hongyuan was well aware of the situation with the Chinese company, so he didn't say anything. Since his superiors didn't bring it up, he was happy to play dumb.

"By the way, what do you think of the offline stores of the supply and marketing cooperatives that we mentioned before?" Fan Hongyuan suddenly changed the subject.

"I'm not optimistic. It might be worth a try in rural towns, but it will be extremely difficult to move into the city. Young people these days have never even heard of supply and marketing cooperatives; that's ancient history from the last century. All sorts of shops in the city are doing poorly, and rural specialties are even less competitive." Chen Xi shook his head.

In his previous life, he had also conducted pilot programs in physical stores, and the best-selling stores were actually the local service stations. He felt that this model was outdated.

"Didn't you say before that you wanted to raise the grain purchase price? At the last meeting, an expert proposed a plan to solve the purchase problem by setting up public canteens, which would both make money and protect farmers' income."

"The question is, how many people can it attract to spend money? You're talking about a cafeteria, which is basically just mass-produced food. These kinds of places are mostly contracted out, like school cafeterias. There are too many hidden tricks involved; I don't think it will work. Schools can force students to spend money, but who will buy into a community cafeteria?"

Chen Xi denied it again.

Huahetong had tried all of what Fan Hongyuan mentioned in his previous life, and the results were terrible.

Although it was a task assigned by his superiors that he had to do, the company claimed to be reforming the supply and marketing cooperatives when it was founded, but in reality, it was constrained at every turn, and the direction of the project was not something Chen Xi could control at all.

Fortunately, Fan Hongyuan was quite open-minded. He stood up and said, "I know the work is difficult to move forward. There are some things you want to do but are blocked, and you can't leave the tasks assigned by your superiors unfinished. Keep going."

He patted Chen Xi on the shoulder and turned to leave.

After seeing Fan Hongyuan off, Chen Xi opened the door and saw Wang Xianqi standing at the end of the corridor looking at his phone.

"Did you need something?" Chen Xi asked when the other party didn't respond.

Wang Xianqi nodded, his eyes still glued to the screen, and walked over while playing on his phone.

"What, you've come to borrow money from me?" Chen Xi asked bluntly as soon as the office door closed.

"Who asked you for money? My dad sent me here to discuss business." Wang Xianqi lit a cigarette as soon as he sat down.

"What kind of business? Foreign trade?" Chen Xi knew Wang Zhi's connections all too well.

"He wants to export Tesla electric vehicles, so he asked me to talk to you about it."

“No problem, I can help with the coordination. But before that, you need to tell me about the recent problems Huahetong has been having.” Chen Xi readily agreed, then changed the subject.

"What's the problem?" Wang Xianqi's heart tightened. "It's what I mentioned in the last meeting. Someone said that Huahetong taught farmers to fraudulently obtain subsidies. You're in charge of personnel, and I asked you to give me the list, but everyone on it has resigned. How do you explain that?"

"People quit because the pay is bad! There are so many profitable projects, but you insist on doing things that don't make money. Who would want to work for someone who pays so little?" Wang Xianqi shifted all the blame to Chen Xi.

"The money-making projects you mentioned, are you referring to the student loans that Mr. Duan mentioned before?"

"Otherwise what? Even though you predicted that student loans would be banned, we could still make money if we had started earlier. And what about new energy vehicles? Why not partner with those car companies, get subsidies, and make money by trading stocks at the same time? Huahetong's projects require money everywhere, but you insist on acting high and mighty. The company's revenue won't increase, and shareholders and employees won't see any hope. Who would want to work with you then?" Wang Xianqi poured out all the resentment he had been holding in.

This wasn't just his opinion; Duan Yixiong and his group shared the same view.

If you can make money, aren't you out of your mind?
"You think I don't know lending can be profitable? But do you know why I don't do it? Because I don't want my company to become someone else's power bank! Legitimate licensed institutions have to pay value-added tax, corporate income tax, and surcharges on their lending income, which usually only accounts for 10% to 30% of the company's total revenue. Look at how many internet companies are getting into online lending now, but what you don't see is that once they start, they can't stop. Others won't let you stop, otherwise where will the tax revenue come from? Take Huahetong for example, why can't the purchase price of agricultural products go up? One reason is that consumers don't have money! If we don't cut this power bank cable, the overall consumption level simply won't rise."

He paused, staring intently at Wang Xianqi: "Now let's get back to the company. I found out that after leaving, those people on the list all joined several companies in agriculture, technology, and internet. These companies have very cleverly designed structures, specifically designed to circumvent legal risks. There are companies in China that specialize in designing such structures. I've inquired, and it seems that these companies are all related to Duan Yixiong."

"What do you mean? Are you saying that I conspired with President Duan to do something shady?" Wang Xianqi's face turned ugly.

"Isn't that right?" Chen Xi shrugged.

He knows Wang Xianqi too well.

This guy loved to play tricks back in school. While Chen Xi solved problems with his fists, he relied on his words to deceive people everywhere.

"Say what you will, do you want to fire me?" Wang Xianqi stubbornly denied it.

“I do have this plan. Your father can do business with Tesla, but you must leave the company. What I need are people who work together wholeheartedly, not people who engage in infighting behind closed doors,” Chen Xi said bluntly.

"So, this is how you treat your brothers? I saw through you last time you asked me for money! It's not like you're short of money, what's a few hundred thousand or a million to you? I just don't understand why you won't help!" Wang Xianqi suddenly stood up and pointed at Chen Xi, cursing loudly.

"If I lend you money, will you really return the net bag? Or will you just throw it into the game?" Chen Xi said calmly.

In his previous life, Wang Xianqi became addicted to online games and changed completely. He first cheated people around him out of their money, and eventually even sold his house.

Unable to make a living in other places, they came back to deceive their relatives and friends into becoming high-risk legal entities or professional debtors.

"How do you know I won't pay it back? If you don't want to lend it, then don't lend it. Stop making sarcastic remarks! I shouldn't have come today. We're not brothers anymore!" Wang Xianqi angrily threw the half-smoked cigarette on the ground, stomped on it twice, and slammed the door as he left.

"Ugh."

Chen Xi sighed as he watched his former friend leave in anger.

He had helped Wang Xianqi in his previous life, but Wang Xianqi only sank deeper and deeper into the mire.

At that moment, Duan Yixiong was sitting in his office reading documents when the door was suddenly pushed open with a "bang".

Wang Xianqi barged in, pulled down the blinds, and sat down opposite him without saying a word.

"Oh, who are you so angry with?" Duan Yixiong smiled and picked up the tea set, pouring him a cup of tea.

Wang Xianqi stared at the steaming cup of tea, showing absolutely no desire to drink it. He raised his eyelids slightly: "Where have you been hiding these past few days?"

"Avoid you? Why would I avoid you? I've been very busy these past few days, dealing with the corn task assigned by General Manager Chen."

"Stop pretending to be confused! I've taken care of it for you; the little money you got last time wasn't enough." Wang Xianqi tapped the table with his fingers.

"Doing something? What do you do?"

"Still pretending? I'm about to be kicked out of the company! Believe me or not, I'll kill you too!"

"I really don't know what you're talking about." Duan Yixiong blinked innocently.

"Okay, don't regret it."

"Personnel changes within the company are not my responsibility. Where those people go and what they do after leaving is their business..." Duan Yixiong chuckled.

Wang Xianqi then realized what was happening.

As Chen Xi just mentioned, those companies have meticulously designed structures to evade legal responsibility. It was all a scheme orchestrated by Duan Yixiong. Even if he exposes the truth, that old fox can easily wash his hands of it, since he's not the legal representative.

In this day and age, if you spend some money to find a scapegoat, there are plenty of people eager to do it.

"Fine, I admit defeat."

Wang Xianqi stood up, picked up the teacup and slowly poured out the tea, then slammed the cup upside down on the table.

"Sigh, young people are just young people. I bet you went and had a falling out with Boss Chen, didn't you? Businessmen are the most pragmatic. What does your little bit of classmate friendship mean in the face of profit? Who keeps in touch with classmates after graduation? He's just using your father to pull strings. To be honest, you have neither money nor power, why would Boss Chen partner with you? Now that the supply and marketing cooperative relationship is stable, you're useless. You might as well come with me and make big money together." Duan Yixiong clicked his tongue.

"You son of a bitch! You ripped me off once, and now you want to rip me off a second time?" Wang Xianqi raised his middle finger and slammed the door shut without looking back.

After everyone left, Duan Yixiong leisurely poured himself another cup of tea, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

These young people nowadays are still so impatient. They just casually pushed one away and that was it.

After this saga, Wang Zhi must be feeling incredibly embarrassed. It probably won't be long before he leaves on his own.

Once we get rid of Feng Yun, we'll join forces with the people from Huaxing...

Isn't this company under my control?
He took a sip, and amidst the fragrant aroma of the tea, a hint of smugness flashed in his eyes.

Duan Yixiong used to be a leader in a Chinese company, what kind of situation hasn't he seen?

The power struggles and factional infighting there are far more intense and complex than the situation in this private enterprise.

He rose through the ranks step by step to a high position, and now, looking back at the current turmoil, it all seems like child's play. (End of Chapter)