Shadow Empire

Chapter 128 How to deal with this batch of goods and movies
Watching his men start to unload the goods, Polly's face was filled with smiles. He walked to a box of wine, opened the box and took out a bottle.

"Brandy?" He glanced at Jimmy, who was directing his men to unload the goods, and Jimmy nodded.

"It's all brandy and wine. There's some whiskey, but not much."

Polly frowned slightly. Brandy and wine are more popular in the mid- to high-end consumer market, but the bars under his management do not have such a higher-end consumer group.

In other words, the people who ate at his bar were all fucking poor people who could afford to drink cheap whiskey for 25 cents a glass instead of brandy and wine which cost more.

Especially with these wines, who drinks this at a bar?
Maybe, but at least no one in Polly's own bar drank this. He was originally very happy, but suddenly seeing these things made him feel less happy.

What he didn't know was that Heller got these things for the mid- to high-end market. Right now, the low-end smuggled liquor market in Jingang City is actually in a semi-saturated state, and the price is stable.

On the contrary, the potential of the mid-to-high-end liquor market, which no one had paid attention to before, began to increase. There are many wealthy people in Jingang City, and they are unlikely to drink cheap, low-end liquor like those lackeys. What they need is mid-to-high-end liquor.

Whether they drink it themselves or use it to entertain guests, they need at least five dollars a bottle.

Judging from the current prices in the liquor market, liquor that used to cost more than five yuan, such as Gold Label La Boheme whisky, has now risen to more than twelve yuan.

But those truly wealthy people are unlikely to use silver labels to entertain guests. Rich people sometimes care more about face than poor people, so gold labels and the like become their only choice.

Some wealthy people may use more than ten bottles or even twenty or thirty bottles of wine at parties in one day. These bottles of wine can not only make them a lot of money, but also provide them with the opportunity to gain some connections in the upper class.

Others can't get high-end wine, but if you can, people will be willing to make friends with you.

Heller is like Mr. Jobaf. Although one of them is a gang leader and the other is an immigrant banker, they both have a heart to become upper-class people!
Polly could understand the idea of ​​trying hard to get into the upper class, but he would not do it.

He is at the bottom of society, and his life at the bottom over the years has made him understand a truth: some things are destined from the moment you are born.

If it is, it is; if it is not, it is not. It cannot be changed easily.

Even though he bought a villa in the Bay Area, he rarely lived there because he could see contempt and ridicule in the eyes of his neighbors.

Even though he lived in an upscale community, in the eyes of those people, he was no different from a dock worker.

No one really sees him as a character.

"Let's try the deal in our bar first and let them negotiate a price." Polly opened the wine in his hand and had a glass brought to him.

It had to be said that it did taste much better than the cheap whiskeys he had tasted before, but that was probably due to the weighting of material value.

He patted Jimmy's arm and motioned for him to follow him.

The two men left the warehouse. The sea breeze was actually a bit cold. He handed the bottle to Jimmy, and Jimmy tilted his head toward the bottle and took a big sip.

Under the light outside the warehouse, his face began to turn red, but he soon exhaled a breath of hot air and his complexion slowly returned to normal.

Under Polly's influence, almost all of the brothers don't like to add ice cubes when drinking spirits.

Young people, especially outspoken ones, always want to be different, but in this boring society, the cost of being different is very high.

He could only seek difference in some places where he didn't have to pay a huge price. Drinking strong liquor without ice was one of his options.

He considered taking a swig of liquor without ice as a "game for the brave", which led to the fact that almost everyone in the gang was like him.

A glass of strong liquor is drunk in one or two sips without ice, which has gradually formed a gang culture.

Jimmy held the bottle in his hand because Polly didn't ask him for it.

"When you were away just now, Pete called me."

Pete is a well-known broker in the upper class society of Jingang City. He is involved in almost all fields and has connections in all of them.

This is thanks to his family, which once produced a governor and a state senate speaker (equivalent to a lieutenant governor). Even now, there are family members in the state senate and state house of representatives.

He is a veteran local Socialist Party activist.

These all-round brokers are almost everywhere in the federation, from cities to states, to Congress and the federal government. They are spread throughout the federal and federal political system.

Because they themselves are not politicians, they are not bound by certain rules.

At the same time, they have enough influence in politics, economy, business, and even the underworld, so many people will need them.

There are always some people who don't want to get their hands dirty but want to do the dirty work, and they become the choice of these decent people who don't want to get their hands dirty.

Jimmy had heard of the name, but didn't know Pete. His level was not high enough for him to know such a person, so he could only nod, which was equivalent to "I understand" or something like that.

"Jobbafu used some connections, and Pete accepted his commission, so this matter is over for us."

Jimmy finally realized what was happening and became a little angry. "So I got shot for nothing?"

Polly turned and looked at him, "Your injury will not be in vain. He promised to take out 20,000 yuan to solve this matter."

"I promise that they will hand over the 20,000 yuan to you without a penny less." Another meaning of this sentence is that Polly and the gang will not take any part of it, but will give it all to him.

Jimmy had actually agreed in his heart. When he heard that Jobaf had defected to the mayor, he knew that it would be difficult to avenge himself.

Even Polly wouldn't dare to take action against the mayor's lackeys.

It’s not that they can’t do it, it’s that they dare not. If they do it, they will have no place to stand in Jingang City.

The mayor already had a very high reputation within the Socialist Party and was planning to run for governor. He had just recruited a lackey, so you went over and killed the lackey.

No one can tell whether you are killing the lackey or slapping the mayor in the face.

Such people only need one word to be wiped out.

They have a dirty record to begin with, so law enforcement agencies don't even need to collect evidence if they want to cause trouble for them; they can just take action directly.

Although he was willing in his heart, he couldn't immediately stick out his tongue and smile to express his agreement, which would greatly reduce his status in Polly and even in the gang.

Seeing Jimmy lowering his head and not speaking, Polly put his hand on his shoulder, "I know you are very dissatisfied with him, but I am also under a lot of pressure here!"

"Well, I'll give you a choice."

"I'll ask him to pay an extra 10,000 yuan, or you can go and take revenge on his assistant's nephew."

"Pete told me that all the arrangements were made by that young man. He chose the men, he provided the weapons, he arranged the assassination."

This is another difficult question. If he wasn't in the Brotherhood, Jimmy would definitely choose to ask for an extra 10,000 yuan. But here, in front of Polly, he can only choose the option that is more in line with their gang's temperament. "I choose the latter."

Polly smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "I knew you could understand me!" He then motioned for Jimmy to give him the bottle.

He took it and took a sip, his face flushed, "I'm sorry for wronging you in this matter."

"It's okay, it's all for the gang.", Jimmy said nicely.

That night, Polly arranged for someone to deliver a batch of brandy to the bar for sale. Because the price of this batch of wine was very high, they had tried to lower the price as much as possible, and each two-ounce glass of brandy only cost ninety-nine cents.

In terms of the total selling price, one bottle can be sold for twelve yuan. If this price is placed in the terminal sales market of the whole bottle, it can only be regarded as the current market price product.

However, in the sale of loose liquor in bars, its profit margin is much lower than that of other products, and it can even be said to be a thin profit.

But even so, the sales in one night were pitifully small. This was the case for several bars. The three bars currently run by the Brothers Gang did not sell a single drink.

The two bars they supplied only sold one cup, and it was said that seven or eight people drank one cup.

Compared to a glass of brandy at 99 cents, those poor guys working at the docks who don't even have a few coins in their pockets prefer a large glass of beer and an ounce of whiskey at 25 cents!
This also made Polly realize that this batch of wine would be difficult for him to digest, at least. He had to think of other ways and send it to the Bay Area.

But he doesn't have any way to the Bay Area now, but he will find a way, and Pete's broker is one of the ways.

The next morning, Heller called Polly. "Hey, big Polly, are you satisfied with this batch of goods?" Heller thought he would hear Polly's praise, but what greeted him was a complaint.

"Heller, if you told me that all your so-called goods were fucking brandy and wine, I wouldn't even touch them!"

"Only one glass was sold out of five bars last night. There is no market for this kind of mid- to high-end liquor at the dock!"

Heller, sitting in the office, showed a smile on his face, but he certainly wouldn't say that this was the effect he wanted.

The gangs he found to help him take over were all low-level gangs. If he really wanted to get rid of this batch of wine, why didn't he go directly to the five major families?

The five major families are trustworthy and have no shortage of money. They can definitely give him enough money. Why would he still look for lower-level gangs?
Apart from being a little afraid that the five major families would swallow up his goods, he mostly wanted to get the goods back.

"I didn't know you couldn't digest all this wine, how about this, you return the wine to me." He said what was in his heart, "Since you helped me receive the goods, I'll give you 5,000 yuan."

There was silence in the receiver for a while. Just when he was about to add another two or three thousand yuan, Polly's voice came out, "Two hundred thousand, I'll give it to you at cost price."

Heller put the receiver in front of his eyes and looked at it. It was like... he wondered if he was hallucinating.

He hasn’t even received the hundred thousand dollars for this batch of damn goods, and now Polly is asking him for two hundred thousand dollars. Is Polly crazy or is he crazy?

He put the receiver to his ear again, "Are you fucking crazy?"

"I only asked you for 100,000 for this batch of goods. Now that you can't sell them, I'll help you solve this problem. You want me to pay you 200,000?"

Polly's voice was filled with ruthlessness, "This batch of wine can be sold for 350,000. Don't f*cking tell me you don't know!"

"And, Heller, watch your words. I'm not from the Empire. If you use your words on me, I'll come looking for you at night with my men and my guns!"

Just one sentence silenced Heller.

"You can do whatever you want, Polly. Since you refuse my offer, I won't interfere in this matter any more."

"Also, give me the money. We agreed on it before." He was very angry, but finally gave up. After all, he believed that Polly might really come with a group of people to kill him at night.

The disdainful laughter coming from the receiver made his blood pressure rise again, and his eyes became a little red.

Since becoming a gang leader, I have never suffered such humiliation.
"I'll give you the money when I sell this batch of wine, or you can come to my office and get it now."

"I don't want to talk to you any more. If you don't come before noon, just wait until I finish selling."

The busy tone made Heller slam the receiver onto the phone base.

Little son of a bitch, he cursed and lit a cigarette.

But he didn't have the courage to go to Polly's office in person to ask that madman for the 100,000 yuan, especially after they had a conflict on the phone.

After a while, he let out a long breath and said, "Forget it, let's wait until he finishes selling."

In just two days, it was all bad news.

Because of this, he became more and more disgusted with Will, who had become a dead ghost, his damn brother, and the Lance family who caused all this to happen.

He came to the window with a cigarette. There were two police cars parked downstairs at the door of the nightclub, so that yesterday's business became much worse.

The police are watching them very closely now. When they stop watching after a while, he will make that Lance family pay the price!
At this time, Lance, whom he was thinking about, had arrived at Lezhu Company and was sitting in Alberto's office.

"...these cars have been cleaned up, and no one can link them to you."

"There must be a lot of police watching you during this period. I can't take you to see Mr. Pasretto. I'll take you there later when the police aren't watching you so closely."

He shook his head slightly as he spoke, "Lance, you are quite famous in Golden Harbor City. Many people have heard that you killed Will from Camilla's gang."

"I've heard some talk about the 'Lance Family' from more than one person. You've gained this attention faster than I did when I first came to the Federation."

Lance looked relaxed.

Johnny's family might... know some people in the gang, and they were scared when they heard the name "Lance Family".

They went with Hiram to persuade Johnny to let go of his hatred, and Johnny did choose to give up.

He was just a dock worker, relying on his strong body and a few friends around him to do some bullying in the workplace.

He is not a gang member and has no desire to be a gang member, so when he actually met the "family", he chose to compromise at the first opportunity.

He took the initiative to explain to the Hong Kong District Police Station that this was just a misunderstanding, and hoped that all charges against Baker (the person who took the blame) could be dropped and that they could reach a settlement privately.

The Hong Kong District Police Station actually wants to see this situation. On the one hand, it will reduce the workload of the police station. After all, if a lawsuit is required, they will need to use some police resources to investigate some things.

Don't think that there is no cost for the police who are paid to go to work every day and conduct investigations. In fact, there are still costs.

If a part of it can be reduced, the branch management will definitely not disagree.

On the other hand, the money that Lance gave to Officer Phelan and his partner also played a role.

Now he is not afraid of investigation at all. Even if he is watched by a bunch of policemen, Lance has nothing to be afraid of.

Getting attention isn’t necessarily a good thing, but it’s not a bad thing either.

After all, reputation is often a kind of amulet to protect oneself.

"Alberto, are you familiar with the film industry?" Lance changed the subject.

Alberto was stunned for a moment while holding the cigar, "Are you attracted to any female celebrity?"

"If you are too famous, it won't work. You may not know that some of the top actresses have even been in and out of the presidential palace."

“But for those who are relatively less famous, there is no problem at all.”

At this time, the federal film industry had not yet been recognized by mainstream society, and although the film industry was booming, it was still in its early stages of development.

Compared with those operas with grand stage effects, it is obviously one or even several levels lower.

Currently, there are only a few big stars in the Federation who can be recognized by mainstream society. What they are recognized for is not their identity as actors, but their identity as capitalists!

Therefore, the upper class does not pay much attention to the film industry, but the film industry has become one of the important forms of entertainment for the middle and lower classes. For five cents a movie, they can enjoy about an hour of happy time.

Nowadays, many movies are based on funny and comic styles, which can indeed make people happy to a great extent. It is ranked alongside the circus as the most popular entertainment activity among the lower classes!

So during this period, even the most popular movie stars, as long as they were not capitalists and did not have a prominent identity or background.

In essence, it is just a plaything of the upper class, and this situation will continue for a hundred years, or even longer.

Lance shook his head. "I'm not too interested in this. I have a brother who has an excellent foundation. I think he can become a big star."

Alberto became curious, "Why don't you let him sing opera?"

“Opera singers are more respected.”

"opera?"

"Without decades of time and some luck, he would not have made it. On the contrary, I think the film industry will become the fastest growing industry in the next ten years..."

“Besides, this industry can help me.”

"Or us."

(End of this chapter)