The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 134 Still Poor

The next day at noon, Chen Zhengwei spent more than an hour counting his assets and properties.

"Chinatown is really full of poor people!" Chen Zhengwei sighed.

He now has 120,000 yuan in cash and about 100,000 yuan worth of real estate.

It seems like a lot, and it is an astronomical figure for ordinary Chinese workers, but it is nothing after leaving Chinatown.

Outside of Chinatown, the four-story brick building with an area of more than 800 square meters located in the center of Connee Street and Broadway costs more than $.

He also needs to bribe the judges of the court, the director of the investigation bureau, the ordinary copper buttons, and some other people, all of which require spending a lot of money.

Then Chen Zhengwei calculated his current income.

Originally he only had one cigarette factory, with a monthly income of about one thousand yuan. Now he has two cigarette factories, and after raising the ex-factory price, his monthly income is two thousand five hundred yuan.

He could earn 5,200 dollars a month from casinos, brothels, and opium dens… It was originally 7,600 dollars, but recently most of the opium dens in Chinatown have disappeared, and his income has dropped a lot.

After deducting the money given to Michael, there was only 2,800 dollars left each month.

As for the fees from other stores, the total amount I received was more than two thousand yuan.

The Mexican gang pays him one thousand dollars every month.

In addition, he could get 22,000 yuan every month from the casinos and brothels under his name and in which he had shares, which included the money that Aaron and Yan Qingyou handed over every month.

In addition, there are two grocery stores, with a combined monthly income of five to six hundred yuan.

From these traditional industries, his monthly income is only about 32,000 yuan.

However, he now has more than 300 men under him, and he pays them 7,000 to 8,000 yuan every month, and the number of men is still increasing.

Any little action, such as a conflict with gangs outside Chinatown, would incur huge expenses, and the resettlement fee alone would be a huge sum.

His current source of income growth is the labor company. He expects it will take at least three months to register more than 30,000 Chinese workers, and he will take a commission from their wages every month.

The labor service company is just starting out now, and the estimated revenue for the first month is only five to six thousand yuan.

Chen Zhengwei pondered for a moment and felt that this speed of wealth accumulation was still too slow and was totally not enough.

Like he told Michael yesterday, he had to expand his territory to all of San Francisco.

By then, the income of the cigarette factory alone will not be less than that of the labor company.

Moreover, territory represents not only interests, but also power.

If he could control enough territory and manipulate the elections, he could even become the behind-the-scenes city boss of San Francisco.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Zhengwei asked someone to find Rong Jiacai.

"Brother Wei, are you looking for me?"

"Xiucai, find someone to inquire about the territories and situations of the gangs outside Chinatown. Try to arrange for the foreigners to inquire, especially those from Eastern Europe! You know Eastern Europe, right? Aren't there some Eastern European prostitutes in Chinatown? Catch the people behind them, beat them up first, and then give them some benefits!"

Chen Zhengwei said as he thought.

This aspect is more troublesome because all my subordinates are Chinese.

Chinese people are too conspicuous when they go out, so it is difficult to get information from them.

Gangs of this era were mostly divided by ethnicity, and there were not many Eastern European immigrants in San Francisco, even fewer than Mexicans, and their lives were difficult.

Relatively easy to control.

Of course, no matter how difficult life is, it is much better than that of the Chinese. Even the situation of black people is better than that of the Chinese.

"Brother Wei, what do you want?" When Rong Jiacai heard the order, he immediately realized some of Chen Zhengwei's thoughts and was a little surprised.

"What future do we have in this Chinatown? We will have to leave sooner or later! Let's go and find out the situation first!" said Chen Zhengwei.

"Let me think of a way!" Rong Jiacai nodded and left with a thoughtful look on his face.

After Rong Jiacai left, Chen Zhengwei took the coat from Wanyun, went out and asked Li Xiwen to call a few people to go to the cigarette factory with him.

"Master Wei, you are here!" The person in charge of the cigarette factory came out to greet Chen Zhengwei when he learned that he was here, with a respectful look on his face. "Take a look around first!" Chen Zhengwei first went to the factory to take a look, and saw that there were many more female workers inside.

"Originally there were thirty-four female workers, and recently we recruited seventeen more, making a total of fifty-one. Two of them are the type you want, Master Wei, with smooth faces. They don't roll many cigarettes every day, but their wages are much higher than others!" said the person in charge of the cigarette factory.

"Oh? Let me see!" Chen Zhengwei immediately became interested.

Then I saw two female workers in the corner. Unlike the other Southeast Asian and Mexican female workers, these two were white girls and not very old, only looking about sixteen or seventeen years old.

There are some freckles on her face, but overall she looks good.

When the two men saw a group of people coming, they subconsciously put down the work in their hands.

"How much do you pay them per month?" Chen Zhengwei asked.

"The other female workers get 12 yuan, and they two get 22 yuan!" said the person in charge. Because of these two women, some of Chen Zhengwei's men would run to the gate of the cigarette factory and stare at them when they got off work.

"Arrange a separate room for them!" Chen Zhengwei thought for a moment and said, "Have someone take photos of them, and then make extra copies. Then order some high-end cigarette boxes and put their photos in the boxes... only put one photo in each box."

"Give this kind of cigarette a new name, called... Cardamom! Tell the outside world that each cigarette is rolled on the thighs of these beautiful girls who are full of youth and vitality, and carries their body fragrance!"

"Each of them is carefully selected. Not only do they have a sweet appearance, but they also have the fragrance of a young girl... Each person can only roll 10 packs of cigarettes a day. The factory price is three dollars, and the store sells them for three dollars and fifty cents!"

"We have to say this to the public, but no one knows how much we sell every day except us!"

"Uncle Wei, isn't the price too high? Not many people can afford it, right?" The person in charge was a little worried.

"These cigarettes are not meant for ordinary people to smoke. People who can afford them don't care if they are two or three yuan. They just want something that others can't afford!"

Chen Zhengwei felt that the person in charge had no idea what a rich person meant, nor did he understand what business meant.

"We'll continue to recruit people, both ordinary female workers and pretty ones like this. We'll also sell our cigarettes in Mexican territory in the future, so there's no need to worry about not being able to sell them."

"These beautiful girls are called "cardamom girls". Every one of them has to take a photo after entering the factory and put the photo in a cigarette box."

"When the market opens up, we will classify them according to their body shape and appearance, into first-grade, second-grade, and third-grade cardamoms. The third-grade cardamom rolls are sold at 3.50 yuan a box, while the first-grade cardamom rolls are sold at least 10 yuan a box!"

"Remember, when you recruit people, tell them clearly that their photos will be put in cigarette boxes. You can give them a proper salary increase, and the prettier they are, the higher their salary will be!"

"I understand, Master Wei!" The person in charge quickly agreed. Although he didn't know whether Chen Zhengwei's idea would work, he would just do whatever Chen Zhengwei said.

"In addition, the name of the ordinary cigarettes was also changed. Fengxi, this name sounds difficult to sell! It's so rustic, how can we open up the market outside of Chinatown?

From now on, the ones produced by this factory will be called Black Jack, and the ones produced by the other factory will be called Phoenix. They are both English brands!"

"Uncle Wei, why do we need two brands?" the person in charge asked again. If he didn't ask, how would the boss perform?

"This gives consumers the right to choose!" Chen Zhengwei sneered.

"By the way, how is the quality of the tobacco?"

"The good tobaccos are all given to the foreigners' cigarette factories, and the ones we get are of medium and low quality! But the price is almost the same as those of the top quality ones!"

"Use the best tobacco to make cardamom. I will talk to the tobacco merchants later!" Chen Zhengwei said expressionlessly.

Before, his mind was all on those halls and he had no time to take care of the cigarette factory.

Now that I have some free time, it’s time to solve those little troubles!

……

The next day was Sunday. Chen Zhengwei got up early, took out 20,000 yuan from the safe and put it in a suitcase. Then he took Li Xiwen and a few of his men and went to Grace Cathedral in a carriage.

In the carriage, Chen Zhengwei put on the pair of gold-rimmed glasses again, making himself look gentle.

At first glance, he is a sincere and gentle person.

When we got outside the church, we saw a number of carriages parked at the street corner.

"You wait here, Xiwen, come with me!" After getting off the carriage, Chen Zhengwei put on his hat and walked towards the church.

Li Xiwen followed behind carrying a suitcase.

(End of this chapter)