Siheyuan: I am a trader in both worlds!

"What?! There's a labor shortage?! Such a good thing?! No, I mean, such a thing actually happens?!"

In later years, Xia Yiyi, upon suddenly hearing that there wasn't enough manpower in Beijing, spat out a mouthful of soda.

He sprayed Ximen Lang all over.

Under Ximen Lang's resentful gaze, she quickly picked up a tissue to wipe him clean and kept apologizing.

"Sorry, I really couldn't help it. I just couldn't hold it in and it came out. I really didn't mean to."

Xia Yiyi asked with great curiosity.

“I remember you told me that there were a lot of people over there! Not just a lot, but a great many! You said you were having a headache about the employment of so many people not long ago, and now you're having a labor shortage again?”

This is pure blatant lying, or even making sarcastic remarks.

Because no one knows the situation in the world of Beijing better than Xia Yiyi.

Even a month or two ago, Xia Yiyi's think tank had already concluded that if things continued to develop in this way, there would definitely not be enough labor in Beijing.

Because it's obvious that most of the labor force is tied to the land.

In this situation, no matter how large the population is, it won't make a difference!

Because the vast land area of ​​Beijing is a given!
With such a vast land area, any undertaking requires a large labor force.

As for the people in Beijing, they don't want to miss anything and want to do everything!

In this situation, it would be truly strange if Beijing didn't lack labor!
But there's absolutely no way I could tell Ximen Langming about something like that!
Furthermore, future generations are currently suffering from a labor surplus.
With such a horizontal comparison, it's not surprising that Xia Yiyi would speak so casually and detachedly.

She even began to secretly hope that the more labor shortage there was in Beijing, the better.

Because in this way, they can take advantage of the situation.

Not to mention being able to control more industries and key positions in Beijing, thus forging a closer connection between future generations and the world of Beijing, and securing more favorable conditions for future generations.

At the very least, it will bring real and substantial employment opportunities to future generations, which is certainly indispensable.

Especially in agriculture, as mentioned in the previous chapter, it made people in later generations, led by Xia Yiyi, drool with envy!
So much high-quality land, especially in the Northeast, where the fertile black soil is so rich you could practically squeeze oil out of it!
If this were contracted to a future generation with far superior agriculture, how much more grain could be produced in a year?

There are also several traditional vegetable producing areas, including Central South China, East China, Southwest China, North China, and Northwest China. If these places that are rich in vegetables were given to future generations, Xia Yiyi is confident that she could drive down the already cheap vegetable prices by half!
Even if future generations have to pay a high rent to Beijing, they can still make a profit, and a huge one at that.

And then there are the major fruit-producing areas, which are absolutely not to be mentioned!

Xia Yiyi and other people from later generations dreamed of renting these places for a hundred or two hundred years, or even several hundred years!
As long as the authorities in Beijing are willing, she would love to keep renting it indefinitely!

But this is obviously
It's not that it's completely unrealistic, but it's certainly not very hopeful.

Furthermore, with Simon Lang's gradual efforts and a steady stream of orders arriving from Beijing, the situation has become even more challenging.

Driven by both, later generations also witnessed a great development in industry, and factories gained a large number of employment opportunities.

It is foreseeable that this employment opportunity will increase significantly in the future.

Moreover, the more time goes on, the more job opportunities there will be.

So much so that even in later generations, labor shortages began to occur!

If we look at it that way, then sending a large number of laborers to Beijing would be unnecessary.

Not only is it unnecessary, but in the long run, it will not bring any benefit to future generations.

As a result, the later generations, led by Xia Yiyi, naturally didn't care much about sending a large number of laborers to Beijing to alleviate employment pressure.

Of course, they would be very interested if Bai Ling and the people of Beijing were willing to lease the land to future generations.

However, as mentioned earlier, this is not very realistic.

So, this thing is just so-so.

With no desires, one becomes invincible; in any case, she felt she didn't have any major weaknesses.

Until Ximen Lang arrived with such a long passage
"I've secured another huge order for us. Do you know what kind of equipment the refrigeration plant needs? Don't worry about the details, buy it all! I want as much as you have! If you don't have it in stock, have the factory produce it like crazy. As long as the goods are genuine, I have plenty of money!"

"And this refrigerated container truck, refrigerated ship, don't ask me how many you want, just tell me how many you have! And other refrigeration equipment that you will definitely need to build large cold storage facilities, just order dozens or hundreds of sets for me! I want to build the entire cold storage system at once, so that there will be a place to put the fish we catch."

Xia Yiyi was no longer calm.

The effect was immediate; Ximen Lang instantly pulled her back from her state of apathy.

Even though Xia Yiyi knew that Ximen Lang's claim of having plenty of money was nonsense, she was still instantly smitten, her gaze immediately burning with desire.

Because no matter what, these orders cannot be faked!
For the future generations of this manufacturing superpower, orders mean everything.

Once the machine is running, any previous problems will basically be solved.

Whether it's pressure related to employment or economic issues.

Then none of this will be a problem.

Now that everything was settled, Xia Yiyi could no longer maintain her previous aloof attitude and couldn't help but be tempted by the matter.

It would be even more impossible for them to maintain their composure.

Overwhelmed by greed, Xia Yiyi completely disregarded the fact that even the city government didn't have that much money and could only offer various minerals as payment. The difficulty in getting the money back was completely ignored by Xia Yiyi.

Without any restraint, she grabbed Ximen Lang's hand and readily agreed.

"Sure, sure! Just let me know if you need anything, and I'll definitely handle it! Like those refrigeration equipment, refrigerated container trucks, refrigerated ships, etc. that you just mentioned, I'll have them prepared for you right away. If it's not enough, I'll have them put into production immediately! In any case, I won't let your important matter be delayed!"

"As for when and how to pay, hey, what kind of relationship do we have? Talking about money would be vulgar! So let's stick to the old rule: if we don't have the money on hand, we'll put it in the account first. When we have more money and have accumulated enough minerals, we'll talk about it later."

Xia Yiyi said this entirely to save face for Ximen Lang.

After all, everyone knows the current situation in Beijing.

Even with Ximen Lang's help, they wouldn't be able to raise so much money and so many supplies in a short time.

Ximen Lang was also aware of this situation.

But who can blame them when Xia Yiyi is so good at flattering others?
Goodness, they've been fawning over Ximen Lang for quite a while now.

This made Ximen Lang feel like he was floating on air. He was so overjoyed...
Well, he could no longer tolerate any harsh sounds.

Therefore, upon hearing the instruction to put money on the books if one is short of cash, it felt like being stepped on, and one would immediately react defensively.

"Yi Yi, what nonsense are you spouting? Who am I? The mighty Brother Lang! A man with hundreds of millions in pocket money alone, how could I be poor! What you're saying is hilarious, hilarious, you know that?"

"Are you serious?"

"Isn't this absolutely necessary?!"

Good heavens, he practically wanted to stick his fingers up Xia Yiyi's nostrils.

Seeing Ximen Lang become so arrogant is simply incomprehensible!
She's so confused she can't even tell good from bad.

Since Ximen Lang had no shame, Xia Yiyi didn't give him any more face.

He took out his calculator and started calculating with Simon Lang in detail.

“Okay, let’s do the math! A large refrigerated container truck costs at least 40! Let’s say 10. We’d need at least 400 of those trucks to get started, right? That’s 40 billion.”

"This, so much?!"

"A lot? This is just the beginning. The real expense is yet to come. Besides the refrigerated container trucks, you'll also need to purchase a batch of refrigerated ships. These things are incredibly expensive! Especially for someone like you who doesn't seek the best, but only the most expensive. A decent refrigerated ship will easily cost over a hundred million. One or two wouldn't meet your standards, so several billion isn't too much, is it?"

"Yiyi, actually my standards aren't as high as you think."

"Then there's the cold storage plant. Considering you're purchasing dozens, even hundreds, of sets, all of which are equipment only used in large-scale cold storage plants, I'll give you a 20% discount. Each set will cost tens of millions; you can do the math yourself. And then there's this and this..."

Xia Yiyi kept talking nonstop.

That money was like ghost money; before you knew it, it was going to be hundreds of billions.

Even so, she hadn't finished calculating yet!

If she were to continue calculating, it's entirely possible that the figure could easily break one trillion!

Moreover, this thing is extremely difficult to handle, often requiring investments of hundreds of billions or even trillions. Even if you tied Ma, Jack Ma, and Wang Jianlin together, they might not be able to manage it.

Ximen Lang finally stopped being arrogant.

They've become more obedient now.

With a shameless grin, he started trying to get close to Xia Yi.

"Yi-yi, I apologize for my bad attitude."

"What are you doing? What are you doing? You, a wealthy man and a dignified man, are apologizing to a mere woman like me? Isn't this shortening my lifespan? How can I accept this?"

"I can accept it, I can accept it. I was ungrateful and arrogant. You are a magnanimous person, please don't hold it against me."

Goodness, he was so arrogant just now, and now he's so humble.

Xia Yiyi couldn't even argue with him.

It's not worth arguing with him.

So, after Ximen Lang's repeated attempts to please her, Xia Yiyi, unable to resist any longer, could only nod in agreement.

"Alright, alright, I won't argue with you. We'll stick to the usual payment terms. Is that acceptable?"

Then, Ximen Lang started to feel embarrassed again.

"Look, it's like this. We delivered that batch of weapons and equipment, and Ling'er and the others were very satisfied and grateful. Before they came, they repeatedly told me not to forget to convey their gratitude to you. They even said that if it really didn't work, I would kowtow to you first, and they would return the favor later."

Xia Yi couldn't help but laugh when she heard this; she never expected that this thing could be calculated in this way.

Then, changing the subject, Ximen Lang continued.

"But weapons alone are clearly not enough. A warship must be equipped with a sufficient number of various missiles to unleash its full potential! Otherwise, it's just a pile of scrap metal!"

“If they’re all just scrap metal, that won’t do. But what if we let them build it themselves? They have neither the technology nor the skills. Even if we gave them the whole technology for free, they’d still need several years to research it.”

"Wait until production starts? By then it'll be too late! How can that be allowed? How can this be permitted? It doesn't align with our original intentions, and it's not befitting your status. Don't you agree?"

It really is.

Even for ordinary objects, such as tanks, as long as the equipment is complete and the technology is comprehensive, the people in Beijing can build something nearly identical by simply copying the design and using the technology provided in later generations.

It's not that great, but at the very least, it works, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

But missiles are different; they're very sophisticated.

Even a small mistake can lead to big problems!
At least for now, this is definitely not something that the people in Beijing can handle.

"So, I gave them some advice. Instead of messing around with things for years without any results, why not just buy it from us? It's better to spend a little money than to have it all turn into scrap metal sitting there empty. What do you think?"

Xia Yiyi was more than willing to do so.

The reason why the Later Generations were so generous this time, giving away all these warships to the Beijing authorities without asking for a single penny, was precisely because of this plan.

Even the artillery shells and missiles they sent were meant to let them see the power of these weapons and equipment firsthand, so that they would fall in love with them and then buy them from the future.

It looks a bit like what?

Like those contract phones that ripped off many people back then. (I was young and naive back then and got scammed.)
I'd even give you a phone worth a thousand or two for free, but a ridiculously expensive data plan? We'll have to book that one first.

Although the example may not be quite right, the meaning is absolutely correct.

Xia Yiyi was overjoyed and immediately expressed her opinion.

"Hey, I thought it was something serious, but it turns out it's just this. Do I even need to ask? I've already sent the warships, what's a few missiles? Whatever they need, whatever type they want, just let them know, and I'll prepare it for them right away!"

"That would be great."

"But, as you know, this price... I'm a small business, and it's not easy for me. Sending some warships is already a huge financial burden. If I were to send artillery shells and missiles, I simply couldn't afford that."

“I understand, I understand, I totally get it. Even brothers have to keep clear accounts, how could I let you suffer a loss? I know you haven't had an easy time either, so this wild yellow croaker, weighing over 30 jin, was brought to you as soon as it was caught!” (End of Chapter)