50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 345 Letter from home
Deputy Director Han said, "I won't stand on ceremony with you. Putting aside those industries, your shop is already making dozens of times more money than my salary. I'll be counting on you for my tea business in the future."

"Don't worry, I won't forget."

After finishing their business, the two chatted privately for half an hour. When Sun Zhiwei saw that Lao Han looked tired, he got up to say goodbye.

Upon returning to his home at 2111 35th Street in Georgetown, he did not rest immediately but instead began renovating the basement.

He needed a hidden entrance and exit, just like in the previous apartment; he wanted to build the entrance in the basement.

He had already found the location of the exit; it was just across the street, where there was a famous monastery and historical site.

The monastery is a large place and is usually open to tourists during the day from Monday to Friday. There are staff members collecting tickets and it is regularly maintained.

However, the only permanent staff inside are the two security guards at the entrance.

Because apart from some historical relics, there's really nothing of value inside the monastery. Therefore, the security guards don't even patrol at night.

He chose a room that few people went to as the exit of the tunnel. Outside the room was a low wall.

After he emerged from the tunnel, he could easily flip over and reach the path outside. The path was lined with tall trees and had no streetlights; across the street was the outer wall of Georgetown University.

Few people usually walk there, making it perfect for him to sneak in and out.

The distance from the basement to the monastery is only a little over 100 meters, and he completed the construction of the tunnel in just over an hour.

The excavation itself didn't take much effort; most of the time was spent setting up lighting and concealing ventilation openings.

He only started to rest after the tunnel was completed in the middle of the night, and slept until 10 o'clock. Fortunately, he now lives in a detached house, so no neighbors care what time he sleeps.

After that, he went to get off work and came home as usual, and his daily appraisal work was greatly reduced because of the addition of appraiser Simmons.

As Simmons' subordinate, he certainly couldn't charge such high appraisal fees; otherwise, without clients, Simmons' income would be much lower.

Simmons was quite taken aback when he saw Sun Zhiwei's pricing. He had been licensed for many years and was quite familiar with his peers.

As far as he knew, only those senior, well-known appraisers in the industry could charge Sun Zhiwei's fees; wasn't that just pushing business away?

Little did he know that this was exactly Sun Zhiwei's intention. Sun Zhiwei's main job was not appraisal; he just needed his business to make a living.

But Simmons isn't Sun Zhiwei; he wouldn't dare charge such high fees.

Therefore, after discussing with Sun Zhiwei, Simmons's appraisal fee was reduced by more than half compared to Sun Zhiwei's, to only $30 per appraisal.

For this basic authentication fee, the shop only charges a symbolic $2 per instance.

When encountering a higher-value item that requires a percentage-based appraisal fee, Sun Zhiwei takes half.

After all, he brought in most of the shop and business, and he was also responsible for paying taxes.

Now that he has a large amount of fixed assets and his income has skyrocketed, he is even less willing to be stuck in the small shop every day.

He delegated most of the authentication work to Simmons, only stepping in when Simmons was unsure or when the client insisted on his authentication.

Of course, this only happens a few times a week, and each time it's a large order.

Although he rarely makes a purchase, the fees he collects still account for the majority of the appraisal shop's revenue.

After being given time, Sun Zhiwei began studying the travel map in front of everyone at the bar.

After seeing this, Tony asked him enviously, "Boss, are you going on a trip?"

"Yes, Tony."

"But what's the point of traveling alone? What about your spouse?" Sun Zhiwei was silent for a moment before whispering, "She passed away."

"Feel sorry."

"It's alright, it's been a long time."

"Haven't you thought about finding someone else? It won't be easy for you to live alone when you get older."

"Before, I didn't have any money, so I never thought about it and just lived one day at a time."

"Now that you have money, you can consider finding another one."

"Tony, thank you for your concern, I will consider it."

What's there to consider? If he dared to have any philandering ways outside, even his daughter would rebel against him.

He had considered this problem, but ultimately couldn't come up with a good solution, so he could only leave it as it was for the time being.

Two weeks later, letters arrived from home—a thick stack of them, all packed in waterproof bags and thrown into the water tank at the mall.

After receiving the letter, he spent the whole night at home looking at it, and found that the situation at home was better than he had imagined.

Jiajia has secured her position as the principal of Beihai Kindergarten; her daughter, Sun Hongying, is now working as an English translator and is doing a great job; and her son, Sun Aiguo, has become the class monitor.

His godmother's family is full of bickering and quarrels, just as he expected, and he's not having a very comfortable life. It's only because it hasn't been long that he can still tolerate it.

Tong Jiajia still remembers about her two children taking the college entrance examination.

After receiving the letter, she found all the review materials that Sun Zhiwei had prepared before and sent a copy to each of the two children.

There are still more than two months left, and they won't be away from their books for long. They can focus on reviewing math, physics, and chemistry, and they will have plenty of time.

The family matters have been settled, but there has been no response regarding the handling of the 800 million yuan in assets he received.

However, he wasn't too worried. His old boss would still be his boss after regaining power, and he also had Director Xu at home to back him up.

They are both very protective of their own, and this double protection from the two of them will ensure that he will not be harassed.

However, this matter does not only involve him alone. Once it is decided, it will become the standard for his colleagues' conduct when they are away from home.

Making money abroad is much easier than in China. Doesn't anyone feel jealous? It's not poverty that's the problem, but inequality. If fieldwork were this lucrative, everyone would be eager to find a way out.

So he can only wait and see. Who knows how many discussions his family will hold? He's about to become famous!

No, his family keeps his information confidential. They'll probably only mention a code name or something at the meeting.

That's fine, as long as no one knows that it was Sun Zhiwei who earned 800 million, it's fine. The bigger the tree, the more the wind will blow against it.

He stayed in Georgetown until the end of September, but he couldn't stay idle any longer. After reporting to Deputy Director Han, he drove directly to New York.

This time, his target is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
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Manhattan Island in New York is located at the mouth of the Hudson River, but it is not an alluvial island.

Beneath it lies a massive granite boulder, over 500 meters thick, which is why it can support thousands upon thousands of skyscrapers.

At 33 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York, stands a long, trapezoidal, more than ten-story brick-red building amidst a multitude of skyscrapers.

It is the Federal Reserve Bank Building in New York, which has been one of the financial centers of the United States since 1924.

(End of this chapter)