I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 551, Section 550: "They actually used the county government's credit to endorse his project"

This morning, Fang Qingye went to work at the bank as usual, first having breakfast at the bank's cafeteria.

The food in the cafeteria is pretty good.

This morning, I had soy milk, fried dough sticks, eggs, and Nanxin County's specialty, Panshui noodles. Lunch was also quite substantial; at noon, we usually have four dishes and a soup.

The bank has implemented a meal card system, and all employees of Jinghai Bank, from the branch manager to ordinary staff and even security guards, are treated equally, with each employee having 300 yuan recharged to their meal card every month.

This was stipulated by Fang Qingye. Previously, there were different levels of employees, but after he took over the bank, all of them were abolished. The difference in salaries and bonuses was so great that some small benefits were simply forgotten.

The food was plentiful and cheaper than outside. Today, Fang Qingye ordered a plate of noodles for 3 yuan.

He just loves eating this; he never gets tired of it.

Holding the lunchbox, I looked around and saw an empty seat at a table, so I went over and sat down.

Two female employees were already seated at the table, eating and chatting animatedly. When they saw him coming over, they quickly greeted him and then continued their conversation.

Fang Qingye is seen as approachable by his employees, and perhaps because he is relatively young, most employees are not afraid of him—of course, don't make mistakes at work, or he will know that there will be no good consequences.

Therefore, his arrival did not affect their conversation.

"Hey, how much did you bet?"

"3000," the girl with the ponytail asked.

“I invested 1,” said a short-haired female employee.

"Wow, so many? Aren't you afraid of losing money?" the girl with the ponytail asked in surprise.

"What's this? My best friend has money, she invested 20 yuan directly!" the short-haired female employee said with a sneer.

Fang Qingye, curious, chimed in, jokingly saying, "What are you investing in? Tell me, so I can make some money too."

"Fang Xing, you still care about such a small amount of money?" The short-haired girl chuckled, but still told him, "Have you heard of Hongling Venture Capital? Their boss is also from Nanxin. He asked Zhou Shipei to bring the company's employees back, and they're doing P2P investment in our county."

what?
Fang Qingye thought Zhou Shipei was targeting bosses like himself, but he never expected that the target would extend to ordinary people!

Rabbits don't eat the grass near their burrows.
If the company goes bankrupt in the future and ruins your fellow villagers, would you have the nerve to go back to Nanxin?
"Are there many people voting?" Fang Qingye asked.

"It seems like there are quite a few. Quite a few people in our industry have invested as well," the short-haired girl said.

"Yes, most of the people in our branch have invested," the girl with the ponytail said.

Fang Qingye knew her; she was a teller in the business hall downstairs, and her name seemed to be Ma Li.
"I'm telling you, you're also bank employees and you know a bit about finance. Aren't you afraid of losing money? You might not even get the interest and end up losing the principal too," Fang Qingye couldn't help but ask.

“No way,” the two girls looked at each other. Ma Li said, “The interest rate they’re offering isn’t too high, only 11.5%. Some platforms offer over 20%.”

"It's not a high amount, but have you looked into which projects he's funded? What are their qualifications and operating income like? Is there a risk of default?" Fang Qingye asked patiently.

“I checked the financing projects on the website, and the borrowing companies are among the top 500 private enterprises, they’re quite large,” the short-haired employee argued.

"Is it the financing of Hubei Province No. 2 Special Project (33)?" Fang Qingye asked.

"Yes, President Fang, you invested too?" the short-haired girl asked excitedly.

"No."

"Didn't you notice that it's exactly the same as Project No. 2 in terms of borrower, loan amount, interest rate, and loan term?! What does that mean?" Fang Qingye asked rhetorically.

"Remove the label?" Ma Li asked cautiously. "You're smart." Fang Qingye didn't say anything more and started eating her noodles heartily.

After Fang Qingye finished eating, he went to his office. Hu Lingling came to breakfast and had already made him some tea.

Fang Qingye originally brewed the tea himself, mainly because he disliked his secretary for not being able to control the amount of tea leaves and the water temperature. However, Hu Lingling gradually figured out Fang Qingye's tea-brewing habits and brewed tea that suited his taste, so Fang Qingye slowly stopped brewing it himself.

After finishing breakfast and arriving at the office, the tea in my thermos was already brewed, and taking a sip was a very pleasant experience.

He suddenly remembered the conversation between the two female employees about investments during dinner, so he called his secretary over: "Hu Lingling, have you invested in any of Hongling Venture Capital's projects?"

"Yes, I voted. Not only did I vote, but my parents did too," Hu Lingling answered readily.

"You work in a bank and know a bit about finance, didn't you see the trickery in the project?" Fang Qingye asked rhetorically.

"You mentioned several loan projects coming from the same company, which raises suspicion of loan splitting, right?" The girl seemed quite clever today.
"I saw it too, but since everyone's doing this, I don't think there's a big problem, right? Besides, in reality, some companies split their bids to make it easier to get bank loans, and they're all fine, aren't they?"

Fang Qingye was speechless and waved her hand.

"Okay, go and do your thing."

After Hu Lingling left, Fang Qingye wondered if her mother had bought it.

Whether I lose money or not is a small matter; I don't want this to cause my mother any distress in the end.

He called his mother's cell phone and told her about it: "Mom, have you submitted your application?"

“No, son, you have so much money, why would I bother making money? I don’t even buy financial products anymore.” Zhang Meili replied on the other end of the phone, “However, I heard that your second aunt bought some.”

"what?"

After hanging up with his mother, Fang Qingye thought for a moment and then made another call, not to his second aunt but to his second uncle, Fang Jianhua.

When the call connected, Fang Qingye asked, "Second Uncle, I heard from my mother that my second aunt also invested money in Hongling Venture Capital?"

"I'm not sure about that yet. My second aunt manages all the money in my family, and I never ask about it. I also don't spend much money myself," Fang Jianhua said with a laugh on the phone.

"Oh, you're familiar with Hongling Venture Capital's projects, right?"

“I know, it’s P2P lending, right? It’s all the rage across the country right now. I heard from your second aunt that Zhou Shipei, the chairman of Hongling Venture Capital, even went to their radio and television bureau, hoping to get an exclusive interview with him about Hongling Venture Capital. They even provided a sponsorship fee to the county TV station.”

"Did the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television approve it?"

"It seems so. As you know, the TV stations in various counties are not doing well these days, so they're trying to generate as much revenue as possible."

“This Zhou Shipei is very clever; he actually used the county government’s credit to endorse his project,” Fang Qingye said with a smile.

"Reciting?" Fang Jianhua immediately understood: "That's what it means."

"Second Uncle, have you seen the details of the project he's financing?" Fang Qingye asked.

"No, I don't oversee finance. I don't even know how Zhou Shipei, the county leaders, and the relevant departments communicated. I only found out about this from your second aunt when I got home."

"Then let me explain the issues with this project." Fang Qingye then briefly explained the details of the project's breakdown:
“If a loan project defaults, it won’t be just a few hundred thousand, but as much as 1.65 million! How can the rights and interests of these investors be guaranteed? Won’t someone use your program as an excuse to say that they trusted your county and that’s why they invested money, but ended up losing everything, and that’s your fault.”

After hearing Fang Qingye's words, Fang Jianhua on the other end of the phone also realized the seriousness of the problem.

(End of this chapter)