An extraordinary life journey through old Beijing courtyard houses

Since the mission mentions gold yuan, it's definitely not a matter of a few hundred yuan.

So, where did it come from?

Some of the money was extorted from Zhao Zhibang, while others were gifts given to him by others.

In the end, Smith Company was sold to Weinberg, rendering all of Zhou Zhifu's previous efforts futile.

The Zhou family's lack of strength is something no one can do about.

Even if Jiang Baobin had a good relationship with him, he would never sacrifice Rose's interests to benefit him.

However, it's okay if you fail to win the bid.

The Zhou family then faced coercion and pressure from the Kuomintang, who demanded that they hand over real money.

Feeling extremely uneasy, Zhou Zhifu thought Jiang Baobin was incredibly capable and a good person, so he came to him for help.

Jiang Baobin had actually thought it through for him long ago; helping others is helping yourself.

Smith controls more than one company; he also owns "Wald Corporation," registered under Rose's surname.

To put it bluntly, it's a "white glove" operation; some shady business deals are all done through Wald.

That's for sure. At this time, foreigners are only focused on making money, so how could they be so honest?

Although this company is now just an empty shell, outsiders don't know that.

Especially after receiving the endorsement of the U.S. military once again.

The "representative office" is now being tormented by the Smith family, and they'd better get back to America as soon as possible if they want.

If we don't keep them in Beiping and keep draining their energy and money, then everything will be fine.

Therefore, the Zhou family invested $500,000 worth of gold, silver, and foreign currency in Wald Company in exchange for 45% of its shares.

This money went through a series of transactions between American banks, after deducting normal bank fees.

He also gave Rose $5 as protection money.

The remaining funds were deposited into a designated overseas account held by the Zhou family.

In this way, his family received protection from the United States, and those with ulterior motives dared not force them to pay money anymore.

Don't think that $5 protection money is too expensive.

Jiang Baobin only did this because he didn't want to ask Zhou Gongzi for more, out of consideration for their good relationship.

As it turns out, the Zhou family can laugh in their sleep right now—

If it weren't for Smith Company protecting them from disaster, their family would be in deep trouble by now!

And it was an enormous, terrifying crater!

In early September, the gold yuan had just been issued for fifteen days.

Rice prices in Tianjin rose by 28%, and cloth prices rose by 88%.

So, compared to the 10% protection fee, how could the Zhou family not be happy?

The problem is that this is just the beginning, and right now, anyone who isn't an idiot can get away with it.

We've already seen clearly what the gold yuan is all about—it'll probably be even less valuable than the legal tender in the future!

As the matchmaker, Jiang Baobin was naturally someone the Zhou family would greatly appreciate.

Businessmen are very shrewd and generous to those who are useful to them.

However, all their real money had already been transferred out and given to Jiang Baobin as shops, courtyards, or land.

This guy absolutely refuses to take it.

Finally, they simply gave him 5 gold coins, in addition to what they had obtained from Zhao Zhibang.

Jiang Baobin had a considerable amount of cash on hand, which triggered the system task.

This caused Jiang Baobin a great deal of trouble – what should I buy?

The first thing that comes to mind is food, which has been defined as a strategic resource throughout history.

No matter when, it will "jump" up at the slightest sign of trouble.

The problem is, there are too many people who think like him.

In addition, ever since Weinberger took control of Smith Company, he has become unscrupulous and reckless in hoarding and speculating on goods.

In addition, downstream grain merchants are also reluctant to sell.

The result was that even though Jiang Baobin had money, he couldn't buy any grain.

He hated Weinberg so much; he was such a scoundrel, and he hadn't gotten enough out of him!

Jiang Baobin's so-called "wool-pulling" wasn't just about him being ripped off during the company transfer.

Instead, he did it the night before the deal was finalized.

They hauled a lot of stuff out of Smith's raw material warehouse using a truck.

It's actually not difficult to do this at all—the inventory of bags of flour and corn flour, and barrels of vegetable oil and kerosene are all recorded in the ledgers; the difficult part is managing them.

Wheat and corn are measured in bushels (1 bushel ≈ 35.239 liters).

There's something fishy about this thing.

With such a large grain depot, does Weinberg really need to measure it all over again?

Even if he had the patience, couldn't he just account for the losses? With goods arriving in batches, how could he possibly keep track of them all?

Even if Weinberger found out, Jiang Baobin wouldn't be afraid.

Damn it! You falsely accused me, causing me to spend so much time in jail. How are we going to settle this score?

Zhao Zhibang has already lost several thousand, and you haven't given a single penny.

What, you think I'm getting the short end of the stick? What's wrong with taking some of your food?

Let's get back to how Jiang Baobin had such a headache spending those gold yuan notes.

I dare not keep it in my possession; it's depreciating in value every day.

After much deliberation, he swallowed his pride and went to find Rose.

Through her, and by contacting the representative office, they managed to squeeze out another 1000 bags of flour.

But it only cost a little money, less than 1 yuan.

For the remaining bulk of the money, Jiang Baobin would have to find a solution himself.

Alright, let's use the old method again, so Jiang Baobin headed to the coal yard once more.

At this time, the daytime temperature is still around 25 or 26 degrees Celsius, and even at night it is around 17 or 18 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, coal sales are still in the off-season, and it is only used for cooking.

Even so, prices have increased by 10% compared to August.

Jiang Baobin immediately auctioned off all 4+ gold yuan notes he had on hand!

The coal yard owner was startled: "Mr. Jiang, what's going on...?"

This guy declared extravagantly, "I'll eat it all! Lump coal, fine coal, coal briquettes—whatever you want!"

The boss was delighted; this was a big business opportunity!

He reached for the money, but Jiang Baobin stopped him: "Sign a contract, otherwise I'm afraid you'll back out!"

"No, we always do business with integrity," the coal yard owner said confidently.

Jiang Baobin sneered inwardly, "I don't believe you for a second—if businessmen weren't greedy for money, even pigs would laugh."

The contract was signed, and the full payment was received; the coal mine owner was very happy.

We've already made a profit. We'll take the money and immediately go to the coal mine to buy more goods. We'll still make money in the future.

The boss relied on the fact that coal was not in short supply, unlike grain which was in such high demand.

Throughout history, major disasters and calamities have all stemmed from issues related to food.

But when have you ever heard of people rising up in rebellion because there was no coal to burn?

Jiang Baobin asked, "Can you guarantee my goods will arrive within three days?"

"I'll do my best, I'll do everything I can to send you all the cars."

Jiang Baobin retorted bluntly, "Stop talking nonsense! What can you do with your meager transportation capacity? We have to find it from outside."

"Don't just think about saving money and delay my business. Then it won't be me coming to you."

As Jiang Baobin spoke, he gave the boss a knowing look, leaving the rest to his imagination.

This guy was driving around in a big sedan, and any boss who wasn't stupid knew he couldn't afford to offend him.