My absurd experiences in North America over the years

The bankruptcy reorganization of the Forum newspaper group has entered its most stalemate stage.

The creditors' committee held three closed-door meetings, and the representatives of the subordinate creditors were still arguing about the 7.4% equity allocation.

Li Fu understood their desire to gain more benefits, which in some ways actually benefited him as well.

After all, he was the person who owned the most subprime bonds.

However, he knew that capital was greedy and that it was impossible to make the preferred creditors back down. Didn't it take two or three years to resolve the issue in his previous life?

In that time, the forum newspaper would have already started making a profit.

He sat in the JPMorgan Chase conference room for the entire afternoon, naturally choosing to side with the preferred creditors. When he came out, it was already dark in Manhattan, and the clouds were low, as if it were about to rain again.

Thompson picked him up and took him to Ivanka's office in Trump Tower instead of back to the hotel.

During this period, he would come over every few days. It wasn't exactly a pre-arranged meeting, but the two of them had a tacit understanding. Apart from coordinating work, they would meet after finishing their respective tasks, sometimes for a meal, sometimes just to sit and have a cup of coffee.

Ivanka was still behind her desk, looking down at a document, or perhaps waiting for him. She looked up when she heard the knock. "How's it going with Tribune?"

"It's still dragging on. The subprime creditors have made concessions, but not much," Li Fu shrugged.

"It's bound to happen sooner or later, no need to rush," Ivanka stood up, walked to the cabinet next to her desk, opened the drawer, took out a dark gray business card, and handed it to him. "By the way, someone asked me to give this to you."

Li Fu took the business card and glanced at it.

Dark gray cardstock with gold lettering; it contains only a name and a phone number.

The owner of the brand name is Fang Li, the vice president of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

"What does he want from me?" Li Fu asked in surprise.

He wasn't surprised that Ivanka knew high-ranking members of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. After all, the Trump Organization was based in New York, and Ivanka was a prominent figure in the local business community. It was normal for someone in the real estate industry to have dealings with Chinatown or the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

What puzzled him was why the other person wanted to get to know him.

"It's probably a business matter. There are plenty of people in New York who want to work with you right now, including big investment banks like Citibank," Ivanka said, leaning back on the table and thinking seriously for a moment. "It's normal for them to want to get to know a prominent Chinese person like you..."

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, he's from the Zhigongtang."

"Zhigongtang?" Li Fu's heart skipped a beat.

He had some knowledge of the Zhigongtang in his previous life. The Zhigongtang can be traced back to the Hongmen in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. That's right, it was the Heaven and Earth Society that opposed the Qing and restored the Ming, which was later called the Hongmen.

More than two hundred years ago, the Hongmen branched out to North America with immigrants. With the tenets of loyalty, unity, patriotism, and chivalry, it quickly became the largest overseas Chinese mutual aid organization. The Chee Kung Tong is the main branch and general name of the Hongmen in North America.

Incidentally, Sun Yat-sen joined the Zhigongtang.

As the number of overseas Chinese increased, the Chee Kung Tong reached its peak of power at the end of the 19th century, becoming the largest overseas Chinese organization in the Americas at the time. Its headquarters were located in San Francisco, with branches in major cities such as New York and Chicago.

At its peak, eight or nine out of ten overseas Chinese were members of the association.

In 1911, the Chee Kung Tong, in conjunction with the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance), established the Hongmen Fundraising Bureau, raising a huge amount of funds for the Xinhai Revolution. In 1925, the Chee Kung Tong was formally reorganized into the Chee Kung Party in San Francisco, completing its transformation from a traditional secret society to a modern political party.

After the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan, Situ Meitang, the legendary leader of the Zhigongtang, devoted himself to organizing overseas Chinese to donate money to support the motherland. In 1949, he was invited back to China to attend the new Political Consultative Conference and the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.

On the day of the founding ceremony, he ascended the Tiananmen Rostrum as a member of the Central People's Government and witnessed the birth of the new China.

The great man inscribed for him: "A Model for Overseas Chinese, A Glorious Banner".

However, over the past few decades, the Chee Kung Tong has experienced a series of events such as splits and transformations. Some of its members became powerful Chinese gangs, while others became the Chee Kung Tong we know today, the most core overseas Chinese organization in Chinatown.

The person Ivanka mentioned, Bai Li, had run a tea shop in Chinatown for thirty years and had extensive connections; he was considered a very influential figure in Chinatown.

Li Fu flipped the business card over and looked at the back, only to find it blank. He truly hadn't expected that one day a leader of the Heaven and Earth Society would contact him.

"I suggest you meet with them," Ivanka offered her advice. "In the future, you... we'll be expanding into markets in New York State and on the West Coast, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, and we'll inevitably have to deal with Chinatown business associations in those places."

Li Fu put the business card in his pocket. "You agreed to be with him?"

"No! How could I make this decision for you?" Ivanka took his arm. "I just promised he would pass on a message to you."

"Alright! I'll take your advice," Li Fu thought for a moment, "I'll go see him when I have time."

His free time came the next afternoon.

Li Fu dialed the number on the business card.

On the other end of the line was a gentle voice with a southern accent, speaking fairly fluent Chinese. "Is this Mr. Li? I'm sorry I can only pass on this message to you through Ms. Ivanka. I hope you don't find it presumptuous."

Fang Li did not know this rising young man, nor did he have any other way of getting to know him.

"It's not presumptuous of me. Is there something you need from me?" Li Fu asked directly.

"I would like to invite you for a cup of tea to discuss something you must be interested in. I wonder if Mr. Li would do me the honor?" Fang Li said humbly.

Surely you'd be interested?

Li Fu frowned slightly. What could possibly interest him? As things stand, there weren't many things that interested him at the moment.

"You sound very confident," he paused slightly, "Why don't you set a time?"

He was genuinely curious about what the bigwig from the Zhigongtang wanted to see him about, and even more curious about what the other party said he would definitely be interested in.

"I will be waiting for you at Lumingchun tomorrow at noon," Fang Li said, setting the time for tomorrow.

Lu Ming Chun is one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in New York.

Li Fu hung up the phone and placed it on the table.

Manhattan outside the window appeared exceptionally quiet in the afternoon sun.

He summoned Thompson and asked him to investigate Fang Li's tea shop and the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce; he needed to know their background first.

Chinese gangs wield considerable influence in New York, having historically engaged in long-standing turf wars with the Mafia.

Even now, they are still a force to be reckoned with, only they have transformed from a major gang in the last century into a smaller criminal organization.

In the past, gangs relied on large organizations like the Chee Kung Tong to survive. Although the Chee Kung Tong is now a respectable overseas Chinese community, who knows if it is secretly backed by certain gangs!