Chapitre 27: Chapter 27 An Act Of Kindness
They had calculated that Huen was in urgent need of money to save his family, taking advantage of his plight to try to buy this ranch, which spanned four hundred eighty acres, at an extremely low price!
As for what would happen with the remaining money after selling the land, it was not something those businessmen considered.
Just as Julian said, they were all businessmen, not philanthropists.
"What should we do?" Huen's wife leaned against him, holding their daughter. The enormous interest had pushed the woman to the brink of collapse. If they couldn't gather enough money by the end of the month, she would choose to commit suicide to protect her dignity. Of course, she would take their daughter with her, ensuring her child wouldn't have to suffer in this world any longer. Even Huen had made a resolution to die before Julian arrived.
But hope had unexpectedly appeared, bringing a sudden change to the desperate family that was prepared to gamble their lives. One thousand eight hundred dollars was only four hundred dollars short of the two thousand two hundred they owed. Four hundred dollars was indeed a lot, but it didn't mean there was no way out.
The daughter looked at her sorrowful parents and suddenly asked, "Why can't we sell it twice?"
Before Huen could react to what she said, his wife quickly crouched down and tightly grasped their daughter's shoulders, asking, "Did you just say we could sell it twice? Am I hearing you right? Selling it twice?"
The daughter nodded and recounted the events that had happened at her school in recent days.
In her rural school, there was a classmate who came from a decent family and loved to read comics. This classmate often sold the comics he had read at depreciated prices to other students and would use the money to buy new comics. A couple of days ago, this classmate was called away by a teacher, and later everyone learned that he had promised to sell a comic to Student A but lost the money for the comic on his way home.
The classmate who suffered the loss was unwilling to lose both the money and the comic, so he secretly sold the comic to Student B instead...
Huen and his wife exchanged glances, falling into a long silence...
...
"Did you reach an agreement?" Seeing Julian walk out, Graf immediately stood up straight from where he was leaning against the doorpost. He pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Julian, lighting it for him.
Julian took a puff, shook his head, and exhaled a cloud of smoke. With confidence, he said, "Not yet, but they will agree!"
It was not surprising for him to have such a conjecture. Through simple descriptions from Huen, Julian had already formed a preliminary understanding of the kind hearted person named Morris. He was a guy who wouldn't lend money without demanding high interest; in other words, the loan sharks in this society had not yet sunk to the point of being irredeemable. Morris was a gang member who also employed some thugs.
Their task was to provide sufficient funds for the gang's development. Of course, it was possible that this business belonged to Morris himself. But regardless of the details, Huen absolutely dared not default on the money he owed. Otherwise, when Morris previously took his cattle, he would have stood up and confronted him.
He feared Morris to the extent that even if his own interests were infringed upon, he did not dare to complain. People like him might say some harsh words or have some resolute thoughts under enormous pressure, but that was merely their wishful thinking. If we were to describe such people in dream like terms, they would be deemed cowardly.
Julian did not dare to claim that he was their only savior. Eighteen hundred dollars was indeed still short of two thousand two hundred. However, this gap offered them sufficient hope. Was four hundred dollars a lot? If they worked honestly, it might take two years to gather that amount, and all three of them would need reasonably good jobs. But if they were not honest in their earnings and took a few shortcuts, it was certainly possible to gather that four hundred dollars in a short time.
Huen now faced such a choice: either sell the ranch to Julian and find a way to make up the four hundred dollars, or cling to the ranch and die with his family, after which Julian would buy the ranch back from Morris at a relatively low price. Why inquire about whom Huen owed money to? Wasn't it just to ensure that after this family perished, he could find a new owner for the ranch to buy it?
Moreover, Julian believed that even if he offered sixteen hundred dollars, Morris would not refuse, because Morris was a loan shark, not some foundation, and did not engage in risk averse investments. What he needed was money cash immediately usable for trading!
Before long, the door of the house opened from the inside, and Huen stepped out, looking haggard. He gazed at Julian with a complicated expression and sighed, "You win, sir. Eighteen hundred dollars. I'll sell it to you. When can we get the money?"
Julian took the cigarette from his mouth, threw it to the ground, crushed it with his foot, and extended his hand, saying, "Pleasure doing business. Tomorrow, bring the proof to the city. Once the paperwork is completed, you can get your money. For now, I won't disturb your rest. Farewell!"
Julian nodded and left with a smile. A premium of three hundred dollars exchanged for a time advantage was quite a profitable deal. As for how Huen and his family would gather the remaining four hundred dollars after selling the house tomorrow, that was no longer a concern for Julian.
Upon returning to the city, three suppliers informed him through a messenger that their first batch of ten thousand bottles of wine would be shipped here in a week, and they hoped he would be ready to receive the goods.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone