Chapter 117: Smooth Fake Transaction

The Red Square Building is the most famous skyscraper on Gele Street. Although its architectural style is very different from the other buildings in the Kriesko area, it has not prevented it from becoming a landmark here.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, Zhou Ming arrived here in his own Volga sedan. In fact, this was not the first time Zhou Ming had been here, but the last time he came, he still had to bring Irbedov and those wealthy Northern Russians to the top of Red Square to fight against the Dagger Project. Now he came here to cooperate with Meta, and it cannot be said that it is the workings of fate.

Zhou Ming, Katerina and ** walked into the building and went to the office on the third floor. Meita and his bodyguard were here, along with two other people. One was Kasia, the director of the President's Office of Northern Russia, and the other was a man wearing a black suit and holding a folder. Zhou Ming had met him a few times and knew his name was Sean. He was the key account manager of the Swiss bank's office in Northern Russia.

'Mr Zhou Ming, you seem to be running late today,' Maita said to him as soon as he entered. He looked at his watch, and it was already a quarter past ten.

Zhou Ming was surprised by Maita's first words, because their original agreement was to meet at around ten o'clock, and they had not agreed on a specific time, so Zhou Ming was not late. However, after a moment's thought, he said, 'I'm very sorry, Mr Maita, it was all my fault. I didn't come early enough to find a room, and I got held up.'

Seeing that Zhou Ming had taken the initiative to apologize, Maita did not continue to dwell on the issue. He said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, please sit down first. I hope you have not made any more mistakes in other matters.'

'Of course not, but please understand, Mr. Maita and Mr. Kasia, that I came here alone today and I cannot carry that much money, so I only brought a cheque,' Zhou Ming said to Maita as he sat down.

'I don't think that's very funny, Mr. Zhou Ming,' said Mita, "but since you have brought the money, the deal with the Mulin Palace can begin. This Mr. Kasia is the plenipotentiary sent by Mr. Nikolaevich to complete the deal.'

Kasia nodded to Zhou Ming and said, "Mr. Zhou Ming, I am very happy to meet you again. Since you have brought a cheque, please give it to this Mr. Sean and deposit it in our Swiss bank account.'

'Of course I brought the cheque,' said Zhou Ming, taking out a cheque. 'But the transaction is about handing over the money and receiving the goods. Shouldn't I also see what I'm getting?'

'Mr. Zhou Ming is really very careful! I have already brought the transfer documents for the Novosibirsk oilfield. As long as Mr. Zhou Ming signs, it will take effect. As for the remaining 1.1 billion new rubles, since the new ruble is the latest issue, according to the relevant regulations of the Swiss bank, it is not currently accepting related business and cannot conduct transfer transactions. Therefore, my idea is to deposit it into the account of the Union Bank or other domestic banks designated by Mr. Zhou Ming afterwards. What do you think?'

Facing Kasia's proposal, Zhou Ming nodded and said it was very reasonable, and handed the cheque to Sean. He took the document from Kasia and handed it to Katerina to translate.

Of course, there was no problem. After mutual verification, Zhou Ming and Kasia signed the agreement document respectively. This was a very normal procedure. However, after Kasia signed and wanted to exchange signatures with Zhou Ming, she found that Zhou Ming had also signed his name on the side of the agreement at the side seam.

'Mr. Zhou Ming, what are you doing?' Kasia asked in surprise.

'Of course it's to ensure the safety of the transaction. With the signature on the side seam, it basically eliminates problems such as the agreement being switched. This is not a lack of trust, but a responsibility to both of us.' Zhou Ming stopped writing after saying this and finally said, 'Or do you have any other ideas, Mr. Kasia?'

Kasia shook his head and said, 'Of course there is no problem. After all, the amount of this transaction is very large, and an extra layer of insurance is also appropriate.'

Saying a word of thanks for understanding, Zhou Ming first signed his own copy of the agreement, and then exchanged the agreement with Kasia and signed it. After everything was done, Zhou Ming and Kasia stood up and shook hands. Kasia said that he was grateful to Mr. Zhou Ming for his support of the Northern Russian Republic, and Zhou Ming said, 'It's just a pity that such an important agreement of ours was signed in such a deserted place. Next time, we must hold a big press conference.'

Kasia's face turned a little embarrassed, but it was only a momentary thing, and he returned to normal, saying to Zhou Ming Maita that there were other tasks to be done in the Mlini Palace, and he left the room.

'Mr. Zhou Ming, you know full well that such an agreement cannot be made public, and you're going a bit too far!'

Metta pointed out to Zhou Ming after Cassia left. Zhou Ming laughed and didn't say anything, put the agreement away, and sat down with Metta again. Zhou Ming took out a check and handed it to Metta, saying, 'Mr. Metta, thank you very much for your matchmaking this time. This is a check for 20 million US dollars, which, as we agreed in advance, is paid to you as your personal commission.'

'Mr. Zhou Ming is indeed a man of his word, and it is really a pleasure to cooperate with Mr. Zhou Ming!'

Maita took the cheque and handed it to Sean, the key account manager of the Swiss bank who had not left, and Sean called back to check and verify the cheque information. After getting a positive reply, Maita said to Zhou Ming, 'Since this transaction is over, I will leave first.'

Saying this, Maita stood up. Before leaving, he once again reminded Zhou Ming, 'This transaction is just the beginning. Please prepare the funds for the next part when you go back. After all, the amount of this transaction is very large.'

'Of course, I also hope that we can continue to cooperate,' Zhou Ming said with a smile, but at the end he added, 'as long as the transaction is cashed.'

This made Maita freeze for a moment. He looked at Zhou Ming with some confusion, but Zhou Ming did not explain much. After leaving a sentence that they would meet again later, he left the room with Kareina and **.

As soon as Ming left, Sean also stood up and bid farewell to Mata. Although Mata is currently the largest client of UBS, UBS will not serve just him alone, not to mention that he has just received the cheque for 120 million US dollars from Ming, which he needs to process immediately.

Mata didn't react much to Sean's departure. He was still thinking about what Ming had meant by his last words before leaving. Did Ming realise there might be problems with the deal?

But that was normal, wasn't it? Ming should have been able to guess, given his intelligence. More importantly, he had already received the cashier's cheque in his pocket. Even if he realised there were problems with the deal at this point, what could he do? Could a Chinese businessman like him really cause trouble for the Kremlin?

But although this was his idea, Maeta always felt a sudden and inexplicable panic, as if something would go wrong with the deal. But where could he have made a mistake?

Maeta thought about it for a long time, but in the end he just gave up. He took out his mobile phone and dialed the number of the Kremlin. The phone was answered immediately, and Nikolajevich's voice came through: 'Mr Maeta, congratulations on the success of our cooperation. My old friend has already returned to tell me that the cheque has been deposited in the Swiss bank.'

'Thank you, but I think the one who really deserves congratulations is you, Mr Nikolic, because you have received 100 million US dollars without paying anything,' said Maita.

'But my 100 million US dollars will go into the treasury to help maintain the value of the new ruble. On the other hand, Mr Maita's 20 million US dollars will go into his own pocket, which is enviable!' said Nikolic.

It was better not to mention the 120 million, but as soon as he mentioned it, Maita felt uneasy again. He wanted to say something, but in the end he held back and changed the subject, saying, 'So regarding the preparations for the transaction, Mr. Nikolic has no problems? Or are you, as President, determined not to go back on your word?'

'We Northern Russians distinguish clearly between good and evil. We need to be kind to our friends, but we can use all means against our enemies,' said Nikolic. "I'm afraid the Chinese won't be able to take such a blow, so Mr. Maita, if you want to help him, you need to act quickly.'

Maita let out a breath and said in a voice only he could hear, "I hope so.'

...

On the other side, Zhou Ming arrived at the villa in Irbendov with the agreement signed with the central government of Northern Russia. As soon as he pulled into the villa, a dozen people quickly gathered around. These people were none other than Du Pengsuhan, Li Chengtonggang, and other wealthy Northern Russian businessmen.

'What's the situation?'

Everyone asked in turn, with the central content being just that sentence.

In response, Zhou Ming took out the agreement signed with Kasyan and said, 'Please be assured, this is the agreement I just signed with Kasyan, the director of the President's Office of Northern Russia. The content on it is what we discussed earlier, and there is no change from what everyone knows. I also had Kasyan sign the agreement on the side seam, so unless the director of the President's Office is removed from his position, no one can deny it.'

Zhou Ming's answer made everyone cheer: 'This is great, we are really involved in this huge deal, 5 billion US dollars to buy 140 billion new rubles, although we can't take it all, but no matter how much we take, we will make a fortune!'

Everyone shouted with joy, which also gave everyone a sense of relief, because before they all thought that there must be a problem since they had agreed so readily. But who knew that both Mr. Maita and the President of Northern Russia were such honest people. They really had judged them harshly.

But the excitement had only just begun when a bucket of cold water was poured over their heads. At this point, they heard Irbedov exclaim, 'What? This deal is fake, and we've all been cheated?'