Chapter 134: Accept or Not

The South Brighton district is the central area of Brighton City. In addition to political and economic buildings such as the State Government State Council and the World Trade Center, there are also dedicated leisure and entertainment venues. One such place is the Queen's Bar. Due to the bar's nice environment, it is not as noisy as most nightclubs, so many wealthy office workers like to come here for a drink after work, especially white-collar workers in the financial investment industry. ↖↖,

At 4pm, Zhou Ming and ** drove to the Queen's Bar. They parked the car in front of the entrance and walked into the bar.

The bar was not very big and there were not many people at this time. As soon as they walked in, Cindy saw a mixed-race black man lying on the booth table. She said to Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, that is the person I told you about. His name is James, an investment broker at Brook Investment Company. I got my subprime mortgage through him. Right now, he is in a really bad situation at work, and he is here drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Mr. Zhou Ming, do you really want to find him? You have to be careful, I'm afraid his drinking habits are not good.'

'Don't worry, no matter what his drinking habits are, I will be fine. You go and have a drink first, I will pay the bill when we are done,' Zhou Ming said to Cindy, and then walked over to James by himself.

Cindy understood that she had scolded James like that before, and James also knew that the current subprime mortgage crisis was related to him. She would only make him angrier in the past, so she went to the bar as Ming said.

While walking, Ming asked the waiter for a Bloody Mary, and then took it to James' booth. However, Ming had not yet sat down when he heard James waving his hand around and saying, 'Get lost! I've reserved this seat!'

Zhou Ming was a little surprised that James was not completely drunk, but Zhou Ming did not leave. He still sat down, put the Bloody Mary in his hand in front of James, and casually said to him, 'Of course I know that this seat is reserved for you, but I still want to buy you a drink. I wonder if you would like that? Or are you so drunk that you can't even open your mouth?'

"Fine, I'll drink. Who's afraid of you?'

James was very dissatisfied and raised his glass ready to drink it all in one go, but as soon as he took a sip he spat it out and exclaimed, 'What the hell kind of dog-f***ing wine is this, it's so hot and sour!'

'Bloody Mary, legend has it that it was brewed from the blood of Queen Mary after she slaughtered the people, of course it tastes like this, it's best for people with hangovers, it can make them sober up quickly,' Zhou Ming said slowly.

James looked up at Zhou Ming and said, 'Chinese? This is the wine you gave me?'

'Hello, my name is Ming Zhou. You may have heard of me,' Ming Zhou said.

'You?' James' eyes widened, and then he stood up and pointed at Ming Zhou and yelled, 'It was you who incited Cindy and the others to file for personal bankruptcy, causing the subprime mortgage crisis, right? Do you know how you have ruined me? Now my company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and every day I have to persuade individuals who want to go bankrupt. I feel like shit, you know? I even feel that I am even worse than a dog!'

**Helped Zhou Ming push James back onto the sofa. James struggled and didn't want to sit down, but he couldn't resist **, and in the end he was forced to sit on the sofa.

Looking at the way James squirmed on the sofa, Zhou Ming smiled and said to him, 'I'm very sorry for the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis on you, so I've come to save you this time.'

Hearing the word 'save,' James's eyes lit up: 'Are you Chinese going to help me persuade those bankrupt poor people?'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'Not at all. On the contrary, I need them to go bankrupt.'

James froze in place. He stared at Zhou Ming and said, 'I mean, are you Chinese stupid? I'm talking about the subprime mortgage crisis that is about to bankrupt Brook Investment. I want to keep them from going bankrupt, but you want to make them go bankrupt. Are you deliberately playing with me?'

"I would like to play with you a little, but unfortunately that doesn't make any sense. On the contrary, I prefer to make money.'

James was confused by Zhou Ming's words, so Zhou Ming had to say again, 'To put it simply, I came to you today because I hope you can do me a favour. I can provide you with a return of over one million dollars.'

'One million dollars?' James subconsciously swallowed, because he had never earned so much money since starting work, but then he also thought that there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world, so he immediately asked, 'So what do you want me to do, Chinese? This one million dollars is not just given to me, is it?'

Zhou Ming nodded and said, 'Of course. I hope what you want to do is also very simple, which is to sell me all the mortgaged properties of these bankrupt people.'

'Now the company is indeed having a hard time with these mortgaged properties, but you, Chinese people, are definitely not that kind. You want me to sell these mortgaged properties to you at a low price, right?' James asked.

'I will not hide my intentions, because I only have five million dollars, so I plan to use this five million dollars to buy all these mortgaged properties,' Zhou Ming said.

Zhou Ming's words were like a bombshell. James was stunned. He looked at Zhou Ming in disbelief, his eyes full of astonishment. 'You're not joking with me, are you? Five million? Twenty-odd properties are worth that much. Even if they are foreclosed properties, there won't be more than forty. But do you know how many foreclosed properties we have to deal with now? At least ten thousand. You don't even come close. Do you know that?'

James became more and more agitated as he spoke, and finally he was roaring, because in his opinion, Zhou Ming was simply teasing him.

Zhou Ming didn't care about this: 'I understand, of course, but there's a method to everything. As long as you, Mr. James, can help me with this, I believe I can still make it. After all, I don't plan on getting 10,000 properties, just 4,000 to 5,000 will be enough.'

James was speechless. He raised his hands and said, 'I feel like I've heard the most absurd joke in the world. Do you think that's a house built with blocks? You can get 4,000 to 5,000 sets for just 5 million. I'll tell you, they're all built with reinforced concrete, they're real commercial housing, and each set costs more than 100,000 to 200,000 US dollars, not 1,000 to 2,000 US dollars!'

Zhou Ming remained unruffled: 'So didn't I just say that? Here, I need your help, Mr James.'

James's eyes hardened: 'You mean you want me to betray Brook and become your insider? I'm telling you, that's absolutely impossible. I, James, may not be as great as Martin Luther King, but I'm definitely not some disgusting traitorous scum!'

Zhou Ming put his hands together: 'So you don't want the $1 million reward either? You yourself said that you haven't earned that much in five years at Brook Investment.'

James hesitated, but in the end he said, 'I'm sorry, Chinese, but I don't think it's about the money. It's about my personal integrity. I won't sell my soul for a million dollars and become a lackey of the devil from the East. I am who I am, and I have my own beliefs that I stand by!'

'In fact, this is not a betrayal. You can think of it more as a trade, a way to dispose of bad assets,' Zhou Ming said. 'Look at all the poor people filing for bankruptcy these days. So many mortgaged properties are suddenly piling up on Brook's head. He needs to get rid of them somehow. We're just helping him do it, only at a slightly lower price. It's a kind of angelic act of kindness.'

James looked at Ming blankly. He couldn't imagine how this person could say such brazen things, and how they could describe an act of selling mortgaged assets cheaply as an act of kindness. The price wasn't just a little low, it was hundreds of times lower. Even if the assets weren't worth much, it was impossible for the property to become a set of one or two thousand dollars.

'Chinese, you really opened my eyes. I won't agree to your request, but I still thank you for the Bloody Mary, it really cheers me up.' James said again, "Now, if you really want to have a drink with me, I welcome you, but if you still want to tell me your devilish theory, I'm sorry, I'll ask the waiter to ask you to leave my booth."

Since James had said so, Zhou Ming could only helplessly sigh and then stand up and leave.

Zhou Ming went to find Cindy first. Cindy was at the bar drinking her watermelon juice. When she saw Zhou Ming coming, she hurriedly asked him what the result was. Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'There is no result. This Mr. James said that he does not want to sell his soul to a demon like me.'

Upon hearing this answer, Cindy immediately became unhappy: 'What? This guy James has the nerve to say that you, Mr. Zhou Ming, are the devil. I think he and his Brook Investment Company are the real demons who suck people's blood and souls. They cheated us out of our money and house!'

Cindy then thought of something and asked Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, do you need to find someone from Brook Investment? If so, I know someone else at the company. He is James's cousin, but he has only been at Brook Investment for less than a year, just finishing his probation period. I don't know if he can help you.'

'It's worth a try,' said Ming, as the rum and coke he had ordered was prepared. Ming raised his glass and said to Cindy, "But anyway, thank you very much."

Cindy and Ming clinked glasses: "I should be the one thanking you. I hope I can get my own house back as soon as possible."

Just as Ming and Cindy were drinking, they suddenly heard a sound of quick footsteps. Ming put down his glass and saw James suddenly appear in front of him.

Zhou Ming looked at him curiously. It seemed that James himself was also hesitating, but in just a few seconds, James said, 'Chinese, I promise you.'

Before Zhou Ming could say anything, Cindy said, 'James, you are so rude, you should call Mr. Zhou Ming!'

James gave Cindy a fierce glare before he repeated, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I promise you.'

Zhou Ming raised an eyebrow and asked, 'What did you promise me? Have you sold your soul, are you willing to betray your company and become my devil's lackey?"

James lowered his head. He could imagine that if he were not a mixed-race black man, his face would have turned as red as a monkey's bottom. He still said, 'Yes, but that company is not my company either. They abandoned me, they want to take back the bonus they gave me, and they want to punish me. I want to take revenge, a fierce revenge on them, on those arrogant bastards!'

Looking at James's angry and somewhat distorted expression, Zhou Ming could imagine that he must have just received another phone call from the company, and that his boss must have said nothing nice to him, and even insulted his character, which provoked his resistance.

But this has nothing to do with you, Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said: 'I really welcome you to figure it out, but it's not the same as before. I won't be able to pay you as much as before. I can only give you 700,000 US dollars at most. Can you accept it?'

'What? You Chinese are doing this on purpose!' James shouted angrily.

Zhou Ming still remained calm and asked him, "I'm only asking if you accept or not. I don't want to hear anything else."

James was shaking, showing that he was having a fierce internal struggle. He really wanted to flip the table and leave, but in the end he gave up on resisting and bowed his head to reply to Zhou Ming, "I accept."