Chapter 109: Leveraging

Looking at the dozen or so high-profile individuals from Chita cursing him out but visibly anxious, Li Xian felt uncomfortable inside.

This discomfort wasn't due to sympathy but rather a realization that the money in his hands was too little!

With 260,000 RMB and the current exchange rate of 6.9:1 between Chinese Yuan and USD, he should have gotten over 37,000 USD. However, after all the intermediaries, he only ended up with 35,000 USD. In this era, foreign exchange was hard to come by, and to avoid waiting for one or two months for approval, he had to accept less.

But dwelling on this was pointless. His current capabilities only allowed for so much. He wasn't here to become the richest man in the north. Just thinking about the profits from this deal, which might surpass those from the aluminum ingots, slightly eased his mood.

He shrugged his shoulders at the Chita elites and patted the reselling permit they presented. "The company can only offer this price now, and we have limited USD cash. If you find the conditions acceptable, then…"

"Li! Drucker!" Before he could finish his sentence, someone pushed through the crowd—none other than Alyosha.

The blond-haired handsome guy looked somewhat disheveled, his neatly styled hair in disarray and his clothes soaked with snow. He pulled Li Xian into the back room, muttering a lot in a hurry.

Katia, who followed, quickly translated, "He says he has over 120 machines. As a friend, he's asking if you could proceed with the purchase first. He… well, he's very anxious right now."

Clearly, Katia's last part of the translation was unnecessary. Li Xian's eyes flashed with sharpness as he looked at the flustered Alyosha.

Li Xian hadn't intended to buy all the machines in Chita. He didn't have such an appetite. His plan was to use his advantage to select the best machines.

He had specifically examined the few factories Alyosha owned. The machines there were produced around 1989 and were among the best in Chita in terms of condition.

Li Xian paused briefly, pulled Alyosha into the back room, and told him to wait there. He then turned to Xu Maoheng, who was still standing in a daze, and asked, "Xu, how much USD did you prepare?"

Unexpectedly, Xu Maoheng squatted down upon hearing this. Then, he suddenly stood up, clenched his fists, and hammered the floor with three punches!

"I'm such an idiot, an idiot!"

Seeing the frustration almost seeping into Xu Maoheng's skull, Li Xian was stunned. "You didn't prepare any money, did you?"

"You kept everything so secretive. How was I supposed to know what you wanted to do? How could I dare convert all the money into USD?" Xu Maoheng spoke with a tearful tone.

As he spoke, he hammered the innocent floor with another punch.

Li Xian stamped his foot in anger. "So how much do you actually have?"

"50,000! 50,000 USD!" Xu Maoheng raised his face.

After selling the production materials and settling the debts, Xu Maoheng had about 2 million left. Considering the safety concerns, each of his men had brought around 3,000, totaling just over 20,000. When Li Xian insisted on converting more into USD, he had his reliable men bring another 40,000 from home. After deducting recent expenditures, he had just over 50,000 left.

He thought it was quite a lot, but now Xu Maoheng regretted it deeply. At 500 USD for a 20-machine set and 800 USD for a 40-machine set, it's a big deal!

It's worth more than high-end motorcycles in the domestic market! With domestic production and expansion, machine tools were in high demand. Flipping them could yield at least tenfold profits!

Even though the machines were large and difficult to transport, and there were risks in customs, what risk isn't worth taking for 3,000 to 5,000 per machine?

Hearing this number, Li Xian stamped his foot hard. He had brought Xu Maoheng along because he was familiar with the place and had money. He also got along well with Li Xian and wanted to involve him in the deal.

However, it was clear now that Xu Maoheng wasn't being cautious when he needed to be and wasn't taking risks when he should have.

Serves you right!

Li Xian cursed inwardly.

But it was obvious that dwelling on this was futile. Li Xian sighed, "Take as much as you can. Go and prepare the money immediately."

Seeing Li Xian's stern expression, Xu Maoheng knew it wasn't the time for hesitations. He got up from the ground and nodded heavily. "Brother, no matter what, you're thinking of me. I'll remember this for life!"

"You!"

Li Xian sighed, waved his hand, and turned back into the room. He told Alyosha that if he wanted to sell the batch of machines, the company could only offer 85,000 USD.

This price was clearly below Alyosha's expectations. But Alyosha had already arranged for his exit procedures and urgently needed to sell his assets.

What time was it?

The privatization reform had been halted, and there was a high possibility that the government would revise this heavily criticized policy.

If that were the case, the enterprises under his name might be forcibly reclaimed by the government.

So, the choice was clear: either sell at a loss and escape with the USD or face the consequences.

The decision wasn't hard to make.

Alyosha took only two minutes to make his choice.

"Deal!"

He hastily extended his right hand.

---

After defining the scope of his reselling, Li Xian immediately dispersed the people in the room and started organizing with Xu Maoheng to arrange transportation.

According to Xu Maoheng's plan, the machines would be disassembled in Chita and transported by a few trains carrying wood along the Trans-Siberian Railway, through Blagoveshchensk and Birobidzhan, directly to Soviet Port, then by coastal transport to Vladivostok, and finally back to China from Mudanjiang.

Although the route was long and took over ten days, it was relatively safe since it wasn't frequented by resellers. Moreover, it had better operational feasibility compared to customs at Manchuli.

However, facing this complex route would consume a lot of time. Li Xian felt uneasy about the sea route.

Li Daoyun had warned him not to get too close to the water, making him wary of maritime transport.

So he proposed to load the machines in Chita as quickly as possible before other resellers reacted and then transport them by train to Harbin via Manchuli. If time was managed well, it would be sufficient in five days.

But Xu Maoheng's face showed concern. "Brother, you're overestimating me! That's over a hundred machines. For trucks, it would need at least 150, and for trains, at least 50 cars! In Russia, money can solve many things, but where would I get that kind of influence domestically? Manchuli is chaotic right now; leaving the cargo there is like a huge piece of meat!"

Tsk!

Li Xian clenched his fist, thinking about how challenging everything was without strong connections and background.

Hmm?

While he was contemplating, a tall figure appeared in his mind.

"Xu, you know Cheng Liu, right?"

Xu Maoheng was startled and denied, "You mean… use his connections? Brother, don't be unrealistic. Cheng Liu is righteous, but only if it doesn't harm his interests. With Chita's current situation, resellers will be crazy for the next period. Why would he waste resources helping us now?"

Li Xian thought for a moment, took out the reselling permit that the Chita officials had left behind in a hurry, and patted it like a treasure.

"For this!"