A big shot friend

  Xiuhu Hotel, a few people from Hanhua Factory have returned after having enough food and drink. Everyone strolled around for half a day, still not satisfied, and had a lot to say, so no one was in a hurry to return to their room to watch TV. Instead, they squeezed into Zhu Tiejun's room to chat, Kong Haijiang showed off his skills as the office director, asking the waiter for extra tea cups and pouring tea for everyone.

  "Knock, knock, knock..." Someone was knocking on the door.

  Kong Haijiang stood up and walked over to open the door, only to see Lin Zhenhua standing at the entrance with a large bag in hand.

  "Hey, Xiao Lin, where have you been?" Kong Haijiang asked, looking at the things in Lin Zhenhua's hands and saying enviously, "Are all these yours? So many?"

  "Ah, let me introduce you all." Lin Zhenhua walked into the house, and only then did everyone notice that behind him was a middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes. In those days, ordinary people would never wear suits; those who wore suits were either foreign guests or wealthy businessmen.

  "This is my friend, Chairman Qi Zhongmou of Sichuan Zhongyi Group." Lin Zhenhua solemnly introduced to the crowd, and then he introduced the people from Hanhua Factory to Qi Zhongmou, who nodded slightly with a presidential demeanor. Lin Zhenhua secretly smiled to himself, this Qi Zhongmou was indeed a genius, letting him play the role of a big boss for a while, and he actually played it quite convincingly.

  "Hello Mr Qi." Zhu Tiejun and Qi Zhongmou shook hands with him and invited him to take a seat.

  "Kobayashi, is this friend of yours a big shot?" Zhong Rulin asked Lin Zhenhua in a low voice.

  Qī Zhòngmóu heard Zhōng Rúlín's words, and before Lín Zhèn Huá could respond, he turned to Zhōng Rúlín and said: "I'm not some big boss, sorry about that, started too late, now my company's assets are less than 3 million."

  "3 million!" Everyone was shocked, the total assets of Hanhua Machinery Factory were just over 40 million, and this person in front of them had 3 million under his personal name alone, what a big spender!

  Zhu Tiejun, after all, was a leader and had some leadership demeanor. Unlike others who wore their surprise on their face, he calmly asked: "Mr. Qi, when did you and Xiao Lin become acquainted? We didn't even know that Xiao Lin had such an excellent friend like you."

  Qī Zhòngmóu smiled slightly and said, "Hehe, when I knew Little Lin, I hadn't joined this company yet. At that time, I was a purchasing officer in my unit, and when I went on a business trip, I encountered robbers who robbed me. Luckily, Little Lin happened to be passing by and came to my rescue, chasing away the robbers and saving my life."

  "At that time, I was serving in the army." Lin Zhenhua explained to everyone, this story was originally compiled by him and Qi Zhongmou together, and the details in between naturally needed him to supplement.

  "After that, I kept looking for Xiaolin to say thank you. Who knew, this time on a business trip, I coincidentally ran into Xiaolin on the train." Qi Zhongmou continued.

  "Kobayashi, you didn't play with us today, did you go see Mr. Qi?" asked Kong Haijiang.

  "Yes, Mr. Qi insisted on inviting me to dinner and we drank Maotai." Lin Zhenhua said half-jokingly, tonight they indeed drank Maotai and it was indeed Qi Zhongmou who invited the guests.

  "Maotai costs 8 yuan a bottle." Lu Xun explained to Zhong Yulin in a low voice.

  Qī Zhòngmóu took the thing that Lín Zhènhuá was holding and put it on the table, saying: "Today I came over, mainly because Little Lin said his leaders are all here, I think not coming to visit would be too impolite. Because I came in a hurry, there's no time to prepare anything, so we only have some small gifts that our company purchased, please don't refuse them."

  After that, he began to distribute gifts to everyone. What was given to Zhu Tiejun was a four-tube tape recorder, and what was given to others were all high-end radios with short-wave bands. This must be distinguished, otherwise the leader's position would not be reflected. In addition to large items such as tape recorders and radios, there were also some small gifts such as folding umbrellas, nylon stockings, and pens, which everyone had.

  "This is too expensive, I can't accept it." Zhu Tiejun looked at the Sony recorder, which was about a foot long and half a foot high, and shook his head repeatedly. He had seen such recorders before, in the past when he was in the army, the regimental headquarters had one, and now the Hanhua Machinery Factory's trade union also had one, priced at around 200 yuan or more, which already exceeded the normal range of gifts from friends.

  Everyone looked at Qi Zhongmou, waiting for him to make a move. In fact, everyone hoped that Zhu Tiejun would accept the tape recorder. If he accepted it, then everyone else could also accept their gifts. If Zhu Tiejun refused to accept it, then no one else would dare to accept theirs either.

  Qī Zhòngmóu smiled and said, "Director Zhu, you don't have to be polite. There's no conflict of interest between us, I'm giving you a gift simply as a friend, this doesn't violate any policies."

  Lin Zhenhua also tapped the edge of the drum beside him: "Director Zhu, just accept it. General Qi is a straightforward person, this amount of money doesn't count as much to General Qi. Besides, if you don't accept, we won't either, right?"

  The rest of the people also caught Lin Zhenhua's hint and began to help. Zhu Tiejun took a look, if he didn't accept it, he would probably become the target of public criticism. Considering that he had no grudges with Qi Zhongmou, accepting this wouldn't be considered bribery. So he stopped declining. However, Zhu Tiejun understood in his heart that Qi Zhongmou's move was naturally to give face to Lin Zhenhua, it seemed that in the future, he would have to take good care of Lin Zhenhua.

  Qī Zhòngmóu completed the task of helping Lín Zhènhuá deliver gifts, and after politely chatting with everyone for a few more sentences, he bid farewell and left. The things he gave to everyone were actually all purchased by Fú Dé from Hong Kong at Lín Zhènhuá's request. Lín Zhènhuá knew that he had no power or influence, nor any background, and could only use his overseas connections and the money he already had in hand to pave the way. He had Fú Dé prepare various grades of goods for himself, ready to be given to the right people at the right time.

  This time, Lin Zhenhua used Qi Zhongmou's hands to give gifts to the leaders and colleagues who came together. Firstly, it was to improve relations with these people, after all, among them were a deputy factory director, an office director, a technical department head and a workshop director, all of whom were in power. The second reason was to let everyone know that he had a wealthy friend, so that in the future when Lin Zhenhua himself made some high-consumption moves, everyone would not gossip about it.

  Lin Zhenhua sent Qi Zhongmou out of the hotel and returned to Zhu Tiejun's room, only to find that everyone was staring at him with strange eyes.

  "Hi everyone!" Lin Zhenhua greeted everyone with embarrassment.

  "Xiao Hua, you're really something, being able to make friends with someone as wealthy as that." Zhong Rulin said warmly.

  Just now, they had all carefully examined the gifts that Qi Zhongmou had given them and found that they were all high-end imported goods. Each of them was imagining that when they went back to give their wives those two pairs of imported nylon stockings, what dazzling light would be in their wives' eyes... Maybe they could even get a long-awaited passionate kiss.

  "Kobayashi, this high-end tape recorder, I really can't accept it. Otherwise, you take it away, after all, it was your friend who gave it." Zhu Tiejun said with a worried expression.

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said: "Director Zhu, you can keep it, to be honest, I have one too."

  "Otherwise, I'll hand it over to the Youth League Committee. You young people can use it when you organize activities. I'll just say it was donated by you." Zhu Tiejun continued to suggest.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Director Zhu, if you do it this way, it's not interesting. Are you looking down on me, Lin, or are you looking down on my friend? My friend is now a person who earns hundreds of dollars per minute, and he can accompany me to sit here for an hour because he respects my colleagues. If you do it this way, aren't you taking my friend as someone who tries to curry favor with you, afraid that he will ask for something from you in the future?"

  "This...". Zhu Tiejun was at a loss for words. He indeed wasn't good at handling interpersonal relationships like this one.

  "Director Zhu, I don't think accepting General Qi's gift is a mistake," Kong Haijiang interjected. "We don't have any business dealings with him, and his company with assets of over 30 million won't have any improper intentions towards us. For a boss like General Qi who is so wealthy, an audio recorder is nothing. Isn't it just like us giving someone a pack of cigarettes?"

  "That's right, that's right." The others echoed in agreement.

  "Alas, I've never received such an expensive gift from anyone before." Zhu Tiejun said dejectedly, starting to fiddle with the recorder in his hands, a look of delight in his eyes: "Xiao Lin, you don't know, my daughter saw one of her classmates' families had a tape recorder the other day and came back demanding that we buy one too. And then she told her mom, guess what her mom said?"

  "What did you say?" everyone asked in unison. Perhaps they didn't have such strong curiosity, but when the leader spoke, everyone still had to show some enthusiasm.

  "Her mother said, 'You see, your father and I have a salary of over 100 yuan for the two of us, and there are five mouths to feed in our family. Which one can go without eating so that we can save money to buy a tape recorder?'"

  "Hahaha." Everyone burst out laughing, and Fan Shibin said with deep feeling: "Isn't that right? We toilers who earn meager wages, saving some money to buy something big, all have to cut back from our food expenses. You say this watch and bicycle are necessities for going to work, no choice but to grit your teeth and buy them. What's the use of buying a tape recorder? But these kids like it, saying they want to listen to Teresa Teng. Oh dear, I've listened to one of Teresa Teng's songs before, so soft and mushy that I couldn't bear to listen to it."

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Director Zhu, this time your daughter should be overjoyed, and she must say that you are the best dad in the world."

  "I'll tell her that it's a gift from Lin Gege's friend, and just ask her to thank you," said Zhu Tiejun, who had already decided to accept the recorder.

  "Director Zhu, now that we have a tape recorder, we should buy some tapes. Does your daughter like Teresa Teng too? If so, I can buy her two tapes tomorrow on the street." Lin Zhenhua reminded him.

  "Alright, I'll buy her two dishes." Zhu Tiejun said resolutely, "I'll cut down on a few packs of cigarettes, and satisfy her request."

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  Updated one chapter in the dead of night, calling for today's recommended votes.