Volume 2: Chapter 7 - Robbing the Soviet Elder Brother

  As soon as the Qi family entered the house, they couldn't stop talking. Qi Jie's mother kept asking how she got to know Secretary Tang, and Qi Er Shu and Qi Er Shu were also curious people who couldn't bear it, but now they didn't dare to ask Qi Jie questions casually.

  Qijie didn't say much, just that because of Junzi's matter, they got to know each other through connections. Junzi's job was also solved by Tang Yi, so Qijie's parents suddenly realized and thought, "How did their son become a new person?" It turned out that Secretary Tang had done the work. Looking at it, it's just that someone with high leadership skills can make a child who wouldn't listen before immediately reform under their guidance. The old couple was even more grateful to Tang Yi.

  Qijie also said to her second uncle and aunt, "Don't worry about the job, there are a few positions at the Commerce Bureau, it's an official position, Tang Yi said he will help you solve it." Before she finished speaking, Qijie's mother gave her a slap on the head: "Speak more politely, don't even call him Secretary Tang, just saying Tang Yi Tang Yi..." She stopped abruptly, still not having adjusted her attitude, and people in a romantic relationship can't directly call each other by name.

  Uncle Qi and Auntie Qi couldn't help but smile, thinking to themselves that if their daughter were to find a partner like this, they wouldn't be any worse off than her sister. When they heard that their son's job was settled, with a career position in the government, the old couple was overjoyed, thinking that the county party secretary really had clout, and with just a few words, their son became a department head. In comparison, the fat bureau chief was far inferior, speaking in an official tone, saying let Jian Guo go work in a factory, this comparison made it clear who was superior and who was inferior.

  Second Uncle and Second Aunt couldn't help but say a few flattering words to Qi Jie, making her feel embarrassed.

  After Qijie left, Qijie's mother saw that the old man was a bit worried and smiled: "Old man, are you still not turning around? I'm also like this, until now it's like a dream. You said our Jiejie suffered for a lifetime, but finally, she has a good ending. I said, our Jiejie is such a kind person, why didn't the heavens open their eyes and humiliate her? It turns out that they had already arranged such a good place for her."

  Old Qi shook his head and said, "I think this matter is mysterious. You say our daughter is a widow, while he is the county party secretary in his 20s, the gap is too big, I'm afraid that Jiejie will suffer in the future."

  Qijie's mother, however, was nonchalant: "You're really worrying on behalf of others, don't people value free love these days? How pretty is Jiejie anyway? If I were Secretary Tang, I'd like her too. You, just stop meddling in useless matters." She raised an eyebrow and added: "And another thing, stop mentioning that widow business all the time. Others might say it, but you, as a father, can't even say something nice?"

  Mr. Qi could only bitterly smile and admit his mistake, Mrs. Qi was a renowned beauty in her youth, from the moment they got married she had Mr. Qi firmly under her control, and even in old age he never dared to disobey her.

  Qijie's mother recalled the change in attitude of Qijie's second uncle and aunt towards her today. Since entering the Qijie household, Qijie's second aunt had always made her feel uncomfortable, but today was the first time she saw her truly treating her as an elder sister-in-law. The respectful way she rushed to help clean up the fruit peels earlier made Qijie smile again, feeling like she had returned to her teenage years.

  ……

  In the spacious office, Tang Yi stood by the window, watching the yellow leaves of the paulownia tree outside gradually wither away. His heart seemed to be infected with a hint of desolation as well. "Ring ring ring" The phone on the desk next to him rang, followed by the sound of "Ka-ching ka-ching" as the automatic printer connected and printed out papers.

  Tang Yi walked over slowly, preparing to take a look at the document that had been sent. He carelessly picked up the paper, but was suddenly stunned - it was all in English, accompanied by a large photo. Hmm? Isn't this my mom? In the photo, Xiao Jinhua looked elegant and dignified, with a big smile on her face. Tang Yi carefully read through the content, and couldn't help but smile slightly. Mom, you're not simple at all - you've made a name for yourself! This was a page from The Wall Street Journal, and next to Xiao Jinhua's photo was the bold headline "Xiao: The Dazzling Star Rising on Wall Street". The article used sensational language to recount Xiao Jinhua's entrepreneurial legend, from starting with less than $100,000 in capital as a small registered company, to becoming the chairman of Huayi Fund in less than a year. The article was extremely sensationalized, essentially making readers believe that the futures and stock markets were full of gold - a classic example of American Dream propaganda.

  Huayi Fund? Tang Yi immediately knew it was his mother's idea, taking one character from each of their names. Chairman? Tang Yi was somewhat surprised, his mother really was a female genius, and with three drums and two drums, she had actually listed the fund on the market?

  The fax machine continued to spit out paper, and Tang Yi glanced at it roughly. They were all reports from influential American economic newspapers and magazines about his mother, starting from 1990, when the Japanese real estate bubble triggered a global financial crisis, the Dow Jones index plummeted, and the US economic community urgently needed such a strong figure to appear, restoring the confidence of small and medium-sized investors in the financial market. In each article, they lavished praise on Xiao Jinhua's intentions, of course, implying that the American financial market was full of opportunities, not a whirlpool dominated by financial sharks swallowing up the assets of small and medium-sized businesses.

  The phone rang, and after Tang Yi answered it, the soft voice of Xiao Jinhua came from the receiver: "Xiao Yi, you and Shi Ju are making progress, Mom is not falling behind either. How's that? Did I make you proud?"

  Tang Yi smiled and said: "With just a blink of an eye, I've become the young master of a multimillionaire family? Am I dreaming? Mom, it looks like I can retire now!"

  "Go, you're still young, retired? You don't let mom work until the President of the State, don't even think about it, can't do it until the President of the State? At that time, I don't want this son." Xiao Jinhua said with a chuckle, and then said: "Old man has been boasting about you recently, he called me five times in just one month."

  Tang Yi secretly cursed, although old people like to nag, but what kind of person is Old Man Tang? Never heard that he was so close to the Tang family before, it seems that the old man really appreciates his own performance.

  "This time mom made money all thanks to old grandpa, half a year ago mom's company got a 200 million ruble high-interest loan from the Central Bank of the Soviet Union..."

  Tang Yi's head buzzed. What, 200 million rubles? You're not kidding, right? At the exchange rate of Soviet rubles to US dollars before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, that's equivalent to over $300 million!

  "Mom, say it again, how many rubles did you borrow?" Tang Yi didn't hear what Xiao Jinhua said afterwards, and he was anxious to verify.

  "Two hundred million!" Xiao Jinhua burst out laughing, "I didn't think I could get such a large loan at the time. Probably because of the high interest rate and Old Master's face, but most importantly, Mom gave that big-nosed guy 1% kickback, so this loan was granted to Mom's company under the name of supporting the development of African countries."

  Tang Yi sighed, thinking that before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the corruption of its officials was already shocking, and after the collapse, those who were originally the party's elite divided up the wealth of the Soviet Union. With his mother's skills and his father's face, borrowing 200 million rubles wouldn't be surprising.

  "Old Master asked me about this yesterday, didn't the ruble just plummet recently? Old Master asked if I borrowed money for speculation, but Mom refused to admit it, and he couldn't do anything about it, haha. From his tone, he wasn't too angry either. Besides, Big Nose didn't tell Old Master how much I borrowed, if Old Master knew I borrowed 200 million, he'd be furious with me. Xiao Yi, this is our secret, don't tell Old Master."

  Tang Yi smiled and said no, thinking that even if the old lady's Russian nose and the old man had a deep relationship, how could they talk about this kind of loan rebate with the old man? It seemed that he should have listened to his mother's instructions earlier.

  Tang Yi thought for a moment, when 200 million rubles were borrowed, it was equivalent to $320 million in US dollars, a ten-year long-term loan. Ten years later, the amount that should be repaid to the Russian National Bank would be... Tang Yi picked up the calculator on his desk and pressed some numbers. After some time, the ruble plummeted, and the Russian government had no choice but to issue new rubles, with one new ruble equal to 1,000 old rubles. The new ruble was initially exchanged for $0.2, then fell to over 25 new rubles per dollar. Based on the exchange rate with the US dollar, the old ruble had fallen by more than 20,000 times. According to the later exchange rate of 25 new rubles per dollar, the current value of the 200 million old rubles ten years later would be... $12,800.

  One million two thousand eight? Looking at the numbers on the calculator, Tang Yi rubbed his eyes for a while. Although he had expected this result, when faced with the reality, he was still stunned for a moment before regaining his composure. He scratched his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Who would have thought that he and his mother had also become one of those guilty of dividing up the wealth of the Soviet people? These two billion rubles, equivalent to $320 million, were essentially given away to his mother's company for free. Of course, now that the ruble has just started to depreciate, his mother probably didn't realize that these two billion rubles would eventually be worthless; she likely thought she could make a small profit after depreciation.

  "Mom, have you used up all these rubles?" Tang Yi suddenly became worried, although he seemed to have changed into a different person since his rebirth, being as calm as a robot, but this huge sum of money still made him feel a bit anxious.

  Xiao Jinhua smiled and said, "Mom's not stupid, these rubles have long been converted from gold and oil to US dollars, and recently they've been making trouble in the Japanese stock market, and they've even made some money. Otherwise, how could Mom be on the cover of The Wall Street Journal?"

  Tang Yi smiled, although the ruble is not an international settlement currency, but with the help of that Russian big nose, taking advantage of the completely open market reform before the collapse of the Soviet Union, my mother's company listed in Russia can buy gold and oil from Russia and then enter the international market to exchange for US dollars without any problem. And this year, Japan's economic bubble burst, American financial sharks swarmed into Japan, it seems that my mother is not willing to fall behind either.

  "Also, Xiao Yi, Big Nose has transformed into the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia and recently contacted me to set up a joint financial institution in Moscow. What do you think, is it too much or not?"

  Under Tang Yi's point, in the Gulf War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Japanese real estate bubble, Xiao Jinhua, who made a fortune, obviously valued Tang Yi's opinion very much and broke the situation to discuss business matters with him.

  Tang Yi smiled and said, "Of course we have to do it, and we must do it immediately, or else it will be too late. We'll use high interest rates to attract Russian deposits, and then immediately exchange the rubles for oil and gold. When financing, we must use long-term high-interest loans to attract funds, let's not do short-term financing."

  Xiao Jinhua giggled and said, "Alright, listen to your precious son."

  Tang Yi's heart skipped a beat as he thought to himself that he had once again incited his mother to rob the Soviet people, which seemed quite unscrupulous.

  Xiao Jinhua then discussed the economic situation with Tang Yi for a while, and before hanging up the phone, he laughed and said: "Little Yi, you should find a girlfriend to fall in love with, go out more often, learn some clever words, don't be like a wooden stick all day long, no one likes such a silly boy."

  "Mom, are you asking me to speak like a poem, with every word being as smooth as 'bedside bright moonlight' and 'underground shoes in pairs'?"

  Xiao Jinhua giggled and said: "What's wrong with that? Being able to coax a girl into happiness is a good man. And, did you receive the things I sent over?"

  Xiao Jinhua sent Tang Yi a big package of fashionable women's cosmetics and clothes, such as nail polish that was not yet popular in the country at that time, and belly-baring tank tops. Tang Yi gave them all to Qi Jie.

  "Girls like men who are meticulous. You silly boy, if you have a goal, don't forget to come and ask me for advice, I won't charge you!" Xiao Jinhua hung up the phone with a smile.

  He hung up the phone and laughed at himself, thinking that he now had a billionaire mother. Unfortunately, this money could only be looked at, not touched. If he persuaded his mother to invest in Yangshan, it would not be good for either himself or his mother's company, so as the child of a billionaire family, he could only think of other ways to attract investment.