A Billion

Zhou Fuyuan Jewelry, an established jewelry store founded in 1964, is headquartered in Hong Kong City, and its Nanhai City branch was right in front of Zhou Qi.

"Welcome!" The sales assistant glanced at the suitcase Zhou Qi was carrying, thinking he didn't look like someone here to buy gold jewelry!

However, her professional training allowed her to maintain a professional smile: "How may I help you?"

"I want to sell a batch of gold, do you buy it?" Zhou Qi asked.

"May I ask how much gold you're referring to?" the sales assistant inquired.

If it were just a few grams, like small rings or necklaces, she could handle it herself.

"I brought a suitcase for it, how much do you think there is?" Zhou Qi asked with a smile.

"Huh?" The sales assistant was stunned, and her smile instantly became much more sincere: "Sir, please follow me, I'll take you to our manager..."

In the reception room on the first floor, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, with his hair slicked back shiningly, walked in with a smile. He first handed over a business card: "Hello, hello, I am Zhou Mingde, a client manager at Zhou Fuyuan Jewelry. May I ask for your name, sir!"

"Zhou Qi!"

"Oh, we have the same surname!" Zhou Mingde became even more enthusiastic: "Mr. Zhou, are you from around here?"

"Not exactly, I'm from Nanhe!" Zhou Qi replied.

Zhou Mingde was taken aback, his smile widening. He pointed his finger confidently and said, "Fellow villager, my ancestors were also from Nanhe! They moved to Hong Kong during the War of Resistance. If we trace our lineage back, we might even be from the same branch!"

Zhou Qi was speechless. How could this guy talk so much!

"Well, I'm in a hurry, why don't you take a look at the gold first?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Oh, oh!" Zhou Mingde sighed inwardly, thinking this kid must be a post-90s.

As the post-90s and post-00s generation increasingly became their clientele, he found himself using his smooth-talking skills less and less.

After all, these kids never liked to waste time or deal with pleasantries.

Customer maintenance had become much more difficult than it was a few years ago.

"This is Master Luo, our gold appraisal expert at Zhou Fuyuan!" Zhou Mingde introduced the white-haired old man behind him. "Master Luo has been appraising gold at Zhou Fuyuan for thirty years, with not a single complaint and never a misreport. You can trust our professionalism, we absolutely won't let you get shortchanged!"

Zhou Qi nodded. He had checked Zhou Fuyuan's reputation online, which was why he came here.

He opened the suitcase and then abruptly threw open the lid.

Instantly, the dazzling golden light stunned both of them.

"So much!" While Zhou Mingde's reaction had an element of performance, he was also genuinely surprised. "Did you... strike gold?"

"Just assume you did!" Zhou Qi pushed the suitcase towards Master Luo. "It's 368 kilograms in total, please examine it!"

"Alright!" Master Luo nodded. He was relatively calm, as he was qualified to enter the Zhou Fuyuan gold vault.

But the thought that all this gold belonged to one person, and that he had brought it here in a suitcase... Didn't he fear being robbed along the way?

He called for two assistants to help move the gold onto the testing platform, while Zhou Mingde started chatting with Zhou Qi.

"Um, Mr. Zhou, are you planning to have this gold... made into jewelry? Or consign it with us? Or sell it to us?"

"Sell it to you, of course!" Zhou Qi said. "I wonder what your purchase price is?"

"It's like this, our purchase price generally follows the gold price, but it will be 5-10% lower than the market price!" Zhou Mingde explained.

Hearing this, Zhou Qi started to reach for his suitcase, saying, "I remember the Bank of China is just across the street!"

"Whoa, whoa, Mr. Zhou, Brother Zhou, hold on, Brother!" Zhou Mingde quickly stopped Zhou Qi. "Brother, what I said is the going rate. Even if you go to the bank, it'll be the same price. After all, we have processing and smelting costs!"

"That's for small amounts. I have three hundred kilograms, you deduct 10%, that's thirty kilograms of gold gone?" Zhou Qi said coldly. "I might as well keep it to pass down to my descendants!"

"This..." Zhou Mingde quickly grabbed Zhou Qi. "Brother, don't be too hasty. How about this, 5%..."

Seeing Zhou Qi about to leave again, Zhou Mingde reluctantly escalated. "Brother Zhou, does this batch of gold you have have certificates?"

"No!" Zhou Qi said righteously.

Zhou Mingde's eyes lit up. "Gold without certificates will definitely have a lower purchase price than gold with certificates. After all, you don't have official backing, and we don't know where your gold came from. We have to share the responsibility!"

"I've seen this trick in novels countless times!" Zhou Qi chuckled. "Gold without certificates is for small quantities. If I brought a ton of gold here, no matter which bank, believe me, they'd issue a certificate on the spot!"

The entire country's gold reserves are only 1948 tons. If I can get 1 ton, who cares about the source?

"You need to understand, I have three hundred kilograms, not three hundred grams, nor three hundred jin!"

Zhou Mingde was speechless. This person was clearly an amateur when it came to gold, yet he had accurately grasped the industry's dynamics.

That's right, with the gold price continuously soaring, whoever has gold is king, let alone three hundred kilograms of it.

In a movie, this much gold would be enough for the protagonist team to mobilize!

After all, the Expendables only cost five million US dollars per mission.

With this much gold, even the boss of Zhou Fuyuan would speak to him in a gentle tone.

His own position could also be elevated. After all, this was his client!

What's the point of being a client manager? Wouldn't it be better to be a store manager or a regional representative!

In the face of this quantity, what proof, it's all nonsense. Even if you really stole it, we could help you launder it!

Wait!

Zhou Mingde suddenly grasped the key point.

"Mr. Zhou, on your end, is there anything else afterward?"

"That's right!" Zhou Qi nodded calmly. "To be honest, I'm in foreign trade. However, that country doesn't have money, so they can only use gold to pay off their debts. As long as the price is agreed upon, future cooperation will be with your family. Then I'll have a steady stream of gold shipped over!"

"Foreign trade, gold for debt?" Zhou Mingde felt like he was listening to a novel. If there's gold, wouldn't it be someone else's? Wouldn't the US military planes have arrived long ago?

Wait, there's also a situation where the US military planes can't reach.

That is, this gold is in the hands of the US military's opponents.

So, which country is at war with the US military?

Zhou Mingde regretted it. He only paid attention to beautiful women all day and didn't watch the news.

But if a country were really using gold to pay off debts, it shouldn't be handed over to a private individual. Why wouldn't the country directly seize it?

Zhou Mingde's expression changed, and he had already imagined one shocking case after another.

He inadvertently glanced at Zhou Qi, and instantly a chill seemed to rise from the top of his head, rushing straight to his heart.

He hadn't paid much attention to this woman. Originally, he thought she was just a follower or something. But after looking just now, he realized something extraordinary.

Not only was she standing straight, but had her posture not changed at all since she entered the room?

And that gaze, what kind of gaze is that? Has she killed someone? She must have killed someone!

An assassin?

Or a soldier?

Zhou Mingde suddenly realized that this matter had exceeded his imagination. He quickly turned to Master Luo for help, hoping to end it quickly.

But three hundred kilograms, there's a lot to check!

Zhou Qi had been talking to Zhou Mingde the whole time, so he naturally noticed his gaze.

He looked back and saw Tashigi standing there.

"Find a place to sit, it's tiring to stand!" Zhou Qi said.

"It's okay!" Tashigi said, "Consider it training!"

"Alright, suit yourself!" Zhou Qi didn't insist. With Tashigi's physical fitness, standing for a while, let alone a day, wouldn't tire her out.

How to put it, Tashigi's combat power is probably at the very bottom in the world of One Piece, but on Earth...

She's at least at the special forces level!

He chatted for a couple of sentences, and over there, Zhou Mingde was even more shocked.

Japanese?

Japanese?

A Japanese person got gold through foreign trade, but wants to exchange it for RMB?

Why?

He immediately considered the current world situation.

With the decline of American hegemony, more and more countries are choosing to settle in RMB. Japan is a subordinate of the US, so it naturally wouldn't dare to betray openly. But if they did it secretly, and then explained it as a private individual's action...

Perhaps they had already communicated with the high-level management of Zhou Fuyuan Jewelry. They were just the executors.

But why wasn't I notified?

Oh, right. For such a big matter, the fewer people who know, the better. When it reaches me, I just need to follow the procedures!

Perhaps this batch of gold won't even be stored in the warehouse and will run to the bank overnight!

Yes, that's it!

I'm gradually understanding everything!

Zhou Mingde suddenly relaxed and even smiled at Zhou Qi.

"What are you smiling at? I'm not lowering the price!"

"No, no!" Zhou Mingde quickly said, "We'll go by the daily gold price, whatever it is, it is!"

"Huh?" Zhou Qi was stunned. What was wrong with this person? Why did he suddenly change?

However, he couldn't be bothered to think so much. The famous philosopher Khazik of the canyon once said, change is a good thing!

Let it be!

An hour later, all the gold was inspected.

"A total of [grams], gold purity 97.533%!" Master Luo reported.

Zhou Mingde immediately took out his calculator and multiplied the two.

"[grams], the current gold price is 383.80 per gram, so the total value of this batch of gold is: 137,913,156.8 yuan!"

138 million!

"Please provide a real and valid bank account, and I'll apply for the transfer for you right away!"

"Okay, 62****," Zhou Qi sent the account information over.

Soon, a ding-dong sound.

Your debit card account 2280, on September 19th, received (online banking interbank transfer) 137,913,156.8 yuan, with a balance of 6 yuan after the transaction.

"Phew!" As expected of a sixty-year-old reputable establishment, the funds exceeding one hundred million were transferred in less than half an hour. This was also the first time his bank card's balance had surpassed a million, then ten million, directly leaping to a hundred million!

From now on, I'm a billionaire too!

"Let's go, Tashigi, your big brother is taking you to buy a car!"

"Okay!" Tashigi excitedly followed along. She was quite interested in cars; after all, Smoker had one, but his only had one seat, so no one else could ride along.

"Mr. Zhou, if you have any more goods in the future, remember to patronize my business!" The man, in his forties or fifties, called someone twenty years his junior "little brother."

Zhou Qi shook his head, only able to sigh. Money makes the world go 'round...

Damn capitalists, look what they've done to people...

"Money is just a tool to achieve goals; never mistake the means for the end, and absolutely never be a slave to money!" Zhou Qi silently recited this to himself several times, and his mood finally began to calm down.