Additional Conditions

Tashigi savored the spicy, delicious chicken, occasionally observing the other customers in the restaurant and the pedestrians passing outside.

She had lived in Loguetown before. After seeing enough of certain things, she had grown used to them.

But once her surroundings changed, comparison immediately made Tashigi notice countless shortcomings.

Some people here wore more, some wore less, but the material of everyone's clothes was excellent. Many were things she had never even seen before.

And everyone had shoes. Leather shoes, sandals, slippers—at any rate, no one went barefoot.

Loguetown, on the other hand, was the only port connecting the Grand Line and the East Blue. Its economy was clearly quite developed by East Blue standards, yet people who could not afford clothes were still everywhere. There were even more people with no shoes, walking and working barefoot.

And Loguetown had refugees. It had beggars, too.

Yet she had not seen a single one since arriving here.

In Loguetown, only Smoker had a car. Everyone else, even the wealthy, could at most go out in horse-drawn carriages or sedan chairs.

But here? It seemed like only poor people rode motorcycles. More people drove cars that sheltered them from wind and rain and were incredibly comfortable to sit in!

"And all this food..." The food in Loguetown was already delicious, but it still could not compare to Chinese cuisine, with its abundant seasonings and diverse cooking methods.

As a dish that had swept all of China, Big Plate Chicken could even win Loguetown's annual cooking competition if it were served there!

"No wonder he was so proud whenever he talked about his country!" Tashigi had a mission of her own. She needed to probe indirectly for information about the country behind Zhou Qi and determine whether it truly existed.

And now, not only did this country exist, it was like a paradise beyond the world, utterly surpassing all of Loguetown—and even every country in the East Blue!

"Qi-kun, is this your country's capital?" Tashigi suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Zhou Qi paused, then shook his head. "No!"

"Then it's the second-largest city?" Tashigi asked again.

"It is a major city, but not the second-largest. It's fourth!" Zhou Qi said. "Why?"

Tashigi fell silent. She had only seen the tip of the iceberg of such a prosperous city, yet it already looked grander than the most prosperous royal capital in the East Blue.

And it was only the fourth-largest city here?

What could the three ahead of it possibly look like?

"I understand how you feel. Actually, you don't need to be so awed by it!" Zhou Qi could understand Tashigi's expression when he saw it.

Back when he had gotten into college, it had also been his first time leaving a small county town for a major city. He had felt all manner of unease and awe.

Hadn't he gradually adapted as well?

"This is an open country, an equal country. No one will discriminate against you, and no one will look down on you. As long as you love peace and obey the law, you'll be a friend when you come here!" Zhou Qi said. "Of course, our country still has many shortcomings. Whether it's the military, technology, medicine, or even the food industry, we still lag far behind foreign countries. Internally, there are also many flaws that would probably get this chapter 404'd if I wrote them out. But we've always been working hard, and we've always been improving..."

Tashigi had no idea what expression she should make. Judging from this one city alone, this was already an incredibly powerful country. And it still was not number one in the world?

"I know your Marines are still wary of me. You question my purpose and my motives. But my motives are simple: to contribute something to this country, and make some money for myself along the way. That's all..."

He did not think a few words would convince Tashigi, but there was no rush. They had plenty of time.

After eating, they retrieved the car and got in.

"So comfortable..." Tashigi patted the soft seat.

Zhou Qi smiled. BYD was great at riding trends. If it learned that Tashigi had praised one of its cars, wouldn't it send over several million in advertising fees?

"It's only comfortable when you first sit down. But we'll be riding for a long time today, so you'll get tired eventually!" Zhou Qi said as he fiddled with his phone. "I sent you the location!"

"It's pretty close, only a little over twenty minutes!" Zhou Yibing said.

"That's a coincidence. Though maybe not. Your district has a lot of big companies, doesn't it? Tencent, Huawei, and DJI are all around here!" Zhou Qi said. "If we get the chance, we can open a company here too..."

"This area is mostly internet companies!" Zhou Yibing said.

"Then we'll do internet stuff too. Artificial Intelligence, chipmaking—whatever has a high technological barrier, we'll do that!" Zhou Qi said.

Zhou Yibing was speechless. "That's a little too ambitious. And chips aren't something you can just decide to make..."

"Anything is possible!" Zhou Qi smiled. Wasn't there Vegapunk? It should not be hard for him to make a Photolithography Machine!

After all, he was a beast who could hand-build a Gundam!

As for how he would accomplish his goals, that depended on how much influence he could develop over in One Piece.

"By the way, should we play a song? We can test the speakers while we're at it..." Zhou Yibing said.

"Go ahead..."

A moment later, a desolate singing voice began to play.

"Since you left..."

Fenghua Building, eleventh floor.

Zhou Qi had not expected Linlang Consulting to be so large. It occupied an entire three floors!

Several companies he had worked for before had only occupied a single office within one floor of an office building.

"Hello, General Manager Zhou!" Zhou Qi met Yan Yun in the reception room. She was around 1.65 meters tall, with long straight black hair and a round face. When she smiled, two deep nasolabial folds appeared on her face.

She had the typical features of a Guangxi native.

She wore a white blouse and small business jacket on top, paired with a silver-gray pencil skirt that revealed her healthy-toned calves.

She could not be called beautiful, but she had the bearing of a professional woman.

"Hello!" Zhou Qi felt a little underdressed. After all, he had come wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with slippers on his feet.

That was how homebody men dressed at home.

But he had money in his bank account, so he was not nervous.

"Sorry to make you come all the way up here!" Yan Yun said. "Here's the situation: there are still some procedures our company needs to complete. We also need to verify your financial status. In addition, I need to explain Baofeng's situation to you in detail!"

"Verify my assets? Is a text message from my bank enough?" Zhou Qi showed her the message his bank had sent him earlier.

"That won't do..." Yan Yun smiled. She had already realized Zhou Qi was not a professional, so she could only patiently explain. "You need to provide a bank account or transfer the money into a dedicated verification account. We will not examine the exact amount of your funds; we will only confirm it with the bank. The entire process is conducted by certified public accountants qualified to verify capital. It is legal and compliant. You may also send someone to monitor the whole process and ensure your funds remain safe..."

Zhou Qi understood. This was a deal worth more than two hundred million. They had to see whether he actually had that much money. Otherwise, if they ran around handling everything only for him to have no money, wouldn't they be made fools of?

"Brother Bing?" Zhou Qi handed over his bank card. "You do it?"

"Sure!" Zhou Yibing took the card and left with the professionals.

Yan Yun took out another document and said, "If you want to purchase Baofeng Pharmaceutical Factory, there is some additional information you need to understand!"

"What information?" Zhou Qi frowned. "Didn't you say there wouldn't be any extra complications?"

"Baofeng Pharmaceutical Factory is, after all, the largest pharmaceutical factory in Bingxing Town. It receives quite a bit of attention..." Yan Yun smiled awkwardly.

In truth, she had not known about these additional terms before either. They had only been sent over at the last minute after the other side was informed that someone wanted to buy the factory.

She was frustrated too, but there was nothing she could do. She was merely a salesperson and could not decide much.

"First, Baofeng Pharmaceutical Factory currently has 450 employees. The town government hopes you will retain 70 percent of them and avoid large-scale layoffs..." Yan Yun said.

"That's only right!" Zhou Qi nodded. "No problem."

"Second, Baofeng Pharmaceutical and Nanan City Third People's Hospital are joint research institutions. Doctors from Third Hospital are qualified to use Baofeng's various experimental facilities. Of course, not for free..." Yan Yun continued.

"This..." Zhou Qi stroked his chin. "What if I form my own research team? Do I still have to let them use them first?"

"You don't need to worry about that. The contract is for five years, and the laboratory has already been established for three years. In two years, the contract will expire!" Yan Yun explained. "Also, our lawyers have reviewed the contract. It states that the research team from Nanan City Third People's Hospital may use the laboratory only on the condition that it does not delay Baofeng Pharmaceutical's normal research progress. In other words, if you do not want them to use it, you only need to refuse on the grounds that you need it yourself!"

"I see!" Zhou Qi nodded. That was actually pretty good.

"However, I suggest you do not do that. Third Hospital is the best hospital in Nanan City. Your employees' physical examinations, treatment, disasters, and accidental injury care will all depend on this hospital. Besides, they do not have many research projects. According to Baofeng's report, last year the entire laboratory was only used for a total of 869 hours, averaging just 2.3 hours per day..."

"Mm!" Zhou Qi nodded. "Then this is no problem either."

Never offend doctors if you could help it. Besides, supporting scientific research was a good thing. Of course he would not refuse.

"Third, Nanan City has Nanan Medical College. Baofeng Pharmaceutical has always recruited talent from Nanan Medical College, and Baofeng Pharmaceutical has signed talent cultivation agreements with certain departments there. The college hopes those agreements can continue!"

"No problem with that either!" Zhou Qi nodded. They had to recruit people anyway. Recruiting from one place was the same as recruiting from another!

"By the way, what level is Nanan Medical College? Is it a first-tier university?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Uh, no..."

Zhou Qi was speechless. "A second-tier university? Is a second-tier medical college reliable?"

Yan Yun looked somewhat embarrassed. "Well, it's actually a vocational college..."

"..." Zhou Qi was speechless. It was not that he looked down on vocational college students. After all, vocational students excelled in many industries.

But this was medicine...

"Fine, that's no problem either!" A vocational college was still a vocational college. The Zhou family had pitifully few members who had even finished high school.

If they could cooperate with a vocational college, he would not even need them to arrange anything under the table. His family members could attend classes, right?

Yan Yun nodded. "Then, there is one more thing. Baofeng still owes the bank a 65 million loan..."

"Wait!" Zhou Qi froze. "What does that mean? I have to take over the loan too? That was not part of the price negotiations!"

"Th-that..." Yan Yun hurriedly said, "The government certainly will not let you suffer a loss. They have also proposed a replacement plan..."

"What plan?"

"Look, this is the layout of Baofeng Pharmaceutical Factory!" Yan Yun handed him a tablet.

"Baofeng Pharmaceutical Factory is next to the Bingxing River. Across the river is a vacant plot totaling 260,000 square meters. Their proposal is to sell that land to you, with the 65 million treated as payment for the land!"

Zhou Qi enlarged the image and looked at the plot.

The area was indeed huge. Yellow withered grass grew across it, but there were also blotchy white patches where not a blade of grass grew. It looked as if Mother Earth had vitiligo.

"This isn't normal land. It's saline-alkali soil!" Zhou Qi recognized it.

"It is saline-alkali soil, but as long as you are not farming, there is no real difference in using it, is there?" Yan Yun said. "You happen to need a large amount of land for expansion. At this price, the land works out to only 250 yuan per square meter, nearly half the normal price!"

"Would such a good deal really fall to me?" Zhou Qi asked.

Yan Yun nodded. "It's good for you, and it's good for them too. These days, everyone would rather build factories in Southern Vietnam than open one here. There really are no companies willing to take over this land. Reclaiming saline-alkali land would cost too much, and they simply cannot afford it. To them, this land is like chicken ribs—tasteless to eat, but a shame to throw away..."

Zhou Qi nodded. The main issue was that manufacturing was not profitable these days. Baofeng Pharmaceutical Factory was also in the suburbs, out in the middle of nowhere, making it unsuitable for real estate development.

Unless they expanded the urban area over there. But Nanan City was only a small second- or third-tier city, the kind where housing prices were just eight thousand yuan per square meter. How could they pull off a project that large?

Now that they had heard some sucker—ah, no, some big boss—was willing to buy the pharmaceutical factory, wasn't this the perfect chance to toss it in along with the deal?

Never mind what the boss planned to do with the land. What mattered was that their jurisdiction would have one huge stretch less of saline-alkali soil!

Zhou Qi stroked his chin and examined the map again. He felt this deal could work.

He was not afraid of having too much land. He was only afraid there would not be enough.

Other people had to worry about costs and profits when running companies. He did not need to concern himself with those things. As long as the factory started operating, it would definitely make money.

And while taking over the saline-alkali land looked like being a sucker, it was actually a way to build goodwill with the authorities.

Many times, even if you wanted to build such goodwill, you would not get the chance!

He did not need any special policy support. But as long as they did not trip him up and gave him more green lights, things would become much easier for him!

"No problem, I'll take it!!" Zhou Qi slapped the table. "Anything else?"

"Uh, there is one request from Luo Baofeng. This is the last one..." Yan Yun said. "He accepts the proposal for installment payments, but the first payment must exceed eighty million, and the remainder must be paid in full within two years."

"Fine. So when are we going to inspect the factory?"

"Uh..." Yan Yun had never seen such a brisk, decisive client. She could only say, "If you are truly in a hurry, we can leave immediately once the finance department finishes verifying your assets!"

"Ding-dong..." A document appeared in her DingTalk.

Yan Yun clicked it open and took a look, then suddenly raised her head. "We can go now!"