Richard's New Life

They got about 40,000 yuan from selling Michael's house, plus 15,000 yuan.

They used 30,000 to buy a new house, and the remaining 10,000 could be used to solve Little Michael's schooling problem. There should be some money left over.

Director Johnson calculated quickly, thanks to his professional skills over the years. He's a veteran of the tax front, so calculating simple numbers is quite fast for him.

Michael, who was suffering in prison, had no idea that not only was his wife pregnant with another man's child, but the house he had bought was also going to be sold by Director Johnson.

This is truly a tragic story!

However, Director Johnson's expression wasn't as grim as his. Lin Qi had done him a great favor, and he waved the check, "Should I say thank you?"

"You can choose not to say, or you can say, it depends on your attitude." Lin Qi put away his checkbook. It was impossible for Director Johnson to have anything else to say to him besides running out of money.

After a moment of silence, Director Johnson nodded solemnly and said, "Thank you, you've helped me a lot!"

In fact, at this point, Director Johnson didn't have much left to pursue in life. The state had already made some arrangements for him, and by the end of the year at the latest, he would be transferred to a branch office under the York State Tax Administration to just coast along.

At this point, Director Johnson roughly understood that there was little point in struggling or not struggling. He may not have done anything earth-shattering in his life, but he also hadn't made any major mistakes.

The current handling of him can be considered relatively fair. In the coming period, he will basically be removed from his current job to make way for the deputy director who is about to be promoted, and at the same time, he will begin to enjoy his retirement life ahead of schedule.

This also means that his income will vary; the salary of a city Revenue Service chief and an office worker in a State Office cannot be the same.

The difference in benefits will be enormous! When Lin Qi asked about his future work plans, he smiled frankly, "That's it. I don't plan to do anything. I know I'm not qualified. The current result is the best result..."

"What kind of person is the new director?" Lin Qi asked as the two walked back.

Having resolved his worries, Director Johnson didn't mind saying a few more words, "A newcomer transferred from the state, only about thirty-seven years old, is very energetic and reportedly has considerable connections within the system. Unlike me, this isn't his final stop."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Lin Qi, "He's actually a lot like Michael, wanting to do something big to make his resume look better. If you have any..." he said with a smile, "Then hide it and don't get caught."

As Lin Qi walked back to the roadside from the lake, he glanced back at the entire artificial lake and the villa complex along its shore.

The place is very desolate, showing no trace of its former grandeur when it was developed; only ruin remains.

Director Johnson glanced at it too, then suddenly seemed to remember something. "By the way, do you know Hart?"

Lin Qi nodded. "He traded this house for a piece of land with me."

Director Johnson chuckled, "He ran away..." Looking at Lin Qi's seemingly unchanged expression, he felt a little strange, but he didn't show it. "He sold those houses in his project multiple times and ran away with the money, leaving a mess behind. Even our mayor lost a lot of money."

This was the first time Lin Qi had heard this news. Perhaps out of shame or some other reason, neither the mayor nor Mark had mentioned it to him.

After acquiring the land on the outskirts of the city center, Hart responded to the State Government's call to build a batch of public rental apartments for citizens with limited financial resources.

They pay part of the rent themselves, and the City Hall has special funds to cover the other part of the cost. Simply put, the rent received by these public rental apartments is no less than that of ordinary apartments because of the government subsidies and the guarantee of rental, so there is no worry about finding tenants.

At the same time, these projects are located on the edge of the city center, which is a good geographical location.

According to current regulations, these apartments will be freely bought and sold after the policy period ends in a few years, and then they can be resold for a large sum of money.

The idea that tenants can move in immediately after the houses are built, and that they can be sold for a good price later, makes this kind of investment very attractive to many people, and many have joined this project.

Hart successfully attracted a lot of investment by leveraging the connections he had built up here, especially from the mayor and his nephew Mark, who each invested in a total of several dozen apartments.

The reason they did this was actually related to the mayor. The mayor would support Ferral to succeed him, and in return, as long as Ferral made a slight deviation in the city planning, these apartment projects would be included in the city center. Even if each apartment didn't generate much profit, they could earn 30,000, and with dozens of apartments, they could make one or two million.

Add to that the rent they haven't had to worry about over the years, and they may actually have earned more than three million.

In the current economic climate, let alone guaranteeing a 100% return, simply ensuring no losses and even making a profit would be enough to attract many people.

With the mayor and some local celebrities leading the investment, the Middle Class followed suit, and people's enthusiasm was just like the weather right now!

So... Hart ran away, taking with him possibly tens of millions of dollars.

Returning from the lake, Lin Qi turned on the TV and watched the dull news on the local Television Station, his thoughts quickly drifting away.

He wondered where Hart might be hiding, or if he was already dead—after all, he had taken cash (from the bank), and whoever found him would be holding a mobile vault.

How much profit one can squeeze out depends on how ruthless one is; I imagine many people have already gone to him by now.

Then I thought of some international disputes.

The next morning, he boarded a train to the capital, determined to see for himself who was stealing his money.

"Hmm..."

A deep voice squeezed out from his throat as Richard pushed away the arms and legs lying on top of him and struggled to get up.

The room was filled with a rotten, strange smell. Scattered bottles of liquor lay haphazardly on the floor, and there were traces of dried liquor on the floor.

Cigarettes, Kolef, and even Ghost Face Mushroom geckos were piled on the coffee table, with a group of naked young men and women huddled together.

The strange smell in the air almost made Richard vomit. He quickly ran into the toilet and dry-heaved for a few moments, but nothing came out.

After showering, he walked to the window and abruptly pulled back the curtains.

The sunlight streamed in through the window in an instant, causing the worms on and around the bed to start wriggling.

"Damn it, close the curtains!"

Someone rolled over, hugging a pillow to cover their face, with their back to the window.

Some people, numb and emotionless, slowly sat up like a piece of wood, sitting blankly on the bed, seemingly still not understanding what had happened.

Richard slapped his head and glanced at the clock; it was almost noon.

He was a little hungry, so he picked up the phone and ordered takeout. He had a card game to play that afternoon.

Shortly after, the delivery rider brought Richard his food. After eating some, Richard got up and left.

The brand-new luxury car gleamed dazzlingly in the sunlight. Along the road leading out of the villa, more than one girl had tried to strike up a conversation with Richard, simply because of the luxury car he was driving.

But Richard didn't stop. Instead, he stepped on the gas. Compared to these boring physical pleasures, he had recently become obsessed with card games, a simple game.

Successful people in the Federal always have time to sit together and play a game of cards, make deals, pay payments, and call it whatever you want.

This type of card game cannot be strictly defined as gambling; it is actually more like a strategic game that is presented in the form of a card game.

There are many card games like this, most of which emphasize intelligence and elegance. They are not simple and crude, which is why there aren't many people who are truly obsessed with them, because mastering them requires a very long time.

Of course, there is gambling in the Federal, such as dice and roulette, but Richard had never encountered such a gambling game before.

Thrilling, exciting, and full of challenges and wits, it's addictive.

It's a very simple game. Each player only has three cards, and you can't exchange cards, but you can discard your hand. However, it's not simple at all because you can't see the cards in other players' hands.

Then test them, test them in various ways, observe the flickering in their eyes, the subtle movements in their hands, the frequency of their chest rise and fall, and whether there are sweat stains on their temples.

Then comes the most exciting part: when you get a small hand, you don't necessarily lose. There are many ways to not only not lose but also win.

When you get a big hand, you need to find ways to get more people involved and earn more money.

What an exciting game! The car accelerated all the way and finally stopped in front of a villa, where several cars were already parked, and the card game had already begun.

Richard quickly locked the car and headed into the room.

The waiter at the door politely opened the door for him, and the girl inside smiled as she took a check from his hand and gave him a box of chips.

He went to a room on the second floor, sat down at a table surrounded by many people, and greeted the others warmly.

His plan today is to "kill" all these people, leaving them with nothing even for dinner!