Early the next morning, Chen Fan tucked his newly bought briefcase under his arm and hurried to Inoue Cuisine...
Perhaps out of respect for the transaction, Inoue Shinichi had not worn yesterday's clothes either. Instead, he had changed into a dark gray pinstriped suit, looking a little more presentable than the day before.
When Chen Fan arrived, he was sitting in the restaurant drinking miso soup. Seeing Chen Fan enter, he quickly put down his bowl and called toward the counter, "Keiko, Mr. Chen is here. Bring down all those house and land deeds."
Mrs. Inoue went upstairs with small, quick steps and soon brought down all the contracts and documents.
Chen Fan accepted the documents Mrs. Inoue handed him and examined them carefully before nodding to Inoue Shinichi. "Everything's here."
"Mr. Inoue, sorry for the trouble, but I'll need you to come with me."
"Oh, and here's the payment for the property. I've brought it all."
As he spoke, Chen Fan took a stack of fabi banknotes from his briefcase.
The notes were in five-yuan denominations, issued by the Central Bank, with a portrait of Mr. Zhongshan on the front and the denomination on the back.
The banknotes issued by the four major banks all had different designs.
The Central Bank's notes used Mr. Zhongshan's portrait as their design, while the other three major banks each had their own.
The Bank of China's design featured the Temple of Heaven, the Bank of Communications' featured trains and steamships, and the Agricultural Bank's featured farming scenes.
Although all four major banks issued notes in denominations of one, five, and ten yuan, the Central Bank's notes ultimately held their value best.
Chen Fan handed the banknotes to Mrs. Inoue. She counted them twice, then said to him, "Arigato, Mr. Chen."
Then she nodded to Inoue Shinichi, indicating that the amount was correct.
Inoue Shinichi rose and came over to greet Chen Fan, and the two walked out, chatting and laughing.
Although Shanghai was in turmoil, Hongkou remained fairly stable. The property administration office on Wusong Road was not far away, only a little over ten minutes on foot.
Along the way, Inoue Shinichi pointed out places along the street to Chen Fan. Having spent a long time in the area, he knew a little about the background of every establishment.
Chen Fan listened with a smile the whole way, occasionally interjecting a remark or complimenting Inoue on his extensive knowledge...
He flattered Inoue so thoroughly that the man forgot all his cares, thinking he had found a dear friend he had not seen in years.
The two soon reached the property administration office, where Inoue Shinichi went straight to a clerk named Nakamura.
Judging by his manner, the man seemed quite familiar with Inoue. Once they found him, Inoue asked Chen Fan to hand over the documents.
The clerk took the documents and immediately filled out the new house and land deeds, then had both parties sign and affix their thumbprints.
In less than half an hour, all three storefronts were officially registered under Chen Fan's name.
The efficiency made Chen Fan want to applaud them.
Once the formalities were complete, Inoue went outside and congratulated Chen Fan, then reminded him to come to him anytime if there were any problems.
With that, he returned to his restaurant alone.
Holding the shop keys Inoue had given him earlier, Chen Fan strolled slowly to the entrance of the Yamada Store on Wusong Road.
He glanced up at the sign above, then took out the key, unlocked the door, and walked in.
Yamada had left after gambling away the shop, and his various creditors had already carried off almost everything of value inside.
Still, despite the layer of dust on the floor, Chen Fan could tell that the furniture, display cabinets, and other fittings were all fairly new.
Presumably, the man had left in such a hurry that he had not had time to deal with them.
Next, Chen Fan went up to the second and third floors and looked around.
The second and third floors had only been fitted out simply, but there were no signs of anyone having lived there. Empty boxes lay scattered everywhere.
They had evidently been used as storage space, with no intention of housing anyone.
That was just as well. It would save a great deal of trouble during the renovation.
After his inspection, Chen Fan worked out a renovation plan in his head and found people to begin work that very afternoon.
Through Cao Bin's introduction, he found a crew of bricklayers who regularly took jobs around Hongkou and Zhabei.
These men handled dismantling, knocking down walls, and similar work.
The demolition work was straightforward enough. According to Chen Fan's design, the main support beams downstairs were to be boxed in, while everything else that served no purpose was to be torn out.
Besides hiring the bricklayers, Chen Fan also went to a woodworking shop on North Sichuan Road and ordered a batch of furniture and counters.
He planned to turn the second floor into office space like the one he had used before.
The second floor covered roughly three hundred square meters, divided into a manager's office, an accounting office, a general office area, a meeting room, and so on.
As for the third floor, Chen Fan had reserved it for himself. Besides a large room for resting temporarily,
he designed a reception room in the middle for receiving important business partners.
The south-facing room was designed as an office...
The layout of this workplace was almost a copy of that game company's office back then.
Perhaps only by working in a layout like this could Chen Fan regain a little of that feeling of directing everything from behind the scenes.
Shanghai, North Sichuan Road, Military Police Headquarters.
The Allocation Section office at the end of the second-floor corridor in Military Police Headquarters...
The wall clock had just struck seven in the evening, and the overlapping sounds of military boots in the corridor gradually grew sparse.
Yoshino Tomokazu was hunched over his desk, a stack of documents before him, diligently checking the figures on them...
Knock, knock. Two crisp knocks came from the door.
Yoshino looked up and saw Yamada Ryosuke standing in the doorway, smiling at him.
Yoshino put down the documents and said amiably, "What is it? You haven't come at this hour just for a visit, have you?"
Yamada Ryosuke walked over and sat opposite him, shaking his head. "I just received word that Chen Fan, the man who traded with us last time, has bought three storefronts on Wusong Road. They're being renovated. It looks as though he's opening a trading firm."
Yoshino Tomokazu's expression showed no obvious change. He said unhurriedly, "Chen Fan? The Mr. Chen who took delivery of our cotton cloth at Shiliupu last time?"
"That's him." Yamada Ryosuke nodded. "I had someone look into it. Those three storefronts originally belonged to Yamada Otsu."
"Yamada gambled with Inoue Shinichi of Inoue Cuisine, and after losing, he mortgaged them to Inoue Shinichi."
"Chen Fan bought them through Inoue Shinichi."
"I heard he got along quite well with Inoue. They settled the price over a single drinking session."
Yoshino Tomokazu leaned back slightly. Resting against his chair, he said slowly, "This man is rather interesting."
"He performed well during the last transaction. He was composed and had everything arranged in an orderly fashion."
"I originally thought someone like him was just an ordinary traveling merchant, useful only in an emergency, who would disappear on his own after one transaction."
"I didn't expect him to be so ambitious, wanting to put down roots here in Shanghai."
Yamada smiled and recounted his conversation with Chen Fan in the warehouse.
At the end, he said with some feeling, "Yoshino, when I told him all that, I never thought he would take it to heart."
"Now it seems the kid has some understanding, and no shortage of nerve either."
"We approached him before because the established players in Shanghai have deeply intertwined interests, with too many connections behind them."
"Those people could guess at once where our goods came from."
"Now, I think this Chen Fan is a good choice. He has no real backing, and he'd be easy to deal with."
"If anything happens, we can quickly clean up the traces."
Yoshino raised his eyebrows slightly. "You mean we should approach him again, Yamada?"