Chapter 656: You Must Be the Reincarnation of the God of Wealth!
Yangcheng. Provincial Government Compound!
In Jiang Shiying’s small villa, Li Yi sat in a chair in the study, sipping tea while chatting on the phone with Jiang Xue!
After leaving the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection a short while ago, Li Yi hadn’t returned directly to Hong Kong Island; instead, he had come back to his father-in-law’s small villa.
Although New York was urgently waiting for him to take charge, Jiang Longyin hadn’t responded yet, and his father-in-law still needed to sound out Wang Tianrong.
So Li Yi decided to stay in Guangzhou for a day or two before returning to Hong Kong. After all, making the trip back right now would be quite a hassle; it would be better to handle things here first before heading over!
Upon returning to the small villa, Li Yi dialed his home number and chatted at length with Jiang Xue.
“So the district allocated over 4.8 million to us?”
“That’s right. Aside from giving Third Brother and Sister-in-Law An Hong 100,000 yuan for that trade fair, I’ve deposited the rest in the bank. Whenever you need it, I’ll withdraw it for you!”
Li Yi chuckled and said, “I don’t really have any use for the money right now, so just keep it there!”
“You should handle it. It’s too much—I… I get a little nervous just looking at it!”
“What’s there to be nervous about? It’s not like we owe the bank that much!”
Then Li Yi added, “Let’s not talk about money anymore. Let’s talk about Third Sister’s wedding. I heard the preparations are almost done?”
“Yeah, Third Brother helped find the house. It’s quite a bit bigger than the courtyard we live in now—it has twelve rooms, including the main hall and side rooms. It cost 2,600 yuan!”
Then Jiang Xue added, “Mom has replaced all the furniture and bedding with new sets, and she’s even bought all the musical instruments and other wedding trinkets. She says this is Sister Na’s dowry!”
“Let Mom and Dad buy whatever they want for Third Sister. You just help out a little. If they run short on money, chip in some yourself—as long as Mom and Dad are happy!” Li Yi said.
“A couple of days ago, I saw Mom spending a lot, so I gave her a thousand yuan, but she wouldn’t take it…”
“She probably still has money on her. Just don’t worry about it!”
Li Yi then changed the subject: “By the way, how are Yunrui and Yunjin doing?”
“Haha, I thought you’d forgotten all about them!” Jiang Xue said with a laugh.
“With abilities like that, you and the kids are the result of several lifetimes of good fortune I’ve accumulated. Even if I were to forget myself, I’d never forget you two!” Li Yi said earnestly.
Hearing this, Jiang Xue’s heart instantly filled with sweetness.
“Both my son and daughter are doing great. They’re already learning to walk and can take steps forward while holding an adult’s hand!”
“Hahaha, just like my son—they’ve learned to walk so quickly. Good, good, good…”
Feeling Li Yi’s joy and excitement, Jiang Xue felt particularly happy inside.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xue suddenly asked, “By the way, have you finished your business over there? When are you coming back?”
“It’ll still take a while. I’m not sure exactly when, but I’ll definitely be back before Third Sister’s wedding!” Li Yi said.
“Alright, then take good care of yourself out there. The kids and I will be waiting for you to come back!”
“Got it!”
Then Li Yi added, “By the way, you’ll be on vacation soon. Would you be interested in taking a trip to Hong Kong, or maybe even spending the Lunar New Year here?”
“A quick visit would be fine, but I’d rather skip the New Year. Besides, wouldn’t our visit interfere with your work?” Jiang Xue asked.
“No, it won’t. I’d love for you to come see our family’s business here!” Li Yi said.
“Alright then, we’ll discuss it when I’m on leave!”
“Alright…”
Just as they were speaking, a soft knock sounded from outside the study, followed by Zhang Ziqiang’s voice from the other side of the door: “Brother Yi, Zhou Chu is here and says he wants to see you!”
Li Yi immediately said to Jiang Xue on the other end of the line, “I’ve got something to take care of here. We’ll talk later!”
“Okay, go ahead and take care of it!”
With that, Jiang Xue hung up the phone!
………
In the living room on the first floor of the villa, Zhou Rui was sitting on the sofa sipping tea, his expression somewhat grave, lost in thought.
Hearing a series of thudding footsteps, he instinctively looked toward the staircase.
When he saw Li Yi and Zhang Ziqiang coming down one after the other, he immediately stood up.
“Chief Zhou, what brings you here?”
Zhou Rui replied immediately, “I’ve been on official business in Guangzhou for a while. I heard you were back, so I came by to check on you!”
“I thought something had happened!”
Li Yi then explained, “You’re the type who never visits unless there’s a reason. Whenever you show up, I get all nervous—I always feel like something big is about to happen!”
Zhou Rui smiled and said, “You know what? Your intuition is actually pretty spot-on!”
“What, is there really something going on?”
“Yeah, Old Xu asked me to see if I could get some foreign currency for you,” Zhou Rui said.
“Huh? Didn’t we just bring back over two hundred million dollars not too long ago? It can’t have run out that fast, can it?” Li Yi asked, somewhat surprised.
“It’s gone. Although I didn’t ask exactly how the foreign exchange was spent, there’s definitely not much left at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange right now.”
Zhou Rui continued, “Originally, they planned to use gold as a substitute for foreign exchange, but with international gold prices falling, the higher-ups feel it would be too costly to pay with gold right now. So they’re asking if you have any other options.”
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “How much do they need, and when do they need it?”
“Three hundred million dollars. It should be within the next two weeks.”
“I can help resolve this, but the cost will be quite high!”
Li Yi continued, “Also, the price of gold is still holding steady at around 480 dollars an ounce. If possible, I suggest the higher-ups use gold to offset the foreign exchange needs!”
“But the current international gold price is really…”
“I know, but how do you know this price won’t keep falling? Maybe this current price is actually the peak for the next few years?”
In fact, the current price isn’t just the peak for the next few years—it’s the highest gold price we’ll see for the next twenty-plus years.
Spending the excess gold on hand as foreign exchange at this time is a good deal by any measure.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Rui fell silent.
After a long pause, he finally said, “All right, I’ll pass that along to Old Xu, and I’ll report it to the higher-ups as well!”
“Hmm, and tell those bigwigs up there to hold off if it’s not too urgent. Once I get back from Thief Eagle, I should be able to bring in a huge chunk of foreign exchange for the country!” Li Yi said.
Zhou Rui’s eyes lit up instantly, and he hurriedly asked, “How much?”
“A conservative estimate of over a billion US dollars!”
“How… how much? Did you just say 1 billion US dollars?” Zhou Rui asked, sounding a bit incredulous.
“That’s right, one billion US dollars—and that’s a conservative estimate!” Li Yi said.
On this trip to New York, he had brought a total of 2 billion US dollars with him. Of that, 500 million belonged to Li Futao and Huang Lixing, while the remaining 1.57 billion all belonged to Starry Sky Company.
Of that 1.57 billion, 400 million was being managed by Li Yi on behalf of the state.
If the situation didn’t change drastically, their profit from this gold short-selling operation would be around 5 billion US dollars.
Based on the investment ratio, the state would receive roughly 1 billion US dollars.
If we add the 400 million in principal and the returns from fixed deposits in Hong Kong, the total comes to at least 2 billion USD that Li Yi has earned for the state so far.
This is the origin of the 2 billion Li Yi and Jiang Shiying mentioned this morning!
Of course, this $2 billion certainly won’t be repatriated in full, as a portion must be retained as capital for continued operations.
Furthermore, the $200 million in fixed deposits at Citibank won’t mature until August of next year, so that money is currently off-limits.
Therefore, Li Yi estimates that once the project in New York is completed, he will be able to repatriate at least 1 billion US dollars to China.
“Whoa!”
Zhou Rui couldn’t help but gasp, then looked at Li Yi and said, “Wow, you must be the reincarnation of the God of Wealth!”
“Hahaha, so do you want to pay your respects to me?” Li Yi teased with a laugh.
“If you can really bring back 1 billion US dollars in foreign exchange for the country, I’d actually love to pay my respects to you, you living deity!” Zhou Rui said with a laugh.
Li Yi: &……%￥%……
……….