Translator: Lan Editor: Efydatia

  As he thought of that, Qin Guan felt reassured. He decided to ask a sensitive question that Bu and Wang were too embarrassed to talk about.

  "Brother Zhang, business is business. I have to be clear about the situation. How much can you invest on the project? What about the success rate? If we have enough capital, how many projects could you handle?"

  Zhang was pleased to talk with Qin Guan. He was a very sensible person in his opinion. He was actually annoyed by the other two idiots, who were beating around the bush.

  "With the right product prices, I can guarantee an 80% success rate. And I can promise to get two."

  "As for other ones, one can just bid for a try. The government doesn’t keep the deposits made for bidding applications. I’m qualified for 80% of the projects."

  Qin Guan smiled. He didn’t focus on the man’s boasting. What he was interested in was the amount which Zhang had built a fortune on those days.

  He broke in, "Brother Zhang, let’s leave the bidding applications aside. Just tell me how much capital you have, how much you want us to invest, and how we would share the profits."

  Zhang paused for a second before he replied shamelessly, "I have 30,000 in my hands. You’d have to make up for the rest. We can split the profits 50-50."

  What the f*ck! Is your nickname Big Face? How could you make such a shameless proposal?

  Qin Guan began to complain about his impudence, exposing his crafty side to Bu and Wang.

  "According to the bidding applications, there are 50 generator sets with a listed price of 4,500 yuan each. The tender price would be about 7,000 yuan. Along with the transportation, we’d have to pay 300,000. The list price for the 20 road rollers is more than 200,000, and the tender price will be about 300,000, so we’d have to invest 6,000,000 just on this bid."

  "As far as the 80 high-consumption battering rams are concerned, we’d have to buy them at any moment. According to the average domestic product price, we’d have to have another 300,000 at hand for those."

  "This means that we’d invest 6,300,000 and get a net profit of 1,600,000 million, if we won the bidding contest. We’d only get 800,000. This is not worth our time."

  Bu and Wang were confused by the numbers. Zhang was stupefied. How could this guy memorize so much data in such a short time?

  He tried to explain, "But we can get our capital back in one month. It’s an experimental program of the West North Development Plan. The government will see it through. Besides, you couldn’t get that kind of profit if you deposited the money in a bank."

  "Brother Zhang, this collaboration would cost us a lot," Qin Guan said.

  Zhang looked up in surprise. Staring at the handsome young negotiator, he realized in horror that they were talking about business, not friendship.

  He took a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe the sweat of his face. He had tried all possible ways to convince them, but it was in vain. He was a drowning man clutching at a straw. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be visiting old friends.

  Qin Guan smiled. "According to your investment, you should earn only 5%. You were too greedy to ask for half of the profits."

  Then he tried to lighten the mood and give Zhang some hope, "Nowadays, relationships are also taken into consideration though. You are a good friend of Brother Bu and Wang, so we wouldn’t cheat you. How about two to eight? You’d get two."

  Qin Guan gestured to stop Zhang. "Let me finish. Since you have the documents, we’d make a good deal as well."

  He picked a pen up from the table and began to write on a page of product data.

  His slender fingers danced between the pages as the three tough guys fixed their eyes on him. Finally, he poked at the last column and returned the documents to Zhang.

  "We’d just bid for these."

  Zhang read the documents, his fingers moving faster and faster between the pages.

  Finally, he looked up, "Are you crazy? You want to get all the small electric machines and tools? Did you tick them for their low prices? Just the rivets on the guard railing would cost 1,000,000. You couldn’t get that much money, even if you bought those two out!"

  Qin Guan crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back as if everything was fine. "Did you notice anything about the objects I ticked?"