Venture Capital

  At that moment, Lan Wufeng thought Lin Zhenhua had gone mad, and his sympathy was overflowing like a vast ocean. Lan Wufeng knew that Lin Zhenhua was a kind-hearted person; otherwise, he wouldn't have saved him, a despicable thief, on the road and helped him find ways to make a living with all his heart. However, what Lin Zhenhua did for him, including giving him several kilograms of white sugar and helping him make a beehive coal mold, was still within the normal range of human sympathy. But to offer goods to an unknown Qi Zhongmou out of the blue, wasn't that taking too great a risk?

  Qī Zhòngmóu was also stunned by Lín Zhènhuá's words. Earlier, Lín Zhènhuá had agreed to give him a 20% discount on the goods, and Qī Zhòngmóu could understand that as Lín Zhènhuá's generosity, in business, giving up 20% of the profit was also possible. But directly giving him the goods on credit, no matter what, Qī Zhòngmóu couldn't believe it, he and Lín Zhènhuá were just passing acquaintances, why did Lín Zhènhuá trust him so much?

  Lin Zhenhua looked at the expressions of the two people, and his heart was bitter. This is the loneliness of a traverser. He couldn't tell the two people that he had long known what kind of person Qi Zhongmou was. In the future, this man's family would be worth tens of billions, and he believed that he wouldn't be greedy for such a small profit. Alas, he could only force himself to say to Qi Zhongmou: "How is it, Brother Qi? Don't you trust me?"

  Qī Zhòngmóu felt a bit dizzy: I'm not doubting your character, I just suspect that you're mentally ill.

  "Brother Lin said what kind of words, you are willing to lend me goods, I should be grateful instead. Don't know how much goods Brother Lin is willing to lend me?"

  "Hmm..." Lin Zhenhua's mind still didn't have any idea, "How about we start with a 10,000 yuan worth of goods?"

  "Brother Lin!" Lan Wufeng could no longer hold back, lightly shouting to stop Lin Zhenhua's impulse.

  "Uh, how about a little less?" Lin Zhenhua looked at Qi Zhongmou's astonished face and hastily retracted his words. "How about this, let's calculate it as 5,000 yuan worth of goods."

  Qī Zhòngmóu repeatedly confirmed that his brain was fine, and then gambled that Lín Zhènhuá's brain was also fine. Only then did he take a deep breath and ask: "Lín young brother, do you really believe in me?"

  "What's wrong?"

  "I..." Qi Zhongmou gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and pulled out a large pile of things from his bag. "Lin brother, take a look, this is my letter of introduction, this is the business license for my store, this is my household registration book..."

  "Wait, what are you showing me these for?" Lin Zhenhua was confused.

  "I'm trying to make you believe me."

  "I didn't say I don't believe you."

  "That's right, you believe me. But, but I don't dare to believe why you would believe me like this." Qi Zhongmou used a very complex grammatical structure to express his confusion.

  Lin Zhenhua had to pretend to say: "Qi brother, although I haven't been in contact with you much, but I believe my intuition. I believe that someone like Qi brother who has a broad mind will not lose credit over such small things. I'm lending these goods to you, actually betting on my own judgment. If I'm wrong, then losing money is what I deserve. If I'm right, I hope Qi brother will consider me as one of his own in the future. I believe that Qi brother's future development is boundless, and maybe someday he'll even have to take care of us brothers."

  "No problem, no problem!" Qi Zhongmou said, "I guarantee with my personal integrity that I will absolutely not betray your trust."

  "Alright, we'll set aside two boxes for you. Brother Qi, please choose the items you want. The total amount will be calculated at 5,000 yuan, and you can keep the extra 200 yuan or so for now, as you'll still need money when you return to Sichuan." Lin Zhenhua said.

  "Alright then, thank you Lin brother."

  "Qī brother, listen to me for a moment. That kind of MCM glasses, you'd better take some too. In two months, they'll definitely be selling like crazy."

  "Mac mirror?" Qi Zhongmou asked in confusion, "This sunglasses is called Mac mirror?"

  "Uh...my friends abroad said so." Lin Zhenhua knew he had misspoken and quickly covered it up.

  The streets were once a beautiful landscape on the mainland of China, the TV series "Man from Atlantis" was broadcast in the United States in 1979 and landed on the screen of China Central Television in May 1980. The sunglasses worn by the protagonist Mark immediately fascinated fashionable men and women and were named "Mark glasses". Of course, older people who didn't like this thing called it "Toad Glasses", because after wearing this kind of sunglasses that covered half of their face, they looked like a big-eyed toad no matter how you looked at them.

  At that time, wearing Mac mirrors also had a saying, the label on the mirror was absolutely not torn off. The labels on these imported glasses were all written in foreign languages. If you tore them off, who would know you're wearing imported glasses? As for whether this label will block your vision, it's not something fashionable men and women consider... to have style... you can only sacrifice transparency.

  At that time, in March 1980, the TV series had not been broadcast domestically, so Qi Zhongmou could not see the market opportunity for MacGyver. This also proves from another side that Qi Zhongmou was just a business genius and absolutely not a time-traveler.

  Looking at the two large boxes of goods, Qi Zhongmou felt dizzy with happiness. The 5,000 yuan worth of goods would bring in at least 20,000 yuan when sold back in Sichuan, enough to pay off the debt owed to Lin Zhenhua and leave a balance of 15,000 yuan, making him a millionaire. With this capital of over 10,000 yuan, he could take bold action and make big strides. He believed that within a few years, this sum would grow to 100,000 or even 1 million... As for becoming a billionaire, he estimated it was unlikely in his lifetime.

  "Qī brother, about the car skin thing I mentioned earlier, what do you think..." Lín Zhèn Huá reminded him at the right time.

  "No problem, I've got it covered!" Qi Zhongmou patted his chest loudly. "I'll accompany Brother Lan to take care of this, and after your goods are shipped out, I'll take care of my own business."

  "Then I'll have to trouble Qi brother with it." Lin Zhenhua cupped his hands together.

  Qī Zhòngmóu found the warehouse administrator, re-did the storage procedures, and separated his goods from Lín Zhènhuá's to avoid errors. Lín Zhènhuá selected two large boxes from his own goods, borrowed a small cart, and pushed them out of the warehouse. Their jeep was still waiting for them outside the warehouse. Lín Zhènhuá loaded the boxes properly, then everyone got on the car together.

  "Let's go, we'll eat something first, then Fengzi will return to the reception room, and Qi brother may still need to help me with some small things."

  "No problem, just give me the order." Qi Zhongmou replied, since someone had just lent him 5,000 yuan worth of goods, not to mention doing some small favors, even if he was asked to do something big like murder or arson, he would not refuse.

  While eating, taking advantage of Qi Zhongmou going to the toilet, Lan Wufeng pulled Lin Zhenhua and asked: "Lin Ge, why do you believe in this Qi so much?"

  "Fengzi, I'll tell you the truth. When I was a soldier, a comrade once told me about Qi Zhongmou. He seemed like a braggart, but in reality, he's a man with great ambitions. He wouldn't be tempted by this 5,000 yuan." Lin Zhenhua found an excuse that was somewhat plausible.

  "It turned out to be like this." Lan Wufeng slightly put his mind at ease, "But even if he doesn't owe us money, you didn't have to proactively lend him things, did you?"

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Fengzi, this is called venture capital, do you understand?"

  "I don't understand." Lan Wufeng said honestly, feeling that admitting ignorance in front of Lin Zhenhua wasn't anything to be ashamed of.

  Lin Zhenhua said: "Venture capital is when you find a project with development potential, you have to be willing to spend money on it. In the future, if this project develops, you can earn back ten times or even one hundred times the money."

  "What if this project fails?" Lan Wufeng asked.

  "Good question!" Lin Zhenhua praised, "If you fail, of course, you'll lose everything, that's what risk is. Venture capital means knowing there's a risk and still investing. High risk comes with high returns, understand?"

  "I understand a bit now," said Lan Wufeng, "Lin Ge, your meaning is that you think highly of this Qi Zhongmou and believe he will make a fortune in the future. Now that you've helped him out, he'll repay you tenfold or hundredfold in the future. But if he doesn't keep his word, then this money is just thrown away, that's the risk, right?"

  "Absolutely right. You have to know, it's precisely because there are risks that this investment is valuable. From Qi Zhongmou's perspective, I met him by chance, but just because I appreciated his character, I lent him 5,000 yuan. If he becomes successful in the future, won't he be grateful for my trust in him today?"

  "It's like that." Lan Wufeng nodded, "But 5,000 yuan is really too much. If it were 50 yuan, I would feel a bit safer."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled: "Fengzi, you're about to become a rich man. Now your perspective on money needs to change. If we sell all these goods, the minimum profit will be 100,000 yuan. At that time, will you still care about 5,000 yuan?"

  "Is there really so much?" Lan Wufeng exclaimed in surprise.

  "That's right, those ordinary electronic watches, the market price is 8 to 10 yuan, you calculate, how many pieces are in our box?"

  Lan Wufeng thought for a moment, his eyes becoming distant. He thought again and asked: "Lin Ge, with so many things, you're entrusting me to sell them all, are you at ease?"

  "Haha, it's venture capital." Lin Zhenhua summed it up in one sentence.

  "But I'm not comparable to Qi Zhongmou, Lin Ge. To be honest, I'm really not talented and I don't think I can do business. You'd better find someone who's good at business to take charge, and I'll just run errands for him."

  Lin Zhenhua scratched his head: "No way, I also can't find such a person now."

  "What if you hire Qi Zhongmou?" Lan Wufeng suggested.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "At first I really thought about it, but immediately gave up. Qi Zhongmou is not the kind of person who likes to be under others. If I recruit him now that he's down on his luck, maybe in the future we can't even be friends. Now if I lend him goods and help him accumulate his first pot of gold, perhaps he will be more grateful to me."

  "What you said might be right." Lan Wufeng said.

  Just as the two were talking, Qi Zhongmou returned with a big smile on his face, holding a porcelain bottle: "Lin brother, Lan brother, I just saw that they have Maotai wine at the counter, I bought a bottle back, let's drink well."