In the early morning, as the sky was just beginning to lighten, Luca suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling for a while in a daze.
It’s hard to sleep when you have something on your mind. In fact, he had already woken up twice in the middle of the night and had gone back to sleep, but he just couldn’t sleep soundly.
He was a little flustered, but also a little excited.
Not everyone gets a chance in their life to screw over the Liji Agricultural Group. The Liji Group didn’t have a good reputation among the Lawrence family.
When they had tried to use their channels to extort the family, some conflicts had broken out between the two sides.
So, he had no psychological burden in doing this, except for being a little scared.
After all, a large farmer family, no matter how formidable, was still just a large farmer.
And the Liji Group was already a successful and mature capital. Every capital was like a ship.
Some ships are smaller, not only can they not run people over, but they will also capsize themselves.
But there are also some ships that, let alone people trying to block them, even an iceberg would be crushed by them.
He got out of bed. It was strange, he clearly shouldn’t have gotten enough rest, but for some reason, he didn’t feel very tired, and his spirits were also very high.
After a simple wash-up, he came to the dining room, got himself some milk chocolate cereal, and casually picked up the newspaper he had just brought back.
Before the Harvest Festival, the main topic of discussion in Golden Port Today was still the kidnapping case, but in just three or four days, before the Harvest Festival, it seemed to have lost its heat of discussion.
There were still people discussing it, and its influence was also expanding outwards, but for some reason, it just gave people a feeling that there was nothing good to discuss.
In fact, this feeling came from the rapid “investigation” work. The coffin was sealed and the conclusion was reached. The good guys and the bad guys, the good things and the bad things, were all divided up as if by a textbook. Then naturally, there was no hot spot for discussion.
People might care about where the missing teenagers had gone, but there was nothing good to talk about in such a matter.
You can’t just have a group of people sitting together and asking each other “Where do you think so-and-so was sold to?” or similar topics, right?
Compared to these topics, the fact that those who should bear the responsibility had taken responsibility, and the bad guys had all been punished, was more attractive to people.
On the contrary, the situation in the Dantra Republic had been continuously deteriorating recently. The Secretary of State had already started negotiations with the Dantra ambassador. It was said that the negotiation process was not so friendly.
While chewing the hard cereal, and enjoying the unique texture and sweetness of the sweet milk, chocolate, and cereal, this was one of the favorite breakfasts of the Federation people.
He was like an office worker, eating breakfast while caring about national affairs. Then he tidied up these things and returned to his bedroom.
After changing into a neat outfit, he took a deep breath in front of the mirror and left home with his briefcase.
His target was the Liji Group’s office.
At eight o’clock, the staff of the Liji Group had already arrived at the docks. They would have a “work list” telling them what they were to do here today.
Basically, it was either opening warehouses and transporting things out, or opening warehouses and putting things in.
These staff members briefly scanned the list and began to assign work.
This work also required the assistance of the dockworkers. After they had requested enough workers from the dock management company, they began to work.
The moment the huge warehouse door was pulled open, the expression on the face of the person standing by the door changed a little.
Because a wave of hot air rushed out of the warehouse, accompanied by a kind of indescribable damp, grassy smell.
He stared intently at the changes in the warehouse, his mouth also opening wider and wider, like the constantly opening warehouse door, unable to close.
A small green mountain!
The moment the light entered the dark warehouse, the mountain of sprouted wheat had already appeared before him. He opened his mouth so wide that his jaw was about to dislocate, and his thoughts stopped at this moment.
He suddenly lowered his head and glanced at the delivery order in his hand. It said “wheat,” not “malt.”
Wheat refers to the unpeeled wheat grains, while the peeled ones are “wheat kernels.” After he had confirmed the items on the delivery order again and again, a wave of urgency to urinate rushed to his head.
He ran like a madman to the outside of another huge warehouse, urging the workers to open the warehouse door, and then the third, and the fourth.
Seven or eight minutes later, the door to the general manager’s office inside the Liji Group’s building was knocked on.
The general manager was reading the newspaper. On the table was also a dinner plate and a coaster. He held the newspaper in one hand and a coffee cup in the other.
Breakfast was solved in the office. The secretary would prepare these foods and coffee for him, which was much more convenient than preparing them at home himself.
He was also well aware of the secretary’s little thoughts. The workplace in the Federation was like this, full of personal connections and relationships.
If someone thought that these things would not happen in their workplace in the Federation, it must be because they had no value and could not create value.
“Come in.”
The small, blonde secretary poked her upper body in. She was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, which made her look a little stupid.
“It’s a call from the docks. They say there’s something they must tell you in person, on line one.”
The general manager put down his coffee cup. “Thank you for the coffee. The coffee is very good!” He smiled slightly, then gestured for the other party to go out, and at the same time, picked up the phone and pressed the button for line one.
“What is it?”
“Something big has happened. Four warehouses with several million worth of wheat have sprouted!”
The general manager didn’t react at first. “Just pick out the sprouted wheat, isn’t that enough?”
“You have to call me and have me answer you personally for such a simple matter?”
He even found it a little funny.
In fact, in the process of transporting and storing these agricultural products, there would indeed be some abnormal situations sometimes.
For example, if the site was poorly managed and there were leaks or drips, causing a portion of the crops to sprout, this was very normal.
Just pick out this portion of the crops, or simply mix it in, and no one would notice.
He didn’t think such a small matter required him to solve it personally. He was about to hang up the phone as he spoke, but the person on the other end of the line hurriedly added, “What I mean is, it has all sprouted.”
“All… has all sprouted?” The general manager laughed twice. “Are you telling me a joke?”
“To be honest, you made me laugh, but this joke is not very funny.”
The smile on his face had already begun to gradually fade, because he knew that this call was highly unlikely to be a joke.
“You’d better come and see for yourself.”
He hung up the phone and then picked it up again. “Arrange a car for me. I’m going to the dock warehouse, immediately.”
Five minutes later, a luxury sedan was parked at the company entrance. The general manager came out of the elevator and got into the car.
About ten minutes later, the car stopped outside the warehouse.
He got out of the car and found that a lot of people had already gathered outside the warehouse.
Seeing this car, the staff member in charge of this case quickly walked over with a pale face.
He wanted to say something, but the general manager glared him back, then pushed through the crowd and stood outside the main gate of the warehouse.
A green mountain of wheat. His face became even worse. He strode over, casually grabbed a handful of sprouted wheat, but couldn’t pull it out.
He pulled hard and only managed to pull out a small handful. He looked around, found a shovel, and started shoveling at the mountain of wheat.
The air by the sea was very humid. It was possible that only the surface of these was damp. He was comforting himself, although he already had some judgment.
As the place he shoveled got deeper, the situation inside was just as bad.
It had either sprouted or showed signs of mold. This wheat was all ruined.
He threw the shovel away and looked at the constantly sweating staff member beside him, taking a deep breath. “What’s going on with this wheat?”
The staff member immediately presented the delivery order. “These are all to be delivered to the client today. I came over in advance to check and load them in advance.”
“But I didn’t expect…”
He didn’t expect it to be all fucking green.
The general manager’s temples were throbbing.
Even if his wife cheated on him, he wouldn’t be this angry. It was nothing more than changing a woman, and it wouldn’t cost much money.
But here was fucking $2 million worth of wheat, all sprouted and moldy.
How could the company possibly be willing to accept such a huge loss?
His gaze was a bit dazed. He might even be in trouble.
Before, the head office had been very dissatisfied with some of his work results, especially on the grape transaction, which had caused the company to earn over $2 million less—
It wasn’t a loss of over $2 million, but earning over $2 million less. They had some discussions about whether the general manager was capable of continuing in this position.
But fortunately, his connections in the head office had suppressed some of the negative influence. After all, who could have expected the price of grapes to rise so quickly, so outrageously?
If that problem could still be suppressed, then this problem, I’m afraid, could not.
And, it wasn’t just a problem of $2 million worth of sprouted and moldy wheat, but also a matter of a penalty.
A double penalty.
His expression became a bit subtle. This method…
“First, have someone deal with this wheat and see if any of it can be salvaged.”
“I’ll go and report to my superiors. This kind of thing is not something I can decide on.”
After returning to the company, he immediately found the manager who had signed this contract.
“Tell me about the process of you signing this contract, including the details.”
The manager had gotten a lot of commission from this contract. This should have been a happy thing.
But at this moment, for the general manager to say this, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he began to recount the entire signing process with some unease.
“You said he took the initiative to talk about the penalty issue?”
The manager quickly nodded. “Yes, he proposed the need to increase the penalty to restrain our transaction behavior.”
“I told him that our Liji Group would not engage in any behavior that would damage our business reputation, but this Mr. Luther believed that only a penalty could truly restrain us from breaching the contract.”
“And he accepted our 25% deposit requirement, as well as an offer slightly higher than the market price.”
“Because the other party was in a hurry, the selling price was 7% higher than the normal price.”
If it were a normal delivery schedule, Mr. Luther might not have been able to pick up the goods until November.
But after he had increased the price, the company was willing to prioritize his delivery. This was the charm of money.
Don’t look at 7% as not much. This 7% was actually pure profit. In a relatively low-profit product like agricultural products, it was already very amazing.
Their own gross profit was only 20% to 30%. This was equivalent to directly increasing their net profit by 50% or even more.
The female manager finally added, “The supervisor and the others also knew about the entire signing process, and they also requested instructions from the head office.”
After hearing this, the general manager felt more and more that this case and ordinary penalty cases had a strange similarity.
Although he had no evidence, he just felt that it might be the same group of people behind this.
And the reason was simple: revenge.
Although they had delivered the grapes and had not recovered much of their losses, that was because the other party was a bank.
He had learned through some channels that the bank had made a profit of about $1.2 million on the grape case. In other words, this was the other party’s loss.
If they had delivered these grapes according to the contract, whether it was spot goods or a direct settlement of the contract, this money should have belonged to that buyer.
Could it be them?
Using this method to make up for the loss?
He wasn’t sure.
At this time, the female manager looked at him after he had been in thought for a while and couldn’t help but ask softly, “What’s wrong with this contract?”
This concerned her commission issue. For a $2 million order, she could get at least a $5,000 commission. This was a lot of money.
The general manager came back to his senses. He looked at her. “The wheat has sprouted.”
The female manager breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could say the words the general manager had said on the phone, the general manager added, “All of it!”
Just as the female manager was so shocked by this news that she couldn’t speak, the phone suddenly rang again.
The general manager picked up the phone. It was a call from the docks.
“A Mr. Luther is here with a delivery order and a contract, demanding to pick up the goods now…”
The feeling that the whole thing was a conspiracy became even stronger. The general manager had the female manager go to the docks first to talk to this client, while he himself had to report this matter to the head office.
The Liji Group’s headquarters, like most industry monopoly companies, was rude, barbaric, and arrogant.
In the company lobby, you could see a spectacular scene that you couldn’t see in other companies.
A large number of staff were talking on the phone in an impolite tone. The other end of these calls were mostly farmers who were complaining about them, or farmers who were calling to curse them.
The Liji Group used its channel advantage to force farmers to sign unequal settlements. But even so, when there were major price fluctuations, they would still unhesitatingly tear up the already unfair contract and then demand more profit.
When a corporate group grows to a certain size, and they have to face many lawsuits…
The litigation costs will be like industrial production costs. As the volume continues to increase, the cost will continue to decrease.
They directly hired a large number of lawyers to fight their lawsuits. With or without a lawsuit, it was the same money. They didn’t care about winning or losing, as long as they could drag it out.
For the farmers, if they didn’t sign those unequal terms…
The agricultural products would rot in the fields.
If they signed those unequal terms, then they could only earn a meager profit.
Besides cursing them and complaining about them, there was almost no other good solution.
They, like those insurance companies, were all making money without a conscience.
But this also conformed to the saying that after you put down your conscience, you make more money.
The vice president was looking at the price of the latest yacht. His previous one was a bit old, and he planned to change to a bigger, newer one.
He casually picked up the phone. “What is it?”
The general manager recounted what had happened. His expression also gradually became serious.
The sprouted wheat was easy to solve. There were ways to squeeze out their value through industrial means.
Whether it was making maltose and then trying to disguise it as honey, or re-processing it into wheat products such as cereal and selling it, they had channels.
As one of the largest agricultural product channel distributors, the Liji Group had very close cooperation with many agricultural product processors. This was an entire industry and industrial chain, and they had long had corresponding emergency measures.
What was really troublesome was the double penalty, $4 million.
“Find a way to appease the client. Tell him we will transfer another batch of wheat from other places.”
The general manager’s voice came from the receiver, “If, I mean if, the other party doesn’t agree and sues us for compensation for breach of contract, what do we do?”
The vice president frowned. Who the fuck would go against them for no reason?
But it was also possible, no, there was a high probability that such a thing would happen.
Because forcing the other party to breach the contract, and then suing to get the penalty, was also a way for capital to make money, and it was faster, more, and simpler.
Selling a hundred-dollar product for two hundred dollars at retail seems to have a one hundred percent profit, but it also includes various transportation costs, storage costs, sales costs, etc.
But if you sue the other party for breach of contract and have them directly compensate you with two hundred dollars, that’s fucking pure profit.
“If the other party insists on resolving it with us through litigation, then we’ll fight them, and drag it on.”
The vice president let out a cold laugh. “I don’t believe it. In the Federation, there’s still someone who can fight us.”
Of course, this was a big talk. In fact, there were many capital groups and political groups that could fight them. It was just that in his view, this small trouble in front of him was no match for them.
The general manager splashed cold water on him again. “If, I mean if, if this person solves it through a bank?”
“They transfer the creditor’s rights to the bank. As long as they give the bank enough benefits, I believe any bank would be willing to accept this transaction.”
“Even some capital groups, they would also be willing. After all, for a capable person or organization, this money can be taken away at any time.”
Whether it was a bank or those large capital groups, it was not a difficult matter for them to get this money back from the Liji Group.
Just like the last case, when they learned that the creditor had become a bank, they directly gave up their resistance and paid the money to settle the matter.
However, this also made the vice president think of that case. “Are you saying they are the same group of people?”
(End of chapter)