Chapter 314: Why Not Jump In First and Figure It Out Later?

“Why did Vice Chairman Wei call?”

Director Liu Haoran understood perfectly well why Politburo member Liu Peiqi was so displeased.

Liu Peiqi had decided to purchase fourteen tons of gold from Chairman Zhen Weiliang and present it as a gift to Chairman Xi Jinping.

During the negotiations with Zhen Weiliang, Vice Chairman Wei Chen had taken their side.

However, at the most critical moment, he had suddenly claimed that urgent business had come up and left the meeting.

Having lost their ally, they were unable to maintain a strong position in the negotiations with Zhen Weiliang.

As if that were not enough, an anomaly occurred: the price of gold soared overnight from eight hundred fifty thousand dollars to nine hundred thousand dollars per kilogram.

Believing the price could rise even further, they had no choice but to accept Zhen Weiliang’s terms.

In the end, purchasing fourteen tons of gold would cost them twelve billion dollars—five hundred million more than originally planned.

Because of that, Liu Peiqi was absolutely furious with Wei Chen.

“Brother, Vice Chairman Wei defended our position very actively.”

“If he hadn’t left at the most critical moment, we could have bought the gold cheaper.”

“He must have had a good reason.”

“I’m not in the mood. Let’s drop it.”

The anger in Liu Peiqi’s voice had not faded in the slightest.

Realizing that it would be better not to provoke him right now, Liu Haoran hurriedly changed the subject.

“Vice Chairman Wei is in the Philippines right now.”

“What the hell is he doing there?”

“He said he’s there on business. Vice Chairman Wei said that if you want...”

Liu Peiqi’s heart felt heavy.

To secure a seat on the Standing Committee, he needed to present Xi Jinping with at least twenty tons of gold.

So far, he had purchased fourteen tons. He still needed another six.

Fortunately, Vice Chairman Wei Chen could obtain the remaining six tons.

But money had him completely tied down.

Buying six tons of gold would require at least five billion dollars.

And his pockets were completely empty.

While he was trying to figure out a way to come up with five billion dollars, Liu Haoran finally reached the point of his story.

“...What do you think about buying the gold from Vice Chairman Wei?”

“I’d like to, but we don’t have the money.”

“What if we borrow from Secretary Deng?”

Originally, Liu Peiqi had planned to purchase nine tons of gold from Zhen Weiliang.

But Zhen had suddenly offered to sell him another five tons.

Since his goal was to gather twenty tons, Liu Peiqi had readily accepted the offer.

Because he was short on funds, he had promised Secretary Deng Zhiping a high interest rate and borrowed 4.5 billion dollars.

Under those circumstances, how could he possibly borrow more?

“Say something useful.”

“Then tell me if you have a way to get the money.”

“We just need to catch Go Yeongjun, who fled to the Philippines.”

Liu Haoran’s head was starting to ache just thinking about the problem.

After receiving information that Go Yeongjun was hiding in Davao, the largest city on Mindanao Island, they had hurriedly dispatched a pursuit team there.

But even though the team had searched Davao from top to bottom, they had failed to find so much as a strand of his hair.

“It looks like that bastard found out we sent a pursuit team to Davao.”

“Could someone on our side have leaked the information to him?”

“I think so too, Brother.”

“If we lose him because of that...”

Liu Haoran shook his head and answered Liu Peiqi’s concern.

“Go Yeongjun can only leave Mindanao Island by plane or ship. Our people have already sealed off the ports and airports.”

“Then we’ll catch him soon enough. What about borrowing the remaining money from Vice Chairman Wei?”

“I already borrowed three billion dollars from him.”

“Hmm. I hadn’t thought of that. Then what are we supposed to do?”

“Why not jump in first and figure it out later?”

“And what if we can’t get the money?”

“We’re not presenting the gold to the Chairman right away, are we?”

Liu Peiqi understood what Liu Haoran was getting at.

The National People’s Congress, where the Standing Committee members would be selected, was scheduled to take place in three months.

To make it through the selection, the offering had to be delivered to Xi Jinping at least one month before the congress.

That meant they still had two precious months left.

If they managed to catch Go Yeongjun, who had fled to the Philippines, within that time, they would be able to obtain the money needed to buy the gold.

“Hmm. You’re right.”

“Should I call Vice Chairman Wei back?”

“Call him.”

Liu Peiqi readily agreed.

***

President Gonzalez glanced at the wall clock and turned to me.

“Director Cha, why do you think Director Liu Haoran still hasn’t called back?”

‘Mr. President, it’s only been twenty minutes.’

“He’s probably consulting Politburo member Liu Peiqi right now.”

“Do you think he’ll buy the gold?”

“He has already secured fourteen of the twenty tons he needs for his offering to Chairman Xi Jinping. He’s so close to his goal that he has no choice but to buy the remaining six tons.”

“But buying six tons of gold requires an enormous amount of money.”

To purchase fourteen tons of gold from Zhen Weiliang, Liu Peiqi had borrowed three billion dollars from Wei Chen and 4.5 billion from Secretary Deng Zhiping.

Under those circumstances, it was safe to assume he had no money left to purchase another six tons of gold.

“He’s overflowing with ambition, so he’ll claw together the money somehow.”

“I hope so.”

Bzzz—

At that moment, the phone in Vice Chairman Wei Chen’s hand began to vibrate.

After checking the number, he said that it was Liu Haoran and smoothly pressed the answer button.

“Director Liu, I’m listening.”

[Vice Chairman Wei, my brother intends to purchase six tons of gold.]

“That’s excellent news.”

[However, we have no intention of buying it at an outrageous price.]

“How about a five percent discount from the LBMA price?”

[Is that true?!]

Wei Chen understood perfectly well why Liu Haoran was so surprised.

Zhen Weiliang had offered Liu Peiqi fourteen tons of gold at a three percent discount from the LBMA price.

Naturally, Liu Peiqi had called the offer absurd and refused.

After long, exhausting negotiations, they had ultimately settled on a four percent discount from the LBMA price.

And now they were suddenly being offered a five percent discount. Of course Liu Haoran was shocked.

“I sincerely support Politburo member Liu in pursuing his great dream.”

Those hypocritical words made Wei Chen feel as though cats were clawing at his insides.

But for the sake of achieving his goal, he had to endure it.

[I know very well that you’ve been helping my brother, Vice Chairman Wei.]

“May I take that as your acceptance of my offer?”

[How could we possibly refuse such favorable terms?]

“Haha. Excellent. I’ll see you in Hong Kong soon.”

[But isn’t your business based in Macau?]

A chill ran down Wei Chen’s spine.

Cha Jiham had anticipated in advance that Liu Haoran might ask such a question,

and had given him an answer that Liu Haoran would have no way to argue against.

Remembering Cha’s instructions, Wei Chen replied,

“I came to the Philippines urgently at Chairman Zhen Weiliang’s request.”

[What do you mean?]

“Chairman Zhen knew that Politburo member Liu still needed another six tons of gold. So he sent me to an acquaintance of his in the Philippines to purchase that gold.”

[Ah, I see.]

“Buying six tons of gold will require a considerable amount of money. Will you be able to raise it?”

[Of course. We just need to catch Go Yeongjun, who fled to the Philippines.]

The words ‘You’d better forget about that’ nearly slipped out of Wei Chen’s mouth and hovered on the tip of his tongue, but through superhuman restraint, he managed to hold them back.

“Director Liu, do you know exactly where Go Yeongjun is hiding?”

[We received information that he’s hiding somewhere on Mindanao Island.]

“It would be best to catch him as soon as possible.”

[Is there some particular reason?]

“Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan is also planning to present gold to Chairman Xi Jinping.”

[Could it be...]

Wei Chen understood perfectly well why Liu Haoran had trailed off.

“That’s right.”

[Damn it!]

Click.

Liu Haoran unilaterally hung up.

Wei Chen was furious, but with witnesses present, he showed nothing on his face.

As soon as he lowered the phone, President Gonzalez cautiously asked,

“Were you unable to reach an agreement with Director Liu?”

Since Wei Chen had spoken to Liu Haoran in Chinese,

President Gonzalez had not understood the substance of their conversation.

“How could that be?”

“Then why do you look so gloomy?”

“Director Liu simply had the nerve to hang up on me.”

“Ah, that’s nothing. Tell us what you discussed.”

“Politburo member Liu has expressed his intention to purchase the gold. However, due to a lack of funds, he can’t do so immediately.”

“Then how does he intend to obtain the money he’s missing?”

Wei Chen found himself in a difficult position.

Explaining how Liu Peiqi planned to raise the funds would inevitably require mentioning Go Yeongjun,

and that could send the conversation in a completely unwanted direction.

At a time like this, a harmless lie was necessary.

“Director Liu said they would obtain the money by any means necessary.”

“All right. I understand the gist of it.”

“To sell the gold to Politburo member Liu, we’ll definitely need a contract.”

In other words, they needed to draw up a gold sales agreement.

“Director Santiago, you heard Vice Chairman Wei.”

***

Since our involvement wasn’t necessary for drafting the contract, we returned to our suite.

National Intelligence Service Director Om Giyeon sat down on an empty sofa and turned to me.

“Chief Cha, shouldn’t we prepare a backup plan just in case?”

Vice Chairman Wei Chen was planning to sell six tons of gold to Liu Peiqi.

However, Liu Peiqi currently had no money to buy it.

Aware of that, NIS Director Om Giyeon suggested considering other candidates.

“I’ve already prepared a backup plan.”

“Is that so? Let’s hear it.”

“Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan is also among the candidates for the vacant seat on the Standing Committee.”

“You mean he also intends to present gold to Chairman Xi Jinping?”

“That’s right, Director Om.”

At that moment, CIA Director Griffin joined the conversation with a question.

“Chief Cha, where did you get that information?”

“Deputy Secretary Zhang regularly calls Chairman Zhen and asks him to obtain gold for him.”

“Ah, now I understand.”

“Watching Politburo member Liu and Deputy Secretary Zhang fight it out should be quite entertaining.”

“Oh yes, without a doubt.”

Director Griffin nodded enthusiastically, fully agreeing with me.

***

“Vice Chairman Wei went to the Philippines at Chairman Zhen’s request.”

“That bastard claims he’s thinking of me, yet he skinned me alive!”

Liu Peiqi roared at the top of his lungs, still seething with anger at Zhen Weiliang.

“There must have been a reason. Besides, he’s offering the six tons of gold at a five percent discount from the LBMA price.”

“Hmm. So he does have at least a shred of conscience left.”

“Exactly. But the problem is that Deputy Secretary Zhang keeps pestering Chairman Zhen.”

Liu Peiqi was ready to explode.

The vacant seat on the Standing Committee would most likely go either to him or to Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan.

To curry favor with Xi Jinping, he had purchased diamonds from Zhen Weiliang.

However, while the diamonds were being presented, Secretary Deng Zhiping had suddenly brought up lab-grown diamonds.

Upon hearing that, Xi Jinping had erupted in anger, accusing Liu Peiqi of lying and showing off.

In the end, Liu had been thrown out of the office in disgrace without even managing to present the gift.

Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan was undoubtedly planning to take advantage of that blunder, overtake him, and present gold to the Chairman.

The problem was that there was no way to stop him.

“Haa...”

Liu Peiqi let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the ceiling.