Chapter 121: |
Another Saturday rolled around, and Lin Qi sat on a row of empty tiered seats. At the bottom, there were plenty of reporters, many more than last time.
Revitalizing the second-hand goods trading market and reducing unnecessary waste in the consumption process had become a brand-new policy promoted by the mayor. This also meant that Lin Qi's second-hand goods auction would be promoted in a semi-official manner throughout the entire state.
If they could perform well within the state, even the Progressive Party's territory or the entire federation would begin to promote this new commodity system.
The first step was publicity. Last week, the mayor, including Ferrell, did not believe that Lin Qi's endeavor could create any miracles. They simply wanted to take advantage of the crowd gathered by Lin Qi to generate positive publicity for the mayor.
But the results turned out surprisingly well. Coupled with Lin Qi's willingness to cooperate with the mayor's actions and attribute the "credit" to the mayor, this led to the influx of so many reporters this time.
At the same time, this was also a test. If this auction fell significantly behind the previous one in the outskirts of the city, then Lin Qi's plans regarding second-hand goods trading would have to be put on hold temporarily.
A large number of reporters excitedly discussed and took photos. Perhaps it was their first time going on a mission with extra money to be had.
The money wasn't much, fifty bucks per person in cash plus some inconspicuous small gifts—pens, notebooks, and an unopened roll of film. Altogether, it was less than eighty bucks, but enough to satisfy them.
Reporters in this era were really easy to please. These small items could change their stance. In the future... maybe even eight hundred bucks wouldn't make them bat an eye?
This wasn't him refusing wealth; it was about formalizing the process.
From the beginning, the scene was lively. Perhaps due to the previous outbreak, people became very interested in trading second-hand goods. Especially in some related reports, it was astonishing to see some people buy brand-new items at almost sixty percent off.
Among the crowd were some who didn't actually want to buy anything but just came to look around. However, these people couldn't escape the fate of eventually spending money.
Lin Qi calmly watched the whole process, while Ferrell sat nervously beside him, constantly asking about the situation. This auction would determine the future direction of this matter.
Compared to Lin Qi, the party directly involved, Ferrell seemed somewhat less composed.
"Don't worry, nothing will go wrong," Lin Qi reassured him for the umpteenth time. Ferrell could only smile bitterly and stay quiet for a while, then ask again.
He cared a lot about Lin Qi, cared about whether Lin Qi could grow strong, whether he could become a towering tree, whether he could become his support.
Taking last week's experience into account, the auction, which was supposed to start after two, began an hour earlier, starting at one. Yet it still exceeded the expected time, barely ending by seven.
Staff began cleaning up the aftermath, while the young men sat restlessly on the side, awaiting the verdict of fate. Vera, with her subordinates, was swiftly tallying up.
Around seven-thirty, the final result came out: four hundred and eighty thousand, with some change that Lin Qi couldn't be bothered to look at.
This total was less than a thousand bucks lower than the previous week. It seemed like a good result, but in reality, it could only be considered barely passing. This was because the scale was larger this time, and of course, the absence of villa auctions contributed to the lack of highlights.
Overall, it was still satisfactory.
Then Vera handed Lin Qi another list. After reading it, he tucked it into his pocket without showing it to anyone else.
This list recorded how much money he made tonight—just over a hundred and ten thousand.
Twenty thousand came from auction seats, while the rest came from the base profit and profit sharing of the profit line. Overall, he was quite satisfied, but this list couldn't be shown to others.
Next was the time for settlement, which was also the moment the young men most anticipated.
"Richard..." Lin Qi sat behind a table piled with cash and called out Richard's name. Richard, with a smile that couldn't be contained, stood up.
Lin Qi looked at the young man and nodded. "You're first this time. You'll get... four thousand one hundred bucks." He counted out the money and stuffed it into Richard's arms.
Richard couldn't stop smiling. Behind him, and elsewhere, the eyes of the other young men turned red.
Undoubtedly, Richard was despicable, shameless, a scoundrel, a vile person!
Lin Qi had just found out that he had targeted lonely elderly people. But it had to be said, his insight was the best among everyone here. What those lonely elderly people needed most was interaction, even if they had to pay for it.
He keenly grasped how to make people shell out money and shamelessly executed it. This was one of the reasons he could come first this time.
The other reason was that he "borrowed" a hundred seats from the newsboys and gave them extra money.
As for why the newsboys sold these seats, it was also due to Lin Qi's instructions.
Lin Qi's goal wasn't to let people know they could earn money here, but to create a concept: that auction seats themselves were valuable, representing wealth and even tradable wealth.
In the end, he could even profit without gaining anything from the merchandise, just from the auction seats distributed each cycle, which could bring him astonishing wealth!
After Richard stepped aside, Lin Qi turned to Wood. "Wood, you're second. Three thousand seven hundred and ninety-five bucks..." He counted the money and handed it over.
Wood was a bit nervous and a bit excited as he packed the money into his bag, prepared beforehand, and thanked Lin Qi, then returned to his group, delighted.
Lin Qi continued to distribute money to these people until the last unlucky fellow received his share.
In fact, he couldn't be considered unlucky. This last guy was a bit older, looked serious, and didn't seem good at lightening the atmosphere like Wood.
So, he only made less than three hundred in profit, but he had to pay five hundred for the seat. He suffered a loss.
He wasn't the only one who suffered a loss; others did too. Simply put, about sixty thousand in profit would be divided among fifty people. Most of them took away just enough to break even, but the worst only lost two hundred bucks, just a month's salary for an ordinary worker.
This was within everyone's tolerance range and also made everyone excited and eager. At least Lin Qi proved with facts that as long as they worked hard, everyone had the chance to become Richard, to become Wood, to become a part of this wealth myth.
Next, Lin Qi had Cook drive over to pick up these young men and take them to the hotel he had booked—besides buying trucks, Lin Qi had also bought two buses for short-distance transportation within the city.
A week of intense preparation led to a good result. Lin Qi needed to relax and reward these young men.
Having a good time wasn't just one person's idea—it was a common view of the whole society!
He separately invited the ladies to enjoy a very exquisite and sumptuous dinner at the hotel restaurant. This time, besides Vera and the girl from before, there were three new girls.
Lin Qi's branches in other cities were under preparation. He would never complain about having too many accountants; instead, he often lamented the shortage of them. Moreover, he recognized the crucial importance of accountants in his operations.
Just like today, no matter how Lin Qi tried to hide it, at least Vera knew how much he earned in the end. This was something that couldn't be concealed. In the future, the operation and accounting of the branch would be managed by dispatched accountants. As long as he could control the accounts of the branches, Lin Qi wasn't afraid of other people messing around.
After dinner, as the waiter pushed a luggage cart over, the ladies were all attracted to it.
On the luggage cart were five bags, printed with the well-known logo of a famous brand in the Baylor Federation, "Lippo." It was a luxury accessory brand, and the main products were various ladies' accessories, including handbags.
Lin Qi gave each of them one. Besides a new season handbag with a different style, there was also another small surprise—a pendant worth about one to two hundred bucks.
When faced with tens of thousands of bucks, if these ladies weren't given some benefits as well, they would gradually lose their psychological balance.
This situation was very common in society. When most people encountered individuals like Richard and compared their income to their own, they would often feel a sense of imbalance. Accountants were no exception to this feeling.
To reduce the possibility of them being bribed, Lin Qi wasn't stingy with this little money. Each girl who received a handbag was pleasantly surprised, and two young girls even ran up to Lin Qi and kissed him on the face to express their gratitude and surprise.
Indeed, just the handbag and pendant alone were worth over three thousand bucks. It was very rare to see such a generous boss these days. People hadn't realized yet that appropriate extra expenses could help reduce unexpected losses.
Fine wine, exquisite food, and beautiful faces of the prosperous era. Perhaps with the idea of taking advantage of Lin Qi, the other two girls, encouraged by the first two, also kissed Lin Qi on the face.
Lin Qi could only sit in his chair with a helpless smile as the girls took turns "teasing" him, his face showing pure agony. After the four girls kissed Lin Qi, they even began to goad Vera on.
Alcohol really was a dreadful thing. Under their teasing, even Vera eventually planted a kiss on Lin Qi's face, just a peck.
Lin Qi joked that he planned not to wash his face for a week, so that the girls' lipstick marks would stay longer. This made the girls even more excited. Bosses like him were indeed rare.
After a while of noise, Lin Qi arranged for the hotel staff to take them upstairs to rest. These girls were very young, and youth also meant lack of restraint. They had drunk quite a bit, and Lin Qi wasn't confident in them going home alone, so he booked rooms at the hotel.Please vote for this novel at https://www.novelupdates.com/series/blackstone-code/There are advance chapters available nowAccess will be granted 24 hours after the donationTier 1: 7 Advance chapters Link
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