Chapter 63: The Story of Time

Spring's blooming flowers and autumn's breeze,
Along with winter's setting sun,
The windmill turns within the four seasons' cyclic song,
Spinning day after day.
Amidst romantic poetry of gentle winds and moonlit nights,
I grow up year by year.
Flowing water carries away the stories of time,
Changing a person...

Zhou Zhengye was singing outside the exam venue.
The final exams had finally come to an end, and the final vacation of high school had arrived. He felt an urge, almost like seeking sweet revenge, to figure out how to properly unwind.

As Zhou Luoyao and Zheng Nange stepped out of the school gates, they converged with him.
The same gleam sparkled in the eyes of all three;
Like three birds freed from their bonds, they dashed through the bustling campus and ran wildly all the way.

When they pushed open the door, breathless, a rich aroma of home-cooked food washed over them like a tidal wave.
Zhou Luoyao froze in her tracks on the spot...

Sitting in the living room was an extraordinarily handsome middle-aged man. His gaze was warm yet profound, carrying the lingering vicissitudes and wisdom of passing years.

Following closely behind them, Zhou Zhengye let out an exclamation: "Second Uncle!"
Zheng Nange looked in astonishment at his father, who had just emerged from the kitchen wearing an apron, and chuckled in disbelief:
"Well, if it isn't the esteemed Counselor Zhou gracing us with his presence! No wonder my dad actually deigned to cook!"

"Go on! Show some respect, you rascal!" Zheng Qun scolded with his sleeves rolled up.
Zhou Zeze laughed heartily, "I've heard people praising you, saying you're sensible and get top grades. Wonderful, simply wonderful."

Zheng Nange smiled and said, "Uncle Zhou, you really flatter me. If my dad spoke to me as nicely as you do, it would be perfection."
Zhou Zeze asked, "What? Doesn't your dad give you any face?"
"Uh... not as much face as your Luoyao gets!"
"Hahaha... Go wash your hands quickly. The dishes are all on the table, just waiting for the three of you."

Once the three of them were seated, Zheng Qun filled a glass of wine for Zhou Zeze, raised his own, and clinked glasses with him, saying, "Come, I propose a toast to you and your daughter being reunited!"
"Let's keep it moderate, keep it moderate," Zhou Zeze chuckled, showing not a single trace of his usual unrestrained demeanor.

Zhou Zhengye hurriedly interrupted, "Drink up, Second Uncle. You just came back from France, didn't you? How long is your break this time?"
"Half a month. There are quite a few things to take care of, so I'll be staying in the country for a while."
Zhou Zeze paused and looked at Zhou Luoyao;
His daughter sat with her legs neatly together, sipping her beverage in tiny sips, the very picture of a young lady from a good family.
"How did you do on your finals?"
"Average, nothing out of the ordinary," Zhou Luoyao smiled.
Having not seen each other for so long, she found it peculiar that her daughter seemed somewhat distant toward her.
"I looked at your previous report cards. My daughter is simply amazing!"
Zhou Luoyao knew her old man was flattering her. Ever since she was little, he was always flying here and there—well... she always had to readjust to his new style whenever he came back.

Unfazed, Zhou Zeze continued with a smile, "And what about Zhengye?"
"Is it all about grades the moment we meet? Have parents across the country all undergone the same standardized training?" Zhou Zhengye protested discontentedly.

Zheng Nange quickly rescued his best friend, saying, "Luoyao is in the top twenty, I'm in the top fifty, and Zhengye is in the top two hundred... Still, guys usually pick up the slack in the second semester."
Zheng Qun laughed, "Take it slow. There's still plenty of time; things will sort themselves out when we cross the bridge."
Zhou Zeze murmured to himself, "Is there really still plenty of time..."
"Well... half a year is enough."

"Luoyao, your dad actually isn't worried about your studies at all!" Zheng Qun joked, "What he really wants to know is whether some scoundrel is distracting you from your studies!"
Zhou Zhengye slammed his hand on the table, "There is! His name is Lin Cheng!"
"I don't! You're talking nonsense!" Zhou Luoyao blushed fiercely.
Zhou Zeze frowned and looked at Zheng Qun, "Who is Lin Cheng?"

"Hah, Lin Cheng? You have to hand it to the kid, he's quite interesting. His dad is the chairman of Lin Group, and his grades are pretty good—around the top twenty, about the same as Luoyao!" Zheng Qun spilled everything in one breath.
"Uncle Zheng!" Lin Luoran chided with a pout, "Why are you investigating people like that?"
She felt a bit uneasy. Despite her father's relaxed and worldly demeanor, he was extremely strict and overbearing when it came to managing her. What if he misunderstood? How embarrassing would that be?

Lin Cheng had become even busier during the winter vacation.
What he lacked most right now was time!
Fortunately, time was also the thing he had the most of!

On the second day of the break, the first expanded executive meeting of Cherry Media and Meichen Factory was held on schedule.
"First item: to boost company development, General Manager Chen Yan and Factory Director Ma Hongtao will each be assigned an Audi!"
"Ah? No, no, no," before Chen Yan could even speak, Ma Hongtao was already sweating profusely.

Lin Cheng waved his hand and said, "Factory Director Ma, let me finish: doing business requires a facade."
"If the company buys you a car directly, three taxes apply: a 13% value-added tax, a 25% corporate income tax, and a 20% personal income tax—amounting to a total tax burden of 58%. I won't do that."
"Fixed assets under five million can be fully deducted before taxes in the current year."
"A car can be fully depreciated in one year, bringing the net value of this asset down to zero, while expenses like fuel and maintenance can be used to write off taxes."
"After a year, we sell the car to an individual at a nominal price, and then lease the car back, which allows us to use the rental payments as expenses to offset taxes again."
"We're just playing with cars; big shots play with private jets—buying a private jet for 350 million and shuffling it around this way for a few years to pocket hundreds of millions..."

Chen Yan was left dumbfounded. He knew Lin Cheng had a sharp business mind, but he hadn't expected it to be so persuasively ruthless.
The office fell silent instantly, save for the accountant nodding repeatedly and Tao Lu furiously taking notes on what the boss was saying.

"Second: establish a trading branch under Pineapple Media, focusing on steel using revolving bank loans for working capital. The accounting department needs to prepare a loan-rollover schedule."
"We will divide the funds into three parts: first, continue looking for judicial auction properties or new ready-apartment developments; second, start small-scale steel trading; third, the smallest portion: keep it as a reserve fund to ensure Pineapple Media's operations and two months of loan repayments."

Chen Yan asked doubtfully, "The capital required for steel trading is so huge, how do we handle the upstream and downstream?"
"Me? I don't have enough experience!"
"If you don't know, learn! This sector isn't complicated. Well... I'll arrange for you to intern at the Urban Construction and Renovation Department of Lin Group later."

Lin Cheng preferred familiar territory. He had dealt in steel in his past life. Reinforcing steel bars in construction had too many overly complex specifications, so he decided to start with wire rods—currently only three specifications: 6.5, 8, and 10 millimeters—which had massive engineering demand.
Moreover, by leveraging Lin Group's existing suppliers and downstream users, this step would be easy to execute.

"If you flip it once a month, making a micro-profit, breaking even, or even taking a 1% to 3% loss is acceptable. If you turn it over more than twice a month, you've succeeded."
Could they actually afford to lose money? An invisible pressure instantly weighed down on Tao Lu's heart.
Lin Cheng explained: the inventory hoarding cycle should not exceed half a month. On one hand, you can use the steel as collateral during this period to secure new funding; on the other hand, the set break-even bottom line allows for a loss of up to 3%, which is still lower than loan interest.
The moment a single transaction turns a profit, it offsets the previous losses.
The purpose of trading steel is to maximize cash flow. Mastering everything from real estate mortgages to steel collateral, repayment terms, and interest rates is the real difficulty.

"Understood!" Tao Lu's eager expression slowly returned to calm. "So, is our little ship setting sail now?"
Lin Cheng smiled faintly, "Don't be afraid. As long as we can keep servicing the loans, the company's total assets will appreciate! The moment the capital chain breaks, we simply sell the properties at market price. Not only will we not lose money, but we'll even turn a profit."

Lin Cheng's ultimate advantage was his rebirth; he could go all-in every single time!
Although it seemed insane, there was simply no way to explain it! Yet his sunny smile always managed to fill people with absolute confidence.
Real estate is an immortal industry. As land resources become increasingly scarcer, scarcity generates absolute value, meaning land resources will inevitably become more and more expensive. Over the past twenty years, more than half of the wealthy individuals made their fortunes through real estate.
In the future, housing prices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and coastal cities would skyrocket all the way up.
These were all predictable futures for Zhou Sheng. Even though he operated with high liabilities just like in the later generations,
Wasn't this also an exceptional opportunity?

Before 2009, this item used to be an export commodity. Back when Zhou Sheng was in the shipping industry in his past life, he had transported it once and had even wondered at the time: can this junk actually make money?
However, exports were banned the very following year!
Yet his experience with his bulk cargo vessel transporting rotten leaves left a deep impression on him.

"Leaves have a name called forest litter: including leaf mold, decayed roots, tree bark, foliage, and roots... Aside from standard freight costs, the net profit is 270 US dollars per ton, which translates to 2,000 yuan!"
"Ah? Really?" Li Jiajia's eyes widened in disbelief. This kind of trash could actually make money?
"Of course it's steamed—and boiled too!" Zhou Sheng looked at her teasingly.
"Uh..."
"Then let's go pick up leaves!" Cheng Silin was a lively sort.

Zhou Sheng massaged his temple and said, "This business isn't small, and some cities have already started taking the lead in doing it. But clients aren't easy to find, especially for us."
"Then what should we do?" Xia Tree asked anxiously.

Making money relies on information asymmetry. If they made a big fuss out of it, they certainly couldn't compete with organized sanitation companies, so they had to do it quietly.
"That's a job for you and Silin. I'll give you a direction—go find customs brokers. First: look up the customs code for forest litter; second: ask them for the contact information of their downstream consignees."
"Will they help us?" Cheng Silin asked doubtfully.

"Customs broker young ladies don't make huge salaries. Money, gifts, and cosmetics are good things. They can earn a ten-thousand-yuan commission for facilitating a deal. But you aren't advertising; you tell them this only because they've actually cleared customs for leaves before."
"Oh..." Xia Tree suddenly understood.

"Of course, most customs brokers probably haven't handled anything so unusual. So start from the ports: buy the yellow pages of coastal cities with ports, pick out the customs brokers, and call them one by one. Anyway, northern cities don't start shedding leaves until October, so we have a six-month preparation window. If you can crack this business, your title of 'millionaire in debt' can turn into a real multi-millionaire!"
"So, do you have confidence in Linlin handling this?"
"Making phone calls? I can totally do that!"

"As long as you call a clerk who has handled this specific type of customs clearance, go visit them, follow up with gifts, and back it up with a commission! The travel and groundwork budget is estimated to be 50,000 to 100,000 yuan!"
"Great! I love making easy money!"
Xia Tree rolled up her sleeves and smacked the small table, making the teacup jump.

Zhou Sheng quickly pressed down on Xia Tree's hand and said hurriedly, "Hey, you still need to hold down the fort at headquarters. Assign this task to Linlin, she gets a 10% commission."
Cheng Silin giggled and asked, "Ah? How much would that be?"
"Let's calculate: 2,000 per ton, 500 tons is one million. What's ten percent of that?"
"Huh?" The number gave them all a huge jolt!

"As long as we secure clients, we can start with sawdust and bark from lumber mills, plus municipal landscaping trimmings from summer and autumn. Most importantly, we collect fallen leaves from northern city sanitation departments in October."
"Of course, this involves woven bags, tips for uncles and aunties, bulk cargo ships, truck transportation, and other links that need to be ironed out. So half a year sounds long, but it's actually quite short!"

After Zhou Sheng finished speaking with stirring passion, the others stared at him as if looking at a giant gorilla.
Was this the secret to picking up one million yuan right off the ground?
The pace of life in this city wasn't all that fast; even time itself felt unhurried.
Yet who could have known that in the future, wealth would become the most direct reflection of social status and personal value?
Matchmaking questions evolved from asking about someone's character to inquiring about how much savings they had, their educational background, and whether they owned a car and a house...
To make money and express value—that was simply the helplessness of modern life.

Meng Yueying stared at Zhou Sheng for a long while before saying, "I understand. Let's do it!"
Zhou Sheng nodded. This was precisely the period of information asymmetry. Once this information became common knowledge, the golden window would close!
"Then I want to collect leaves too!" Li Jiajia said, eager to try.

The atmosphere at the banquet grew lively.
Mayor Gu Yongkang stood up and headed to the restroom. On his way back, he ran into an acquaintance in the hallway. Chatting as they walked, they eventually parted ways at the corner. Returning to the table, he leaned over to Zheng Qun and whispered, "Secretary Sun Liguo has arrived in Gusu, and Cheng Hang is also upstairs. It's my fault for not arranging things properly today, look..."

Sun Liguo!?
The expressions of several people at the table shifted slightly. Sun Liguo, the deputy head of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, held quite a formidable reputation in the province!
He was a figure who had risen out of Gusu City all the way to the position of Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
He carried a somewhat legendary aura; everyone knew his speaking style was "sharp," and he possessed immense political maneuvering and capability.
In recent years, many officials had fallen from grace—naturally including his political rivals.
Everyone present was well aware of the adversarial relationship between Zheng Qun and Sun Liguo.
Therefore, hearing that Sun Liguo had arrived still made the hearts of a few people skip a beat.
Zhou Zeze cast an unreadable glance at Zheng Qun;