Chapter 20: Searching For Help
“The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish,” Ino Yusuke murmured, repeating it twice, his glasses suddenly lighting up.
“Mr. Chen, I’m really appreciating you more and more.”
“You, like us, have a spirit of tenacious struggle…”
“However, appreciation is appreciation, business is business.”
“This time, the materials we provided total 640 tons, equivalent to 100,000 US Dollars, with the main attraction being those 20 cases of medicine.”
“The medicine is very sensitive and cannot be stored in the warehouse, so we have stored it elsewhere.”
“Here is a business card with Ando-kun’s telephone number on it. After you find a buyer, contact Ando-kun as soon as possible, and he will arrange a vehicle to deliver the medicine.”
“Remember, you must not make any mistakes, otherwise, people will die.”
Ino Yusuke was right; if this medicine thing is discovered, people will indeed die.
Before PEN appeared, sulfonamide anti-inflammatory drugs were the mainstream on the battlefield.
HX has been in constant warfare for years, from the late Qing Dynasty to the Beiyang Government, then to the Blue Army dominating HX after the Northern Expedition succeeded, maintaining this for several decades.
And now with RB invading HX, wars are incessant everywhere. No matter which red or blue faction, the demand for medicine far exceeds the demand for materials.
Moreover, the value of this thing is really too high.
Even ordinary anti-inflammatory tablets are sold by the pill on the black market, with each pill priced between two and five silver dollars, depending on the situation.
Ino Yusuke brought out 20 cases of medicine but directly stated their value as 100,000 US Dollars, so they must definitely be anti-inflammatory injections.
The price of injections in hospitals is generally 20 silver dollars per injection, and they have always been in short supply.
What Ino Yusuke provided is smuggled imported goods from a French business firm, with specifications of one case containing 100 boxes, each box 12 vials, which works out to about four US Dollars per injection, but the highest can sell for 12 US Dollars per injection.
A 300% profit; this price is enough for people to take risks for it.
Chen Yang took the business card and put it in his inner pocket, saying calmly: “Ino-kun, rest assured, within three days, I will definitely handle it cleanly.”
Ino Yusuke patted Chen Yang’s shoulder: “Mr. Chen, if you can do it, then you will be our only partner.”
*****
Shanghai, Fukaisen Road, Lin Mansion.
Chen Yang quickly settled the price for the materials with Lin Xueli.
The chamber of commerce in the French Concession and many large business firms are currently stockpiling materials.
Lin Xueli had tried every method but made little progress. When he heard Chen Yang say he had materials worth 110,000 US Dollars, he immediately agreed to have Chen Yang reserve them for him.
He needed one day to raise funds, after all, 110,000 US Dollars is not a small amount, and with his wealth, he really couldn’t take it out all at once.
With the materials matter settled, Chen Yang began to worry about the medicine matter.
Although he had guaranteed Ino Yusuke that he could handle the medicine within three days, he actually had no confidence in his heart.
The profit from medicine is far higher than from materials; for this batch of materials, Chen Yang was just earning hard labor fees.
But medicine is different; he at least needed to earn enough to buy the several shops next to Lin Yongren’s, otherwise, he would have worked for nothing.
Therefore, the price for these 20 cases of sulfonamide anti-inflammatory drugs needed to be at least around 130,000 US Dollars.
That works out to 6,500 US Dollars per case.
There aren’t many people in Shanghai bold enough to do medicine business; you need real ability to get involved, because getting caught means execution by firing squad.
Moreover, these people doing medicine business all have their own channels; even if Chen Yang brings the medicine to their door, they may not dare to take it.
Who knows if after he takes the medicine, RB people might come chasing right after.
So, in his current situation, he could only find a middleman to make a handoff.
And the best choice for this middleman was that Second Brother Lin Xueyi, who was single-minded about doing black market business.
Of course, if possible, this batch of medicine would naturally be best reserved for the organization’s use.
But now the situation was urgent, and Chen Yang couldn’t guarantee that Jianbing could gather the corresponding payment within three days.
Even if the payment was gathered, he couldn’t guarantee that Jianbing had the strength to get these medicines out of Shanghai.
Most critically, the delivery was being done by RB people; if exposed carelessly, revealing Jianbing’s identity, that would truly be a crime deserving ten thousand deaths.
After thinking it over, Chen Yang still decided to send the goods to the black market.
He made a telephone call and told Lin Xueyi about the medicine matter; Lin Xueyi didn’t suspect the source of the medicine at all.
He really believed, as Chen Yang said, that this batch of medicine was for internal use by the Osaka Chamber of Commerce, and that he had secretly taken it out to sell.
After hanging up, Chen Yang felt some sigh; he really didn’t know how this naive Second Brother had survived in the Green Gang all these years.
In the evening, the servants in the Lin family kitchen were preparing dinner under the direction of Butler Aunt Gui.
Chen Yang came down the stairs and before he could sit down, Lin Xueyi rushed in energetically from outside.
“Chen Yang, I’ve found the connection; we can make the transaction tonight.”
Lin Xueyi started shouting as soon as they met, giving Chen Yang an instant headache.
Isn’t this the kind of thing you blurt out in public? Is your brain okay?
Chen Yang covered Lin Xueyi’s mouth and dragged him into the study room.
“Chen Yang, what are you doing? I’m just here to notify you; our boss said we can make the transaction tonight.”
“The price is as you said, 150,000 US Dollars for 20 cases of goods, but according to the rules, we take a 10% cut of the profit.”
Chen Yang frowned and said: “Price is not the issue; the issue is whether your boss is reliable? Will the people he finds have problems?”
Lin Xueyi said confidently: “Chen Yang, put your mind at ease.”
“Our boss is famously righteous; the trading partner he finds for you is absolutely no problem.”
“Moreover, we are just the middleman; during the formal transaction, it will still be you personally handling the handover and inspection.”
“If your goods don’t match the description and something goes wrong, I can’t save you.”
“Here, the transaction address is on this.”
Chen Yang took the note and opened it to see an address: 1129 Maoming Road, Kui Xing Ji Cotton Mill.
“Second Brother, I want to know if I can receive the money on site?” After reading it, Chen Yang tore up the note and threw it into the spittoon.
Lin Xueyi looked at Chen Yang in surprise: “Chen Yang, it seems you really are doing this kind of business for the first time.”
“You really don’t understand Shanghai’s rules much; let me tell you, of course it’s not like that.”
“Generally, it’s goods first, then payment; after you complete the transaction, the funds will be delivered to our stall.”
“If the other side doesn’t deliver, your loss will be compensated by us.”
“We are the middleman; earning this money from you is not for free.”
“Of course, if during the transaction process the goods have issues and the other side refuses, then you still have to pay.”
“In short, since you came to us to handle this, whether it succeeds or not, you have to pay.”
Chen Yang listened for a while and finally understood; this was just to prevent skipping the middleman.
