Chapter 151: Another Exchange (Monthly Votes Requested)

Ning Zhiheng returned to his front door, unloaded the three leather suitcases, carried them inside, and bolted the door securely.

Turning around, he looked at another three massive chests of wealth. It seemed having too much money was also a trouble. With no other choice, he mustered his energy, opened the trunks, and sorted and cleared all the valuables inside.

The hidden gold retrieved this time included a relatively large amount of pounds and dollars. After a brief count, there were a full twenty thousand British pounds and fifty thousand US dollars. As for gold bars, there were one hundred and ten, along with a few gold ingots. He couldn't even be bothered to count the fiat currency!

By this time, it was already past three in the morning. Having run around all day, Ning Zhiheng was truly exhausted and sleepy. Leaving the room full of banknotes and gold bars scattered about, he simply didn't care to tidy them up.

He threw himself onto the bed, let his consciousness enter the spiritual pedestal space, completely relaxed his mind, and plunged into deep meditation!

The spiritual pedestal space was the finest miraculous medicine. After just a few short hours, when Ning Zhiheng woke up the morning, he was once again spirited and completely rid of fatigue.

Looking at the room full of wealth, he knew he would be busy again today. He packed all the gold bars, gold ingots, and fiat currency into four large trunks until they were completely full. The pounds and US dollars could not fit in the safe either, so he temporarily stored them under the bed to deal with them upon his return.

Afterward, he fetched clean water to wash up carefully and took out his military uniform to put on.

Rummaging through the drawer, he found the business card of Chen Kangshi, the manager of Nanye Bank, whom he had met before. He hadn't expected that he had merely accepted the card out of perfunctory courtesy back then, but he would actually need to make use of him this time. He carefully put the card away.

Heading out, he loaded all four trunks into the car and drove toward Nanye Bank. Finding a shop near the bank, he used the shop's telephone to call Chen Kangshi.

At that moment, Chen Kangshi, the departmental manager of Nanye Bank, was in his office, sitting in his chair and absentmindedly spinning a fountain pen back and forth on the desk.

Chinese banking at present was still largely in a transitional period. The currency reform policies of the previous year had allowed the three major state-owned banks to reap immense advantages. They joined forces to suppress various private banks, rapidly expanding their market share like a greedy behemoth frantically plundering massive wealth from the financial market.

This currency reform had completely brought an end to China's silver standard system of several thousand years, creating a massive impact. Facing this unprecedented and monumental reform, many weakly capitalized private banks, lacking sufficient reserves, were submerged in this surging tide and went bankrupt one after another!

This was precisely why Ning Zhiheng never dared to invest his family fortune into any bank—not even those globally renowned foreign banks which, in the days to come, would flee the Chinese mainland in panic amidst the background of a rapidly collapsing Chinese finance and worsening warfare due to various reasons.

Over the next decade or more, only the United States managed to hold its ground in this global catastrophe because its domestic soil was spared from the devastation of war, which also made the US dollar the strongest currency in the world.

That was a story for another day. At this moment, the strongest currency in China was still the British pound. Against this macro background, Ning Zhiheng felt that keeping his money in his own hands was the safest option. Moreover, although gold retained its value, transporting it was extremely inconvenient. Just the standard ten-liang gold bars in his possession numbered over two hundred, not to mention the smaller one-liang gold bars and some gold ingots. Merely moving them back and forth was exhausting work, so he had to offload them quickly; otherwise, it was simply too inconvenient.

As for fiat currency, it was even less possible to let it sit in his hands. The Sino-Japanese War had not yet begun, yet within just one year of its issuance, the fiat currency had already depreciated by thirty percent. With three months remaining before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, its value would plummet in a straight line once the war started, eventually becoming no different from waste paper without a single rebound. Therefore, Ning Zhiheng did not want to keep a single cent of it in his hands for even a day.

Like all banks, Nanye Bank was enduring immense pressure. It was only because Nanye Bank had deep roots and the backing of the British government that it managed to barely survive this crisis. However, it still had not recovered its vitality. The most urgent task now was to reserve more gold and silver to stabilize market fluctuations.

This crisis had left the bank's senior executives at their wits' end. It was rumored that Nanye Bank was about to implement large-scale layoffs. Although Chen Kangshi was a departmental manager, the scope of these layoffs was so broad that it was hard to say whether he would be spared. When he thought about being middle-aged and having toiled half his life in the financial industry, if he were to lose his job at this age, given the current state of the industry, finding a suitable job was completely impossible. With no other professional skills to make a living, he and his family would have to rely on eating through their savings to survive!

The only way out now was to produce certain achievements and perform well in hopes of escaping this layoff crisis. The greatest achievement at present would be to raise enough genuine gold, silver, and precious metals from the market.

He had mobilized all his connections, but the current market conditions were atrocious. Everyone was clutching their gold and silver tightly to preserve value, making it impossible to acquire any stock. Up to now, he had achieved zero results. Thinking of this, his anxiety grew increasingly intense and restless!

At that moment, the telephone on his desk rang. He frowned, wondering what bad news was waiting for him this time.

Resignedly, he picked up the receiver, and a deep, powerful voice sounded from the other end.

"Is this Manager Chen Kangshi?" the caller asked.

"It is. May I ask who you are?" Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Chen Kangshi perked up and asked.

"I am Lin Yifan. I wonder if Manager Chen still remembers me?"

Lin Yifan—the name sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recall it for the moment.

"Uh! Ah! It's Mr. Lin! How may I help you?" Chen Kangshi reacted quickly and, despite not remembering him, asked enthusiastically.

Hearing this, Ning Zhiheng found it rather amusing. It was obvious the man didn't remember him at all! Yet, upon reflection, it was quite normal; the matter of exchanging gold ingots had happened more than half a year ago, and the two had only met in passing. How deep of an impression could it have left?

Therefore, with a deliberate touch of displeasure in his tone, he said, "It seems Manager Chen is a busy man who easily forgets. It's me, Lin Yifan, who exchanged a large quantity of gold ingots with you last time!"

Ah! A flash of information crossed Chen Kangshi's mind. It was him! It was Lin Yifan, the wealthy young scion who had exchanged three thousand liang of gold ingots with him half a year ago!

Right! It was him! That exchange transaction had catapulted his performance to the top among all his colleagues in the bank, earning him a generous bonus. He hadn't expected this young Master Lin to call again today. Could it be—?

A thought instantly surged in his mind, and he hastily responded with an enthusiastic, continuous flow of words: "Oh! Young Master Lin! Look at my memory; I am truly sorry! Please forgive me, please forgive me! How may I be of service to Young Master Lin?"

A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Ning Zhiheng's lips as he said unhurriedly, "It's nothing major. It's just that I've been a bit tight on cash lately and would like to cash in some of the gold bars I have on hand. I wonder if Manager Chen is interested?"

Good heavens! His prediction had actually come true! This dog of a wealthy patron—no, this Young Master Lin—was truly a living bodhisattva dropped from the heavens! He had come to save his life!

"Young Master Lin, haha! Of course I'm interested! As the saying goes, you and I are fated! The moment I first laid eyes on Young Master Lin, I knew our paths would cross again! And indeed, just as expected! As the saying goes, better to deal with a familiar face than a stranger! Choosing Nanye Bank is definitely the right move, and coming to me, Chen Kangshi, will certainly not disappoint you!" Chen Kangshi rattled on with eloquence that could charm the birds from the trees.

At this moment, his mind was entirely consumed by gold. No matter what, even at any cost, this exchange transaction had to be secured for himself. This transaction could completely determine his future destiny, and absolute failure was not an option!

"Very well. I will arrive at your bank in about half an hour. Prepare a large amount of cash. Remember, I only want British pounds and US dollars, or else this business deal is off," Ning Zhiheng said with an arrogant tone.

"No problem! Haha! No problem! Preparing enough British pounds and US dollars, I've got it! Rest assured, everything will be prepared according to your instructions! Half a year—ah, in half an hour, I will respectfully await your esteemed arrival at the entrance of Nanye Bank!" Chen Kangshi immediately replied respectfully.

"Very well, see you in half an hour," Ning Zhiheng said.

"I will certainly be waiting; see you then!" Chen Kangshi replied cautiously.

Gently putting down the telephone, Chen Kangshi's heart hammered continuously. He steadied his emotions.

This was definitely a major transaction! Otherwise, Young Master Lin wouldn't have specifically requested a large amount of British pounds and US dollars. Truly, heaven leaves no man without a path; his luck had finally arrived!

He immediately picked up the phone again to notify the bank vault that he needed to withdraw a large sum of British pounds and US dollars, instructing them to make preparations.

Ning Zhiheng hung up the phone, returned to the car, checked his watch, and mentally calculated the time. After waiting for half a full hour, he started the engine and drove toward Nanye Bank.

When he arrived at the bank entrance, he indeed saw that Chen Kangshi had been waiting there for a long time, constantly glancing at his watch with anxious anticipation.

Seeing Ning Zhiheng's car pull up beside him, Chen Kangshi's eyebrows lifted. It was a military vehicle. Then, he watched as a young military officer stepped down.

Chen Kangshi had spent many years in the bank, dealing with all sorts of people every day. Having seen countless individuals, his discernment was naturally extraordinary. In fact, during his previous meeting with Ning Zhiheng, he had faintly perceived a military background from Ning Zhiheng's deportment and actions, and this time confirmed it completely.

The people hardest to provoke in this era were soldiers holding guns. This time, Ning Zhiheng had no intention of concealing his identity anymore. Previously, he feared his own strength was too weak and was inevitably apprehensive about suddenly acquiring immense wealth, which was why he had hidden his identity.

Yet the current Ning Zhiheng no longer needed to worry about this. The past half-year and more of trials and training within the Military Intelligence Investigation Agency had given him ample self-confidence.

It could be said that with his current background and status, Ning Zhiheng stood completely at the upper tier of this society's food chain. Let alone ordinary people, even those figures with a certain social standing—as long as they caught his eye—could only submit to his mercy.

Take someone like Dai Daguang, an unbridled tyrant who dominated both the underworld and legitimate circles, and who appeared awe-inspiring in the eyes of others; under Ning Zhiheng's command, his life and death were decided by a single word, rendering him no different from an ant!