As soon as Ning Yuan entered, she saw her fourth uncle carefully wiping the belly of a Maitreya Buddha statue with a piece of soft, chicken-fat-yellow silk cloth, while scolding the men who were helping him clean up.
"Hey, Ah Cai, be careful! If you knock over a piece of that Song Dynasty porcelain, you'll have worked for nothing all year!"
Ning Yuan greeted him with a smile, "Fourth Uncle!"
The old man raised his head, his already shrewd triangular eyes narrowing into slits: "Oh my, you, the Star of a Hundred Dislikes, have finally deigned to visit this old man?"
Ning Yuan didn't stand on ceremony with him, walked straight to the armchair opposite him and sat down, smiling as she spoke—
"You are so busy, how could I dare to disturb you? But you, having Hall Master Qin personally come to pick me up, do you perhaps have some big business to discuss?"
Uncle Si snorted coldly and carefully placed the Maitreya Buddha back on the sandalwood base: "I'm an old man who misses you, is that not allowed? I'm an old man who's about to be buried, and you never come to see me when you have nothing to do!!"
Ning Yuan coaxed him softly, "Oh, Fourth Uncle, what are you saying? I've been thinking about you all this time! As soon as I heard you were looking for me, I rushed over. May you live a long and healthy life!"
"At least you still have some conscience!" Uncle Si nodded in satisfaction.
Ning Yuan smiled and said, "But speaking of which, I do have a good business idea that I'd like to discuss with you, Fourth Uncle."
Upon hearing the words "good business," Fourth Uncle turned to the shop assistant and instructed, "Ah Cai, go and bring out my treasured pre-Qingming Longjing tea and brew it for Miss Ning!"
The waiter acknowledged and left, and then Uncle Si looked at Ning Yuan with a smile: "Speak, girl, what do you want to talk to this old man about?"
Ning Yuan smiled and gestured for them to speak: "You are the elder, so please speak first."
Uncle Si didn't mince words and went straight to the point: "Of that batch of goods last time, apart from the portion you kept for me, the rest were all confiscated. I pulled some strings and finally managed to get them back. When are you going to hold another auction?"
Ning Yuan took the tea offered by the waiter and sighed softly, "Fourth Uncle, do you really not know, or are you pretending to be confused? I'm being watched by the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau's Serious Crimes Unit right now, and people are following me every day. If I come here for a cup of tea, I'm just giving them leverage! Holding an auction?"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Si's face fell, and he threw down a rag: "What are we going to do? I went through a lot of trouble to get this batch of goods back, we can't just keep them sitting in our hands, can we?"
Ning Yuan said earnestly, "Fourth Uncle, things are tense lately, so please be careful and don't let the cops find any fault with you. Store the things in the warehouse for now; they won't disappear into thin air. I'll help you with them after some time."
Her eyes lit up: "Fourth Uncle, if you have any spare money, why not invest in some legitimate projects? That would be safer."
Upon hearing this, Fourth Uncle immediately became interested: "Oh? What legitimate project? Tell me about it."
Ning Yuan put down her teacup and said with a smile, "I recently acquired a piece of land in Shenzhen and plan to build a factory specializing in electronic products. As you know, the mainland is currently undergoing reform and opening up, which is a golden period for economic development, and the market prospects for electronic products are excellent. Fourth Uncle, would you like to consider investing? This is a clean and lucrative business!"
Fourth Uncle squinted, carefully considering Ning Yuan's suggestion.
This sounds like a profitable and potentially money-laundering scheme, so it's not a bad idea.
but……
A shrewd glint flashed in Uncle Si's triangular eyes: "Girl, you make it sound so easy. I've never even touched the electronics business before. What if I lose money? My savings for my old man's funeral will be gone!"
Ning Yuan sighed: "Fourth Uncle, what are you saying? Is there any business that guarantees a profit without risk? Even the underworld business has risks. You're risking your life, living on the edge every day."
"You've been through so much in the world, what storms haven't you weathered? Why would you care about such a small risk?"
Fourth Uncle stroked his beard, his brow furrowed, still somewhat hesitant: "That's true..."
Ning Yuan looked at her fourth uncle with a sincere expression: "As you know, I have never liked the Ning family interfering in my private business."
She paused, then changed her tone, seemingly helpless: "But this time, my older brother, the CEO of Ning's Group, forced me to invest two million! Two million! It's because he's optimistic about this business and the development of Shenzhen!"
As Ning Yuan spoke, she took out a document from her bag that she had previously shown to Ning Bingyu and handed it to her fourth uncle: "This is the investment plan I showed him. You can take a look at it too."
Fourth Uncle took the plan, put on his reading glasses, and began to read it word by word.
Ning Yuan carefully analyzed and explained to him: "It's clearly written in this plan. Shenzhen is now a special economic zone with preferential policies, low labor costs, and huge market demand for electronic products. As long as our product quality is excellent, we won't have to worry about not being able to sell them!"
After a long while, the old man finally raised his head and asked in confusion, "Since Young Master Ning is so optimistic about this project, why doesn't he invest in a piece of land in Shenzhen himself, instead of going through the trouble of investing through you?"
Ning Yuan's eyes flashed, and she began to make up a story with an angry expression: "Isn't it because he's too arrogant in Shanghai! He spends all his time partying and doesn't do anything productive! He even harasses respectable women, which offended the girl's relative! And that relative is a leader in a unit in Shanghai!"
Fourth Uncle's eyes widened, his face full of suspicion: "Really? Young Master Ning has no shortage of women, how could he do something like this?"
Without batting an eye, she relentlessly smeared Ning Bingyu: "He was lustful at first sight. She's my classmate, stunningly beautiful! Later, a relative of hers was transferred to Shenzhen to become a high-ranking official!"
"People see him like he's a fly, they want to swat him to death! How could they possibly allow such a despicable capitalist to invest in the mainland!"
Uncle Si was stunned, then frowned and pointed out the suspicious point: "Then...then the leader didn't know you were Young Master Ning's sister?"
Ning Yuan smiled innocently: "I know, but that leader owes me a favor. He had a problem with one of his precious antiques before, and I helped him resolve it, saving him some money. So, although he dislikes my older brother, he still appreciates me, his 'beautiful and kind-hearted' little sister."
Fourth Uncle was speechless for a moment, stifled by Ning Yuan's "My eldest brother is a bastard, I am an angel" statement.
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