Chapter Eleven: The Hainan Dialogue (Part 2)

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“Heh heh...” Wen Lu wore a simple, sheepish expression and forced a laugh.

“Not exactly. The wording may be crude, but the reasoning isn’t. It was only a joke. In front of you, I really have nothing to hide.”

Wen Lu seemed to be trying to smooth things over for himself, and continued:

“Vice President Yin’s catchphrase is indeed vivid and classic. Let me repeat it for you: he once said that, rather than doing ten good deeds with a superior, one would gain far more emotionally from visiting a brothel with him once!”

The remark left Zhang Maolin embarrassed for a moment before he burst out laughing.

Wen Lu went on:

“At many critical moments in handling business, Vice President Yin’s ideas really did produce miraculous results. Take what happened at the end of last year, when the city branch made a last-minute push to fulfill its operating targets. On December 28, with the year-end fast approaching, the provincial branch suddenly issued an order: our Songyang branch had to add another ten million yuan in interest income, no matter what. They emphasized that this was a mandatory political target, entirely nonnegotiable.

“Who could have imagined that, with business conditions already so difficult, the provincial branch would still demand more? I remember that after President Wang received the internal fax from the provincial branch, he was so furious that he pounded the table and cursed our ancestors! He said those bastards at the provincial branch were utterly heartless. An order under such crushing pressure was practically forcing decent women into prostitution!

“But cursing was one thing. We still didn’t dare openly defy the provincial branch.

“The situation was plain enough: if we wanted to fulfill the additional ten-million-yuan assignment, there was absolutely no way around lending money and collecting interest. But lending money for interest was something headquarters had expressly forbidden long before. Even the boldest man alive wouldn’t deliberately jump into a pit of fire!

“President Wang was frantic—like ants on a hot griddle. Ha! At the crucial moment, Vice President Yin came up with his ‘theory of saving the nation by a circuitous route,’ and it worked wonderfully! You could say that, at the critical hour, he rescued Songyang Prosperity Bank from the brink of disaster!”

“Saving the nation by a circuitous route? Did he learn that trick from Old Chiang back in the day?”

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Zhang Maolin teased him.

“Hee hee.” Wen Lu laughed and continued:

“At first, everyone at the meeting assumed Vice President Yin was merely making a joke to lighten the atmosphere. But as he carefully analyzed and explained his idea, we gradually came to feel that his marvelous theory was genuinely ingenious.

“He stressed that, under the circumstances, we certainly could not continue the practice of lending money for interest, which the superior branch had long since banned. But there was a technical loophole. At the time, the standard interpretation throughout the entire jurisdiction was that a loan qualified as ‘lending for interest’ only when the money was lent to Party A and interest was collected from Party A. So, if we lent the money to Party B, and Party B, under some creditor-debtor arrangement, transferred the funds onward to Party C, then the bank could collect overdue interest from previous years out of Party C’s account. Wouldn’t that solve the problem at once?

“Under Vice President Yin’s patient guidance, everyone at the meeting seemed suddenly enlightened, their minds bursting open with possibilities. We couldn’t help applauding this ingenious scheme. In fact, before Vice President Yin had even finished speaking, President Wang had already started clapping and immediately ordered the credit department to work out a concrete implementation plan.

“In the end, the city branch selected three delinquent enterprises from the business department as test cases. President Wang personally handled the negotiations, summoning the chief financial officers of the companies involved to explain what we had in mind. The two sides had always gotten along well, so within a single day, the entire ten million yuan in interest had been credited to our accounts. That masterstroke enabled the Songyang City Branch to make a spectacular showing across the entire province! The provincial branch issued a lavishly printed commendation, praised us throughout the Prosperity Bank system, and awarded the city branch leadership a substantial bonus. Even I, a minor section chief, received five thousand yuan!

“And there was more. Because Songyang Branch had performed exceptionally well against its profit target, the provincial branch rewarded us at year-end with a Golden Cup minibus. Just imagining the scene that day—the red banners and decorations in the provincial branch’s conference hall, and us receiving the vehicle keys—still fills every Songyang native with pride! But once the excitement had passed, everyone was secretly uneasy. After all, the honor had been won through crooked means.”

Wen Lu’s expression turned strange.

“Hmph. I see! Vice President Yin truly is a brilliant strategist, isn’t he? Ha ha ha, but—”

Zhang Maolin abruptly changed tack.

“With you people making such a mess of things, didn’t the inspection and audit departments at the provincial branch discover what was going on?”

Wen Lu replied:

“How could a fire stay hidden in a bundle of paper? Eventually, the provincial branch learned the truth. I remember that not long after the final accounts were settled, it organized a special audit throughout the entire jurisdiction to verify the authenticity of the performance targets. In fact, a problem like this wasn’t particularly difficult to uncover. Anyone with even a basic understanding of business procedures could spot it after careful examination. But the inspection team didn’t have sufficient grounds to conclude that our maneuver actually constituted lending for interest. They merely had their suspicions, and they couldn’t make a definitive determination.

“In response, President Wang and Vice President Yin mobilized several renowned smooth talkers from the administrative departments. They took turns spinning yarns, arguing every which way with the inspectors, throwing both clean jokes and dirty ones onto the table! And I have to admit, after one fierce exchange of words after another, the inspection team was completely beaten back. As for the so-called working papers detailing the violations, they were eventually withdrawn, and the matter simply fizzled out.

“Of course, everyone knew that the final satisfactory resolution was achieved because Vice President Yin personally supervised the operation, handled the inspectors through well-timed social courtesies, and reached a tacit understanding with them. I remember that when the inspection team left Songyang, the shopping vouchers and commemorative gifts the city branch gave those imperial envoys amounted to no less than this!”

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Wen Lu held up one finger to Zhang Maolin.

“How much? A thousand? That’s nearly a month’s wages for our cleaner,” Zhang Maolin ventured.

“What are you talking about? A thousand? Do you think you’re tossing coins to a beggar? My dear uncle, let me tell you: behind this finger are four zeros—four zeros!”

Wen Lu placed particular emphasis on the words.

“What? You mean ten thousand?!”

Zhang Maolin shot to his feet. His mouth fell wide open as he tried to say something—

At that moment, Yin Sen staggered out through the door of a private room in the distance and called in a slurred voice:

“Hey, Secretary Tang—Wen Lu, don’t—don’t hide away. Come over and have the closing drink!”

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