Dr. He, who was originally just an ordinary citizen, was given the rank of lieutenant colonel as soon as he arrived. Not only was he provided with a house and a car for free, but he was also given a police officer by his side.
This incident shocked many master's and doctoral students at Peking University, and many of them changed their research topics, choosing to study obscure or niche subjects.
One master's student even suggested to his supervisor that he wanted to study the physiological differences between aliens and humans. Of course, the student was immediately kicked out of the room by his supervisor with a broom. "Can you find an alien to show us?"
Chapter 807 Unprecedented Wealth
After Zhuang Rui's acupuncture treatment, the two old men from Yuquan Mountain showed significant improvement in their health. However, they kept a low profile and no one outside knew about it. They even kept it a secret from their own doctors.
As winter approached, the old locust tree in Zhuang Rui's courtyard became bare. However, some cold-resistant tree species that Zhuang Rui had spent a lot of money to transplant remained lush and green, so the courtyard did not appear desolate.
The white lion and the snow mastiff have been acting rather suspiciously lately. They can often be seen near the rockery in the park, doing things that are prohibited for children.
December is the estrus season for female Tibetan Mastiffs, and whether or not puppies will be born next year depends on this month.
Zhuang Rui also took this very seriously, fearing that Li Sao and the others might not be able to buy fresh mutton. He specifically instructed Peng Fei to go to the West Goods Market every two days to buy a live sheep, ensuring that Bai Shi and his wife could eat the freshest food every day.
That little guy, Jin Yu, perhaps due to the nourishment of Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy, has grown to be almost as big as the two adult golden eagles in just six or seven months. When standing on the ground, it is already over a meter tall, which makes little Jin Yu quite uncomfortable, because it can no longer stand on Zhuang Rui's shoulder.
Compared to the golden eagle's lifespan of eighty or ninety years, Little Golden Feather is truly an infant. Therefore, although it's not small, Zhuang Rui doesn't need to worry about finding it a mate; that matter should be addressed at least another four or five years. ...
"Zhuang Rui, are you really not going to the Myanmar jade auction in January?"
With his grandfather's health improving, Song Jun had some free time. He would often wander over to Zhuang Rui's courtyard house for a drink. He and Ouyang Jun had known each other since childhood, so he felt quite at ease at Zhuang Rui's place.
With the Myanmar gamble about to begin again, Song Jun has been frequently visiting Zhuang Rui these past few days, trying to persuade him to go to Myanmar again. He really wants to experience that feeling of winning big in gambling once more.
Sitting in the courtyard was Fatty Ma. This guy had recently come to Beijing to discuss business and was staying at a hotel not far from Zhuang Rui's courtyard house. It was just a few minutes' walk to Zhuang Rui's house. He and Song Jun had just had lunch at Zhuang Rui's place.
"I'm not going. Haven't you seen my wife's belly? She's due in early February. How can I possibly leave?"
Zhuang Rui shook his head. It was already the end of December, and in two more months, his twins would be born. Besides teaching every day, Zhuang Rui stayed at home with his wife and couldn't even manage his businesses in Beijing. How could he possibly go to Burma with Song Jun?
On another note, Zhuang Rui doesn't need to go through the public auction to get jadeite now. Hu Rong has opened a smuggling route on the border between Mandela and Yunnan, and has already sent raw stones into the country several times.
These raw stones smuggled from Myanmar were not only enough to support Qin Ruilin's jadeite jewelry production, but also greatly benefited the Qin family in Hong Kong, who purchased a lot of good materials from Zhuang Rui at low prices, which was much more cost-effective than participating in public auctions.
This also meant that Zhuang Rui didn't touch the rough stones he had acquired last time, including that top-quality yellow jadeite. The dozen or so rough stones are now hidden in Zhuang Rui's basement. It can be said that any one of these stones would cause a frenzy in the industry if taken out.
With the increasing scarcity of Myanmar's jade resources, the price of jade in the international market has continued to rise over the past year, especially for high-end, top-quality jade, which is practically priceless and can only be seen occasionally at auctions.
The mid-to-high-end jadeite jewelry sold at Qin Ruilin Jewelry in Beijing has become the top choice for jadeite collectors, and its sales share in Beijing is expanding day by day, even surpassing that of the long-established Zhou Taifu Jewelry.
"If you're not going, and Lao Ma is busy with investments, I'm not going either..."
Song Jun knew his own limitations. Although he made a fortune at the Myanmar jade auction last time, it was all thanks to Zhuang Rui. If he had to choose the rough stones himself, he would probably lose so much that he would have to go back to China wearing only his underwear.
Fortunately, Song Jun gambled on stones for the thrill, and he wasn't short of money. As the old man's health improved, it was naturally very beneficial for someone like him who made his fortune through official means.
"Forget about gambling on jade. It's fine to play around with it occasionally, but if you get addicted, you'll run into problems..."
Fatty Ma said with a smile that Zhuang Rui hadn't seen him for several months, and the guy had gotten even bigger, sitting there looking like a mountain of flesh.
Since befriending Song Jun, Fatty Ma has benefited greatly, and his wealth has skyrocketed. During the nationwide coal resource consolidation last year, many small coal mines were shut down for rectification, but he took the opportunity to acquire many coal companies, and his business has grown bigger and bigger.
Recently, Ma Huateng (Jack Ma) negotiated a cooperation project with a foreign country, involving more than 3 billion US dollars and more than 20 billion RMB. It even alarmed the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Because the uranium mine that Ma is going to invest in is a uranium mine in South Africa, which is a national strategic reserve mineral, it is highly valued. For nearly a month, Ma has been busy with this matter in Beijing.
"I'm just playing around, I'm not going to get addicted. But you fatso, stop ruining those young girls..."
Upon hearing Fatty Ma's words, Song Jun curled his lip in disdain, turned to Zhuang Rui, and said, "By the way, are you interested in Old Ma's business? It's a sure-fire way to make money..."
Ma Pangzi's business was facilitated by the Song army; otherwise, he wouldn't have had a chance to invest in uranium mines abroad. There would have been plenty of people vying for it.
However, it is hard to say whether taking on this business will be a blessing or a curse for Fatty Ma, because although uranium is abundant in the Earth's crust, much more so than mercury, bismuth, and silver, it is difficult to extract. On average, only about 2.5 grams of uranium can be extracted from each ton of crustal material.
Moreover, uranium ore is a radioactive and dangerous mineral, and the initial investment required for its mining is very large.
In this way, even if Fatty Ma had billions in assets, it would be far from enough. If it weren't for the funds injected privately by the government and the Song family, Fatty Ma would never have been able to take on this deal.
However, even with government intervention, Fatty Ma still has a significant funding gap. He knows that Zhuang Rui has some spare cash, which is why he brought Song Jun along as an intermediary.
What Fatty Ma didn't know was that even if he didn't approach Song Jun, Song Jun would still talk to Zhuang Rui about this matter, because the old man in the family had spoken up, and Zhuang Rui was to have a stake in this business. Although Song Jun didn't understand the old man's meaning, he wouldn't dare to go against his grandfather's words.
"Brother Ma, how much does your business cost?"
Zhuang Rui has a lot of spare cash on hand recently, because most of the houses developed by Ouyang Jun have been sold, and Zhuang Rui's dividends based on his shares amount to as much as 1.2 billion.
In addition, the two dividends from the Myanmar jade mine this year amounted to more than 600 million RMB, and Zhuang Rui also received a dividend of more than 200 million RMB from the Xinjiang jade mine.
Even without considering the profits from Qin Ruilin, the museum, and Pengcheng's businesses, Zhuang Rui now has over 2 billion RMB in hand, all of which is readily available cash.
Don't be fooled by the billionaires on the Forbes list who have billions of dollars in assets. If you asked them to come up with two billion dollars in cash right now, probably none of them could.
Back then, that super-rich man in Hong Kong with a net worth of tens of billions of dollars went through tremendous effort to raise one billion in cash in order to save his son. Therefore, Zhuang Rui can definitely be considered one of the top hidden billionaires in China now.
Zhuang Rui hadn't figured out how to spend the money, but after hearing what Fatty Ma said, he was somewhat tempted. Money in hand is dead; only by investing it can it generate profits.
However, Zhuang Rui was relatively unfamiliar with the field of rare minerals and did not dare to agree rashly. He first asked about the situation.
Upon hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Fatty Ma gave a wry smile and said, "I originally thought that 10 billion RMB would be enough, but after the experts went to South Africa to investigate, they found that the uranium content of that deposit is extremely high, probably ranking among the top five in the world. Therefore, the investment will need to be increased, probably between 20 and 30 billion RMB..."
Zhuang Rui gasped upon hearing this. He had thought he had a lot of money, but it turned out he couldn't even reach one-tenth of the investment for this project. It seemed he was still too "poor".
Seeing Zhuang Rui hesitate, Song Jun said, "Brother, this is a rare opportunity. Many people are scrambling to invest in this business, but I haven't agreed to any of them. Instead of asking others, why don't you give Ouyang Jun a call and see what that kid thinks?"
Song Jun's words actually elevated his own status considerably. This business was not something he could decide on the share distribution; it involved many conflicts of interest, and only the old man's words mattered.
This kind of thing is inherently political, and the Song family's business is mostly in the resource sector. To do this kind of business, you can't avoid the Song family's support. To put it bluntly, Fatty Ma is just an agent put forward by the state and the Song family.
Of course, not just anyone can be an agent, because if the uranium mine can be put into production smoothly, it will be an enormous fortune. Otherwise, would Fatty Ma have mortgaged all his coal mining assets to the bank and borrowed 5 billion yuan?
Zhuang Rui lowered his head and pondered for a moment before saying, "Brother Song, Brother Ma, I need to think about this. I'll give you an answer in a couple of days..."
With investments of billions, Zhuang Rui dared not act rashly. The jade mines in Xinjiang had reached the end of their development phase, and future output would be very low. The real estate projects had also ended and were no longer profitable. Apart from the Burmese jade mines, Zhuang Rui would not have any more large sums of money coming in.
Therefore, Zhuang Rui wanted to carefully consider before deciding whether to invest in this business.
Chapter 808 The Father-in-Law's Request
After seeing off Fatty Ma and Song Jun, Zhuang Rui sat back down in the courtyard and fell into deep thought.
Given his relationship with the Song family, this investment should be a sure thing, but Zhuang Rui still needs to think carefully before investing over 2 billion yuan at once.
"Huh? Whose call is it?"
Suddenly, Zhuang Rui's phone rang. He picked it up and saw that there was no caller ID.
Hello, who is this?
Zhuang Rui answered the phone.
"Is this Zhuang Rui? The commander wants to speak with you on the phone..."
An unfamiliar voice came from the other end of the phone. After Zhuang Rui answered, the phone seemed to be handed to someone else.
"Xiao Rui, it's your uncle..."
Ouyang Zhenshan's authoritative voice came through the phone.
"Uncle? You...you have time to call me? What's up?"
Upon hearing that it was Ouyang Zhenshan, Zhuang Rui couldn't help but stand up with his phone in hand. Perhaps it was because they hadn't had much contact? Compared to the patriarch of the Ouyang family, Zhuang Rui was more intimidated by this current head of the Ouyang family.
Although his uncle would come to the courtyard house for a meal every seven or eight days, he had never called Zhuang Rui in private, which made Zhuang Rui feel a little flattered.
"Well, nothing much. Did that kid from the Song family come to see you?"
"Yes, we just saw Brother Song off, Uncle. What's wrong?"
Zhuang Rui was somewhat confused and a little angry. After hearing his uncle's words, he felt like he was being watched.
Ouyang Zhenshan didn't care what Zhuang Rui was thinking at the moment, and said on the phone, "You can agree to what he told you. If you don't have enough money, go ask Xiao Jun for it..."
"Wait, Uncle, what's going on?"
Zhuang Rui became more and more confused as he listened. Was it just a business deal? Although the investment was not small, a sum of more than two billion US dollars probably wouldn't warrant the attention of a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
"Just do as the old man instructed. Remember, you need to give 10%..."
Ouyang Zhenshan didn't say much. After explaining the situation, he hung up the phone. He had a meeting to attend later, and he didn't have much time to explain to Zhuang Rui.
To be honest, Ouyang Zhenshan was quite disapproving of his father's decision. Although he loved his younger sister dearly, he did not want his nephew to be involved in investments that concerned the country's strategic reserves.
Although this way of making money is quick, it also attracts a lot of attention. If Zhuang Rui wants to make money, there are plenty of projects in China. Perhaps he won't earn as much, but it should be enough for him to live on for a lifetime.
Ouyang Zhenshan didn't know that even if Zhuang Rui did nothing all day and ate lobster and abalone every day, he would still have enough money to last several lifetimes. For Zhuang Rui now, making money was more about pursuing a sense of personal achievement.
The reason Zhuang Rui was involved in this investment was not actually Ouyang's idea; it was just a way for Song's patriarch to give Zhuang Rui a return.
"So that's how it was..."
After hearing his uncle's words, Zhuang Rui understood a bit. It turned out that the two old men had come up with this whole thing. Perhaps they felt a little embarrassed about receiving such a favor from the younger generation.
After figuring out the whole story, Zhuang Rui felt relieved. Since it was Old Master Song who was giving him money, there was no reason not to accept it. Given how domineering those old guys were, he probably wouldn't be able to refuse it even if he did.
Zhuang Rui took out his phone, ready to call the Song family, but after thinking for a moment, he put the phone away. He figured he could reply to Song Jun tomorrow. ...
Just as Zhuang Rui stood up to go back to see his wife, Peng Fei led a person through the corridor of the central courtyard, which startled Zhuang Rui.
"Dad? Why didn't you tell me you were coming..."
The person Peng Fei accompanied in was none other than Zhuang Rui's father-in-law, Qin Haoran, whom Zhuang Rui hurriedly went to greet.
"It was a last-minute decision. I happened to have something to discuss with you, so I came over..."
Qin Haoran must have just gotten off the plane, looking travel-worn and empty-handed.
"Could it be that you're missing your mother-in-law?"
Zhuang Rui mentally made up a story about his father-in-law: Fang Yi had come from Hong Kong when Qin Xuanbing was five months pregnant and had been staying with Zhuang Rui, taking care of Qin Xuanbing together with Ouyang Wan.
So Zhuang Rui felt that his father-in-law's visit might be because he missed his mother-in-law. After all, middle-aged people also need a fulfilling sex life.
At this moment, Ouyang Wan and the others who were originally in the house also saw Qin Haoran and hurriedly came out to greet him. Qin Xuanbing, who was heavily pregnant, came to the central courtyard, which made things lively again.
It seems Qin Haoran really has something to do. Zhuang Rui originally thought his father-in-law would go to rest first and spend some time with his mother-in-law, but unexpectedly, after meeting his mother-in-law, Qin Haoran pulled him to the side room in the backyard.
However, Fang Yi and Qin Xuanbing were also sitting on the side, while Ouyang Wan deliberately stepped aside, as she could tell that Qin Haoran seemed to have something to say to his son.