Half past five the following evening.
Xu Ye set off for Fudan University’s Handan campus. The two schools were less than eighteen kilometers apart — twenty-five minutes by car.
Once he reached the school gate he messaged Jiang Chao, and after waiting about fifteen minutes he saw Jiang Chao come out of the school.
“Over here.” Jiang Chao put his window down and waved.
Xu Ye ran over and greeted him politely as Uncle Jiang. Jiang Chao said briskly, “We’ll take my car. I’ll bring you back afterward.”
“Right.”
Jiang Chao wore formal clothes all year round, and in winter might add a trench coat over them. He and Jiang Wei might be father and daughter, but there was not much resemblance between them in looks — in temperament, though, they were very alike: unsmiling, and always cold with strangers.
Jiang Chao seemed to sense that the atmosphere in the car had turned awkward, and brought up a subject of his own accord. “How’s business lately?”
“All right. I’ve sold the fruit shop on. The vending machines bring in about the same every month, and I barely manage them now — Jiang Wei handles most of it.”
Jiang Chao had already heard how Jiang Wei was doing from his younger brother Jiang Ping.
He was rather pleased about it.
He asked nothing much of his daughter. He only hoped she would settle into her studies and her work, and stay healthy and happy after that.
Jiang Chao nodded, then changed the subject again. “Tell me, then. How did you come to be interested in investment?”
“Because there’s serious money in it.”
“Only a small proportion make money. For most of them it goes down the drain. Besides, I told you before — the bar to entry in investment is high.”
Xu Ye laughed. “Actually, I’ve already invested in two companies.”
Jiang Chao frowned, taken aback. “Which two?”
“One is a games studio called miHoYo, the other a clothing brand doing lingerie and swimwear. I put five million into the first for a ten percent stake, and I’m putting five hundred thousand into the second for thirty-three percent.”
“Where did you get that kind of money?”
“Borrowed it.”
To make sure Jiang Chao understood how serious he was, he added quickly, “I’ve been trading stocks since last summer. You’ll know this yourself, Uncle Jiang — this period happens to be a bull run, and this year I’ve been working at two-to-one leverage as well. So far there’s ten million in my account. I plan to take it out before the summer break and concentrate on investing.”
“Ten million?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Chao turned to look at Xu Ye despite himself, privately rather startled.
In a place like Shanghai ten million was not an enormous sum, but Xu Ye was not yet twenty. To have earned ten million at that age on his own judgment and ability made his potential plain enough.
He felt a sudden regret — a pity that Xu Ye already had a girlfriend, or else…
At the thought, Jiang Chao felt a fresh wave of helplessness.
He no longer even had the chance to speak to his own daughter, so how could he go playing matchmaker over something like this? He smiled and said nothing more.
The car finally stopped outside a private club in Hongkou district, near the Huangpu River.
Jiang Chao pulled a great sheaf of VIP membership cards out of his briefcase and had some difficulty finding a black one among them. Only then did he take Xu Ye out of the car with him.
The entrance to the club was not conspicuous. Without the sign outside bearing the four characters of Junya Club, passersby might have taken it for a villa.
When Xu Ye followed Jiang Chao up to the door, two hostesses in Chinese-style qipao stopped them. Both were at least a meter sixty-five; set against them, the “music instructors” in the commercial KTVs were not in the same class at all, in looks or in figure. [TL: 音乐辅导员, “music instructor,” is a euphemism for the hostesses employed to sit with customers in commercial karaoke venues.]
Jiang Chao produced the black VIP card, and one of the hostesses led the two of them inside.
The club was private and not open to the public; only members could enter, and the number of members was fixed. Anyone holding the black card Jiang Chao had was essentially a person of standing in Shanghai. It was unremarkable that Jiang Chao had one. As dean of Fudan University’s School of Economics, and a teacher at the school in earlier years, he had a good many former students now making a considerable success of themselves in finance, and there were plenty more cards like it in his briefcase, all of them gifts.
In from the entrance, along a covered walkway and across the front courtyard. Then through the rear courtyard, over a floating bridge, and only then did they reach the main part of the club.
A dozen or so people stood about in clusters of three and five at the door, and there were more inside. Every one of them was in formal dress, each holding a shallow glass of wine.
Jiang Chao had barely walked in.
“Dean Jiang~” Somebody called out first — there was no telling who — and the whole group, who had all been talking business, came over toward him.
“Dean Jiang, I trust you’ve been well.”
“Dean Jiang, it’s really hard to get a moment with you these days~”
“…”
Xu Ye had still underestimated Jiang Chao’s standing. He had not expected him to be this well respected among a crowd of business heavyweights.
After some exchange of courtesies.
Somebody’s eye finally settled on Xu Ye. A middle-aged man in glasses pointed at him and asked, “Dean Jiang, and this young man is?”
Jiang Chao said, smiling, “He’s a student of mine.”
Then he added, “He’s in business with my daughter now. I brought him along to see something of the world.”
Hearing that, everyone privately concluded that Xu Ye was the son-in-law Jiang Chao had picked out, and the praise came quickly. “The young man’s a fine figure of a fellow.”
“Anyone Dean Jiang thinks well of is bound to be worth something.”
Jiang Chao didn’t explain any further. He pointed inside the main door. “I’ll go pay my respects to Mr. Zhao. It’s his home ground today, after all.”
With that he gave Xu Ye a look, and Xu Ye followed him in.
Outside the door and inside it, this club was not the same place; outside the courtyard and inside it, not the same again. The moment Xu Ye walked into the hall he was caught by the decor.
The whole hall had been built to a double height, with a very expensive crystal chandelier hanging in the middle. Calligraphy and paintings by famous hands on the walls, water running softly all around, fresh green plants in the corners, furniture of red sandalwood and rosewood — every detail spoke of luxury.
Xu Ye looked around and sighed inwardly, over and over. “Damn it. It’s good to be rich.”
And while Xu Ye was still privately condemning the wealthy —
“Dean Jiang~”
A hearty voice came from the stairs. A middle-aged man with hair half gone gray was coming toward Jiang Chao, leading a young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six, and Jiang Chao, hearing the voice, went over to meet him.
“Mr. Zhao. It’s been a long time.”
Zhao Wenhua laughed loudly, shook Jiang Chao’s hand, and fell into the courtesies with him.
It was from their conversation that Xu Ye gathered Zhao Wenhua had studied in France when he was young, and that he and Jiang Chao had met while they were both there. After coming home, one had thrown himself into university teaching and the other had started a business in investment, and both could now be counted successful.
“Xiao Ming~”
The courtesies over, Zhao Wenhua called the young man beside him across and introduced him formally. “Let me introduce you. This is Dean Jiang, of Fudan University’s School of Economics. You should call him Uncle Jiang.”
The young man said politely, “Uncle Jiang.”
Zhao Wenhua laughed. “This is my nephew Zhao Ming. He’s just back from studying at the University of California. I’m planning to have him get some seasoning at the company — if there’s ever an opportunity, do give him some guidance for me.”
Jiang Chao made a few polite noises, and took the opening to call Xu Ye over and introduce him as well. Zhao Wenhua offered a few compliments in the same way, and then said to Zhao Ming, “You two go look around. Your Uncle Jiang and I have business to discuss.”
“All right.”
Zhao Ming gave a slight smile, and once Zhao Wenhua and Jiang Chao had gone some distance he turned to Xu Ye. “Come on. Let’s go out for some air.”
(End of Chapter 238)