Chapter 5: Loan

  "Mr., Wall Street has arrived!"

  The moment the carriage door was opened, a voice entered his ears. In the next second, the coachman had already hung up the ladder and respectfully supported the car door.

  As he stepped down from the carriage, Li Zichen adjusted his top hat and fixed his gaze on the nearby Morgan Bank.

  "Ah!"

  Taking a deep breath, Li Zichen walked towards the bank with his left hand holding a black briefcase. Ah Si followed closely behind him after getting off the carriage. The hard-soled leather shoes made a crisp sound as they stepped on the stone pavement, and Li Zichen could clearly feel the sweat oozing from his palms as he gazed at the increasingly near Morgan Bank.

  Anxious, how can I not be anxious? Although in Atlanta, I have already exchanged ten kilograms of gold for more than $6,600 at the bank. Although only a few hundred dollars have been spent so far, that money will eventually run out. Moreover, this amount of money is fundamentally insufficient to solve my own problems.

  Must return to the island, take away the treasures in the submarine, especially those technical patents. Perhaps in this era, those patent drawings stored in stainless steel cylinders are truly priceless treasures, and can even...

  When he was thinking deeply, Li Zichen had already walked to the gate of Morgan Bank. Before entering the door, he turned his head and instructed Ah Si with a sentence.

  "Ah Si, wait for me outside!"

  After that, Li Zichen walked into the bank, his leather shoes clicking clearly on the marble floor. The bank employees occasionally looked up at this newly entered "gentleman", but in the next second, they reduced this elegant gentleman to a mere "person", simply because he was an Oriental.

  After entering the bank lobby, Li Zichen glanced at those Americans in line and then walked straight to the manager's office on the left to handle financial matters.

  He looked up to see a young Oriental approaching his table, and Alpert Kasape's face broke into a professional smile.

  "Hello! Sir, is there anything I can help you with?"

  "Apply for loan!"

  As he spoke, Li Zichen sat in the chair in front of the desk, placing his briefcase on his legs and looking at the other person. He had come here to apply for a loan, specifically to mortgage those eighteen British bonds, which were the only thing in his hands that could be exchanged for cash. Although those bonds had not yet matured, they could at least serve as collateral for the loan.

  And Albert Cassepes was also sizing up the Oriental man in front of him, who seemed to be wearing a tailored suit. His clothes showed exquisite workmanship, perhaps from a famous designer. Just this suit alone would make no one suspect that he was a wealthy gentleman. Banks always open their doors wide for the rich, regardless of race or nationality!

  "Sir, we offer short-term loans as well as medium and long-term loans..."

  Albert Casaspe, thinking that it might be a big business, hastily introduced the types of loans and interest to this oriental person, while also observing his expression.

  "Of course, if you want to apply for a loan, you need to provide appropriate collateral, such as real estate or..."

  Before the duty manager could finish speaking, Li Zichen directly took out a cowhide paper bag from his briefcase and put it on the table.

  "Is bearer bond okay?"

  "Bonds?"

  "Yes, British government bonds!"

  While answering the other party's question, he took out a British bond from the paper bag with one hand and twisted open the thread.

  In the instant he took over the bond, Alport Casapes' heart skipped a beat, a string of zeros... This was a ￡100,000 British bond. When Alport took over the bond, he only glanced at it and knew that this bond was not fake. British bonds, like pounds, have very simple graphics on their surface, but everyone knows that the seemingly simple pound is called the "Queen of Banknotes" because of its extremely fine design. Its paper is special, with a dense, cross-shaped linen texture, and the multi-layered processing technique used is also unique. Moreover, it uses extremely complex watermark printing, and every pound has hundreds of anti-counterfeiting points. Pounds have always been recognized as an art piece among currencies that cannot be counterfeited. As for the huge bearer bonds issued by Britain, their complexity far surpasses that of pounds, let alone the fact that no one would be foolish enough to counterfeit a completely verifiable bond.

  Of course, a thorough examination was still necessary, especially when faced with such a large sum. Alport Louis carefully checked the bond issued ten years ago, and after confirming its authenticity, he looked at the Oriental man again, and also glanced at the attendant standing outside the door - Chinese!

  Seeing the man outside the door with his queue cut off, Alberich Kasparek subconsciously understood where this Oriental man who came to apply for a loan with bonds had come from. He was Chinese. Thinking of the revolution currently happening in China, he vaguely understood why the man held bonds in his hand. Perhaps after using these thirty-year long-term bonds to mortgage loans, he would not be able to repay the loan at all.

  "Sir, you should understand, this is an anonymous bond that won't be redeemable for thirty years!"

  Huh?

  The bank manager's words made Li Zichen's eyebrows jump, he came, the bank has always been a thing that gnaws at bones and doesn't spit out dregs, he must be trying to take advantage of the situation to lower the price.

  "And also I think we need you to provide proper proof documents! To prove that these bonds are..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Li Zichen, who understood what this person meant, immediately spoke up.

  "This is an anonymous bond!"

  "But..."

  "I think in New York, any bank would be delighted to accept the mortgage I offer!"

  While speaking, Li Zichen took out another seventeen bonds from his briefcase. These were taken from an iron box on the submarine with a dozen or so bonds. At that time, it was just curiosity, wondering how he could have thought of it, and now whether he can survive in this era, and even whether he can find back that "treasure that belongs to himself", all rely on these thin British bonds.

  Looking at the dozen or so bonds, Alberich Kasparek found that his heart was beating with an uncharacteristic number of skips. If these were ￡100,000 bonds, heavens! If this deal came off, it would be enough to get him a separate office upstairs.

  "Of course, may I take a look?"

  In an instant, Alphonse Caspase's face took on a look of utmost humility. As he made this request, he found his heart pounding uncooperatively, while mentally calculating how to maximize profits. Perhaps... perhaps the person in front of him was a fugitive Qing dynasty noble who had escaped to America, and perhaps... he desperately needed money.

  When countless maybes flashed in his mind, Li Zichen smiled and put the bonds into his briefcase. Perhaps he had been following the leader's ass for a long time, and after a long time, he was familiar with this kind of person and naturally knew how to deal with them.

  "I think we need to discuss this deal in front of us, don't we?"

  Showing off those bonds is just showing off one's own capital, but if you want to get a mortgage, you can only mortgage one bond in one bank at most. If all these over 10 million pounds of bonds are mortgaged in one bank, I estimate that by tomorrow the whole New York will know that there is a Chinese person holding over 10 million pounds of bonds, which will only bring countless troubles to oneself.

  The other's answer made Alpbert Cassepes stunned for a moment, but only for a moment, the fleeting surprise was replaced by humility again.

  "I think we need to double-check on the bonds, of course, while you're waiting, we can discuss the mortgage ratio!"

  As a Jew, Alpert Kasapes had seen too many so-called "cunning guests", but Alpert Kasapes believed that there were probably no more cunning businessmen in the world than Jews.

  "This is necessary!"

  Nodding, Li Zichen wasn't worried that they could find out anything. With unregistered bonds like this becoming part of the Nazi treasure, there were too many possibilities, but at least one thing was certain: even if they investigated, they wouldn't be able to find any problems. Many people bought unregistered bonds precisely in order to hide their identities; even the Bank of England didn't know who it had sold the bonds to.

  "Sir, although your bond is a bearer bond with full face value, considering it's a 40-year long-term bond, if the bank accepts the bond as collateral and you... of course this isn't us doubting your credit, but the bank has to consider the risks we need to take on!"

  While the bonds were being checked in the background, Alpert Casasayas constantly explained that the emphasis on risk was to be able to lower the face value of the bonds.

  "So?"

  Of course, Li Zichen didn't ask that, he just stared at the other side, sometimes silence is the best refutation, especially at this time, for the bank, they are pursuing profits. But he himself needs a sum of money to buy a ship, recruit reliable sailors, and transport the treasure in the submarine, if possible, also the plane.

  For some reason, the gaze of the client who had been silent and smiling all along made Alpert Casas feel a bit tense. Why did he feel this way?

  "So we can only provide 80% of the loan!"

  When he spat out this number, Alpbert Casapes couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Would this person accept this ratio?

  "90%, loan term..."

  Before Li Zichen could finish speaking, Alpbert Kasapeis, who was afraid of losing this big business, immediately spoke up.

  "We can offer loans for a maximum of two years!"

  "Sold!"

  A crisp answer escaped from Li Zichen's mouth, and a bank clerk walked over with a telegram and bearer bonds. Alport Cassepes took the telegram from the Bank of England and looked at it, his smile growing thicker.

  "Sir, I think we can sign the contract now!"