Chapter 1593: Hired
However, Li Du found it weird that Li Qi was shaking his head. Hence, he asked, “What do you mean by shaking your head? Was it wrong of the general to do that?”
Li Qi looked at him and said, “Of course not. He’s like a pig.”
“What do you mean?”
Li Qi explained, “This Remonin is trying to buy his way up the ranks, right?”
Li Du nodded. “Yup.”
Li Qi continued to shake his head. “He won’t be able to go through. Those high up in the ranks in Mozambique are stingy and shortsighted. They already see the resources of the country as their own. Why would they allow someone else to climb the ladder and vie for the resources with them?”
“Remonin is very rich. He has successfully climbed up by bribing the legislators and military commissioners to gain their support. But he has not thought that the other party promotes him and gives him power only to get more money from him.”
“When those in the higher ranks have extorted enough money, and when Remonin’s power is large enough, the higher-ranked officials will think of ways to kill him.”
“This entire process is like rearing pigs. Have you ever done that?” Li Qu asked.
Li Du said, “When I was younger, my family did rear pigs. I know what you mean now. The owner of the farm will feed the pigs well so that he can make money after killing them, right?”
Li Qi nodded. “That’s right. Perhaps this pig has understood the intentions of the owner. Perhaps it has thought of resisting or running away. Hence, it chose the path of eating and drinking as much as it can to grow bigger and stronger. It is hoping that when it is strong enough, it will be able to resist the owner.”
“But that’s a stupid idea. On its own, it will be unable to resist the farmer. Besides, the farm owner will not let it grow forever. If you’ve reared pigs before, you’ll know. A pig is slaughtered not when it is the fattest, but when the ratio of growth to feed consumption is greatest. ”
Li Du started to nod too. It was indeed true.
When the pigs were sold, they were actually not that big in size and were capable of growing further.
In the different phases of their growth, they will consume a similar amount of feed. When they are younger, they will grow faster than when they are older. That was the issue of feed utilization.
Needless to say, when the feed had high utility, the owner of the farm would make a large profit. When the feed had low utility, keeping the pigs would just be a loss.
Li Qi believed Remonin was in a similar predicament. The difference was that the pigs consumed the feed to grow in size, but Remonin spent money on bribing higher-ranked officials for more power.
Initially, the officials in Mozambique had given Remonin a small role and a little power. They were able to gain a huge amount of money from Remonin.
Later, as Remonin’s rank became higher and he gained more power and ambition, the highly ranked officials would want to get more money from him. Remonin would have to fork up more.
There was a balance between price and profit in their dealing with Remonin. When that bottom line was achieved, the officials would kill him.
Understanding that logic, Li Du asked, “Is there any way he can get out of that situation?”
Li Qi glanced at him and said, “Yes. There are two routes for the pig to take to save itself. One is to escape when the owners are not paying attention. However, then it would not be able to enjoy a safe environment and tasty feed…”
Yang Dong interrupted with a laugh. “Tasty pig feed? Haha.”
Li Qi laughed too and said, “Remonin will not choose this route. That’s because his motivation is, to use your metaphor, to survive on the farm and enjoy the feed that can expedite his growth.”
“The second option is to gain the liking of the owner or others around him so that they cannot bear to kill him. However, you have to know that the owner has already set his heart on rearing the pig to make money. It would be very difficult to change the owner’s mind.”
Li Du said, “Then the pig should go gain the favor of other people, to get those people to influence the owner?”
Li Qi clapped his hands and said, “Absolutely right. In short, Remonin has to stop what he is doing. He should not continue to suck up to the officials and should instead win favors with others. I’m talking about the lower-ranked commoners. He should take the path of the majority.”
“Basically, it means that he has to move steadily to slowly take over camps. He has to digest and unleash the power he has now and go gain more power. Just like a pig has to digest the feed it has in its mouth before going to eat other things.”
“Remonin has to gain more prestige between the common people and the military, gain the trust of the majority. There are more common people than bigshots. Besides, he has to network with other officials who are in a similar predicament. This part is unlike the pigs. That’s because pigs do not know how to form allies to increase their strength. Humans should know better.”
The more Li Du listened to him, the quieter he grew. At the same time, the fear in him grew as well.
He had underestimated the political struggles of Mozambique. If he had not come across Li Qi, perhaps he would never have realized the danger Remonin was in.
However, he could not be blamed. He was merely a small businessman. His strength did not lie in politics.
Li Qi’s strength, on the other hand, did.
Li Qi was about to continue with his analysis when Li Du jumped in and said, “Yang Dong said that you were holding a dual post in the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. How did you lose your position?”
That question led Li Qi to smile bitterly. “There are some matters that I cannot elaborate on. It would not be good for you to know. However, at the end of it all, it’s because I’m too honest. Besides, I’m also Chinese. Anyway, I was kicked out.”
Li Du asked, “How much do you earn each month now? And how much did you earn in a month in the past?”
“In the past, I made around one hundred thousand per year. Now, my earnings are only a fraction of that. Sometimes I’m not even able to make the amount to pay for the stall rental and insurance,” Li Qi continued bitterly.
Yang Dong put in, “Now that we are talking about it, I can’t help but complain. D*mn, what was the motivation behind the setting up of the underground market? The government says that it was to encourage food manufacturers to help young people start businesses, but how have they helped? They only know how to collect fees. There is a fee for applying for a health permit, and there is a fee for purchasing liability insurance. That’s more than one thousand a year! ”
“It costs about one thousand dollars to pay for the fees of the farmers’ market, including health permits and liability insurance.”
Li Qi sighed. “This underground food city has become a good avenue for them to make money. Why would the Seattle government let it go? Liability insurance is 250 dollars, market space rental costs 40 to 55 dollars a day, and a health and safety permit is required twice a year, which is about five hundred dollars …”
Li Du said, “Then you guys can’t make much money from here.”
Li Qi looked at him and said, “But the foot traffic here is high. Perhaps we might bump into a good boss here, and then we can get out of this cycle.”
Hearing that, Li Du laughed. “Smart man, haha, are you trying to be Jiang Ziya?”
“If I’m Jiang Ziya and I’m fishing, are there any men willing to bite on my hook?” Yang Dong started to laugh.
Li Du said, “Jiang Ziya went fishing to wait for King Wen of Zhou. Mr. Li Qi, you have the talent of Jian Ziya. I’m just a small character and I dare not compare myself to King Wen of Zhou. However, I’m still able to offer you an opportunity to showcase your talent.”
“I will reinstate your annual salary of one hundred thousand. As long as you can stay for a year, there will be a bonus at the end of the year, of the same amount as your annual salary. In the future, there will be an increment of one hundred thousand per year, as with the year-end bonus. How does that sound?”
Without hesitating, Li Qi extended his hand. “Hello, boss.”
Comments