"Sir." The man lowered himself and came to Chen Yiyang's side, then began to speak.
"I took a look at the cards you brought over; they are indeed from a batch we issued before. However, those cards are special, made as limited edition collectible cards during our promotional events."
"So, you're saying the amount in the cards isn't a fixed recharge, but has some benefits?"
"No, not really." The manager quickly replied.
"Then that's settled. I'm not asking you to exchange collectible cards. I'm asking you to convert those cards into new shopping cards of equivalent value."
"But those cards have expired." The manager tried to explain again.
"The cards are expired, I know." Chen Yiyang said firmly, "You don't need to explain the card issue to me. I know they're expired.
But my demand is for you to take the money inside the cards and transfer it to new shopping cards for me. Do you understand? Are you saying that the money inside expires when the card does?"
The manager was momentarily stunned.
"You're not high enough in rank, get someone who is, don't waste my time." Chen Yiyang waved his hand and checked his phone.
It was already past four in the afternoon.
If this manager continues to dawdle, he'll drag it out until closing time.
"Higher-level management isn't at the company right now; I'm in charge here." The manager continued to smile.
If Chen Yiyang had brought cards worth a few hundred or a few thousand,
he absolutely wouldn't have reacted this way. He would've ignored it until closing time.
But shopping cards worth 200,000 yuan aren't a small amount. Whether the other party calls the police or the press,
it's something they can and will do.
The manager didn't want to cause trouble.
"Then call someone who can make a decision, and do it now." Chen Yiyang directly ordered.
The manager's face immediately looked a bit unpleasant.
But he still didn't dare to get angry.
Because before coming over, he had especially gone outside to check.
Chen Yiyang's Porsche 911, worth over a million, was parked not far from the entrance.
A person driving a car worth over a million and bringing in expired shopping cards worth 200,000 to exchange cards.
He involuntarily elevated Chen Yiyang's status in his mind.
In these circumstances, when Chen Yiyang snapped, the manager didn't dare speak anymore.
So the manager walked to the corner, took out his phone, said a few words, and then went to the front desk to check whether these shopping cards had been used.
After checking seven or eight cards, the manager returned with the phone.
"Sir, our boss would like to have a word with you."
Chen Yiyang accepted the phone.
"Sorry about this, my staff was out of line." The person on the other end began by apologizing.
"I guess they haven't encountered such a situation." Chen Yiyang replied in a relaxed tone, "My dad just found them unused after moving. I brought them to exchange them, sorry for causing trouble."
"It was our oversight." The other person continued to apologize, "I've already instructed them to immediately exchange your cards. As long as they haven't been used, all the cards can be exchanged for new ones."
"They definitely haven't been used. Those cards were stacked in the warehouse and forgotten. If I'd known earlier, I would've exchanged them before they expired."
"Haha, it seems it's our mall's fault for not allowing enough time for customers to spend. We'll continue to improve."
"Alright then, let's leave it at that. Sorry for the trouble." After Chen Yiyang finished the call, he handed the phone back to the manager.
"Such a simple task, yet you needed me to prompt you to do it." Chen Yiyang continued to chide the manager, "Hurry up and exchange the cards; I'm in a hurry."
"Sorry for the inconvenience." The manager quickly left and instructed the front desk staff to continue refilling Chen Yiyang's water.
After sitting back on the sofa, Chen Yiyang's expression returned to normal.
The anger earlier was just an act.
Because he realized that the manager knew earlier that the cards could be exchanged, he was just trying to avoid the hassle.
This is a common issue with middle management. When it comes to things with credit, they do the work much more efficiently.
But when it comes to tasks that provide no benefits and might be pushed off, they avoid it if possible. Preferably, they frustrate him enough that he goes to other stores to exchange them.
Then it wouldn't be his problem anymore.
After cross-verifying with the front desk that all the cards were unused, the manager came over with a box of new cards.
"Sir, we've exchanged all of them for this year's new shopping cards. These cards are the most commonly used type, have no expiration date, and can be used at any time."
"Okay." Chen Yiyang nodded, took the cards, and walked out.
Of course, although the cards were new, the money in them could still only be spent at stores under the Chenghui Business Alliance.
For Chen Yiyang to convert these cards to cash, he still needed to follow another process.
He took a photo of the cards, and then found the Jin City electronic goods discussion group where Zhang Guichen had previously invited him,
and sent the photo.
"I currently have 100 Chenghui shopping cards with a face value of 2,000 yuan each, selling at a 99% discount. Message me if interested."
As soon as the message was sent, several people tried to add him.
Before Chen Yiyang could even accept their friend requests, a message came from his old buddy, Zhang Guichen.
"Bro, don't post such good deals in the group. Quickly say they're sold out; let's discuss privately."
Alright, it seems I underestimated the demand for these shopping cards.
Chen Yiyang then posted in the group, "A hundred pieces sold out, thank you all for your support, I'll send a red envelope to everyone."
Click on the red envelope, one yuan, ten parts, send.
Then Chen Yiyang closed WeChat and drove straight to find Zhang Guichen.
"I thought you sent a big envelope, but I only snagged three cents." Zhang Guichen stood in front of his store waiting for Chen Yiyang.
"I only had one yuan left on WeChat, nothing I could do." Chen Yiyang got out of the car holding the box of shopping cards.
"Nice car, is it yours?"
"Borrowed from a friend, I gave all my assets to my ex-wife, where would I get the money to buy a car."
"Pity, I wanted to borrow it to show off."
"When I have money to buy one like this, I'll definitely lend it to you to show off. For now, I'm still relying on the friend who lent me the car to survive, can't really turn around and lend someone else's belongings."
"I get it, I get it." Zhang Guichen nodded repeatedly, then reluctantly glanced at the elegant appearance of the Porsche 911.
Walking into Zhang Guichen's store, Chen Yiyang found another person sitting inside.
The fishing fellow Liu Chen from last time.
"We meet again, brother." Liu Chen came up familiarly to shake hands with Chen Yiyang.
"So you're both buying this batch of cards?" Chen Yiyang asked.
"It's mainly him, I'm just cashing in a favor." Zhang Guichen pointed at Liu Chen and said, "Don't be fooled by his fishing every day, he's got a lot of connections. He needs these kinds of anonymous shopping cards in bulk."
"Aren't prepaid shopping cards bought the same?" Chen Yiyang was a bit curious.
"You have no idea how strict cash flow monitoring is now. Especially for business like mine with all sorts of mixed deals, any significant cash flow and the bank would call up.
Nowadays, I usually use cash when going out, almost resorting to bartering for business."
While complaining, Liu Chen picked up the shopping cards brought by Chen Yiyang and glanced at them.
"New cards, brother."
"Yeah." Chen Yiyang did not explain where these cards came from.
He's realized that Zhang Guichen seems like a decent person. This Liu Chen, however, is definitely stepping into the grey area.
To have cash flow monitored this closely. The business he's in must have some shady elements.
"We're brothers, so no more talk needed. I won't even ask for a 99% discount, just take twenty thousand, and I'll buy them directly."
"Alright." Chen Yiyang nodded.
Then Liu Chen directly took out a backpack and handed Chen Yiyang twenty stacks of cash.
Chen Yiyang didn't expect this guy to carry around two hundred thousand in cash.
"Will this money pass the currency detector?" Liu Chen asked.
"No need." Chen Yiyang shook his head.
This fresh cash showing no signs of counterfeit is unlikely to contain any fake notes in recent years.
If it were all counterfeit, Jin City's police would probably laugh themselves awake dreaming about it, as it'd be quite an accomplishment.
"You're a generous brother." Liu Chen directly collected the shopping cards.
Liu Chen seemed to have something urgent and left after finishing the transaction.
Once Liu Chen left, only then did Chen Yiyang ask Zhang Guichen, "What's with this guy?"
"He takes on projects and then resells them as subcontractor. I won't go into his situation in detail; indeed, spending cash is a hassle."
"Oh." Chen Yiyang nodded. It might be best to have less contact with this person in the future.
Things generally don't go wrong, but if something does happen, anyone involved in cash transactions could be implicated.
"Have you thought about opening a store, brother? Business is good now, but if you keep it up like this, cash flow will get monitored."
Zhang Guichen kindly reminded Chen Yiyang.
It gave Chen Yiyang a wake-up call.
He criticized Liu Chen, but if someone pays attention to his cash flow lately,
it might seem even shadier than Liu Chen's.
Diverse and messy, hardly any legitimate transactions to speak of.
Except for that one time selling paintings, none of the other income had taxes paid.
As a good young person in the new era, Chen Yiyang deeply realized his previous mistakes.
Other matters can be ignored, but when it comes to finding bargains, you have to pay taxes.
At the very least, the very least, after transactions with others, there should be a corporate account.
Otherwise, personal to personal, long-term sizable transactions will certainly get monitored.
The fact that Chen Yiyang hasn't been contacted by the bank for inquiries yet is probably because during the time his family was sick, his account frequently had large transactions, so his recent cash flow hasn't triggered any alarms.
Spent the whole night drinking tea with brother Zhang Guichen.
By dawn, Chen Yiyang was still full of energy.
However, at this hour, he can't make it to pick up Hans, so he ends up playing games in the rental flat until later that night at twelve.
Today's intel, fisherman never fails the Air Force: At the bottom of a fish pond in Shuihe Village, Jin City, about one meter down, you can find a pottery jar containing silver coins from the eighth year of the Republic.
Detailed location of the pottery jar is attached on the second page.