235: Chapter 235 Helping Out

Shenzhen, Binhai Avenue, evening rush hour.

Li Xin was hunkered down in his car.

Ahead, a dense sea of brake lights stretched out into a long, crimson line. Traffic was at a standstill; he hadn't moved even half a meter in ages.

Just as he was feeling restless, Yang Hong called.

His voice was tight, the speed of his speech almost tripping over itself, as if he had piled up a bunch of urgent matters and was trying to cram them into a few short seconds.

"Brother Xin, something's gone wrong. The contract and arrival of that group of European engineers have hit a snag. The cross-border remittance has been underway for a whole month, but the money still hasn't arrived. The bank says that following standard procedures, it will take at least another three weeks."

"The engineers need to enter the country and start work at the beginning of next month; we can't afford to wait. I prepared the funds long ago; it's just stuck at the transfer step, unable to go through."

Li Xin listened without interrupting. The traffic ahead finally loosened up a bit. He released the brake, inched forward half a meter, and pressed it again. "Which bank?"

"The cross-border clearing channel at Bank of China Hong Kong. They say that for a payment of this size, it has to go through the full foreign exchange compliance review. The specific process takes at least twenty working days."

"How much?"

Yang Hong gave him the number—several million Euros. After hearing it, Li Xin said, "Send me the details of the receiving account over there. I'll ask Yansheng."

Yang Hong paused on the other end of the line. "Yansheng? You're going to ask Yansheng Bank directly?"

"Yeah. They have an international fast-clearing channel. If we use that, it can arrive in three days."

"What's your relationship with them? You can just ask about something this urgent?"

Li Xin pressed the brake; the traffic ahead had stopped again. He looked at the row of brighter red brake lights in the distance and said, "Just a long-term partnership. Send me the information."

Yang Hong didn't press further. He hung up and sent a message a few minutes later, attaching the recipient's bank account information, contract number, and remittance amount, all neatly arranged in a file.

Li Xin pulled the car over and forwarded the file directly to a number he hadn't saved, adding a note.

"Use the fast channel; have it arrive within three days. The recipient is my affiliated partner; use my credit line."

A few seconds later, the reply came: "Okay."

Li Xin placed his phone on the passenger seat and put the car back in gear. The long string of red taillights on Binhai Avenue finally began to move forward. He followed the rhythm of the car in front for a while and arrived home after seven o'clock.

While eating, he glanced at his phone. There was another message saying it had been processed and the clearing channel was activated.

Three days later in the afternoon, Yang Hong was in his office staring at the progress chart when someone from the finance department pushed the door open, their expression a mix of confusion and relief.

"General Manager Yang, that payment has arrived. It was credited yesterday afternoon, and this morning, the System showed that the foreign exchange settlement was complete."

Yang Hong looked up. "Three days?"

"Yes, it went through Yansheng Bank's international fast-clearing channel. Finance didn't do anything on our end; the other party seems to have connected directly to the bank's portal. The channel Rank is very high, and the transaction fees are much lower than the standard."

Yang Hong stared at his computer screen for a few seconds, then picked up his phone and dialed Li Xin's number. It rang twice before being picked up. He said directly, "It arrived. Three days."

Li Xin gave a hum on the other end. "Good to hear."

"How did you do it? Bank fast channels are usually only open to core clients. You could just get it done with one phone call?"

"I didn't really take a shortcut," Li Xin said in a flat tone.

"I just said a word, had Yansheng mark your recipient as my affiliate, and applied my credit channel. If you go through the normal procedures, it really takes a long time, but taking a different path is faster."

Yang Hong was silent for a moment. "You added my engineer team to your credit System too?"

"It's just a tag for the payment channel, not credit sharing. The bank knows this is business related to me, so they naturally prioritize it."

Just as Yang Hong was about to speak, he heard the finance department calling him from outside the door, so he hung up.

When he put down his phone, he saw someone in the engineer team's work group sending messages—three in total, all screenshots of an interface with English letters. The content wasn't very clear.

But he could clearly see the words "Yansheng Bank" at the beginning of the receiving account and a dark blue logo, with a line of small English text underneath: "Private Wealth Management."

Just as he was wondering if the System had sent too many notifications automatically, his phone rang. This time it was the German engineer leading the team, and his speaking speed was faster than usual.

"Mr. Yang, I received an email from Yansheng Bank saying they want to open a private high-end wealth management account for me, but I have never applied for this bank's services. Did you arrange this?"

Yang Hong held the phone, stunned. "... A private account?"

"Yes. The email says I am a 'Core Member of an Affiliated Partner' and that an asset allocation portal has been automatically opened for me. The initial limit is 500,000 USD, and the rates are lower than market standards. My colleagues here have also received the same email."

Yang Hong's mind raced. He dialed Li Xin's number again. It rang five times before being picked up. In the background, there was the sound of wind and the faint cry of seagulls in the distance, as if he were standing on a terrace.

"Brother Xin, my European engineers received private account opening emails from Yansheng Bank, and they say they never applied for them. Did you do something on your end?"

Li Xin was silent for two seconds. "Oh, that. The bank habitually opens accounts for the core members of my partners to facilitate subsequent payment and management processes. They're used to doing private banking and feel it's easier to operate if the wealth management accounts of the relevant personnel are all sorted out."

Yang Hong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It's one thing to let me use the payment channel, but why did you go and open private accounts for everyone on my team too?"

"It was just a casual favor, helping the bank expand its high-quality client base. Your engineers definitely hadn't opened accounts at Yansheng before. Now they have an extra wealth management channel—it's convenient, and it can be considered a benefit."

Yang Hong stood by the office window, looking at the grey walls of the office buildings outside. He was silent for several seconds before finally saying, "Yansheng Bank isn't owned by you, is it? The permissions are too high."

"No," Li Xin said, his tone no different from saying "The weather is nice today." "Just a VIP client, that's all."

Yang Hong hung up and returned to his desk to look at the screenshots in the team group chat. Someone had sent, "The entry threshold for this bank must be very high, right?" Below that, another colleague replied with a word starting with the letter G.

Yang Hong casually clicked on the Yansheng Private Bank VIP access standards. The page suddenly popped up a line of glaring red text: Account opening requires a personal net worth of 100 million USD or equivalent assets.

With a tap of his finger, he closed the page immediately.

Two days later, he specifically arranged to meet Qiang Zi. In the most secluded booth of a tea restaurant, the two sat facing each other. Yang Hong sorted out the whole thing from beginning to end: the stuck cross-border payment, the promised three-day arrival, the foreign engineers receiving account opening invitations, and finally the 100-million-dollar threshold he had just discovered. He laid it all out, one incident after another.

When he finished, he leaned back in his chair and stared fixedly at Qiang Zi. "Did you know about this threshold long ago?"

Qiang Zi was eating a portion of char siu rice and didn't even look up. "I knew a little earlier than you, but not by much. My drone procurement went through the channel connected to Yansheng too. The payment arrived in two days."

"Then how did you feel at the time?"

Qiang Zi finished the last bite of rice, put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and said slowly, "I just felt that our brother can call upon the best things in the world with a single word. Now that you know, just leave it at that; don't keep dwelling on it."

Yang Hong finished his iced lemon tea and set it on the table. The bottom of the plastic cup made a soft 'thud' against the tabletop.

A month later, Yang Hong's group of European engineers officially arrived and started work. The second day after they joined, the German team leader came to find Yang Hong and handed over a business card-style card, printed with the Yansheng Bank logo and his private client number.

"Mr. Yang, I confirmed the account information in the bank System yesterday. My account rates are indeed at the VIP level. I have a question I'd like to ask you: what is the partnership relationship between Mr. Li and this bank?"

Yang Hong looked at the card and was silent for a moment. "He is a long-term VIP client."

The German nodded and didn't ask any more. As he turned to leave, Yang Hong watched him walk to the door, where the man paused, turned back, and said one thing.

"Please thank Mr. Li for me; the 500,000 USD limit is very helpful to me."

Yang Hong leaned back in his chair and watched the door close. The cup of tea by his hand had remained untouched and had gone cold.

That night, he sprawled out on his sofa at home, silently sorting through the whole thing. Li Xin's comment about "casually helping the bank expand its high-quality client base" kept spinning in his mind.

Later, when they talked about this incident in a private group chat, he typed and sent: "Brother Xin's casual 'helping hand' can handle an absurdly large scope. Overseas wealth management for engineers, cross-border settlement, shipping licenses, custom drones—a pile of above-board matters are all included, not to mention the channels that haven't been brought to the table. Even now, I can't figure out how many more resources he has that he can just 'casually' handle."

Qiang Zi only replied with a sunglasses emoji and didn't say another word.

Luo Maifa followed up immediately: "I mentioned a few months ago that the 'we'll talk about it later' he always has on his lips is backed by paths he can open with a single word. I used to think it was just polite talk, but now I finally see clearly that I underestimated him back then."

Yang Hong smiled as he looked at the screen and put his phone down. The living room was very quiet. A few floors of the office building outside the window were still lit; he didn't know which company's employees were still working overtime.

He stood up to pour a glass of water, his mind still spinning with the engineers' affairs. He remembered what Li Xin had said at the time, "It's just a win-win," and couldn't help but shake his head.

The next morning, he received a message from Li Xin, just one line: "How are the engineers adapting?"

Yang Hong thought for a moment and replied: "They are adapting very well. The work is progressing faster than expected. Thanks."

"Mm." Li Xin just replied plainly and didn't say anything else.