Chapter 404

In this world, when you are in dire straits and need help, the number of people willing to lend a hand is ultimately a very small minority.

On the contrary, there are more people who will step on you a couple of times when you are suffering misfortune.

It is unknown who leaked the news that Jinda Bank was currently not operating smoothly, but it was highly likely someone from another bank.

Banks, too, are for-profit entities.

If Mr. Jobav’s Jinda Bank was indeed facing financial difficulties, then for these other banks, it was a new “feast.”

The depositors of Jinda Bank, as well as the goods Mr. Jobav had to quickly mortgage at a low price to plug the hole, were all coveted by the major banks.

Even if Mr. Jobav could overcome the current difficulties, they had ways to take a bite out of him in the mortgage lending.

If he… couldn’t make it, then that was even better!

Not only could they get those mortgaged items at an extremely low price, but they could also gain a large number of depositors and achieve growth in performance. No matter what, they would never be the losers!

With this thought, they naturally would not rest. Soon, rumors about Jinda Bank having no money began to spread even more wildly.

Mr. Jobav’s base was these Empire immigrants and illegal immigrants. Their distrust of the Federation’s banks was what had led to the business miracle of Jinda Bank and Mr. Jobav.

But now, this miracle seemed to be coming to a halt.

More people began to demand to withdraw their deposits. The bank’s entrance was already crowded with people, waving their deposit and withdrawal slips, their faces full of unease and even panic.

Some homeless people were also waiting to withdraw money. They were also loyal customers of Jinda Bank because anyone could deposit money here.

Regardless of whether they had an identity or not.

Many reporters had already gathered around, all waiting for a chance to interview Mr. Jobav. At this moment, Mr. Jobav had already realized that he was about to be finished.

He could only place his hopes in the Mayor. This was his last chance at survival.

The Mayor, lying in his hospital bed, listened to all he had to say, including his request, and finally shook his head. “I’m sorry, Joe, I can’t do that.”

“The funds you invested in those infrastructure projects have all been transferred to the project accounts. Even I can’t take them out.”

“You should understand how nervous the construction companies are about this money. And in the absence of other funds coming in, I must also prioritize the interests of the city’s development, not personal interests.”

“If you can find someone to take over these projects, I can help you transfer the rights.”

Mr. Jobav’s idea was whether he could divert some of the money invested in the city’s construction. Obviously, the Mayor had only lost, he wasn’t stupid.

Even if he had lost, these infrastructure projects were solid political achievements. At the very least, they could ensure that although he had no chance to advance further, he could live safely until retirement.

And Mr. Jobav, to him, was just a person who paid his bills. He didn’t care what would happen to Mr. Jobav in the future. He himself was already in this state, why would he care about others?

Watching Mr. Jobav’s desperate back as he left, the Mayor’s mood was also heavy.

He knew very well that the problem Mr. Jobav was facing now was the problem he was facing, and this problem had no solution.

Win, take all. Lose, you have to accept it.

Political struggles have always been this cruel.

Just a few days ago, the weather was fine and sunny, but a few days later, a storm came, and the world seemed about to be destroyed under the dark clouds.

“So, he has no chance of turning things around now?” Lance listened as people talked about Mr. Jobav’s situation. This had been the hottest topic in the Empire District for the past few days.

Because the major banks had Jinda Bank cornered, when Mr. Jobav wanted to mortgage those valuable things to other banks, they only gave him a very low limit.

For example, those works of art, originally worth tens of thousands, were only valued at ten thousand after being appraised by those banks, a value of twenty to twenty-five percent, and no one could find any fault with it.

After all, the price of works of art is not like gold. The major banks had not suppressed the price for him in the exchange of gold. After all, if they didn’t take it, there were places that would buy it at the market price.

But the prices of those other things that might be controversial had become worthless.

Now Jinda Bank’s main entrance was blocked, full of people waiting to withdraw money.

No matter how much money he brought in from outside, it would be put into the pockets of those withdrawing money in no time. The road of his life had come to an end.

Bolton sat in a corner, also sighing with considerable emotion.

In fact, perhaps no one else had a stronger feeling for the names “Jobav” and “Jinda Bank” than he did, because that was an existence he once didn’t even have the right to look up to.

Previously, at the gatherings outside St. Nayea Cathedral, he had wanted to get close to Mr. Jobav many times, but would be stopped by his assistant or bodyguards.

They looked at him with the eyes of someone looking at trash, as if telling him that a piece of trash had no right to approach Mr. Jobav.

At that time, in Bolton’s eyes, Mr. Jobav was the representative of the Federation Dream, not even one Federation Dream, but two, three, or even ten Federation Dreams.

But now, he was on the verge of bankruptcy, while he, who had once been looked down upon by him, seemed to be moving towards success.

He said with his head bowed, “I hear that’s the case. People say that people from other banks are surrounding him. He most likely won’t be able to hold on.”

Lance nodded slightly. “Have someone keep an eye on him…”

He hadn’t finished speaking when Corinda knocked on the door, pushed it open, and poked her head in. “Mr. Jobav wants to see you.”

Lance didn’t expect that just as they were talking about Mr. Jobav, the man himself would come directly.

Elvin glanced at Lance and then stood up. The others in the room all stood up. Lance nodded. “Let him in.”

Mr. Jobav had no other choice. If he had any other way, he would not have come to Lance.

He watched as many people came out of Lance’s office, straightened his clothes a little so he wouldn’t look too pathetic, and then pushed the door open and entered.

Lance sat behind his chair and didn’t even stand up. He didn’t ask Mr. Jobav to sit down, just let him stand there stiffly.

He didn’t even say to have someone prepare coffee or anything else.

“I need your help, Lance.”

Lance made no indication, just continued to look at him. He had to continue, “I need a sum of money.”

The two looked at each other for a few seconds. Lance shook his head slightly. “Mr. Jobav, you see, from the time you came in until now, you have been calling me by my name directly.”

“You don’t make me feel your respect for me. How can I possibly help you?”

“Perhaps you will feel… that I am a bit excessive, or even a bit too calculating. But you have forgotten that when you hired the Wolf Gang, the last bit of friendship we had was also gone.”

“Now you come to me for help. You need to have the attitude of someone asking for help, understand?”

Mr. Jobav’s face, which originally had no color and looked very haggard, had not been able to sleep at all these few days.

When he closed his eyes, his mind was filled with the situation of bankruptcy, with the anger and helplessness of his years of hard work and effort going down the drain, so his face had no color at all.

But even so, at this moment it turned red, and then began to turn white again.

It was as if a magician was hidden under his skin, performing a magic trick of changing colors.

After a while, he stooped, bent down, lowered his head, and stared at the tips of his own feet. “Mr. Lance, I need your help.”

Lance nodded slightly. “I’ve heard a lot, Mr. Jobav. It’s very difficult for me to make the decision to lend you money at this time, because you can’t pay it back.”

“And even if I lend you a little money, you actually can’t change anything.”

“Your credit has collapsed. Even if you make up for all the deficits now, you have no chance of turning things around.”

“If I were you, I would hide some valuable things now and then declare bankruptcy.”

“At least this way you will still have a guarantee for your life in the future, and you won’t have to find a new job at your age in too much misery.”

Mr. Jobav’s pale face began to turn a little red again, it was hard to say if it was because of shame or for some other reason.

“I want to borrow a sum of money,” he repeated this idea again.

The two looked at each other for a moment. Lance frowned. “Do you have anything you can mortgage?”

He nodded. “Antiques, works of art, real estate.”

Lance thought for a moment. “I don’t know much about antiques and works of art, so I can’t make a deal with you on that. But real estate is possible.”

“I want that bank building of yours, and your villa and estate.”

Mr. Jobav’s face turned pale again. His lips moved, and he finally said “No problem.”

It was impossible for him to have a problem, because he still wanted to hold on a little longer. He felt that perhaps he could still solve the current problem.

For the sake of being old countrymen from the Empire, and their previously decent relationship, Lance gave him a price of forty percent, which was already very high.

Although he also knew that the price Lance gave was very low, he still had to thank Lance. At least Lance was willing to lend him money.

The estate plus the villa plus the house, the estimated value was around three hundred thousand, a total of one hundred and twenty thousand. One hundred and twenty thousand could not solve his current problem at all.

Lance had a mortgage contract right here. Once Mr. Jobav couldn’t pay back the money, then Lance would have the right to take away his houses.

At the moment of signing, he hesitated for a moment. After all, these things represented all his success in the past few decades, especially the bank building.

But now, he really needed this money, even if it didn’t seem like much.

In the end, he signed his name on these documents and pressed his handprint. Lance had someone get the cash for him.

He quickly left with the money, without looking back.

Elvin asked Lance if this would make his situation any better.

Lance told him that doing so would only make the situation worse.

In fact, no bank has a particularly good way to deal with a bank run, because the reason depositors give for withdrawing money is reasonable and legal.

You can’t refuse them, for whatever reason. As long as you refuse, it will cause panic among the people, which is also the reason why Mr. Jobav, knowing it was impossible, was still trying to hold on.

Hold on, and maybe there’s still a chance. If you don’t hold on, then there’s really no chance at all.

He took the cash and went directly to the bank after leaving. In front of the people, he put this money into the bank, but doing so, as Lance had said, could not solve any problems, and instead made the people withdrawing money even crazier.

Even if he had the tellers tell the people withdrawing money that if they withdrew now, not only would they be charged a high handling fee, but they would also not be paid any interest, it still could not stop people’s desire to withdraw money.

How long he could last, no one knew. But what people knew was that he couldn’t last much longer.

Lance didn’t continue to pay much attention to him. He just had Roben the lawyer get ready to transfer the three properties to his name at any time.

For several days in a row, the matter of Jinda Bank being unable to honor deposits became more and more intense. Even the Mayor, lying in bed, began to pay attention to this matter.

He organized several government departments to follow up and investigate this matter, and while lying in his hospital bed, he did not forget to tell reporters that he would do his best to ensure the interests of the people.

And it was at such a time that the meeting of the Five Families began.

The meeting was held in the Kodak Family’s casino. In this “storm,” the Kodak Family was probably the only force that did not get involved. Although they had also betrayed everyone, they had not done anything more excessive.

So much so that to this day, the Kodak Family still considered themselves “neutral,” not leaning towards the Mayor’s side. So they undertook this part of the work.

In fact, during this period, the city had become turbulent, and their casino business had also declined quite a bit.

No one wanted to travel or play in a dangerous area, and Golden Port was not the only city with legal casinos to choose from.

The tourists who came here to gamble and travel were actually the mainstream group for the casino.

Now that this group was not coming to avoid danger, the casino’s business naturally became not so good.

Alberto and Francisco arrived early. Bandy also saw Francisco. He took the initiative to walk over, expressing his condolences and regret for Paul’s murder on one hand, and trying to persuade Francisco to stand on his side on the other.

“The city is too chaotic. Everyone is very tired, whether it’s us or those at the bottom. It’s time to get everything back on track.”

“I believe that after this time, people will believe even more that us being united is the most correct way.”

“Don’t let momentary hatred cloud your judgment. You have to understand what we need.”

Francisco made no statement. Alberto responded, “We will consider it.”

Seeing that the two of them were clearly not very cooperative, Bandy didn’t really have a good solution either. They had all believed the Mayor’s bullshit, but didn’t expect it to fall short at the last moment.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to say anything to this young man now.

“In short, people are yearning for peace. This is an opportunity.”

After he finished speaking, he smiled and turned to leave, because the people from the Keane family had arrived. Compared to these people, he was actually more willing to communicate with the Keane family.

The war between the Keane family and the Bear Gang had also come to an end. The Bear Gang had already begun to leave Golden Port, and they did not pursue them.

Both sides had suffered heavy losses. If they continued to fight to the death, it would be very detrimental to the family’s interests. The war between them and the Bear Gang was over.

They were also yearning for peace, to make up for the losses during this period.

Watching Bandy lobby by the side of the Keane family leader, Alberto withdrew his contemptuous gaze.

Then came the people from the Tita family. Sarif did not look well. His arm was in a cast and sling, and there were many scrapes on his face.

It was rumored that he had almost been killed in the previous firefight, so his temper was also the worst.

He took the initiative to walk over when he saw Alberto, greeted him, and then looked at Francisco.

“I am deeply sorry for your father’s murder. I hope you have come out of your grief.”

He glanced at Bandy, who was lobbying the Keane family, and a look of disgust appeared on his face. “Child, I haven’t been to university, so it’s hard for me to give you any help in this area.”

“The only thing I can teach you is to never forget hatred. Once you forget hatred, you will no longer be yourself.”

“Remember the hatred, and then take revenge. This is what we should do.”

“If it weren’t for that bunch of bastards from Cassia, our situation wouldn’t have become so bad. And Bandy and his men.”

“They betrayed us. They don’t deserve to be forgiven.”

Alberto nodded and said, “We don’t plan to reconcile with them either. We’ve lost a lot of people. We can’t just stop because they say so.”

Sarif nodded repeatedly after hearing this. “Yes, yes, you are right.”

“On what grounds should they start the fight when they want, and stop it when they want?”

“If we don’t wring that bastard’s head off and kick it like a ball, this war will absolutely not end.”

The meeting had not yet begun, but it seemed to have already foretold the result of this meeting.

The people from the Cassia family were the last to arrive. It seemed they also knew they were disliked, which was why they appeared last.

The moment Rick appeared, Sarif stood up at once, grabbed the teacup by his hand, and threw it at Rick.

Rick dodged while cursing, “Are you fucking crazy?”

Sarif reached into his coat, but all the guns had been left outside. He cursed “Fuck,” and was about to rush over to fight Rick hand-to-hand, but was immediately pulled away by Bandy and his men.

“Calm down, calm down…”

“You’re telling me to fucking calm down?” Sarif pushed away the person blocking him. “I’m telling you, in this city, it’s either me or him, him or me.”

“Peace talks, talk my ass.”

He kicked open the main door as he spoke and walked outside.

Alberto glanced at Francisco, stood up immediately after, and also walked outside.

“Are you guys leaving too?” A hint of dissatisfaction appeared on Bandy’s face.

If Sarif could vent his anger here, it was because although the Tita family had suffered heavy casualties, the overall framework was still there. As long as the money was in place, they could quickly pull together another group of people.

Then on what grounds did the Pasoretto family not want to talk?

Paul, a man of great authority, was dead. The family was in internal turmoil. In Bandy’s view, they were the ones who most hoped for peace talks, even more than him and the Keane family, hoping to stabilize and solve their internal problems.

Alberto raised his chin slightly and looked at him. “It’s not that we can’t talk, but we have to talk with guns and cannons, with bullets, not with our mouths.”

(End of chapter)

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