After not seeing each other for a few months (although it was several years according to Lu Wu's time standard), Ren Jian's face was deeply haggard. To be honest, he is in a bit similar to the state he was in when he lost the contract and might go to jail. It's just that at that time, Ren Jian was because of alcoholism and insomnia, and this time it was pure anxiety.

After the two of them sat down, Ren Jian began to repeat what he had said on the phone before. Of course, this time there was no phone call, so he said it more carefully and thoroughly. I didn't skip the more complicated and cumbersome parts, but explained all the details clearly.

Actually, that's just the way it is. Although the Linyi Kingdom has long disappeared from history, this does not prevent a modern country from seeing itself as the successor and descendant of Linyi. Such a jade seal may only be a "valuable antique" for Chinese, at most it can only be said to have a certain cultural and historical value, but for others, it must add a "political value". So the government is eyeing this thing. In this kind of semi-open political demand, as long as the other party is willing to bid, it will definitely be able to get the jade seal in the end. Unfortunately, the price that others pay is not necessarily money, or even money at all, but something that other ordinary people don't understand and won't touch. Let's say a support, an economic agreement, or a purchase contract. In short, when an agreement was reached between governments, "owners" like Lu Wu were directly ignored. You can't stand up to the government anyway.

Fortunately, they insured Yuxi, although the insurance company will not pay for this kind of thing in full, but it will more or less pay back. Of course, it is very different from the previous estimate, that is, 100 million.

Speaking of which, Ren Jian really regrets going on a TV program now! If he didn't go on that program and his reputation would not spread, wouldn't he be fine now? Even if it is known by others, it will be the next owner or even the next owner. It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world, and it is impossible for the jade seal to be recovered. The ancients said that "wealth is not exposed" is really a summary of experience, in order to deeply understand the meaning of this sentence, Ren Jian and Lu Wu paid a bloody price.

That's the end of the jade seal. In the face of this situation, Ren Jian can only use a phrase on the Internet: "What can I do? I'm also desperate", and there is really no way to ask for help. To tell the truth, if the heirloom jade seal suddenly appeared in some friendly country, China would definitely do whatever it took to obtain it, wouldn't it?

Ren Jian sighed for a long time, complaining that he had not thought it through at the beginning. But to be honest, although I regret it at the moment, this mistake is really hard to avoid. Either of the two is actually not very well versed in the antique market. Although since the beginning of the new century, the collection boom of Shenzhou Land has become higher and higher. But people who are not in this industry are just looking at the flowers and the moon in the water. At most, I only have the common sense of being a buyer (collector), and I am limited to the level of "don't be deceived by fake antiques". But as sellers, they have very limited knowledge. Of course, neither Lu Wu nor Ren Jian is part of the collecting craze, and for them, exchanging antiques for money is the right thing to do.

In fact, no one is to blame for this, whether it is jade seals or other antique transactions (as mentioned earlier, they have been investigated and dealt with by the police), it can only be said that it is completely a matter of luck. Regardless of whether Lu Wu is there or not, the final result will not be any different.

Actually, the matter of selling antiques is not the point. After all, although this matter is not smooth sailing, and the expected benefits have not been achieved, it cannot be said who is responsible. The matter of the steel plant is another matter entirely.

The so-called shopping mall is like a battlefield. If it is compared to Ren Jian's first battle after entering the mall, then there is no doubt that this battle obviously ended in a fiasco.

It was not an ordinary fiasco, it could be regarded as the annihilation of the whole army in the real sense.

As mentioned earlier, the steel plant in W City is a state-owned enterprise, and it was also prosperous in the early years. Even the wave of bankruptcies in the last century has passed smoothly. However, since the beginning of the new century, almost all state-owned enterprises have entered a polarized mode: they have either become bigger and stronger, or they have gradually declined.

And the steel mill in W City is undoubtedly the latter.

The decline of the steel mill is not due to a corrupt leadership group on the stall, one by one stretching out his arms and desperately fishing, "rich abbot poor temple". It is not because of a mistake in a decision that leads to a major loss, and eventually leads to a broken capital chain and the factory cannot be maintained. It is not the fierce internal power struggle that leads to the lack of discipline and unwillingness of the workers, which eventually leads to the decay of the entire factory. Its decline is, more precisely, an inevitable consequence.

If the steel mill is compared to a person, its decline is not so much a disease as an inevitable aging. Each stage doesn't seem to be much different, and a lot of wind and rain have passed smoothly, but after a certain stage, it inevitably declines. To summarize the superficial reasons, that is, the process is outdated, the technology is backward, the personnel is aging, and finally loses its competitiveness in the market. But if you analyze it in depth, in the final analysis, it is the inherent deficiency of such small and medium-sized steel plants. If it cannot take advantage of the past time and opportunity to develop and grow, and form an advantage of economies of scale, it is destined to be eliminated in the market competition. This is determined by the overall environment of the whole of China.

So, when the Chinese government was determined to eliminate outdated production capacity, the support of the last pillar of the steel plant, the W municipal government, also disappeared. The steel mill is completely finished, and it is inevitable that it will be sold, and if it must be argued, it is nothing more than a question of who to sell it to and how to sell it.

It's a pity that, as said before, the steel plant itself is hopeless. Anyone who wants to get into the steel industry is buying the mill. Because the only way to save the steel plant is to carry out a complete technological transformation. Tear down the old equipment in the steel plant and replace it with new equipment. In this way, the possibility of profitability can be realized. However, the cost of this renovation was so great that it could be said that a new steel plant was built. Not to mention, like many state-owned enterprises, it has a heavy historical burden, a large number of elderly people to deal with, and complicated personnel relations in the factory. It will definitely take a lot of money and effort to deal with these things.

The so-called head-killing business is done, and no one does the loss-making business. After weighing up, everyone can see that instead of spending a huge cost to renovate the steel plant, it is better to build a new one yourself. And there is no historical baggage, it is equivalent to a blank canvas, and you can paint anything by yourself. You don't have to deal with appeasing those troublesome old employees, you don't have to deal with those slippery and troublesome middle-level cadres, and there are no historical problems, such as debt disputes or anything.

So those who are interested in steel mills are not aiming for the plant, equipment and technicians from the beginning. Instead, they had only one goal: the land of the steel mill.

The steel mill was originally considered a suburb of W City, but with the urban expansion of W City, it has become a part of the city. From the pattern of the entire W city, it can be seen that if the plant area of the steel plant can be developed, it will definitely be of great value.

It can be said that if there is no value of land, then this steel plant is worthless. To put it mildly, no one wants to give it away for free. Just like those European castles that are auctioned off for one dollar or even given away for free - although they only sell for one dollar, the cost of really wanting to own them is ridiculously high.

But if you take into account the value of the land, it's a different story entirely.

Ren Jian knew a reliable message. A real estate agent has even signed an agreement with him, if Ren Jian can level the land, then he can directly sell it to the real estate developer for three or five times the price.

With such a guarantee and a true and detailed understanding of the debt assets of the steel plant, Ren Jian naturally decided that this was a good opportunity to make a fortune. He happily joined the deal. And the whole process went very smoothly, from the time he got the news of the steel plant to the time he actually completed the acquisition, it only took a month. You could say that he was efficient, or you could say that he was too impulsive and reckless.

Then, with the transfer of the city leaders who promoted the matter, the original promise could not be kept. In other words, what Ren Jian spent money to buy was a worthless waste.

On top of that, a lot of things that were supposed to be in vain. For example, the scheduled second instalment of the loan hit a nail in the coffin. The first installment of the loan was easily secured with the support of that leader. But the application for the second phase was directly returned. Of course, the trouble is far more than just loans, and the employees of the steel plant itself are a big problem, like a bottomless pit.

"So the ...... The surname Qian wants to buy the steel mill from you?" Lu Wu slowly understood the cause and effect of this incident as a whole. "Since you say it's completely useless, then why would he want to?"

"Lu Wu, you don't understand this, the cost is different. Ren Jian sighed and explained. "Although now this land cannot be used because of the regulations of government documents...... But who will say in three or five years? So if you buy this land for a small amount of money, it is also a good decision to use it as a spare pen. ”

"That's what you call it a hyena......"

Hyenas are scavengers, and the one surnamed Qian and the boss Tang behind him are typical hyenas in shopping malls. To put it bluntly, he took advantage of the danger of people and wanted to buy the steel mill from Ren Jian at a very low price. Of course, as mentioned earlier, steel mills are not profitable. But people don't plan to make money, but bet on whether the land policy will change in three or five years. It doesn't matter if you don't change it, after all, it's just bought at a very low price, the investment is not large, and the loss will not be very large. But in case if it changes......

Even if it is described as "a mountain of gold fell from the sky", it is not an exaggeration. This level of risk is perfectly acceptable compared to the possible benefits.

Of course, Ren Jian is not opposed to selling the steel plant, because he has to pay a lot of costs, so it is impossible to delay it for three or five years. Ideally, if someone is willing to offer a fair price, he will be happy to do it. How to say it, after all, the matter has come to this point, he can only say that he is at fault, what he is pursuing is not to make money, but to maximize the stop loss. But the problem is that Mr. Tang (and the one surnamed Qian he sent) simply took advantage of the fire to rob and pushed the price to an unacceptable level. However, if you don't accept it, then you can only stay in this bottomless pit and endure constant blood loss.

“…… In short, that's the case right now. Ren Jian told the whole situation once. He was a little scared. So far, the situation has become irreparable.

Truth be told, according to the current algorithm, he has already lost all his money. If he accepted Mr. Tang's price, it would mean that they not only lost all their money in this speculation, but also took on a large amount of debt. It is estimated that selling all the Hailao porcelain that Lu Wu is still hiding in the aquarium may not be able to make up for this shortfall.

Such an outcome is impossible for anyone to accept. Lu Wu's normal reaction was to jump up and beat him hard, in fact, Ren Jian felt that as long as he didn't get killed, he would make a profit.

"We now have a steel mill," to his surprise, Lu Wu didn't react at all. His eyes sparkled with an elusive light. "And then owed a large sum of money to the bank...... That's what it means, right?"

"It was a steel mill that was completely impossible to make money. Ren Jian deliberately emphasized. If the deal had been brought forward by 10 years, perhaps the steel mill would have been saved. But it is a pity that it has been delayed for ten years, and the outdated and backward equipment technology ten years ago has now become a very backward equipment technology. There is no way, now the technological progress is so fast, it was backward back then, and now it is a whole era behind - to sum it up in one sentence, starting steelmaking will be a loss, and not starting construction will be the same loss.

"Slut, do you think I'm unlucky?" Lu Wu suddenly asked.