Chapter 580 - Building Bus Terminal (3) – Part 1
It was 11:30 am.
When Gun-Ho went back to the meeting room, the table was already set, ready for the contract signing ceremony; the table was decorated with the national flags of two countries—the Korean flag and the Chinese red flag with five stars. There was also a banner hanging on the wall.
Gun-Ho read the wording written on the banner,
“Zhong Han Hezi Quanzi Yishi, meaning Sino-Korean joint venture signing ceremony.”
At that moment, the department of transportation’s director arrived at the meeting room. He was wearing sunglasses, and the way he walked into the meeting room looked arrogant.
“Oh, Mr. President Goo!”
“Oh, Mr. Director of the transportation department, long time no see.”
“I’ve heard that you finally decided to sign the contract. You made the right decision. You have my respect for your discernment about business.”
President Runsheng Yan of the transportation company in Antang City and Gun-Ho sat at the table. Each person had his country’s mini flag in front of them. The rest of the people in the meeting room stood behind the table and under the banner making a line, including the director of the transportation department, the joint venture’s vice president and the construction director, Jae-Sik Moon, Eun-Hwa Jo, and Mr. Choi from Social Science Academy. The transportation company’s staff from its marketing department was busy taking photos while Gun-Ho and President Runsheng Yan signed the contract and had a handshake subsequently.
President Runsheng Yan invited everyone to the signing ceremony for lunch in a highly luxurious restaurant. Gun-Ho was treated as an honored guest, and he sat at the seat that was reserved for an important figure of the group. The transportation department’s director sat next to Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho didn’t have high alcohol tolerance, especially when he had to drink in a day while most Chinese people seem to be able to drink as much as they could even in a day. Everyone seemed to enjoy drinking together that day. The construction manager was drinking strong Chinese liquor—Baiju—as if it was like drinking water. Jae-Sik also seemed to join them drinking a lot of liquor. Mr. Choi from Social Science Academy and Ms. Eun-Hwa Jo had drinks along with them.
While the director of the transportation department and President Runsheng Yan, who was running the transportation company in Antang City, were present, Gun-Ho asked the crowd, “When do you think I can expect to have the result of the bus line negotiation with Guiyang City?”
“Guiyang City’s transportation department agreed on the basic conditions, but we are still negotiating the number of buses that both cities would run. We want three buses while they want only two. We haven’t reached an agreement on it just yet. So, we came up with an idea that maybe we can run 2 buses and 1 Zhong Ba (mid-size bus). We are still reviewing the possibility with Guiyang City about it.”
“Zhong Ba?”
“Yes, we are thinking about the size that can accommodate 35 passengers.”
“Do you reserve any extra bus as well? You know, in case that one of the buses breaks down and is not able to run for a while. Or, it could get involved in a car accident. You should be ready for the cases where one of the buses is not available for service.”
“Of course, we will need to reserve an extra bus. But, we don’t reserve one for every bus line, but we reserve one or more for the bus service company entirely.”
“It’s actually more than that. She will come here a month later. I already visited the hospital for foreigners here. They do have a nice and big facility. That hospital is a collaboration work with a company in Hong Kong. It’s really nice.”
“Oh, you visited the hospital?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“She had an ultrasound, right?”
“You are asking about the gender of my child? I will have a daughter.”
“Hmm, in that case, I can’t give this boy attendant figure to you. I will take it to my wife. My wife is four months pregnant now. We will have a son.”
“Really? Congratulations.”
The two laughed out loud while looking at each other. They had a firm handshake too as if the two of them made a club for new dads.
“By the early next year, we both will be fathers. I will have my first child at 37 years old, and you will have yours at 38.”
“That’s right.”
“I think we are the last people who just became a father among our friends from high school. We both married late and have a baby late. Look at Won-Chul Jo. He had received enough financial support from his wealthy parents as he was growing up. As a result, he got a nice job in a large company right after college, and he got married five years earlier than us, right? So did Suk-Ho Lee and Byeong-Chul Hwang.”
“Well, we couldn’t get married sooner because we had to stabilize our financial situation first, which took time.”
“The most important thing is that we’ll live happily ever after for a long time. Let’s make a happy life.”
“Sure. Let’s live well!”
The two men laughed and held their hands together and shook them.