Chapter 66 - Hit A Jackpot With Foreign Exchange (2)
Gun-Ho felt great; he felt like he could fly.
“Oh, my gosh. Now I have 1,174,800,000 won. Hahaha. In addition to that, I still have 20,000 Yuan that I had saved up in preparation for the restaurant rent for the next period; it is still in my bank account with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. I left it there so I could use it during my stay in China before I return to Korea. I am so happy. Hahaha.”
Gun-Ho laughed and jumped around in his apartment by himself.
“You fool!”
Gun-Ho felt like he heard Chairman Lee’s voice.
“You are jumping around in excitement for only 1.1 billion won? You fool!”
Gun-Ho straightened up his posture.
“That’s right. I shouldn’t be crazily excited about only 1.1 billion won. As Master Park had told me before, I am destined to be awfully rich.”
Gun-Ho was planning to have a tour in China before returning to Korea.
“This is a good opportunity for me to have a tour in China before I leave this country. Let’s travel and broaden my experience!”
Gun-Ho started off his trip by flying to Beijing and visited the Forbidden City.
“This is the palace where Chinese emperors used to live.”
Gun-Ho then went to the Wudaokou area in front of the Peking University, where Professor Wang of Zhejiang University and Director Li of Shanghai City Construction Bureau used to hang out when they were in college. Gun-Ho could see a lot of restaurants serving lamb skewers.
Gun-Ho felt his legs got tired and became exhausted after seeing the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace where Empress Dowager Cixi used to have fun hanging out.
“It began to rain. Let’s have a drink at the lamb skewer restaurant.”
Gun-Ho ordered lamb skewers and a Tsingtao beer.
“Because I am envious of Korea. If we have the same power as Korea has, we would have achieved our independence from China already, but we have a population of only 7,000,000 people. Whew.”
The Uighurs gentleman let out a deep sigh.
“Isn’t it good to be a part of China? China has been developing a lot and it is one of the most powerful nations. I heard the country provides a lot of affirmative action programs to ethnic minorities, doesn’t it?”
The gentleman smiled cynically while shaking his head from side to side implying a negative answer.
“What’s your occupation?”
“I am a professor at Urumqi University.”
The gentleman continued drinking his liquor; he looked sad.
While staying at Urumqi, Gun-Ho received a full-body massage from a beautiful woman masseur who looked like Russian. It cost him 300 Yuan.
“Having money is good. Someone is willing to wash my smelly feet with warm water as long as I have money.”
After visiting Urumqi, Gun-Ho continued his trip and stopped by Chengdu and the enormous Three Gorges Dam before he returned to Hangzhou City.
When he came back to his home in Hangzhou City, he felt extremely tired and slept all day long.
“What time is it? It’s already 10 AM. How long have I slept then? I don’t remember having dinner last night.”
Gun-Ho wanted to say good-bye to Professor Wang at Zhejiang University before he left China, so he made a call to him.
“Uh? G-jjong? I was going to call you. Aren’t you going to continue your studies to MBA?”
“I closed my Korean restaurant. The hotel will begin its renovation construction soon. I want to see my friend before I return to Korea.”
“Really?”
“Let’s meet at Pinghoo Restaurant & Bar in the West Lake area around 5 PM. I guess you don’t have a lecture at the time?”
“Isn’t it an expensive restaurant? Let’s go somewhere else that is less pricey.”
Pinghoo Restaurant & Bar in the West Lake area was the one where Gun-Ho met the branch manager of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for the first time.
“That’s okay. Come to the restaurant. I’m the CEO, remember?”
“Haha. Okay. See you there then.”
Gun-Ho and Professor Wang sat at the window-side table.
A staff lady wearing a Chinese traditional dress—Qipao—poured green tea in their cups.
“Longjing tea of Hangzhou City is the best green tea.”
“I used to drink this tea all the time when I was in the U.S. studying for my Ph.D. This tea clears my mind.”
“I agree with you. I drink this tea whenever I’m trying to figure out something in running my business.”
“Aren’t you going to do any other business in China? Do you have anything on your mind about what kind of business you are going to do once you return to Korea?”
“I am interested in investing in real estate.”
“Real estate? A developing country has highly restrictive policies on real estate, doesn’t it?
“In fact, I didn’t really make that much money in running a Korean restaurant in China.”
“Hmm… of course. You should have had a client base of local people for your restaurant to make money. With Korean workers and students as your only customers, your restaurant would most likely not generate enough revenue.”
“That’s why I had invested in real estate while I was running the restaurant. I had purchased the Hwaganghwawon condos two and a half years ago and recently sold them.”
“Oh, really? The condos there are really expensive. I guess maybe the president of Zhejiang University could afford to live in a condo like that. It’s amazing. So, you must have made a lot of money from it, huh?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“Let me see. You brought Korean Won to China two and a half years ago… Then you must have made a lot of money from the foreign exchange as well, in addition to the proceeds from your real estate investment.”
“You surely are a professor. Do you think the currency’s exchange rate will increase more in the near future?”