chapter 3

  "It seems that there is such a thing." Singer shook his head.

  "The Prime Minister has said that we need to enhance exchanges. Isn't doing business with them a kind of exchange? Then what am I afraid of?" jogo laughed and said, "Besides, Uncle Singh, do you think I have anything to be afraid of now?" Is there anything else that could be worse than now?"

  Singer thought for a moment, shook his head slightly, and agreed with this.

  With jogo now about to enter the slums, there really is no worse outcome than this.

  Besides, a big shot like that would not be angry with a kid like jogo.

  Even if jogo goes to get it, how much goods can he get for hundreds of thousands of rupees?

  It's harmless.

  Singer didn't speak. jogo's heart was beating fast. Was he thinking about it?

  Might as well agree.

  It's all nonsense that he has contacted the Chinese people. He just learned the news.

  Now I can only take a gamble. No matter how I cheat, I have to get some capital from the bank. Otherwise, how can I turn around?

  As for the Chinese trade group, jogo felt that he could communicate with them and the possibility of success was extremely high.

  Shipping to China is via the Strait of Malacca to the east and has nothing to do with the Suez Canal to the west.

  As long as the sea transportation is smooth, this trade will naturally be no problem.

  As for whether it is reliable, jogo is not too worried.

  Nowadays, Chinese people can basically go abroad in official names. To what extent are they representing the country and endorsed by the national credit? How can they be afraid of being cheated?

  jogo was looking forward to it, waiting for Singer's final reply.

  "jogo, let me tell you the truth, it is impossible for the bank to lend you any more money. If you really want to do this, I, the manager, will no longer have to work, and I will have to go to jail." After a while, Singer spoke up road.

  jogo's heart sank. He was too strong to make things difficult for others. It would indeed be a violation of the law for Singer to pay back the loan to him.

  "But I can give you a grace period of one month." Singer added, "Within one month, you can continue to live in the house you live in now, and the money in and out of your account will not be deducted. But after one month, you At least 100,000 rupees will be repaid every month until it is paid off. I just went to the bank president and he agreed to this plan."

  jogo knew that this was a request from Singh. As a friend of his father, he could do this. It's enough for his sake, he can't ask too much from him.

  "Thank you, Uncle Singer." jogo stood up and saluted Singer.

  Although I didn't borrow rupees, I was able to get at least one month's grace, which was a huge gain.

  Just as jogo was about to turn around and leave, Singer called him again.

  "Uncle Singh, do you have anything else?"

  "The bank can't borrow any more money." Singh smiled slightly and said, "I can personally lend you fifty thousand rupees."

  "Ah?" jogo exclaimed, "How can this be done? How can it be done with your own money?"

  "Why not?" Singer stared at jogo and said, "Don't you mean that you thought about borrowing money from the bank before, but you didn't plan to pay it back?" "No,

  I will definitely pay it back." jogo nodded.

  "That's okay. Since you think you can make your money back, you should pay me back my fifty thousand in the future, right? It would be best if you can give me interest by then." Singer smiled, " This is my annual income."

  Singer picked up the black bag on the table and handed it to Jogo.

  jogo thought for a while, got up and walked over to take it.

  He is short of money now. Although the 50,000 rupees are quite different from the 200,000 he expected, it is better than nothing.

  "Thank you, Uncle Singh." jogo expressed his gratitude again.

  My family's current situation should be avoided if possible, so as not to come to borrow money, even though many of my father's former friends have recently 'lost contact'.

  Singer was able to lend out a year's income, which was a real help in times of need.

  "Count."

  "No, no need, I believe Uncle Singer, there must be fifty thousand in it." jogo said hurriedly.

  "We still have to count them."

  At Singer's insistence, jogo opened the bag.

  "This?" jogo took out the rupees inside, which was a bundle of 1,000 rupees.

  Indian rupee banknotes are currently available in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 1000.

  The denominations of coins are: 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 paise and 1 rupee.

  For 50,000 rupees, that would be 50 sheets, but this bundle is much thicker than 50 sheets.

  Jogo quickly counted one hundred tickets, which was 100,000 rupees.

  He stared at Singer puzzled. If one or two cards were missing or one or two more, it could be said that Singer made a mistake in counting, but now the gap is doubled.

  Singer worked in a bank and dealt with money all day long, so it was impossible for such a mistake to occur.

  "Actually, the other 50,000 rupees are yours." Knowing jogo's surprise, Singh couldn't help but explain, "Speaking of which, your father was a little worried before doing this business, so he transferred the 50,000 rupees Leave me alone for now. If something really happened, I can leave the 50,000 rupees to you, which will at least allow you to complete your high school studies. If you don't study in an international school, the 50,000 rupees can still allow you to live for a few years... ..."

  Jogo didn't expect that Old Gupta had prepared it in advance.

  At this time in India, the average monthly income of ordinary people was about 400 rupees, or 5,000 rupees a year.

  If Jogo saves money, 50,000 rupees will be enough for him and his mother to live on for ten years.

  I knew it was risky, but I did it in the end. To put it bluntly, I still couldn't resist the temptation.

  The elder Gupta had long thought of committing suicide if he failed.

  jogo secretly sighed, when did this cheap old man become so courageous.

  However, Old Gupta was not that courageous after all. He only jumped from the third floor, and there was soft grass below. If he was really determined not to be afraid of death, he would have to climb to a height of more than ten floors and jump off. .

  "Actually, I was still hesitating whether to hand over this money to you now. After all, your father hopes that you can live a good life with your mother with 50,000 rupees." Singh sighed, "But what you just said made me very sad. It's a touch. Maybe you really have the possibility to change something. jogo, you can do what you want. I support you."

   jogo tightly held the one hundred thousand rupees in his hand and couldn't help but feel excited. Can he turn over? , it depends on this.

  "Let's go, I'll take you back." Singer stood up and said.

  "It's too much trouble for Uncle Singer. I can go back by myself." jogo waved his hand hurriedly.

  "Usually you have no problem going back alone, but now you have one hundred thousand rupees with you?" Singh smiled, "I'm not worried." After leaving the

  bank, Singh called a tuk-tuk and it arrived quickly. Jogo's residence.

  jogo's home was on the third floor of a six-story building. When he came to the door, he found the door wide open and the sound of crying coming from inside.

  "Oops." jogo was shocked. Could it be that his parents' condition has worsened in this life?

  In his previous life, he was an orphan, but in this life, he felt the warmth of family affection from the memory of the original jogo, and he hoped that this kind of family affection could last.

  "What's going on?" Singer and jogo quickly walked into the house and saw a mess.

  "Master, are you back? They have moved all the things in the house. I can't stop them... Wuwuwu~~" After seeing jogo, a thin woman in her fifties hurried over and cried. said.

  She is a servant of the Jogo family, Aunt Sesi.

  jogo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't just that something happened to his parents. Besides, his parents were still in the hospital. He asked again and found out the whole story.

  Some of Gupta's creditors came and took away the furniture and electrical appliances from the house. Almost everything that could be used was taken away.

  "Didn't you say that Old Gupta has paid off all the personal debts outside?" Singh asked with some confusion, "Who else has not paid back?" Aunt Sesi reported the names

  of several people and said that they were Several people mentioned that the elder Gupta had only paid back the principal, but the corresponding interest had not yet been paid, so he moved these items from his home to pay for the interest.

  "These guys of Gudali are so shameless." After hearing this, Singer's face became full of anger.

  Gudali Peace is also a good friend of the elder Gupta, so of course he knows him.

  I think back then, Gudali was brought into the industry by the old Gupta, and he helped him a lot in the early days. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was his benefactor.

  Gudalli now does more business than the old Gupta. His factory employs more than 90 people, and he also has his own foreign trade company, which deals in cotton and cotton textiles, with an annual income of more than one million rupees.

  At that time, Gupta Sr. also borrowed a sum of money from him. The principal was repaid but the interest was not repaid.

  For a few months' interest, adding insult to injury is repaying kindness with hatred.

  Moreover, Gudali is already a millionaire, yet he did such a thing for a mere interest.

  Both Singer and Jogo felt that there should be a story in it.

  It's just that it's not easy for them to delve into it at this time.

  Only when someone is in trouble can you tell who your true friend is.

  At this time, there was another noise outside.

  "Who wants to ask for interest?" Singer was really furious. This group of people was really unreasonable.

  In the old Gupta's situation, it is not easy to repay their principal by selling everything.

  Could it be that being friends for so many years is worth less than a few months of interest?

  But this time Singer misunderstood, and jogo saw his father and mother being carried upstairs on a stretcher.

  The thing is simple. jogo's parents had no money to continue treatment at the hospital. It was a private hospital and they were sent back because they had no money.

  Fortunately, both of them are fine and need to rest in bed, especially the old Gupta who is basically unable to move now, but jogo's mother is better.

  She fainted because of the shock and excitement. If she rested for two more days, it wouldn't be a big problem.

  Don't get excited, everything will be fine." Singer comforted him.

  When Old Gupta came in, he naturally saw the appearance of his home, his eyes dull and dull.

  When Singer saw this scene, he was afraid that he would not be able to think about it.

  Aunt Sesi hurriedly found some quilts at home that had not been taken away. The blankets were placed on the ground as cushions and let his parents lie on the ground because the beds had been taken away by those bastards.

  "I regret it, I regret not listening to your advice." Old Gupta murmured in a low voice.

  "Jogo already has a good idea, and your debt may be paid off," Singer said.

  "What? What does he want to do?" Old Gupta's expression changed.

  Singer briefly explained the situation to him.

  "No, we can no longer do foreign trade, they are all liars, they are all liars." Old Gupta shouted loudly, but he had to lower his voice because of the injuries on his body.

  Jogo explained again on the sidelines, and then Singer promised that he would help, which temporarily allowed old Gupta to accept it.

  He was bitten by a snake once and was afraid of well ropes for ten years.

  jogo looked at his mother again. His mother was a traditional Indian woman. She and his father were from the same village. They were childhood sweethearts. They came to Mumbai to work together.

  Singer didn't stay here for long. He said he would contact a few people and invite them to come here for a gathering in the evening.

  Jogo knew that he was looking for some friends of his father in the past. After all, most of these friends were in the cotton textile business.

  If you want to continue to do foreign trade, you have to rely on them to give some discounts on prices.

  Not long after Singer left, a few more people came to the house.

  Aunt Sesi's husband, Gridu Sesi, has 25-year-old son Ketu, 23-year-old daughter Sara, and son-in-law Ruk Tunde.

  According to Aunt Sesi, if those people come looking for trouble again, it will be better if there are more people here, and they will not be so arrogant.

 jogo was grateful for this. His family was now in this situation, but Aunt Sesi had not left.

  jogo knew that he couldn't wait like this and had to seize the time to do something.

  He decided to go to the Chinese business group.

  But how to let them see him as a foreigner is a problem, especially a 16-year-old boy.

  He pondered for a while and made a decision in his mind.

  After asking Aunt Sesi and her family to take care of his parents, he tidied up and looked in the mirror.

  jogo's skin color was fair, but fortunately it was not that dark, which was more in line with his aesthetics, which made him secretly relieved.

  Speaking of skin color, many people think that the upper castes in India have fair skin, while the lower castes have dark skin.

  In fact, this is not necessarily accurate, because there are also Brahmin castes with dark skin, and many people with fair skin may be the lowest Dalit class.

  After making sure there was no problem, he put on his schoolbag and went out.

  While in Singh's office, there was an announcement on the radio about the hotel where the Chinese business group was staying.

  The hotel was not too far from his home, less than 2 kilometers, so he walked over.

  After leaving the house, jogo found black smoke billowing not far away. It should be the work of those marching. It is normal for strikes and demonstrations to escalate into riots and vandalism. If not done properly, people will die.

  jogo hurriedly stayed away, he didn't want to get involved.

  "Chinese? Yes, they live here, but we can't let you come and disturb us without an appointment." The person at the front desk rejected jogo.

  jogo knew that the trade group was now mainly in contact with people from the Bombay government. How could they care about a student like him?

  "I'm a student at Fraser International School. I want to interview them. This is an extracurricular assignment of mine. I'm asking my sister to help me." jogo showed a sweet smile to the front desk, "Just help convey it. , no matter what the result is."

  Of course the woman at the front desk knew that Qiaogo was a student of Fraser International School, and his school uniform said it all.

  Otherwise, she wouldn't have said so much to jogo. After all, he could study in a private international school and his family conditions were good.

  When jogo came over, he called her sister, calling her so hard that she couldn't refuse. He was just passing on a message. As for whether he would see her or not, it was up to the Chinese people.

  Seeing that the woman agreed, jogo couldn't help but added: "Sister, tell them that the school has contacted the Bombay Daily about the content of this interview, and it will be published in the newspaper tomorrow." The woman shook her head to express her regret

  . After getting off the bus, I went to send a message.

  All interviews and newspaper articles were all made up by jogo.

  His only purpose now is to get a chance to get close to the Chinese business group. If he can't meet them in person, how can he do business?

  China wants to improve relations with India, and Jogo knows this well. After all, at this time, China's main focus is on economic construction.

  It is said that the content of the interview can be published in the newspaper. If you report more news about the Chinese business delegation, you may be able to impress them and let them meet you.

  If this is not possible, then I can only squat at the door and wait, they will definitely not stop going out.

  (end of this chapter)