0071 Round Table Socializing

A small round table surrounded by five well-dressed men playing poker intently in their hands.

  Gambling is always an effective way to quickly build relationships, and the first time Lynch, who was officially in the community, expressed his desire to hold a small, friendly poker party at a community event, he quickly attracted some attention.

  Thanks to Lynch's recent frequent appearances in the newspaper, and even dry humping the head of Sabine's IRS investigative team, some people may subconsciously avoid getting too close to him, but others are willing to get close to him.

  The Tax Bureau was the enemy of every high-income person, and for someone to be able to make the Tax Bureau fall head over heels, for these people who racked their brains every month to avoid taxes, it was definitely something that could make them feel happy.

  What's more, being able to move into this community also meant that at least Lynch was already able to talk to them on an equal economic level, and they didn't mind expanding their network a bit.

  In such an environment and atmosphere, this first meeting of friends with cards went smoothly.

  It was a type of game different from anything Lynch knew outside the other world; five people played with ten cards each, the rules were simple and centered on exchanging, and when the exchange was over, the cards were compared.

  Before the game begins, each person makes a final hand for themselves, and the final hand is shaped to meet the requirements of their proposed hand, and then points are added and subtracted according to the size of each hand.

  In addition to the "cards" used in the deal, there are also tournament points. Before the tournament, each person paid two hundred dollars, one hundred of which became their base score - one hundred points.

  One hundred of these became their base score - one hundred points - and the other hundred became the public score in the pool, which was the remaining five hundred points.

  At the end of the game, everyone would receive a number of dollars equal to the number of points in their hand.

  It was a very popular way of playing the game that had taken the world by storm, and many believed that it had the very core of business commerce at its foundation; every card game was a fierce trade war, with each player representing a company, a chamber of commerce, or even a conglomerate, and the pool of points representing the bank.

  Winning is not just a matter of winning as much as possible, because the trading of points often occurs in the process of changing cards, this is a real game, sometimes the one who always wins loses money in the end, and the one who always loses may even win some.

  The name of this game is "Piva", a word that has many meanings, either as the "payment" at the heart of the game, or as the "claim" after a victory. It's a word with many meanings, from "payment" in the heart of the game to "claim" after victory.

  Not far from these gentlemen, a few ladies sat on wicker chairs near the floor-to-ceiling windows, sipping the finest flower tea and vying for attention.

  Of course, their topic of conversation could never leave these fashionable things, from the fashion show to the new season's jewelry design exhibition to the newly released movies and the movements of some celebrities and dignitaries.

  Sometimes men find it hard to realize that their wives are so knowledgeable and versatile that they seem to know a little bit about everything, as opposed to the stupidity and foolishness they experience when they are alone.

  Just as women's vanity grows and begins to compete when they sit together, so men sit together and talk about things, not only at the poker table, but outside the poker table as well.

  "The economic development index in the first half of the year dropped another eleven percentage points from last year, the recession has been very obvious, how long do you think this will last?"

  The speaker was a gentleman sitting across from Durin, he was wearing a shirt with silver trim, at this point he pushed up his sleeves in a less than civilized manner, and the thick body hair on both arms was exposed, giving a very strange feeling.

  It was as if ... a monkey had disguised himself as a human and blended in among us.

  He is a factory owner, second tier cities cheap labor and various expenses have become the favorite gathering place for factory owners, opening a factory in a second tier city can save a considerable portion of various expenses compared to opening a factory in a first tier city.

  Land use costs, warehouse rental costs, and management costs, including the largest single expense, labor costs.

Another gentleman shook his head, "We all feel that the market is shrinking fast, commodities are not selling, profit margins are falling, yet the financial market is still very prosperous and it is said that the Baylor Industrial Index has hit another new high!"

  The other gentlemen, including Lynch, couldn't help but laugh with a sneer in their voices, probably not quite sure why they were in such a mood and why they were laughing.

  They just felt that these things were not quite normal because of their own feelings, the stagnation or even regression of economic development not only did not affect the performance of the financial market, but often created miracles, there was something very wrong here.

  In fact, long before Lynch had crossed over, there had been economists who had expressed their views that the Federation's economy would soon be hit hard, but most people had ignored these views in a frenzy, as if they had been brainwashed.

  A worldwide truce had brought a long overdue peace to the world, and most people felt that the war was far away, and people were beginning to develop their economies, which were only getting better, not worse.

  Some economists came up with the idea of "peak recovery," which had never been heard of in the past, and it became the only perception in the eyes of the people who believe that the short-term downturn is just society digesting the fruits of the economy and that the economy will soon experience another round of rapid development.

  People are willing to believe claims that are favorable to them, even though they know deep down that there is a possibility that such claims are false, but they have to force themselves to firmly believe that this is the right thing to do.

  The gentleman sitting to Lynch's left casually took out a card and placed it on the table, now it was his turn to call, "One point, I need a Ⅸ◆...," he picked up the Solid Color sitting on the ashtray and took a drag, exhaling slowly, he said. "If the financial market stays this high, it could go on for a long time."

  As he finished his sentence, the other gentleman took out the nine of diamonds and tossed it to him, taking the card he had replaced and a chip representing one point.

  The game was still going on, and it was clear to everyone that the unexpected boom in the financial markets meant that a lot of other people were benefiting, and that the gains in the financial markets were making up for the current situation where they were losing money, and there was even a large surplus, so that more money was flowing from the real economy into the financial markets.

  The digital gaming market has become more prosperous because of the rapid influx of this hot money, and many business owners are shrinking their physical businesses and putting their money into the financial market to make money with their money, which is much easier and simpler than waiting for their money back from things they can't sell.

  Almost all of the gentlemen in this room have their own stock accounts and futures accounts, and all they do every day, besides socializing, is listen to their stockbroker or futures broker tell them how much money they've made again today.

  Even though they have made money, they are still worried that this is a phenomenon that goes against common sense, but they don't know what to do, they can only go along with the times in silence and let themselves be swept along by the current of time that is rushing into the unknown ahead.

  "By the way, Lynch, may I call you that?" The gentleman who spoke continued after receiving Lynch's confirmation, "What kind of business are you in?"

  Lynch and the other gentleman came to an exchange, and as he gathered the sorting in his hands, he replied, "I have a service company and an auction house, so if you all have any good business that you can take care of for me, feel free to come and see me.

  People are always curious about what they don't know, "An auction house? Is it easy to make money in this business?"

  Lynch shook his head, "There is no industry that makes easy money, gentlemen, all we make is hard money."

  The people asked a few more questions, such as the name of Lynch's auction house and so on, but after hearing that Lynch's auction house did not cater to the middle and upper classes of society, they lost interest.

  Of course, the poker game went on ...