Chronicle of the 70s-Chapter 334 - 322: Reappearing

Li Jianqing’s yard had been renovated over two years, with new walls and a gate installed, and the ground paved with red bricks, making it very beautiful and tidy.

Since this house was where Li Jianqing would live after getting married, while ordering custom furniture, Li Xianglu also had Xu Wu find someone to give the house a fresh coat of paint inside and out.

Each of the twins was wrapped in a cape with a tiger head design, wearing new cotton-padded jackets, and they didn’t seem scared of the unfamiliar place, instead, they were looking around with wide-eyed curiosity.

Li Jianqing’s yard was very spacious. They opened the gates wide so that cars could be parked inside.

Because they wouldn’t be staying for long before leaving, Li Xianglu brought some fabric and a complete set of bowls and dishes as housewarming gifts instead of food. In those days, everyone preferred practical gifts; if you gave a bouquet, people would think you were crazy.

Xu Wu brought a brand-new electric fan. Though it was not needed at the moment, it would be come summer. A fan wasn’t considered a luxury item, but it wasn’t cheap either—costing more than twenty yuan—so it was quite a generous gift.

Leng Qing, knowing that everyone loved hot pot, had made meatballs, crispy meat, and fried yellow croaker in advance.

They didn’t have a copper pot here, and they had agreed with Li Xianglu a few days earlier to bring one, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the hot pot.

They didn’t invite outsiders, and Lu Anna and Minmin had already caught the train, so it was just Qin Shouren and his wife who were called over.

So, everyone gathered around a big table and had a merry meal.

After their curiosity was satisfied, the twins started to act up, each causing a ruckus in their own way—now wanting to walk on the ground and play, then wanting to grab things from the table. In short, they couldn’t sit still for a moment until they tired themselves out and fell asleep around two in the afternoon.

Initially, Li Xianglu intended to tear down this house to build a row of new ones. She always felt that the area outside the Second Ring would develop sooner or later, but upon visiting today, she found the house to be not bad and livable for a few years. However, she couldn’t help thinking about how much they could get in compensation if there were a demolition of the six rooms.

Qin Xi had long since seen through Li Xianglu’s intentions, and said with a smile, "The location of Jianqing’s yard is very good, right on the side of the road. The backyard is too large; it might be better to build a warehouse there and lease it out."

Li Xianglu’s eyes immediately lit up. Right, that’s also an option.

Li Jianqing hesitated for a moment. He had never inquired about the relationship between Leng Qing and Xu Wu. Now that Xu Wu had asked Leng Qing to take care of his sister and nephews, once he was gone, she would have to return to the Siheyuan. The yard would be empty anyway, and the area at the back was indeed large. Building and renting out a warehouse seemed like a good idea.

Seeing Li Jianqing agree, Li Xianglu immediately split into a wide grin.

Next to them, Qin Xi chuckled and ruffled his wife’s hair, just like they used to be when they first got to know each other, his face full of affection.

In fact, the one who would benefit from building a warehouse in the yard was Li Jianqing. It didn’t have much to do with Li Xianglu, but seeing her relatives do well made her happy, which Qin Xi found amusing.

After the meal, the group said their goodbyes and left.

Xu Wu had some business to attend to, so he took the opportunity to send Mr. Qin and Yang Huan back. The naughty kid was about to start school and needed to transfer back, so he could only say goodbye reluctantly to the sleeping twins.

On the morning of the 14th, Li Jianqing came to the Siheyuan to say goodbye before being taken to the train station.

Meanwhile, Leng Qing also packed up and returned, and Aunt Ma came back after spending the New Year with her son. Thus, the twins had to go back, which they absolutely didn’t want to do and cried for several nights.

Li Xianglu felt heartbroken, but she had to go back to work soon. She needed a high level of concentration in the bank and couldn’t afford to make mistakes, so rest at night was important. She could only spend more time with the kids during the day.

Ever since the telegraphic transfer incident, the bank had launched a large-scale awareness campaign, printing many brochures and distributing them to both companies and individuals, and the telegraphic transfer fraud cases suddenly disappeared.

Subsequently, Li Xianglu discovered that a large number of foreign trade companies had started using letters of credit. She immediately thought of the fraud methods written about by Qin Xi before, including those using letters of credit, so she promptly reported it to the bank chairman.

The old chairman had retired, and the new one, previously a director, was in a good mood about his new position. Director Wang valued Li Xianglu highly.

He thought he didn’t stand much chance of becoming the chairman and had prepared to wait a few more years, but to his surprise, Li Xianglu’s consecutive contributions, under his leadership, meant that half of the credit went to him, making his promotion a sure thing.

After Director Wang heard Li Xianglu report on the use of letters of credit over the past few days, he became serious and called the relevant staff to thoroughly understand the methods of using letters of credit.

In trade activities, the buyer and seller may not trust each other. The buyer is worried that the seller won’t deliver the goods as stipulated in the contract after receiving the advance payment; similarly, the seller is concerned that the buyer won’t pay after the goods are shipped or after the shipping documents are submitted.

Thus, two banks act as guarantors for the buyer and seller, collecting and handing over the documents, substituting bank credit for commercial credit. The tool used by banks in this activity is the letter of credit.

However, letters of credit are usually not used for domestic trade; they are a tool for international trade.

And Li Xianglu found that almost all these trades were with those in Hong Kong.

The new chairman saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate his initiative upon assuming office and immediately made a call to the head office, taking Li Xianglu with him directly.

The head office was hesitant because as a bank, they couldn’t refuse clients who request letters of credit if all the procedures are in order.

And if clients use the letters of credit for other purposes, the bank is not able to control and manage it.

Therefore, the head office’s position was that it wasn’t their bank’s business, they could only remind each branch to caution clients to use letters of credit carefully. As for using them for crime, it was something the public security had to deal with.

The helpless new chairman could only return with Li Xianglu. On the way, seeing that Li Xianglu was lost in thought, he thought she was upset because the bank wasn’t taking charge of the issue and comforted her.

After listening, Li Xianglu laughed: "Chairman, I’m not upset, I’m just thinking why there have suddenly been so many economic fraud cases, as if they’re all planned."

Chairman Wang also paused after listening and then frowned: "Indeed."

Around five in the afternoon, while Li Xianglu was working, she saw a woman in a khaki coat enter the bank. At this time, aside from the staff, there were no customers.

The woman walked straight to Li Xianglu’s glass counter and knocked.

It was only when Li Xianglu looked up that she saw who it was, and exclaimed in surprise, "Iro?"

Iro wore a faint smile on her pale face.