Chapter 247 – Exchanging Rubles for USD

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The next morning, Feng Yu received a call from Fu Guangzheng. He politely rejected Fu Guangzheng’s offer to bring him around Hong Kong. Feng Yu told him that he wanted to walk around by himself.

After leaving the hotel, Feng Yu boarded a taxi. He looked back and saw a car following him. Feng Yu smiled.

He was still worried that Fu Rongjing would not fall for his tricks. By sending someone to follow him, meant that Fu Rongjing had fallen into his trap! This was a simple trap, and only the greedy people would fall for it.

Fu Rongjing’s men saw Feng Yu entering HSBC bank and immediately call him through a pay phone. This information further increases his confidence to invest in Rubles.

“Good morning Sir. How can I help you today?” A young man, who wore an attire that resembles property agents in the future years, approached Feng Yu when he entered the bank.

“Can you speak English?” Feng Yu asked in English. He could understand Cantonese, but he could not speak. He prefers to communicate in English. Hong Kong’s education includes the English language as one of the primary subjects.

“No problem Sir.” The young man replied in English.

“Good, I have some savings in your bank which are in Rubles. Can you convert the Rubles to USD?”

Feng Yu wanted to convert all his Rubles as soon as possible before it starts to depreciate.

“No problem. Sir, how much Rubles do you want to exchange? I will bring you to the currency exchange counter over there.” The young man was slightly disappointed. But he still wanted to try promoting some investment products to Feng Yu for some commissions.

Feng Yu did not walk over but turned to the young man: “Let me meet your Manager. There’s a transaction limit at that counter. I cannot exchange my Rubles there. I have over 400 million Rubles to change to USD!”

The young man was surprised. This was a big client! How can he make Feng Yu his client? Even if he could persuade Feng Yu to purchase 10 million worth of financial products, his commission would be a lot!

“What are you standing here for? Go.” Feng Yu said.

“Ah, Sir, please follow me. I will bring you to my manager’s office.”

“Su Jiarong, why are you not at the lobby?” Someone who looks like a leader shouted at the young man.

“Team leader, I am bringing this gentleman upstairs to the Manager’s office.”

“Nonsense. You think anyone can just look for the manager? How long have you been working here? You don’t even know the rules here?” The team leader looked at Feng Yu’s age and attire. He guessed that Feng Yu was not a big client. How can anybody just walk in HSBC bank and demand to meet the manager? The team leader was unhappy with Su Jiarong.

“Team leader, this gentleman is a big client.”

“oh…… big client? You must be daydreaming. Look at this person, how can he be a big client? What can he buy? Investment funds, insurance or what? Does he even have 1 million?” The team leader shouted.

Su Jiarong’s face turns red, but he dares not to tell the team leader that Feng Yu wants to exchange 400 million Rubles for USD. If not, the Team Leader would take over this client, and he would not get his commissions.

Feng Yu wanted to scold this team leader, but he notices someone familiar walking past.

“Manager Zhou.”

Manager Zhou heard someone calling him, and he looked around and saw Feng Yu waving at him.

This person was familiar. This young man…… Ah, that’s Feng Yu from China. He had taken a loan of 50 million RMB, and Manager Zhou was the one who had signed the contract with him.

“Mr. Feng, why didn’t you call me when you are visiting HSBC? Did you threw my name card away?” Manager Zhou joked with Feng Yu.

“Hahaha, if I threw your name card away, I would not dare to step into your bank.” Feng Yu laughed.

“Manager Zhou.” The team leader and Su Jiarong greeted him.

“What’s wrong with the both of you? Why are the both of you serving Mr. Feng together?” Manager Zhou frowned. There were many customers at the bank, and no one was serving them.

The team leader heard the conversation between Feng Yu and Manager Zhou, and he knew that Feng Yu was indeed a prominent client of the bank. If Feng Yu were a nobody, Manager Zhou would not even greet him. Damn, a big client dressed like an average person? Is he trying to fool us? But I must get this big client all to myself.

“Su Jiarong, didn’t you heard what Manager Zhou said? Go and serve the other customers. Stop following me around!” The team leader scolded Su Jiarong.

Su Jiarong was furious. He was there first, and this client should be his!

Feng Yu suddenly spoke: “Su Jiarong was serving me. Who are you?”

The smile on the team manager’s face froze. Who am I?

Seeing Manager Zhou staring at him, the team leader left. Losing some commissions was not a big deal, but if Manager Zhou decides to fire him, he will lose his job. It would even be hard for him to get hired by other banks.

“Mr. Feng, why are you here at my bank? If you need anything, you can just give me a call.” Manager Zhou warmly said. He was curious why Feng Yu traveled all the way to Hong Kong HSBC bank.

“I want to change all my Rubles in my account to USD.”

“This is simple. Xiao Su, help Mr. Feng with his request.”

“Manager Zhou, Mr. Feng’s Rubles is not a small amount.”

Manager Zhou understood what Su Jiarong was talking about. Feng Yu had taken a loan of 50 million RMB from his bank, and he must have some big businesses. The amount of Ruble he wanted to convert to USD should not be a small amount and should be at over 1 million USD.

“Mr. Feng, how much Rubles do you want to exchange?”

“Around 400 million Rubles.” Feng Yu casually said.

“4…… 400 million Rubles?” Manager Zhou was surprised. But he recovered fast. As a manager at HSBC, he had met a lot of big clients. He immediately brought Feng Yu to the rest area upstairs. This was a huge transaction and he, an Assistant Manager could not make the decision too. He must escalate to the Manager.

“Xiao Su, you go and serve other customers first. Don’t worry, I will still give you your commissions for Mr. Feng’s transactions.”

With Manager Zhou’s promised, Su Jiarong happily leave. He does not need to do anything and still can get commissions. This incident made him eager to serve every walk-in customer better.

……

“Mr. Feng, please understand that there will be some differences in the exchange rates for Rubles to USD from the market rate.”

Feng Yu nodded. No matter if it was present or the future, there will always be differences in the exchange rates.

“Also, Mr. Feng, as you are changing Rubles to USD and not HKD, we still have an additional transaction fee of 2%.”

Feng Yu frowned. Why was the transaction fees so high? He remembered in his past life, in China, the transaction fee was only 1% for currency exchanges. Hong Kong’s transaction fees were too high.

“The transaction fee is a bit high. I remembered someone told me that the transaction fee is about 1%. Furthermore, you had already charged me for the differences in the exchange rates. Why are you charging me such high transaction fee? Maybe I should consider going to other banks.”

The bank manager explained: “Mr. Feng, all the Hong Kong banks charge the same fee, 2%. But since your transaction is a large amount, I will give you a discount. How about 1.7% transaction fee?”

“Fine. Help me exchange all my Rubles in my account to USD. How long will it take before I can use the USD in my account?” Feng Yu had just saved over a million Rubles of the transaction fee.

“Less than an hour. Please wait while I get ready the documents.”

Half an hour later, Feng Yu walked out of HSBC. All the Rubles in his account were changes to USD. Feng Yu was relieved.

Translator Notes: The Chinese usually will opt out the “Assistant” or “Deputy” in front of someone’s title as a form of respect. E.g., Zhang Ruiqiang was a Deputy Mayor, but Feng Yu would address him as Mayor Zhang.