Blackstone Code

How luxurious can an office be?

This question is rather pointless. People have different understandings of luxury, so there will be many different interpretations of it. But indeed, Joegleman's (乔格里曼) office was an opulent room.

Gold-plated ceilings, natural crystal chandeliers, bear heads, lion heads on the walls, and two ivory tusks, each taller than a person, placed on display cabinets. Such "simple" furnishings were enough to illustrate the extravagance of this room.

However, the items within this office were like most items in other offices, all company property. Only a few personal belongings belonged to the employees who used this room.

Joegleman was the manager of the Credit Department at the Sabin branch of GoldenExchange Bank (金汇银行).

This kind of administrative manager was a completely different concept from those client managers outside. He was one step away from being promoted to the level of branch manager, but this step was quite challenging.

Unlike most governmental institutions, where the second-ranking local official would rise to become the first-ranking local official with one more promotion, within GoldenExchange Bank, for Joegleman to progress, he might have to move from the branch to a regional division or headquarters and start over from the middle or lower management positions.

The significance of being a branch manager was not just about the title; of course, Joegleman never thought he could become a branch manager. That was something that was highly unlikely to happen.

He lacked a lot of connections. He didn't have any influential backers in the Board of Directors at the headquarters. Those people also wouldn't pay special attention to a credit department manager in a second-tier city branch. This elongated his path to promotion. Luckily, he was easily content with his current situation.

Just forty-two years old, successful in his career, with a young and beautiful wife, and three lively and adorable children, if there weren't too many issues, he might stay in Sabin until he was forty-eight, and then transfer to make way for others in another branch.

The bank's generous treatment made him never consider the issues after being removed from an important position. High benefits and good treatment were enough for him to live contentedly.

Of course, everyone had their own troubles, regardless of their glamour or lack thereof. Even esteemed figures like the President of Baylor Federal couldn't be worry-free.

Joegleman's current worry was that the loan business volume in Sabin had been consistently declining over the past months. The amount of business volume no longer had much direct relevance to management personnel at his level.

If he achieved more, his superiors in the division would probably mention it during meetings.

If he achieved less, it would be unfortunate for those front-line loan managers, although everyone was a manager.

However, this was still a bit unsettling. Every year, at the end of the year, GoldenExchange Bank would arrange a paid corporate trip. Everyone invited worked for the same conglomerate, just in different regions. Inevitably, they would discuss their respective work situations.

Those who did well would surely be praised and would have more opportunities for promotion. Perhaps, they might become the superiors of their colleagues in the future.

Those who didn't perform well wouldn't be openly ridiculed, but in various comparisons, they would become the foil for others, and that feeling wouldn't be pleasant at all.

He wanted to solve these problems but had few means to do so. As one of the six major banks in the Baylor Federal, GoldenExchange Bank was accustomed to learning the financial markets and international economic trends as part of their daily tasks.

Since the explosive economic growth of Baylor Federal ended a few years back, the economy had been somewhat lackluster in recent years.

The financial markets remained highly active without any significant downward trend, leading people to continuously refer to this as a "brief" lull after the explosion. They anticipated another noticeable economic growth in the Federal economy once the upward "rebound phase" was over.

People believed in these claims. However, the question was whether this rebound period had lasted too long. It had been nearly three years, and the weak market and declining economy had begun to sting people's nerves. Especially as the explosive growth dividend period gradually ended, people started coming out of their blind spectatorship. Underneath the seemingly thriving surface of Baylor Federal, there was an undercurrent surging.

In the past seven months alone, Sabin had registered more than two thousand new businesses, but at the same time, over six hundred small and medium-sized businesses had gone bankrupt and liquidated—not because banks couldn't find anyone to lend to, but because they were hesitant to lend.

If the loans went bad, it would lead to significant trouble. The words from higher management sounded pleasing; they promised to give a portion of bad debt indicator to each branch every year. However, if one genuinely attempted to fill this indicator to the brim, a single phone call would cause the entire personnel structure of the branch to change.

As the final approver, Joegleman was always cautious. He would rather not lend a single cent than risk being ousted. He needed to stay in this position for a few more years until all three of his children reached adulthood and were arranged to work in the bank.

When a person reached his age, there wouldn't be many pursuits left; they would start considering their children's future. Most people were like that.

While he was killing time by flipping through some slightly indecent magazines on his desk, one of the four phones on his desk rang. It was a private call, but his number was known only to those close to him. After adjusting his mood slightly, he answered the phone, "Joegleman speaking..."

"It's me, Johnson. Do you have time for lunch?" The voice of the local tax bureau director came from the other end of the phone call.

The number of dealings between banks and the Tax Bureau far exceeded their interactions with the Bureau of Investigation. Even though they also often dealt with the Bureau of Investigation, they did not particularly like the people from the Bureau of Investigation.

On the contrary, it was more accessible to engage with the tax bureau, fostering a mutually beneficial relationship. Particularly for the mid-to-senior-level personnel in the bank whose incomes surpassed others by ten to several dozen times, navigating legal tax evasion became a pressing concern. If individuals from the tax bureau assisted them in organizing their documentation, it would simplify everything significantly.

In return, they would provide the tax bureau with extremely proactive cooperation. Occasionally, they would also leak some inside information, such as the recent good performance of a fund or changes in the board of directors of a listed company.

Joegleman mostly interacted with middle-level personnel like Michael, and he knew Johnson and had met him a few times, but their interactions were infrequent.

At Johnson's position, the Baylor Federal Supervision Department (监察部) would occasionally check on him to see if he had been involved in any official misconduct.

The federal government wouldn't pay much attention to grassroots and front-line workers. Even if these individuals used their authority for crimes, the damage to the entire federal system and society would be extremely limited. However, it was different for local key officials—if they were involved in official misconduct, the losses would be immeasurable.

Knowing that the Supervision Department occasionally monitored them, Joegleman avoided befriending Johnson, preferring to steer clear of any potential suspicion, even when presented with an opportunity to do so.

However, this time, the other party approached him directly, so he couldn't avoid it and could only say he was available.

Johnson's invitation for lunch struck him as odd since they didn't have much interaction in the past. It was apparent that there was an underlying reason behind the invitation.

After hanging up the phone, he thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why Director Johnson suddenly invited him. With a belly full of doubts, he prepared himself in advance.

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