Chapter Ninety-Seven: Founding the Briny Foundation

The day of becoming Sun Wukong’s junior disciple

With only three days left before the start of school, Liu Yunfei decided to go and say farewell to the King of Saudi Arabia and the old prince.

The old prince called Awali, Shalena, and Ram over as well, and in the back garden of the Saudi royal palace they held a very small wine gathering. Thinking of the trials and storms they had weathered together over the past month and more, and of the hardships and dangers they had faced side by side, everyone was deeply moved. Even the king made an exception and raised his glass, offering blessings for a friendship that would last forever.

There are no banquets in this world that do not end in parting. As farewell drew near, Shalena smiled through tears.

Tears within a smile were tears of parting, tears of blessing, and even more tears of reluctance. Liu Yunfei tightened his grip on her hand. “We’ll see each other again very soon. Call me when you miss me after I graduate, and I’ll come see you too. Take care.”

At the words “take care,” Ram could no longer hold back and burst into loud sobs. Liu Yunfei used his other hand to hold the little boy’s hand and comfort him with a joke. “It’s all right. If it really comes to it, you can all come to China to study. Ha ha.”

At last he returned to Huangjiang. Though he had come back from time to time all along, that had always felt more like a visit to relatives. The feeling of visiting relatives and the feeling of going home were entirely different.

When you were visiting, even after returning, your heart was still half turned toward the people and things outside. But the feeling of going home was different. It was a state of complete relaxation, like a bird returning to its nest. Though the nest was far smaller than the whole sky, the sky, no matter how vast, was never truly one’s own. Only one’s own nest could make a person feel at ease and at peace.

Though this nest was not especially large, it was still far bigger than the homes of ordinary people in the country.

As soon as Liu Yunfei returned, his mother, Hu Li, took him to the new house. After more than half a month of renovation, the place was already taking shape. It was a three-story detached villa with a small garden outside. Inside, the path was paved with round stone slabs, and the greenery around the villa district was excellent as well, giving the place the feel of an elegant European forest cottage. No wonder so many rich people in Huangjiang were willing to spend a fortune on homes in Rhine City.

When they went inside, the decorators were still busy. Hu Li said happily to her son that things were now in the final stretch and would probably be finished in just a few more days. But Liu Yunfei, who had long stayed in Knight’s Castle, thought little of it. Of course, it could not compare with that place, and the inner staircase was terribly narrow. Still, compared with the family’s living conditions before, it was a world of difference.

After walking around and taking a look upstairs and down, he said, “Not bad, Mom. You’ve worked hard.”

“It’s all for the people,” she replied.

Money really was wonderful. Liu Yunfei thought to himself. His mother, who used to fuss all day over trivial nonsense, was even joking now.

That evening, the family of three went to the most upscale seafood restaurant in Huangjiang. For Liu Yunfei’s father, Liu Hongbing, life had truly been going smoothly lately. In just one month, everything had undergone earth-shaking changes. First his son had made money, then they bought a car and a house, and within the same month he himself had been promoted twice in succession. Director Liu now considered dining at such seafood restaurants an ordinary matter of daily life, and even the class of liquor he drank had risen several notches.

It was said that once, when entertaining cadres from the civil affairs bureau of a sister city, the rules called for wine costing no more than two hundred yuan. But Director Liu, in high spirits, insisted on ordering Wuliangye, saying, “If we’re paying ourselves, then let’s pay. We’ve got money.”

Those officials from out of province and out of town were no saints either. When someone else was footing the bill, who would drink less? Since it was free, they might as well drink hard. In one evening they drank away half a year’s salary for Liu Hongbing. On leaving, they even said, “The cadres in Huangjiang really are something else. They drive luxury cars and live in mansions. They must have embezzled who knows how much public money. If they’re not afraid, what’s there for us to fear? We should grab some too.”

As a result, several of the people who had attended that drinking session were all placed under disciplinary investigation within two years.

So free drinks were not necessarily good drinks. But that was neither here nor there, and there was no need to dwell on it.

The three of them each had a glass of baijiu. They were in high spirits, passing the dishes back and forth amid much laughter and bustle. After three rounds of drinks, Liu Yunfei said, “There’s one more thing I want to discuss with you two. Although my money came by perfectly legitimate means, we still shouldn’t make too much of a splash. It’s better to keep a low profile. Also, a large petroleum company is about to be established in Italy. Several partners have already negotiated to give me a portion of the shares for free, and no one is going to interfere. I think there’s no need for us to worry about the management anymore.”

Hu Li felt that her son had truly become promising. One moment someone was giving him dollars for nothing, and now shares were being handed over free of charge. She hurriedly asked, “How much stock? About how much money is that? How many yuan would it be worth?”

“You women only know how to think about money,” Liu Hongbing said. “Xiaofei, I’ll say this again: we can’t do anything illegal. Arms dealing, drugs, none of that. We absolutely can’t touch it.”

He was in a hurry to give his son a political lesson. How could there be such an easy thing as taking someone else’s money for nothing? As he had just said, free meals were not necessarily good meals.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’d never do those things,” Liu Yunfei said. “It’s an oil company, drilling for petroleum. I’ll hold five percent. It’s not like I’m not paying anything either. I’ll take out a bank loan as my capital, and later I’ll repay it with the dividends. The key point is that no one needs to manage it.”

Hu Li said, “If it were picking wild vegetables or something, maybe we’d understand a little. But drilling for oil? Who among us knows anything about that? Who do you plan to send?”

Although she said this, she was secretly thinking that she would like to go abroad and take a look too. But Liu Hongbing still had to go to work, and she could hardly go traveling overseas alone. Deep down, she was even hoping that her son would persuade Liu Hongbing to quit that rotten job and stay abroad for good.

But Liu Hongbing was not thinking that way. Suddenly he asked his son, “I heard that in Saudi Arabia, a man can marry four wives?”

Before Liu Yunfei could answer, Hu Li had already flung her chopsticks at him. “You old fool, what exactly is in your head all day? Our son is already this big, and you still think about taking three more wives?”

Liu Hongbing quickly ducked and begged for mercy. “Oh, come on, dear lady, how would I dare? I was only asking.”

At that moment, Liu Yunfei became even more convinced that they ought to set up a foundation to handle things. He did not want his father bringing home two stepmothers one day.

“Dad, Saudi Arabia does have that custom, but our company is being set up in Italy, and Italy follows monogamy. A friend suggested that I establish an anonymous foundation in Switzerland, so no one would know I’m a shareholder, and we could hire people to manage it.”

“No,” Hu Li objected at once. “How can you give your own money to someone else to manage?”

Liu Hongbing nodded in agreement. Even if the money had come easily, it was still not something to give away just like that.

“No, no, no. Your thinking is still stuck at the level of a family business,” Liu Yunfei said patiently. “Nowadays it’s common to hire general managers and chairmen. And why Switzerland? Why do most foundations in the world set up their headquarters there? The crucial thing is that they have a sound system, so none of the things you’re imagining will happen. More importantly, I’ve already found someone trustworthy. Besides, I am the foundation’s investor. I can inspect the accounts at any time and make every decision I want. Which one of you has ever managed a business? With our family handling it ourselves, the more we manage, the worse it gets.”

Only after they had eaten and drunk their fill did Liu Yunfei finally manage, with some effort, to persuade his parents.

After everyone had argued energetically, discussed matters in depth, and carefully weighed the pros and cons in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual concession, they finally reached a consensus: they would set up an anonymous foundation called the Briny Foundation, with registered capital of 1.2 billion dollars. Liu Yunfei would serve as the investor and chairman of the foundation.

Why that name? Liu Yunfei had originally wanted to use his parents’ names and call it the Bingli Foundation, but he thought that sounded a little too rustic, so he used the English word Briny instead. It referred to the sea, to seawater.

The foundation’s main task would be to manage well Liu Yunfei’s shares in the Wangguo Tongda Petroleum Company and the 200 million dollars in cash, so as to achieve rapid growth in value. As for the details, Betty would handle those. She had experience.

Liu Yunfei did not withdraw all the money, because that was his last reserve, his coffin money. Moreover, it was not clear how that Sun Temple sect had obtained the money in the first place, so for now he did not want to touch it.

Of course, to give his mother something to do, Liu Yunfei also proposed that, in the name of the Briny Foundation, they invest 100 million dollars within China to establish a charitable foundation. This kind of fund was entirely different from that kind of fund: one was meant to make money, the other to spend it.

Hu Li was very enthusiastic about such charitable work. She usually watched television and saw those poor patients, children unable to afford schooling, and helpless elderly people without support, and she only hated that she had no ability to help them. Now that she did have the ability, she naturally agreed with delight.