Frank's Hummer was a seven-seater, so all five of them could sit in his car.
The Bank of America was one of the largest financial services organizations in the United States, with total assets of $2.5 trillion and deposits of $1.5 trillion, accounting for 25 percent of the total deposits in the United States. It had more than 6,000 branches, so of course it had a bank in Flagstaff.
Frank drove to the bank very quickly. After getting out of the car, the five of them walked into the bank. It was almost time to get off work, so there were not many people in the bank.
A Caucasian man who was chatting with the teller saw them and walked up to them. "Hello, gentlemen, how may I help you?"
Ma Cheng took out his work ID and said, "Hello, we are appraisers from Christie's. We have a partnership agreement with your bank. We can deposit our precious auction items with you for free."
The Caucasian man looked at his work ID and went to the counter to get a laptop. He tapped on it a few times and nodded. "Alright, identity confirmed. Please wait a moment. This item is managed by our treasury department. I'll inform their supervisor."
He did not take the laptop with him when he left. York poked his head over to take a look. On the left side of the webpage was the Bank of America logo, on the right was the Christie's logo, and in the middle was Ma Cheng's information.
There was Ma Cheng's photo, his work ID number, job information, and so on. It was very detailed.
Frank wanted to take a look as well. At that moment, Du Dayuan opened his suitcase and let out a sigh of relief. "I can finally relax. I've been on tenterhooks the whole day."
The suitcase opened, revealing the ruby and related jewelry inside. It was very beautiful.
Footsteps could be heard coming from the stairs. A middle-aged Caucasian man wearing a white work suit walked down from behind the young Caucasian man who had received them earlier.
Ma Cheng shook hands with him. The middle-aged man looked at his information again, as well as the others.
Du Dayuan and Ding Xiaofeng's information were the same as Ma Cheng's. Frank and Ma Cheng did not introduce them. Ma Cheng said that they were their clients and friends.
So the middle-aged man said, "Then, for privacy reasons, the three of you can follow me to handle the storage. These two gentlemen are not allowed in. I'm sorry."
Ma Cheng waved his hand. "Mr. Du, you can handle it yourself. Mr. Ding and I will chat with our friends."
Du Dayuan said cautiously, "Mr. Supervisor, please show me your work ID. I need to verify it."
The middle-aged white man smiled and took off a tag from the shirt inside his suit and gave it to him.
Du Dayuan took the sign and went to the counter. Then, he chatted with the clerk inside and pointed at the middle-aged white man.
The cashier smiled and nodded. Du Dayuan thanked her and returned.
After both parties left the lobby, Ma Cheng said, "Frank, let's wait outside. The air-conditioning in the bank is too strong. I can't stand it."
Frank said, "Of course not, mate."
Not long after they left the bank, Du Dayuan came back and said, "The bank's storage service is the most professional and safest I've ever seen. They've stored the rubies in the vault. It's absolutely safe."
At this time, Ma Cheng said, "By the way, Frank, where did you store your things?"
Frank said, "It's in the First Financial Bank, not far from here."
The white supervisor who saw Du Dayuan out laughed and said, "First Financial Bank? I don't mean to insult them, but to be honest, their insurance business is not reliable. You have to be careful. "
Compared to the Bank of China, First Financial Bank was a small private bank with only about 7 billion USD in assets.
Ma Cheng said, "If that's the case, Frank, why don't you consider changing your business to the Bank of China?"
Frank smiled and said, "We have a good partnership with First Financial Bank. To be honest, their storage service is cheaper."
Du Dayuan gave him a look, then leaned over and whispered, "You can store it in and treat it as our company's auction item."
Frank was a person who liked to take advantage of others. Hearing this, he was delighted and said, "Can I?"
Du Dayuan said, "No problem. Just sign an agreement and say that you want to entrust us with the auction."
Hearing that he had to sign an agreement, Frank was a little hesitant. Seeing this, Du Dayuan continued, "This agreement will not be enforced, and there's no need to pay any deposit. In the future, if you want to withdraw your items, just say that you don't want to entrust us with the auction. The entire process is free of charge."
York became cautious and said, "Du, you guys are being a little too nice to us. If your company finds out about this, I'm afraid it will have a negative impact on you guys."
Ma Cheng smiled and said, "No, this is actually a trick of ours, a way to make friends with our partners. Even if the company finds out, it doesn't matter. You guys are outstanding treasure hunters and also partners that we are fighting for."
Frank nodded and said, "I see."
The middle-aged white man looked at his watch and said, "If you guys want to store it in, then please hurry. We're about to knock off, otherwise you'll have to come back tomorrow for the transaction."
Frank and York discussed it for a while, then drove to First Financial Bank and took out a big box.
The box was quite heavy, and two security guards had to work together to carry it into the trunk of the car.
In the meantime, Ma Cheng and the other two went to the toilet or for drinks, which took up some time. By the time they returned to the bank, it was almost time to knock off.
An escort car with the logo of the bank was parked at the back door. The supervisor brought them directly to the back door and said, "We'll do the appraisal first, then put your items in the car."
"Why put it in the car?" Frank asked.
The supervisor smiled and said, "Because our storage room is in the vault, and the vault is not here. This is to prevent people from robbing the bank and ransacking our vault."
Frank and York felt that something was not right. Cautiously, the latter went to ask a bank employee who was smoking at the entrance of the bank.
Hearing his question, the employee nodded and said, "Yes, what Supervisor Leonard said is the truth. Our vault is not here."
With that, the two of them were relieved.
After that, they took pictures, appraised the items, and signed all kinds of documents. Finally, the storage was completed. The car left, and the five of them packed up the agreement and left the bank.
When they returned to the campsite, the party had already started.
Li Du's eyes lit up when he saw them. He came up to Ma Cheng with his left hand and Frank with his right. "Guys, where did you guys go? Everyone was worried sick because they couldn't find you guys. D * mn it, come and drink! "
Ma Cheng laughed and said, "We went for a walk to settle some personal matters. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. According to our Chinese rules, we'll drink three glasses as punishment!"
Li Du smiled and said, "Good, straightforward. But three glasses as punishment is not enough. I've prepared a very powerful punishment for you guys."
"What punishment?" Ma Cheng asked.
Li Du smiled but did not say anything. His smile was very meaningful.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
