Xia Ruofei's heart skipped a beat. He stopped the car by the roadside and said to Lin Qiao, "Qiao'er, let's talk about the town later. How about we go visit our neighbor first?"
"The neighbor who produces Semillon wine?" Lin Qiao said. "Okay, okay!"
"Can you not be so happy?" Xia Ruofei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Didn't you hear Brother Liang say that the West family's company is facing a financial crisis?"
Lin Qiao stuck out her tongue and said, "Oh, I know..."
The two of them got out of the car and walked into the West winery.
Carter West and his wife Carberry were standing at the entrance of the winery. Both of them looked worried. Old West was still pacing back and forth, looking like he was waiting for someone.
Xia Ruofei waved at them from afar and greeted them loudly, "Uncle Carter, Aunt Carberry, how are you?"
Old West and Carberry looked over. When they saw Xia Ruofei, they were stunned for a moment. Then, they showed a warm smile. They still had a deep impression of this young and generous neighbor.
"Hi! My dear Xia, long time no see. "Old West came up and smiled.
Xia Ruofei could see that there was a hint of worry in his smile.
Aunt Carberry's personality was more cheerful. She came up and gave Xia Ruofei a big hug. With Aunt Carberry's weight, Xia Ruofei was almost out of breath from her hug.
Aunt Carberry then hugged Lin Qiao and kissed her cheek. She then smiled and said, "Xia, is this your girlfriend? What a beautiful oriental beauty... "
Lin Qiao was the representative of the English class in high school. Her English was quite good, especially when it came to listening. It was just that she didn't practice much, so she wasn't very fluent.
Lin Qiao blushed as soon as Aunt Kabelli finished speaking. She quickly explained in English, "No, no, I'm not his girlfriend …"
Xia Ruofei said awkwardly, "Auntie Kabelli, in Huaxia, this is called messy matchmaking … Alright, let me formally introduce you. This is my sister, Lin Qiao."
Then, Xia Ruofei said to Lin Qiao in Chinese, "Qiao'er, these two are the owners of West Winery. You can call them Uncle Carter and Aunt Carberry."
Lin Qiao greeted the two with a red face.
Madam Cabelli scratched her head and said, "Xia, why is your sister's surname different from yours? Uh … I don't know much about Huaxia. Maybe this is normal where you come from? "
Xia Ruofei had no choice but to explain, "I am not related to Qiao 'er by blood, but she is indeed my sister."
"Oh! Alright … "Madam Cabelli nodded with a smile.
Lin Qiao smiled and said, "Auntie Cabelli, I've drunk the Semillon that Brother Ruofei bought from your winery. The rich and mellow taste left a deep impression on me!"
Madam Cabelli smiled and said, "Lin, I'm very honored that you like our Semillon!"
Then, Old West said apologetically, "Xia, I'm sorry. It's a mess here today, and the workers are all on holiday. I can't treat you like last time."
Xia Ruofei nodded and said, "Uncle Carter, I heard about your situation from Brother Liang, but he didn't know much about it. Can you tell me more about it? Is it really to the point where you need to sell the winery? Uh … I'm not trying to pry into your privacy. I just want to see if I can help. "
Old West smiled and said, "The company's financial situation is public information. There's nothing secret about it. Since you're interested, I'll tell you about it."
Madam Cabelli sighed and said, "Let's not stand here. Let's sit inside!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Xia, please come in!" Old West said.
Everyone walked into the winery together. The last time Xia Ruofei was here, there were many tourists. Everyone was here to taste the wine and food, and there were also many people who were shopping for good wine. Today, however, it was cold and cheerless. Moreover, it seemed a little messy.
Old West invited Xia Ruofei and Lin Qiao to sit down. Madam Cabelli went to the bar to prepare drinks for everyone. Old West then told Xia Ruofei and Lin Qiao about what had happened recently.
It turned out that Old West didn't inherit the winery from the start. On the contrary, when he was young, he had no interest in this family winery with a long history. After graduating from university, he started his own business in Melbourne. Soon, his import and export trading company was doing very well.
However, as his father grew older, he couldn't manage the winery anymore. Old West reluctantly took over the winery, but his focus was still on the company in Melbourne.
However, as time passed, Old West grew to like the life in the winery. Perhaps growing up in the Hunter's Valley, he had the genes for wine in his bones. It was just that it hadn't been activated when he was young.
Therefore, Old West's focus was more and more on the winery.
Under his management, the winery was revitalized and became a famous winery in the Hunter's Valley. Many foreign tourists came to visit and buy from it.
In contrast, the import and export trading company in Melbourne began to neglect its management.
Old West didn't expect that company to make a lot of money. At his age, he preferred the leisurely life of a winery. The slow pace of life in the Hunter's Valley was exactly what he wanted.
However, since the beginning of this year, the economic situation in Europe hadn't been good. Old West's company in Melbourne mainly dealt with the European market. Since March, many payments had been delayed, and the company's operating funds began to be stretched.
In the past few months, the situation had been worsening. On one hand, the payment in Europe had been delayed. On the other hand, Old West had begun to be unable to pay his suppliers and employees in Australia. The capital chain was actually broken.
The winery and company were both under Old West's name. If the company went bankrupt, the winery would definitely be auctioned off by the court to pay off the debts.
Old West naturally didn't want to see such an outcome. Therefore, he could only reluctantly sell the winery, hoping to get cash to deal with the company's crisis.
The winery had a history of more than 150 years. It was passed down from generation to generation in the West family. If it weren't for the fact that he had no other choice, he definitely wouldn't be willing to sell the winery.
In the words of Huaxia people, this was the foundation of their ancestors!
Although Westerners didn't have a strong concept of this, Old West had grown up here. Moreover, he had been operating the winery wholeheartedly since he was in his forties. He had invested a lot of effort and energy into it. Therefore, this was a really difficult decision for him.
After hearing this, Xia Ruofei asked, "Uncle Carter, how much money does your company need to survive this crisis?"
Old West said without hesitation, "We still have some personal savings. After calculating it, we're about 1.8 million Australian dollars short."
At this time, Madam Cabelli walked over with fragrant pies and freshly squeezed juice. She had also heard the conversation between Old West and Xia Ruofei.
Madam Cabelli put the food on the table and said somewhat angrily, "Xia, our winery has been evaluated by a professional organization. It's worth at least 2.4 million Australian dollars. However, we've contacted a few buyers. They all know about Carter's company's financial crisis, so they want to take the opportunity to buy the winery at a low price. None of them offered more than 1.5 million Australian dollars."
Lin Qiao heard this and said with righteous indignation, "Aren't they robbing a burning house? How can they do this? "
Xia Ruofei didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he said to Lin Qiao, "Business is business. Uncle Carter is in urgent need of money. Those buyers will definitely take the opportunity to lower the price. This has nothing to do with morality."
In order to take care of Old West and his wife's feelings, Xia Ruofei also said this in English.
After hearing this, Old West smiled bitterly and said, "Lin is right. The competition in the business world is just that cruel."
Xia Ruofei smiled faintly and said, "But the price they offered is really too low. It's a little unreasonable!"
Madam Cabelli said, "Yes! We've taken the initiative to lower the price many times. However, if the winery can't even be exchanged for 1.8 million Australian dollars, then it's meaningless for us to sell the winery. This amount of money isn't enough to survive the company's crisis. "
When Lin Qiao saw the worried faces of the West couple, she couldn't help but feel a trace of sympathy. She couldn't help but look at Xia Ruofei, but the obedient and sensible girl didn't say anything.
Before coming to Australia, Lin Qiao had also read some guides. Naturally, she knew the exchange rate of the Australian dollar. She knew that 1.8 million Australian dollars was equivalent to 10 million Huaxia dollars. This wasn't a small amount of money.
Although Xia Ruofei might be able to take out this amount of money, after all, the West couple and Xia Ruofei were not relatives or friends. Speaking of which, they had only met a few times. They were just neighbors who had a relatively good relationship.
There were countless people in this world who needed help at every moment. Xia Ruofei was a human, not a god. How could he help them all?
Therefore, Lin Qiao chose to remain silent.
Xia Ruofei smiled and asked, "Uncle Carter, if you can exchange the winery for enough money, what do you plan to do next?"
Old West said tiredly, "I'll use this money to pay off the company's debts and dismiss the employees. I think the remaining money should be enough for Cabelli and me to live."
Madam Cabelli also said, "The economic situation in Europe isn't very good now. Carter has long wanted to end the company's business and focus on the winery. However, the company can't be ended just like that. There are a lot of financial transactions and debts that have to be dealt with step by step. I didn't expect that before we could sort everything out, the company would suffer a heavy blow and can't hold on anymore."
Xia Ruofei nodded. He had gotten the answer in his heart.
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.
