Chapter 448 - 229: Him, I Trust

Chapter 448: Chapter 229: Him, I Trust

After glancing at Su Chen and receiving a silent nod of approval, he finally explained, "We’ll need professional mining experts to survey it to know the exact size, but according to the two men who were illegally mining it, it’s a rich deposit at the very least!"

Ivan then recounted some more details. When Xiao Chen heard that you could pan several grams of gold from a single shovelful of dirt from the river, he also fell into deep thought.

"By the way, Ivan, what did you do with the two illegal miners?" Su Chen asked with a frown. It seemed Ivan had yet to mention this.

Hearing Su Chen’s question, Ivan didn’t hide anything and immediately explained, "The two of them are locked up in the mountains right now. Do they need to be... dealt with... privately? Don’t worry, Boss. There are plenty of brown bears and tigers out in the wild."

As he spoke of "dealing with" them, a ruthless glint flashed in Ivan’s eyes.

Su Chen and Xiao Chen glanced at each other, both seeing the surprise in the other’s eyes. They hadn’t expected Ivan to be such a hard man.

Su Chen gently tapped his fingers on the armrest of the sofa. After a long moment, he said, "Not for now. The fact that they were able to find this place and pan for gold means they must be skilled at it. See if you can recruit them."

"If those two don’t cooperate..." Su Chen paused, a sharp glint in his eyes, "...then you can handle it as you see fit."

Xiao Chen wasn’t surprised to hear this. In fact, there was a hint of admiration in his eyes.

’A man who isn’t ruthless can’t stand firm. If this really is a major gold mine, the potential wealth is immeasurable. Failing to maintain secrecy at the beginning and attracting wolves would just be asking for trouble.’

Su Chen had already formed a plan in his mind. He would get a few experts from back home to conduct an on-site survey as soon as possible. Once it was confirmed, he would immediately arrange for his IPS personnel to secure the area. After that, it wouldn’t matter if outsiders found out.

Besides, all his paperwork was in perfect order. When he had opened that "system blind box," it had included documents like a mineral extraction license. Not even the Bear Country’s government could do anything about it.

All he needed to do now was guard against prying eyes in the shadows.

Wherever there are people, there’s conflict. It wasn’t just the Imperial Capital that had its share of powerful scions; the Bear Country was no exception. In fact, they played a much wilder game over here, especially since weapons were far less restricted.

"Ivan, how much money is in the ranch’s account right now?" Su Chen asked, turning his head.

The question actually caught him off guard. He quickly pulled out his phone and, after fumbling with it for a moment, looked up and said, "Boss, there’s a little over fifteen million Rubles in the ranch’s account right now."

"What are the ranch’s monthly expenses?"

Ivan wasn’t very good with numbers. He checked last month’s expenses on his phone, taking about a minute before answering, "The fixed monthly expenses are around three million Rubles!"

Su Chen nodded at his words. After a moment of thought, he said, "Withdraw ten million Rubles from the account. You take two million, give five million to the patrol team that found the illegal miners for them to split among themselves, and divide the remaining three million evenly among the other workers."

The moment he finished speaking, Ivan shot to his feet, his face flush with excitement. "Boss! You’re truly too generous!"

He knew that two million Rubles was more than he could save in two years, even if he didn’t eat or drink. This meant Su Chen had just given him a two-year bonus right off the bat.

Even the others would get anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. ’If I tell the men this news, every single one of them will be shouting about how generous the boss is!’

’Where else could you find a boss this generous?!’

Su Chen gave a calm wave of his hand. "Go arrange this first. It would be best to get it done today. Also, make it clear to the men that this is a bonus from me, their boss. Tell them if they keep up the good work, there will be more in the future."

"Yes, Boss!" Ivan gave Su Chen a deep bow and then walked quickly outside.

A moment later, shouts of astonishment erupted from outside, with everyone yelling, "Boss!"

"You trust that Ivan and his men that much?" Xiao Chen asked, taking a sip of his coffee as he watched Ivan’s retreating figure through the window.

Su Chen watched the burly, celebrating men outside through the floor-to-ceiling window and nodded firmly.

"The fact that Ivan called me the moment he discovered the gold proves he’s trustworthy."

"Even if some of his men have other ideas, I’m confident Ivan can keep them in line. And after this round of bonuses, even those with ulterior motives will behave themselves."

You have to understand, the lives of ordinary people in the Bear Country aren’t great. Just making enough to get by is considered pretty good. The country’s industrial sector isn’t strong, and there aren’t many good factory jobs, which means a lot of people are just struggling to put food on the table every day.

For Su Chen to show up and immediately hand out bonuses... it would be a lie to say they weren’t grateful. After all, who’s going to argue with money?

"Besides... didn’t you hear how decisive Ivan sounded when he talked about ’dealing with’ those two men?"

"If there really is a traitor in our midst, I believe he’d be even quicker to act than I would." A faint smile played on Su Chen’s lips as he finished.

After hearing all this, Xiao Chen, who was sitting to the side, also fell silent.