The Cowboy and The Pencil-pusher

Maddy called me back early in the morning.He's still not in good health for a visit, but agrees to give me his financial records.I sent Benjy to get the papers, and my eyes were sore after looking through the documents and receipts in QuickBooks.From the results of my extensive investigations, one thing is for certain, and that is that ranching costs are as unstoppable as a hemophiliac's haemorrhage after misapplying a hemolytic agent.

①Quickbooks, a commonly used account software, is sometimes called "Quick Account" in Chinese.

When Benjy came back to my motel hours later with coffee, I wanted to kiss him. "Boss, how is the progress?"

I take off my glasses and take my coffee. "This ranch can't make ends meet almost every month." I rubbed my eyes and leaned on the back of the chair

"Isn't this a routine question?"

I nodded and took a sip of the hot coffee. "I've got to find a way to see Maddy."

"He can't be sick all his life."

I tapped my fingers on the glass as I wondered what to do next. "They have everything they need to run the place. Heck, there's even enough land to expand if they want."

"You mean if they follow your father's wishes and turn this place into a tourist ranch?"

"Yes." I nodded to the computer. "Looking at the poor numbers, I don't think they have much choice. Listen to us or lose here."

"Kurt is a real cowboy, I don't think he will happily cooperate with you." Benjie leaned against the table. "Can you imagine him walking around with a group of onlookers from the city all day long?"

I really can't imagine.But Kurt's unintentional cooperation is none of my business.Maddy is the one I want to win over. "As long as the old guy is obedient, our matter will be settled."

"I agree, this trick was used in Kering, Texas."

"Yes. Same here, as long as Maddy doesn't get too stubborn."

Benjie cleared his throat, "Yeah, uh... I was thinking. When you're dealing with these people, you'd better change your style of doing things."

I frown. "What style of doing things."

Benjie made a bitter face and said, "You are so indifferent, as if you don't care about your fart."

My cheeks burned, and I gave him a hard look. "I'm very decent. I help these people so they don't get displaced."

"You're just helping your family profit from the investment."

This is also a problem?I muttered, "What's wrong with helping yourself while helping others."

"No, I'm just saying you lack strategy. I think people would be more willing to work with you if you were more approachable."

I folded my hands and was very disdainful of his criticism. I am quite confident in my ability to work.I don't need him to give me ecstasy soup. "It's a business transaction, why should I take good care of them."

He shrugged. "I'm just saying you can try to be more compassionate."

"I have no empathy, why should I? Instead a big bank could start the foreclosure process right now." My tone was grim.

"But if your father hadn't stopped you, you would have done it a long time ago."

I leaned back against him and said sharply. "They're five months past due. Any businessman with common sense would have repossessed their mortgage. It's a very valuable asset. I think my dad is out of his mind!"

"Look." He pointed at me with a smug look. "That's what scares them away, and you should put them on your side, not alienate them and make them feel like they're getting nowhere."

Tilting the cup to drink up the coffee, I threw the paper cup into the wastebasket by the table. "Giamoti Investment Bank isn't a fucking charity. My dad seems to have forgotten that!" I was pissed at my dad before the trip.I'm not in the mood to fly to Bender, Colorado, to serve another bunch of primitive people who can't pay their bills. "These people should never have borrowed money in the first place!"

Benjie frowned. "Paul, I looked at the loan papers before I came here, and Maddy Callahan has been paying his bills on time for 20 years. Your attitude is like he took the loan and spent it on strippers as soon as he got it. Now this Things have changed for the poor guy, but he's worked so hard to keep up, you have to be more understanding."

I laughed sarcastically. "Excuse me? Don't be funny, if I really empathized with everyone who can't pay back, I'll be on the streets and you'll be out of a job, bro."

"Yes, how should I put it, there is always something more important than money in life."

I snorted coldly. "If you had nothing to eat and no place to live, you wouldn't think so."

He rolled his eyes and walked towards the door. "I don't know why you are like this. Your father is obviously very approachable."

I gave him a back view and fiddled with a few documents on the table. "If you were his son, you wouldn't say that."

"From the house you live in and the car you drive, it doesn't sound like being his son is too bad." He smiled contemptuously.

"I've been working for him since I was 16, and he's only been this nice and sweet last year." I turned around and gave him a slap in the face, "If you think I'm a cold-blooded bastard, that's because of his training." of."

"Prostate cancer made him fearful, maybe the disease changed him." He hesitated. "One more thing to be clear: I didn't say you were an asshole."

Didn't say it, but you must have thought so.

I close my laptop and turn off the lamp. "He taught me to never budge, and he never fucking gave me a step. And now I'm suddenly being asked to care about people who are just paper numbers to me."

Benji sighed. "Yes, I understand, the person who is dying is not you, his epiphany of life is meaningless to you."

"That's right." I was educated to see the world through numbers and market cap.Suddenly my dad found faith and asked me to support him. "It's not that I'm against him. Even though I don't agree with him, I'm still doing what he wants me to do."

"I see."

"But my dad is not logical. If Madi agrees to the plan, we will have to invest more money in him to prepare."

"You did it in Texas, and it's worth more than the reimbursement for the reconstruction loan."

"Hopefully this project will go well." I was expecting to take over a junkie.The fact that it didn't reach that point doesn't mean it won't be dead.

Benji laughed. "Your father said he had a dream for this ranch, like he had for the ranches in Texas."

I shake my head. "He and his dreams."

"Although I don't know what your father was like before, it is obvious that the man who hired me now is a gentleman who really cares about other people's suffering."

"Maybe." I've been waiting for my old man to turn back into the slave overseer who raised me.Really not used to his new outlook on life.I don't know him anymore.Now we fight all the time because I insist on doing what he taught me as a kid about work.

"Maybe this new way of working is for you too." He seemed to be taking an unusual interest in coffee mugs.

"how to say?"

"You can learn to deal with other people as a normal human being, not as a spreadsheet." This time he managed to glance at me.

I met his gaze angrily. "But why would that help?"

A flush came to his cheeks. "Maybe you might meet someone special."

"Meet someone special? You mean Quarry?" I looked at him like he'd just given me a sip of poison.

He nodded, blushing even more. "After I came to work in your company, I saw that you have always been single."

"what do you mean?"

“If you open up and stop seeing people as mathematical equations, maybe you can relate to them better.” At least he politely kept his due embarrassment out of my sight.

"Then what does this have to do with you?"

He shrugged. "You look lonely."

"Really?" I laughed, "I don't know why you think that, I'm not interested in having a boyfriend at all. I don't like having to report to someone else while doing something I love. If I want to fly Go to France, I can leave as soon as I say."

"Indeed, your world is up to you."

"Trust me, if you were me you'd feel it's a good thing. I don't want kids, I don't want a dog, I don't want anything that someone like you thinks I should have."

He raised his hand in surrender as he walked toward the door. "Well, sorry to say that, obviously you're in a perfect state of life."

"I don't understand why it's so hard for someone like you to understand that I'm happy to be alone with this."

"My kind?"

I shook my finger at him. "You are such a stupid person."

"Ah... yes. I'm stupid."

"Numbers are clear and perfect. It's intuitively expressed in math and numbers, without trying to figure it out. I love my job. But now my dad is trying to mix in pity. If you mean you can't have your cake and eat it too, Then he's lucky to have those ranches in Texas." He might be even luckier to have this place.But the truth is that being emotional can only make things worse.Benjamin, if I were you I'd find a way to fill the gaps in the 401K②, make sure the savings are intact.Because sooner or later, these stupid factors that shake the foundation will completely bring down the entire Giamoti Investment Bank! "

② "401K" is an American pension plan.