Chapter 1293
Ethan didn’t make the rounds himself. Brother Geoff was the one who brought this message to them.
He only knew that Brother Geoff gave a punch with every sentence he spoke, so as to make sure that all these illegal circle bosses could understand him well.
When he thought about it now, it was true that convincing others by his own example was really not a method suitable for Brother Geoff to use.
The few merchants sat on the sofa and seemed a little reserved.
They weren’t young anymore and they had gone through a lot in life before coming overseas to expand their own business.
But they were still rather nervous in front of Ethan.
One of them had even witnessed how Ethan had kicked Malcolm to the floor and bashed him up that night!
“Mr. Hunt, we’ve come today not only to congratulate Palmer Group, but we would also like to ask a few questions. Is it a convenient time to talk?”
One of them was the leader and spoke up after looking at the other two. They had clearly already discussed who would approach this subject before this.
“No problem, say what’s on your mind,” replied Ethan.
“It’s like that, we would like to confirm one matter.” The man hesitated for a moment. “Is Palmer Group working with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce?”
“As in, are you giving them annual fees and paying them 20% of your annual profits?”
Those were the conditions to be part of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. These merchants were all bound by this agreement.
All these years, they gave the Chinese Chamber of Commerce 20% of their annual profits without fail.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce was just sitting there and waiting for the money to roll in. They only guaranteed that nobody would dare to harass them if they expanded their business overseas, especially in Las Vegas.
“No.”
Ethan answered very simply.
“We are not doing that now, and we will never do that even in the future.”
He looked at the men seated in front of him and suddenly laughed. “That’s Palmer Group’s money, so why should I give the Chinese Chamber of Commerce any of it? What have they done for Palmer Group?”
“Protect us? We don’t need it.”
“Provide resources? For what?”
Ethan looked at them. “I know why you’re here. You’re trying to ask if it’s possible to safely expand your business if you don’t work with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, right?”
They all nodded.
“Mr. Hunt, we’ll be honest with you. We didn’t want to work with them at first either. After all, 20% of our profits is really a lot of money to a company!”
This amount of profit was not just needed for further expansion of the company, or to increase the welfare of the staff. It was the key to being able to gain a strong foothold overseas.
Nobody was willing to give away 20% to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce just like that.
“We didn’t want to work with them, but we didn’t have a choice. If we didn’t work with them, then we would face difficulty in even registering our business here.”
They all shook their heads helplessly.
Everybody would be more than happy to save this cost.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce were obviously as good as gangsters but they had no choice.
But now, Palmer Group had appeared.
They didn’t work with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and even fought back. This gave them hope, so they came looking for Ethan directly.
“Since you don’t want to give anything, then don’t,” said Ethan directly. “These people are just leeches who keep sucking others dry. They call themselves the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and pretend that they are representing the Chinese merchants and protecting the Chinese Merchants, but I’m sure all of you know what they are actually doing.”
“But…”
They were all hesitant, and one of them spoke up, “If we choose to side with Palmer Group, will you be willing to take us?”
“We can pay you to take us in, as long as it’s less than what the Chinese Chamber of Commerce is asking for. Even if you ask for 10%, we’ll accept it.”
