In the afternoon, Li Du, together with Brother Wolf, alighted from a cab and entered a JP
Morgan branch in Los Angeles.
They took a queue number and waited for the counter clerk to announce their turn.
Then Li Du walked up to the counter and passed over a pale gold card. He said, “Hi, I
would like to check the balance.”
The clerk smiled and said, “Sir, you can check your balance at the ATM… oh, please
accept my apologies. I will check this for you right now.”
Halfway through his speech, the clerk noticed the card and straightened his back. He
took Li Du’s card at once, turning around and mumbling at the same time.
He typed furiously, half-hidden behind the computer screen, and said to Li Du, “Please
enter your passcode.”
Li Du said, “There should be no passcode on this card.”
The clerk looked at him with sluggish eyes.
Li Du said again, “There is not supposed to be a passcode for this card.”
The clerk nodded and said, “That’s right, sir, it has no passcode. The… the balance is,
is, is, if I’m not mistaken, it’s 401 million dollars… God!”
The clerk could not help but let out a moan.
Although seeing long strings of numbers was common in the bank, they were all
numbers from general ledgers. However high the amount of money, the staff was
mentally prepared and would rarely be shocked.
Li Du’s card was different. That was a personal banking card. As it had a few million or
more belonging to it, the regular counter clerks would not be the ones handling it. That
card would belong to a VIP client and there would be special personnel in charge.
Seeing that the card he was handling contained so much money, the clerk was giddy.
He was a regular run-of-the-mill worker, and never interacted with such a rich client
before.
Besides, he had never come across so much money either. Regular employees had
never even seen a fraction of such a sum.
Having confirmed the balance in the card, Li Du felt more relaxed at once.
Initially, he had some misgivings. Tang Chaoyang had casually pulled out a card and
transferred a few billion just like that. That seemed impossible.
This could, perhaps, happen on television or in the movies, but in real life, transferring
more than four billion US dollars would not be easy for most banks. It would require an
entire slew of processes, some of them involving the ministry of finance.
Li Du had interacted with many rich people. Even for Cole, if the amount added up to
tens of millions, the transfer would require at least half an hour.
Yet here they were dealing with hundreds of millions. In Tang Chaoyang’s hands, that
transfer was almost instantaneous.
Now, Tang Chaoyang and his partner were still in their hotel rooms. Big Quinn and
Godzilla were guarding the door to keep them under surveillance. According to the
agreement, they could only leave after Li Du completed the transfer to his account.
After confirming the balance, Li Du was just about to inquire about transferring the
money into his account when a white-haired middle-aged man hurried over under the
guidance of the lobby manager.
The man wore a smart suit, had neatly parted hair and walked with quick but steady
steps. One could tell that he was a calm person able to deal with any situation.
The two of them stopped in front of Li Du and the white-haired man held out his hand.
“How are you, Mr. Li?”
Li Du was stunned and said, “Do we know each other?”
The man grinned and said, “We received a call from our main branch. They gave us
your key information. Please follow me so that we can assist you in the transfer.”
JP Morgan Chase Palladium card. That was one of the best cards. Li Du had heard
about those but had never seen one before. When Tang Chaoyang passed him the
card, somehow that had slipped his mind.
Hence, when he received the card, he saw the name of the bank and its logo and
nothing more. He was aware that the card was plated with gold, but he had not
expected it to be an alloy made from palladium and 23K gold. Palladium was an
extremely rare and expensive metal. With the gold plating, that card itself was worth a
lot!
The palladium card was a credit card that could also be used for savings. In the upper-
class American society, that card was like a business card, something you could use to
open new doors.
According to someone, only JP Morgan Chase Palladium card could open the doors in
the White House. This was unverified, but from that, one could assume the power of the
palladium card.
As a worldwide top bank card, JP Morgan Chase Palladium was reserved for exclusive
customers. One requirement was to have at least 25 million fluid funds… yes, the
requirement pertained to fluid funds and not total assets.
Many people had more than 25 millions’ worth of assets. However, it would be harder to
meet the criteria of having that amount of fluid funds. To date, there were only about
5000 such cards in the whole world.
Li Du was not an American. He had Sophie’s parents help him with his application for a
student visa. Later, Cole had helped him to arrange for his green card.
The middle-aged man was the bank manager, named Birkins. After seeing Li Du’s
green card, he asked enthusiastically, “Mr. Li, would you like to apply for citizenship?
Our bank can help you to arrange that.”
The palladium card was so powerful because having the card meant that one could also
benefit from the influence of the JP Morgan Chase bank. The bank would be able to
help with any matter.
Li Du shook his head; he preferred to keep his Chinese citizenship.
Birkins helped him to process the transfer personally, and all Li Du needed to do was
provide the documents and sign.
In the end, the bank card was placed in an exquisite, unique crystal box and passed to
him.
Unlike before, this time around there were many numbers and letters on the bank card.
It did not have embossed characters like a regular plastic credit card, but laser-printed
ones.
Li Du’s name was on top, and Birkins handed the crystal box with the card to him. He
provided Li Du with some information regarding the card. For example, the annual fee
was five hundred and ninety-five US dollars, and if there were any problems, he could
call the phone number behind the card.
The phone number at the back of every palladium card was different. It showed that JP
Morgan Chase had allocated a personal service staff member for each customer, ready
to provide assistance twenty-four seven.
Of course, the funds pertaining to the card were the most important part, with a sum of
more than four billion dollars, Birkins politely asked if he could keep that amount within
their branch.
Li Du said that that was no problem, and Birkins happily went to process his orders.
Learning that Li Du had taken a cab to the bank, Birkins hurriedly located a Bentley and
said, “As long as you are in Los Angeles, you can use this car anytime. Also, thank you
once again, Mr. Li, for putting your trust in our bank, thank you very much!”
Li Du went out and, with some apprehension, proceeded to the Wells Fargo bank
nearby. At the Wells Fargo ATM, he checked the balance once again.
Indeed, there were 401 million US dollars. Apparently, there were no issues with that
sum of money!
There was a security store next to the bank. After some thought, Li Du went in and
bought a few bottles of pepper spray, a high-voltage baton, a stun gun, and some other
tools. Those items could be useful for self-defense in the city. At his current net worth,
he had to be prepared for the worst and know that someone might be targeting him.
