Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 488: Competition Among Steel Plants

After handling the jewelry store matters, Chen Yiyang finally had time to call the friend of Old Liu in Serbia, inviting him out for a chat.

The person who answered was an elderly man with a voice that sounded very old, and his English wasn’t very fluent. After learning about Chen Yiyang’s intention, he said he would arrange for his granddaughter to meet Chen Yiyang.

So, the two agreed to meet at a café in Serbia.

"Are you Mr. Chen?"

A few minutes before the scheduled meeting time, Chen Yiyang walked into the café.

Then a long-haired Serbian girl started waving at Chen Yiyang.

Her hair was golden yellow, and she was very tall, probably around 1.7 meters.

After sitting down, Chen Yiyang curiously asked, "How did you know I was the person you were waiting for?"

"Normal people walking on the street wouldn’t be accompanied by bodyguards." The girl pointed to several bodyguards not far behind Chen Yiyang.

"For personal safety, I hope you understand." Chen Yiyang could only say that.

"I understand, if I were traveling to other Balkan countries and had the money, I would definitely hire a bodyguard too."

"Let me introduce myself, I’m Danica." The girl extended her hand and shook hands with Chen Yiyang.

Danica was a typical Serbian, with fair skin and deep-colored eyes.

The history of Serbians can be traced back to the migration and settlement of ancient South Slavs.

That’s also why there’s notable goodwill towards Russia among them.

Of course, the main reason is still the European Union’s mistreatment, leading to significant public discontent towards the European Union.

"I heard from my grandfather that you plan to invest in Serbia." After briefly introducing each other, Danica started addressing the main topic with Chen Yiyang.

"What industry do you plan to invest in and how much money?"

"This time, I intend to build a new energy electric vehicle factory in Serbia. Once built, I want to use the trade agreement between Serbia and the European Union to sell cars to the European Union. The amount is around several hundred million euros?"

"Are you serious?" Danica looked at Chen Yiyang in shock after hearing what he had to say.

"Of course, is there anything wrong with what I just said?" Chen Yiyang felt bewildered.

"My grandfather only told me a Huaxia businessman came to Serbia to invest in something. I thought you were here to open a supermarket."

The tendency of Huaxia people to open supermarkets abroad is a well-known fact.

Within the country, the impression of Huaxia people going abroad for business is mostly about opening various restaurants.

That’s actually all old news.

Because back then, Huaxia people could only rely on their living skills to make a living.

But nowadays, Huaxia people who go out are unlikely to fail to open supermarkets abroad as long as they can obtain low-cost items domestically.

"You’re really planning to open a car factory in Serbia?" Danica asked unbelievingly again.

"Why don’t you just search my name?" Chen Yiyang helplessly responded.

He still couldn’t figure out whether Old Liu hadn’t clarified to Danica’s grandfather or whether Danica’s grandfather was old and forgetful and hadn’t informed Danica.

Danica wasn’t pretentious, upon hearing Chen Yiyang’s suggestion, she immediately took out her phone and searched for Chen Yiyang’s name.

Even though Chen Yiyang wasn’t quite famous internationally, using English search engines could still find some information.

Like some industries he invested in and car factories he built in Brazil and other places.

"Oh my gosh, I really should have put on some makeup and worn nice clothes before going out today."

After verifying the scale of Chen Yiyang’s assets, Danica covered her mouth.

"It’s alright, I don’t mind." Chen Yiyang said.

Although, indeed, Danica was quite attractive.

Tall stature combined with fair skin and sharp features, isn’t it hard to be unattractive?

Not to mention the exotic charm that adds to it.

"I’ll make sure to prepare well next time we meet." Danica said while casually pulling down her collar a bit.

This way, if Chen Yiyang’s gaze slightly lowered, he would see a fair expanse.

Uh.

Do wealthy people get these hidden perks?

Chen Yiyang mused that having money is truly wonderful.

"I work at the Serbian Steel Factory." Danica mentioned her job while introducing herself, "Since this steel factory is also Huaxia-owned, my Chinese is pretty good. How about we communicate in Chinese?"

Danica said this sentence in Chinese, with very little accent indeed.

Chen Yiyang simply switched to Chinese to converse with her.

"Serbian Steel Factory?" This was the first time Chen Yiyang had heard of this steel factory.

Yet, a steel factory named after a country is actually a Huaxia investment?

"Haven’t you heard the story of our steel factory?" Seeing Chen Yiyang’s interest in the steel factory, Danica began telling him its story.

The Serbian Steel Factory initially started as a state-owned steel plant in Serbia, built in 1913.

At its peak, this steel factory had over five thousand employees and was a source of pride for Serbians.

However, later with the unrest in the Balkans, the Serbian Steel Factory began its downhill path.

Until 2002, it was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Later, capital from the United States took over the steel factory.

Even by 2003, American capital was no longer adept at handling physical industries.

So after taking over the steel factory, American capital didn’t refurbish the equipment but instead reformed the company structure.

This method obviously couldn’t make the steel factory profitable, leading it into years of losses.

In 2012, American capital finally gave up and retreated, selling the Serbian Steel Factory back to Serbia for one US dollar to avoid paying severance after its complete bankruptcy.

At this point, Serbia neither had the capability to refurbish the steel factory nor maintain its operations.

Moreover, if even American capital couldn’t handle the steel factory, no other powerful capital would agree to take over.

So by 2016, Serbia took advantage of its relationship with Huaxia to get Huaxia’s Hebei Steel to take over the steel factory.

This deal initially carried some political undertones.

Therefore, Hebei Steel only sent nine people to Serbia to take over the steel factory.

Essentially, apart from the top management, the other staff were the remaining workers.

Hebei Steel didn’t have any better solutions for this old factory other than making some technical improvements and spending money to import new equipment from home.

Thus, they managed to maintain the basic operations of the factory.

However, there was still a long way to go before the factory could turn a profit.

But after a few years, something unexpected happened.