Stay Home Daddy: I Was Reborn After My Daughter Passed Away
Chapter 267 - 266 Successfully located pyramid scheme organization_1

Chapter 267: 266 Successfully located pyramid scheme organization_1

Indeed, the person on the other line had no suspicions.

"Today, everyone calls you Tian Laosì, but in a month, they’ll definitely call you President Tian! Those who once looked down on you will cast envious glances your way! And why? Because you’ve joined Chengguang Shoe Polish! Remember, we’re not selling shoe polish, we’re selling dreams!"

The person on the phone spoke with righteous indignation, as if they could swallow mountains and rivers.

Gu Zhi listened with an expression of disdain, rolling his eyes constantly.

Dream my ass!

It was clearly a gathering of scammers draped in the skin of dreams, a complete insult to the very concept of dreams.

He replied with a hypocritical smile, "Is that so? That sounds wonderful. May I ask where your company is located?"

When he asked for the company address, the person on the other line hesitated for a moment.

"Well, due to the large number of people in the company, you need to pay a certain deposit to enter the company. Since your mobile number is from outside the area, we have special benefits for our workers from afar."

"With just five thousand yuan, you can become a manager and get a batch of shoe polish. Our shoe polish is made with special black technology—old shoes look like new after applying it, and a tube is only five yuan."

Gu Zhi laughed.

"How long will it take me to sell all this shoe polish? Aren’t you guys just coaxing me to sell shoe polish? Besides, at five yuan a tube, in our market, one only costs fifty cents—that’s ten times the price!"

This was more than just treating someone as a fool.

It was treating them as intellectually disabled!

A fool might just be unintelligent, but if this could convince anyone, there’s no doubt it’s preying on the intellectually disabled!

"Hear me out, brother. Our way of making money isn’t really through selling shoe polish, but by recruiting new members. For each person you bring in, the company will give you two hundred yuan. Everyone you recruit falls under your downline, and for every tube of shoe polish they sell, you get a commission of one yuan."

"Just think about it, suppose you recruit five people today, wouldn’t that mean you earn a thousand yuan? Plus, you get a commission from the shoe polish they sell. Isn’t this model attractive enough?"

"As long as you have the ability, the more people you recruit, the more money you can make. Eventually, you’ll move up from being a manager to a deputy general manager, and at that point, you can become a partner in our company and be given shares."

The person on the other end prattled on.

Gu Zhi sat on the couch in the internet café, his eyes lit up, suddenly feeling an epiphany.

To be honest, he now understood why so many people were scammed.

Bringing in one person equated to two hundred yuan.

In a small county like Huangxian, a person’s monthly salary was just two to three hundred yuan.

If you brought in two people, that was four hundred yuan a month. If you recruited five people, you’d have a monthly income of over a thousand yuan.

What did that mean?

It was more than three times the normal salary.

No wonder Gu Zhigang was tempted and enticed so many people.

It’s all about the allure of money!

Gu Zhi continued, "But I don’t have five thousand yuan either. Also, to what level do I need to advance before I can come to the company? After all, it’s unsettling to deal with something I can’t see – it’s my hard-earned money."

Although he didn’t lack money and knew even if he gave the other side a million, he could retrieve it back, if you’re putting on an act, you have to play the whole set.

They were scamming poor people’s money. How could poor people afford five thousand yuan?

Even if they could, they’d be risking their all, proceeding with utmost caution.

If someone readily agreed, then nine times out of ten, they were not poor.

His words were fully aimed at preventing the other party from suspecting his intentions.

It was all to establish a persona.

As expected, after hearing Gu Zhi’s words, the person on the other end immediately started with another tactic.

Feigning hesitation, they said, "Since you can’t afford five thousand, then you’ll have to start from an employee position. How about this? Pay three thousand yuan first, and this will allow you to be a small department manager. This way, you’ll also get goods at a cheaper price and have priority."

"No way, three thousand is still too much. I really don’t have that much money." Gu Zhi was an old hand at bargaining.

When it came to bargaining, I even impressed myself.

"Fine, two thousand, two thousand yuan. I’m giving you this discount because I see you really want to make money. For two thousand yuan, you can become a department manager. This treatment is not offered to just anyone. If you go any lower, then you really have no future. As the saying goes, ’You can’t catch a wolf if you’re afraid to sacrifice your child.’" The other party continued to lower the price.

Gu Zhi didn’t continue to bargain this time.

He furrowed his brows in thought, recalling that his older brother probably also paid two thousand yuan.

Because that was all the money he had.

The family’s savings were at most three to four thousand yuan.

After all, Liu Lizhen didn’t work, and the daily expenses for the two of them depended on his modest salary.

Gu Zhi pretended to be heartbroken and helpless, "Fine, two thousand it is."

"And hey, you need to give me your card number. I’ll start recruiting people today. How many people do I need to recruit to go to the head office?"

Gu Zhi was desperate to know where their pyramid scheme’s critical points were, so he could bring the police and take them down in one fell swoop!

Upon hearing this, the other party thought for a moment.

"You can do that once you become a manager."

To become a manager, you would have to recruit at least ten to twenty people.

Once you get on this boat, it’s hard to get off.

And from that point on, even if you know it’s a scam, you have to keep up appearances!

Otherwise, you’d be stuck with a massive debt!

That’s their trick.

Money can beat a person’s moral bottom line.

So can a high amount of debt.

They rely on this fact to swindle people without any scruples.

"How many people do I need to recruit to become the general manager?" Gu Zhi cut to the chase.

"It depends on how much profit you generate for the company. But seeing as you sincerely want to join us, I can make an exception and lower the profit threshold for you. Normally it’s ten thousand, but you only need to create five thousand yuan of profit for the company to report to the head office." The other party’s Mandarin wasn’t standard, but his attitude was sincerely earnest.

Gu Zhi said okay repeatedly, but in his heart, he cursed, "It’s all damn tricks."

He found the shoeshine company.

Gu Zhi went to the bank, first transferred two thousand yuan to the other party.

He then withdrew twenty thousand yuan to keep on him, since he, Ji Pianran, and Tiantian staying here another day meant more expenses.

He wanted his wife and child to have a good time.

Just going to the police station took Gu Zhi two hours, and the bank took nearly half an hour.

He took out his phone to check the time, and it was already five o’clock in the afternoon.

Gu Zhi planned to take his wife and child out for a seafood dinner that evening.

Then they would go shopping at the mall and buy some proper clothes.

After all, summer was coming, and it was getting hot. Sweating was inevitable, so they needed plenty of clothes to change into!

Thinking this, he got back into a taxi and headed towards the hotel.

Ji Pianran was giving Tiantian a bath in the hotel at that moment.

Bathing in the village was inconvenient, but the hotel had hot water and a shower, as well as a disinfected bathtub, so it was safe to use.

The little one was enjoying himself in the water, splashing around playfully, drenching Ji Pianran with water.

Her hair, which was dry just before, was now wet, and the thin beige T-shirt she wore was soaked through, revealing the black bra underneath.

Hearing the doorbell ring, she hurried out to open the door.