Tash Aw - Five Star Billionaire

THE MEETING DID NOT LAST AS LONG AS YINGHUI HAD EXPECTED. The banker was Singaporean, a woman a couple of years younger than Yinghui who, it turned out, had been at university at the same time as she (they vaguely remembered each other from the Malaysian and Singaporean Students’ Association’s monthly meeting). She had moved back to Singapore after graduation and worked there for a few years for a local bank before being transferred to Shanghai recently — about a year ago.

“That’s a long time for Shanghai,” Yinghui remarked. “Some people don’t last more than a couple of months. How are you finding it?”

“Um, okay,” she replied. “Not bad. A bit stressful.” The corners of her mouth and eyes were pinched, sleep-deprived, despite the veneer of a professional smile and discreet makeup. Yinghui recognized a restlessness in the banker’s face, a mixture of excitement and apprehension that people exhibited when still new in Shanghai, in search of something, even though they could not articulate what that something was. Maybe it was money, or status, or — God forbid — even love, but whatever it was, Shanghai was not about to give it to them. The city held its promises just out of your reach, waiting to see how far you were willing to go to get what you wanted, how long you were prepared to wait. And until you determined the parameters of your pursuit, you would be on edge, for despite the restaurants and shops and art galleries and sense of unbridled potential, you would always feel that Shanghai was accelerating a couple of steps ahead of you, no matter how hard you worked or played. The crowds, the traffic, the impenetrable dialect, the muddy rains that carried the remnants of the Gobi Desert sandstorms and stained your clothes every March: The city was teasing you, testing your limits, using you. You arrived thinking you were going to use Shanghai to get what you wanted, and it would be some time before you realized that it was using you, that it had already moved on and you were playing catch-up.

“Don’t worry,” Yinghui said. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”

The banker had diligently gone through the file and met with her colleagues to double-check some details. Yinghui began to deliver parts of the speech she had rehearsed, but the banker nodded absently as she spoke, turning the pages of the file as if everything Yinghui said merely confirmed what they both already knew: that hers was a tightly run business with crystal-clear accounts and no sloppy gray areas.

“Could you explain a little more about the reasons for wanting a loan? We were all expecting an expansion of your existing business model, or something along similar lines, but the project you’ve detailed seems to be … quite different in flavor.” She leafed through the pages of the file that Walter had given Yinghui.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity,” Yinghui began, “a truly fascinating and groundbreaking project. Maybe even a first for China.” She proceeded to repeat the contents of the folder, describing the history of the impressive address right in the middle of the city, its potential, et cetera.

“Who are your business partners for this project?” the banker interrupted.

Yinghui stared at her — perhaps somewhat rudely, she thought, but she could not help herself. Of all the tricky questions she had expected to be asked, this was not one of them. “It’s all there, in that document you’re holding.” She had spent a good two weeks putting the loan papers together; the information contained within them was thorough and perfectly clear — she wondered if the banker was being deliberately obtuse.

The banker continued to look at her, awaiting a response.

“Well, as you can see,” Yinghui said, trying her best not to sound patronizing, “it is an idea developed by the entrepreneur Walter Chao. He’s … a friend of mine. There will be other parties, of course, but they will come on board later, once we have decided on how we are going to proceed with the venture.”

“We? Oh, so you have a personal relationship with this guy, then.”

“Walter Chao?” Yinghui raised her eyebrows slightly. She was beginning to get annoyed by the lack of diligence the banker was displaying. “Of course I do. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of him.”

“No, I haven’t,” the banker replied flatly, unapologetically. “Do you have evidence of his track record?”

Yinghui tried not to sigh. She needed a loan from these people, she reminded herself, and until the deal was done, she had to be as charming as possible. “I’ve included a sheet on him in the file. It’s right there, yes, that page there.”

“But this is a Wikipedia page. From the Internet.”

“I thought I’d just give you an introduction.”

The banker turned the pages of the file briskly but carefully, as if checking for something she might have missed. “Sorry, but we’re bankers; we like certainty. We normally like to see official company reports, annual accounts, that sort of thing. We can’t base our opinion on anyone based on Google searches. The Internet is, well, not very reliable.”

Yinghui continued to smile. “Of course. Reputation goes beyond the Internet.” She hoped she did not come across as being too superior or condescending.

“But that’s the thing: None of my colleagues has ever come across Walter Chao personally. We are very experienced in the region, but we have no record of having dealt with this guy. We keep extensive files and are very thorough in our research.”

Yinghui began to doubt whether she wanted a loan from these people. The banker suddenly seemed studious but amateurish, narrow-minded, and unimaginative. Yes, she remembered this girl from university now: a dull, bespectacled girl who had nothing of any note to say, who confined herself to her room, where she read the books required for her studies (economics? management?) and nothing else. “Maybe he’s not yet well known in China,” Yinghui said.

The banker closed the file. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. We were just wondering about his track record when considering the totality of the deal. Your loan application is based on your existing business, not on future projects, so for us, it was only a question of whether we believed in you as an entrepreneur and what you have achieved thus far.”

The totality of the deal, Yinghui thought. What kind of human being spoke like that? She waited for the banker to continue; she didn’t think she could keep smiling for much longer.

“Ms. Leong, I have to say, I’m full of admiration for what you have accomplished since coming to China. For a sole proprietor to have built up a business as you have is really impressive. And, let’s face it, things are still tough for women. Even in a bank like this … Let’s just say I know how hard it must have been for you. You have an excellent reputation, and that must have taken a lot of sacrifice.”

Yinghui did not say anything; she found that she was holding her breath — actually holding her breath — while she waited for the banker to say what she was hoping to hear.

“The loan you are seeking is a considerable amount, but as you seem comfortable proceeding on the basis of a loan secured on the value of your business assets — and since we have the utmost confidence in your business — we are happy to grant you the loan on these terms.”

Yinghui nodded. “Great. Thank you.”

“I have a lot of respect for what you’ve done. And for you personally. Really.”

“Thank you.”

“I am sure you’ll make a success of your new venture. However …” The banker paused. “You are aware that there are a lot of crooks in China these days trying to make a fast buck.”