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I will tell you my bizarre experience, the true story of my time at the hands of the big boss!
In 2002, I resigned from my job as vice president of a listed company in Ji'an, Jiangxi. As a young and successful man, I always wanted to make great achievements. However, I realized that I was just a person with no background, no connections, and no funds. After several rounds of introductions, I met a retired major general in Beijing.
At first I thought it was a scam on TV, but after checking several times I found it was true, and then I became his disciple. I thought I had finally reached the ceiling in China and the story had just begun.
At first they were also a bit distant from me and asked me if I was willing to join them. If I was willing, I might have to give up a lot. I had forgotten everything at that time and I agreed. I entered Beijing Shunyi, a school that was converted from a prison, the International Defense and Security Academy, where I underwent fully closed management training. Cell phones were confiscated and I underwent military training including security defense, assassination, fighting, and shooting. My driving skills and physical fitness were greatly improved there.
I also often met mercenaries returning from all over the world. Among them, the Iraqi mercenary Bai Xiaobao taught me fitness. My world view suffered a great impact. Because they had cooperation with the Blackstone Group, I once thought that I would also go down this path.
One day six months later, the prison gate opened. I had lost contact with society for six months, and then I gradually integrated into their organization and performed some simple tasks. Three months later, I finally saw the big boss again, but we all called him Boss.
I drove from Beijing to Shenzhen in three business cars, and began my magical experience in a villa in Nanshan District.
We rushed to the villa next to the TCL Park in Nanshan District. At the intersection were some military compounds of Shenzhen stationed in Hong Kong.
There are three people in our class who are responsible for their daily life. We also have to deal with some problems in special situations. In addition to being responsible for their daily life, we also have to take care of everyone's daily meals. It was during this time that I developed my cooking skills. Basically, I can cook all kinds of dishes from all over the world because I often have to entertain guests.
The eating and drinking interactions alone were enough to surprise me. The boss doesn't drink, but many people give him Feitian Moutai as a gift, with the minimum gift being dozens of pieces, including 30-year-old and 70-year-old Moutai. What opened my eyes was that Moutai also has gold coins, gold cups, and gold keys. When I checked the price on my phone at night, one bottle was nearly 700,000 yuan. I had only been to the underground second floor of the villa when I first arrived to clean it and move antiques. At a glance, it was full of antique calligraphy and paintings, and I never went down there again.
However, the nine of us guards could only live in the storage room on the top floor of the villa, but it was much easier and freer than when we were in the academy. Sometimes we could go out to eat whatever we wanted. The physical training was only 3 kilometers once in the morning and once in the evening.
I welcomed the New Year during just a few months in Shenzhen. My daily work was mostly about arranging daily life, being a driver, and doing security when I went out. In just a few months, I met too many high-ranking officials and big businessmen.
It was also during this time that I began to shine. Because I had good cooking skills, I was the one who cooked for guests most of the time. I would also guess the preferences of the guests and the host, and gradually gained some trust, and was also responsible for some more secretive work.
It turns out that these big guys also have big guys' problems, it's just that I ask you for help and you ask me for help. Some of them want to be promoted in the army, some are caught smuggling and want to smooth over relationships, some want to take over army projects, some want to pave the way for their sons, and there are too many of them.
When I was in a hotel in Guangzhou, I met a high-ranking military officer who has now been dismissed. He was very nervous about being investigated at the time and was trying to find connections everywhere to escape. However, our boss was also well-connected. It turned out that he was just a checkpoint and there were more important people above him.
It was also at this time that our group of people were separated and sent to several places to be responsible for our respective work lines. There were three places to choose from: Russia, Myanmar, and Nanjing. I wanted to go to Russia at first because I could see a bigger world, but it was also really dangerous. When we returned to Beijing, we were arranged to have an interrogation. It was this interrogation that determined my life for the next two years.
We were still in the college in Shunyi, Beijing that day. During training, we were told that the boss was coming, so we dressed neatly and lined up at the college gate to welcome him.
Then we had conversations in order. At the beginning, they would ask how we were doing, whether we had any ideas, where we wanted to go, and after a while of chatting, we would move on to the next person. At that time, I was determined to make a name for myself in the world, so during the conversation I said that I wanted to go to Russia, where not only could I go abroad but I would also be arranged to study at a university. Although it was far and harder, it would always be possible to change my world. However, the result was not as I wished.
The subsequent arrangement was that I went to Nanjing Liuhe District. A local enterprise under the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission was developing a project in Nanjing Liuhe District, and I naturally went there to take up the position. It can be found that the project has now been abandoned. It is a hot spring resort in Liuhe District.
It was the spring and summer of 23 years ago, and the real estate industry was already in a cold winter. The boss took over and injected 300 million yuan to see if the project could be saved. There were too many things involved, and several parties were competing for national assets. No one cared whether the project could survive.
It was also at this time that I became obsessed and did things beyond my ability. After entering the project, everyone was very happy because we had money. However, I could feel that a large amount of funds were being wasted just in the area I was responsible for. This was one of the problems that broke out later.
Because I had been in charge of various business operations at Alibaba before, and there were no restaurants in the resort at that time, my boss asked me to be responsible for opening a farm stay. One reason was to solve the problem of reception and meals, and the other was that the construction site was really boring and needed some fun, so the involvement began.
At that time, I formed a joint venture with a company under my boss to contract some scattered businesses in the resort, including farm stays, fishing parks, supermarkets, open-air bars, etc. The idea was great at the time, but the ending was tragic.
In other words, with all my good wishes, I went bankrupt in just one year.
The shadow of the unfinished project hangs over the entire Liuhe Hot Spring Resort. The once grand blueprint is now only a pile of steel and concrete and an empty space that no one cares about. I stood at the door of the farmhouse, looking at the mess on the construction site in the distance, and the feeling in my heart is indescribable.
A year ago, I came here with great anticipation, thinking that I could make a name for myself with the help of my boss's resources and my own abilities. However, I did not expect that this piece of land would become my Waterloo.
Farmhouses, fishing parks, supermarkets, open-air bars - these seemingly simple businesses, because of the layers of interest entanglements and my naive judgment, turned into bottomless pits that swallowed up all my savings.
The partners of the joint venture smiled at me on the surface, but tampered with the accounts behind my back. The management of the resort was wary of my status as an "outsider". The workers on the construction site often made trouble because of unpaid wages, and I was caught in the middle and became the target of public criticism.
What’s worse is that the 300 million yuan investment from the boss did not save the project as expected. The funds were divided up like water by various relatives and middlemen, and very little was actually used for the project.
I began to suspect that the boss asked me to come to Nanjing not to let me achieve success, but to use me as a pawn to balance the interests of all parties.
In the hot spring resort project in Liuhe District, Nanjing, my life seemed to be fast-forwarded. On the surface, I was a member of the boss's team, responsible for the operation of the farmhouse, fishing park, supermarket and other businesses in the resort. It seemed to be a glorious life, but in fact, there were undercurrents.
Behind the project is a complex chess game involving multiple forces: Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, local officials, real estate developers, and even some hidden "brokers", everyone is playing for their own interests.
And I, a young man who was once full of vigor and vitality, am now gradually lost in these games.
Things started to go downhill in the fall of 1923. One night, I received an anonymous phone call, and the caller warned me in a low voice: "Don't check the accounts anymore. There are some things you can't touch."
I was stunned. I had indeed been checking the accounts of the farm stay and the supermarket recently, and found that a lot of funds were flowing to unknown destinations. My partner always used "public relations expenses" to make excuses to me.
I wanted to report it to my boss, but the phone call made me realize that there might be a bigger network of interests involved than I thought. At the same time, workers in the resort area began to stop work on a large scale, and hundreds of people blocked the entrance of the project department, demanding that their overdue wages be paid. The management put the blame on me, saying that the "supporting facilities" I was responsible for had insufficient income, which led to a broken capital chain. I tried to explain, but no one listened to me.
The workers were getting more and more agitated, and some even smashed the windows of the farmhouse. I stood in front of the crowd and tried to appease them, but an angry worker pointed at my nose and cursed: "You outsider, you are squandering our hard-earned money!"
At that moment, I felt more isolated than ever. I used to cook for high-ranking officials and businessmen in a villa in Shenzhen, but now I was surrounded by a group of angry workers, and no one stood up to speak for me.
At the beginning of the hot spring resort project, the 300 million yuan investment made everyone jealous. On the surface, the money was used to "revive" the project, but in fact, most of the funds were quickly divided up. The construction party falsely reported the project volume, suppliers provided inferior materials, and the management team pocketed the money. Even the farmhouse and fishing park projects that I was responsible for were required to "cooperate" with the accounting operations of certain affiliated companies.
I tried to maintain a bottom line, but soon discovered that refusing to participate meant being marginalized, while participating would only get me deeper into the trap.
At the same time, I had a direct conflict with one of the boss's close associates, a deputy named Xu Feng. Xu Feng was the boss's "old brother", in his 40s, shrewd and strong, and was responsible for the financial approval of the project.
He looked down on me as an "outsider" and thought I was just a small role promoted by the boss on a whim. He publicly questioned my operation plan in meetings many times and even hinted that my farmhouse project was "taking kickbacks". I tried to explain that the loss of the farmhouse was due to excessive initial investment and insufficient customer flow, but he didn't listen at all. Instead, he asked me to outsource part of the business to his "connected customers".
One time, I found an unusual expense in the accounts of the farmhouse: a sum of 500,000 yuan marked as "equipment maintenance" actually went to a shell company. I traced it and unexpectedly found that the company was related to Xu Feng's relatives.
I reported the matter privately to my boss, hoping to get support, but I didn't expect his reaction to be so cold: "Xiao Li, don't worry about some things, just do your own thing." This sentence made me feel cold, and I began to realize that even the boss might not completely trust me.
The resort project not only has many internal conflicts, but also faces external resistance.
The hot spring resort in Liuhe District was originally a key project for the local government to attract investment, but with the arrival of the real estate winter, the attitude of local officials began to be ambiguous. Some officials hoped to gain benefits from the project, while others were dissatisfied with the strong intervention of the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and secretly supported local developers to create trouble.
Once, not long after the opening of the farmhouse, a local catering company with the nature of a "local tyrant" approached me and claimed that I "robbed their business" and asked me to pay a "protection fee" or they would close my store. I rejected their request, but the next day, the food supplier of the farmhouse suddenly stopped supplying, citing "anonymous threats". I tried to smooth things over through the relationship of the boss, but found that there were actually high-level shadows behind these local tyrants. Xu Feng even sneered: "Xiao Li, aren't you very capable? How come you can't even handle such a small matter?"
Under attack from both inside and outside, my situation became increasingly difficult. The losses of businesses such as farmhouses and fishing parks were becoming increasingly serious, and the capital chain was almost broken. I tried to attract customers by optimizing operations, introducing new dishes, and holding events, but the effect was minimal.
To make matters worse, I discovered that there were unequal clauses hidden in the joint venture contract I had signed with my boss's subsidiary: if the project lost money, I would personally bear most of the debt, while the other party would have almost no risk.
In the autumn of 2023, the project came to a complete standstill. The 300 million yuan of capital injection had long been squandered, and the main building of the resort's hot spring hotel became an unfinished building. Workers were asking for their wages, and suppliers were coming to collect debts. My farmhouse and fishing park also closed due to a broken capital chain, and the supermarket and open-air bar didn't even have a chance to open.
I was in debt of nearly 2 million yuan, my personal bank account was almost emptied, and I couldn't even pay the rent for the small apartment I rented. What made me even more devastated was that my boss suddenly "lost contact" at this time. I tried to contact him, but was told that he had gone overseas to "handle affairs."
Xu Feng took the opportunity to add insult to injury and spread rumors that I had "embezzled" the project funds, which led to the failure of the project. I tried to ask the head of the college for help, but I only got a cold response: "You caused the trouble yourself, so solve it yourself."
At the most desperate moment, I received an anonymous email. The email contained some evidence of Xu Feng's collusion with local officials, including accounting records, audio clips, and even scanned copies of several secret contracts. The sender did not sign his name, leaving only one sentence: "If you want to turn things around, use these well."
I hesitated for three whole days. Using this evidence would mean a complete break with Xu Feng and even the entire organization, which was a huge risk; but if I did nothing, I would not only be burdened with a huge debt, but I might also be kicked out completely, or even face more serious consequences. I began to investigate secretly, contacted several old comrades from the academy, and tried to piece together the truth.
At the same time, I also found an old friend in Nanjing, a journalist working in the media industry named Zhang Ran. He told me that the Liuhe District project involved a larger network of interests, Xu Feng was just one of them, and the real "big fish" might be someone at a higher level.
In the winter of 2023, I decided to go all out. I compiled the evidence and anonymously gave it to Zhang Ran, who exposed it in the media. At the same time, I contacted an old colleague from the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and hinted at the misappropriation of project funds. A few days later, news of Xu Feng's investigation came out, and several local officials were also taken away for questioning due to "economic problems." The hot spring resort project was completely suspended, but my debt problem was partially alleviated due to the recovery of funds.
However, this victory came at a high price. I completely lost the trust of the boss, and the organization began to treat me coldly. I knew that I could never return to that circle.
At the beginning of 2024, I quietly left Nanjing and returned to my hometown in Jiangxi. With fatigue and meager savings, I began to replan my life.
After returning to Ji'an, I opened a small restaurant. With the cooking skills I learned in Shenzhen, I managed to keep the business going. The past experience was like a dream, magical and dangerous. I occasionally think of the training ground in Shunyi, Beijing, the faces of those mercenaries, and the Maotai and antiques piled up in the boss's villa. But more often, I am glad that I can still stand in the sun and live an ordinary but down-to-earth life.
Reality tells me that the so-called ceiling is never within reach. Behind it are countless intertwined interests, betrayals and risks. In the end, I chose to be ordinary, but I also chose freedom.
It was late at night, and the last table of guests in the small restaurant left drunkenly. I was wiping the table, and my eyes fell on the old TV in the corner. The news was reporting on the unfinished project of Nanjing Liuhe Hot Spring Resort, and several officials were taken away for investigation, but the details were vague.
My heart tightened, I turned off the TV, locked the door, and returned to the small cubicle in the back kitchen. The USB drive I brought back from Nanjing was hidden in a secret compartment under the bed. It contained a copy of the resort's accounts and some conversations I secretly recorded in the Shenzhen villa.
I thought that by escaping back to my hometown in Jiangxi, I could get rid of that magical life, but the boss's shadow followed me everywhere.
Half a month ago, a text message came from an unknown number: "Don't think you can get away with hiding. The boss wants you to go back to Beijing." I didn't reply and changed my card, but I always felt that someone was watching me secretly. Yesterday, the owner of the tobacco and liquor store opposite the restaurant mentioned that a stranger in a suit had recently inquired about my background.
I lit a cigarette and thought back to the last few months in Nanjing Liuhe. At that time, I vaguely realized that the boss was not just a retired major general. His background was like a huge net that enveloped me and suffocated me.
Tonight, I decided to listen to the recording in the USB drive again. Maybe I could find some clues to figure out who the boss is and what he wants.
The farmhouse business in the resort area had just started to pick up, but I found something wrong with the accounts. My partner Xiao Wang kept hesitating and saying that the funds were transferred away by "the higher-ups". I checked the accounts privately and found that several large sums of money went to a shell company registered in Shenzhen, whose legal representative was a man named "Zhang Zhiguo".
I tried to ask Lao Li, but he just sighed: "Don't mess around, there are some people you can't afford to offend." That night, I was called to the temporary office of the project department. The boss came from Beijing and sat in the dim light with an unopened bottle of Feitian Moutai in front of him. He was wearing an inconspicuous gray jacket, but his eyes were as sharp as a knife.
I stood straight, like when I lined up at Shunyi College, with sweat on my forehead. "Xiao Zhou," the boss lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of white smoke, "you did a good job, but you were too smart." He paused, and his tone was frighteningly calm, "The higher-ups are paying close attention to the resort. I appreciate your enthusiasm for checking the accounts, but don't overdo it." I lowered my head and didn't dare to answer.
The only smell in the air was the burning smell of tobacco and the ticking of the wall clock. The boss suddenly laughed and patted my shoulder: "Do you know why I brought you into this business? Because you have no background and are clean. People like you are the most useful, but also the most dangerous."
He didn't say much that day, but left a message before leaving: "Remember, there are some doors in this world that once opened, they can't be closed." I stood there in a daze until his car disappeared into the night.
A few days later, Lao Li secretly handed me a yellowed copy of a military file from 20 years ago, about an officer named "Zhang Zhiguo". The file mentioned that Zhang Zhiguo served as the deputy director of the logistics department of a certain military region in the 1990s, responsible for equipment procurement and military land development, and won second-class merit, but retired in 2003 for "personal reasons".
Zhang Zhiguo in the photo is young and handsome, with a similar look to the boss. Old Li lowered his voice and said, "This man is your boss. He was a legend in the army. I heard that he managed several big projects, including the training base of the military region and the logistics line at the border. Unfortunately, he was too popular and made too many enemies. Someone reported him for embezzling military funds and he almost got arrested."
My heart was beating faster. The “personal reasons” mentioned in the file were vague, but I could smell corruption between the lines.
He retired in 2003, just when the military was undergoing a large-scale commercial cleanup. Military bigwigs like Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong were later found to have used logistics and procurement to make money.
The eldest brother was obviously smarter, and he withdrew early, taking his connections and wealth with him and going underground. Old Li warned me: "Stop digging. Zhang Zhiguo is now a big tree with deep roots. If you touch him, you will die."
I agreed verbally, but in my heart I was determined to find out the boss's background.
In the fall of 2005, I received a call from the boss, asking me to return to Beijing to "explain the problem." I didn't go, but sent a copy of the USB drive to a journalist friend in Nanjing, asking him to expose the information anonymously. A few days later, the scandal of the resort's unfinished project became a hot topic, and several managers were taken away by the Commission for Discipline Inspection, but the boss's name did not appear once. I knew that this was just stirring up a hornet's nest, and the real storm was still to come.
Sure enough, a month later, I welcomed an unexpected guest to my restaurant in Jiangxi. It was raining heavily that day, and a middle-aged man in a black windbreaker pushed the door open, ordered a bowl of noodles, and ate it slowly.
I recognized him as Lao Chen, the instructor at Shunyi College, who had taught me martial arts. After he finished eating, he wiped his mouth and handed me a plane ticket: "The boss asked you to go to Beijing, don't force me to fight." I didn't take the ticket, staring at him and asked: "Who is the boss? Zhang Zhiguo, or someone else?" Lao Chen sneered: "You know enough, smart people should learn to keep their mouths shut." I was escorted into a car and taken to Beijing Shunyi College.
The academy still looked deserted, but the atmosphere behind the iron gate was even more severe. The boss stood in the middle of the training ground, with several unfamiliar faces standing beside him, including businessmen in suits and ties and security guards with sinister eyes.
I was taken to a basement with four concrete walls and no windows. The boss didn't waste any words and got straight to the point: "The materials you sent almost ruined everything." He picked up a stack of photos from the table and threw them in front of me. The photos were surveillance screenshots of me checking accounts in Nanjing, and a few of them were footage of me secretly recording audio in my villa in Shenzhen.
My heart sank. He had been staring at me. "You want to know who I am?" The boss lit a cigarette and said calmly, "Okay, I'll tell you. In the 1990s, I was in charge of logistics in the army and built a military industrial line along half of the border. The superiors praised me for my ability and the subordinates respected me. Unfortunately, this world doesn't allow good people to survive. Some people wanted to use me as a target, so I had to retire. After retiring, I didn't stay idle. I set up a stage for everyone to continue to perform."
He paused, his eyes sharp as a knife: "Do you think the money from the resort is what I want? It's just a dumpling. Only when the people above are full can there be a way below. You broke the rules, and it's not me who is implicated, but the entire chain."
From the boss's words, I pieced together his full picture. His name is Zhang Peng, alias Zhang Zhiguo. He joined the army in the 1970s and made his mark in the military region's logistics department in the 1990s. Relying on his strong business capabilities and "connections", he won multiple military contracts and accumulated his first pot of gold.
But in the early 2000s, the military's anti-corruption campaign intensified, and he was reported for embezzling military funds and nearly went to jail. At the critical moment, he "landed safely" through high-level connections, and after retiring, he turned to the business world and established a security company called "Hua'an International", which ostensibly provided high-end security services, but in fact provided cover for his power transactions.
After retiring, he still maintained contact with senior military officials, trained relatives of active military personnel through the "International Defense and Security Academy", and acted as a matchmaker for military projects. Through cooperation with the Blackstone Group, he participated in energy projects in the Middle East or Africa through Huaan International's overseas shell companies to clean up domestic gray assets.
The boss's villa in Shenzhen is his "trading center", where he cooperates with local state-owned enterprises (such as the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission) and technology giants (such as TCL's affiliated companies) to layout real estate and infrastructure. His Moutai, antiques and calligraphy and paintings are the "lubricants" of the political and business circles, reflecting his close relationship with senior officials and businessmen.
The boss's "organization" is not limited to the domestic market, but also participates in the international security market through mercenary training (the Iraqi mercenary Bai Xiaobao I met), involving the protection of projects along the "Belt and Road". His Shunyi College is not only a training base, but also supplies talents for overseas missions.
The boss is not just a cold-blooded broker. He said, "Someone wants to use me as a target." He was wronged when he retired. Perhaps he had a high opinion of himself because of his military achievements, but was sacrificed in the power struggle.
This made him both loyal and wary of the system, and determined to build his own empire. His admiration for me may be because I let him see his younger self, but my betrayal also made him feel threatened.
The boss put out his cigarette and said in a cold tone: "You have two choices. One is to follow me to Russia and help me keep an eye on the business there. The other is that you know the consequences."
I stared at him, and my mind flashed through the luxury of the villa in Shenzhen, the anger of the construction site in Nanjing, and my mother's gray hair in the restaurant in my hometown. I asked, "Is the business in Russia related to money laundering? Or something else?" The boss narrowed his eyes and smiled, "You really shouldn't ask this."
He waved his hand, and Lao Chen stepped forward and showed me a document. The people above had approved several large projects involving energy and military industries on the Sino-Russian border. If you don't cooperate, you won't even be able to keep your small restaurant. "
At that moment, I understood that the boss was not alone. The network behind him was so deep that he was just a link in it.
I thought of the recording in the USB drive, which contained a conversation between him and a senior official in his villa in Shenzhen, mentioning "goods on the border" and "friends in the north." If I handed it over to the police, I might be able to bring him down, but I might also ruin myself and my family.
I pretended to agree to buy time to get away. That night, I took advantage of the guard change, stole Lao Chen's car, escaped from the college, and rushed to Nanjing overnight to find the journalist friend. I gave him the USB drive and told him to vote anonymously for the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. At the same time, I bought a train ticket to the south and prepared to disappear completely.
In the winter of 24, the news reported a transnational money laundering case involving energy transactions on the Sino-Russian border. Several senior officials were arrested, but the boss's name still did not appear. I hid in a small town on the Yunnan border and opened a nameless shop, always on guard against someone coming to my door.
Occasionally, I would receive anonymous text messages with only four words: "The boss is watching you."
The boss’s background made me realize that he is not only a retired major general, but also a microcosm of an era - in the cracks between power, wealth and risk, he built an invisible empire, but also made himself a pawn on the chessboard.
His military career gave him resources and ambition, but also left him with a shadow that could not be washed away. My choice broke through his web, but it also made me live in the shadow forever.
The morning in the small town was shrouded in fog. I stood at the door of an unknown shop, holding a bowl of rice noodles and looking around the street corner. Half a month ago, I gave a USB flash drive to a journalist friend in Nanjing. It contained a recording of the boss in his villa in Shenzhen, mentioning "friends in the north" and "goods on the border." After the news broke about the money laundering case on the China-Russia border, I thought the boss would be implicated, but his name never appeared.
I know he is too cunning and has long hidden himself in the fog. Yesterday, a customer with a foreign accent came to the store, ordered a cup of coffee, and left a note before leaving: "Zhang Peng told you not to run around."
The handwriting on the note was crooked, as if it was written on the spur of the moment. I burned the note, packed my bag, and prepared to hide somewhere else. The USB backup was still with me, it was my only talisman, but also the biggest danger.
I heard bits and pieces about the boss's international connections when I was at Shunyi College and the Shenzhen villa. Iraqi mercenary Bai Xiaobao once mentioned "Middle East orders", and in the living room of the Shenzhen villa, English-speaking men in suits occasionally appeared and talked about "overseas accounts" and "energy projects".
I always thought these were the boss's business tricks until the accounts of the Nanjing project made me realize that he might be playing a bigger game - a cross-border transaction of power and money.
It was a sultry night. The reception room on the basement floor of the villa was brightly lit. I pushed the door open and walked in, holding a bowl of freshly made Sichuan-style boiled fish.
The boss sat in the main seat, next to a blond foreigner wearing a well-cut suit, with a black briefcase next to him. On the table were several bottles of Feitian Moutai and a pile of documents with "Blackstone Energy Partners" written on the cover.
I lowered my head to arrange the dishes, but my ears were perked up. "Mr. Zhang," the blond man said in fluent Chinese, "the oil field project in the Middle East needs your manpower, and the security must keep up. The funds are in place, and the account in Dubai can be used at any time."
The boss lit a cigarette and said calmly, "There's no problem with the people. The academy has just trained a group of people who can speak Russian and Arabic. But you have to make sure that the line in the north is not broken." The blond man smiled and lowered his voice, "Blackstone Group never fails. Moscow has already given the nod, and the goods will go through Vladivostok, which is very clean."
I left the room, my heart pounding. Vladivostok? Middle Eastern oil fields? These words exploded in my mind.
I thought of Bai Xiaobao from Shunyi College, who inadvertently revealed this to me when he was teaching me fitness: Okay, I understand.
The boss's international connections were far more complex than I had imagined. His status as a retired major general was just the starting point, and the real empire was the transnational network he built after retirement using his military connections and resources.
Shunyi College is not only a training base for domestic security personnel, but also provides elite personnel for overseas missions, involving sensitive projects in the Middle East, Africa and Russia.
His "Hua'an International" company is ostensibly a security service provider, but in reality it is a cover for international transactions. Its core businesses include:
In the Middle East security business, through cooperation with Blackstone Group, Lao Da provides armed escort for Middle East oil fields and infrastructure projects. Most of these projects are related to the "Belt and Road" initiative, involving energy development in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. Bai Xiaobao once revealed that he had escorted a transport convoy for oil and gas pipelines in Iraq, and the task was undertaken by Huaan International, with the shadow of Lao Da behind it.
The boss's network extends to the Russian Far East, involving energy trade and "gray transportation" of military materials. The "goods on the border" mentioned in the recording are electronic components or rare metals smuggled through the port of Vladivostok, bypassing Western sanctions and used in Sino-Russian military cooperation. These transactions are laundered through offshore companies, and the funds flow to accounts in Dubai or Singapore.
The mercenaries trained by Shunyi College not only serve domestic customers, but are also sent to Africa and the Middle East to participate in "special missions" in mineral resource protection or conflict areas. Most of these personnel are retired special forces, proficient in multiple languages, strictly disciplined, and loyal to their bosses.
The cooperation between the boss and Blackstone Group is to invest in real estate or energy projects overseas through Huaan International's shell companies to clean up the gray income in China. His villa is full of Maotai and antiques, some of which are "gifts" from overseas customers, such as Russian vodka and gold crafts from the Middle East.
The international connections of the boss are not all smooth sailing. In reality, the Belt and Road Initiative projects often face geopolitical risks, such as anti-money laundering investigations in Western countries and factional struggles within Russia. The boss's business needs to balance multiple forces, not only to please the top leaders at home, but also to deal with international supervision, and to guard against "backstabs" from Russia or Middle Eastern partners.
In the spring of 1925, I hid in a small town in Yunnan, but was found by Lao Chen and taken back to Beijing Shunyi University. I was tied up in the interrogation room in the basement. The boss sat opposite me, and two strangers stood behind me, one was a middle-aged man with a Russian accent, and the other was a Chinese in a suit with cold eyes.
The boss threw out a document with the logo of "Hua'an International" on the cover. Inside was a record of Sino-Russian border transactions involving a company registered in the Cayman Islands. "Do you think you're done by giving the USB drive to the reporter?" The boss sneered, "You moved the line in the north. The people over there are not as easy to talk to as I am." I was stunned.
The "friends in the north" mentioned in the recording turned out not to be senior domestic officials, but a Russian oligarch who controlled the transportation lines in Vladivostok. The documents show that Huaan International purchased banned chips for Russia through Blackstone Group's Dubai account, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The boss's role was that of a middleman, and he received a huge commission, but the transaction was noticed by Western intelligence agencies, and the US OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) has begun an investigation.
"You have two choices," the boss lit a cigarette and said calmly, "One is to go to Russia and help me stabilize the people there and prove your loyalty; the other is to stay. The little information the reporter has is enough to destroy your family." I swallowed my saliva, my mind was in a mess. Going to Russia is like jumping into another fire pit and may be involved in a more dangerous international game; staying, I know the boss's methods, and I am afraid that the small restaurant in Jiangxi will not be able to be saved.
What's worse is that the recording in the USB flash drive has set off a chain reaction. A journalist friend in Nanjing told me that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Public Security jointly investigated, and several resort executives gave out the name of the boss, but due to insufficient evidence, he is still at large.
Two days later, I was taken to a secret villa in the suburbs of Beijing. The boss was not there, but a new face came - a British man who called himself "James" and spoke fluent Chinese. He claimed to be a representative of the Blackstone Group, but in fact he was an informant of Western intelligence agencies.
He went straight to the point: "Zhang's business has crossed the red line. OFAC has found the flow of funds in the Dubai account, and the recording in your hand is the last piece of the puzzle we need." James handed me a Swiss bank card with 5 million US dollars in it, on the condition that I hand over the USB flash drive and appear in court as a witness to accuse the boss of the money laundering network.
I stared at the card, my heart beating faster. 5 million is enough to keep me well-fed for the rest of my life, but it also means completely betraying my boss, the "empire" that once made me in awe. I asked, "What if I refuse?" James sneered, "Do you think Zhang Peng can protect you? He himself is in trouble. Someone in Russia wants to use him as a bargaining chip in a deal with the West."
The image of the boss in his villa in Shenzhen flashed through my mind. He once said, "There are some doors in this world that cannot be closed once they are opened."
Now, I stand in front of that door, caught between a rock and a hard place. If I hand over the USB drive, I might be hunted down by the boss online; if I refuse, I might be targeted by Western forces or Russia's "friends." Not to mention the domestic anti-corruption investigation, which could make me a scapegoat at any time.
That night, I was locked in the basement of the villa, with Lao Chen and several mercenaries outside the door. I took advantage of the night and used the skills I learned from Shunyi College to pry open a ventilation window and escape.
I rushed to Kunming overnight, found an old classmate, borrowed his ID card and bought a flight ticket to Bangkok, Thailand. At the airport, I uploaded the backup of the USB drive to an encrypted cloud drive and set a timer to send it to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Interpol. If I did not cancel it within 72 hours, the file would be automatically made public.
In a cheap hotel in Bangkok, I received an anonymous email with a photo attached: my mother was followed by a stranger in front of a Jiangxi restaurant. My heart was broken, knowing that this was a warning from the boss. I called James and told him: "I will give you the USB drive, but I want a safe passage to a third country." James agreed, but on the condition that I must testify in an international court to accuse the boss of money laundering.
A few days later, I was secretly sent to New Zealand and lived in a shelter in a remote town. The recording in the USB flash drive became a breakthrough for Interpol and OFAC. Huaan International's Dubai account was frozen, and several overseas partners of the boss were arrested.
But the boss still disappeared like a ghost, leaving only one sentence through Lao Chen: "No matter how far you run, you can't escape from my hands."
In the summer of 2005, I opened a cafe in a small town in New Zealand, lived under an alias, and was always on guard for someone knocking on the door. In the news, Huaan International was closed down, and the boss's name finally appeared in the notice of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, but the accusation was limited to domestic corruption cases, and the part about international transactions was minimized.
I know that he may have transferred his assets through his connections in Russia or the Middle East and hidden them in some unknown corner.
The boss's international connections are a network spanning the Middle East, Russia and Western capital, and every thread is stained with blood and gold. His military background allows him to maneuver with ease, but it also makes him a target for many forces.
My revelations opened a hole, but were far from enough to destroy his empire. Every day I turned on my computer and checked the encrypted cloud drive to remind myself: the truth has a price, but the price of silence is even greater.
Every morning, I am busy in the kitchen, cutting vegetables, cooking, and making soup. The familiar smell of oil smoke makes me feel at ease. The restaurant is not big, but the business is stable. Neighbors like to come here to eat a bowl of hot noodles with mixed sauce and praise my good cooking skills.
Whenever I hear this, I smile knowingly and think of the days when I cooked for high-ranking officials and businessmen in their villas in Shenzhen.
At that time, I was thinking about making a name for myself; now, I just want to keep this little piece of my world.
Sometimes when it’s late at night and everyone is asleep, I’ll take out my phone and look at the photos from those years: the training ground of Shunyi College, the Moutai bottles in the Shenzhen villa, and the loess on the Nanjing project site.
I remembered the boss's unfathomable face, Bai Xiaobao's hearty laughter, and Xu Feng's sarcastic eyes. These memories are as sharp as knives, but they also make me cherish the peace now.
Reality has taught me that the ceiling is never a dream within reach, but a trap of countless desires and conspiracies. I chose to be ordinary, to be free, and to reconcile with my past self. Perhaps this is the true redemption.
over!
