The hot pot restaurant owner had heard from his friends that the catering business abroad was easy to run, without the fierce competition in the homeland, and that everyone was making money. That was why he had left his hometown to make a living in Europe, hoping to earn enough money to give his wife, children, and parents back in Chongqing, Huaxia Country a good life.
With the help of some friends, the hot pot restaurant successfully opened on the banks of the Seine River, paying off the local protection rackets as well. The monthly fees back then were only a few hundred Euros, and the owner was happy to pay—after all, money could avert disaster!
For the first few months, the owner did indeed make money, sending the bulk of it back home. But good times never last. Just as he was preparing to look to the future and expand his ambitions, reality dealt him a ruthless slap in the face. The subprime mortgage crisis erupted, triggering a massive economic crisis that swept through Western capitalist countries. Currencies depreciated rapidly, prices remained high, and local gang organizations, unable to withstand the impact of the economic crisis, saw their revenues evaporate quickly. To pass on the burden of the economic crisis, they more than quadrupled the protection fees collected from merchants within a single month.
Chapter 212