Chapter 8 of 10

Chapter 8

16 min read4,085 words

It was already evening, the sun had set, and the moon had yet to rise, leaving only a sky full of stars. The bustling streets of the day had now fallen silent, with no pedestrians left. Only the gas lamps by the roadside emitted a dim yellow light.

In this era before the electrical revolution, nightlife was always quite monotonous. Wealthier families might light candles, gather around the table, chat, or have the dignified lady of the house read a passage from a book—sometimes the Bible, sometimes a novel.

For poorer families, there was basically only one thing to do in the evening: go to bed. The Scrooge family fell somewhere in between. They were not so well-off that they could light a large silver candelabra with many candles to illuminate the entire hall, nor were they so poor that they could not even afford a single oil lamp. So, after dark, they would light an oil lamp, and old Joseph would continue working by its light. In the past, Scrooge would use this light to read and do his homework, and his older brother would take the opportunity to read—sometimes the Bible (which almost every household had), sometimes novels borrowed from Peter, the son of Mr. Tal, a former classmate.

Mr. Tal was a long-time customer of the Scrooge family. He was a kind, large man whom Scrooge described as a good-tempered brown bear. His wife had passed away early, leaving him with two sons and a young daughter. Mr. Tal ran a small company dealing in cotton, not a tycoon but comfortably middle-class, with a good collection of books. His eldest son, Peter, was Carol's classmate, and they got along well, so Carol often borrowed books from their home.

Now, the youngest child in the family had already graduated, and in theory, there was no longer a need to light a lamp in the evening. However, the habit formed over the years was hard to break. So, every evening, the family activity became reading a passage from a novel, with Carol or Scrooge taking turns. Tonight, it was Carol's turn to read.

"At first, Marius thought it was another daughter of the same man, perhaps the elder sister of the one he had seen before. But when the usual walk brought him a second time to the bench, he noticed and recognized her as the same girl. In six months, the little girl had become a young woman, that was all. This phenomenon is very common. There are moments when girls seem to bloom suddenly, and in the blink of an eye, they become roses. Yesterday, they were ignored as children, but today, they are captivating..."

Scrooge was very familiar with this story. It was from "Les Misérables," the part where Marius meets Cosette. In his previous life, when he was in college, Scrooge had been a big fan of Victor Hugo's works and had once dreamed of meeting a fairy-like girl at the end of a secluded path in a park. But as he grew older, he realized that the world was not as Hugo depicted it. There were not so many kind and great people; most kind people were also very weak, as Balzac described in "The Human Comedy." So, Balzac became his favorite author. However, his older brother clearly loved Hugo.

Hearing Carol's recitation today, Scrooge suddenly thought of Annie, Mr. Tal's daughter, whom he and his brother had met when they went to borrow books from the Tals a few days ago. Annie was three years younger than Carol, just fifteen, and in the prime of her youth. You could see the glow of youth in her flaxen hair and large green eyes, like a rose that had suddenly bloomed. Scrooge had noticed that his brother's tongue had tied when speaking to her. Now, his brother was reading this passage, which suggested...

While Scrooge was irresponsibly speculating about his brother and Annie's relationship, there was a sudden knock at the door. It was already evening, and someone knocking at this hour was unusual.

Carol put down the book and said, "I'll go see." Then she called out, "Who is it?"

"It's me, I'm John Rockefeller. Is Scrooge at home?" John Rockefeller's voice came from outside.

"I'll be right there," Scrooge said as he stood up to open the door.

Scrooge opened the door and saw John standing there, looking as if he had walked a long way and was still slightly out of breath.

"Is there something, John?" Scrooge asked. Seeing that John was still catching his breath, he added, "Come in and talk."

John Rockefeller nodded and followed Scrooge inside. By this time, Carol had put away "Les Misérables," and everyone was looking at John Rockefeller, who had entered with Scrooge.

"John, did you find a job?" Joseph asked. Recently, John Rockefeller had often come to give Scrooge lessons, and Joseph and Carol had often listened in. So, the Scrooge family had become very familiar with John Rockefeller.

"Yes, Uncle Joseph, I found a job today!" John Rockefeller's joy was evident on his face.

"Ah, that's not easy. Congratulations! Which company?" Carol was also happy for him.

"Hewitt-Tuttle Company," John Rockefeller replied. Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, he explained, "It's a company that deals in minerals and agricultural products. It's not very large, but it's doing well now..."

"John, you have good judgment," Joseph said. "Carol, bring out the half bottle of brandy. I want to have a drink with John."

"Sure," Carol immediately got up to fetch the brandy and glasses.

"John, tell us about the terms of your job," Scrooge asked.

John Rockefeller sat down in a chair and said, "There's a three-month probationary period with no salary. Besides bookkeeping, I'll be responsible for collecting debts and possibly other tasks."

Scrooge, who was particularly attentive to the market rules of this era, now knew that a three-month probationary period with no salary was a common practice. "This is truly a golden age for capitalists," Scrooge thought to himself but said to Rockefeller, "Three months will pass quickly. As long as you perform well, you'll definitely get a formal contract. Then you'll have a steady income."

"Thank you for your encouragement, Scrooge!" John Rockefeller said. "And I especially want to thank you for your advice. Also, I have something to discuss with you today."

"What is it?" Scrooge asked.

"I carefully reviewed the company's accounts today and found that there are many outstanding debts. I asked my colleagues, and they told me that some of these debts are very small, and it doesn't seem right to go door-to-door for such small amounts. Others are from long-term customers, and it's not easy to offend them... I want to know what you think."

"I'd like to hear your thoughts first," Scrooge smiled and replied.

John Rockefeller thought for a moment and then said, "I believe that when the boss gave me this opportunity, he specifically mentioned that I would be responsible for collecting debts. Therefore, the boss is very eager to recover this money, even though each individual debt may seem small, but they add up. If I can collect them, the boss will be very happy. Many of these debts are owed by long-term customers, and the boss can't easily go after them himself—it would be bad for both parties. So, it would be much easier for someone with little experience, or even someone not officially part of the company, to go after these debts. If anything goes wrong, it won't really affect the business relationship. If a long-term customer gets really angry, the boss can always fire me to appease them. So, I think I must collect these debts, but I can't make too much of a fuss. I need to handle it with care."

Scrooge noticed that Rockefeller was initially hesitant but became more fluent as he spoke. Clearly, he was confident in his analysis. Moreover, Scrooge observed that Rockefeller had been thinking from the boss's perspective from the start!

"I agree with your thoughts, John. I think the key issue now is to determine the extent to which we can act," Scrooge said after some thought. "We need to consider different scenarios and corresponding strategies. Let's start with the worst-case scenario: the debtor has no intention of paying and will delay as long as possible. In other words, they are deliberately defaulting. How can we make them pay? We need to show them that we have the means to cause them more harm than they would gain by defaulting—note, we just need to show them this, not actually do it. Of course, if they don't cooperate, once we start, we must be ruthless. Such people, even if they are long-term customers, are not very important to the company because of their malicious intent. Getting rid of them would not be a bad thing for the boss."

"But what means do we have to cause them such harm? Through the courts? Scrooge, the courts are very inefficient, and a case can drag on for years," Rockefeller said.

"Don't worry about that. I have my ways," Scrooge smiled. As someone from a later era, he had not worked in a debt collection company, but he was quite familiar with the common tactics used in such industries.

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