So before we get into the Hitman merry go round, have you ever heard of great business initiative. A great quote is this:
“I just told my son I would pay him $10 to clean the car and he said to me if I can find a kid to do it for $5 will you still give me 10 should I be worried or pleased?”
Is this taking initiative or scheming!?
Some children at school often bring in drinks to sell at lunch time and earned decent money from it! There are loads of good stories about initiative, Richard Branson is a businessman who has won again and again. The following story doesn’t go as well as a Branson deal, though the story is packed full of business initiative. Where 5 people actually ended up in jail for attempted murder!
Beginning
So, as all of these types of stores begin, it starts with a bit of business.
In the summer 2012, Chinese businessman and investor Tan Youhui had completed a business transaction with a gentleman called Wei Maow. Tan had given Wei lots of money to invest in the development of two companies. One in Guang Chi and the other in Naaan-Ning.
You ever had buyers remorse?
Buyers remorse is by definition this:
Buyer’s remorse is the sense of regret after having made a purchase. It is frequently associated with the purchase of an expensive item such as a vehicle or real estate.
Buyer’s remorse is thought to stem from cognitive dissonance, specifically post-decision dissonance, that arises when a person must make a difficult decision, such as a heavily invested purchase between two appealing alternatives. Factors that affect buyer’s remorse may include: resources invested, the involvement of the purchaser, whether the purchase is compatible with the purchaser’s goals, feelings encountered post-purchase that include regret.
Well Tan had some buyers remorse which I guess he just put down to it being a lot of money. However, Tan should have trusted his gut. As in 2013, Tan discovered that Wei was going to rip him off. By suing him and his company over a dispute between the two development companies that Tan had invested in.
We don’t particularly understand business. Nor do we understand how two companies that you invest in can have a dispute. However, if I were to give you £100 and then you crash into my house. Two totally different situations, so I can sue you for something else. In this situation it would be the crashing into my house. It’s pretty much a guarantee that you won’t be getting the £100 back.
Not getting your investment back.
So Tan realised he was not getting any of his investment back. So, it was a lot more than £100 in this situation.
For Tan it must have felt like court was the only option and that he was going to lose out. It is here where the term “taking the initiative” comes into play. Unless you want to count the initiative of Wei ripping off Tan as the first. This is where we hear initiative kick in for the SECOND time in this story…..
(In our story here and totally not what Wei actually thought, we’re just dramatising it) Wei’s thoughts:
“There is no way I will get my money back in court….I could call him and ask him nicely to stop…perhaps some golf…followed by a slap up meal…some drinks, all on me and then ask to call a truce…..or……….I could just hire a hitman…..
Contract killer.
Tan decided He’d hire a contract killer to murder Wei. With Wei gone all of this stress and of course the court case would be gone too. How do you think you hire a hitman nowadays?
Tan found a guy called Xi Guangan. This this is where I get the first indication that the money behind this investment was a significant amount. As Tan offered Xi Guangan, 2 million Chineese Wan. This is just under a quarter of a million pounds. To get rid of Wei once and for all…to make him disappear.
Tan also gave him the Wei’s address license plate number and phone number and I presume some pics in a white burner phone. Why a white phone, that is not inconspicuous at all! Why not give it to him in on the latest iPhone with exta clear camera?
The instructions were simple. Do the hit and then take a pic Wei once he had been zapped. You get the idea. Send the pic of the now dead Wei to Tan from the white inconspicuous burner phone…
Xi Guangan the assassin was also a businessman. He must have clocked how much Tan wanted this done and allegedly said
“Yeah I will do it but I want a bonus 150,000 Wan when I am done….”
3rd Business Initiative
Tan must have agreed and the contract was in place. Now for the third slice of business initiative. This time it came from Xi Guangan.
We recon it went like this, he was cleaning his assassin kit and started thinking, he has a couple mill and a bonus to play with. So instead of strapping up the top of the line, laser guided sniper rifle with gps tracking and multi spectrum night vision googles or whatever assassins high end assassins use now a days. He decided to subcontract another killer.
Conflicting info?
Now this is where there is conflicting information on amounts. As some sources say it’s more some say it’s less but what matters most it the actions of the following people. So we are going to simplify this…
Xi Guangan put his assassins kit away and bossed up! He decided to hire another assassin to get the job done for him
Xi Guangan hired Mo Tianxiang and offered him 1 million wan and a white phone with all the details of the target that he could keep after he got the the job done.
So Mo got out his slightly less fancy sniper rifle for long range and blow darts in case he needed to get close and personal and got ready to do the job and earn a cool 1 million wan and I kid you not this is what happened. Mo Tian decided to hire another assassin to do it for him.
4th Business initiative
Yes the fourth slice of business initiative was where Mo hired, Yang Kangsheng and offered him half a million to get the job done and a cool white phone with all the details of the target that he could keep afterwards.
So Yang Kangsheng took out his slightly less expensive but effective garot, assassin swords, doned his all black assassin attire and was about to get busy with finding this Wei dude…..when he had thought. Yang Kangsheng decides to hire another assassin!
Time for the fifth but of business initiative!
Yang Guangsheng was next in this line of subcontractees….he again was offered half the fee the assassin that was contacting him was getting 250k and cool white phone with all the details of the target that he could keep afterwards.
Hitman & a 6th bit of business initiative!
So Yang Guangsheng got out his murder kit. Chloroform, a cloth and a heavy rock to so the job and when he has a thought.
Maybe Yang Guangsheng didn’t even take out his murder kit because it was pro. He just booted up his playstation whilst sending out a group message on WhatsApp seeing who is up for making a quick bit of dough….
Ling Xiansi was brought in….at this point I think he may have been offered a lot less than half. As what he did next was very savvy.
Hitman & a 7th bit of business initiative.
When he got given that cool cell phone with Wei’s details he got out his murder kit. Which was just his two fists then he had a thought unclenched them and he decided to pick up the phone. Call Wei Himself and tell him to meet him for a chat not so that he could kill him. But so he could help Wei live!
The chain
But Ling Xiansi was no fool he wanted paying…so he proposed this. Wei pretends to be killed they take a fake photo and ling would send it up the chain…little did he know how long the chain was!.
So Ling tied up Wei and took the killer pic
Ling took the photo and sent it to Yang 2
Yang 2 sent the photo to Yang 1
Yang 1 sent the image to Mo
Mo sent the image to she
Xi text it to Tan
I hope they weren’t forwarding the image on WhatsApp or you may see the ‘forwarded many times’ text above the image by the time it got to Tan! Tan would be like whaaat? Lol
So when Tan got the message he was chuffed! Then this police roll up and arrest him on suspicion of intent to kill.
Trial
Yep after all of this initiative upon initiative. Subcontractor (hitman) after subcontractor (hitman) heavy hit after heavy hit. Wei went to the police and told them someone was trying to kill him.
The hitman trial lasted three years. Tan got 5 years for “intentional homicide”. Xi, Mo, Yang 1 and Yang 2 got 4 years
Ling the whistle blower got 2 because well he was an assassin for hire and did accept a contract to kill someone before the photo idea. So he’s still a hitman.
If you want to hear the guys chatting about this, sign up to our Patreon by clicking here and get bonus and ad free episodes each week!
(BBC / Metro)
