Chapter 144: That's called internal and external troubles (Part 2)

'Mr. Zhou Ming, in the past two days, due to the influx of hot money from Western countries, the stock prices of all our companies have risen by an average of 300%, which is beyond our ability to bear. If this situation continues, whether they want to directly take control of our company or simply wait until a certain time to sell the stocks to make money, there is nothing we can do. And this is just the beginning. Are you really just going to watch and do nothing to help us?'

In the conference room of Hotel Number One, Boltarsky was loudly questioning Zhou Ming. Today was the third day after the North Russian stock market had skyrocketed. Irbedov, Boltarsky, and other wealthy North Russians had all come to Hotel Number One and found Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming went to the securities company yesterday and was well prepared after understanding the situation. Today, seeing their large group of people coming over, Zhou Ming directly took them to the meeting room he had booked earlier and let them speak freely, so there were all these complaints.

Facing Poltarsky's questioning, Li Cheng helped Zhou Ming explain, 'Mr. Poltarsky, please don't get so worked up. Today is only the second day of the incident. And at the airport hotel before, Mr. Zhou Ming already made it very clear. The Dota project is just relying on hard power. They have invested a lot of money, and the momentum is surging. Unless we can invest more money to hedge against them, there is no other way.'

'So according to Mr. Li Cheng, we are to continue to do nothing here, waiting for those Western bastards to toy with our stocks?' Boltarsky said in a dissatisfied tone, "Or do you have any other ideas, Mr. Li Cheng or Mr. Zhou Ming?'

'What do you mean, Mr. Boltarsky?" Zhou Ming frowned and asked.

The reason why Zhou Ming did not speak at first was that none of these questions were suitable for him to answer. He was the one primarily responsible, and in such a situation, it would increase the anger of the other party. This was something they had discussed before, and letting Li Cheng or Tong Gang answer would reduce the anger of the other party. But now that the words had been spoken, and especially after the last question from Bortaszky, Zhou Ming had a bad feeling.

'I don't mean anything, I just want to ask Mr. Zhou Ming what you mean,' said Bortaszky in a bad mood. 'I heard that someone invested in the stock market yesterday to help the Dota Project create momentum for the stock. I want to ask Mr. Zhou Ming, what's going on!'

A stone stirs up a thousand ripples. As Bortaszky's words fell, there were sudden bursts of exclamations in the entire conference room, and everyone's eyes were full of shock.

Hearing what Bortansky said, Zhou Ming did not have time to speak, and Irbedov immediately jumped up and said, 'Mr. Bortansky, what do you mean by that? Are you suspecting that Mr. Zhou Ming is colluding with the Dota Project? Don't you think this is nonsense? I can tell you here very responsibly that this is absolutely impossible, and Mr. Zhou Ming's character is absolutely trustworthy!'

'Of course I trust Mr. Zhou Ming's personal character.' Bortasksy subconsciously glanced at Irbedov when he spoke, his eyes shining, but in the end he did not say the second half of the sentence.

But with these words from Bortas, the others also followed suit and started arguing: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, you can't do this. You were the one who told us that we were an alliance. Then since we are an alliance, when a member of the alliance is threatened, the alliance must stand up and speak for that member. If not, then what is the point of this alliance? And now it's not just one member who is threatened, it's all of us who are under the same threat, but you, Mr. Zhou Ming, can still remain so indifferent. I really can't understand why.'

The person who said this was a young rich man named Varnusa. The stocks of the banks and non-ferrous metals industries under him have all increased significantly. For a while, he was thinking about selling the stocks he had, so that he wouldn't have to be stuck here.

'Of course I understand that there is a difference in resources between us and the Dota Project, but that's not a reason for us not to think of anything here, is it?'

Varnusa's words were very entangled, but they suddenly spoke the minds of everyone else, and they followed Varnusa in questioning Zhou Ming, 'Why don't you want to think of a solution? Or are you simply unwilling to think? Do you really want to see our stock market crash? What good will that do you? Have you reached some kind of agreement with Mr. Meta? You traitor, have you betrayed us?'

Everyone shouted back and forth, getting more and more agitated, and even resorted to calling Zhou Ming a traitor. Their words were like saying that it wasn't Mr. Meta and the Daota Project and those Western capitalists who had caused the stock market to collapse, but Zhou Ming.

'Enough!' Su Han couldn't help but stand up and exclaim, 'You people are all considered leaders in their respective industries, but is this how you should act? You blame Zhou Ming for not doing anything, and you blame Zhou Ming for watching the stock market crash. Then I want to ask you, what have you guys done here? Apart from complaining and blaming him, what else have you done? Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?'

Su Han's words pierced the hearts of these people, but instead of admitting their mistakes, they became enraged and spoke even more harshly.

'Bullshit! What are you talking about? If it weren't for you yellow-skinned villains coming here, how would we have ended up in this situation? You can't even imagine how good our lives were before. I knew it all along that you Chinese scum are greedy, cunning and faithless. You sons of bitches are definitely the ones who caused all this, and now you're blaming us? You're shameless...'

These people have basically become rich through illegal means. They are all the kind of nouveau riche who can exploit every loophole. Usually they pretend to be gentlemen, but in fact many of them were just hooligans in the past. So now they are enraged, and many swear words just come out.

As they continued to curse more and more passionately, Zhou Ming could no longer hold back and slammed the table hard. The loud bang made everyone suddenly stop talking and just stare at Zhou Ming.

'I know you are all dissatisfied with the current situation, and I am also very dissatisfied. I think I made it very clear last time. I came to Northern Russia to make money. If there is no money to be made, I won't do anything. So the current situation is more than clear. It's not that I'm not trying to find a solution, it's just that there really is no way under the current circumstances.'

Someone wanted to argue, but Zhou Ming preempted them, saying, 'And I've always heard that people in Northern Russia are quite tough. Now it seems that your toughness is just daring you to be in front of a woman. A group of men ranging from their thirties to their sixties, opening their mouths and hurling abuse at a twenty-year-old girl, this is the Northern Russian man. Finally, I also want to say that this lady is right. You white pigs, you're good, you go ahead, what are you screaming about here?'

Perhaps it was because Kareina's voice was soft, or perhaps it was because of the delay in Kareina's translation, or perhaps they simply could not imagine that the usually kind Zhou Ming would say such things. In any case, after Zhou Ming finished speaking, they did not react at first, just staring blankly at Zhou Ming.

And when they reacted, each one wanted to vent their anger on Zhou Ming, when Irbedov suddenly stood up and said, 'Everyone calm down for a moment, and listen to me.'

Not everyone was connected to Il'bedov, but at this time, the richest man in Northern Russia still had a lot of authority, and he was able to control the situation at once.

Il'bedov nodded very satisfactorily and then said, 'I know that everyone is very anxious because of the current situation. In fact, am I not anxious too? The stock of my United Bank has the biggest increase, but look at me, have I ever been angry with Mr. Zhou Ming?'

'No,' Irbedov answered himself, 'because Mr. Zhou Ming is our support. Mr. Zhou Ming, like us, does not want this to happen. He also wants to turn the situation around, but for many reasons, this is simply impossible. So we can only choose to wait and choose to believe.'

'It is true that we can choose to vent our anger at Mr. Zhou Ming, or even use abusive language, but how will this help the situation? What we need now is to turn the situation around and preserve our wealth, not to point fingers at each other. The result of our internal conflict here will only make our opponents laugh at us!'

Ilbedov's words gradually calmed the anger in the meeting room. He looked around and saw that his words had been very effective. Finally, he said to Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, please don't take what I just said too seriously. Everyone is just too anxious, and they didn't mean to insult you.'

Zhou Ming smiled slightly and said, 'I understand, and what I just said was also too impulsive. After all, we are partners in cooperation, and it is better not to say some things if we can avoid it. I apologize for what I just said.'

Everyone has a habit of giving an inch when someone gives an inch. Arguments are born on the premise of tit-for-tat, neither giving way. But when someone gives an inch first, then the other person will also give way accordingly. The most direct example is pedestrians and drivers at intersections. Generally, if a pedestrian insists on crossing in front of the car, then the driver mostly doesn't want to give way. On the contrary, if the pedestrian voluntarily stops, then the driver will subconsciously slow down to let the pedestrian cross.

This is how ordinary people behave, and it goes without saying that these wealthy Northern Russians in the meeting room are no exception. After Zhou Ming apologised, the others also apologised to Zhou Ming and Su Han one after the other, and suddenly there was an atmosphere of harmony in the meeting room.

However, in the midst of this harmonious atmosphere, Zhou Ming's heart grew more and more anxious. After the meeting, Du Peng asked him, 'Today's atmosphere is so good, it must be a good omen.'

Zhou Ming, however, shook his head and said, 'I don't think so. On the contrary, I don't think this is a good omen.'

'Why?' Du Peng was surprised. "Wasn't the atmosphere just great? Could it be that everyone was just putting on an act? Or is there a problem with Irbedov?'

Zhou Ming still shook his head. "Neither. I believe everyone's apologies were from the heart, and Irbedov was genuinely trying to comfort everyone. But in that case, everyone's anger will be suppressed, which is not a good thing. It's better to let it out, otherwise it will accumulate and who knows what will happen later.'