Chapter 353: A trap that is obvious to him

Zhou Ming's return time to Harvard was 8 pm. In fact, Zhou Ming could have returned before the stock market closed in the afternoon, but Rogers was still very uneasy, so Zhou Ming had to stay in his office until the stock market closed. In the end, they had dinner together before going back. Of course, during this time, several clients called in, and Zhou Ming helped them all persuade them to go back.

When they arrived at the dormitory, the students, as usual, either read books, newspapers and watched TV in the dormitory, or checked the stock market movements in the computer room.

Zhou Ming went to the door of computer room No. 1 and waved Ye Ning to come out. Ye Ning ran out skipping and jumping, and before Zhou Ming could say anything, she asked happily, 'Teacher, do you have any tasks for us?'

Zhou Ming was a little surprised: 'How did you know?'

Ye Ning answered with a smile: 'Because I just checked the stock of Deep Blue Airlines and found that it has fallen particularly sharply today, exceeding the average upper limit of the stock market. This is a very rare situation. Although the US stock market does not have a mechanism for price limits, if the rise or fall of a stock is too large, it will automatically trigger the exchange's limit mechanism. Therefore, the rise and fall of stocks driven by people will generally be limited to a certain range.'

'And today, Deep Blue Airlines fell 16% in one day, and according to the rules, the exchange forced trading to stop for one hour. This was obviously done deliberately by someone.' Ye Ning continued, 'Before I contacted you, you said to be prepared, and I think now is definitely the time for us to act. After all, our classmates still have 30 million US dollars in their hands. Although it is a drop in the bucket for the entire stock market, it is still enough to hedge against a certain stock.'

Zhou Ming reached out and stroked Ye Ning's hair, saying, 'You are the best in our class, and this analysis is very thorough and wonderful.'

'So, teacher, did I guess correctly?' Ye Ning asked.

Facing Ye Ning's expectations, Zhou Ming gave her the answer she wanted: 'Of course, that's what I decided, because next we're going to compete with the Americans on Deep Blue Airlines.'

With Zhou Ming's answer, other finance students including Ye Ning, Chen Shuli and Li Yang cheered: 'Great, we're going to hedge against the Americans in the stock market! We can finally help our teacher, and we can also participate in the financial war!'

It wasn't until the loud cheers that Ming Zhou realised that there were quite a few students inside and outside the computer room. It seemed that they were all waiting for his final decision, and they were just happy that he had agreed to let them trade the stock of Deep Blue Airlines. They were really excited by the prospect of a war.

Zhou Ming shook his head and decided to put a curse on these monkeys, admonishing them, 'But you all pay attention, this stock transaction is very important. You must listen to me when to buy and how much to buy. If anyone dares to make a decision on their own, I will kick them out of the team and deprive them of the power to operate the stock!'

In response to Zhou Ming's admonition, all the students in the finance class shouted back, 'Please rest assured, teacher, we promise to listen!'

Zhou Ming shook his head and went upstairs to bed. After all, it was also very annoying at Rogers' today. When the time came the next day, Tuesday, April 13, Zhou Ming did not go to class again. He took the bus out to the city early in the morning. After Zhou Ming left, none of the other students in the finance class went to class either. They all came to the computer room, waiting for Zhou Ming to assign tasks, ready to throw stocks to support Zhou Ming at any time.

On the bus, Zhou Ming asked his bodyguard Zhang Lin, 'Is Wharton still following us?'

Zhang Lin nodded and replied, "He's still following, and he's much more careful than yesterday. He's also following from a much farther distance than usual.'

'I can't help but admire his perseverance,'

Zhou Ming quipped. Zhang Lin asked if they should get rid of him, and Zhou Ming waved his hand and said, "No need. Besides, there are some things I need him to relay to Senator Brock.'

An hour later, Zhou Ming arrived at the Brighton Bank Securities Company. The key account manager, Rogers, was waiting for Zhou Ming downstairs. He immediately came up to greet Zhou Ming in three quick steps.

'Good morning, Mr Zhou Ming. You said you had already had breakfast, so I didn't prepare any for you. But if you need any, I can prepare it for you right away,'

Rogers said to Zhou Ming as he invited him to go inside the building. Zhou Ming nodded to indicate that he had already eaten. Rogers continued, 'It is now 9:00 a.m., half an hour before the New York stock market opens. Yesterday, I contacted my clients as you requested, and they all trusted me and agreed to continue to invest additional funds. However, Mr. Zhou Ming, you said that a hedge fund would also enter the market, right?'

'Thirty million dollars will enter,' Zhou Ming said, "but this capital will not enter at the first opportunity, but will enter at the right time with the movement of the stock. You know, some departments are very keen on monitoring speculative activities.'

Rogers nodded with a smile and said, "Of course I understand. Those guys take taxpayers' money and always have to do something to show their presence.'

Rogers invited Zhou Ming to his office. Zhou Ming sat down on the sofa in the reception area. Rogers turned on the wall-mounted rear projection TV. Since Rogers had connected the TV to the computer in advance, the New York stock market was immediately displayed in front of Zhou Ming's eyes. Of course, since the stock market had not yet opened, the numbers were static.

Zhou Ming was not surprised by the rear-projection TV, because it had been developed as early as the 1980s. However, due to many technical defects, it was unable to watch high-definition TV programmes like the rear-projection TVs of 2015. But it was still fine for watching the stock market on an LED display. As for the price of the rear-projection TV, Rogers, as a key account manager, wanted to install a rear-projection TV in his own office that was more convenient for key accounts, which was not an outrageous request.

The secretary brought tea for Zhou Ming and Zhang Lin, not the coffee from the previous time. Rogers praised the tea, saying, 'This is Longjing tea shipped from China. I hope Mr. Zhou Ming can taste the flavour of his hometown.'

Zhou Ming smiled and thanked Rogers. Rogers sat down with Zhou Ming and they chatted for a while, but as the time on the TV drew closer to half past nine, his attention was drawn there.

After half past nine, the New York stock market opened, but due to the unsound network of the stock market at the moment, it was not until two minutes later that the first movement was seen on the stock market on the TV.

However, Rogers did not look happy when he saw the movement of the market, but frowned instead, because the numbers were not rising, but falling.

'The stock market should have just opened, and the orders placed by my clients have not yet entered the system, so the stock is still continuing yesterday's momentum, which is why it has fallen,' Rogers muttered, not sure whether he was explaining to Zhou Ming or reassuring himself.

Zhou Ming just gave Rogers's shaking leg a faint look. It seemed that Manager Rogers was not as confident as he claimed to be.

It was 9:35, 9:40, and then 9:50. The stock price of Deep Blue Airlines continued to fall. This made Rogers unable to keep up his composure any longer. He turned to Zhou Ming and asked, 'What's going on? Mr. Zhou Ming, didn't you tell me that Deep Blue Airlines has great potential and that if I convince my clients to keep buying today, the stock price will go back up? Why hasn't it rebounded yet?'

Compared to Rogers' impatience, Zhou Ming was really calm. He said to Rogers, "Don't worry. You only see that Deep Blue Airlines is falling, but don't you see that its decline is getting smaller and smaller?'

Rogers, who had been impatient, immediately flew into a rage after hearing this: "Mr. Zhou Ming, what do you mean by that? Are you using my client's funds to pay for your credit? My client's funds are not for you to squander like that!'

Facing Rogers, who was on the verge of exploding, Ming had to raise his hands in surrender: 'Okay, Manager Rogers, I know what I should do.'

After saying that, Ming took out his mobile phone and dialed a number: 'Ye Ning, you immediately operate your account and buy one million US dollars worth of shares in Deep Blue Airlines.'

After assigning this task, Zhou Ming put down the phone, but saw Rogers' murderous glare. 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I must have heard you wrong. When my client has tens of millions of dollars stuck in Deep Blue Airlines, how could you only have your hedge fund buy one million dollars worth of stock? This is a joke!'

'Manager Rogers, you didn't hear me wrong. I did only buy one million dollars worth of stock, and I'm not joking with you...'

Zhou Ming kept an eye on Rogers' expression as he spoke, and when he was about to lose his temper, Zhou Ming immediately changed his tone and said, 'But please don't worry, Manager Rogers, I'll tell you slowly. I think Manager Rogers will remember that the Wharton gang had Senator Brooke follow me yesterday, right?'

Rogers nodded and said, 'Of course I remember. I also found out that several accounts belonging to Brooke were indeed selling a large amount of stock in Deep Blue Airlines. But what does that have to do with you only buying $1 million worth of stock?'

'Of course it does, and it's a very big deal!' Zhou Ming said, 'Because now the stock of Deep Blue Airlines has reached a point of equilibrium, and one million is enough to break this balance and make it rise. If I keep investing money, it will only make it rise sharply today, but what I need is for it to keep rising!'

Rogers said blankly, 'I don't understand.' Zhou Ming continued, 'Manager Rogers, let me ask you this: if you were Congressman Brooke, and you found out that I was talking to a major securities account manager and that you had someone following me, what would you think?'

'I would think there must be a conspiracy!' Rogers said.

'What about the fact that the stock of Deep Blue Airlines was then injected with capital to prevent it from continuing its downward trend?' Zhou Ming asked again.

After thinking for a moment, Rogers replied, 'I think I would definitely think that this is a conspiracy. You are deliberately digging a trap for me to jump into, so that you and other investors can calmly withdraw your capital and leave.'

Zhou Ming nodded and said, 'That's right, I believe Congressman Brook would think the same thing, but precisely because of this, I want to continue pushing up the stock price of Deep Blue Airlines.'

'Why?' Rogers asked doubtfully. He was now full of questions and completely unable to understand what Zhou Ming was trying to say with his contradictory words.

'Because I want to tell him clearly that there is a trap here, and if you're capable, you can jump right in,' Zhou Ming said.