Chapter 27: Preparing in the dark (Part 1)

The next morning, Omar arrived early at Zhou Ming's dormitory. Also arriving at the same time as Omar was the mentor from the Weida community. Zhou Ming introduced them to each other.

When Master Yan heard that Omar was the new candidate selected by Zhou Ming, he was very surprised. Zhou Ming explained to him, 'Mr Yan, this is because someone is hindering us from behind. Huang Yi has been disqualified, and we had to replace the candidate and choose this Mr Omar. We asked you to come over today to take him to the Vinda community for an inspection. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, we will not go over there.'

'These damned Americans are bullying us Chinese!' Yan Shi said resentfully, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, don't worry, I have already asked for leave from the company, I will be a good guide for Mr. Omar.'

Zhou Ming nodded and said yes, and it happened to be breakfast time, so Zhou Ming took the opportunity to invite Omar to have breakfast with Yan Shi.

Omar had never tried Chinese food before, so he was excited to be eating it for the first time today and exclaimed, 'Oh my god, this is absolutely delicious, how did you guys do it? How can you put all these dishes inside the pastry? This is absolutely amazing!'

Zhou Ming and the students in the finance class were a little speechless at Omar's amazement. After all, pies are a very common food in China. Any baker who can make a pie can basically make any pie, so what's the big deal? But it just occurred to Zhou Ming that the legend is that pizza was invented because Westerners didn't know how to put the filling in the pie, so they just piled it on the pie haphazardly.

After breakfast, Zhou Ming asked Omar if he knew how to drive. Omar nodded, so Zhou Ming gave him the car keys: 'To make things easier for you, I'll lend you the car for the duration of your campaign. We have an economics class today, and Councillor Brook is still targeting me, so it wouldn't be good if he found out I'd hired you separately. But Mr. Yan is going with you, and he lives in the Vida community, so you can ask him anything.'

Zhou Ming then took out a note and said to Omar, 'This is the contact information for my lawyer Alan. He will help you with issues related to your status and property in the Weida community.'

Omar carefully took the note and said solemnly to Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, please be assured that I will not let you down!'

Yan Shi also said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I will take good care of Mr. Omar. If you have any other matters, you can contact me at any time. You know my pager number.'

After Omar and Yan Shi finished talking, they got into the car together and left. Watching Zhou Ming's Buick disappear at the end of the road, Ye Ning said to Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, don't worry. With the support of more than 100 Chinese people in the Vinda community, Omar will easily win this election.'

'I have no doubt about that. But this time, we not only want to win, we want to win handsomely and win the support of the vast majority of voters in the Vinda community.' Zhou Ming thought for a moment and then asked Ye Ning, "You have been to the Vinda community many times. What slogan do you think Omar will come up with?'

Ye Ning shook her head and said, "The Vinda community is a community with relatively complete facilities, and I can hardly imagine what slogan he can come up with.'

'Then let's wait for the surprise he'll bring us.'

Zhou Ming finished speaking and led Ye Ning and the other finance students towards the classroom. On the way, Zhou Ming said to Chen Shu and Ye Ning, 'Although Omar is running for the election, and I believe in his abilities, we still cannot be careless on our side. We must focus our main energy on the capital market. How is the recent futures market? Especially the international market oil prices, and our funds? Have they all been withdrawn from the Dark Blue Airlines and the stock market?'

'The current situation in the Gulf region is relatively complicated. Kuwait is constantly increasing its oil production for its own interests, which has resulted in a continuous decline in the price of oil in the international market. As for our funds...'

Zhou Ming's answer was Chen Shu. Zhou Ming saw that his words were a bit hesitant, so he said to him, 'It's okay, just say whatever you have to say. You don't need to hide anything from me.'

Chen Shu then took a deep breath and said, 'Teacher, last night, Li Yangye and I and the students in the finance class fought all night, and I estimate that the most we can transfer back today will be no more than 40 million.'

Zhou Ming suddenly stopped in his tracks. He frowned and said, 'Only 40 million? That's a bit small.'

'Teacher, there's a reason for this,' Chen Shu hastily explained, 'Since our funds are invested in a diversified manner through portfolio investment, there are inherently cumbersome procedures for withdrawing them. Moreover, our investment areas are concentrated in bonds, stocks and high-interest deposits. These funds are all subject to time limits, and there is simply no way to withdraw them in a short period of time.'

After listening to Chen Shu, Zhou Ming asked him again, 'What if we auction off our investments? That is, if we sell all the bonds, stocks, or deposits we have, how much capital can be recovered?'

'What? Sell everything?'

Chen Shu and all the students in the finance class were shocked. They couldn't believe their ears, and were surprised that Zhou Ming had actually suggested this method.

'Yes, sell everything,' Zhou Ming said very firmly. "Chen Shu, don't worry about the losses, because there is definitely a price to pay for forcing the return of capital. Just tell me how much capital can be recovered.'

Chen Shu thought for a moment and replied, "Teacher, neither I nor my classmates have done any detailed calculations, but a conservative estimate is that if we forcibly recall our 80 million investment according to the standard, I'm afraid we can only recall about 60 million at most.'

'So what if the investment matures according to the established plan?' Zhou Ming asked again.

Chen Shu immediately replied without thinking: 'If the current interest rate and market conditions are followed, it is estimated that an investment return of 15 million to 20 million can be obtained after two years.'

'In other words, if the funds are forcibly withdrawn now, there will be a loss of 20 million in investment returns and 20 million in principal. This means that I will lose 40 million U.S. dollars, which is more than one-third of the company's assets.'

Zhou Ming said to himself, no matter what perspective you look at it from, this is a huge sum of money. Especially now that his assets in the United States are only this much, losing more than a third of his assets in one fell swoop is not the act of a wise entrepreneur. Although Zhou Ming eventually believes that he will be able to earn it back, losing so much money at once will still make people feel the pain inevitably.

If only I had known, I would have never taught them how to use the investment model, or let them use their own money to do it. Then they wouldn't have to make such a choice today. I really didn't expect that I would dig a hole and end up falling into it myself.

Zhou Ming thought helplessly in his heart. When he came back to his senses, he saw Chen Yesen and the other students from the finance class all looking at him, waiting for him to make a decision. Zhou Ming waved his hand, 'There's still a day left anyway, let's go to class first, I'll give you an answer after class.'

Zhou Ming finished speaking and led all the students in the finance class back towards the classroom.

...

A round sun and moon shine upon the world of 3,000 great states. Each individual can be a world, and each world coexists symbiotically while being different at the same time.

While Zhou Ming sat in the classroom with his finance class, on the other side, Omar and his mentor had driven to the Vidda community. Under his mentor's guidance, Omar began to study the structure of the Vidda community and think about what campaign slogan he should use.

In addition to Zhou Ming and Omar, Brook, who had been targeting Zhou Ming, was still alive and continued his story.

On the council hill in South Brighton, Old Brook was holding his folder when he was called out just after he walked out of the council chamber. Old Brook turned around and it was the council president Anthony.

'Council President Anthony, what can I do for you?' Old Brook asked curiously.

'At the meeting just now, I am very grateful to Brother Brook for supporting my new bill, so I would like to invite Brother Brook to dinner to discuss some other things,' Anthony said.

Old Brook thought about this for a moment and said, 'Speaker Anthony, I am very grateful for the news you told me, and I also had the Chinese person disqualified as a result. However, I also voted in favour of your bill, and I think I have fulfilled my promise. Although I agree that there should be alliances between senators in parliament, I believe that everyone will have their own ideas. Speaker Anthony, do you agree?'

Anthony smiled and said, 'Don't worry, my dear Bruker. I'm a businessman, but I'm not a mean one. I've already forgotten about the Chinese guy since I left the chamber just now. I'm here to talk to you about something else, something very important. I need the support and help of my dear Bruker.'

'Is it because of my special relationship with that family?' Bruker asked.

Anthony nodded without hesitation and said, 'Yes, because some things are more complicated, and I or my partners need greater support. Throughout the United States, only a few families have the ability to provide support, and the family behind you is one of the most important.'

'But you know that I am only a Massachusetts senator. Simply put, I am a puppet put in front of the stage by that family, and I cannot influence any decisions made by that family,' said Old Brook.

Anthony laughed and shook his head, saying, 'My dear Brother Brook, you are too modest. I do know the pride of that family, but you are not a puppet, Brother Brook. You are a very important senator.'

Old Brook wanted to say something else, but Anthony said first, 'Brother Brook, you may not need to make any decisions now. You can have dinner with me first. After you meet people and hear things, you can then faithfully tell the family what you have seen and heard. In this matter, even if I owe you one, I know you are also a businessman. Does this business seem profitable to you?'

Old Brook laughed, 'Anthony is still the same Anthony. I'm convinced.'

That evening, Brock followed Anthony to the garden restaurant at the foot of Capitol Hill, where they ordered a box at the Chateau. When Brock entered the Chateau, he was immediately stunned. Before he came, he had thought about who Anthony would bring him to meet, perhaps an important figure in a certain family, from the governor to a member of Congress, but he never imagined that Anthony would bring him to meet a young woman, a very beautiful young woman.

Old Brook glanced at Anthony subconsciously, thinking to himself, 'This can't be your lover, can it?'

Anthony, of course, understood what he was thinking, and immediately whispered to him, 'Don't be silly, this woman's identity is much more important than ours.'

At this point, the woman reached out and invited Anthony and Old Brook to sit down, then said, 'Hello, Mr. Brook. My name is Caitlin. I don't think Mr. Anthony has told you the reason yet, right? This is for confidentiality reasons, so I'm sorry to have to tell you this. Now let me tell you, this time I asked Mr. Anthony to find you specifically, hoping to tell that family two things through you: one is Gulf, and the other is Tongren Bank.'

The woman's voice was very pleasant to hear, but Old Brook couldn't help but gasp after hearing her words.