Chapter 30: It's OK if you have a relationship

On the highway to Harvard Business School in Fenway, a Buick was speeding along, constantly passing cars without speeding from the Veda community to the Chinese dormitory, and it took less than a quarter of an hour to bring Zhou Ming back to the dormitory.

Chen Shuhe and Ye Ning were waiting at the door. When they saw Zhou Ming's familiar car return, they immediately ran out and handed Zhou Ming the document as soon as he got out of the car, saying, 'Teacher, this is the document that the Financial Management Committee just faxed over the company number. They are asking us about the reasons for selling bonds and various tickets. According to the reasons, and they are asking us to immediately stop selling, otherwise they will take coercive measures.'

After receiving the document from Ye Ning's hands, Zhou Ming was stunned, because this situation was both within his expectations and unexpected.

It was within his expectations because there was an old senator from Massachusetts named Brook, who had been targeting Zhou Ming. No matter whether Zhou Ming was making investments or organising his election campaign, and no matter how careful Zhou Ming was, the other party would find out and interfere, and they even went so far as to involve the FBI . Now that Zhou Ming has made such a big move, there is no reason for the other party to sit idly by. For this reason, Zhou Ming is prepared for the dormitory to be surrounded and then enter the FBI interrogation room again. However, what surprised Zhou Ming was this faxed document.

'Is this the only faxed document?' Zhou Ming asked subconsciously.

Chen Shu and Ye Ning seemed to sense that something was wrong in response to Zhou Ming's question. Ye Ning nodded and said to Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, this is the only fax document, which was transferred from the company's fax machine to the dormitory. We contacted you as soon as we received it.'

Chen Shu took up the question from Ye Ning and asked, 'Is there something wrong with the teacher? Or did the company's employees discover it late due to their lackadaisical attitude?'

Although Wharton Insurance was set up by Zhou Ming and his classmates in the finance class, since they were all still students at Harvard University, they did not have much time to manage the company's affairs. Therefore, the company usually recruited several people to be on duty and be responsible for other daily work. This time, it was they who received the fax from the Financial Management Committee at the company and immediately contacted Chen Shu and the others to send it over.

'It's not a matter of sooner or later, but why it was this Financial Management Committee,' Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'Have you heard of this institution?'

Chen Shu and Ye Ning both shook their heads and replied, 'No, but I heard from the company's employees that this is a department within the judicial department that specializes in financial violations, and it seems to have something to do with the FBI.'

'Impossible. Although I don't know much about the judicial structure in the United States, I do know that the FBI is an independent system that reports directly to the U.S. Department of Justice and is not part of the general police force. I'm afraid this is just the company's employees not knowing the facts and making wild guesses.' Zhou Ming said, 'In fact, his affiliation is not important. What is important is why you think the Financial Management Committee sent us such a fax?'

'Of course it was Congressman Brook behind it, he has done this too many times...'

Ye Ning answered immediately, but she stopped when she said this because she also realised the problem. Ye Ning looked up at Zhou Ming and asked, 'Teacher, do you think that if there was only one fax document, it would not be like Congressman Brook's style, right?'

Chen Shu also reacted at this time: 'Teacher, this is indeed very strange. It turns out that every time, Congressman Brook would make a big fuss and hate to immediately send you to prison, but this time, why is there only one document? In the past, even if the FBI came, they couldn't do anything to you. He must understand that this is even more useless for you, right? Do you think Congressman Brook is brewing a bigger conspiracy?'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'Okay, let's not speculate here. The best way to find out his intentions is to ask our lawyer. After all, this is the United States. Regardless of what Congressman Brook wants to do, he must abide by the basic law. Otherwise, he will only continue to send killers to intercept and kill me on the road, but then he will be breaking the law.'

Zhou Ming and Chen Shuyu then returned to the dormitory. Li Yang immediately got up and came over to ask about the situation when he saw Zhou Ming return. However, apart from Li Yang, everyone else was still doing their own things as usual. Obviously, this fax had not been made known to the other students. This was where the three of them had done a relatively good job, and the unexpected situation had not affected their work.

Zhou Ming told Li Yang to calm down. He took them back to his room, where Zhou Ming called Alan and, after explaining the situation to him, asked Chen Shu to fax it over.

After receiving the fax, Alan said, 'This Financial Management Committee is an institution under the Securities Regulatory Commission that is responsible to the parliament for all financial activities. I think they must have detected your massive selling of stocks and bonds. They are concerned that you are engaging in some kind of speculative activity, so they have sent you this fax as a matter of routine. This is what I told you when you first consulted me, Mr. Zhou Ming.'

'I remember you mentioning something like that,' Zhou Ming suddenly realised, and then asked, 'So it has nothing to do with Congressman Brook? What legal effect does this fax have, and what impact will it have on our current sell-off?'

Alan thought for a moment and replied, 'It's hard to say whether or not it has anything to do with Congressman Brook. Since you, Mr. Zhou Ming, are carrying out such a large-scale sell-off, the Financial Management Committee will definitely have to take action, which is their normal duty. The fax itself does not have any legal effect. It is more of a reminder and suggestion. Without applying for a court injunction, it cannot interfere with your sell-off activities.'

'In other words, if I throw this fax directly into the trash can and continue with my actions, I won't be breaking the law?' Zhou Ming asked.

'From a legal perspective, that's correct,' Alan replied.

'Okay, thanks very much, Lawyer Alan.'

Zhou Ming hung up the phone, and Chen Shu and Ye Ning immediately came over to ask about the situation. Zhou Ming told them not to worry and just go ahead and do it boldly.

Chen Shu and Ye Ning nodded in agreement. Ye Ning thought about it for a moment and asked, 'Teacher, do we need to speed up the rate of selling?'

Zhou Ming hesitated before saying, "If possible, it would be better to speed it up a bit. After all, an organisation has already intervened. We don't know exactly what his relationship with Brook is, so it would be better to be on the safe side.'

'Teacher, what about the situation with Omar? You just went to the Vinda community, and there was only one person there. Can he handle it?" Ye Ning asked again, concerned.

'Don't worry, just know that this is the person I chose,' Zhou Ming said confidently. As Ye Ning was about to go back, Zhou Ming told her, "Since we need to speed up the selling process, it's fine to take a bigger loss, but try not to exceed 15 points as much as possible.'

Ye Ning smiled slightly and said, "Teacher, don't worry, our current losses are all kept at an average of 8%. Even if we need to speed up now, we definitely won't lose too much.'

Ye Ning's words reassured Zhou Ming. After all, this was the finance class he had personally taught, and there was no doubt about their abilities and sense of responsibility. Now that they had finally had the opportunity to perform in front of him, they would work their hardest. What they didn't know was that even if they lost more than 20 percentage points or even 30 percentage points, it wouldn't really matter to him. After all, his next project was also going to make a lot of money, and the most important thing was that his trump card was not just that.

However, what puzzled Zhou Ming was that he was not sure what Old Brook was thinking at this time, and whether the fax from the current Financial Management Committee had anything to do with him. Although this fax did not seem to be in line with his usual style of work from an analytical point of view, the other party was, after all, a senior senator, and who knew what he might be planning that they had not guessed.

No matter what he wants to do, I must be prepared for anything! And I have a feeling that this fax has nothing to do with him. He may be tied up with something else right now. If Jie La's news about the Gulf is true, then maybe Lao Bu Ke has also received some news...

Zhou Ming thought to himself, and then he dialed another number. After a while the phone was connected, and Zhou Ming said, 'Muqing, how are things going over there? There's not much time left, and I have a bad feeling that things might change.'

Zhou Ming was calling Muqing Lin in Harbor City. After listening to Zhou Ming's words, she said, 'Zhou Ming, don't worry, I've been preparing ever since I received your message. I'll definitely be ready in a few days!'

...

Meanwhile, a Cadillac limousine pulled up to the old Brooke's villa in Lexington. This was the car of the speaker Anthony.

The car stopped smoothly on the lawn of the villa. Anthony got off the car, and the old Brooke came forward to greet him. He invited Anthony to a seat in the yard, and the old Brooke opened a bottle of red wine for Anthony. At this time, the housekeeper of the old Brooke came forward and told him that the Financial Management Committee had monitored that Zhou Ming's Wharton Insurance Company was selling a large amount of bonds and other bills. According to the report, the committee has sent a fax warning to Ming Zhou.

Old Brook was stunned after hearing this, but after a while, he made a decision. He waved the butler away, then took the initiative to pour a glass of wine for Anthony and sat down next to him.

'It seems that my brother Brook must have something very important to discuss with me,' Anthony said first.

Although Anthony didn't mean to eavesdrop, he still heard what the butler said to Old Brook. He and Old Brook were on good terms, so he also knew Old Brook's hatred for Zhou Ming. Now that he could even put that aside, it was clear that what he had to say was important. So Anthony had to speak first.

Old Brook didn't hide it either, and nodded directly, saying, 'Yes, it's about that thing in the bay that I mentioned last time.'

Anthony raised an eyebrow and said, 'News about the bay? Didn't we already make it clear at the last meeting at the Garden Restaurant? Why do you want to say it again now? Or do you have any new news that you want me to convey?'

Old Brook shook his head and said, 'It's related to that news but also not, because this is between you, Chairman Anthony, and me.

Anthony didn't say anything else, just quietly looking at Brook. Brook was unruffled by this, and after taking a sip of his red wine, he said, 'Chairman Anthony, you and I are both entrepreneurs. Since we are faced with such an important matter and we also have such important information, do you think we can join forces to do this business?'

'What you mean, Brother Brook, is that we invest in this as well?' Anthony asked.