Chapter 80: Changing the battlefield

At 11:30 in the morning, Zhou Ming returned to his dormitory at Harvard University. Standing in front of the dormitory door, Zhou Ming looked up at the dormitory building. Although Zhou Ming had not been away from here for a few days, he had experienced so many things in the meantime that it always felt like a long time had passed. In addition, the most important thing was that he had been with Lin Muzhen the whole time, but there was also a female student here who liked him so much. Although she had made it clear that only Lin Muzhen was worthy of him, who knew if she could really let go.

These thoughts made Zhou Ming feel very headache. If it were normal people, they would just give up, but Zhou Ming understood that no matter what, there were some things that he would have to face sooner or later. Therefore, he quickly put those thoughts out of his mind and walked towards the dorm with his legs raised.

When he opened the dormitory door, he saw that everything was in order. Although it wasn't the weekend, it was noon, and the finance class students were all in the dormitory, ready to go out for lunch together. This was a regular activity for the finance class. Since they were unfamiliar with life abroad and didn't like American food, they basically went out for lunch together.

At this time, the finance class students were all sitting in the lobby on the first floor watching TV. They all turned their heads when they heard a noise at the door, and suddenly they saw Zhou Ming.

Everyone's eyes widened and their mouths fell open in disbelief: 'Teacher?'

Chen Shuli Yang Li and Ye Ning all stood up, and they all walked quickly to the door, asking in surprise, "Teacher, is that really you? Why have you come back?'

Facing this question, Zhou Ming smiled and asked in return, "Why can't I come back? I don't remember moving out of here, or did you guys kick me out of this dormitory and expel me? Then I want to ask where all my luggage has been thrown?'

'How could that be? If anyone dares to do that, I won't let them go!' Li Yang roared, his ferocious expression making people believe that if this really happened, he would definitely kill that person. He then calmed down and said, 'Teacher, you will always be the homeroom teacher of our finance class, and our finance class will only recognise you as the homeroom teacher. Anyone who doesn't want to is not one of us!'

At Li Yang's call, other classmates from the finance class also chimed in. When everyone's voices gradually died down, Ye Ning said again, 'It's just that, teacher, you haven't come back for so long, and we all miss you very much. We're all afraid that you've given up on us.'

As she spoke, tears welled up in Ye Ning's eyes, and as Ye Ning cried, the other classmates from the finance class also cried sadly.

This made Zhou Ming a little helpless. Zhou Ming knew that Ye Ning was crying because of Lin Muqing, and since she was a female classmate, she was naturally more emotional. But there was no need for you other big boys to cry.

It's just that this is the truth, but Zhou Ming can't say it explicitly right now. Zhou Ming then said, 'Everyone, don't be like this. Don't worry, I have said that you are my most adorable students, and I will never give up on you! It's just that I had important things to deal with the other day, so I didn't come back. I came back today because I also have important tasks to bring to you.'

After saying this, Zhou Ming deliberately paused and said, 'But I see you all looking like this now, which makes me a little disappointed. Do you want to dry your tears first?'

After hearing Zhou Ming say this, the students in the finance class suddenly reacted, and they began to wipe away their tears. Zhou Ming then couldn't help but tease, 'Ye Ning is a female student, so why are you all female students?'

Facing Zhou Ming's teasing, everyone was embarrassed and lowered their heads, but after a short while, they burst into hearty laughter, and in the end, even Zhou Ming himself couldn't help but laugh.

Zhou Ming had undoubtedly said that on purpose. After all, he had only just returned to the dormitory, and it was not good to make it sound so tragic, as if he had been martyred and then come back to life. In fact, for Zhou Ming, he had only been gone for a few days, and he was very touched to hear that his classmates in the finance class had missed him so much that they could not help crying.

After warming up the atmosphere, Zhou Ming walked into the dormitory. He saw that the news was currently playing on the TV. Chen Shu explained, 'Teacher, I know that you have been busy with international crude oil futures recently. Although we don't know much about futures, at least we will pay close attention to the news, so that when you need us, we won't be at a loss.'

Zhou Ming nodded with satisfaction. The students in the finance class were all very smart elites, but they were more than just elites. Their greater advantage lied in their ability to learn independently.

But satisfied as he was, he still could not let up on the exams, so he asked, 'So, have you discovered anything?'

In response to Zhou Ming's question, Chen Shu, Li Yang and Ye Ning looked at each other before Chen Shu stepped forward and answered, 'Teacher, these past few days we have been paying attention to the situation in the Middle East and the international crude oil futures market, and we feel a bit strange.'

Zhou Ming looked back at Ye Ning, Li Yang and the other students in the finance class, and they all nodded, obviously feeling the same way as Chen Shu.

Zhou Ming then asked, 'What do you feel is strange?'

Chen Shu thought about it for a moment before organising his words and replying, 'Logically speaking, both the previous breakdown of negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait and Iraq's subsequent invasion of Kuwait should have made the situation in the Middle East even more chaotic, and on this premise, the price of international crude oil futures should have skyrocketed along with the chaos.

'However, from the day before yesterday to yesterday, the price of oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell back several times, which is very hard to understand,' Chen Shu said.

'So have you analysed why this is?' Zhou Ming asked.

Chen Shu nodded and said, 'Our idea is that this may be some consortium trying to manipulate the market with information, just as Congressman Brooker did with the stock market. They keep investing money and fabricating favourable news to guide the market to make wrong judgments, so that when things really happen, they can make a fortune by pulling out and investing in the opposite direction.'

'Wonderful analysis!' Zhou Ming praised, then looked up and asked, 'So is this your own analysis?'

Chen Shu shook his head and replied, 'No, teacher. This is the result of analysis and discussion by the entire finance class.'

'I see. Well done, everyone!' Zhou Ming praised again, then changed the subject, 'But you haven't been bold enough in some of your analysis.'

Zhou Ming's words made Chen Yesen and the other finance students freeze for a moment. Zhou Ming continued, 'It is true that there are large consortia manipulating the market, but they don't just manipulate the futures market. Those large consortia even manipulate wars thousands of miles away.'

'Manipulate wars?' All the finance students exclaimed, feeling as if they had heard a tall tale.

Although they all understood the power of Western consortia, they never imagined that they could cross the Atlantic and manipulate a war in the Middle East from the United States.

'You should all understand that everything in the world is manipulated by capital. Although we have no way of knowing how specifically American consortia manipulated Iraq and other countries, I am certain that they did, and this is an important reason why I returned today,' said Zhou Ming.

As they listened to Zhou Ming's words, the eyes of all the students in the finance class widened even more: did the teacher lose money?

Zhou Ming guessed what they were thinking, and he smiled and said, 'I didn't lose money, but since the futures market is manipulated by the market makers, it is impossible for me to guess the next move every time. Therefore, yesterday, I secretly withdrew the funds from the futures market and will reinvest them after it is confirmed that the Gulf War will break out.'

The students in the finance class nodded in silence and secretly praised Zhou Ming's actions.

It was very brave to knowingly go to the tiger's mountain, but it was also a very helpless approach. But what if it was possible to avoid the tiger and still get the same gains? Who would still have to go to the tiger's mountain? Wouldn't that be crazy?

Zhou Ming is in this situation now. When he first invested in the futures market, he knew that he could definitely make money here, or make a lot of money, but now he has discovered that he is likely to face a big loss, so Zhou Ming has decided to withdraw his investment and walk away.

But now the problem is...if you don't invest in oil futures, what do you invest in?

Facing this problem, Zhou Ming said, 'I came back to you today because I need my finance class to help me invest.'

As soon as Zhou Ming said this, the students in the finance class immediately cheered, and this was their heartfelt joy. As Zhou Ming's students, they could be said to have watched the news every day in the dormitory, waiting for the day when they could complete the task Zhou Ming had given them. Now that they had finally waited, how could they not be happy?

However, Chen Shu thought of a problem and said to Zhou Ming, 'Teacher, we only have a general understanding of the futures market, so you'd better not give us too complicated a task.'

Zhou Ming smiled and said, 'Don't worry, since I've asked you, I definitely won't give you a difficult task. The task I've given you is not futures, but securities, which is your old profession.'

'Securities?' All the students in the finance class were surprised again. They didn't understand. Hasn't the teacher been paying attention to the situation in the Middle East? How did he suddenly get onto the securities industry? What does the war in the Middle East have to do with American securities? Could it be those petrochemical companies, or something else?

Facing students with a lot of questions, Zhou Ming told them, 'It's military enterprises, and other enterprises besides oil.'

Hearing Zhou Ming say this, Li Yang immediately responded, and he asked Zhou Ming, "Teacher, do you mean that the United States will definitely be involved in this war? So you want to buy stocks in arms companies because these companies will receive a large number of orders from the Department of Defense.'

Zhou Ming snapped his fingers, "That's right.'

Li Yang and the other students in the finance class had no time to be surprised. Zhou Ming continued to tease their nerves, saying, 'I have now withdrawn all of my funds from the futures market. After all, the futures battlefield has been manipulated by large financial groups, so I have no choice but to switch to another battlefield. Therefore, in the future, I will invest all of my money in the securities market.'

'Therefore, starting today, I need you to analyse and research military enterprises and other energy enterprises not related to oil in the market. It would be best if you could complete an investment model for me within a week.' Zhou Ming added, 'In addition, I can tell you that the two major consortia that have influenced the Middle East this time are the Brighton Consortium and the Rockefeller Consortium. You can analyse and study the holding companies of these two major consortia.'

At the end, Zhou Ming paused deliberately. He looked at the finance students, who were eager to try, and asked them, "What do you think? Are you confident?'

Everyone shouted in unison, "Please rest assured, teacher, we are confident!'