Chapter 118: Louis's reminder

A luxury cruise ship slowly docked at a private pier in Brighton. A short man walked down the gangplank and was greeted by someone at the pier. The short man seemed very dissatisfied and snorted before getting into the vehicle that greeted him.

The vehicle that greeted him was a specially-made Cadillac sedan. He got into the car and drove out of the pier, driving all the way into a nearby bay house.

When the car pulled up to the villa, two people were already waiting there. They were sitting under a tree, each holding a coconut in their hands. They might have been dressed casually, but no one would dare to underestimate them. One was Edward, the governor of Massachusetts, and the other was the president of Harvard University. They were both highly respected in Massachusetts and the entire Commonwealth.

When they saw the short man enter, they both immediately got up to greet him. This short man was none other than Lowell family patriarch, Louis.

'Mr. Louis, you are very welcome. We have prepared your favourite drink.'

Edward then told the waiter to bring Louis a glass of watermelon juice. Then they asked Louis to sit down, and Edward said to him, 'You have been staying in Rhode Island these few days. I think you haven't forgotten our business.'

Facing Edward's question, Louis did not hurry to answer, or he did not care to answer. He was seen taking a few strong gulps of watermelon juice before saying, 'Governor, you really know what you are asking. I came here today for this very matter, but as you know, I just want to know about the CDS contracts held by the holding company of the Adams family.'

'CDS contracts? It seems that the Chinese are really planning to target subprime loans,' Edward analysed, 'But I'm afraid I can't help you in this regard, because, as you know, I am now the governor. If I were to rashly check the CDS contract holdings of other companies, it would send a very bad message to the outside world, which I need to avoid at all costs.'

Lawrence also said on the other side, 'I don't think I can help you either, because I'm just the president of Harvard, and it would be difficult for me to have the means to probe the holdings of other companies.'

Louis was not surprised by Edward and Lawrence's answers. He just smiled coldly and said, 'I see. That's a pity, but it doesn't matter. After all, it has always been me working with that Zhou Ming. Then let the two of us continue to work well together in the future. But I still hope that Mr. Governor and Mr. President will still come forward when the time comes. We can help you make money, can't we?'

At first, Louis's words did not seem to have any problems, but Edward and Lawrence immediately frowned. Lawrence even asked, 'I really didn't expect the Lowell family to be so generous now!'

Louis smiled, 'People will always change. After living with that Chinese person for so long, I feel that I have been influenced by him a lot.'

Edward and Lawrence, on the contrary, sat up straight and looked at Louis with frowns on their faces, as if they were suspicious of something.

Finally, Edward and Lawrence glanced at each other. Edward said, 'Mr. Louis, I think that since we are an alliance, we should act like an alliance, especially united and working together, then things will be much simpler in the future.'

Lawrence also said, 'I think not only do we need to be united, but we also share the same goal, so I also think it is necessary for each of us to complete our own tasks.'

...

Louis's smile was cold, and he also pulled his thoughts back from his memories. He sat on the sofa in the living room of the luxurious Rhode Island villa, looked around at Zhou Ming in front of him a few times, and said, 'It seems that Mr. Zhou Ming also has a deep understanding of psychology, otherwise, according to the habits of those two guys Edward and Lawrence, they would definitely just wash their hands of the matter and stand on the shore laughing at us.'

'It's not bad, after all, their thoughts are considered to be common sense.' Zhou Ming said this, but in his heart he was thinking that these thoughts were exactly what Louis had done before.

Of course, Zhou Ming did not avoid this issue, but instead asked him, "For whatever reason, at least they are willing to help, which will make things easier. Then I believe that Mr. Louis also brought information about the Adams Family Holdings" holdings of CDS contracts, right?'

Louis nodded and said, 'In fact, I don't need to bring this confidence at all. The entire Brighton subprime loan industry basically knows that the Adams family is the driving force behind the entire market. Edward Lawrence also shares my view. Almost every subprime loan and CDS contract transaction is more or less related to the Adams family.'

'I don't quite understand what you mean, Mr. Louis. Are you saying that every subprime loan company or institution involved in CDS contract transactions is controlled by the Adams family?' Zhou Ming asked.

'Of course not. There are many investment companies in Brighton. No matter how powerful the Adams family is, it is difficult for them to control all the companies, and there is no need to do so. What I mean by being related to them is that they are in a very important position in these transactions.'

Louis thought for a moment and then said, 'Let's say I have a ten-year CDS contract worth ten million US dollars in my hands right now, and I want to sell it on the CDS market. A few days later, the contract is resold twenty times, and it ends up selling for a high price of eight million US dollars. During these twenty resales, at least two or three of them will be done by investment companies controlled by the Adams family.'

Lin Muqing gasped and said, 'So the entire CDS market is just a play directed by the Adams family? The goal is to attract speculators to bite the bait.'

Yes! The Adams family invested resources to heat up the CDS market, and sold the acquired CDS contracts at high prices to greedy speculators. But isn't this how bubbles are formed every time? Just like the domestic stock market in later generations, everyone watched the two markets rise every day, as if any idiot could make money by going in, so everyone started to pour money into the stock market, regardless of whether the current economic situation was really that good or whether the rise in the stock market was artificially inflated.

Or maybe some people understood that someone was driving up the price, but everyone thought they were the smart ones and that they could withdraw before the stock market crashed. But they didn't know that greed was the original sin, and it would make you endlessly imagine waiting one more day and making one more day's money.

And now the CDS market in Brighton is the same. Every speculator is imagining how much profit they will make if they sell the contract they bought. No one has ever thought about what this CDS contract actually is, or how much the subprime mortgage market behind it has been inflated. They just think that they are not the last ones, and there will always be someone else to take over.

Zhou Ming leaned back on the sofa and let out a breath, saying, 'I don't care about those insatiable speculators. I only have one question. Mr. Louis, please tell me, how many CDS contracts does the Adams family holding company currently hold?'

Louis shook his head and replied, 'I don't think I can tell you the exact number, but according to our conservative estimate, it has reached at least 300 billion U.S. dollars.'

Upon hearing this figure from Louis, Lin Muqing was unable to react in time, but quickly recovered: 'Zhou Ming, but the total real estate value of all of Brighton is only about 500 billion U.S. dollars. Although not all subprime loans are mortgages on real estate, real estate is after all a bellwether of subprime loans. This figure at least proves that the Adams family has a considerable amount of CDS contracts in their hands.'

Louis nodded and said, 'Ms. Lin, you are very good. Almost half of the CDS contracts in Brighton and even in Massachusetts are under the control of the Adams family.'

'This is really exciting news,' Zhou Ming said. 'But Mr. Louis, I still hope you can give me more detailed information.'

'No problem at all,'

Louis said to Zhou Ming, and then he made a phone call. A moment later, a man walked into the living room of the villa and brought them a cardboard box as big as a man's chest.

'These are the details you asked for,' said Louis. "But I think I can reveal one thing to you: Fenway is the place with the most subprime loans, and the Vida community is the top priority.'

After leaving Ming and Muqing with these words, Louis left the living room.

Muqing looked at Louis's departing back and asked Ming with a furrowed brow, "Why did he tell us this? Does he know something about you and is deliberately leading you where he wants you to go?'

Zhou Ming did not give a direct answer, but first asked, 'Muqing, I think you still remember Omar, don't you?'

Lin Muqing thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "I remember. You said on the phone that he is a member of the district council that you support, right?'

'He is not a member of the council yet, but apart from not having an official title, he has almost the same amount of power as the others. He has even gone to the council meetings for Bert Boudreau a few times, and the area he is in charge of is the Vidda community," Zhou Ming told Lin Muqing.

Lin Muqing suddenly understood, and Zhou Ming continued, 'There's another point. Omar has a relationship with Governor Edward. Edward once went to the Vidda community to see Omar, so I think it's normal for Louis to know the news through Edward.'

Lin Muqing became alert again: 'So does this Louis deliberately want you to start with the Vidda community?'

Facing Lin Muqing's nervousness, Zhou Ming smiled and said, 'Muqing, I don't think you need to be so nervous. Although I know they must have done it on purpose, it may not be such bad news. On the contrary, I think they have considered it.

Seeing that Lin Muqing still seemed to have some doubts, Zhou Ming had to say again, 'First of all, we are allies with them. No matter how shaky this alliance is, at least we are still in the same boat. I don't believe that now that there is a chance, they will deliberately turn it down. Secondly, Omar's relationship with Governor Edwards, no matter how cold-hearted a politician is, there is always some loyalty.

Zhou Ming paused for a moment and finally said, 'There is one more important point, and that is that I know this Veda community well. It is the community with the highest concentration of ethnic minorities, including the Chinese. In other words, it is a place where many subprime loans are processed. Starting here is not a bad idea.'

'I think what Louis is saying is just reminding me where the key points are that we can start with. After all, time is important now, and no one knows when the Adams family will dump all the CDS contracts they have in their hands, so we need to find the key points as soon as possible,' Zhou Ming said.

Lin Muqing let out a breath and said, 'If you insist, let's do it this way. I'll support you.'

Zhou Ming smiled and said to her, "Muqing, you should relax a little. People should still have a minimum of trust in each other.'

After saying that, Zhou Ming picked up the phone and dialed a number: "Omar, I have something very important here that I need your help with...'