Chapter 123: So it really doesn't work?

Inside the White Mountain Forest Manor in the north of Brighton, the patriarch of the Adams family, Cristo, was reading in his study, while the butler of the manor was brewing coffee beans nearby, the rich aroma drifting throughout the room.

Suddenly, the door to the study was kicked open very rudely, and Cristo frowned in displeasure.

A young man walked in, sat down very casually in the chair opposite Christo, reached for a coffee bean on the table and threw it into his mouth. He spat it out and said, 'What the hell is this? It's really fucking disgusting, only you would like this kind of thing.'

If anyone else had dared to act so rudely at the White Mountain Manor, even if they were the governor, Christo would have thrown them out immediately. But there was just this young man, and Christo was at his wits' end with him, because this young man was not only his son, but also because of some past events that he would rather not think about. In the end, he sighed, closed the book in his hands and asked him, 'Robert, although you have your own reasons every time, I would still like to hear this one. Can you tell me?'

In response to Christo's question, Robert shrugged with disdain: 'Tell you? I think you should tell me.'

'I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about. What exactly am I supposed to tell you?' Christo asked, puzzled.

Robert spread his hands and said, 'Okay, let me remind you a little. It's still the story of the Chinese guy. Does anything come to mind?'

Christo felt a wave of helplessness. In fact, as soon as Robert had walked in the door, he had already guessed who it was that Robert was thinking about. After all, these days, the only person who could make Robert care about anything was that Chinese guy, and of course, the fact that Chinese guy was a real headache, especially when he heard that he had formed an alliance with the Kennedys, the Lawrences and the Lowell family.

Although Christo was sure that the alliance was not a strong one, and that all four sides were playing their own games, such alliances were always annoying.

In the past few days, Christo has been negotiating with the other three families about this issue, and the bargaining has already annoyed him. Now that Robert has suddenly brought it up again, it has made him even more angry.

'Robert, you really should take your mind off that Chinese guy. He's not worth all the time you spend spying on him. You should spend more time reading and exercising. I'd even rather you took up drugs, you know?' Christo says.

'Is that so? But I think if I really took up drugs, you would think I should deal with the Chinese guy instead. You're always so unpredictable, aren't you?"

Robert said casually. He saw Christo frown and about to say something, so he quickly added, 'Okay, Mr. Christo, I didn't come here today to debate with you about this. Judging from your current behaviour, you really don't know what's going on.'

'So please tell me what's going on? Has the Chinese guy gone to heaven?' asked Christo.

'It's not him who's gone to heaven, but you, Christo, or rather the Adams family,' Robert asked Christo in return. "Do you know that guy Zhou Ming has returned to Brighton?"

Christo raised an eyebrow: 'Really? I didn't think he had the guts. Isn't he afraid that we'll find a hitman to go after him if he keeps provoking us like that? Even if he has a powerful bodyguard by his side, it's useless.'

'Mr. Christo, he has even more guts than you have imagined,' Robert said. "Just this morning, Zhou Ming went to the Veda community to hold a community residents" meeting, where he mentioned the subprime loan issue of Brook Investment and asked all the residents of the community to file for personal bankruptcy, so that these subprime loans could not function normally. I think what he did was to sound the horn of retaliation to you.'

'A counterattack?' Christo laughed, "You mean he's going to challenge the Adams family by relying on the bankruptcy of a few community residents? Don't you think what you're saying is just wishful thinking?"

'I don't think so. On the contrary, I think it's very possible, or rather, that's what I hope.'

Robert said, 'First, he used the bankruptcy of those residents to trigger a crisis in which subprime loans could not be repaid. Then the three families of Candini, Lawrence and Lowell intervened. It's not without hope. What do you think, Mr. Christo?'

Christo laughed and said, 'Well, I think I'll use facts to show you that this is impossible.'

When they finished talking, the butler on the side finally finished making the coffee. He brought it up and silently placed it in front of the two of them...

That night, while Zhou Ming was in Omar's office discussing the residents' meeting the next day, he suddenly received a call from Edward.

As soon as the call connected, Edward bluntly got straight to the point: "Mr Zhou Ming, I have some very bad news for you. The Adams family has already received news of your arrival in Brighton, and they also know that you are holding a residents" meeting in the Vida community.'

Zhou Ming let out a long breath and then asked, 'So has the Adams family taken any action?'

'Action has already been taken, and it is being personally directed by the patriarch of the Adams family, Christo. As for what the action is and what they will do, I'm sorry, I have no way of knowing,' Edward said.

'This is very important news, Mr. Governor, thank you very much for telling me,' Zhou Ming said.

'It's nothing, because we are allies, aren't we?' Edward said.

Zhou Ming then hung up the phone. Looking up, he met Omar's concerned expression. Obviously, the future president had not heard the details of the phone call, but from the changes in his own facial expressions, combined with what he had said, he was able to guess something.

'Has the Adams family found out about us? And have they already taken action?' Omar asked.

Zhou Ming didn't need to hide anything from Omar, so he nodded and replied, "Yes, but we don't know what action they'll take yet."

'So the residents' meeting tomorrow...'

Omar's probing question was not finished, and Zhou Ming answered him, 'The residents' meeting will still go ahead as usual. I don't believe the Adams family will react so quickly. However, in order to avoid more trouble and reduce risks, let all the remaining representatives of ethnic minorities come to the residents' meeting tomorrow. I don't think there will be time for another meeting, so we have to put all our eggs in tomorrow!'

Omar nodded silently and said, 'No problem. Mr. Zhou Ming, you are truly the greatest warrior I have ever seen!'

Omar's words came from the bottom of his heart. Although he was not Ming Zhou, he could empathise with Ming Zhou's current situation.

First of all, Ming Zhou was facing the Brighton family, which was even the leading family in the United States. Theoretically, there was no way he could win, but he still found a way out of the predicament and found three allies in the Candini Laurens and Lowell families. Whether they were reliable or not, they were always allies. He also found a breakthrough in subprime loans and wanted to use the bankruptcy of minorities to influence the market.

Perhaps the failure of today's town hall meeting is very frustrating, but after all, it is only the black community. Who knows what the other minorities think? Especially his Chinese compatriots, no matter how good the chances of success are, there is always a glimmer of hope, isn't there? But now, news has come that the Adams family has already received the news and has begun to take action, which has basically extinguished this last glimmer of hope!

This series of blows would make anyone give up and fall, but Zhou Ming still insisted. How could this struggle not be great?

With this in mind, Omar secretly told himself: No matter what, I must help Zhou Ming!

It was 8:30 a.m. the next day when Zhou Ming and Omar arrived at the community square in Vidda. When they arrived, representatives of other minority families also came over one after the other.

'Didn't you say the meeting was at 10 o'clock? Why has it been brought forward to 8:30? That's pretty casual!"

Someone said resentfully. But there was nothing that Ming and Omar could do about it. After all, the meeting had been scheduled for 10 o'clock, but they had received a sudden phone call from Edward last night, with news of the Adams family's actions, and the time had to be brought forward. Not only that, they had originally planned to hold the meeting separately for each minority group, but now they had all been called together.

When everyone was present, Omar said, 'I'm very grateful that you've all come. This shows that the Vida community is a very united group, and everyone is very self-aware. Then I believe this is the first step that will make us better.'

Then Omar introduced Zhou Ming: 'You all know me, but you may not know him. In fact, he is an excellent businessman. He owns an insurance company with assets of over 100 million yuan. He is very knowledgeable about finance, especially about your loans and real estate issues. Many people, including me, consult him in this regard, so I hope you can seize this opportunity, listen carefully and think about everything he says.'

After Omar finished, he handed the floor over to Zhou Ming. Zhou Ming stood up and said, 'I am very grateful to Mr. Omar for his introduction of me, but I want to say that I am not here to lecture you today. I don't want to preach in any way, I just want to share something with you, that's all.'

"Okay, I know that each of you has borrowed money from Brook Investment Company, and perhaps it is not a small amount. But what you may not know is that the interest you have to pay is actually a huge trap!'

Zhou Ming then repeated what he had said to the representatives of the black family the previous day, although the sentence structure was different, the core idea was still the preferential loans from the bank and the huge amount of interest they would have to pay over the years.

'So I don't know if everyone understands. Your hard work is not actually for yourself, but for these uppity white Americans. For their better lives, so that they can have a steak for every meal and you can only have mashed potatoes; so that they can go on vacation to Hawaii and you can only go for a walk in the park; they enjoy the salary, and you pay for it!'

Zhou Ming paused for a moment and then concluded, 'So are you willing to be their slaves like this? If you are not willing, then please file for personal bankruptcy and let them go bankrupt too!'

'But we signed a contract with Brook Investment Company, and if we go bankrupt, won't our property be auctioned off?' someone asked.

Zhou Ming's heart tightened. He knew that this was the crux of the matter, so he answered very carefully: 'That is true, but I can assure you that your house will one day return to you. Our goal is simply to enable everyone to live a better life, not to be slaves!'

Zhou Ming's sonorous voice echoed through the square for a long time.

All the representatives of the minority families looked at each other, as if stunned by Zhou Ming, and it was only after a long while that someone finally made a statement, but it was not what Zhou Ming had hoped for.

'I'm sorry, Mr. Zhou Ming, but I don't accept your proposal. I don't want my property to be auctioned off.'

A Latino stood up and said, and upon hearing his reply, Zhou Ming let out a heavy sigh: Is it really still not going to work?