Chapter 142: Self-Contradictory Paradox

In the morning, Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing arrived at Brook Investment Company. The chairman, Brook, greeted them in the office with all the company staff. When they saw Zhou Ming enter, they all immediately stood up and gave Zhou Ming the warmest applause and cheers. Even the company's pretty secretary gave Zhou Ming a bouquet of flowers.

All the employees of Brook Investment Company sincerely welcomed Zhou Ming, because to them, Zhou Ming was their saviour. Without Zhou Ming, Brook Investment Company might go bankrupt immediately, and they would all lose their jobs. It was Zhou Ming's capital injection that temporarily saved their jobs. Now that their saviour was coming, naturally they had to put on their best behaviour. &Novel nbsp;Amidst the joy of all the company employees, even though Chairman Brook wanted to chop Zhou Ming up with a knife in his heart, on the surface he still smiled and went up to shake Zhou Ming's hand and said, 'I very much welcome Mr. Zhou Ming's arrival. Brook Investment Company has always been the most important investment institution in Brighton. Our future profits will help you create benefits beyond your imagination. I believe you will be very glad that you made the decision to save today!'

After listening to Brook's words, Zhou Ming laughed and said to him, 'I am really surprised that Mr. Brook can say such words, but I think I can understand you.'

At Zhou Ming's words, Brook's expression involuntarily stiffened for a moment, and then he said awkwardly, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I don't quite understand what you mean, but I think Mr. Zhou Ming must also be very satisfied with Brook Investment Company.'

Brook said this obviously to change the subject, but Zhou Ming had no intention of letting him have his way. Zhou Ming continued, 'Let me put it more clearly. I know that in your heart, Mr. Brook, you definitely want to die rather than accept any of my charity. However, unfortunately, the truth seems to be a little higher than expected. No matter how strong your beliefs are, they are always very fragile in the face of reality. Am I right?'

At this moment, Brook really wanted to spit blood. Just as Zhou Ming said, he really thought so, and he was even more determined than Zhou Ming said. However, on the 21st, when Zhou Ming appeared in the conference hall of the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton, and when Christo and Edward announced that both the bank and the government had withdrawn from the rescue operation, he understood that there was no escape.

As for Brooke himself, he knew that the company had become what it was because of him, and he wanted to kill Zhou Ming with all his heart, so why would he need Zhou Ming's help? He had also thought that even if he let the company go bankrupt, he could not let himself be humiliated by Zhou Ming, but the truth was that he was not in control of the situation.

As one of the most important investment companies in Massachusetts and the company at the centre of the current subprime mortgage crisis, it has become the object of scrutiny by others. If Brook Investment Company collapses, the subprime mortgage crisis will slide down a much larger slope. This is something the Brighton family cannot allow to happen, so Brook was kidnapped by the consortium and left to Zhou Ming, and even Brook did not have the right to express his opinion.

Unfortunately, these words could not be spoken in the company, so he could only smile and say, 'I guess that's just the way some things are. The winner becomes king and the loser becomes a loser.'

After a few pleasantries, Brooke took Zhou Ming to the conference room, where Brooke's lawyer handed Zhou Ming a document.

This document was the document Zhou Ming signed to inject capital into Brooke Investment Company and transfer and change the equity. Since these documents were prepared in advance, there was no need to study them too carefully on the spot. As long as there were no fundamental problems after a quick glance, they could be signed. Then Zhou Ming and Brooke signed in front of everyone in the company's conference room and exchanged the documents.

After signing, Ming Zhou and Brooke both stood up to shake hands. Then Brooke suddenly asked again, 'But Mr. Ming Zhou, our investment company, Brooke, is already ready to accept your management at any time. We just don't know when your funds will be ready.'

'Funds?' Ming Zhou said with a smile, 'This was the condition I exchanged with Mr. Christo. You are not qualified to ask, understand? Even though we have already signed the contract.'

Brooke then desperately wanted to slap himself. He hated himself for being so stupid. He could clearly guess that since Zhou Ming had come forward to be the saviour, there must be a lot of exchange of interests behind the scenes that he could not just fight. Why did he have to ask such a redundant question? Wasn't this just asking for trouble?

Compared to Brooke's remorse, all the other employees of Brooke Investments were at a loss. They had no idea what Zhou Ming was talking about. What did he mean by an exchange of conditions with Mr. Christo? Who was Mr. Christo? And why did he say that they were not qualified even though they had signed the contract? Wasn't Brook the chairman of the company and a senior senator from Massachusetts?

Of course, these employees soon found the answers to these questions themselves: after all, Mr. Zhou Ming was a big shot in high places, and he must have his own set of rules. The people he knew were not the kind of people they could know, so it was only natural that they didn't know.

Zhou Ming then left Brook Investment Company and went with Lin Muqing to the Bay Villa in Brighton, which belonged to the Adams family. It had a small harbour, similar to Zhou Ming's club in Rhodes, but the facilities there were much better than here due to industrialisation, and the docking area was also much larger.

"Mr Zhou Ming, please wait a moment. Your friends have already arrived offshore and you will see them soon,'

The butler of the villa said to Zhou Ming, and by friend he meant the exchange that Zhou Ming had mentioned earlier. Zhou Ming had to ask Christo to release Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yer Biedu, who were under house arrest, before he would save Brook Investment.

Christo did not come back today because he had already promised Zhou Ming that he would face the pressure from the four people and make a humiliating decision. Now he had to come back and smile at Zhou Ming? As the patriarch of the Adams family, he absolutely could not accept this insult.

Zhou Ming also understood this, and he didn't plan on seeing Christo again anyway.

After about a quarter of an hour, sure enough, Zhou Ming saw a cruise ship slowly approaching from not far away. The butler who had been waiting with Zhou Ming told him that it was Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Ildebald.

Ten minutes later, the cruise ship finally docked at the port, and Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Ildebald walked out of the cabin one after the other.

'A very warm welcome back to Brighton,' Ming smiled at the port.

The three men, Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Irbedov, hugged Ming one after the other as soon as they got on board and said, 'Ming little brother, you are my most important family member! There is nothing else to say, in the future, your business will be my business, even if I have to sell Changhe Industry! We Northern Russians are very courageous, but I never thought I would have the opportunity to come back again. Mr. Ming is just as great as my father!'

Perhaps there was no word of thanks in their words, but their gratitude towards Zhou Ming was beyond words.

'Just Zhou Ming, little brother, can you tell us what happened?' Tong Gang asked, and Li Cheng and Irbedov also wore curious expressions, obviously they were all very curious about this question.

But it's understandable. After all, it was the Adams family that put them under house arrest. If Zhou Ming had found a way to use the power of a major country to send a special forces team to rescue them, that would be understandable, but now they were released by the Adams family themselves. What was going on? Could it be that Zhou Ming had done something to make the Adams family compromise? But they couldn't imagine what could make a family like the Adams compromise.

Facing their doubts, Zhou Ming said, 'Just as the three of you guessed, a lot has happened in Brighton while you were gone. I'll tell you on the way back.'

Then Zhou Ming led them away from the villa. On the way back to the hotel, Zhou Ming told them about how he had instigated the subprime mortgage crisis and later used them as a bargaining chip to get them back.

After hearing Zhou Ming's answer, the three of them were silent. After a while, Tong just said, 'Zhou Ming, you are really a person worthy of entrusting one's life to. I never thought that you could instigate the subprime mortgage crisis. You could have made a bigger deal out of the financial crisis, but I never thought that you would actually get our freedom in exchange for it. We are really moved.'

Li Cheng also said, 'Yes, little brother Ming Zhou, I always thought I was a very successful businessman, but now I find that I actually have to rely on you like this, I'm still a failure!'

Il'yadov said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, we Northern Russians believe that if you receive a favour from someone, you should repay it with your life. In the future, no matter what you want to do, I will support you as much as possible!'

Zhou Ming scratched his head embarrassedly and said, 'Actually, you are all exaggerating. I did save you, but at that time, because we were allies, I did this to give Kendrick Lawrence and Lowell confidence. I can do this to you, and naturally I will do the same to them. Another point is that I was just borrowing their ideas and not as great as you say.'

After hearing Zhou Ming say this, the three men, Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yerbedov, immediately became even more respectful towards Zhou Ming. They said, 'You not only have very precious qualities, but also a noble soul!'

'Although being praised is a very enjoyable experience, I want to say that you really got it wrong. I am not Lei Feng. I was able to return you because of a coincidence,' Zhou Ming said.

"What other coincidence could there be?' Tong Gang asked curiously, 'But you have now promised Christo to save Brook Investment Company, and you have also signed a management rights transfer contract with their company. You will inevitably have to come up with the funds of several hundred million US dollars. If you fail to do so, not only will you be legally liable, but it will also have a very bad impact on your reputation. Do you understand what I mean?'

"Don't worry, Tong Zhui, I'm not joking about my reputation. As for the several hundred million US dollars I have to come up with, I won't take a single penny right now,' Zhou Ming said.

Tong Gang, Li Cheng and Yerbedov were all stunned. They had no idea what Zhou Ming was talking about. If they wanted to protect their reputation, they had to honour the contract. But in order to honour the contract, they would have to pay out billions of dollars. But Zhou Ming had just said that he wasn't going to take a single penny. Wasn't that a paradox?

Zhou Ming could of course see what they were thinking. He laughed and said, 'Don't worry, I have my way!'

The three people, who were at a loss, could never have imagined that in the end, Zhou Ming's method would make Christo so angry that he could not help but order the missiles of Phoenix Inc. to be directly equipped with nuclear warheads to flatten Zhou Ming.