Chapter 148: Sold below market price

With a snap of his fingers, Brooke sent a young waiter with a list through the crowd to Zhou Ming and their table. The waiter politely asked, 'Hello, welcome to Barton's Tavern. May I ask if you are here to invest in the stock market? Do you know a familiar stockbroker? If not, you can register at the first bar in the tavern, and the tavern can assign you a qualified stockbroker...'

Before the waiter could finish his sentence, Brooke angrily slammed his hand on the table and said, 'I am Brooke, chairman of Brooke Investments and a senior senator in the Massachusetts State Assembly. What market broker do I need? You ignorant fellow, tell your boss to come and see me right now!'

Zhou Ming glanced at Brooke and shook his head helplessly. He had brought Brooke to this market not to cause trouble, and Brooke himself understood this. What the waiter said was polite, and at first glance there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, because he said the same thing to every new guest he didn't know. But Brooke's anger was precisely because of this habit.

The reason is simple: Brooke does not think he should be a new guest he doesn't know.

As Brooke himself said, as a senior senator in the state parliament and the chairman of a well-known investment company, he is not well-known, but he should not be unknown.

In fact, if you say that Brook has a good psychological tolerance, it is not that he cannot tolerate some things in the current situation of his company, but the key lies in the presence of Zhou Ming. Such a past opponent now has to cooperate, and Brook still has to maintain his pride in front of Zhou Ming. He brought Zhou Ming to this s market, and before that there was no seat, but now even an waiter is so contemptuous of him, which made him lose his temper.

Zhou Ming thought about this, patted Brooke on the shoulder to indicate that he should calm down, and then said to the waiter, who looked confused and had no idea what he had said wrong, 'You don't need to pay any attention to him, he didn't take his medicine when he went out today, but you can go back and check. Brooke, I think this name here should not need any market brokers, and can be traded directly.'

The waiter looked at Brooke doubtfully, and Brooke glared at him fiercely. The waiter then hurriedly ran back to inquire.

In a short while, the waiter returned with his supervisor, who apologised to Brook with a smile: 'I'm sorry, Congressman Brook, my employee is new here and doesn't know the rules, and he doesn't know you...'

Brook gave him another glare: 'If he doesn't know the rules, does that mean you don't know the rules either?'

Zhou Ming waved his hand to casually interrupt Brook: 'It doesn't matter, as long as we can now conduct the listing without the need for a market broker.'

"Of course there's no problem with that!' The head waiter nodded eagerly, his tone full of gratitude towards Zhou Ming.

After all, although Brooke was on the verge of bankruptcy and his status had dropped a lot compared to the other big shot who was entitled to keep his position, he was still superior to them. If he really angered him and complained to the boss, the boss would definitely have to punish these employees in order to save Brooke's face, and who would want to have their bonuses docked when they were out working? Therefore, Zhou Ming helped him out of a difficult situation, which gave him a sigh of relief.

The shift leader was not only grateful, but also patted his chest and said, 'As long as these minor problems do not violate the rules, I can help you solve them.'

'Thank you very much,' Zhou Ming said, naturally not rejecting such benefits that came his way. He then asked, 'So what do you think about our wanting to put up for sale an s contract here?'

Zhou Ming asked this deliberately, just to see how the shift leader would react.

Sure enough, the foreman said hesitantly, 'Sir, if you want to sell the s contract now, I don't think it will be easy. I can provide you with some insider information for free. The s market is currently in a period of decline, and it is impossible for your s contract to sell for a good price.'

Zhou Ming shrugged and said, 'But what if I want to list it for sale today? Even if it's a $10 million s contract, I'll only sell it for $4.5 million.'

The foreman was stunned when he heard Zhou Ming's words, because if a 10 million dollar s contract was for sale, the normal market price would be around 7.5 million dollars. This is because the value of an s contract can only be fully recovered over a certain number of years, during which it has to withstand many factors such as credit risk and inflation. Therefore, s contracts that are generally listed for sale on the market will be lower than their actual value.

Even though the subprime mortgage crisis has caused the market to plummet, and even though the bankruptcy of Brook Investment has caused the price of the s contract to hit rock bottom, its actual value is still there. A ten million s contract is now worth at least five million. Now this Chinese person is asking for 4.5 million, what is the point of this transaction that is clearly a loss? Isn't it said that someone will do a deal in the electric chair, but no one will do a losing deal?

With this in mind, the foreman tentatively said, 'If that's the case, I think there shouldn't be a problem, but...'

'Then what's the problem?'

Zhou Ming's sudden question interrupted the foreman's words and made him realise instantly that he shouldn't ask too many questions.

'Okay, sir, as long as you're sure you want to list it for sale this way, I'll get right on it,' the foreman said.

'I want to list it right away,' Zhou Ming reminded him. "Also, I don't think I need to show those contracts as a member of the Brook Council, do I?"

The head waiter nodded and said, "Of course not. Member of the Brook Council is the best guarantee. I believe that if you say you have it, you will definitely have it. I will handle it for you right away, and I will also help you and Member of the Brook Council hide your identities."

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'There is no need to hide your identities. You can openly list it and say that Member of the Brook Council is selling ten contracts worth 10 million s, and the price is all 4.5 million U.S. dollars.'

Zhou Ming's words made the head waiter very surprised. As the head waiter of the S Market Tavern, he keenly sensed that something was wrong, but this time he wisely did not ask too many questions. He just instructed the waiters to provide good service to Zhou Ming and Brooke, and then bowed to help Zhou Ming list it.

The so-called registration is a practice that imitates the stock exchange. Simply put, there is a le display screen at each bar. In addition to trading through a market broker, every investor who wants to trade can also publicly display their intended transaction on the display screen for similar public bidding.

Compared to trading through a market broker, this method is obviously more efficient, but it is only for some big clients, and ordinary people are not eligible at all.

'Zhou Ming of China, that is, you are here, otherwise I will definitely make the boss come out and personally apologize to me!' Brooke said.

Zhou Ming could only smile helplessly at Brooke's behavior of insisting on saving face in front of him, but it was precisely his temper that would lead to today's outcome.

But compared to Brooke's arrogance, Zhou Ming was more concerned about the listing result from the head waiter.

The head waiter did not disappoint Zhou Ming. Just ten minutes later, the information about the sale of the Brook Investment Company's s contract was posted on the bar.

With the appearance of this information, the entire Barton Tavern immediately exploded. Not only were the brokers from the investment company discussing it, but even the 'big shots' on Old State Street were discussing it in amazement.

"Is that guy Brook going crazy because he's broke? He's selling the contract at such a huge discount below market price!'

'This is so unreasonable. If I remember correctly, someone sold a s contract yesterday for 5 million because the company was in financial trouble and was eager to realise its value. It is said that the price caused the company to lose more than 1.5 million US dollars. Now, at this price, Brook Investment Company will lose at least more than 2 million US dollars. This is unbelievable!'

'But isn't it true that Brook Investment Company has been on the verge of bankruptcy recently? Could it be that they are trying to raise funds in this way?'

'If it was a week ago, I would have believed that they were raising funds, but now they have been rescued, haven't they? I saw on the news that the insurance company has injected $700 million into Brook Investment. With such a large sum of money, it can't be said to have been saved at once, but it can at least last a long time, right? No matter what, they shouldn't sell their s-contracts at such a low price!'

'Their way of doing things is really unbelievable...'

As he listened to the people in the pub talking one after the other, Zhou Ming, who was behind this whole thing, sat calmly in his seat, while the waiter stood nervously nearby.

Suddenly, Zhou Ming reached out and snapped his fingers. The waiter immediately walked up quickly and respectfully asked Zhou Ming what he wanted.

Obviously, the waiter's thoughts were very simple. He thought that Zhou Ming had caused the whole pub to boil with just one message, and coupled with the instructions from the head waiter just now, then he must be no ordinary person.

Zhou Ming looked up and saw the waiter's nervous face. He smiled and patted the waiter on the shoulder, saying, 'Don't be so nervous. I just want to tell you that I want a rum and coke, that's all.'

The waiter felt a bit taken aback, but still nodded and said okay, and brought Zhou Ming a rum and coke.

Zhou Ming took the drink and then asked him, 'What's the status of my order now? How many have been sold?'

Faced with this question, the waiter said apologetically, 'I'm sorry,' and went back to the bar to ask. After a few minutes, the head waiter returned with the waiter.

'I'm sorry, it seems that your price seems to be a bit unexpected. Everyone is still in the waiting stage. Although someone came to the bar to ask, no one dared to buy it,' the head waiter apologetically told Ming Zhou, 'so Congressman Brooke and this gentleman, would it be more in line with market prices if you raised the price to 5 million dollars, and would that be more acceptable to some people?'

'It seems that the price really needs to be adjusted,' Zhou Ming said, "so let's make it 4 million dollars."

The head waiter was stunned. He looked at Zhou Ming in disbelief, and it wasn't until Zhou Ming repeated the price that he suddenly realised that Zhou Ming wasn't joking.

Then he looked at Brooke doubtfully, and Brooke impatiently told him, 'Just do what this gentleman says!'

This answer made the head waiter even more surprised, because as the head waiter of this Barton Tavern, he knew very well what Brook's senior congressman and investment company with a billion-dollar investment was like. If it weren't for this subprime mortgage crisis, he would also be very arrogant. He was a well-known figure in Massachusetts and even the entire New England region. How come now everything was decided by listening to another person? In that case, what was the identity of that Chinese gentleman?

This idea made him gasp, and he respectfully agreed, then stepped back.

A few minutes later, when the information on the le display above the bar jumped again, Zhou Ming's order immediately appeared: Brook Investment Company is selling ten ten million dollar s contracts for four million dollars.