Feeling someone calling him, Cheng Taixi woke up in the bedroom of the Gulfstream V-type business jet. He saw Lily Fawell standing next to Chen Qing at the door, knocking on the door, sat up, and subconsciously said hello in Korean before reacting. , switching to English again, asked: "Are we about to arrive?"
Lily Fawell smiled and nodded: "Yes, Miss Cheng, there are still ten minutes left. There will be some bumps when landing. It is not safe to continue in bed."
Cheng Taixi nodded, brushed the messy hair hanging in front of his forehead, and asked, "Can I freshen up first?"
"Of course, no problem," Lily Fawell gestured towards the bathroom door on the side of the bedroom: "But please hurry up, ten minutes."
Cheng Taixi agreed, and when Favel turned to leave, she lifted the thin quilt and got out of bed and entered the bathroom next to her.
After simply freshening up, Cheng Taixi came to the living room in the middle cabin. Chen Qing didn't know if she had rested, but she still looked energetic. She was leaning on the leather chair by the porthole, flipping through documents.
After saying hello, Cheng Taixi sat across from her at Chen Qing's signal. Christie Latham, another waitress next to her, saw her awkward appearance and took the initiative to help Cheng Taixi fasten her seat belt before returning to her seat. .
The pilot's prompt came from the cabin PA. It was a soft female voice. Cheng Taixi waited for the other party to finish speaking before taking the initiative to talk to Chen Qing: "Miss Chen, um, what time is it now?"
"Are you asking about Los Angeles?" Chen Qing did not respond indifferently to such a non-nutritious question this time. She raised her arm and looked at the limited edition Patek Philippe on her wrist and said: "US East Coast time, 11:32 a.m. You can set your watch."
Cheng Taixi agreed, quickly followed the instructions, and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that a day has already passed."
Chen Qing raised her head and glanced at her: "Are you stupid? It's still Saturday here in the United States."
Cheng Taixi immediately felt that Chen Qing had returned to 'normal', and of course he did not dare to reply. He also realized that according to the time difference, the United States seemed to be more than ten hours behind Asia. However, it still felt a little strange. They set off from Hong Kong at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, November 1st, and arrived in North America. Not only did time not move forward, but it went back three hours.
The Gulfstream V began to lower its altitude. Cheng Taixi said no more. He held the armrests slightly nervously with both hands, but couldn't help but stick to the side window and glance down. Below is a city that is criss-crossed like a chessboard but far less regular than a chessboard. This is Los Angeles.
City of Angels.
Cheng Taixi searched for it secretly. Unfortunately, she was sitting on the right side of the Gulfstream V cabin flying east-west. She could only see the southern scenery of the greater Los Angeles area, and the seaside that seemed to be called Malibu on the north side. The Shell Villa, which is very conspicuous in the center of the town, cannot be seen.
Just when I was feeling a little regretful, a voice suddenly came from my ears: "If you are not afraid of falling, you can go over there and take a look."
Cheng Taixi was startled and felt a little guilty. Then he felt that the fuselage was shaking slightly. He quickly shook his head: "No, no need."
Chen Qing asked again: "Your English is so good, you must have been to the United States, right?"
"I've only been here three times," Cheng Taixi said, and added: "I used to be mainly responsible for receiving overseas customers in China, but in the past few years, I have been to Europe more often."
Chen Qing nodded. She had read Cheng Taixi's detailed resume. He majored in administrative management at Seoul National University. After graduation, he entered Kia Motors and worked in some departments. Because of his good appearance and excellent English, he had been working at Kia in the past few years. A customer reception and media PR team working for Automotive Overseas.
Thinking of this, Chen Qing suddenly remembered an interesting thing she saw while browsing Kia's information, and looked up at Cheng Taixi: "Speaking of Europe, I am very curious, how did Kia think of going to build a car factory in the UK? You guys made this Is the executive who made the decision really a genius?”
Cheng Taixi felt the obvious ridicule in Chen Qing's tone. Even though he no longer had much affection for Kia, he still explained: "This is to open up the European market."
"There is no need to invest huge sums of money in building new factories. In recent years, British car companies have gone bankrupt and moved overseas. Kia can take over some existing factories, and the cost will be much lower." After saying this, Chengtai Xi responded again, and Chen Qing shook her head slightly and said in admiration: "What a genius."
Cheng Taixi was speechless.
Frankly speaking, if Kia and even most of South Korea's chaebols had not been almost blindly investing heavily all over the world in recent years, South Korea's crisis might not be so serious.
Therefore, even Sung Tae Hee himself cannot deny that he went to invest and build an automobile factory in a country where related industries are in rapid decline, labor costs are expensive, and the labor union environment and industry regulations are restrictive. The executive who made such a decision to go against the general trend, 'Genius' indeed.
A born fool.
The Gulfstream V landed at Los Angeles International Airport. The group passed through the VIP channel and three black Mercedes-Benz cars were waiting outside.
Cheng Taixi was not sure which car to take when she was stopped by Chen Qing, so he followed her into one of the Mercedes-Benzes. When the car started, she remembered something again and hesitated to speak.
Chen Qing said again without waiting for her to ask: "The luggage will be sent to our residence, so don't worry about it."
Cheng Taixi nodded quickly.
The Mercedes-Benz sedan quickly left the area around the airport and entered the urban area of Santa Monica. Cheng Taixi's previous trips to the United States could only be considered fleeting. At this time, he was sitting in the luxury Mercedes-Benz sedan, looking at the roads on both sides of the road and the past. During my trip to Los Angeles, the city street scenes were not much different, but inexplicably, there was a different feeling that I couldn't explain.
Chen Qing next to her quickly asked again: "Do you feel different?"
Cheng Taixi was already used to Miss Chen's meticulous observation ability, which was almost mind-reading. She didn't deny it. She just hummed, but couldn't tell what was different.
Chen Qing once again talked about a theory that she understood very early: "It's very simple, because the social level you are standing on is different now. If you are just an ordinary middle class, because the social level is too low, no matter in Los Angeles , New York, London, or Paris, if you go around in a circle, it is actually not much different than if you shuttle between different streets in Seoul, it is just a waste of air tickets. Due to financial constraints and vision constraints, you can’t see the real scenery. Not even."
Cheng Taixi wanted to refute, but she had to admit that even if she didn't feel like she saw anything yet, the fact seemed to be the case.
After Chen Qing finished speaking, seeing Cheng Taixi's thoughtful look, she smiled, reached out and pinched the other person's chin, and said, "So, Cheng, remember to cherish this opportunity I give you."
"I will," Cheng Taixi waited for Chen Qing to take back her hand, turned to her obediently and bowed slightly to assure her, and then asked: "Miss Chen, when can we, I mean, can we see West?" Mr. Luo?"
"I don't know," Chen Qing shook her head and said truthfully: "We may not be able to see each other in these two days, so we have to go back to New York first."
Cheng Taixi was suddenly disappointed.
Chen Qing smiled and joked: "Do you miss a man?"
Cheng Taixi shook his head shyly and denied: "No."
"I didn't say I wouldn't let you think about it," Chen Qing smiled and waved her hand: "However, you can only think about one person, and that is our boss. If you let me know that you think about other men, I will let you never think about it again. Can’t see a man.”
Cheng Taixi keenly felt that the girl next to him was not joking at all, and quickly said: "I, I won't, I promise."
Chen Qing asked: "What guarantee?"
Cheng Taixi's face turned red: "I promise, I only want Mr. Westeros to be alone."
"very good."
The motorcade passed through Santa Monica and entered the affluent area of Brentwood, and soon followed the winding mountain road to a mountainside mansion in Brentwood Heights.
This is a manor that occupies an area of more than three acres and occupies a hilltop alone. The main villa is a three-story mixture of Mediterranean and American country styles. The yellow walls and red roof reveal a clear Mediterranean atmosphere, and the base of the villa is an American country style. The stone exterior does not have the arches typical of Mediterranean architecture, and is slightly square.
After greeting the team of maids who came up, Cheng Taixi followed Chen Qing into the main villa. The two-story, seven-meter-high hall was decorated in a warm yellow and light gold style, set off by the crystal chandelier at the top that was also lit during the day. It looks simple, bright and luxurious. The spiral staircase leading to the second floor on one side of the hall is obviously widened, making it even more grand and luxurious.
Cheng Taixi was still looking at her secretly, but Chen Qing had quickly and methodically ordered the arrangements. Noticing Cheng Taixi in a daze next to him, Chen Qing called a waitress: "Take her around, come back quickly, we will eat later." Lunch."
The waitress stepped forward and made a gesture of invitation. Cheng Taixi nodded to Chen Qing, knowing that she had something to do to deliberately distract him, and followed the waitress to leave obediently.
After sending Cheng Taixi away, Chen Qing told the other maids and attendants to go about their business, then affectionately hugged Isabel Dunn, who had just taken the lead to greet him, looked at the girl's chest and teased: "Isa, you are getting bigger and bigger. , was it touched by the boss?"
Isabel Dunn, who has long been one of the leaders of the Wei family's attendant team, has a good impression of this Asian girl who is favored by her boss and is sociable. She never forgets to bring them gifts every time he comes over. The two parties only meet rarely, but they feel like old friends at first sight. , rolled his eyes when he heard this: "I hope so, but it's a pity that it never happened once."
Chen Qing smiled and said: "I understand, that's why I grow bigger and bigger. Keep working hard, and sooner or later you will attract the boss's attention."
"No matter how old it is, I want to cut it off. It's so troublesome."
The two chatted for a few words and went to a living room on the side of the hall. After sitting down and waiting for the waitress to bring the coffee, Chen Qing leaned on the sofa holding the cup and asked: "Boss and Madam, how have they been lately?" How about it?"
"They're all very good," Isabel also held the coffee, but her posture was not as casual as Chen Qing's. She replied, and then said: "By the way, my wife told me before coming here that if you bring a lot of gifts this time, quietly Just send it over. Also, you can meet the boss at Malibu Studios on Monday morning. It’s not convenient in the past few days."
Chen Qing knew that this was not Janet's sudden indifference to her, there must be a reason, and asked curiously: "What's wrong?"
Isabel spoke in a slightly lower voice: "The madam's eldest brother and second brother's family have come from Australia in recent days and are guests at Dume Point Manor."
Chen Qing immediately understood that this was definitely inappropriate. However, she immediately became a little gossipy and curious, and raised a hand to gesture in the air: "Then, what about...?"
Chen Qing stammered and tried to hide it, but Isabel understood and rolled her eyes at her again: "Jennifer is accepted by the Johnston family, you can't compare."
Isabel had a venomous tongue, but Chen Qing didn't mind and said with a smile: "Yeah, we can't compare."
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After chatting and laughing for a while, Isabel declined Chen Qing's invitation to have lunch together and was about to leave. Chen Qing remembered that since it was not suitable to go there in person these two days, Isabel sent the letter from Jin Yongsan. Give the handwritten letter to Isabel and ask her to take it back to Dume Point Manor to her boss.
Isabel is a confidant maid who has worked for the Westeros family for many years. In addition, although the letter came from the President of South Korea, the content was not top secret. Chen Qing was relieved about it.
…
Cheng Taixi walked around the swimming pool, garden, observation deck and tennis court outside the manor. He just felt that this place was really big. In comparison, whether it was the crowded Seoul or the Victoria Peak in Hong Kong a few days ago, The mansion with only three-quarters of an acre is dwarfed by comparison, and this, like the mansion on Shixun Road in Victoria Peak, is obviously just one of the many properties owned by Simon Westeros.
Finally, they returned to the terrace overlooking Los Angeles and enjoyed the scenery for a while. It was not until the maid who had been accompanying her was notified that the two returned to the main villa again, which only covered an area that was significantly larger than the entire hilltop mansion in Hong Kong.
During lunch, faced with Cheng Taixi's inquiry, Chen Qing did not whet her appetite, saying that she would definitely not have the chance to meet Simon Westeros this time. The two of them would go to New York together on Monday and wait until they had the opportunity to talk.
Cheng Taixi was disappointed in his heart, but also a little happy.
She was disappointed that she couldn't see the legendary young tycoon this time. Fortunately, she was not unwilling, but she was always worried that the tycoon would look down on her.
See you later, at least, I can keep you in mind.
Although he was a little disappointed not to see anyone, after lunch, Cheng Taixi went out with Chen Qing, and soon began to feel more deeply and intuitively the words Chen Qing said in the car when he left the airport.
Different scenery of different classes.
Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, she followed Chen Qing through various luxury places in the city that she could only visit even if she mustered up the courage to set foot there, various top luxury brand stores, and various VIP restaurants and clubs. , and even some small circles that she never dared to think about before.
In just one afternoon, she didn't dare to calculate how much she spent. Anyway, she couldn't afford it either in the past or now.
We can only look forward to the future.
In the evening, she went to a Halloween party in Beverly Hills to join in the fun. The Hollywood stars she had only seen on the big screen were walking beside her one by one, which was so dizzying for her.
Because of her outstanding appearance, she was inevitably approached at parties.
Before meeting Chen Qing, Cheng Taixi felt that it would be difficult for her to resist, and she might even be a nymphomaniac. But, this time, because his mood was completely different, behind him... Even if he hadn't seen her yet, he was someone who was almost like a Hollywood king. Since she is his woman, in front of these seemingly shining big stars, she has unknowingly gained a little more confidence and can appear neither humble nor overbearing. She even entangled a male star she had seen on the big screen a little too much. Sometimes, directly rebuke the other party.
Initially, she was a little nervous after reprimanding her. She was worried that the other person would become angry because he was so tall. However, the person quickly left in dejection. This gave Cheng Taixi a little more confidence and confidence in the seemingly glamorous so-called celebrities around her. Their eccentric superiority.
At around ten o'clock, I returned to Brentwood Heights from Beverly Hills, and was dragged by Chen Qing to take a shower together. It was inevitable that she would be entangled, and it was already 11 o'clock in the night when I left the bathroom.
Neither of them was sleepy, so they went to a living room with a terrace on the third floor, where they could directly see the brilliant night view of Los Angeles like an inverted starry sky.
The two women drank a glass of red wine while admiring the night view of the city. After all, it was a cold night, so they returned to the house, sat on the sofa together, and turned on the TV at will. Chen Qing, who was still holding the red wine, leaned on the corner of the sofa, with a pair of calves on the other side. On Xi's lap, with a rosy face, he asked with a smile: "How are you feeling today?"
How about it
Of course, it's very different.
Cheng Taixi recalled that he just felt that his past 36 years were in vain as he was as busy as an ant. However, I can’t say how to describe it specifically.
After a slight hesitation, Cheng Taixi just said: "The festive atmosphere is very strong here."
Today is Halloween.
When traveling around during the day, you can see holiday-related signs and various activities everywhere, as well as people wearing a variety of Halloween costumes.
Chen Qing also nodded, feeling a little regretful: "Actually, it was more lively last night, the Halloween parade, but it's a pity that we were a day late."
Cheng Taixi has only heard about the Halloween parades in the West. She has never experienced them personally, and she can't say she has any regrets. She is really satisfied today. Thinking of something, he added: "Today, when I passed by a movie theater, I saw the big poster of "The Ghost Story" and "The Conjuring 3". These are all very popular horror movies in North America recently, Ms. Chen , how about we go see it together tomorrow?"
The screening of "The Ghost Story" has entered its sixth week. Although it still has room for success at the box office, it has finally entered the second half of its release.
The hottest thing in recent days should actually be "The Conjuring 3".
However, because the fame of "The Ghost Story" spread all over the world during this period, Sung Tae Hee was well-known even in South Korea. The problem is that although the film has been released in South Korea and the box office was equally popular, Sung Tae Hee could not watch movies some time ago. Not in the mood at all.
The mentality is different now, and besides, this is a film produced by that person's film company, so of course there is a bit more expectation.
Chen Qing also became interested after hearing this. She sat up straight and took out her mobile phone. She thought for a moment and started dialing. She explained with a smile: "I want to watch it too, but we don't have to go to the cinema. The place is so crowded. , I asked them to send a copy over and watch it directly at home. Oh, if you get scared later, you can get into my arms."
Cheng Taixi watched blankly as Chen Qing dialed the number and started chatting with the other party, gaining insight again.
Is this still possible
Chen Qing chatted with the other person for a while, then hung up the phone and said to Cheng Taixi, "Half an hour."
Cheng Taixi nodded and saw Chen Qing's calf dangling on her thigh. He quickly put down the red wine in his hand and took the initiative to help Chen Qing knead it.
While they were chatting, the TV picture that they didn't pay much attention to attracted their attention.
Chen Qing signaled Cheng Taixi to turn up the volume louder, and the discussion on the TV screen suddenly became clearer.
This is an evening financial talk show on a local Los Angeles city television station.
The host and the two guests on the screen were discussing the financial sniper war that took place in Hong Kong in the past week.
After chatting about the general details of the incident, the host first raised the topic and asked the two guests: "According to media reports, in this financial showdown, various short-selling capitals surrounding Hong Kong lost at least US$30 billion. However, many people raised objections They think there won’t be so many at all. One of their main arguments is that the daily trading volume of Hong Kong stocks in Hong Kong is only about 10 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is equivalent to only 1.2 billion US dollars. What do you two think?"
"I think the 30 billion figure is not too far off."
"Daniel, I feel the same way."
"So, Joe, Terry, can you explain it to everyone in detail?"
Among the two guests, the gray-haired middle-aged man named Joseph Wilkinson, as shown in the subtitles at the bottom of the screen, was the first to speak. He directly showed the host and the audience a chart enlarged to the size of a poster: "Look, everyone, this is Hong Kong. The types of financial derivatives in the financial market include three categories: stock index futures, interest rate futures and stock futures. Among them, index futures include Hang Seng Index futures and the H-share index futures just launched in the first half of this year. Interest rate futures have a one-month term. and three-month Hong Kong dollar interest rate futures and three-year Exchange Fund bond futures, etc. Finally, stock futures, the list is longer, not only HSBC Holdings, Hang Seng Bank, Sun Hung Kai, Cheung Kong Holdings and other Hang Seng Index constituent stocks, but also stocks such as those listed last year China Telecom and other popular red chip stocks, all of which have been key short-selling targets for short sellers in the past few months. Danny, do you know what the biggest feature of futures is?"
The host named Daniel Corey was not a young boy either, so he immediately said: "Leverage."
"Yes, leverage," Joseph Wilkinson said: "All these financial derivatives, through the continuous amplification of leverage, have a total scale of hundreds of billions of dollars, and the two sides of these hundreds of billions of dollars are the short and short positions of the bet. long."
Another guest named Terry Sandford, who was shown in the subtitles, then added: "I would also like to add that not only Hong Kong, but also exchanges in Tokyo, Singapore, North America and Europe can actually focus on Hong Kong. When conducting various futures betting, it is even more difficult for us to know how large this part of the market is."
After Terry Sandford finished speaking, he paused for a moment, waited for the host and another guest to nod, and then said again: "And, Danny, I think the biggest problem is that this financial incident in Hong Kong is actually It is equivalent to an extreme market situation like the 1987 stock market crash. The only difference is that this extreme market situation is artificially created. Under extreme market conditions, one party in the zero-sum game is bound to suffer huge losses beyond normal conditions."
"Indeed, Terry is right," another guest, Joseph Wilkinson, added again: "There are rumors in the industry that Deutsche Bank alone suffered a huge loss of more than 3 billion U.S. dollars this time, and some said it was 4 billion U.S. dollars. The problem is Therefore, because the market trend is too extreme, almost all of Deutsche’s short positions ended up being liquidated.”
Terry Sandford showed a weird smile and took over the topic: "It's not just liquidation, it was the last settlement day yesterday, because the settlement rule is the average points throughout the day, and it is no longer the kind of real-time trading that allows many liquidations. The position was forced to be liquidated on the account. As a result, the Hang Seng Index closed too high. I don’t know what happened to Deutsche Bank, but according to reliable information, many short sellers had already liquidated their positions. Not only were all the margins in their accounts cleared, but they were also owed transactions. Although the Hong Kong Futures Exchange has not released specific data on the large amount of funds involved, this time, considering that many small short sellers simply cannot afford the additional losses of short positions, the Hong Kong authorities can only pay to make up for this part of the shortfall."
The host Daniel opened his eyes slightly at the right time: "Terry, how many do you think it is?"
"Let's not talk about billions of dollars," Terry Sandford said, and added: "Just like the one in 1987, it was also a large-scale short position under extreme market conditions. The Chicago Futures Exchange could not afford it. The capital of the companies that had bet on the wrong long positions could not afford to pay, and in the end they had no choice but to seek emergency bailout from the federal banking system, and more than $3.7 billion in margins were added overnight to avoid the collapse of the trading system."
Joseph Wilkinson continued: "Frankly speaking, it was precisely because of the extreme market situation 10 years ago that speculative capital saw huge profits in derivatives transactions. In the past ten years, the scale of the international financial derivatives market has expanded by several billions. More than ten times, just one Hong Kong, this time, the total scale of various financial derivatives transactions far exceeds the original Chicago Board of Trade."
Daniel nodded and said, "In that case, Terry and Joe, do you think the amount the Hong Kong authorities will secretly pay for this time will only be a few billion dollars?"
When the host said this, the faces of the two guests became a little strange again. They seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then Joseph Wilkinson said: "I think, Danny, this is just my personal opinion. In fact, frankly speaking, I think, On the final settlement day yesterday (local time), the Hang Seng Index closed at 11,507 points, and the bulls clearly kept their hands."
Daniel asked: "Why do you say that?"
Joseph Wilkinson said: "Obviously, on October 30, the day before the settlement day, the total transaction size of Hong Kong's long-short game reached HK$79.6 billion, which is nearly eight times the previous daily trading volume in Hong Kong. You should be able to imagine . On this day, according to our judgment, under the strong attack of bulls, the short capital surrounding Hong Kong has basically exhausted its chips."
Daniel understood: "You mean, on October 31, the Hang Seng Index could have been pulled higher by the bulls?"
"That's right," Joseph Wilkinson said: "The transaction size on October 30 was close to HK$80 billion. However, on Friday, the total size of Hong Kong stock trading dropped sharply again, to only HK$34.2 billion, which was less than that on Wednesday. , this is a clear sign that the bulls are holding back.”
Daniel knowingly asked: "Qiao, the short side has no chips. Do the long sides still have a lot of chips?"
The smiles of the two guests were a little weird again. After a moment of hesitation, Joseph Wilkinson continued: "We don't need to guess about this at all, Danny. It's obvious that with the Hong Kong government plus the Quantum Fund, plus... Victoria The power of the Stroll system, let alone the 80 billion on Thursday, can easily increase the trading volume to 100 billion Hong Kong dollars on Friday. You know, 100 billion Hong Kong dollars is only 12 billion US dollars."
When speaking a certain name, Joseph Wilkinson obviously hesitated and lowered his voice, as if he didn't want to be heard.
The host Daniel continued to try to induce. Unfortunately, everyone knew clearly, but the two guests were unwilling to say more. In the end, the host had to avoid the topic and continued to talk about the losses of some short sellers in Europe and Asia.
Living room in Brentwood Heights house.
Chen Qing listened for a while and saw that the three people on the screen clearly wanted to talk but did not dare to talk in depth. For some reason, she suddenly felt overjoyed and started laughing.
Smiling, he simply held his belly and started rolling on the sofa.
Cheng Taixi, who was also in the game at this time, of course understood why Chen Qing was laughing, and with some pride in his heart, he smiled along with him. My superior man is really annoying...according to an inappropriate but inexplicably appropriate Chinese idiom, he is so talkative.
Actually it is.
Many people know that the Hong Kong financial incident is a large-scale hunt for short capital from other parts of the world led by the Westeros system on Wall Street. However, knowing it in your heart is one thing, and speaking it out is another.
If the small media talks nonsense, they will be prosecuted.
You are slandering!
Capitalists care about reputation very much.
If big capital breaks the point, then the question becomes, do you want to retaliate? Do you have the ability to retaliate
Since you know that you can't get revenge and you can only suffer the consequences of being dumb, why did you say it? Is it to deliberately let some people write you down in a notebook to be wary of you, or even to trick you again in the future
…
…
PS: It’s a big chapter of 7,700 words. I’m used to it being full of updates. I find that writing too little makes me feel guilty and creates anxiety, so I won’t slow down and will start updating the chapter with 10,000 words tomorrow.