There is a time difference of more than ten hours between the West 5th District and the East 8th District.
New Year's Eve has ended long ago in China and is reaching its climax in New York.
Yangma International Channel was broadcasting the Year of the Pig Spring Festival Gala. The most critical countdown had come, but there were three dark minutes.
"Our first couplet is, harmony, beauty, harmony and harmony, and every household welcomes the New Year in harmony."
"Our second line is, prospering industry, prosperity, prosperity, prosperity of the country and family, everyone welcomes the New Year happily."
It sounds good at first glance, but when you take a closer look, what exactly is it?
Immediately afterwards, stage mistakes occurred one after another. The six hosts either forgot their words or scrambled for words, and the scene was once chaotic.
But Lu Fei and Zeng Li, who were sitting in front of the TV, did not notice this embarrassing farce and entertained their great-father with good wine and food.
"I didn't expect it. I really didn't expect it."
The great-father was so drunk that his face was flushed, and he smiled and said: "The boyfriend that Damei is looking for is actually Lu and Afei, so good, good, good."
"Dad~"
Zeng Li's shy face was filled with happiness.
"I feel relieved about this."
Great-father looked at their little gesture of interlocking their fingers, and happily drank another cup of Moutai. The more he looked at Lu Fei, the more he looked at him.
Looks like, five stars!
Attitude, five stars!
Talent, five stars!
His net worth is five out of five stars!
The atmosphere at the dinner table was very harmonious. Lu Fei was all-rounded and good at hiding his clumsiness. From time to time, he would ask questions that tickled his great-father's itch, and there was almost nothing he liked that he didn't like.
If you want to "curry favor" with your father-in-law, you have to make him chat happily.
There are different topics to deal with different parents.
A scholarly family like Gao Yuanyuan would pay more attention to boys' culture and conversation, while Lu Fei would not talk about business.
But her great-father traveled around the country and abroad for many years. Although his foreign trade business was not big, and he was not wealthy in America, he was at least middle-class and above. Zeng Li had a mansion in Los Angeles, which he gave to her.
Not to mention successful people, at least half of them.
So, under Lu Fei's deliberate guidance, my great-father talked endlessly about his business experiences, just like having lunch with Buffett, bragging in front of the stock god, wouldn't it be——
Beier has face!
Besides, the son-in-law is still Mr. Lu, so this feels great!
"Come, good son-in-law, let's go with another one."
The more satisfied my great-father was with Lu Fei's performance, the more he wanted to drink.
"Ahem, uncle, Zeng Li put a lot of thought into making this dish. Let's drink it later. Eat more food quickly and don't waste it." Lu Fei interrupted cleverly to cool down the atmosphere at the wine table.
Not only did he leave a way for his father-in-law, who was at the end of his life, but he also had a hand in Zeng Li's craftsmanship. It was like killing two birds with one stone.
But the half-drunk great-father was obviously already on top. He waved his hand and said, "Have another drink. You see, I drink so much at my age. How come you, a young man, are not as good as me!"
"I really want to drink with you, but I really can't."
Lu Fei looked like he couldn't hold it anymore, shook his head and said, "I, my ability to drink is too bad."
"Have another drink. Come on, let's go."
The father-in-law held his wine glass high in high spirits, while the son-in-law looked so drunk that he couldn't fight any more. It was clear at a glance who would win and who would lose.
"A Fei, are you okay?"
Zeng Li looked at the drunk Lu Fei and felt heartbroken: "Dad, look at him, he's so drunk..."
"You girl, your father raised you so much, but he didn't see you taking care of your father like this." My great-father raised his chin with satisfaction. Although his net worth is not as good as his son-in-law's, he can drink enough to keep him busy. I'm so proud!
"Dad, you are really going strong as you grow older. I am even dizzy at such a young age, but you are still so energetic."
Lu Fei leaned into Zeng Li's arms, "I'm willing to give in!"
"Your drinking capacity is too bad, hiccup. You still need to practice more. How can you do business without drinking, drinking...drinking?"
Great-father burped, his mouth smelling of alcohol.
The whole person was swaying, leaning back on the chair, and fell asleep the next second, snoring quite a bit.
"dad."
Zeng Li looked left and right, dumbfounded.
"Is dad drunk?"
Lu Fei, who was drunk and hazy, suddenly opened his eyes.
"Yeah, you're not drunk!"
Zeng Li was excited, looked down at the man pillowing her chest, and suddenly said: "It turns out you were all faking just now."
"Then what can I do? Who can let it be our dad?"
Lu Fei grinned. He couldn't say, "Dad, you're too drunk, so we won't drink anymore." He didn't mean to say that his father-in-law was not a drinker. Isn't this a slap in the face?
If you can't drink like a junior, where can I put my father-in-law's face?
Otherwise, just fight with him to the end?
Just kidding, the young man can just take a nap and be fine. My father-in-law has a health problem. Can he bear this responsibility?
This is emotional intelligence at the wine table!
"Hmph, you know what's going on."
Zeng Li stared at Lu Fei tenderly, feeling happy in her heart.
"That's why we also graduated from Chinese drama."
Lu Fei smiled faintly, which was considered to be happy for her.
"Then why didn't you get drunk earlier? Look at what my dad drank..."
Zeng Li pushed him gently: "He's already drunk! Don't let him catch a cold here. Let's help him to the bedroom."
"Okay."
Lu Fei responded, and worked together with Zeng Li to send his great father to the guest room, watching her considerately cover him with a thick quilt.
"Senior sister, Oscar is on the 24th, right? While there is still some time, you can take our dad to the mall for a nice stroll and buy some gifts for him and for our mom and sister in China. I think our dad is too frugal. , the shoes I’m wearing are a bit torn.”
"Both my parents are like this."
Zeng Li's eyes were slightly red, "Back then, I saved money and sent me to the Children's Palace to study abroad. Only then did I have the opportunity to be exposed to opera, and then I was admitted to the opera school, and then went to the Chinese Opera..."
"Let's put it this way, without my father's help, senior sister wouldn't be able to be my senior sister? Then I have to thank him properly and give me my daughter with my own hands, hehe."
Lu Fei smiled and hugged her waist.
"You are going to be a father too."
Zeng Li rolled her eyes angrily.
Lu Fei's heart trembled, and he stared straight into her eyes, hot and stunned, "Really, really?"
Seeing the man's silly and cute look, Zeng Li smiled sweetly, took his hand and walked out. Then she took out the pregnancy test stick and said with a blushing face: "My pregnancy hasn't come for more than a month."
"I'm just wondering why you didn't drink today."
Lu Fei noticed that the two red lines were the same color, and his tone was full of excitement: "Senior sister, why didn't you tell me earlier!"
"Consider it your Christmas gift."
Zeng Li poked his forehead, "Are you surprised by this New Year's gift? Are you happy?"
Lu Fei couldn't help but feel emotional, and put his mouth to his, but suddenly stopped and asked, "Senior, will kissing after drinking affect..."
"Of course not, fool!"
Zeng Li took the initiative to kiss him and hugged his neck tightly.
After a long time, the lips parted.
There was a faint smell of wine on her red lips.
"Well, I have to return to China immediately after the Oscars. I have to shoot "Painted Skin 2" as soon as possible before I reveal myself."
Zeng Li snuggled into Luffy's arms, drawing circles on his chest with the fingers of her left hand, and stroking her flat belly with her right hand.
"I remember there were a lot of horse riding scenes and action scenes in "Painted Skin 2". How about I ask Yuanyuan to postpone it?" Lu Fei frowned.
"No, no, the whole crew has been preparing for half a year, how can it happen just because of me." Zeng Li shook her head, "Don't worry, I will hire a substitute if necessary."
"Not even a substitute!" Lu Fei said with a straight face.
"I will be extra careful and never make fun of our children, I promise!"
Zeng Li did not say it clearly. As early as the premiere of "Painted Skin", she felt that Gao Yuanyuan seemed to have doubts about their relationship. She was testing the relationship openly and covertly, but maybe she was only one step away from the truth.
From the bottom of my heart, I don’t want to embarrass my good sisters.
"But……"
Lu Fei was about to open his mouth when he saw her calmly changing the subject, "As soon as "Painted Skin 2" is completed, I will come to the United States. I just have the excuse to focus my career on Hollywood. I asked Sister Hong to push for domestic work." What do you think of pushing away all the babies and raising the baby in peace and contentment?"
"I'll make arrangements."
He touched Zeng Li's hair and said solemnly, "Senior sister, I will make arrangements."
There was a sudden "bang" outside the window, and a streak of thunder flashed across.
The weather suddenly changed, and it turned out to be sleet and sleet.
Countless snow and dense rain are intertwined. I don’t know if the snow is covering the rain, or if the rain is kissing the snow. The rain and snow are leaning on each other, rising and falling, half falling and half flying.
…………
The next day, the wind and snow finally stopped.
"HSBC has increased bad debt provisions for its U.S. subprime mortgage business by $1.8 billion."
"National Financial Services Corporation, the largest subprime mortgage company in the United States, officially announced that it will reduce lending in 2007."
"The abx index plummeted 3.9 points at the opening!"
"..."
Business news came one after another, and Yin Fanka was dazzled by it.
Reports say Lu Fei earned tens of billions! Tens of billions!
When I think about the fact that I originally had a share of 2 million U.S. dollars in the John Paulson short-selling fund and made a profit of at least 10 million U.S. dollars, but I was sold at a low price for 1.8 million U.S. dollars?
Not only did he not make a penny, he actually lost $200,000. He even gave his body to Mr. Lu, and he was so numb from the loss!
"He must know everything and must have deliberately lied to me."
Yin Fanka gritted his teeth: "My money! My money!"
At this moment, the landline suddenly rang, and the secretary's voice came, reminding Lu Fei, who had suffered a thousand cuts, that he had arrived at the company.
"Why did you come suddenly?"
Yin Fanka calmed down his emotions, but his face was still filled with resentment.
"I sent Zeng to Los Angeles to attend the Oscars. I also came to see you on the way. You look good and your face is rosy."
Lu Fei showed a playful smile.
That's why you are so angry!
Yin Fanka snorted and turned his head away angrily.
"Oscar will trouble you to take care of Zeng this time."
Lu Fei raised his hand and glanced at his watch, "It's almost time. It's time for me to return home."
"Lu! Wait, I want to talk to you!"
Yin Fanka slapped the table with both hands and stood up.
"Is it related to shorting subprime mortgages?"
Lu Fei smiled.
Yin Fanka pursed her lips and finally admitted aggrievedly.
I'm so stupid, really. I once had an opportunity to make a fortune in front of me, but I didn't cherish it. I only regretted it when I lost it. The most painful thing in investing is this.
"Do you want to get your original share back?"
Lu Fei squinted his eyes, his words full of confusion.
"May I?"
Yin Fanka ran over quickly, "Can you do that?"
"Of course, you can redeem it for only 2 million." Lu Fei stretched out two fingers.
"I'll do it!" Yin Fanka didn't even think about it.
"Look at you, you are so anxious. You don't understand, there is no such thing as a free lunch." Lu Fei looked at her jokingly.
"W-what do you want?"
Yin Fanka rolled her eyes angrily.
"It should be, what price do you want to offer in exchange."
Lu Fei shook his fingers from side to side a few times.
"You, hehe, I don't want it anymore!"
Yin Fanka opened his mouth, and almost couldn't hold on and agreed. The thought of being played by this Chinese man, one time at a time, was equivalent to losing twice, and he became very angry.
"Really don't want it? You have to think clearly. There are only a handful of people who can win the subprime mortgage this time. You are one of them, and you may be the only woman. If someone is willing to add fuel to the fire, can you be in " Where are these Vanity Fair magazine covers?”
Lu Fei pinched her chin, "The titles are, 'The genius woman who won the subprime mortgage', 'The female stock goddess Yin Fanka'..."
"You, don't lie to me, how, how is it possible?"
The devil's whisper echoed in Yin Fanka's ears, and his heart was pounding, "I just invested 2 million US dollars."
“What if we didn’t disclose how much you voted?”
Lu Fei narrowed his eyes into a thin line. "
"W-what do you want?"
Yin Fanka felt as if he was making a deal with Satan. After selling his body, it was the soul's turn, and his brain was being transformed into a CPU.
"that's all……"
"Just, just that simple?"
"It's that simple."
"There won't be any traps, right?"
"With your IQ, could I have deceived you?"
Lu Fei patted Yin Fanka's face.
"You've been mocking our family's intelligence, especially my dad, and you haven't stopped!"
Yin Fanka didn't care too much, fearing that he would regret it, so he hurriedly wrote a check and filled it with US$2 million.
"Hiss~"
Lu Fei smiled and tore up the check, "I'm kidding you, you really believe it."
"You! Lu, you bastard! Bastard! Bichi!"
"Hehe, what I mean is, if you want 2 million, given our relationship, I can just give it back to you."
"You, Fakeyu, Lu!"
Only then did Yin Fanka realize that she had been deceived by Lu Fei, and she stretched out her middle finger in shame, "I promise you, when will Zeng return to China?"
…………
Meanwhile, the Lehman headquarters building.
Today was supposed to be the day when Wall Street giants met to play golf to celebrate the success of shorting Penguins, but apparently the plan could not keep up with the changes, and Richard Fuld directly canceled the arrangement.
In the conference room, it was very noisy and chattering.
"U.S. stocks fell sharply today. At the close of trading at noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2%, the S&P fell 2.04%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.15%..."
"Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and other institutions have notified New Century Company to pay off its financing in advance, and the stock price has plummeted 40.7%. According to this trend, the decline is likely to exceed 60%!"
"If this is the case, the New York Stock Exchange may stop New Century Company's stock trading or even delist it, which will further trigger market panic and be completely negative for subprime mortgages."
"It's the same for us. We currently hold too many CDOs, CDSs, and long positions. We must find ways to cover the losses on our books, otherwise Lehman's stock price will continue to fall..."
"Where's the money! The key is money!"
Richard Fuld slammed his fist on the table.
In an instant, there was silence. Everyone looked at me and I looked at you. When subprime mortgages were stable and improving, Lehman's financial crisis was well covered up, but now it has begun to get out of control.
“Not long ago, I received a call from China International Capital Corporation (CICC), which is willing to form a Chinese financial group to invest in Lehman.”
Lehman's CFO adjusted his glasses.
"Really! What kind of investment plan?"
However, Richard Fuld was not happy for a few minutes, but when he saw the specific plan of CICC, his expression suddenly changed.
It turned out that CICC was not here to provide help in times of trouble, but to take advantage of the situation. Its first goal was to buy Lehman's high-quality assets instead of buying Lehman shares as he expected.
】
At this time, Lehman needed money too much.
Money is life, but this money must not be exchanged for Lehman's assets. Richard Fuld was the first to disagree.
"Why does this Chinese company know so much about us, Lehman? Aren't Chinese financial companies a bunch of trash?"
He took a look at the amount, the conditions, the additional clauses, each item, and each one was carefully grasped.
"Could it be related to Lu?"
The CFO of Lehman frowned: "He told China's financial industry to take this opportunity to get involved in Wall Street through Lehman?"
"It's him, it's absolutely him!"
Richard Fuld was so angry that he tore the whole plan to pieces.
At this moment, the secretary hurriedly knocked on the door and entered, bringing a piece of bad news that shocked and horrified the entire audience——
Lu Fei seemed to have done the work of Goldman Sachs and wanted to join forces to short Lehman. Many traders were spreading rumors about Brehman. They even called their cooperating hedge funds one by one and asked them to short Lehman together in retaliation for that year's losses. A blood feud.
"David, this old despicable person! He actually took advantage of others' danger!"
Richard Fuld had no memory of Lehman taking advantage of Goldman Sachs when the dot-com bubble burst.
"Damn it Lu, he is taking revenge!"
Lehman's CFO spoke with a vibrato, "In revenge for us shorting Penguin, Richard, why don't we find an opportunity to apologize to Lu and find a way..."
Richard Fuld sneered: "Apologise? If you were him, would you accept our apology?"
"Lu can reconcile with Goldman Sachs. There's no reason why he can't reconcile with us, right?" The other executives all advocated surrender and negotiation. It's not a shame to lose to such a terrifying existence as Mr. Lu!
"You haven't seen it yet. Lu's settlement with Goldman Sachs is just to deal with Lehman and Bear Stearns, which made multiple loans."
Richard Fuld is wide awake.
"This won't work, that won't work either, tell me!"
Lehman CFO asked, "What should Lehman do now?"
"Oh, it seems like this is the only way..."
Richard Fuld sighed. In order to whitewash his books and prevent Goldman Sachs and Lu Fei from taking advantage of Lehman's performance, he could only prescribe himself a powerful medicine and repurchase No. 105 and No. 108 bonds.
It looks similar to a general securities repurchase agreement, but the so-called repurchase is actually playing a numbers game.
Generally, the collateral deduction rate for repurchase transactions is 2%, which means that for every $100 you borrow, you need to use $102 worth of bonds as collateral. However, "No. 105 Bond" is——
For every $100 borrowed, the value of the collateral is $105. According to accounting standards, this operation is not considered financing, but sales, which is equivalent to forging false bond data.
"It can only be the."
Lehman CFO thought about it over and over again, but had no other choice.
After all, they can not only obtain short-term funds from the market to deal with debts, but also temporarily erase problematic assets from the balance sheet, making the books look beautiful or even impeccable. Goldman Sachs and Lu Fei have no short-selling opportunities or places to start.
You see, Lehman's assets and finances are healthy!
If you dare to fight, come on!
"But the problem is that according to federal law, it is impossible for us to find a law firm willing to help with this."
Richard Fuld doesn't care about drinking poison to quench his thirst. In short, if he settles the current hurdle first and holds on firmly, there will be hope.
“What if we don’t find an American law firm?”
Lehman CFO lowered his voice, "For example, England."
"I don't know what law firm, I don't know what No. 105, what No. 108, I don't know anything."
Richard Fuld looked around: "Does any of you know?"
"I don't know either."
Lehman's senior executives almost said it in unison, and each one pretended to be ignorant. After all, once they were found out, it would be——
Financial crime!
