Chapter 480

Bad news kept coming, one after another. The president shut himself in his office. He needed more help now.

As the executive president of the Liji Group, he also had many people he knew, connections he had, including senators.

This was Golden State, the political heart of the Federation. As long as a company’s scale reached a certain height, it would inevitably come into contact with these people.

The transfer of benefits would never stop. Politics and capital were like hostile yet mutually integrated monsters; you were in me, and I was in you. They could be enemies, or they could be relatives.

He stood by the window, holding the phone in his hand, his other hand making large gestures, which could better express the emotional changes in his heart.

“I need some help. The media is too crazy right now. They don’t care at all about the price of slander and are just slinging mud at us.”

“I want to use your connections…”

He hadn’t finished speaking when the voice of the gentleman on the other end of the receiver came through, interrupting him.

“Alright!”

“Haven’t you realized where the problem lies yet?”

The senator’s words made the president pause for a moment. He then fell silent. “We were unwilling to pay the $4,000,000.”

He thought this was it, but the senator gave him a negative answer. “No, that’s not the reason. You’ve forgotten that this is Golden State.”

“This is the heart of the Federation. Countless wealth myths and financial miracles have been staged here. You’ve forgotten these things.”

“Or perhaps, you feel that these have nothing to do with you?”

“Wake up. A miracle is happening. You understand what I mean!”

The president stood by the window and suddenly stood stock-still. His gaze was on the city streets, on the surrounding skyscrapers.

New Golden City was indeed very beautiful, very rich, and very large, but it was inferior to Golden Port in one aspect.

That was that there were too many high-rise buildings here, so many that sometimes when you looked up in the city center, you would feel suffocated.

A deep sense of suffocation surrounded people. Everywhere were steel forests that covered the sky.

Even on the upper floors, there would be buildings taller than you. You couldn’t get that exhilarating feeling of having the entire city at your feet here.

You could only see layers upon layers of “behemoths,” blocking the view, blocking the direction.

In fact, the Liji Group had experienced a “miracle” once, a cutting miracle.

Some small agricultural product companies had suddenly filed a lawsuit against them, and then this behemoth was torn to pieces under the tearing of the “Antitrust Law.”

They had no choice but to split themselves into several companies and let others become shareholders. They were not willing to do this, and they had tried to resist.

They had created another miracle. After being dismembered by the judiciary and those capitalists, they were still alive and well.

So much so that he hadn’t realized that now, a third “miracle” was being staged on the Liji Group.

He said with some bitterness, “Someone is targeting us.”

The senator hummed in affirmation. This was also considering that he had received a lot of benefits from the Liji Group in normal times, otherwise he wouldn’t even be willing to say these things.

“I inquired a little. The Cleveland group might be related to this matter.”

Everything will leave traces, especially this kind of matter that requires mobilizing a large amount of social and political resources. It will definitely leave obvious traces.

But why did no one jump out to accuse them, or to stop them?

In fact, the reason is very simple, because it’s not worth it.

Most of the time, before doing this kind of thing, everyone will do their research and figure out “who I will offend if I do this,” and only after careful consideration will they decide whether to do it or not.

The senator who was on the phone with the president had been receiving a long-term transfer of benefits from the Liji Group, but the Liji Group was not the only company that transferred benefits to him.

There were many such companies in the Federation, including Baileyde, including Danong, and other competitors of the Liji Group.

Berman from the Baileyde Group had contacted him before and talked about this matter, and also mentioned that this was not a merger, but a shareholding adjustment for the better development of everyone.

His own interests would not be reduced by a single penny, and the market would be more balanced.

Now that he could say these words to the president, it was already on account of their many years of “cooperative relationship.”

If it weren’t for the fact that he was probably also about to retire, he wouldn’t have said these things at all.

Just like the other members of the Agriculture Committee, they all knew very well, but they all pretended not to know.

The president’s mood was very low, and his voice had also become a bit hoarse. “Is there no way at all?”

The senator first made no sound, but he could imagine that the other party must be shaking his head at this moment.

“If the method you’re talking about is to intervene with political power, then I can only say, it’s very difficult.”

“Cleveland and his group are now on a clear upward trend, and…”

The voice in the receiver suddenly stopped, as if unwilling to continue. “In short, if you want me, or others, to provide you with help, it’s unlikely.”

“You can try to save yourself. No one will stop you. In fact, if you think about it carefully, isn’t this just one of those things we see most often?”

“Because of a small problem, it triggers a change in a huge capital. This is the Federation, my friend.”

“I haven’t been feeling well these few days. Don’t call me again.”

Then the busy tone came from the receiver, and then it ended.

The president lit a cigarette. His scalp was very itchy. He scratched it hard, and it hurt a little. He might have scratched his scalp.

He smoked his cigarette, looking at the oppressive scenery outside the window. Suddenly, he craned his neck and cursed a whole bunch of profanities, his face red.

Every year, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands were fed into his mouth. Now he was being told not to call anymore. And what was even more infuriating was that the others wouldn’t even say anything.

These people were not like this when they took the company’s money.

But soon he became very dejected. Sometimes knowing the truth is not necessarily a good thing.

When he didn’t know the truth, he was still thinking of changing the situation. But after knowing the truth, it seemed that he had already lost the motivation to change the situation.

After all, what he was facing was a group of monsters combining politics and capital…

At this moment, a feeling of annoyance and regret arose in his heart for the first time. If it hadn’t been for the sake of earning more money from that order from Lance, none of these subsequent things would have happened.

If they hadn’t been unwilling to accept this extortion contract and had just paid the $4,000,000 straightforwardly, then… there would not have been the subsequent events.

But there are no “what ifs” in this world. Who could have imagined that an inconspicuous little character in Golden Port could ultimately leverage such great power?

For Lance, it might have just been a coincidence that some conditions were met, but for the Liji Group, it was a disaster.

He had to save himself.

He called the shareholders one by one, told them the terrible situation now, and his thoughts.

At first, those shareholders could not understand him and clamored to sell their shares. But when he explained the current situation, the shareholders finally fell silent.

The truth and the facts are the things that can make people shut up the most.

Now everyone was singing the downfall of the Liji Group. The shares in the hands of the shareholders were either unsellable or the price was suppressed very low.

Not to mention the circulating shares. The entire trading market was selling more than buying. Otherwise, how could the stock price keep falling?

More importantly, the Liji Group was not really failing. It was not that it had encountered any problems in its operation, but that it had been sniped by a joint effort.

After it recovered, and people saw its profitability and real financial situation, it would soon get better.

In the world of capital, you speak with profits. They are not afraid of this.

So the current situation was that they all knew that the Liji Group was fine, but the problem was that the attack was too fierce, and there was a real threat that they couldn’t hold on.

The people who were hurting them knew better than they themselves how innocent they were this time.

But a capital act is a capital act. They will not discuss whether you are innocent. They will only talk about whether you have the profits, wealth, or other things they want on you.

The president spent a lot of energy and reached an agreement with some of the shareholders, forming a dominant position that could control the situation at the shareholders’ meeting.

Then he took the initiative to contact some of the people who could still come up with money at this time. He needed money, needed some help.

He could save himself.

At night, several independent investors, clearly drunk, received the president in a relatively safe and private room.

The Liji Group had not been having a good time recently, but for these independent investors, there was no such thing as good or bad.

Every day was a life of debauchery, fine wine, money, sex—these filled their lives.

This was their life, their everything.

From the first second the president entered the room, the gazes of these people, slightly playful or mocking, were fixed on him.

He looked extremely pathetic now. His hair, which had always been impeccably neat, seemed a bit disheveled. In fact, upon a closer look, it wasn’t too bad.

His collar and tie were not carefully and properly placed, very sloppy, as if he hadn’t even looked in the mirror before going out.

He was very flustered. This was the feeling he gave others at this moment.

“It’s after work hours,” an independent investor leaned back on the sofa, holding a cup of coffee and sipping it. “We interrupted our activity and squeezed out some time for you.”

“I hope what you are about to bring us will make it worth our while.”

After drinking a lot of wine, the alcohol affected the brain. Drinking a little coffee with honey could alleviate the situation of being drunk, but some said that this was not good.

The room was very warm. There was no need to wear too much, but everyone maintained the most basic grace and grooming, looking much better than the president.

The president pursed his lips. “I am very sorry to see you so late, but I have run into a very troublesome matter.”

“I need your help.”

The independent investor in the middle chuckled twice. “Ninety-eight percent of the people in this world need help, but we cannot possibly help every person who needs help.”

“Just as we said last time, the risk is great, and you must pay a profit that matches the risk we are taking, otherwise we cannot reach an agreement.”

The president was silent for a few seconds. “Alright.”

He and the assistants of these people had already talked in private and had some understanding.

These independent investors hoped to sign a gambling agreement with him. They would take out a sum of money to buy the Liji Group’s stock and provide some political help from the side.

On January 15th, if the company’s stock market value could return to its previous level, then these independent investors would clear their positions and leave the market.

This deal would bring them a large and rich return, possibly doubling their funds.

But if the Liji Group’s stock could not return to its previous price on January 15th, then the Liji Group would have to buy back these stocks at the price they had agreed upon, a significantly higher price.

In other words, the demand of these independent investors was “guaranteed profit,” and at the same time, the Liji Group had to owe them a favor.

Many people say that there is no such thing as a guaranteed profit in this world, but sometimes this statement is not necessarily so correct, for example, at this very moment.

To ensure that the independent investors could make a guaranteed profit, the Liji Group needed to take out a portion of its assets to mortgage to them or to the bank, as a guarantee for the safety of this fund.

This way, even if they couldn’t make money, they wouldn’t lose too much.

These conditions were actually very harsh, but now no one was optimistic about the Liji Group. Baileyde and Danong, these two corporate groups, were also starting to exert their strength. The Liji Group had reached its third critical turning point in history.

If the company was really going to fall, then he would also give up. After all, struggling might not necessarily allow him to survive, but on the contrary, he might die faster.

But the current situation was that they wanted to take the gold brick in his arms without spending any money. This was impossible.

Not only could he not give the gold brick to those people, but he also had to protect this gold brick, because once he lost this gold brick, whether it was his job or his life, or himself, he would be finished.

The success of the Liji Group in these years had made the board of directors and the company’s senior management very optimistic about the company’s future prospects. Of course, the facts were indeed so.

At the same time, to ensure his position in the company, the president had converted over 60% of his assets into the company’s stock.

Now that the stock price had plummeted, it was not only a disaster for the company, but also a disaster for him.

The Federation is a highly capitalized and financialized country. For the common people at the bottom, the feeling might not be so deep, but for the middle and upper classes of society, their feeling for these things is particularly clear.

The simplest example is that most of the president’s net worth is in company stock, and a portion is in real estate or other non-monetary assets. But he also has the desire and impulse to consume.

High society is a high-consumption environment.

When everyone goes out in a car worth tens of thousands, and you drive a car worth a few hundred, others will think that your finances are in trouble.

Most of the time, when people buy, wear, and use luxury goods, it’s not for themselves, but to show others.

It’s like a person who goes to negotiate business on a bicycle, and a person who drives a luxury car to negotiate business. Their success rates are absolutely different.

So he would mortgage his assets to the bank in exchange for a loan for normal consumption.

If there were no accidents, then everything would be fine.

The bank was willing to lend him money. Not only could it get a stable interest, but it was also a kind of personal relationship.

But once an accident happened, the bank, in order to avoid risks, would definitely find a way to get the debt back from him.

If what he mortgaged was the company’s stock, assuming that the stock originally worth $10,000,000 was now only worth $3,000,000, the bank would urge him to repay the loan as soon as possible.

If he sold all his stocks and it still wasn’t enough, he would have to sell other assets to fill this loophole. As long as the stock price was halved, he would go bankrupt.

If what he mortgaged was an asset like real estate, then after the bank took away these assets, what he would have left in his hands would only be some worthless stocks.

And these stocks might be protected by the company’s shareholding protection clauses and could not be sold to others at will, only to people within the company.

Even if all the conditions were met and they could be sold, who would take them?

So this was a very bad vicious cycle.

The president himself also had a lot of loans at the bank. Human desires are endless. The vice president was thinking about getting a loan for a new yacht just a while ago. So would the president have already gotten a loan to buy a yacht?

Everyone knows the importance of funds. Capitalists will tell you that when you can get a loan, you should get a loan as much as possible.

This is also why the middle class and a portion of the upper-class families in the Federation, once they lose their jobs, will soon go bankrupt.

So whether it was for the company or for him personally, he had to get these troublesome things done as soon as possible.

The most influential of the independent investors looked at his pathetic and sloppy appearance and maintained a smile. “Can you represent the entire company?”

“Mr. President, we are not talking about a small business. Not just anyone can pull out this kind of money.”

“You can’t come up with it. If the company’s side doesn’t agree, even if we are willing to invest, it won’t have any meaning.”

The president swallowed. “I have already spoken with the major shareholders before I came. There is no problem on the board of directors’ side. As long as you nod, we can sign the agreement tomorrow morning, in the company’s name.”

Several independent investors discussed in low voices for a while, and then nodded. “Then we’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

The next morning, in the company’s conference room, the president, along with the vice chairman of the board and several major shareholders, jointly signed this gambling agreement and selectively made it public.

“Well-known private equity funds and well-known independent investors believe that the situation of the Liji Group is not bad. They have taken out a considerable portion of their own to save this stock and at the same time firmly believe that its future will be better…”

No one knew what the president and the Liji Group had paid for this. People only knew that the stock seemed to have stopped falling.

The slight increase made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, including the president. He also breathed a sigh of relief.

He urged all departments to release the year-end financial report as soon as possible. He needed the financial report to show society the company’s situation.

Not only was there no problem with their operation, but they had also exceeded this year’s profit target. They were a high-quality company and also a high-quality stock.

(End of chapter)

The novel has already been fully translated up to the last updated chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair