dkrc Chapter 831: Dominoes
Chapter 831: Dominoes
After dinner, Huang Erhe drove Cheng Jing and her children back to his home. Tomorrow is Saturday, and Maowa and Miguo don't have to go to school. His parents-in-law have been working hard all week, so he wanted to give them a couple of days to rest.
When they arrived home, the little guy was already asleep in Cheng Jing's arms. Cheng Jing carefully placed him on the bed, covered him with a blanket, and then left the room to go to the study to find Huang Erhe.
Upon seeing her, she asked, "Did your mother want you to go back? What's wrong?"
Huang Erhe, who was busy writing invitations, stopped what he was doing upon hearing this: "Oh, Grandma, please ask about Dandan's 100-day celebration."
As Cheng Jing helped Huang Erhe tidy up the invitations he had written, she asked, "Your mother didn't say anything, did she?"
Huang Erhe smiled and said, "At first, the old lady had some objections to me arranging the 100-day celebration at Jianhua Hotel. Later, I told them that I had discussed this with Xiaochuan, and they stopped saying anything."
Cheng Jing could imagine what the scene must have been like, and couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that the title of "brother-in-law" was still very effective.
But she still said gratefully, "Your parents are so good to our Dandan. She doesn't even want to stay at such a nice restaurant as Jianhua's brother-in-law's."
Huang Erhe agreed: "That's right! My old lady wants to give Dandan the best of everything. And when she found out you were at your mother's house, she was heartbroken. Later, I told her that you were going to work soon and that you should leave Dandan with her. You didn't see how happy she was. Her attitude changed immediately."
Huang Erhe added, "You know what? The old lady has already found a nanny. I reckon if I hadn't suggested that Dandan be taken care of by them, she would have asked us for a nanny too."
Cheng Jing smiled with relief upon hearing this. Indeed, such in-laws are hard to find even with a lantern.
She then asked another question: "Are you still not accepting monetary gifts this time?"
Huang Erhe put down his pen and said to Cheng Jing, "We're accepting these gift money because everyone usually exchanges gifts for weddings and funerals. If I don't accept them, it will cause inconvenience to others. So, this is what I'm planning to do this time."
After learning of Huang Erhe's idea from him, Cheng Jing couldn't help but exclaim, "That's great! That's a really good idea!"
Huang Erhe's original method was to accept the monetary gifts as usual and record them in the account, but the relative in charge of collecting the monetary gifts would put them into a new red envelope and give it to the guests along with the host's gift bag. In short, the monetary gifts were collected and recorded, but were returned to the guests as a return gift, so everyone was happy.
At that moment, Huang Xiaochuan was at home reviewing the financial report sent by Zhang Sui. In March, New Century Financial Corporation of the United States issued a profit warning, causing its stock price to plummet by half that day. On the same day, Dark Night Capital also began its turnaround.
That same month, the well-known American financial company suddenly announced that it was unable to obtain any short-term financing to overcome its difficulties because creditors such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup had cut off their credit lines. This move was actually intended to force the federal government or a white knight to come to their rescue.
Unfortunately, all I got was silence; there was no response whatsoever. That's how the cold financial market is—it only offers help when things are going well, and rarely provides assistance when things are tough.
In mid-April, which was yesterday, after struggling for more than a month, the company was unable to recover and had to file for bankruptcy protection. Its stock price has now fallen to less than one dollar, whereas at its peak it was more than sixty dollars.
Moreover, it set a record, albeit a rather unsavory one: the largest mortgage bankruptcy in U.S. history. According to its publicly released balance sheet, as of March 31, its total assets were $159 billion, but its liabilities reached $144 billion. If you strip away the inflated figures in the balance sheet, it was actually insolvent; the balance sheet was merely its last fig leaf.
On the day the company filed for bankruptcy, all 3200 of its employees were laid off and left the office building with their belongings.
After checking the time, Huang Xiaochuan used an encrypted phone to make a call to Zhang Sui.
"Boss!"
Without any pleasantries, Huang Xiaochuan went straight to the point: "New Century Financial Company is just the first domino; the chain reaction will begin soon."
Zhang Sui knew what her boss meant. In the financial market, there is a phenomenon where, when a problem arises at the source, the risk can quickly spread to the entire financial system through a complex financial chain. This phenomenon is also known as the domino effect in the financial world.
So she replied succinctly, "Yes! I estimate Bear Stearns will be next. Two of its financial companies have invested heavily in BS. I've calculated using a systemic risk prediction model, and there's a high probability that this will lead to Bear Stearns' collapse. However, it's still uncertain whether Bear Stearns can find strong reinforcements in time."
Huang Xiaochuan chuckled: "Ha! There's a peculiar biological phenomenon in nature called 'one whale falls, all things come to life,' and the same is true in the financial world."
Zhang Sui immediately grasped the deeper meaning of those words: "I understand!"
It seems that the new century is just the first, but definitely not the only one. Next is the harvest season. Zhang Sui is very much looking forward to it, but she doesn't know how much she will gain this time. However, the final number is beyond her expectations, and Huang Xiaochuan is also surprised.
After ending the call, Huang Xiaochuan checked the time and realized it was almost time to go, so he returned to his bedroom.
Upon seeing the man, Yu Xiang casually asked, "Should we prepare anything for Dandan's 100-day celebration?"
Huang Xiaochuan waved his hand: "No need, I've already made arrangements. My brother-in-law is in charge of the restaurant, and I'll have Lao Jiang arrange for someone to deliver the drinks and cigarettes directly to the restaurant."
Yu Xiang rolled her eyes at the man: "That's not what I meant. I meant, should we prepare another gift for Dandan?"
"You mean this?" Huang Xiaochuan finally understood what Yu Xiang meant.
He then passed the buck to Yu Xiang: "Then you make the arrangements!"
Yu Xiang thought for a moment and said, "When I was in Hong Kong last time, Mrs. Zheng gave me a jade Buddha carving, saying it was imperial green. I think that would be quite suitable. How about we give that to Xiao Dandan?"
Yu Xiang said this because she didn't know much about jewelry and jade, and she didn't like them. She was different from other people's wives, and she didn't like jewelry. Although she didn't lack them, she hardly ever wore them. She would only wear them when accompanying her husband to some necessary social occasions. But since her husband didn't like socializing, she would only wear them twice a year. The jewelry just sat at home doing nothing.
"Sure!" Huang Xiaochuan readily agreed.