Chapter 1404: The Truth Behind the Subprime Crisis

Regarding China's future development, Zhao Fusheng also felt quite helpless. Economic progress brought about moral decay; many people were making money while completely ignoring their conscience.

There's a joke that hits the nail on the head: In the morning, you eat a deep-fried dough stick made with gutter oil, paired with a tea egg dyed with Sudan Red, feed your great-grandson milk powder laced with melamine, at noon stir-fry some pork with clenbuterol, stew some beef injected with gelatin, and have a carp fed on contraceptives.

If you're tired of all that meat at noon, have something light in the evening.

Urea bean sprouts, tomatoes grown with growth hormones, tofu made with gypsum sprinkled with irradiated salt—delicious!

When you go to sleep, have a cigarette high in mercury, and cover yourself with a quilt stuffed with black-hearted cotton—blissful.

Though it's a joke, as someone who lived through that era, Zhao Fusheng found it not funny at all.

So he could actually understand Tan Kaixuan's choice. If it were him, he might have had the same thought. But since most of his business was now domestic and his parents didn't want to emigrate, Zhao Fusheng naturally had no intention of moving abroad.

"What, you're not against me emigrating?"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng's reaction, Tan Kaixuan was somewhat surprised. He had expected Zhao Fusheng to dissuade him from emigrating, but Zhao Fusheng's attitude now clearly indicated he wasn't going to speak up.

"Why would I be against it?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and waved his hand. "It's your own choice. Why would I oppose it? Besides, if your parents have no objections, emigrating is perfectly normal."

Tan Kaixuan was already good at English, and most of his business was now overseas, so choosing to emigrate was natural.

Not to mention now; going back twenty years, during the peak of the 1980s study abroad wave in China, studying overseas was almost every college student's dream. Many worked tirelessly day and night for it, and the country was willing to let these favored children go abroad to learn advanced knowledge and ideas, then return to serve the motherland.

But things didn't turn out as hoped. The vast majority of those people, after witnessing the development of capitalism abroad, decisively chose to abandon their home country and never return.

Some even preferred washing dishes in the United States to coming back.

The favored son in 'American Dreams in China' struggled so much in the US that he wouldn't have returned if not for repeated invitations from his close friend.

Let alone someone like Tan Kaixuan, who was doing well. In Zhao Fusheng's view, his emigration was only a matter of time.

If he didn't emigrate, as an investment tycoon, would he stay in China waiting to be approached and used as a front man?

In his previous life, wasn't Tan Kaixuan's downfall precisely because he acted as a front man for someone, and when that big shot fell, he suffered collateral damage?

So, deep down, Zhao Fusheng actually supported Tan Kaixuan's current choice.

Because as long as he didn't stay in China, he could at least change the trajectory of his previous life and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Of course, this was a secret deep in Zhao Fusheng's heart, and he would never tell anyone.

Although Tan Kaixuan was surprised, he was still happy that Zhao Fusheng supported his decision. They chatted for a while longer, and Zhao Fusheng suggested that Tan Kaixuan pay more attention to the US economic situation and, if possible, start making arrangements.

Tan Kaixuan always had great faith in Zhao Fusheng's judgment and said he would keep an eye on it.

"By the way, Lehman Brothers is starting to have problems."

Tan Kaixuan suddenly remembered something and said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng had previously told Tan Kaixuan to closely monitor Lehman Brothers' movements. Tan Kaixuan had assigned people to watch the company, and now they had indeed received advance information.

"What's up?" Zhao Fusheng asked curiously. In his memory, if nothing went wrong, Lehman Brothers should have started having issues in 2006.

"They're now issuing a large number of bonds," Tan Kaixuan said with a cold smile, "mainly targeting Asian and other countries."

Zhao Fusheng frowned, puzzled. "What does that mean?"

He wasn't a financial professional, so he naturally didn't understand what it implied. After all, Zhao Fusheng's judgment that the subprime crisis was related to Lehman Brothers was purely based on his past-life memories. He knew the what but not the why.

"You don't understand. Although Lehman Brothers is listed among the 'Big Five' investment banks on Wall Street, compared to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, its relationship with the Federal Reserve and the US government is like that between regular troops and irregulars. You know, it's the Federal Reserve, not the US government, that controls the US economy.

The US government is just an administrative and executive body. The bosses of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the major shareholders of the Federal Reserve. These two firms have deep blood ties with several major US banks and financial conglomerates. They are aristocrats by birth, direct descendants of several super banks and financial groups, and have extraordinary relationships with the US government and the Federal Reserve.

Lehman Brothers, though also a big player, is just a nouveau riche upstart. Historically, it was a competitor of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, a rival they wanted to destroy. To use an analogy from the animal kingdom: broadly speaking, wolves, jackals, tigers, and leopards are all beasts, but they belong to different families. Although all major US investment firms fall under the broad category of US capital groups, they are divided into many different factions and categories, so there are differences."

Tan Kaixuan knew Zhao Fusheng didn't understand, so he explained it carefully.

After hearing his explanation, Zhao Fusheng's expression was quite vivid. He really hadn't expected there to be so many twists and turns.

But Tan Kaixuan's explanation also made Zhao Fusheng understand why, in his previous life, the Federal Reserve had watched Lehman Brothers fail and chosen to stand by.

"These Americans, they shout about democracy, but they're black-hearted," Tan Kaixuan said to Zhao Fusheng with a sneer.

Zhao Fusheng agreed. Many people think the political environment in China is bad and envy American life, but in fact, what's more frightening about the US is that everything is tied to money. If you have money, you can enjoy everything; if you don't, you're really treated like a pig to be slaughtered.

With that thought, Zhao Fusheng sighed helplessly and said to Tan Kaixuan, "In that case, get ready to make more money from the Americans."

That was the truth—only a fool wouldn't take money, especially American money.

Tan Kaixuan deeply agreed.

...

...

After meeting with various responsible parties, Zhao Fusheng's trip to the United States finally came to an end.

He did not meet with the executives of Sequoia Capital. In Dong Chenxi's words, those people had their noses in the air and looked down on everyone; meeting them was pointless.

Zhao Fusheng agreed with that.

In his view, Americans were like that—very pragmatic. No matter the time, personal relationships meant nothing to Americans; they focused more on practical interests.

Next came the signing ceremony.

"Are you really not attending?" Dong Chenxi looked at Zhao Fusheng with surprise. She had originally come to inform him to attend the signing ceremony, but Zhao Fusheng told her he wasn't planning to go.

"Really," Zhao Fusheng said with a slight smile to Dong Chenxi. "It's just a formality. Nothing will change. Your presence is enough."

Dong Chenxi gave him a suspicious look; she didn't believe his reason at all.

Facing her questioning gaze, Zhao Fusheng's expression was perfectly calm, and he looked at her with a smile.

In the end, Dong Chenxi shook her head helplessly and chose to compromise.

"Fine, fine. You're the boss; you call the shots," Dong Chenxi said, waving her hand in resignation. "Looks like you're determined to keep a low profile."

She wasn't stupid. Zhao Fusheng was doing this just to avoid being in the public eye. The guy was used to keeping a low profile.

Zhao Fusheng laughed, looking as if he was taking her words seriously, but Dong Chenxi knew that he hadn't taken her words to heart at all.