Chapter 505: Are you going to escape?
The temperature in Baiyun City has dropped sharply recently. It was over 20 degrees Celsius a few days ago with the sun shining brightly, but today it is only 9 degrees Celsius. My hands and feet are frozen as soon as I go out.
At noon, Ning Xuehua specially stewed a pot of old hen soup. When it was served on the table steaming hot, the room seemed to suddenly be filled with warmth.
During the dinner, Lu Ding said to Lu Yiming, "Are you going to attend the business symposium in Baiyun City? The official has sent an invitation letter."
Lu Yiming had no interest in this kind of official meeting, and immediately said, "You can just go on my behalf, it's not necessary for me to be there."
Hearing this, Lu Ding felt a little sour in his heart and started to refute: "Your name is on the invitation letter, why should I go? You are just talking nonsense, aren't you afraid of being gossiped about?"
As a father, he still has a competitive spirit. Now that Lu Yiming has received an invitation, he is not among them. Of course he is unhappy.
Lu Yiming naturally saw that Lu Ding was worried, and immediately coaxed him, "It's their honor that you attend the meeting in person. They don't dare to invite you openly, fearing that they are not famous enough, so they wrote to invite me. If you attend in person, you will definitely be the guest of honor!"
Lu Ding couldn't help but ask: "Really?"
Lu Yiming nodded vigorously: "Of course it's true. If they really want to invite me, why don't they just send the invitation letter to me?"
Lu Ding liked to hear this, but he still felt a little uncomfortable. After all, as a father, he was still in his prime, but his son left him far behind.
So much so that now when I go out, a sentence I often hear is - Look, that’s Mr. Lu’s biological father!
In other families, one recognizes a son by looking at his father, but in his case, the situation is completely the opposite.
Lu Ding smacked his lips and asked, "Then why don't you go? This kind of business seminar should be very important. At that time, the business leaders of Baiyun and even the entire southeast coastal area may gather together. If you want to make connections, there is no better opportunity than this."
Lu Yiming smiled and shook his head: "I'd better forget about this kind of social interaction. There's a generation gap. If I go and stand there, I'll be the only one under 20 years old, and I'm richer than the people around me. How embarrassing it would be. Besides, I'm afraid I won't have much in common with these senior businessmen. Now I'm the network, do you still want me to get to know them?"
Although this statement sounds arrogant, it is true. Now that Lu Yiming holds the title of the richest man, there are many people who want to know him, so there is no need for him to make any connections.
Moreover, age is indeed a problem. Just imagine a group of people in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, nodding and fawning in front of a teenager like him. The scene is disgusting enough.
If I really go, I will not only lose connections but I am afraid my hatred will be full.
"Besides, I have other things to do during the Chinese New Year. I will probably have to go to the United States with my cousin on the seventh or eighth day of the first lunar month. How can I have time to attend such a boring meeting?"
Ning Xuehua was not happy when she heard that her son was going abroad again: "Why are you going to the United States on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year? You haven't even visited all the relatives yet."
Lu Yiming said with a bitter face: "I can't do anything about it. The United States doesn't celebrate the Spring Festival, and the U.S. stock market doesn't have a holiday either."
When Lu Ding heard the words "U.S. stocks", he couldn't help but reveal a worried look and asked, "Are you planning to go to the United States to trade stocks?"
People outside only see Lu Yiming's glory and are envious and jealous of his "good luck", but Lu Ding, as a father, is worried that his son will "go astray" and give up his legitimate business and spend his life speculating in stocks every day.
Nowadays, if you walk by the river often, you will inevitably get your feet wet.
You can make money quickly from stocks, but you can also lose money even faster.
During the Asian financial crisis two years ago, countless wealthy people in Hong Kong lost everything and ended up with roofies. Thinking about this news now still makes people feel scared.
Lu Ding was naturally afraid that Lu Yiming would follow in his footsteps, and his face looked a little ugly: "Son, if there is nothing else important, don't go. It's okay as long as you have enough money. Stocks are something that rise and fall unpredictably, and you will lose if you gamble for a long time."
Lu Yiming smiled and comforted him: "Don't worry, Dad, I know what's going on. Besides, who would think that money is enough? There are many things that cannot be done without money."
Lu Ding was speechless and complained: "You are worth tens of billions now, and you still tell me it's not enough? What? You still want to build a rocket?"
For some reason, when Lu Yiming heard this, an image of a Silicon Valley Iron Man emerged in his mind.
"Don't worry about building the rocket. After all, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. I plan to make the chip first."
Seeing Lu Yiming's serious expression, he didn't seem to be joking. Lu Ding was so scared that his drumstick dropped. "What? You want to make chips?"
In the opinion of Lu Ding, who is already old, making chips is not much better than making rockets.
He couldn't help but reach out and touch Lu Yiming's forehead, with a puzzled look on his face: "He doesn't have a fever, why is he talking nonsense in broad daylight?"
Lu Ding is in the manufacturing industry, so he naturally knows how important chips are, and how difficult it is to make a small chip. The country spends so much money importing chips every year. If it weren't difficult to make them, they would have made them themselves long ago. Why go out and buy them at a high price? Wouldn't that be stupid?
Lu Yiming pushed Lu Ding's hand away, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but his tone was quite firm: "I will definitely make chips. Not only is the semiconductor industry very profitable in the future, but more importantly, I don't like to make money on my knees."
"What does it mean to earn money on your knees?"
At this time, although Ma Shi Tu's "Ten Night Tales" had been published, "Let the Bullets Fly", which was adapted from "The Story of Stealing an Official", would not be released for another ten years, so Lu Ding didn't know about this joke yet.
Lu Yiming sighed and said, "The industries I plan to develop in the future will definitely affect the cheese of the United States. By then, the so-called beacon of freedom and democracy will never talk to me about freedom and democracy. They will only strangle me. Either I die or I surrender. They will not give me a third choice."
Lu Ding instinctively felt unbelievable: "The United States is a superpower, it is impossible for them to do such a thing, right? After all, they are a country, and you are a person, a company. Can't they defeat you? The United States is too useless. They also want to strangle you. If the news gets out, wouldn't it be useless and embarrassing?"
Of course, Lu Yiming would not argue with his father about how the United States was a bad country. He just said, "Those who do not plan for eternity are not qualified to plan for the moment. Those who do not plan for the overall situation are not qualified to plan for a region. We cannot pin our hopes on the moral character of our opponents, so we must be prepared to turn against them at any time."
This was the first time that Lu Yiming revealed his ambitions and plans to his family. After Lu Ding pondered for a moment, he pressed Lu Yiming's shoulder hard and said, "It seems that you have really grown up. I am very proud to have a son like you. Do whatever you want to do. Your family will fully support you."
It’s the seventh day of the Lunar New Year and the sun is shining brightly.
After breakfast, Lu Yiming began to pack his suitcase.
Ning Xuehua complained as she helped clean up: "Why don't you stay at home during the New Year? Why are you going abroad?"
While talking, Ning Xuehua kept stuffing her down jacket, underwear, socks, toothpaste, toothbrush and other things into the suitcase.
Looking at the density of the suitcase, Lu Yiming estimated that it should be easy to break 100 kilograms, and he immediately felt depressed.
"Mom, you don't need toothpaste, toothbrush, or thermos. You can buy these small things over there anytime. Besides, I always have these things on the plane, so I can just take a few sets with me. If you stuff them all in the suitcase, I won't be able to carry it."
Ning Xuehua said unhappily, "Are the things produced there easy to use? You don't have to mention it. You just take a car or a plane when you go out. Why spend money on things you already have at home?"
Lu Yiming thought to himself, time is money. I don’t know how many little gadgets like this I can buy with the money I earn while I’m packing up.
But after all, it was Ning Xuehua who wanted to do it, so Lu Yiming naturally didn't say anything.
Half an hour later, Li Yiwen also arrived. Seeing Lu Yiming carrying out large and small packages of things with the help of Zhao Tiezhu, filling up the trunk of the huge Audi, he was immediately shocked and exclaimed, "What? Are you going to escape?"
He walked closer and took a look, then said with a click of the tongue: "They've even brought the quilt, they're quite well prepared."
Later, he saw more than ten kilograms of sausages and bacon in the trunk, and he laughed so hard that he couldn't breathe: "Second Aunt is worried that you will be hungry outside."
"Stop gloating over my misfortune."
Lu Yiming rolled his eyes, then got down to business: "Have all the funds been transferred out?"
Li Yiwen, who was sitting in the back seat of the car, immediately took out dozens of documents from his briefcase and said in an orderly manner: "Your $2.7 billion has arrived in Europe in batches in the name of investment through multiple channels in Hong Kong, a free financial port."
Li Yiwen complained: "Why did you have to go through so much trouble to transfer all the money to Europe? Apart from other things, the various procedures alone cost us tens of millions."
Lu Yiming didn't take it seriously and said, "Safety comes first. You don't want to have to drive an armored vehicle every time you go shopping for groceries, do you?"
The two arrived at the airport and flew to the United States. They took a nap on the plane and felt refreshed after landing.
Lu Yiming immediately called Bill Gates: "Bill, I heard that you are not in a good mood recently. Do you want to play golf together to cheer yourself up?"
Bill Gates' face darkened when he heard this. He didn't even have the time to chat with Lu Yiming. He snorted and asked unhappily, "You came to the United States? What do you want to do this time?"
In January just past, Bill Gates was forced to resign as president and CEO of Microsoft. Soon after, the U.S. media began to report a large amount of evidence showing that Microsoft's monopoly behavior was established. This undoubtedly exacerbated market panic and was also one of the triggers for the Nasdaq avalanche in the U.S. stock market.
You don't need to ask to know how Bill Gates feels at the moment. To put it bluntly, even if his own father died, he wouldn't be as sad as he is now.
After all, with the covert instigation of old rivals such as IBM, it has been confirmed that Microsoft has violated antitrust laws. All that is left is a formal ruling from the court.
Lu Yiming could guess most of Bill Gates's situation. He smiled and said, "Bill, the most important thing for a person is to be happy. I came here to help you get out of your sadness and difficulties. Don't thank me. After all, we are friends."
"You still dare to mention this?"
When Bill Gates thought about how Lu Yiming made a false move on VA Linux two months ago and earned $1 billion from him, he was still furious: "Nothing else, I'll hang up first. I'm just annoyed."
Lu Yiming quickly shouted: "Don't, this time I really have something good to offer you."
"Can anything good happen to you?"
Bill Gates looked a little confused and deeply suspicious.
Lu Yiming immediately assured with a solemn oath: "This is definitely a reliable big deal. You will definitely regret it if you don't come."
Seeing that Lu Yiming was so confident, Bill Gates finally came out to keep the appointment.
After receiving a positive response, Lu Yiming and Li Yiwen went to a famous local golf course in Seattle, and Lu Yiming even specially became a member there.
Holding the membership card, Li Yiwen couldn't help but say, "The Americans are so damn wicked. The membership fee is $40,000, and when you play, they also charge green fees, caddie fees, and golf cart fees, which easily cost tens or even hundreds of dollars. Doesn't the United States have a price bureau? This is clearly driving up market prices!"
Lu Yiming laughed when he heard this and said, "Golf is like this, it's a gentleman's sport. Think about it, why wouldn't a gentleman spend money?"
Li Yiwen was a little unhappy: "So we have to come to a place like this to discuss things? Forty thousand dollars, why not do something else with it? Why waste it like this?"
Lu Yiming tried to swing the club twice, but the ball flew away without anyone noticing. However, he did not care much about it. Instead, he chatted with Li Yiwen casually: "Because we need to prevent eavesdropping. Have you heard of the Watergate scandal?"
Li Yiwen finally understood Lu Yiming's intention. At the same time, he looked around and found that the entire stadium had a wide view and no one could be seen within a hundred meters. He suddenly had some insights in his heart.
There is wilderness all around, so you can just find a place where there is no one around and talk loudly without worrying about anyone hearing you. It is indeed a good place to have a conversation.
Especially what Lu Yiming is going to talk about with Bill Gates today is not very public .
After a while, Bill Gates came over and started playing ball with Lu Yiming.
After two consecutive shots, Lu Yiming lost both the ball and the grass. Bill Gates immediately laughed and said, "Your golf skills are not good. It seems that you need to practice more when you have free time."
Lu Yiming didn't care: "Playing golf is just for fun. I don't make a living from it."
Bill Gates knew that Lu Yiming was not interested in drinking, so he asked directly, "Tell me, what shady things did you want to talk to me about?"
Lu Yiming refused to suffer any loss and retorted, "Bill, you are being too polite, aren't you? I am a law-abiding citizen, not a criminal. What shady things can I do?"
Bill Gates, however, looked disgusted. "The first day I met you, you blackmailed me for $300,000. Not long ago, you sold me your VA Linux shares and defrauded me of $1 billion. You are much more ruthless than criminals. At least no criminal has ever been able to steal so much money from me."
Lu Yiming was not embarrassed to listen to Bill Gates' complaints, and he even refuted shamelessly: "It was you who forced me to sell the shares of VA Linux, right? And people should look forward and not always care about things that have already passed. The main reason I came to you this time is that I have a big business to discuss with you."
Bill Gates is the richest man in the world after all. A billion dollars is nothing to him. Maybe a good deal can make it back at any time. He nodded slightly and said, "Okay, tell me, what good deal is it?"
Lu Yiming said: "I need you to provide me with some funds."
Bill Gates narrowed his eyes and looked at Lu Yiming, as if he was thinking about Lu Yiming's motives.
"You don't need cash, do you?"
Lu Yiming complained mercilessly: "I am not short of money, but the United States is known as a beacon of freedom and democracy, but in the end, capital entry requires registration. This is too unfree and undemocratic."
Bill Gates watched Lu Yiming's performance and sighed in his heart at how thick-skinned Lu Yiming was. He felt ashamed of himself as he was almost as shameless as an old bastard like him.
"What on earth do you want to do? Why do I always feel like you have bad intentions?"
Lu Yiming said bluntly: "I plan to find someone to set up a new company. When the time comes, you can find a few wealthy people on Wall Street to transfer money to me in the name of investment. I can use the 2.7 billion US dollars I deposited in a Swiss bank as collateral..."
"You said you weren't going to do anything bad!"
Bill Gates is not a fool. Lu Yiming went to so much trouble to secretly raise funds. He couldn't be doing this to help the United States build a better new life, right?
And normal investment does not require this.
This kid is definitely up to no good!
Lu Yiming laughed and said, "Sure enough, nothing can be hidden, Bill. The bubble of the Nasdaq stock market is about to burst. I predict that it will show signs in March and start to avalanche in April, so I plan to make a fortune. What do you think? This is a big deal, you are not uninterested, right?"
Bill Gates' face turned darker than before, and he looked at Lu Yiming unhappily: "Who do you think I am? I will never short my own country!"
"Are you sure? This is a profit of over 100%. The revenue is at least over 5 billion US dollars. It's definitely a big deal."
After saying that, Lu Yiming gave Bill Gates a devilish smile: "Besides, short selling is not illegal. Isn't that what the vampires on Wall Street often do? You don't make the money, but they won't be polite. So why give it to those greedy wolves?"
Bill Gates' breathing became a little rapid, and many images flashed through his mind.
"Okay... tell me, what are you going to do?"
