I'm back in 1990

Chapter 934: The Ultimate Goal

Following the plan formulated by Huang Xiaochuan two years ago, Zhang Sui is gradually approaching her ultimate goal: to take control of a bank.

In July, Demike Bank in the United States declared bankruptcy due to its inability to meet a run on its deposits, marking the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

However, the collapse of this bank served as a wake-up call for Wall Street and the media, who were still trying to instill optimism in investors. This indicated that the crisis had reached a very serious stage, and even mainstream banks had been affected. This led to a severe crisis of distrust towards small and medium-sized banks across the United States, further exacerbating the banking industry's woes.

At this time, Zhang Sui frequently contacted senior executives of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Both sides had needs: FDIC wanted to leverage Zhang Sui's ability to attract funds, while Zhang Sui wanted to select a suitable acquisition target from the bankrupt banks taken over by FDIC.

The overall strategy was clear: avoid top-tier banks because they are too large. Even though Changhong Capital made a fortune during the subprime crisis, that amount of money could only get them some shares in top-tier banks, not complete control.

Even if you were to pour money into buying shares in these top banks, there would be enormous political resistance to sabotage the deal. The reason is simple: because they are Asian. Therefore, it would be a thankless and arduous endeavor.

Therefore, Huang Xiaochuan and Zhang Sui's goal was very clear: to focus on banks with high-quality regions or banks with distinctive businesses, and to take over these types of banks in full. They believed that they would not encounter too much resistance.

The situation was spiraling out of control, and a few days later, the authorities officially announced that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were insolvent.

This was a huge mess. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's stock prices plummeted by 50% that day, and within a few days, their market value evaporated to almost nothing. Stockbrokers treated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's stocks like a plague and sold them off one after another, but it was too late, and there were no buyers left.

The chain reaction that followed was that central banks and financial institutions around the world that held massive amounts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds were all left with bad debts, which meant that the financial crisis originating in the United States began to spill over to the whole world.

Zhang Yun, far away in Singapore, was examining the figures in an offshore fund account she controlled. It was an astonishing astronomical sum, far exceeding her initial expectations.

She held the phone in her hand for a long time before finally making the call.

Shortly after, the call connected, and a very familiar voice came through: "What is it?"

Upon hearing this voice, Zhang Yun paused for a moment and said, "It's nothing, just letting you know that I received the money."

"How are Yawen and Luca?" Huang Xiaochuan didn't care about the money, but took the initiative to ask about his two sons.

"They are doing well, but they are currently studying and visiting the National Astronomical Museum, so I cannot arrange for them to speak with you on the phone."

"I'll call them another day. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up." Huang Xiaochuan didn't want to continue the conversation after hearing that his two sons weren't with Zhang Yun.

Zhang Yun opened her mouth, but in the end, she could only say, "Okay! Goodbye!"

"goodbye!"

Huang Xiaochuan hung up the phone immediately.

Hearing the dial tone on her phone, Zhang Yun casually tossed it out the window. The phone hit the ground with a loud thud, startling the two Cane Corso dogs that were lying in the shade below, and also attracting the attention of the bodyguards. After confirming that it was Zhang Yun who threw the phone, everyone went back to their duties. Even the two Cane Corso dogs ran to another shady spot to cool off. It was obvious that Zhang Yun was throwing a tantrum, and no one wanted to provoke her.

Huang Xiaochuan was on his way to the hotel when his disciple Kong Hao arrived in Shanghai. It was summer vacation, and Kong Hao was there to attend an academic conference. Huang Xiaochuan had also been invited to the conference, but it conflicted with his other commitments, so he did not attend.

However, the first thing Kong Hao did after arriving in Shanghai was to visit his teacher, Huang Xiaochuan, and he even brought gifts for his teacher's family of four. Therefore, Huang Xiaochuan felt obligated to treat his student to a meal.

Kong Hao has now been promoted to associate professor, so he did not come to Shanghai alone to attend the academic conference; he brought three students with him.

Because Kong Hao is usually low-key and doesn't like to show off his teaching staff, and because Huang Xiaochuan resigned from his teaching position, he didn't graduate from Huang Xiaochuan's class. Therefore, his students don't know much about their teacher's past.

They came to the banquet with Kong Hao tonight, but what puzzled them was that, according to social etiquette, shouldn't the person who invited the guests arrive first? Why were the invited guests the ones who arrived at the hotel so early?

The three of them looked at their teacher, who was standing at the door craning his neck despite the summer heat, and were quite puzzled. Since the teacher was standing outside, they naturally couldn't stand inside the restaurant, so the three of them also stood outside to wait, but kept a little distance from each other.

The three of them could therefore whisper among themselves.

"Didn't someone say they were inviting our teacher to dinner? Why is the teacher standing at the door waiting?" Du Ya asked his two classmates in a low voice.

Ge Qian shook her head: "How would I know?"

Zhou An'an had the same expression, completely unaware.

At that moment, three black Cadillac Escalades drove towards them. These were full-size SUVs that looked very imposing.

"Wow, these cars look really powerful!" Zhou An'an stared intently at the three cars approaching from a distance.

Du Ya recognized the car and explained to Zhou An'an, "This is a Cadillac seven-seater SUV called Escalade."

Ge Qian then asked, "This car must be very expensive, right?"

"It's not cheap, over a million yuan a car, depending on the configuration." Du Ya, who is quite knowledgeable about cars, knows a lot.

Soon the three Escalades stopped, one of which stopped in front of Kong Hao, who then stepped forward and opened the door.

"Teacher!" Kong Hao greeted Huang Xiaochuan respectfully as he got out of the car.

Huang Xiaochuan chuckled and patted Kong Hao on the shoulder: "When did you arrive?"

Kong Hao laughed and said, "Not long ago, I just arrived too."

Du Ya was dumbfounded. If he wasn't mistaken, the person talking to his teacher Kong Hao was none other than Huang Xiaochuan, Asia's richest man and a famous economist!

Holy crap, what's going on? Could it be that this is the person treating the teacher to dinner tonight?

Ge Qian and Zhou An'an hadn't recognized Huang Xiaochuan yet. They asked Du Ya curiously, "That person talking to the teacher looks familiar, who is he?"

Du Ya excitedly whispered, "Huang Xiaochuan, that person is Huang Xiaochuan!"

"Huh?" Ge Qian and Zhou An'an were also dumbfounded.

Du Ya's reminder made them recognize Huang Xiaochuan, a world-renowned economist. If they, who were studying economics, didn't know him, they might as well not study this major.

Then a new question arose: how did his teacher get to know this genius?

Just as the three were racking their brains, Kong Hao called out to them, "What are you three standing there like idiots for? Hurry up and come and meet your grandmaster."

My goodness, Master?

The three of them felt as if they had been hit by a huge pie.