The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

10:00 AM, Shanghai.

Inside the Goldman Sachs Shanghai branch office.

Anthony is speaking with a vice president at Goldman Sachs' New York headquarters to learn about the impact of the financial crisis on the company.

As the conversation progressed, Anthony's expression grew increasingly grim.

As Lingyun previously stated, Goldman Sachs is facing an unprecedented liquidity crisis.

Compared to this, the stock market crash and the massive amount of subprime bonds becoming worthless are insignificant.

After listening to the executive's introduction on the other end of the phone, Anthony remained silent for a moment before asking with a serious expression:

"John, has headquarters come up with a solution to the liquidity problem? Liquidity is the lifeline for a financial institution."

"If headquarters cannot resolve this problem quickly, within two or three days, a large number of investors will flock to the site demanding to withdraw their investments. Once a run on the bank occurs, the trouble will be immense."

John on the other end of the phone gave a wry smile, offering the worst possible answer.

"We don't even need to wait two or three days. Today, quite a few investors have already requested to withdraw their investments. Headquarters can only appease these guys, using technical and procedural errors as an excuse to delay the process."

"But the problem is that headquarters doesn't seem to have a good solution to this liquidity crisis. The interbank market is now frozen, and getting financing from banks is extremely difficult."

"If they can't open up financing channels, headquarters might have to seek help from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. In that case, they might have to transfer some of their shares..."

As John explained his analysis, Anthony's expression grew increasingly grim.

A hint of worry crept into his eyes, a fear that he might lose his job or even be laid off and join the ranks of the unemployed.

After Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, tens of thousands of its employees lost their jobs and packed their bags to go home.

With the financial crisis rapidly sweeping the globe, these people have no chance of finding work in the short term; even washing dishes is unwanted.

Before long, a significant portion of them will appear on the streets, joining the ranks of the homeless and begging along the way.

Especially those guys who took out huge loans to buy luxury homes and cars when real estate prices soared a few years ago—they were so glamorous then, but they became so miserable a few years later!

Thinking of this, Anthony couldn't help but shudder, terrified.

At that moment, he thought of the mansion he had bought in New York last year, and of his wife and two children who were still in school.

"Snapped!"

Anthony suddenly slapped himself hard across the face without warning!

"What happened, Anthony?"

John asked in surprise over the phone.

"It's nothing, something on my desk just fell to the floor."

Anthony clicked his tongue as he lied.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Immediately afterwards, the secretary opened the door and briefed the room on the situation.

"Boss, Mr. Mike is here."

Before he finished speaking, a white man in his forties strode into the office.

If the investment directors of airlines such as Air China and China Eastern were here, they would recognize him at a glance.

This foreigner named Mike was the guy who led the team to various airlines and sold them that extremely insidious fuel hedging strategy.

All the airlines have fallen for this bastard's tricks and are left heartbroken and devastated.

Seeing Mike come in, Anthony pointed to the chair opposite him, gesturing for him to sit down.

Then I said goodbye to John and ended the call.

The next moment, Mike pointed to the handprint on his face and asked in surprise:

"What happened to your face? Anthony, did you get into a fight? This is the company, who would dare to lay a hand on you?"

Anthony blushed slightly and quickly changed the subject.

"Never mind that, it's irrelevant. Tell me about your situation."

"You mentioned on the phone that the head of China Eastern Airlines' investment department called you and proposed terminating the fuel hedging agreement. What exactly happened?"

Upon hearing this, Mike shrugged helplessly.

"Not only China Eastern Airlines' investment department, but several other airlines have also called one after another, making the same request: to immediately terminate that fuel hedging agreement."

"They acted very decisively, asking us to go to China Eastern Airlines headquarters that afternoon to meet with representatives from several airlines to discuss terminating the fuel hedging agreement."

"According to the supplementary clauses of the agreement, they have the right to terminate the agreement in advance. If we ignore them and do not meet with them, they have the right to unilaterally terminate the agreement without paying a penny of liquidated damages."

Anthony stared in astonishment, frozen in his chair.

In a moment, he realized what was happening and asked:

Why did these airlines simultaneously request to terminate this fuel hedging agreement? Did they discover a trap in the agreement? Or is there some other reason?

After a moment's thought, Mike offered his explanation.

"Their sudden proposal to terminate this fuel hedging agreement is likely related to the devastating financial crisis and the recent sharp drop in international oil prices."

"International oil prices have fallen too sharply recently, and are not far from the put option strike prices we agreed on with several airlines. Their reaction is perfectly normal."

"I just called a senior executive at China Eastern Airlines to ask about the situation. According to him, this is a decision made by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, instructing all airlines to immediately cancel this fuel hedging strategy."

"That basically confirms that the airlines didn't request to terminate the agreement because they discovered the pitfalls in this hedging strategy, but rather due to administrative intervention—a characteristic of China..."

After hearing Mike's explanation, Anthony actually breathed a sigh of relief.

"If it's due to administrative intervention, it's not necessarily a bad thing for us. At least it shows that the traps we set in this fuel hedging strategy haven't been detected by the airlines."

"In that case, we'll have plenty of opportunities to repeat the same trick in the future and reap the rewards repeatedly. We don't need to cling to this fuel hedging strategy, and we certainly can't afford to offend the Chinese government."

"The Chinese market is completely different from other countries' markets. To do business here, we must maintain a good relationship with the government. Since this is an administrative order, we should cooperate."

"We can discuss terminating this fuel hedging agreement with the airlines, but the penalty for breach of contract cannot be reduced by a single penny. The penalties from several airlines combined would amount to a considerable sum..."

Upon hearing this, Mike chuckled smugly.

Next, they continued to discuss negotiating with the airlines to terminate the fuel hedging agreement.

About fifteen minutes later, Mike got up and left the office to prepare for the negotiations that would take place that afternoon.

The door closed, and Anthony fell into deep thought.

After thinking for four or five minutes, he suddenly picked up his phone and started calling his direct supervisor at the New York headquarters.

After the call connected and we exchanged greetings, he explained the reasons why various airlines were requesting the termination of the fuel hedging agreement.

It also mentioned the amount of liquidated damages that could be obtained, and that this was likely an administrative order from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Before he could finish his introduction, the vice president on the other end of the phone burst out laughing.

"Great, Anthony, this might be the only good news I've heard today. You can terminate your agreements with these China Express Airlines and make a hefty penalty fee first."

"The group is facing a severe liquidity crisis and urgently needs to replenish its liquidity. Although the penalty you earned is not much and cannot solve the major problem, it is better than nothing..."

Hearing his direct supervisor say this, Anthony secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He understood that as long as he handled this matter perfectly, he could basically keep his position.

More importantly, they can also earn a substantial bonus, giving them more confidence to weather the financial crisis.

Little did he know, an invisible net had already been cast over his head, ready to fall at any moment and capture him all!