The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

At 6:00 a.m. sharp, the international crude oil futures market opened.

On the rapidly changing trading screen, international oil price charts plummeted like a waterfall, and the cries of despair from traders worldwide seemed to pierce through the screen.

"Fuck! This damn oil price has dropped again, is it ever going to stop?"

"God, is this going to reset to zero?"

Following closely behind, the Asia-Pacific financial markets staged a doomsday frenzy.

The financial markets of various Asian countries that opened one after another staged dramatic plunges.

From New Zealand to Australia, and then to Japan and South Korea, almost all stock markets have fallen by more than 5%, and there is widespread lamentation in the market!

Across the Pacific, the atmosphere in Washington was far more tense than in the financial markets.

From the close of the US stock market, the US Treasury building remained brightly lit throughout the night, causing all the pizza shops around the building to experience a surge in orders.

To prevent a financial market collapse, the US government and the Federal Reserve joined forces and introduced a number of significant market rescue measures overnight.

European countries quickly followed suit, launching a wave of bank bailouts in response to the concentrated outbreak of their domestic banking crises!

For example, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg jointly injected 64 billion euros into Dexia Bank.

Ireland even staked its national credit, guaranteeing up to 4000 billion euros in bank deposits and debt!

Even so, it was still difficult to prevent the European financial markets from opening sharply lower!

3 PM, Chaoyang Park Villa District, Beijing.

The warm and bright autumn sunshine outside the window stands in stark contrast to the devastation in the global financial markets.

In the restaurant.

Lingyun enjoyed a delicious lunch while watching the live broadcast of the European stock market opening on the wall-mounted TV.

As soon as the market opened, European stock markets plummeted, each one more disastrous than the last!

Immediately afterwards, the television screen switched.

The American cowboy president appeared on the live broadcast, facing the camera with a solemn expression, as if he were attending his own funeral.

"At this moment, America stands on the edge of a precipice. I urge Congress to put aside partisan differences and pass this bailout plan."

"Otherwise, within a few days, we will see a country where the financial markets have completely collapsed..."

Following closely behind, the two candidates vying for the presidential throne made a rare joint statement, publicly supporting the revised large-scale bailout plan!

Finally, Paulson took the stage. The Treasury Secretary hadn't slept all night, but his voice remained strong.

"We revised the bailout plan overnight, adding a congressional oversight committee and a phased funding system, among other things. This plan can not only save the market, but also rebuild the financial order."

"The House's rejection yesterday at noon was a mistake. The upcoming Senate vote must correct this mistake, and we must stand up to save the financial markets."

"Snap"

Ling Yun slowed down and clapped softly.

"Brilliant, absolutely textbook-level political performance."

He pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth, his eyes gleaming with an all-knowing light.

"This plan will definitely pass in tomorrow's Senate vote, followed by a second vote in the House of Representatives on October 3rd."

"Those lawmakers who voted against it in the early hours of the morning will immediately receive calls from Wall Street financiers."

Yanzi rested her chin on her hand, watching her husband talk eloquently with fascination.

"Does this mean the bailout plan should pass a vote, and that the financial market situation will improve?"

"Getting better?"

Ling Yun shook his head as if he had heard a joke.

"Honey, this is like giving a terminal cancer patient a painkiller injection. The pain stops, but the cancer cells are still spreading."

"Next, the global financial markets will enter a phase of gradual decline, like a frog being slowly boiled in water, with the losses only increasing..."

At this point, he suddenly made an explosion gesture:

"Until one day, bang! It crashes down another 30% to 50%, or even more!"

"hiss!"

The two beauties gasped simultaneously.

"That's terrifying! How many people would go bankrupt and jump off buildings?"

"Right now, it's mostly retail investors and fund managers jumping off buildings. But when we get to the stage I'm talking about, it'll be bank presidents and billionaires jumping off buildings..."

Ling Yun joked with a smile, but his tone was chillingly menacing.

As he spoke, he took out his phone and sent two text messages, one to Chairman Zhao of Yuanda and the other to General Manager Chen of CITIC.

"European stock markets have opened the floodgates. I cleared all my short positions within half an hour, then took profits, rested for a while, and will give a signal when I re-enter the market."

The message was sent out almost instantly, and Chairman Zhao and his team replied almost immediately.

"Understood! The team is already in operation, and the current unrealized profit is at least three times higher than expected!"

"What a brilliant move! The European stock market did indeed crash, and everyone is quickly liquidating their positions; funds are flowing back in."

Seeing the reply, Ling Yun smiled with satisfaction.

That's his rhythm.

Be greedy when others are fearful, and leave the game to count your money when others are greedy.

Just then, Lawyer Zhang suddenly called.

"I just received a call from Michael. He said that Hearst Group is willing to seriously consider cooperating with Siyuan Capital, and that they will send a professional team to conduct in-depth discussions."

"Oh?"

Ling Yun raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Such a quick change of attitude? Wasn't this foreigner so arrogant before, saying Hearst never brought in outside shareholders?"

Then, he changed the subject.

"It seems they've finally figured it out: in China, foreign capital's dream of controlling the media is simply unrealistic."

"From last night until now, the financing environment in the international financial market has deteriorated sharply, and Hearst's chances of raising a large amount of funds are becoming increasingly slim."

"Haha, that should be it."

Zhang Lu's hearty laughter came from the other end of the phone.

"So they've remembered you, the God of Wealth. How should we respond?"

After a moment's thought, Ling Yun immediately offered a solution.

"We can negotiate with Hearst Corporation, but we must control the pace. First, we need to advance the registration of Siyuan Capital and the acquisition of Fashion Magazine."

"It shouldn't take more than a few days for this game between me and Goldman Sachs to be over. At that point, Hearst Corporation will have no choice but to beg you on their knees..."

After hanging up the phone, Ling Yun noticed that two beautiful women were staring at him expectantly.

The next moment, Yanzi came over and hugged his arm.

"You mentioned a duel with Goldman Sachs? What exactly happened? It sounds exciting!"

Ling Yun pinched her cheek and gently shook his head.

"This matter must be kept strictly confidential because it involves extremely significant interests and requires a high level of expertise, which you wouldn't understand!"

"I'll tell you the details once things have settled down and some parts have been declassified!"

Hearing this, the two beauties could only nod.

Around 4:30 pm, Lingyun drove to Fuyou Street and slowly entered the west gate of Haizi.

Inside the west gate, Deputy Director Zhang was already waiting.

After exchanging greetings, he immediately delivered a piece of news that I had expected.

"An hour ago, Lewis arrived at the Capital Airport and is now staying in a luxury suite at a five-star hotel near the Financial Street."

"As soon as this guy arrived at the hotel, he called several senior executives from Goldman Sachs' Beijing office to his suite to inquire about the progress of the investigation into you."

Upon hearing this news, Ling Yun scoffed dismissively.

"Tch! This guy got here pretty fast. If I get the chance, I'd like to meet this scumbag from Goldman Sachs headquarters!"

"No doubt, he's coming with Lloyd's top instructions. I also happen to have some messages to convey to Lloyd through him!"

Seeing his confident demeanor, Deputy Director Zhang nodded approvingly.

"Very good, seeing your confidence, I'm completely relieved!"