I bought a prison in the United States.

Gloria drove back to the editorial office at four o'clock in the afternoon, and she still had that incomprehensible expression on her face.

The reason for this is that...

She turned to look to the side, where her interview notes were spread out on the passenger seat, filling most of the notebook.

Not long ago, Lingo showed her the prison's accounts for the past two months.

She hadn't intended to mention this request during the interview, nor dared to, and certainly didn't expect Lin Ge to voluntarily show her such a core secret.

Gloria immediately suspected that this was not a false account presented by the other party, but then she dismissed the idea.

Having worked as a feature reporter for nine years, she has met the three types of people that her seniors often talk about.

The first type of person hides their account books even better than a mistress's, and starts talking about privacy the moment you get close to them.

The second type of person shows you carefully selected summaries; the numbers look as beautiful as a wedding dress, but you know it's fake.

The third type of person pushes the entire ledger in front of you and says:

"See? This is all I have. What are you going to do about it?"

This Lingo is clearly the third type of person, but the editor-in-chief usually categorizes such people as idiots who can't do any big business.

However, Gloria had met Ringo, and she felt that he was not the kind of fool who was completely unsuspecting of her.

She was sitting in that simple warden's office, with a black hardcover ledger spread out in front of her. The pages were handwritten in pen, and every income and expenditure was marked with the date and purpose.

"Aren't you afraid I'll publish these figures in the newspaper?"

Gloria asked Ringo that question half-jokingly at the time, but it was clearly not a joke.

"You're probably thinking right now that if I post this, the IRS might investigate me because you think the bill is fake."

"But I'm telling you it's true, because nobody dares to go against the IRS."

Lin Ge's seemingly casual answer, however, led to another perspective:

"If readers saw how much money I've put into this prison, they wouldn't care whether I evaded taxes or not."

"They would be surprised at first that a private owner would use his own money to run a correctional center that should have been funded by the government."

"I bet this is a truly interesting headline, don't you think, Miss Reporter?"

Gloria had sometimes heard similar flattering words.

But when Ling Ge said this, there wasn't the slightest trace of acting in his tone.

Could it be that he, like his boss Mr. Underwood, has learned to restrain his emotions and not show his joy or anger on his face?

Gloria believed Ringo's words, after all, such superficiality was easily exposed over time, and what he wanted to do was not a short-term business.

If this is true, he has already spent all his money on this prison, and if Hammond blocks the funding, he could very well lose everything.

And now this person has handed over this information, which could destroy him, to the media exactly as it was.

Any other businessman would be crazy to do this.

Filled with various suspicions and thoughts, Gloria ended the interview and quickly returned to headquarters, intending to report to Mr. Underwood.

……

Underwood’s private drawing room was always this kind of tidiness that made Gloria feel inexplicably oppressed as soon as she entered.

The panoramic photo of Tulsa's old town on the wall, bathed in the afternoon sunlight, gleamed with a warm, amber luster.

Underwood sat on a dark green leather sofa, a cup of completely cold black tea on the coffee table, while he read a newspaper.

Gloria knew perfectly well that it must be from another newspaper.

Underwood rarely reads the Tulsa World because by the time those newspapers are published, they are no longer news to him.

He wasn't wearing a formal suit today, just a gray wool vest, with the shirt sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms.

This was the most unpretentious Gloria had ever seen him in all the years she had known him.

"sit."

Underwood gestured toward the sofa opposite him, his eyes still on the newspaper, but from the sound of high heels, he knew who had come in.

His fingers were long and slender, and although he was old, every move he made still exuded a graceful and measured air.

That was the composure and confidence of someone who sat in the main seat of the board for many years, able to suppress all other voices with just a gesture.

Gloria sat down gracefully and took out a tape recorder and a notebook from her canvas bag.

She would never record in front of Underwood.

Because as soon as the machine is turned on, Underwood instantly switches into the standard face of the Chamber of Commerce chairman, carefully choosing every word, leaving no room for error, making every sentence suitable for publication and quotation, but not a single word of his true feelings.

Only when the recording is turned off will he drop his pretense and say something real.

"How did your visit to the prison go?"

Underwood picked up the teacup, touched it with his fingertips, noticed the tea was cold, and silently put it back.

"Yes, sir, it went very smoothly."

Gloria opened her notebook and began to speak in her usual work-reporting tone:

"The prison factory is operating at full capacity right now. Orders from GM and GE are booked until March next year, so we have no shortage of work."

"The R&D team has also made progress; the first prototype of the monitoring system has been implemented."

"I specifically consulted a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Tulsa to verify the parameters, and there are no problems."

"Our self-developed back-illuminated CMOS chip outperforms other cameras in the same price range on the market by a significant margin, making it highly practical."

"In addition, the prison's door locks are undergoing a complete renovation. The construction team is a long-established team from the three counties, specializing in prison and hospital projects."

She glanced at Underwood, whose expression remained unchanged, then turned to another page, her tone becoming more serious:

"But these aren't the things that shocked me the most."

Underwood raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of interest in his eyes.

"That warden showed me the whole ledger."

Underwood's fingers, which were hovering over the rim of the glass, suddenly paused.

His eyelids narrowed slightly, and that subtle micro-expression could be interpreted as: Say it again?

Gloria's tone became more serious:

"Not a single detail was missed, from cash flow and loan records to equipment purchase invoices and employee salaries."

"Do you know how shocking this is? He showed it to me page by page, without any concealment, frighteningly frank."

Underwood's expression turned serious:

"Are you sure what you're seeing is the real ledger? Even if it's incomplete?"

"Yes, you should know that I'm not someone who's easily fooled."

"I also understand how important ledgers are to a businessman and a company."

"It's so important that this must never fall into the hands of the media. Its authenticity... no, if they let you see it, then it can only be true."

Underwood slowly got up, put the newspaper in his hand into a basket, and walked to the French windows.

As dusk settled over Tulsa’s skyline, the city’s outline gradually blurred.

Gloria watched his retreating figure and expressed her most genuine feelings:

"Sir, I've been a feature reporter for nine years and have seen all sorts of important people."

"Everyone, upon hearing the words 'check the accounts,' will instinctively panic, and will try to avoid and cover it up."

"But this Chinese man named Chen, I can't quite figure out his thoughts. Judging from his words and actions, I don't think he's a reckless person."

"He even proactively circled the red gaps in the ledger, telling me bluntly where the money was currently lacking."

"They also told me about the expenses incurred to expedite security upgrades in order to meet the state corrections board's rating."

"He doesn't pretend to be a philanthropist, nor does he try to whitewash himself by playing the victim."

"They didn't say anything, but just laid out a whole book of real accounts, which made me almost afraid to write them down."

Underwood turned around, his relaxed expression fading, and looked at Gloria:

"What do you think he gained by voluntarily showing the accounts to the media?"

Gloria kept thinking about this question the whole way:

"On the surface, it seems to do nothing but harm and bring trouble upon oneself."

"Once the accounts are made public, if anyone uses this as an excuse to cause trouble, the IRS can directly conduct an on-site audit."

"Creditors will take the opportunity to press for repayment, and competitors can accurately calculate his cash flow gap and exploit his weaknesses."

"Anyone with even a basic understanding of business logic would never do something so stupid, but he did it anyway!"

Gloria closed her notebook and shared her understanding:

"By revealing all your cards, you're taking a gamble, but in return, you gain absolute trust."

"I thought about it for a long time on my way back. He dared to do this, and it wasn't reckless at all."

"This person is very intelligent and has a clear conscience about every penny he spends."

"For him, making the accounts public was not a risk, but rather a testament to his confidence."

She looked up and stared directly at Underwood, and said seriously:

"And I'm sure he did it on purpose so you could see it."

Underwood sat back on the sofa, his fingers pinching his chin, lost in thought.

This young Chinese man first opened his door with an industry report, and then impressed his son with his hardcore technical skills.

Now, with an unreserved account book, they have sent the most honest signal to the newspaper.

I trust your character, so I won't hide anything from you.

If it's a scheme, every step is precise and flawless.

If this is their true nature, then this person's character and temperament are far beyond what is expected of them.

Underwood asked:

"Is his current financial situation sustainable?"

Gloria shook her head:

"The accounts are basically empty. The $200,000 in state funding that arrived last week has already been spent by more than $170,000 in less than a week."

"After paying off the high-interest loans and medical expenses for work-related injuries, all the remaining money was invested in equipment upgrades and security improvements."

"Orders from GM and GE are coming in, but the payment cycle is 45 days, and the cash flow can't keep up at all."

"He only has about $20,000 in liquid funds available to him right now."

"In addition, we also need to pay Peterson's equipment rental fees monthly and settle the remaining balance of Haskins' project payment."

"Once Hammond is stuck with the state corrections department's bed subsidy and that $200,000 medical fund..."

"He will definitely face a serious cash flow crisis within three months!"

Gloria already knew these key data by heart and didn't need to look through her notes.