A $50 million margin call? I'll short Wall Street.

He neither bowed his head to admit his mistake nor tried to save face.

From an absolutely high-dimensional perspective, he used an almost cruel rationality to casually transform a huge loss that could bankrupt countless financial institutions into a "training course" worth 700 million.

This not only diminished Yuanxing's sense of victory, but also demonstrated to Lu Ze his absolute control over the massive Goldman Sachs machine.

This is a demonstration of strength.

"Cleaning fee?"

Lu Ze finally spoke.

His body relaxed slightly, and his fingers habitually rested on the edge of the table.

"Lloyd."

For the first time, Lu Ze called the other person by name. In American business context, this signifies a respect for equal status.

"Since it's a cleaning fee, I have to say that Goldman Sachs Laundry's prices are indeed the most satisfactory I've ever seen."

Blankfein was visibly stunned for half a second when he heard this address.

Then, looking into Lu Ze's calm eyes, he burst into laughter again.

This time, the laughter was even louder than before, startling a seagull on the seawall not far away.

"Lance! I love your metaphor!"

Blankfein smiled so hard that wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes.

He picked up the Perrier on the table, raised it like a glass of champagne, and gave it a distant toast to Lu Ze.

"Did you know that at last week's board meeting, someone proposed putting you and your Farstar Capital on Goldman Sachs' prime brokerage business blacklist for life? They think you're too dangerous."

Blankfein took a sip of water, his eyes burning with intensity.

"I gave that idiot who made the suggestion a piece of my mind."

"I'm saying, a wolf that can kill Bear Stearns in one bite, instead of studying how its teeth grow, instead of thinking about how to stand in the wind and hand it meat, you're thinking about how to drive it out of this forest?"

"If we don't even have this much courage and magnanimity, then Goldman Sachs is not far from closing down."

He slammed the water bottle down on the table, his voice revealing an aggressive sincerity emanating from the streets of Brooklyn.

"So, Lance."

"That's why Goldman Sachs' channels are completely open to you and Yuanxing Capital. You have the highest level of VIP access, the lowest margin requirements, and you can get all research reports and internal references immediately."

He looked at Lu Ze and spoke slowly and deliberately:

I don't care if you're a devil or not.

"All I care about is whether you, this devil, can bring profits to Goldman Sachs."

After Blankfein said, "I only care whether you can bring profits to Goldman Sachs," he didn't wait for Lu Ze to reply.

He stood up and made a "walk" gesture.

This is his rhythm. He doesn't like to leave a statement hanging in the air for too long, because if it does, it turns into a negotiation.

He didn't want to negotiate with Lu Ze. He wanted to take a walk with Lu Ze.

These two things were completely different in his experience.

The two walked along the edge of the green towards the Atlantic Ocean. The lawn began to slope gently near the sea, with a low stone breakwater at the bottom. Waves crashed against the breakwater, white spray splashing up and leaving dark water stains on the stones.

The sea breeze was stronger than before.

Blankfein put his hands in his pockets and looked at the sea, as if he were thinking about something completely unrelated to the conversation.

Then he spoke.

"Lance, I had someone take a look at those energy orders you made on our route."

His tone was casual, as if he were mentioning a trivial matter that wasn't worth taking too seriously.

"USO, Exxon, Chevron, and some futures contracts."

He paused.

"Very standard. So standard it's almost...boring."

Lu Ze walked beside him without saying a word.

"Bear Stearns pen,"

Blankfein continued, his gaze still fixed on the sea.

"The exercise price is suspiciously low, expiring in three weeks, with a premium of over five million. No normal fund manager would create that structure."

"But you did it."

He turned his head and looked at Lu Ze from the side.

"So I'm wondering, would someone capable of creating a structure like Bear Stearns only take on such... conformist deals in the oil industry?"

Lu Ze stopped and looked at the indifferent Atlantic Ocean beyond the breakwater.

The waves surged in one after another, each one looking much like the previous one, yet no two were exactly alike.

Lloyd.

Lu Ze's voice was lowered a little by the sea breeze.

"When sheep are running wildly, the safest thing to do is run among them."

He turned his head and looked at Blankfein.

"Instead of standing in front and blocking the way."

Why not make money from trends?

Blankfein stared at him for two seconds.

Then he gave a soft "hmm," as if he had received an answer that was basically satisfactory but not quite complete.

He took a few more steps forward, walked to the edge of the breakwater, and looked down at the stones below the breakwater that had been repeatedly pounded and polished smooth by the waves.

"Oil is currently at $110," Blankfein said. "Goldman Sachs research recently released a report with a target price of $200. It will be officially released soon."

"They're marketing this report all over the world. Airlines, logistics giants, and some... big clients from the East."

He didn't name names, but the words "a major client from the East" lingered in the air between the two for a full two seconds.

Lu Ze knew what he was talking about.

Chinese companies that are being brainwashed by Wall Street's oil price research reports and frantically buying fuel hedging structures.

"Do they believe this report?" Lu Ze asked.

Two hundred dollars, tsk.

"believe."

Blankfein answered very decisively.

"They had complete faith in it. They believed every single report we stamped with Goldman Sachs' seal."

He turned around, looked at Lu Ze, and a very subtle smile appeared on his lips.

"Lance, have you ever thought about what it would be like to see those people who bought wax wings and took to the skies before the wind died down?"

Lu Ze knew what he was talking about.

In ancient Greek mythology, Icarus escaped the labyrinth with wax wings, but in his excitement, he flew towards the sun and melted, falling to his death in the sea.

Those companies that signed Goldman Sachs agreements out of greed, arrogance, or ignorance are like people who bought wax wings to fly.