My absurd experiences in North America over the years

The office door had just been closed not long ago.

Ivanka had already ripped half of Li Fu's shirt buttons open, and her cool fingertips were slowly sliding up his spine.

He could feel her breath on his neck, a warm and lingering scent of coffee and perfume.

"Are you sure no one will bother us?" Ivanka's voice was somewhat muffled, her lips almost touching the edge of his chin.

"I'm sure," Li Fu believed Thompson.

His hand was moving down the waistline of her ivory suit, his fingertips touching the thin, crisp fabric beneath which lay the familiar, arousing curves.

Both of them couldn't help but want to take things a step further.

Ivanka blushed, her posture incredibly alluring.

Li Fu's thumb had already hooked onto the edge of the hidden button on the skirt suit.

Just then, his phone, which was on his desk, suddenly vibrated.

Three consecutive calls, urgent and persistent.

Ivanka paused for a moment, but her lips didn't leave his neck. She whispered, "Never mind."

The two pressed their bodies together, ready to continue.

The phone kept vibrating.

Li Fu glanced at the screen; the phone number was saved as "Cole".

He took a deep breath, calmed his breathing, and then gently patted Ivanka's side. "It's Cole calling. He's in a different time zone, so he's probably calling about the roster."

There is a time difference of more than one hour between New York and Nashville. When it is a little past 10 o'clock here, it is not yet 9 o'clock in Nashville.

Ivanka stepped back half a step from him, her face still flushed, but her eyes had slowly regained their clarity as she switched back to work mode.

She straightened her disheveled collar, adjusted her skirt, then sat back down in her chair, took a sip of her coffee, as if nothing had happened.

Li Fu pressed the answer button. "Cole, so early?"

The sound of papers turning over came from the other end of the phone, followed by Cole's response in a Nashville accent, "It's not early, Lee. It's almost nine o'clock here. The parliament starts taking attendance at eight-thirty. I'm calling you during the twenty-minute break. My father has already confirmed the list with them, and they're all ready to coordinate."

Li Fu picked up a pen and put a checkmark on the title page of the blue folder.

"Does Jon Huntsman have any other requests?"

It's normal for a state governor, or a future ambassador to the East, to have some requests or suggestions based on certain considerations.

"He himself is fine, but his team has made some suggestions," Cole paused for a second, "He wants a portion of the fund's portfolio to involve new energy or clean technologies, not necessarily the main holding, but preferably some involvement."

Jon Huntsman is preparing for his post as ambassador to the East, and in future public appearances, he will need a reasonable explanation for why he holds shares in this fund.

If a fund also invests in environmentally related assets, it can interpret its participation as a focus on the green economy.

After all, their family's main business is chemicals, and focusing on the green economy can effectively offset the related negative impacts.

Li Fu thought for a few seconds.

This request is reasonable, and it precisely demonstrates that Huntsman is a shrewd politician who wants to find a "politically correct fig leaf" for his involvement.

As a time traveler, he also knew that from a practical point of view, 2009 was indeed a good time to lay out clean energy, and environmental protection issues could be said to be absolutely politically correct in the future, with huge room for growth.

The economic stimulus bill recently passed by the new presidential cabinet includes hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy subsidies.

"That's something to consider," Li Fu replied to Ke Er. "I'll allocate 5% to 8% of the fund's portfolio to new energy-related stocks. This percentage won't affect the main strategy and will be sufficient for external communication."

"Okay, I'll pass it on to him," Cole said, sounding satisfied. "The funds from old Gates's project are from the family foundation, which is a bit more complicated than personal investments, but he's assured all compliance procedures will be completed by the end of the month. Thomas Lee…"

He paused when he mentioned the name, a hint of amusement in his voice, "He's got something interesting going on. He asked me to pass on a message to you: 'Tell that young man I can't wait to see how he buys at the bottom of this market.'"

Capital tycoons and high-end players have different focuses than others; they tend to focus more on his trading strategies.

Li Fu's lips curled up slightly. Thomas Lee was more than thirty years older than him, and for him to say such a thing meant that he was genuinely interested, and not just giving face to the Forrest family.

"That's settled then. The list is officially confirmed. The remaining task is to allocate the quotas. We'll contact you again then."

"It's up to you. I'm about to start taking attendance," Cole said, then hung up the phone.

Li Fu put his phone back on the table, looked up at Ivanka, who was holding a coffee cup, her eyes now calm and focused as always.

She just received an email from her father's CP.

Murdoch has confirmed it; his assistant has sent a preliminary letter of intent.

Bloomberg's office also sent a reply this morning, stating that the mayor will participate in the name of a personal trust, with the amount to be determined by us.

Stephen Ross was even more eager to get started.

Ivanka relayed the contents of the email to Li Fu.

"Now we'll start allocating the shares," Li Fu said, spreading three folders out on the table, arranged in red, blue, and white, like three flags.

He leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped in front of his stomach, his gaze slowly moving across the list. The real challenge was about to begin—cutting the cake.

Ten people, a share of five hundred million US dollars.

No one wants to take less, and every family has a reason to take more.

But there is only one decision-making power, and it is in his hands.

"First, we've established a principle: we won't disclose the size and structure of this fund to the public," Li Fukai said calmly and firmly. "If anyone asks, we'll keep in mind the same thing—'The management team allocated shares based on a comprehensive set of factors; we don't comment on other people's shares.'"

Ivanka nodded.

This strategy is wise; each company believes it is receiving the "best treatment," which reduces a lot of unnecessary comparisons and friction.

"Next," Li Fu picked up the red folder, turned to the first page, "we'll allocate resources to your father's side first: Murdoch, Bloomberg, and Ross..."

His pen hovered briefly above Murdoch's name.

"Murdoch, eighty million."

Ivanka didn't hide her surprise; she raised an eyebrow slightly. "Is this the maximum allowable share?"

Keep in mind that Forrest Capital only has 2 million.

"One of the top figures, he is the final decision-maker in News Corporation's decision-making chain. His participation in our fund means that the entire media resources of News Corporation will remain friendly to us during this period," Li Fu said after careful consideration.

The entire network, including Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and Dow Jones Newswires, is worth far more than $80 million.

Of course, these are actually the eligibility requirements for funds.

The reason it has the highest share is mainly due to the personal relationship between CP and Murdoch.

Therefore, Li Fu added at the end, "Moreover, he is your father's closest friend, and from any perspective, he should receive the highest share."

Ivanka paused for half a second, then nodded slightly.

She understood Li Fu's logic, and was even somewhat grateful; he was sending a signal to her father through this method of distribution.

CP Group plays the most significant role in fund cooperation.

"Bloomberg, fifty million; Ross, fifty million," Li Fu wrote down the numbers next to the two names, crisp and clean.

The red folder was closed.

"Next is the Forrest family side," he said, opening the blue folder and looking at three names.

Next to Thomas Lee's name, he wrote down 8000 million.

"Thomas Lee was given the highest allocation, for reasons similar to Murdoch's: his symbolic value outweighs his financial value. A seasoned Wall Street investor managing a multi-billion dollar fund is willing to treat you as an equal partner; no matter what storms we encounter in the fund's operations, he will be our ballast."

Ivanka listened attentively, her pen never stopping as she quickly jotted down notes in her memo.

"Jon Bopei, $50 million; Gates, $50 million."

Li Fu treated the three people recommended by Thomas the same way he treated the CP Group employees.

The office was quiet for a moment, with only the occasional sound of ferry whistles coming from the East River.

"What are your thoughts on Jackson's side?" Ivanka spoke first, her voice calm and unbiased, simply trying to help him organize his thoughts.

Li Fu opened the white folder.

The three sheets of paper bore the names of three people: Druckenmiller, Larry Fink, and Robert Rubin.

"The cap for Druckenmiller and Larry Fink is 50 million each, depending on their own wishes," Li Fu could only try to allocate it in a balanced way. "Rubin's quota... let's say 8 million."

As a former finance minister, eight million is actually not enough for Rubin's net worth. However, the nature of his involvement is different from others. The larger the amount of money, the easier it is to cause political turmoil. If he takes less, he will feel that it is just an investment based on personal relationships.

This was Li Fu's consideration based on risk control. In addition, from a cash perspective, even if Rubin is a billionaire, it would probably not be easy for him to come up with more than 1000 million in cash.

Net worth is net worth, and cash flow is cash flow.

Take him for example. His net worth is conservatively estimated at several billion, but the fact that he can come up with 200 million is already a result of scraping together money from various sources.

The same applies to CP Group; 3 million is already the upper limit, and they may even need bridge loans to alleviate the situation.

After listening to his analysis, Ivanka leaned back in her chair and looked at Li Fu with an indescribable look in her eyes. There was admiration, trust, and even a feeling that she herself could not explain.

"You've thought of everything very thoroughly; you've considered all aspects."

"There's one more person," Li Fu picked up another separately printed sheet of paper from the corner of the table, which read Arthur Sulzberger.

The New York Times publisher who made the call is still waiting for the quota to be confirmed.

"Sulzberg..." He tapped his pen lightly on the paper twice, "There's still 32 million left, give it all to him! I just don't know if he can come up with it."

This share is slightly more than Rubin's, but much less than everyone else's.

"What's the reason?" Ivanka asked.

"You may not know, but the New York Times' financial situation is currently very bad. Giving him too much would put unnecessary pressure on him. He'd probably have to scrape together 32 million," Li Fu wrote down the last number and put the pen back on the table.

He gathered all the folders together, stacked them neatly on the table, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long sigh.

Allocating quotas does require consideration from all parties and is even more tiring than deciding on the list. In fact, CP, Thomas, and Jackson had already reviewed the list for him, and the people they proposed were all candidates they had considered.

Ivanka looked down at her memo, which she had compiled.

Murdoch $80 million, Thomas Lee $80 million.

Bloomberg, $50 million; Ross, $50 million; Huntsman, $50 million; Gates Sr., $50 million; Druckenmiller, $50 million; Larry Fink, $50 million.

Sulzberger received 32 million, Rubin received 8 million.

"The 500 million share raised externally is complete; all that's left is to finalize some details." Ivanka looked up, and from her perspective, sunlight streamed in obliquely through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a soft golden hue on Li Fu's profile.

She suddenly felt that there was something very rare about this man; he was not the kind of person who was greedy and was willing to share profits with others, and he could even choose not to take the lion's share himself.

He is not the kind of person who acts arbitrarily. He knows how to weigh the pros and cons, where to compromise and where to insist, and how to think from the other person's perspective.

What she admired most was that when he made all these decisions, he never hypocritically asked her "What do you think?" He didn't need to ask for her opinion to prove that he cared about her.

He always puts his words into action.

For example, during a romantic encounter at a hotel, he gave up a share of 100 million to her family.

This is a million times better than a hypocritical inquiry.

"Wait a moment," Ivanka stood up, walked to Li Fu's chair, leaned down slightly, and gently kissed his forehead. "I'm going to call my father and inform him of the allocation plan here."

"Do you think he'll have any objections?" Li Fu shrugged. "After all, of the two people with the highest loan amounts, only one is his friend."

"He won't," Ivanka said, glancing back at him as she reached the door, a confident smile playing on her lips, "because he knows very well that you've already given him plenty of face."

The entire CP Group fund had the highest allocation, reaching 300 million, and the people he recommended also received 160 million in allocation.

Li Fu was the only one left in the office. He turned around and looked at the Donghe River flowing slowly outside the floor-to-ceiling window, his thoughts still on the allocation plan.

Three hundred million went to CP Group, two hundred million to Forrest Capital, and five hundred million was raised from external sources by ten people.

In terms of proportion, CP Group is the largest investor in the entire fund.

This is a safe bet in itself. In the face of any potential external pressures in the future, the whole world will see that the largest sum of money behind this fund comes from that real estate developer in New York who is always in the headlines.

His party affiliation is currently the same as the president's.

The remaining individuals, scattered across the media, political, financial, and real estate sectors, are all significant figures, representing both parties. Together, they form an impenetrable wall.

He didn't know if his plan could weather future storms, nor did he know if the Kushner family would cause trouble.

But the current chessboard must be laid out this way.

He didn't have much time left.