My absurd experiences in North America over the years

With Thanksgiving approaching, New York State experienced a heavy snowfall, and the temperature seemed to drop by ten degrees Celsius.

Joshua Kushner sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in his Goldman Sachs office, holding the action plan he had just completed.

The long-awaited crackdown was finally about to begin, and it involved the cooperation of multiple departments.

The streets outside were covered in snow and deserted with few pedestrians. Most of the office lights in the group building were off as people prepared for their Thanksgiving trips.

He stared at the document for a long time, his gaze lingering longer than usual on a particular clause—the clause that granted Goldman Sachs permission to purchase Forrest Capital shares at an extremely low price.

He looked at it again and again, confirming that it was true, that the man known as invincible was about to fall.

Joshua picked up his phone and dialed a number. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he got straight to the point: "Next week is too late. He's in Nashville right now, holed up in that little yard, not doing anything. It's the only place he can go; there's no way he can make any adjustments there."

Those in the administrative departments don't understand the urgency of commercial activities. If it were a trading day, both Goldman Sachs and Li Fu's joint fund would be handling hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions every minute.

He certainly advised them to go now. Thanksgiving wasn't essential; the more important the holiday, the less guarded the man was likely to be. When they appeared out of nowhere in Nashville, it would definitely have a miraculous effect.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, as if they were reassessing the narrowing window of opportunity. "I need to think about it."

Taking subordinates to perform official duties during the Thanksgiving holiday could easily result in being reprimanded; teammates are difficult to manage.

"Think about it, once we complete the mission, some will get promoted, some will make a fortune, what else matters?" Joshua grasped the key point: driving with profit is the simplest approach.

Sure enough, the other party was tempted.

Washington Union Airport was very quiet in the early morning. Only a few incandescent lights were on on the tarmac, casting blurry patches of light on the dark ground.

Joshua, accompanied by his Goldman Sachs team, boarded the two planes with investigators from the Department of Commerce and legal counsel from the Department of Justice.

Commerce Department official Powell, due to his age, looked as if he wasn't fully awake, while Justice Department staff were flipping through documents, mechanically checking the contents of each page.

Joshua sat by the window, the same song playing on repeat in his headphones, his gaze fixed on the dark wings of the plane outside. He desperately hoped the plane would take off as soon as possible and arrive in Nashville.

He didn't have to wait long. The plane broke through the clouds, and the land below quickly disappeared into the night, with only the city lights faintly visible.

The plane landed in Nashville before dawn.

Several black SUVs were already waiting by the tarmac. Joshua got into the back seat of the first car, and after the door closed, the car drove away from the airport, through the quiet streets of Nashville, and headed towards the hotel he had booked.

The building outlines outside the car window were slowly brightening, and the streetlights were gradually losing their presence in the morning light.

The buildings along the way gradually became clear in the gray-blue light, and lights were already on in the windows of some houses, as laborers were getting up early and working late to start their day.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Nashville is quieter than usual in the early morning, with almost no pedestrians on the streets and only a few vehicles passing by.

The team rested at the hotel for six or seven hours, and then set off together at 2 p.m. to conduct an official investigation at the Forrest Capital office building.

Half an hour later, Joshua opened the car door, and the cold wind of early winter immediately rushed towards him. The sun in the sky did not seem to have much effect. Although it was a sunny day, the temperature was still very low.

The only good news is that it's not snowing here.

Li Fu has already received the notification, and he and core team members Lina, Thompson, and others are waiting in the office.

Joshua stepped out of the elevator and took the lead. Powell, an official from the Department of Commerce, was a seasoned veteran who didn't mind letting the young man lead the way. He and the Justice Department staff followed behind.

Almost everyone of them seemed confident, their expressions carrying a calmness that came from rehearsals.

Everyone thought that completing the task was not difficult.

Li Fu personally led his men to greet them, his expression and eyes as calm as an ancient well, still displaying the same confident demeanor that Joshua disliked.

"Mr. Li, I think you should have known why we're here when you received the notification," Joshua said, his heart seething with hatred, but his face remained calm and composed.

"Do you hold a public office?" Li Fu glanced at him with a hint of disdain.

The implication is that if they want to investigate me, it's someone from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice, or the FBI. Who are you, Goldman Sachs, to do this?

Joshua was rendered speechless by the rebuttal.

He was indeed a bit too hasty. Goldman Sachs' team was nominally just an advisor assisting in the investigation, tasked with reviewing whether there were any illegal activities in Forrest Capital's transactions.

He has no right to initiate an inquiry.

"Fine, I'll let you be arrogant for a while longer," Joshua thought, seething with hatred, but he could only curse in his heart.

Powell then stepped in to smooth things over, presenting a document: "Mr. Li, this is a formal investigation notice from the Ministry of Commerce. We need to review the Huawei terminal business that you oversaw the acquisition of, and we also hope to obtain relevant information from Forrest Capital regarding its shareholder structure."

Joshua smiled smugly.

It has begun... Once the investigation begins, the Department of Justice can intervene using Li Fu's 70% stake in Forrest Capital, thereby conducting a judicial review of Li Fu personally.

If Thomas were to be pragmatic at this point, or if he wanted to "take back" more of Forrest Capital's shares, he shouldn't have gotten involved. Wouldn't it have been better to take this opportunity to join this feast?

Li Fu remained calm as always; he had already instructed Lina to prepare all the documents.

They couldn't find any fault with the agreement to acquire Huawei's terminal business; at most, they could only speculate that Huawei gave them a favorable impression because he was a compatriot.

However, he is completely innocent under the law.

If you calculate the shareholding, Forrest Capital does hold a majority of 49%, but this is purely an investment, and they have no authority to interfere with Huawei's operations.

Therefore, it doesn't matter who has more or less.

Even with a huge advantage, Joshua couldn't win, so Li Fu could completely denigrate his opponent as worthless in his own narrative, and no one could find fault with him.

Powell simply glanced at the agreement and handed it to his subordinates. Then he opened the documents concerning Forrest Capital's equity structure, which was the crucial point and the key to "pushing" Li Fu into the abyss.