Chapter 22: I'm Done Pretending, Let's Lay It Out

One thousand dollars for an hour of flying? Maybe a few hours? Is that cheap?

Cheap! And damn cheap! That's how Carter truly felt.

In his previous life, Carter had a friend whose grandfather fell critically ill and needed urgent transfer to another hospital. Given the bumpy roads, the elderly man might not have been able to withstand the journey. Fortunately, the friend had a wealthy aunt.

Upon understanding the situation, the wealthy aunt immediately took action, pulled out her phone, and directly hired a medical helicopter from a specialized air medical transport company to transfer the old man to another city's hospital.

At the hospital, where Carter was assisting his friend, he witnessed the aunt's "mighty dominance," but also noted the situation with the medical helicopter at the time. The flight lasted only about twenty minutes, yet the total cost was over fifty thousand RMB.

That's a helicopter, mind you. Although the costs included expenses for medical personnel and medical equipment rental, it provided a glimpse into the costs of chartering private aircraft.

And now, a nearly brand-new jet for himself to experience. One thousand dollars. Based on the current black market exchange rate for dollars in China, it's roughly ten thousand RMB.

This kind of discount opportunity, regardless of the purpose of market research, Carter was eager to experience what it feels like to ride in a private plane.

Looking at Alan Paulson with an eye of "here comes a sucker," Carter secretly decided that if this guy ever came to him for a loan, he'd have to give him a point less interest, and dragged Paulson towards the Gulfstream office while calling for his sister to hurry up.

Rare to encounter such a sucker; if they missed this opportunity, there wouldn't be another chance!

"Wait, wait. Slow down, are you really going to spend one thousand dollars to fly around in the air?"

After being dragged out by Carter for ten meters, Paulson finally came to his senses. While asking for confirmation, he observed Carter more carefully. This kid. What was his last name again?

Black? Is there a big family with that surname?

Paulson's small head was filled with big confusion.

"Of course! Thanks to Uncle Alan! Oh, by the way, look at me. I'll pay now!"

Releasing Paulson's hand, Carter slapped his forehead. Then he took out his checkbook from his pocket, and a pen from his chest pocket, and went to a nearby step. Without caring about his image, he hunched over and began to write.

A moment later, Paulson looked at the check from the Atlanta Federal Savings Bank, lost in thought. Planning to travel across continents and do business in New York, Carter naturally wouldn't be stupid enough to use his own checkbook.

For this trip, Carter had deliberately opened an account at the Atlanta Federal Savings Bank and transferred the money there. This was also a preemptive measure for his future plans to swindle the Federal Savings Bank. Better to pay back the interest first.

It remains to be seen how the bank manager would feel when he found out that their boss, as the Federal Savings Committee raised the interest rate to over 20%, and then see his own loan of five hundred thousand at 14% interest.

But getting back on track, seeing the check from the Federal Savings Bank, Paulson felt much more at ease. His attitude towards Carter also became more serious.

"Come with me, let's sit in my office for a while, eat something, and after lunchtime, I'll call the pilot. It's lunchtime now, you guys probably haven't eaten yet, right? There won't be any flight attendants to serve you here when you're on my plane."

"Haha, no flight attendants? But we have your service, Mr. Boss, that's even more of an honor for us!"

Carter chuckled, feeling ecstatic. One thousand dollars not only could get him a ride on a private plane but also a free lunch. It was simply fantastic. With a satisfied heart, his mouth couldn't stop talking.

"Do you know I'm the boss of Gulfstream?"

Paulson looked at Carter thoughtfully. When he introduced himself earlier, he didn't say he was the boss here. He only mentioned a name. How did he know he was the boss from just a name? Indeed, he came prepared.

"Yeah, I know. I looked into Gulfstream's information before I came."

Realizing he had spilled the beans, Carter stopped pretending and openly admitted he knew this.

"Is that so? No wonder I saw you seemed to be recording something earlier. Is it convenient for you to tell me what you've recorded? Come in, please!"

Approaching the office door, Paulson instructed his assistant to bring some food over and then pushed the door open, inviting Carter and his sister in.

"Sure, it's all here, just some personal speculations about the current situation of Gulfstream. But I don't know much about the aviation industry, the status of your product development, customer situation, so it's rather crude."

Since he admitted he had investigated Gulfstream before coming, Carter naturally didn't refuse to show what he had recorded to Paulson. There wasn't any valuable information, and his purpose was either to lend money or invest in Gulfstream, not to cause trouble or engage in malicious business competition. What was there to hide?

On the other hand, after receiving Carter's notebook, Paulson began to flip through it right in front of him without any politeness. Of course, foreigners are generally not polite in such situations.

Just as Carter had expected, Paulson only shook his head with a smile when he saw the shallow information recorded earlier. Although he admired Carter's ability to infer and record these things at such a young age, these superficial pieces of information would not attract Paulson's attention at all.

But when he saw later on, Carter wrote a comment: "I believe that the general aviation market will gradually expand in the future, and Gulfstream will surely have a place in it," Paulson was surprised and looked up at Carter.

He didn't understand where this kid got his confidence to write such a comment. When in doubt, ask. Foreigners are not polite in this regard either. Paulson pushed the notebook back to Carter's face and pointed to this comment.

"Carter, can you tell me how you judge that the future general aviation market will be very large? What's your basis? And why do you think highly of the future of our Gulfstream?"