Chapter 116: What news did you see?

"What news did you see?"

Carter was taken aback. Damn it, Julian was too amazing, wasn't he?!

He had just seen on the news that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was up to something, and Julian already knew about it immediately?! Carter turned his head to look at the commentator still chattering away on the TV. After confirming that it was a live broadcast, Carter could only marvel at the king of information gathering!

Was he living inside the TV?! Not a single piece of information escaped him!

"Yes, I saw it! Did you see it too? It's time to act, let's move quickly!"

"Yes, I saw it too! The time to act is coming, but wait... what news did you see?!"

Equally surprised that Julian, who was so young, could capture information so swiftly, Carter suddenly realized something was amiss.

"What the heck did you see in the news?!"

"It's about the Chicago Mercantile Exchange raising the margin for silver futures contracts! From $1,000 to $6,000! If we don't act now, what if they do the same for gold? How will I cover my positions?!"

Carter bit his lip, realizing something was wrong. Everything was fine until now, so why did the final decision result in the opposite direction? Did Julian suddenly become greedy? Did he think that after this turmoil in silver, some people might flood into the gold market, continuing to drive up prices?

"Julian, calm down! Contentment brings happiness. We can't be greedy! Besides, there's $5 million of your new company's money in there, you have to be responsible for yourself! My dear Julian, stop it!"

As a qualified partner, Carter felt it necessary to advise Julian, whose eyes were blinded by profit, to return to the path of "virtue, benevolence, and beauty." Of course, most importantly, if the market crashed now, Julian might lose $5 million, which would be a significant loss, but not catastrophic. However, for himself... he might have to prepare for a leap of faith!

"Go, go, go, what I told you is different. Quickly turn on the TV... never mind, that segment has passed. Let me be direct. Just now, Secretary Miller announced that the Treasury Department would no longer sell gold reserves! Do you know what that means?"

With a serious face, Julian shouted excitedly into the phone, "The market has gone crazy! Gold prices are rising a dollar every minute! Every minute! A dollar! You're telling me to close out now?! Wait... what did you just say? The margin for silver futures contracts is $6,000?"

After the excitement, Julian also keenly caught the keywords in Carter's words. The risks behind raising the margin for silver futures contracts, something even Carter could understand, made Julian gasp for breath.

"Oh, this is serious! The Hunter family has stirred up trouble this time!"

"Forget about whether they're causing trouble or not, let's focus on ourselves first. Think about your $5 million!! If the margin for gold futures also goes up, will you still be able to borrow money to cover my positions?"

Hearing Julian still mentioning the situation with the Hunters at this time, Carter was almost driven crazy. Not because of Julian, but because of this damned fate!

Wasn't it tormenting people? He could have easily earned over $30 million, but now the Treasury Department had come out and messed things up again.

If the gold price continued to rise because of this, it would put Carter in a difficult position! On one hand, there was the rising margin that could go up at any moment; on the other hand, there was the visible rise in the price of gold.

For a businessman, not being able to earn the profit that was clearly within reach equated to a loss! Wasn't this just making him feel like he was losing money for nothing?!

The more Carter thought about it, the more frustrated he became. After struggling in his heart, he gritted his teeth and said, "If it's not possible, then don't wait to see if gold can still rise. Close out now and secure the profits!! Money is only real when it's in our pockets. Right now, it's just useless numbers!"

"Okay, I understand, I'll do it. Also, the lawyers and accountants..."

"I'll leave it to you! Contact them for me, and deduct whatever fees are necessary from my account. I'll send you the authorization letter later."

After hanging up the phone, Carter faxed a power of attorney to Julian in New York. He then sat back heavily in his chair. It was time for the wise to act.

With over $30 million in expected profits, minus the loans, interest, fees, legal and accounting fees, and the unavoidable taxes or losses from tax avoidance strategies, the final amount received would theoretically not be less than $25 million!!

$25 million in 1980! Even if you deducted the $5 million investment in Julian's new company, the remaining $20 million was worth almost seven Black Banks.

Now the question was, how should this money be used? Or rather, when would those small banks around him go bankrupt?

"Knock, knock, knock~"

As Carter pondered, the office door was knocked. Goodman stuck his head in.

"Carter, your classmate is here to see you. Should I let her in?"

Hearing Goodman's mention of "she," Carter immediately guessed who it was. Amidst the excitement of nearly $20 million about to hit his account, Carter quickly straightened up his appearance and cleared his throat.

"Let her in!"

The usual routine! Emotional release required an outlet. Lily's visit was much better than the previous two "outlets," and most importantly, the umbrella that hadn't been used last time was still in the drawer of his desk!

"Carter!"

In a slightly different situation from what Carter had expected, while he was contemplating whether to have a little drink to set the mood or how to create the atmosphere, Lily, who had just entered the room, rushed forward and hugged him.

Holding onto Carter, Lily's voice trembled slightly with tears, "Please help us, the only person I could think of who could help us is you!"

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Quietly putting the little umbrella back into the drawer, Carter looked at the teary-eyed girl in front of him with a slightly troubled expression. It seemed that attracting girls with just personal charm and getting them to throw themselves into your arms was all just a dream.

Reality was indeed harsh, but it deeply struck Carter's sensitive heart.

Thinking that he, Carter, was not lacking in wealth or appearance, he believed that with his current appearance, he would definitely not lack companionship in the past!

He might even be able to earn money just with his looks and wealth. With this appearance and fortune, why wasn't there anyone purely appreciating him and jumping into his embrace?

Was something supposed to happen for people to think of him? Was it really that heartless?!

Carter's frustrated expression, along with his inner "Damn it," naturally went unnoticed by Lily, who was crying quietly. Hearing Carter's question, Lily hurriedly said, "It's... it's me and Alice. We were doing part-time work at Jensen's gift shop during the holidays. We agreed to a daily wage of $10, and we worked for 20 days. Now he's only giving us $100."

"Why don't you call the police?"

"The police came, but they won't handle it. I... I could only come to you."