leonardwarren Chapter 342 The Turn of the Century
Chapter 342 The Turn of the Century
December 31, 1999, 11:50 a.m.
The television in the living room was on, broadcasting the New Year's countdown live. A giant crystal ball slowly descended, and the crowd below cheered. The volume was low, with only a buzzing background sound.
Ling Yun sat on the sofa, holding her daughter in her arms. The little one was a year and a half old, wearing a red cotton-padded jacket, with a round face and bright eyes. She held a rattle drum in her hand, shaking it once, making a "dong dong" sound, shaking it again, and making another "dong dong" sound.
An Shiyu came out of the kitchen carrying two cups of hot tea. She handed one cup to Ling Yun, and kept the other for herself, sitting down next to him.
"Ten minutes left." She looked at the TV.
Lingyun took a sip of hot tea; it was a little too hot.
His daughter reached out to grab his cup, but he dodged it.
"You can't drink it," he said. "It's too hot."
The daughter pouted and continued shaking her rattle.
An Shiyu leaned on Ling Yun's shoulder.
"It's the year 2000," she said. "Time flies."
Ling Yun didn't speak.
He looked out the window. The tree in the yard was still the same, its leaves gleaming a dark green under the streetlights. Fireworks rose in the distance, exploding in the sky with a bang, bursting into a kaleidoscope of colors.
"Lingyun," An Shiyu called to him.
"Um?"
Do you think anything big will happen in the year 2000?
Ling Yun thought for a moment, then said, "Yes."
"What is it?"
"Many things."
An Shiyu smiled and didn't ask any more questions.
The countdown started on TV, "Ten, nine, eight..."
My daughter joined in the chanting from the TV, mumbling "eight, seven, six..."
"Five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!"
Fireworks burst open outside the window. The sounds of explosions blended together, illuminating the sky.
The daughter clapped her hands excitedly and shouted "Wow wow wow".
An Shiyu turned her head and kissed Ling Yun on the cheek. "Happy New Year."
Ling Yun kissed her back, saying, "Happy New Year."
The daughter, who was watching from the side, also came over and kissed Lingyun on the face, leaving her face covered in saliva.
An Shiyu laughed, "This little guy is actually jealous!"
Lingyun smiled and kissed her daughter's cheek. The daughter happily jumped around, showing off in front of her mother.
At 12:30 a.m., her daughter finally fell asleep. An Shiyu carried her into the bedroom and placed her on her crib. She covered her with the blanket and gently closed the door.
Walking back into the living room, Ling Yun was still sitting on the sofa with a laptop in front of him.
An Shiyu walked over and sat down next to him.
"Still busy?"
"Let's take stock," Ling Yun said.
An Shiyu looked at the screen, which displayed a bunch of numbers that she couldn't understand.
"What are you taking stock of? Are you calculating how much money you've made?"
"Let's take stock of the stock returns and see how much capital we have available," Lingyun said. "We've gradually sold off the US tech stocks we bought in 97 over this period."
An Shiyu was stunned for a moment. "Clearance sale? All of it?"
"Um."
"You're not optimistic about the economy in the new millennium?"
Ling Yun nodded. "Tech stocks have been too hot in recent years. Now, many tech stocks have no technology, no revenue, and can go public and raise funds just by touching on the Internet concept."
He turned the computer around so she could see his profits; the screen displayed a table:
Cisco: Buy 2000 million shares at $10 each, sell at $80 each, making a profit of $14 billion.
Dell: Buy 4000 million shares at $5 each, sell at $55 each, making a profit of $20 billion.
Yahoo: Bought 4000 million shares at $22 each, sold at $116 each, making a profit of $37 billion.
AOL: Bought 1000 million shares at $12 each, sold at $72 each, making a profit of $6 million.
Oracle: Bought 1000 million shares at $8 each, sold at $32 each, making a profit of $2.4 million.
Total investment: 14.8 billion
Total profit: 79.4 billion
An Shiyu stared at it for a long time, though she had no real concept of how much money it was; it was just a string of numbers. Fourteen billion, eight billion—they all sounded about the same.
"So many?" she asked.
"Um."
"So...how much money do we have right now?"
Ling Yun thought for a moment, "Including Xingchen's stock, it's probably... 30 billion. There are some funds in Hong Kong stocks that haven't been cleared out yet. They will be cleared out gradually in a month or two. I conservatively estimate it to be around 10 billion US dollars. I haven't counted the domestic assets, so it's hard to estimate. There are a lot of intangible assets."
An Shiyu was silent for a few seconds. "Four hundred billion?" she repeated.
"Um."
An Shiyu looked at him with a complicated expression.
"Ling Yun," she said, "aren't you afraid?"
Ling Yun was taken aback for a moment. "What are you afraid of?"
"Afraid of this money," she pointed to the computer, "that it might suddenly disappear one day. You've earned so much money, do you think those American capitalists will let you leave so easily?"
Ling Yun didn't speak; he looked out the window. The fireworks had stopped, and the night sky had returned to calm. Only a few stars twinkled slowly in the sky.
"Given the American character, they won't let me get away so easily."
An Shiyu looked at him and said, "Then what should we do? Otherwise, don't go to America anymore. As long as you don't leave the country, they can't do anything to you."
"They'll definitely turn on us one day," Lingyun said, "but not now."
An Shiyu didn't speak, but just looked at Ling Yun with concern.
Ling Yun closed his laptop. "Go to sleep. It's not dangerous yet. The US still has some self-respect; it hasn't reached the point where it's completely shameless. I'm Chinese, holding a Chinese passport. If they go too far, I'll ask the embassy for help. My personal safety won't be a problem; at worst, I won't get my money back."
An Shiyu nodded, and the two of them stood up and walked back to the bedroom.
Passing by her daughter's room, An Shiyu gently pushed open the door and peeked inside. The little one was sleeping soundly, her mouth slightly open, occasionally twitching.
She gently closed the door.
Ling Yun was already lying down in the bedroom.
An Shiyu lay down next to him, leaning against him.
"Husband!" she called to him.
"Um?"
"I don't care how much money you have or how outstanding you are, I just want you to be safe."
Lingyun turned around and hugged her. "I will be careful, and I will try my best not to go to America in the future."
"Let's not talk about these unhappy things. It's a new year, a new beginning. To celebrate the new millennium, I've decided to fire a shot to cheer you up." Ling Yun grinned mischievously and leaned forward.
Although An Shiyu didn't understand what "fire a shot" meant, seeing Ling Yun's wicked smile and actions, she knew it wasn't a nice thing to say, and quickly grabbed Ling Yun's mischievous hands.
Seeing this, Ling Yun easily twisted his hands and escaped from An Shiyu's grasp. Ling Yun then groped her all over, causing An Shiyu to quickly lose control. She gasped for breath, grabbed one of Ling Yun's hands, and bit down on it with her pearly teeth.
Ling Yun exclaimed, "You little dog, you actually bite people! I'll bite you too!" As he spoke, Ling Yun leaned in and kissed An Shiyu, who was completely defeated.
(…………………………………………………………)
Many words are omitted here; please fill in the blanks yourself.
(There haven't been any book recommendations lately due to low interaction. We need your help, dear readers, to click on the free gifts and leave comments on the articles. Qiaodong would be eternally grateful!)