Chapter 101 Becoming Grandfather

Becoming a grandfather, huh? Su Yihao, upon receiving Nan Gongtian's news, while happy for Jiang Min, only hoped that in the future, the number of grandchildren wouldn't be too many, lest he couldn't even remember their names. If he could smoothly make it to the great-grandchild generation, wanting to recognize them all would be even harder, and it would be difficult to have deep emotional connections. A person's energy is limited. If there are too many people to divide it among, the share each person receives will decrease. For Su Yihao, he spends all day revolving around his wives. But in reality, it's like a dragonfly skimming the water; on average, he only sees each of them once a week, and as for Wan Lili and Miss Vera, the chances of meeting are even fewer. He originally thought of breaking the pot and just being done with it, achieving a one-time, permanent solution. After Belinda Yun's reminder, Su Yihao hesitated again. He had seen palace intrigue dramas and knew they had artistic embellishments, but gathering the wives together would indeed greatly increase the likelihood of conflicts. After thinking it over, it's better to just muddle along, and wait until the window paper is truly torn before being honest...

Jiang Min, being pregnant, was relatively weak, and suddenly moving from a low-altitude area to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau caused some discomfort. For the sake of stability, the hospital provided equipment for Jiang Min to return and inhale some oxygen, avoid strenuous exercise, and focus on prenatal care. With their relationship established, there was no need to be overly deliberate in front of Jiang Min. Therefore, Su Yihao and Nan Gongtian ate and drank, surveyed the flower farm they invested in nearby, rode horses, took pictures, and sent them to Jiang Min, making her inhale even more oxygen out of frustration. Originally, they planned to take a car to see Meili Snow Mountain, but now that Jiang Min was pregnant and needed peace, the itinerary was changed to staying by Erhai Lake for recuperation, which wasn't bad. The only trouble was that after the news of Su Yihao's arrival spread, the front of their house became a check-in spot for tourists. Ordinary people chatting was fine, since the courtyard was big enough and not too noisy. But having tour guides holding flags and shouting at his doorstep was a bit too much.

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Before his thirtieth birthday, Su Yihao returned to Hong Kong. Like other birthdays, there wasn't a big celebration. The family had a low-key团圆饭 (tuányuánfàn, reunion dinner), and before that, he made time to see Wan Lili, and chatted with Vera and Zhao Yixuan online. That was it. Su Yihao didn't plan anything, but many people took the opportunity to visit him and send gifts. He was busy from morning to night, and when he finally had time to rest, he unexpectedly received a call from Zheng Yongwen.

Before Su Yihao could speak, Zheng Yongwen said on the other end of the phone, "I admit I gambled. I contacted some cross-border hot money and tried to short stocks, but I didn't expect several big sell orders to hit, and US stocks are plummeting. That group of short sellers are all lunatics, willing to do anything for profit, and the most ruthless sellers are several Wall Street giants."

Su Yihao hurriedly got up and went to the study, asking doubtfully, "Is it a real crash or just a normal fluctuation? Today is Monday, and the weekend passed without any particularly bad news, right?"

"…Su Zong, you clearly haven't been paying attention to the market, have you? There was a lot of bad news over the weekend. Oil prices broke new highs, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had rumors of potential bankruptcy. The financial market is also very tense. Otherwise, why would I choose to add fuel to the fire today? I originally just wanted to make some money, but now it seems like I've caused trouble. Companies related to the subprime mortgage crisis are plummeting, including Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and HBOS, among others. The declines are relatively large, and many banks, as well as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, are similarly affected."

Despite saying he caused trouble, Zheng Yongwen's tone sounded somewhat excited. The market previously leaned towards recovery and stability, and investors felt that the Fed and the East Coast had the ability to smooth out the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis. Now that the stock market is plummeting again, negative news is bound to flood in. Combined with difficult economic performance, including high通货膨胀率 (tōnghuò膨zhànglǜ, inflation rates) and the risk of economic recession, plus the Fed being forced to stop raising interest rates, resulting in policy failure, these negative factors combined are enough to shake market confidence.

After Su Yihao sat in front of the computer and looked, he found that the Dow Jones Index was down 2.3%, the NASDAQ down 4.2%, and the S&P 500 Index down 2.6%. Presumably, it was dragged down by US stocks. European stock markets, which were still open, were also falling along with them. In addition to the stock market, the performance of exchange rates, futures, and commodities also proved that risk aversion sentiment was strong, with the offshore RMB exchange rate rising as much as 0.99%.

Through his phone, Su Yihao said to Zheng Yongwen, "Very good, at least we've already made some money. The stock market is fluctuating a lot recently, and there's no way to prove that the market has truly collapsed yet. Brother Yong, continue to observe, and contact me directly if needed."

Enshrouded by the shadow of economic recession and the subprime mortgage crisis, the market has become somewhat neurotic. When bad news occasionally appears, people always panic and choose to flee. When positive news of a rescue appears, there can be a rebound. The key focus is whether the Fed can exhaust its tools and be forced into a corner by the short sellers, choosing to abandon the rescue. So as long as the Fed hasn't given up, US stocks can still shine briefly and desperately extend their life.

That's why Su Yihao doesn't dare to confirm whether the market has really collapsed. If the老美 (lǎoměi, Americans) give up resisting, then tonight will be the beginning of a stock market disaster. But if they intervene again, then it's just a panic-driven decline. In Su Yihao's eyes, the US securities market, with its many problems, has reached the point where it needs to be like the A-shares, where a short pain is better than a long one. The uncertainty lies in whether the Fed and the Hua government also believe this.

Around 11:40 PM, Su Yihao looked at the data before going to sleep. The three major US stock indexes had already rebounded somewhat, and the US dollar index had also slightly risen. He thought it was another false alarm. What he didn't expect was that soon after falling asleep, someone suddenly leaked information, saying that Merrill Lynch's losses in the subprime mortgage business were as high as a shocking $40 billion, that their funds were about to be exhausted, and they were seeking help from the Fed. Presumably, after seeing Merrill Lynch leak the news first, Lehman Brothers couldn't care about anything else. Fearing that shareholders hoped to protect themselves, they forced officials to choose a rescue, and also disclosed the loss data externally, causing the three major indexes to plunge again.

Su Yihao's phone was on silent, so Zheng Yongwen directly called his home landline. After learning the news, Su Yihao was still calm, and came to the study again, saying to him, "It's still the same question. If the Fed and the Hua government don't speak up, it doesn't count as a real stock market disaster. They previously rescued Bear Stearns, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Now we need to see if they will rescue Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers again. The market is still in the observation stage, and investors' confidence hasn't been destroyed yet."

Zheng Yongwen knew more data than Su Yihao, and replied, "It's different from before. Other companies can't help them; the size is too big. I suspect the Fed and the Hua government won't take action this time. Rescuing them is equivalent to covering the bottom for trillions of dollars of subprime loans. No one can easily make that decision..."