Chapter 95

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

The earliest Lower East Side of New York was an Irish enclave; later Eastern and Southern Europeans arrived, and it became a gathering place for Jews. They brought delicious pastries and synagogues, and after they left, more Chinese and Latin Americans began to appear in the enclave. The former mainly lived on the south side of the Lower East Side, which was also Chen Yi's primary destination this trip.

New York's real estate brokers earn substantial incomes, and correspondingly their service is even more thorough and attentive.

On the phone with Chen Yi, after hearing he wanted to purchase paper, Mr. Green drove his own Buick and took the two of them all around the city, not mentioning houses at all.

He could sell quite a few houses each month, but he didn't do much business in Times Square, so he wanted to secure this deal more tightly.

Compared to Jiangning, New York's paper market was far more advanced.

Chen Yi simply found a Chinese translator and told him: "I need paper made from pure wood pulp; the pulp must be made from a single type of wood; the greater the wood's density the better, and the greater its hardness the better. If you find it, I'll pay you a full day's wage."

This requirement was also the currently discovered selection method most likely to produce scroll paper.

Basically, paper made from pulp with density above pine could at least meet the scroll paper standard; birch was comparable, with a higher probability of producing low-level scrolls. Occasionally paper made from a small amount of oak would appear, often easily yielding mid-level scrolls.

That translator was unfamiliar with the market and asked around for half a day with no result.

It was still the real estate broker Mr. Green who took action; with two sentences he cut a bloody path through the paper merchants and headed straight for the few main suppliers.

Relative to Chen Yi's strange request, the world is full of all kinds of even stranger requests. Suppliers were long accustomed to this.

That merchant dressed like a Western cowboy tapped his pipe with his boot and smiled: "As long as there's money, there's nothing you can't buy in New York. The worst hardwoods are used for furniture and renovation materials; using them for paper, the price can be high."

"Give me a sample portion first."

The cowboy merchant smiled and shouted back: "Jack, bring a few sheets of each of the West African papers."

"West Africa?"

"They have no use for furniture and renovation materials there." The merchant smiled cunningly: "Their manufacturing techniques are backward, but the materials are absolutely good. Whether it's pure or not, you can say after you test it."

Actually he didn't dare confirm the paper's purity either.

Although Africa has had continuous wars, for any specific city, encountering war once in five years is considered unlucky. They still have time to do some simple construction, mostly using local resources to produce some ordinary products; if they can export to other countries for foreign exchange, that is the happiest thing.

American merchants therefore can often pick and choose, obtaining top-grade raw materials made into low-grade products at extremely low prices, yet the market prices are not low.

Having gotten a box of paper, Chen Yi obtained the other party's phone number, counting as achieving today's goal.

Forget it; Mr. Green looked at him expectantly: "Mr. Chen, then shall we look at houses now?"

"Fine, I want one near good restaurants. Also, let's first find a restaurant that does takeout."

Hearing him say this, Emily immediately clapped her hands: "I've been starving; I was wondering if you don't need to eat... maintaining such a good figure."

She actually reached out and touched him without any reservation.

Chen Yi remained calm and unmoving.

Speaking of seduction techniques, Jin Douna's moves are even more clever. The two of them spent several days together, and he really didn't take much advantage, but his resistance increased greatly.

Mr. Green suggested: "There are a few nice apartments on Houston Street; let's look at those first, then eat at a nearby restaurant. Do you like Eastern European food? Like it, liking it would be best; then we'll head to Times Square. It's still several hours until dinner, there's plenty of time..."

In fact, the broker overestimated Chen Yi's pickiness about real estate.

Chen Yi originally just wanted a house to use as a base, not to stay in every day, so he merely glanced at it roughly, confirmed there were restaurants within walking distance, and considered it satisfactory.

Leasing two apartments plus purchasing a house worth 4.7 million US dollars took only an hour and a half total, of which one hour was spent on the road.

Upon receiving the money, Mr. Green suddenly began worshipping Chinese people, just as they once worshipped Western Europeans, Northern Europeans, Arabs, and Japanese.

Seeing a genuine display of lavish spending, and knowing Chen Yi was about to leave, Emily could only reluctantly leave her phone number: "I work on Fifth Avenue three days a week; next time you come, I'll brew tea for you."

She knew Chen Yi liked to brew tea with water he brought himself. At first the waitresses found it a bit troublesome, but they quickly surrendered before 20-dollar green bills.

Classmate Chen said with a beaming smile: "No problem; if you come to China, I'll brew tea for you too."

"It's a deal." The blonde laughed showing her teeth, making Green envious to the extreme — he wasn't yet wealthy enough to attract such a beauty.

Dragging the box and carrying a large bag of charcoal-grilled beef ribs from the Eastern European restaurant, Chen Yi returned to the subway.

The newly purchased paper indeed met the conditions very well.

The Mages of the Saint Qiao Kingdom discovered nearly 200 sheets of mid-level scroll paper among several thousand sheets, and 12 sheets of high-level scroll paper — this was the highest yield ratio obtained during several round trips.

Chen Yi calculated and said: "Roughly by this standard, I will bring three times this amount of scroll materials within three to six days."

If I buy three or four large boxes of paper at once, it should at least satisfy half the previously promised quantity.

"Many thanks, Master." Timothy was such a perceptive person; he immediately bowed and said: "If Master permits, we Mages are producing scrolls day and night and can depart within ten days."

"Good. That's best; I'll head back too." Chen Yi nodded to the Holy Knight, continued selecting some commonly used potions and Green Breath Berries on the crystal screen, and ordered the subway to start slowly.

A few short minutes.

Chen Yi walked out of Jiangning Riverside Subway Station.

At this time in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun had just turned past the smallest angle, glowing dimly, like a bulb with insufficient wattage.

Taking an hour to return to school, Chen Yi once again felt he was wasting too much time.

But he had no method; learning to drive isn't a one-day matter, and if he used a driver there would be too many inconveniences.

Just as he was thinking, Dameng's hearty laughter came from ahead: "Isn't this Hercules? Going to eat breakfast?"

"You got up this early?" Chen Yi greeted him amid the envious gazes of the students, casually took out a box of beef ribs from the takeout bag, confirmed there was no label, and handed it to him: "Good stuff I bought, pure meat, have a taste."

"Meat, then I won't be polite." Dameng was truly not polite at all; he grabbed it and started gnawing.

Chen Yi smiled and waved, walking toward his dormitory.

At the same time, Gold Source International on Wall Street began to exert force again.

Tang Xiongfei told Chen Yi in an excited tone: "We obtained 400x leverage from Mellon Bank."

This is truly a terrifying figure.

Chen Yi could no longer walk leisurely; he hurried back to his dormitory, opened his computer while practicing Xiao Mei, and said: "Control risk, observe a bit more."

"Understood." Tang Xiongfei had somewhat grasped his own boss's style — he was muddle-headed on small matters, cautious on big ones; anything above five million US dollars, there was no passing without requesting instructions.

This was actually Chen Congyu's style, counted as a father-son inheritance through subtle influence.

The Chen Family people doing business could all be considered simple — no need to consider too many commercial things; as long as it wasn't a fool's logic, they could make money.

Compared to that, controlling risk rather than lowering cost was what they relatively paid more attention to.

Jin Douna watched TV alone, bored; hearing the door sound, before she could even speak with Chen Yi, she saw him run into the room, and couldn't help but purse her small mouth, yet had nothing bad to say.

Chen Yi once again confirmed the "Siren's" limit and the utilization rate of not being discovered, then said to Tang Xiongfei: "Total funds absolutely must not exceed 100 million US dollars; this point must be reflected in the software settings; everything else as before."

The latter agreed without a shred of opposition, completely disregarding the company's internal traders' opposition.

In the staff members' view, the more funds invested, the higher the returns, and their own commission proportion would also be higher.

From 350x leverage to 400x leverage was an extremely high proportion; the increased salary each month could completely afford a new car, rent a big house — where would they have thought they'd be capped.

Tang Xiongfei didn't care about the two traders at all; after confirming, he informed Chen Yi, then admonished: "I know your thoughts, but Gold Source International has its own style; our market is rising, hope you can seize the opportunity."

Done, he immediately said to his own assistant: "Notify the interviewees, I have time this afternoon."

The two traders finally understood the situation, obeying obediently, not daring to speak.

When they came to Gold Source, this was still a small pudding-spot company; who knew it would actually become Wall Street's limelight-riding future star now.

One thinks there would be countless Harvard brats, Yale dullards wanting to hitch a free ride — this is a quite decent experience.

Compared to commission, the two clearly cared more about the job.

Chen Yi closely monitored the "Siren" and Wall Street's situation.

Everything looked very smooth.

Besides stable high income, astonishing.

15 million US dollars every day; if all were profits, then 250 trading days a year would gain 3.75 billion US dollars of pure income — not much different from America's top-tier investment banks.

The terrifying thing is, for Chen Yi, these really are all pure income.

This is the charm-filled Wall Street.

Every minute someone is making big money; in 2003, if not for Gold Source International, this huge sum that could make one ascend the Forbes ranking would belong to global e-commerce companies, or be divided and swallowed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan.

Chen Yi slowly leaned back on the chair back, right hand tapping rhythmically.

He was already considering whether to increase investment.

200 million US dollars in cash, at any point in the world, could stir up wind and waves.

"Bang bang" knocking on the door sounded again.

Jin Douna shouted loudly: "Who is it?"

Outside the door a hesitant female voice: "I am Lin Yuan, Chen Yi's class monitor, this is 2308 right."

Chen Yi vigorously rubbed his hair.

……

Outside word count: Late a bit, embarrassed

……