Chapter 2065

After listening to An Chongqiu, Li Yalin's worldview was practically overturned. He exclaimed, "This is even more ruthless than spy warfare... The entire Second World War lasted only six years from '39 to '45, yet you people actually persisted for fifteen years..."

"Yes," An Chongqiu said earnestly. "You see, the operating style of these great families is basically like this: they aren't afraid of spending money, they aren't afraid of wasting time, and they aren't afraid of wasting energy. They will spare no cost, only seeking to ensure no loopholes are left behind. You simply cannot imagine the covert engineering behind this. In order to transport the talent we cultivated into these major domestic families without leaving a trace, we specifically teamed up with China over a decade ago to launch an initiative promoting the return of high-achieving overseas Chinese students. In one go, we transported nearly a hundred Chinese overseas graduates from major American universities back to China, letting them enter these families through social recruitment to struggle and fight from scratch."

"We have kept this matter going for over ten years, and throughout these ten-plus years, we have had to continuously pay high fees to these people in private."

"So, can you understand why so much money was spent now?"

Li Yalin nodded and sighed, "I understand... Twenty years of time, back and forth, spending several billion US dollars to smash into a matter with no results; only you rich people can afford to burn that much money."

An Chongqiu smiled slightly. "It doesn't really count as burning money. Although so much was spent, this money was spent bit by bit over twenty years, and with the money sitting in a trust, interest upon interest, the profits were also quite considerable. Up until half a year ago, the account balance was roughly thirty-five or thirty-six billion."

Li Yalin exclaimed, "How is it so much?! Didn't you already spend several billion?"

An Chongqiu nodded and said, "We earned while we spent. In previous years, trust returns were very high; in a good year, a return of over ten points was very normal. Plus, it's a compound interest model, so the money naturally rolled into more and more."

Speaking of this, An Chongqiu added, "So, it sounds like we are very stupid, even stubborn, wasting a lot of money for nothing, but in reality, we didn't spend much in costs. Moreover, everything was done by specialists, so we didn't have to do it ourselves. When the final accounts were settled, there was actually a slight profit."

Li Yalin was convinced and sighed, "Interest upon interest, money begetting money. In times of peace, the wealth of you rich people is truly eternal..."

After finishing, he gave a self-deprecating smile: "Unlike me, who only knows how to catch people and solve cases, I don't have a shred of economic sense."

An Chongqiu said earnestly, "Theoretically speaking, as long as the descendants of the rich keep their hands to themselves and don't take the money out to mess around, even if a rich person only has one hundred million US dollars, putting it into a trust can guarantee that their descendants will never lack money to spend."

Li Yalin couldn't help but sigh, "If you could find that eldest nephew of yours, wouldn't his net worth increase by thirty or forty billion US dollars out of thin air?!"

"More than that," An Chongqiu said. "When the old master's condition worsened, he was afraid that one day his consciousness would become confused and he would lose the ability to care for himself, so he filled that account with another sixty-plus billion in one go, making it a full one hundred billion. Then he changed the terms of the trust: this one hundred billion in principal remains untouched, all left for my eldest nephew, only taking out the annual profit to find people. However, even so, the annual profit is still several billion US dollars."

"So, if my eldest nephew could be found, his net worth would increase by one hundred billion US dollars out of thin air!"

After listening, Li Yalin lit a cigar, took a slow puff, then sat up straight, adjusted his collar, grinned, and said, "Chongqiu, how do you think I'd do as your nephew?"

An Chongqiu was startled, then immediately reacted, laughing and scolding, "Go to hell."

Li Yalin laughed and said, "Being your nephew is worth it. One hundred billion US dollars—according to the way you rich people play, by the time you spend it until you die, you wouldn't have even finished spending the interest..."

An Chongqiu shook his head and smiled, "I just don't know if my nephew can still be found. If he really can be found, he probably hasn't suffered little over these many years. Given the contribution his mother made to the An family, taking this one hundred billion US dollars isn't too much."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but say with regret, "It's a pity the old master is ill. Even if he really saw him, he might not be able to recognize him. Even if we told the old master that it was him, the old master might not believe it. If the old master were healthy and really saw him, he would probably take out even more money for him. Although he rarely spoke of it over these many years, he truly missed this grandson in his heart."