parentshiftbook There's definitely something fishy going on in Chapter 319.
There's definitely something fishy going on in Chapter 319.
April 21, 1998, 8 PM.
Morgan Stanley's San Francisco office.
Lingyun entered the building for the second time.
It was the same receptionist, with the same smile. She led Lingyun inside, but this time they didn't go to the conference room; instead, they went to an office at the end of the corridor.
The door was open, and Winston stood by the window with his back to it. Hearing footsteps, he turned around.
"Mr. Ling," he said with a smile, "please come in."
The office wasn't large, just a desk, a few chairs, and a bookshelf on one wall. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was San Francisco Bay, where sunlight shone on the water, scattering into golden glitter.
Winston gestured to the sofa. "Please sit down."
Ling Yun sat down, and Winston sat down opposite him, with a small coffee table between them. Two cups of coffee were on the table, still steaming.
"Try some," Winston said. "Colombian beans, the ones I brought myself."
Ling Yun picked up his coffee and took a sip. It was a bit sour and a bit bitter, quite different from what he usually drank.
"How is it?" Winston asked.
"good."
Winston laughed. "It's alright, just not very tasty. Oh well, I don't like it anyway, I'm just doing it for show."
He put down his coffee cup and leaned back on the sofa.
"Mr. Ling," he said, "is there something you need today?"
"Aren't these conditions a bit too good to be true?" Ling Yun said.
Winston paused for a moment, then laughed, a very natural laugh.
"Good?" he said. "We're fifty million less than Goldman Sachs, and you call that good?"
"You've made concessions in so many other areas, it feels a bit unreal to me. You don't have any other demands, do you?"
"We did make some concessions," Winston admitted. "The board didn't want them, the observers didn't want them. But all of that combined isn't worth fifty million."
Winston looked at him and waited a few seconds.
"Mr. Ling," he said, "do you think we're setting some kind of trap?"
Ling Yun did not answer.
Winston nodded. "I have something to tell you."
"A few years ago," Winston said, "there was an entrepreneur from China who made chips. His technology was pretty good, and he was smart. He came to the US to raise funds, and we invested in him."
He turned around and looked at Ling Yun.
"Later, his business grew big, and he wanted to go public. Before the IPO, he came to me and said, 'Winston, I want to become a U.S. citizen. What do you think?'"
“I told him,” Winston walked back to the sofa and sat down, “that becoming a citizen is a good thing. Once you become a citizen, you're an American. It'll be easier to get government projects, easier to get loans, and easier to travel all over the world. And,” he paused, “once you become a citizen, we'll be one of us. Some resources that we couldn't give you before, we can give you now.”
"Did he get in?" Ling Yun asked.
"We acquired it," Winston said. "The company went public smoothly the following year. The third year, it was acquired by Intel."
"Where is he?"
"Him?" Winston laughed. "He took the money and went to enjoy himself. He bought a winery in California and spends his days sunbathing, fishing, and on vacation. He's living the high life."
Lingyun picked up his coffee and took another sip. It still tasted the same—sour and bitter.
"Winston," he put down his glass, "are you trying to persuade me to become a citizen?"
Winston laughed. "I wouldn't call it advice," he said. "I'm just mentioning it. There's no harm in getting citizenship for easier fundraising and listing."
"Oh?" Ling Yun asked, puzzled.
Winston looked at him, his expression becoming a little more serious.
"Mr. Ling," he said, "in your current situation, becoming a citizen would be beneficial. You run a tech company, which means you'll be dealing with the government. Foreigners can't get involved in US government projects. If you become a citizen, you can."
"And another thing," Winston continued, "when you need to raise funds or go public, your American citizenship will reassure investors. Why? Because you're one of us. It's easier to talk to someone you know, easier to communicate with, and easier to trust someone you know."
"Is there anything else?"
"And another thing," Winston said, "once you become a citizen, it'll be easy for you to travel all over the world. Your passport will grant visa-free access to over a hundred countries. This is very important if you're going to do global business in the future."
Ling Yun nodded. "What you've said are all benefits."
"right."
"What's the downside?"
Winston paused for a moment. "Disadvantages?" he repeated.
"Yes. Disadvantages."
Winston looked at him without saying a word. After a few seconds, he finally spoke.
"There are downsides too," he said. "Once you become a citizen, you'll be a foreigner in China. It's hard to say whether you can maintain your businesses and relationships in China."
Ling Yun nodded.
"Is there anything else?"
Winston thought for a moment. "Also, once you become a citizen, you'll have to pay US taxes. You'll have to pay taxes on all your global income, so you might need to calculate that."
"Is there anything else?"
Winston smiled.
"Mr. Ling," he said, "the way you ask makes me think you don't want to join."
Winston leaned back on the sofa and looked at him.
"If you don't want to join, you don't have to; no one is forcing you. But you'll have a very hard time getting approved for listing and government projects."
Lingyun picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. The coffee had cooled and become even more sour.
He put down his cup and stood up.
"Winston," he said, "thank you for the coffee, I need to think about it."
Winston stood up as well. "Leaving so soon?"
"Becoming a U.S. citizen is no small matter; I need to think about it carefully."
Winston extended his hand. "Of course, we keep in touch."
Ling Yun shook hands, then turned and walked out.
He paused at the doorway.
"Winston." He turned around.
"Um?"
"That chipmaker you mentioned," Lingyun said, "what happened to him?"
Winston paused for a moment.
"I told you," he said, "it was acquired by Intel."
"I mean," Ling Yun looked at him, "has he ever regretted it?"
Winston paused for a few seconds. "I haven't asked," he said.
Ling Yun nodded and went out the door.
As Ling Yun sat in his car after leaving Morgan, he recalled Winston's words: once you become a citizen, you're one of us.
It sounds great that some resources that couldn't be given before can be given in the future.
But what echoed in his mind was another memory.
That happened more than a decade later. A Chinese entrepreneur had built a successful business in the United States and became a U.S. citizen. Later, the U.S. tried to take action against his company, investigated him, fined him, and eventually forced him into bankruptcy. He went to the U.S. court, but the court said, "You are an American, so we will deal with you according to U.S. law." He went to the Chinese embassy, but the embassy said, "You are an American, so we can't do anything about it."
In the end, he lost everything.
Ling Yun still remembered that person's face. During the interview, his eyes were red, and he said one sentence:
"I thought that once I became a citizen, I would be one of them. Later I found out that they were the ones who were one of us, not me."
Lingyun rolled down the car window to let the wind in.
He recalled Winston's expression earlier. When he talked about the advantages, Winston smiled naturally. But when asked about the disadvantages, he paused, and Ling Yun noticed that momentary awkwardness. There must be something fishy going on there that Ling Yun didn't know about.
If Lingyun hadn't been invited to become a U.S. citizen, he might not have been so wary. In this era, becoming a U.S. citizen seems to have only benefits and advantages, with no losses or disadvantages—it's all just Western media hype and brainwashing.
Ling Yun, having transmigrated from the future and experienced the explosive growth of social media, knows the nature of the United States all too well. The United States is a giant pig butchering scam, which loves to prey on wealthy foreign immigrants, especially Asian businessmen, who will eventually become nourishment for the United States.
Thinking of this, he took out his phone and sent Fiona a text message:
"Check if senior executives at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have recently been in contact with anyone in the U.S. government, especially those in the Department of Commerce or the Treasury Department."