After listening to Zhong Shi's advice, Liao Chengde aggressively bought shares of "Changjiang Industrial." Since Li Ka-shing acquired a controlling stake in "Hong Kong Electric Company" in 1984, the entire Hong Kong began to look at this man with black-rimmed glasses with new respect.
Compared to the old-established families like the Bao and the Ho, Li Ka-shing, who started from scratch, was more recognized by the people of Hong Kong. His two major moves to take over companies from the British made the Hong Kong people feel proud. The people of Hong Kong began to debate whether the old tycoon Bao Yügang or the rising star Li Ka-shing was the richest person in Hong Kong. Given the current momentum of "Changjiang Industrial," it was only a matter of time before Li Ka-shing took the top spot.
The "Changjiang Industrial" shares that Liao Chengde bought rose by more than 20% in just a few months, which made him ecstatic and even more inclined to follow Zhong Shi's advice.
So when he received Zhong Shi's call, he immediately called his broker and started investigating foreign exchange futures without delay. Liao Chengde had no idea what futures were, but this did not stop him from trusting Zhong Shi, especially after making so much money.
As for the Japanese yen futures that Zhong Shi mentioned, Liao Chengde vaguely understood that this young boy wanted to take action in the Japanese market. Before entering the stock market, Liao Chengde had studied economic knowledge intensively and knew that Japan's economy had grown rapidly in recent years, with its GDP approaching half of the United States, making it the first economic power in Asia.
What Liao Chengde did not know was that at that time, Japan was implementing an export-driven policy, and Japanese-made products were flooding the Western capital world. In 1980, Japanese cars accounted for 21% of the new car market in the United States, and Japanese semiconductors had already captured more than 10% of the U.S. market. Many Japanese companies had comprehensively surpassed their European and American counterparts, such as Steinway pianos, which could not compare to Japan's Yamaha pianos. Japan's Shinkansen was put into operation in 1964, while the United States did not purchase bullet train technology until 1977. Japanese cars had completely defeated German cars and were challenging American car manufacturers.
By 1985, Japan would replace the United States as the world's largest creditor nation!
In this situation, American companies initially blamed Japan's closed market for their inability to enter. Later, a U.S. Treasury report showed that the trade deficit between the U.S. and Japan was not due to Japan's protectionist policies but rather the lack of competitiveness of American products.
Under these circumstances, European and American politicians felt threatened by Japan's rise and the growing pressure from domestic companies to implement protectionist policies. To address the growing fiscal deficit and the large trade deficit, the United States could only hope for a devaluation of the dollar to increase the competitiveness of U.S. exports and improve the balance of international payments.
On September 22, 1985, the finance ministers and central bank governors of the United States, Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at the Plaza Hotel in New York and reached an agreement to jointly intervene in the foreign exchange market to orderly devalue the dollar against major currencies to address the U.S. trade deficit. This agreement, signed at the Plaza Hotel, is known as the "Plaza Accord."
At that time, Japan and Germany were the second and third largest economies in the world, and the yen and the mark had become important currencies. The devaluation of the dollar naturally led to a rapid appreciation of these two currencies.
Capital, with its keen sense, flowed into the Japanese market, stimulating the stock and real estate markets, leading to a false economic boom. The Nikkei index even reached 40,000 points, until the economic bubble burst in 1989, leading to the so-called "Lost Decade."
These were all future events that Liao Chengde, with his limited knowledge, did not know. However, Zhong Shi was well aware of everything. He was now planning how to take advantage of this rare opportunity to make a fortune in Japan.
The broker was quite diligent and, in a few weeks, had thoroughly investigated foreign exchange futures. When he handed a thick stack of documents to Liao Chengde, he was full of doubts.
This Mr. Liao had invested tens of millions in "Changjiang Industrial" and made huge profits in just a few months, which was impressive even in the current rising stock market. For some reason, Mr. Liao did not take the advice of this professional seriously. The first rule of investment is not to put all your eggs in one basket, but the broker could not complain too much since he had brought in such a large sum of money for the company. The general manager had even hinted at a promotion for him a few days ago.
Thinking about this, the broker, surnamed Zhang, felt a sense of satisfaction, and his smile grew wider.
Liao Chengde took the documents from the broker, skimmed through them, and nodded expressionlessly, inwardly cursing the broker for his inexplicable smile.
...
On the last day of 1984, Zhong Shi lay in bed at home, bored, and picked up his sister's textbook, reading it quickly.
Zhong Shi's sister, Zhong Xiaohui, was a 13-year-old girl in junior high school, with good grades. Her teachers said she had a good chance of getting into a high school in the county, and if she did, she could likely get into a bachelor's program.
Getting into a bachelor's program was a significant achievement in those days.
"How easy it is! When will I grow up?" Zhong Shi yawned and turned over, pressing the book under him and falling asleep.
The little yellow dog under the bed was gnawing on a pig bone. Hearing the movement on the bed, it stood up and listened for a while. Seeing no further movement, it continued to gnaw on the bone.
The little yellow dog had grown into a large dog about half a meter long and had become familiar with Zhong Shi after his reincarnation. It often wagged its tail and followed Zhong Shi around, and Zhong Shi often trained it in simple tasks.
When Liao Chengde took away the Ding kiln white porcelain bowl, he left 10,000 RMB, which Zhong Shi had forcefully negotiated. Although it was a large sum at the time, Liao Chengde still gave Zhong Shi a significant look of disdain and fled in a狼狈 manner.
Zhong Jianjun and Liu Lan discussed how to use this money and finally decided to let Zhong Shi handle it. Without a word, Zhong Shi installed a telephone, spending 6,000 RMB, which made his father furious, calling him a spendthrift.
After giving 500 RMB to his grandparents and 500 RMB to his uncle's family, Zhong Shi still had nearly 3,000 RMB left. Keeping money in the bank at that time was not profitable, so Zhong Shi decided to spend the 3,000 RMB on food, as it was not easy to get nutritious food in those days.
Although Zhong Jianjun and Liu Lan were dissatisfied with their son's decision, they did not say much since the money was earned by their son and he had the right to use it as he pleased.
Thus, every Sunday, the Zhong family's dining table was often filled with chicken, duck, fish, and meat. The reason it was only on Sundays was that Zhong Xiaohui would come home from school on that day and could also enjoy the meat.
After a few months of nourishment, Zhong Xiaohui's originally pale face gradually regained some color, and the 8-year-old Zhong Shi's height rapidly increased, making him taller than his peers.
What Zhong Jianjun and Liu Lan did not know was that their younger son often helped his sister with her studies. This started one Saturday night when Zhong Shi woke up and saw that his sister's room was still lit. After a moment's thought, he realized that his sister was studying all night.
He watched from the window for a while and heard Zhong Xiaohui crying softly inside. Curious, he pushed the door open and found his sister holding a pen, stabbing at the draft paper, crying and venting her frustration.
Zhong Shi then naturally showcased his genius, helping his sister with her studies and making a pact with her that this matter would only be between the two of them and not revealed to anyone else.
If people found out that an 8-year-old child was helping a junior high school student with her studies, it would be too shocking. Zhong Shi did not want to be taken away by the national research department in the middle of the night, covered in a black hood, and end up as a cold corpse on a dissection table for scientists with white hair and thick glasses to study.
He deliberately exaggerated the danger of the situation, scaring his sister so much that she promised repeatedly not to tell anyone, and he finally felt reassured.
"Really should have a party, in this new year!" Zhong Shi muttered to himself as the little yellow dog barked.
"Stupid dog, what are you barking for, disturbing my sleep!"
Zhong Shi shouted at the little yellow dog, scaring it into tucking its tail and whimpering as it hid under the bed, even abandoning the pig bone.
Suddenly, Zhong Shi slapped his forehead and ran out with a strange cry.
The little yellow dog, hiding under the bed, tilted its head and watched Zhong Shi run out. After a moment, it jumped out from under the bed and happily followed him.
Just as Zhong Shi reached the door, he heard a series of urgent knocks and a worried voice calling out.
"Is anyone there, come out quickly!"
The little yellow dog, following Zhong Shi, immediately started barking. Zhong Shi glared at it in annoyance and then opened the door.
"Huh, it's a young man, where are the adults in your house?"
Standing in front of Zhong Shi was a middle-aged man in a grass-green military uniform. Seeing that a child had opened the door, he was taken aback and then leaned in to look inside.
"Who are you?"
Zhong Shi felt a sense of caution at the man's actions.
"Little boy, I have a question. Is this Zhong Village?"
The middle-aged man, seeing no one else in the house, took a step back to avoid suspicion and smiled kindly.
"This is Zhong Village. Uncle, who are you looking for? What's the matter?" Zhong Shi smiled innocently and answered in a childlike voice. At that moment, Zhong Shi looked exactly like an 8-year-old child.
"Uncle is here to conduct an investigation. I just passed by and wanted to ask for a drink of water. Can I, little boy?"
Seeing the child's articulate response, the middle-aged man's surprised expression quickly turned to a straightforward explanation of his purpose. (Thank you to the friends who have given me recommendations! I hope those who find the book good will also give me a couple of recommendations.)