Chapter 61 A Little Privilege
Chapter 61 A Little Privilege
Mike obviously had not been in Korea for very long, and he had not yet learned the unique reserve and modesty of East Asians. When An Rusong asked him to have lunch, he really happily accepted. When An Rusong asked him to order whatever he wanted, he really ordered a full table.
However, An Rushong is not a stingy person. What's more, his personal financial situation is very good now, and he doesn't lack the money for this lunch.
The most important thing is that Mike did not hire him in vain. The other party also brought him a new large order, totaling 100,000 screaming chicken toys, still shipped to the United States.
While eating lunch, Mike told An Rusong that the first batch of screaming chicken toys sold very well in Costco in the United States and received high praise from buyers.
Moreover, because the order price was not high, the price on Costco in the United States is relatively low compared to online shopping platforms such as Amazon. Under the premise of the same quality, buyers give higher praise.
Mike is the financial officer, and things like website procurement are not his responsibility, but a product he recommended is selling well on the platform, which has a positive impact on him personally, so he is so happy.
During their casual chat, An Rusong intentionally brought up the topic of Apple's stock price. Unexpectedly, Michael was very familiar with this aspect. After all, this guy was the CFO of Costco. Even if he was only the CFO of the Korean headquarters, he must be quite sensitive to financial news.
Mike told him that the overall situation of the US economy is not good at present. Although several stock indexes, including the Dow Jones, are generally on the rise, this is probably an illusion. This false prosperity will not last long.
Mike said that he has received relatively accurate information that after September, the Federal Reserve will significantly cut the fund rate, and the reduction may be as high as 50 points.
He believes that in the middle of this month, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada, and other central banks of seven or eight countries have successively injected capital into the subprime mortgage loans of the United States, and each of them has injected either hundreds of billions of euros or tens of billions of dollars.
These measures seem to prove to the world how determined the central banks of various countries are to resist this risk, but in fact, they also expose the fact that the cancer of the subprime mortgage crisis has expanded to a level that is difficult to contain, and its bursting is only a matter of time.
If the Fed really cuts interest rates in September, what Mike means is that this move by the Fed can only boost market confidence in the short term and deceive some people who have not yet realized how large and far-reaching the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis is.
Most people who hope to gain benefits in the stock market can only see the immediate profits, but fail to assess the long-term risks. Therefore, Mike's advice is that if An Rusong plans to buy some Apple shares, he should do it as soon as possible.
After September, if the Federal Reserve does not lower the interest rate, he can wait and see for a while. Once the Federal Reserve lowers the interest rate, he must sell all the stocks in his hands before October to avoid unnecessary losses.
While talking about this topic, Mike also looked at the current trend of Apple's stock price for him. The data showed that Apple's stock price on that day was US$15.79 per share.
To be honest, An Rushong was indeed thinking about buying some Apple stocks, because he knew very well that if he held on to this stock for a long time, he would definitely make money, and a lot of money.
But the problem is that he has no intention of holding this thing for a long time. If he has sufficient funds, he would rather invest in his own business rather than contribute to other people's business.
If it is short-term trading, well, he has done it in his previous life. Well, think about it, what are the possibilities of making money?
However, Mike's advice to him was very detailed and accurate, so he thought he could take out some money and give it a try. What if Mike was right?
They both had a very happy lunch. An Rusong also felt that Mike, the American, did not treat him in a condescending and bossy manner.
On the contrary, this guy is like a sojourner in a foreign land with few friends around him. After finally finding someone to talk to, he immediately becomes a chatterbox, as if he wants to spit out all the words that he has been holding in his stomach for months.
After lunch, An Rushong paid the bill, walked out of the restaurant side by side with Mike, and went straight to the parking lot.
Just as the two approached the parking lot, An Rushong's phone rang.
Looking at the caller ID, it was marked "Rubin". This was the number on the phone he had just bought for his sister after she came to Seoul.
Mike was very understanding. He made a gesture to An Rushong, indicating that he should answer the call.
An Rushong bowed to the other party apologetically, and in order to show that he was not avoiding the other party, he pressed the answer button as Mike walked aside.
As a result, he just answered the call when he heard Rubin screaming on the line. The voice was sharp and thin, and although the speakerphone was not on, it still scared him.
Almost subconsciously, he shouted into the phone: "What's wrong with you, Rubin?!"
"Give me back my phone!" Ru Bin's voice was still heard on the phone, with a woman's voice mixed in occasionally, but I couldn't hear what she was saying clearly.
"What's wrong, Ann?" Mike seemed to realize something was wrong. He stopped, turned around and tried to ask.
Just as An Rusong was about to answer, he heard Rubin's voice on the phone shouting, "Brother, they... I'm in the training class... I..."
Before she finished her words, the call was hung up. An Rusong immediately tried to call back, but the other party hung up again. After three consecutive times, the other party actually hung up the phone.
"Ann, what's the matter?" Mike asked again.
"It's my sister. She, she seems to have been kidnapped." An Rushong was a little confused. To be honest, he had limited feelings for this sister, but no matter what, the other party was always his sister. It would be a lie if he said he was not anxious when encountering such a thing.
"OH, MY GOD!" Mike had a shocked expression on his face. He said in an unbelievable tone, "Kidnapped?! In Seoul?!"
"It's not clear yet. She seemed to say she was in a training class." An Rusong put his phone in his pocket and said, "I'm very sorry, Mike, I have to go first."
As he said this, he bowed to Mike.
"No, no," Mike waved his hand quickly and said, "Do you need my help? I know some people in the local police department."
"Thank you, but not for now," An Rusong declined the other party's kindness. He turned around and wanted to walk towards the parking place. But after walking two steps, he stopped again and said, "Oh, I almost forgot, Mike, I also prepared a gift for Irene, it's in the car."
"Ah?" Mike was stunned for a moment. He obviously didn't expect that the other party had prepared a gift for his daughter.
"Wait a moment, I'll be back soon." An Rushong said, turned around and ran.
There was indeed a gift in his car, but it was not specially prepared for the daughter.
It was a stuffed bear. Yes, it was the same stuffed bear that he had taken away from downstairs of KSE Entertainment Building before. He took it out today as a gift for Mike's daughter.
After a while, An Rusong came back holding the huge stuffed bear. He handed the stuffed bear to Mike and said with a forced smile, "It's a stuffed bear. I hope Ellie likes it. Also, give Jaslin a thumbs up for me."
After saying this, he stuffed the stuffed bear into the arms of the hesitant Mike and turned away.
"Wait, Ann," Mike watched him walk out two steps, then called him and said, "You should take my car, maybe we can go faster."
An Rushong stopped and looked back at him in confusion.
"Hurry up, we have to hurry!" Mike put the teddy bear in his left hand, took out a bunch of keys from his pocket with his right hand, and said.
After he finished speaking, he pressed the remote control on the car key, and instantly, a gray Bentley not far away beeped.
An Rushong looked in the direction where the sound came from and soon saw the Bentley. Then he saw the license plate on the back of the car.
Unlike ordinary license plates with black letters on a white background, this Bentley's license plate has white letters on a black background. It has two lines of information: the top line has English. From An Rushong's position, only the letters "USFX" can be seen, while the bottom line has only four numbers "0379".
Well, An Rushong understood why Mike said that they could go faster in his car. This license plate was exclusively for US troops stationed in South Korea.
"Hurry up, Ann," Mike called out as he walked towards the parking lot.
An Rushong did not hesitate any longer. He had originally wanted to get closer to Mike. Now, seeing the Bentley with the US military license plate in South Korea, he became even more determined.
He quickly caught up with Mike and got on the passenger seat of the car. As An Rusong fastened his seat belt, he heard Mike start the car and say, "I don't like privileges, but sometimes privileges are very useful."
Okay, Brother Mike, I admit that what you said is quite pretentious.
An Rushong fastened his seat belt, secretly complaining in his heart.
Mike is an excellent driver. He backed the car out of the parking space in one go, then drove out of the parking lot quickly and onto the highway amidst the traffic jam. After asking An Rushong about the destination, he drove the red taxi towards Anyandong.
The traffic police along the way, wearing white hats and "green fluorescent uniforms", treated the car as invisible and saw it but did not see it.
(End of this chapter)