"Sir, that's how it is!" In a spacious but somewhat cold room, a blonde, blue-eyed old man sat quietly on a sofa. Another person, with an Eastern face, stood respectfully beside him. This was none other than Hao Jianguo.
"So, Huang He trusts you completely?" the old man said faintly.
"He hasn't doubted me from the very beginning!" Hao Jianguo said confidently. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have assigned me directly to the Western Mustangs."
"That's because I conducted a detailed investigation of Huang He. The investigation report alone was hundreds of thousands of words long. I figured out his background and personality, and only then did I give you this opportunity!" the old man said coldly. Hao Jianguo's face immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He quickly apologized respectfully, admitting his presumption.
Indeed, Hao Jianguo's ability to gain Mr. Huang's trust so easily was entirely due to excellent preparatory work.
It was said that this old man had specially hired a team of hundreds of people in China to investigate Huang He. They obtained almost all of Huang He's publicly verifiable life experiences, categorized them, and wrote hundreds of thousands of words in investigative reports, equivalent to ten postgraduate theses.
It was through these investigation reports that the old man determined Huang He was an extreme nationalist, patriotic to the core, and particularly intolerant of any insult or bullying directed at his country.
Upon seeing this investigation result, the old man couldn't help but curse him as a lunatic and then felt it was the strangest thing in the world.
It wasn't that Huang He being an extreme nationalist was strange, but that an extreme nationalist could become a world-class billionaire in just three years – that was truly bizarre.
In this old man's view, only those who discarded all notions of family and country and were solely focused on profit could achieve a dominant position in business in such a short period.
For an extreme nationalist like Huang He to succeed was simply unimaginable.
However, despite his doubts, the supporting documentation was so detailed that the old man had no choice but to believe it. Furthermore, apart from being a nationalist, Huang He's abilities in other aspects were nearly perfect.
Whether it was his grasp of timing, his utilization of marketing strategies, or his various struggles with others, Huang He employed almost flawless methods.
However, in the old man's opinion, Huang He's greatest success lay in his understanding of the prevailing trends of the era, investing all his assets into the research and development of the internet and electronic technology. Coupled with incredible luck, this ultimately led to his current achievements.
The situation was not originally so complicated. The old man's initial plan was to cast a wide net, recruiting dozens of overseas returnee elites and having them all join Jiangnan Group.
Based on past experiences, these overseas returnee elites would surely receive significant attention from corporate leaders, quickly rising to middle management, or even senior positions, and then gradually acquiring intelligence and even control of the entire enterprise.
Unfortunately, Huang He's Jiangnan Group was extreme to the point of being nationalistic, refusing to accept any employees with overseas study backgrounds except for research personnel.
Even top talents graduating from Harvard Business School were all turned away, their resumes not even being accepted. This resulted in all of Jiangnan Group's senior management being native Chinese, without any overseas study experience. If they didn't go abroad, it would be very difficult to place controllable pawns like Hao Jianguo.
While some overseas background pawns were sent to the research institute, most of them were engaged in basic research, and the intelligence they provided was of little use.
As for the few pawns who managed to reach middle management, they were monitored comprehensively and covertly. As a result, three pawns had been discovered and were directly imprisoned. Who knew if they would end up leaking their own intelligence.
Helpless, the old man had to meticulously craft a pawn like Hao Jianguo.
Unexpectedly, Huang He did not play by the rules. He showed no interest in financial geniuses like Bill Ackman who offered themselves, repeatedly rejecting him, leaving Hao Jianguo with no opportunity, even after he revealed the crucial information about soybeans.
It should be noted that he had revealed this information behind the backs of the other two old men. Once Huang He learned of this intelligence, he would inevitably act on the soybean industry, and those old men would likely fail.
However, it didn't matter. He had never had much interest in China's soybean industry; it wasn't his company's forte. His involvement was merely for the sake of participating and placing a pawn.
Now, if he could use Huang He to disrupt the businesses of those old men, that would be an excellent outcome.
It was quite disheartening that the information was revealed but yielded no effect. However, no one expected Huang He to continue playing outside the box and simultaneously host a dinner auction.
And Hao Jianguo, this pawn, was clever. He seized this rare opportunity to secure a meeting with Huang He and revealed his nationalist persona.
The old man was not worried about this persona being exposed because it was genuinely him. Hao Jianguo was indeed the child of a former executive of Meijiajing. That executive had indeed committed suicide out of remorse for his mistakes. And Hao Jianguo had continuously expressed anti-American and anti-Johnson sentiments among relatives and friends since childhood, even stating that he would definitely defeat Johnson in the United States in the future. All of this was true.
According to the old man's intelligence, Jiangnan Group had specifically sent a team of over a dozen people a few days prior to investigate all aspects of Hao Jianguo's life, from childhood to the present. Naturally, all this information was uncovered without omission, and they had no reason to doubt Hao Jianguo.
Huang He probably could never have imagined that after Hao Jianguo came to the United States, he was attracted by the sweet air of America, coupled with various temptations of profit and a yearning for a luxurious life. This once fervent nationalist quickly became the person he hated the most, and his greatest dream shifted from destroying Johnson to becoming a financial magnate.
Of course, the dream of destroying Johnson had not changed. After all, as long as he could become a financial magnate, destroying Johnson would be the same. As for how to become a financial magnate, it naturally involved bowing and scraping to powerful figures like himself, demonstrating his fawning and obedience, gaining his approval, and then receiving his support.
After all, Hao Jianguo was well aware that to become a financial magnate in the United States, one must have the support of true magnates; otherwise, it would all be a mirage.
Of course, he had other means to control Hao Jianguo, such as a magical psychotropic drug with a strong addictive property, which only his company could produce. After taking it, there were no external symptoms, but once past his prime, his vital energy would rapidly decline, leading to various illnesses, and he would generally find it difficult to live past sixty.
But what did it matter? Not living past sixty was just fine. What if this fellow truly became uncontrollable?
The old man's mind flashed with these thoughts, but it happened in an instant. Then he smiled and said, "Tell me, what does Huang He plan to do next?"
"This, I only know that Little Swift said he intends to continue holding oil futures. Within a month, it's highly likely to rise to over $40 a barrel. We need to maintain our positions!" Hao Jianguo replied.
"Rise to $40 a barrel within a month? That little darkie really dares to think that. It's impossible. OPEC is already discussing increasing production!" the old man sneered. Hao Jianguo also chuckled and said, "Indeed, through my observations over these days, this Little Swift is completely a self-taught outsider, lacking basic common sense, but his intuition is astonishingly sharp, making him somewhat unfathomable!"
"Intuition? Acting on intuition will lead to disaster sooner or later!" the old man said dismissively. Then, there was a knock on the door. It was his butler.
"What is it?" the old man asked faintly.
The butler walked up to the old man and whispered a few words. The old man's expression immediately turned the color of liver.
Hao Jianguo was curious but dared not ask further. He had learned his lesson.
"That darkie really has some luck!" the old man waved his hand, revealing a wry smile. "The remnants of Ik, seeking revenge, actually bombed several major oil fields in the region. These oil fields will not be able to resume production for a year. It seems oil prices will truly surge uncontrollably this time!"
[PS: Everyone guess, has Mr. Huang discovered this problem with Hao Jianguo!]