"Actually, there's another thing. The money used for this operation wasn't from Huang He's Western Mustang Fund, but from another part of his personal finances!" Hao Jianguo continued to spill Huang Boss's secrets. "This is a secret I discovered recently. This Huang He is indeed very cunning; he doesn't let anyone completely off their guard!" Hao Jianguo said.
"Specifics!" the old man pressed.
"All along, my operations have drawn funds from a fixed account, and I always thought it was a private account of the Western Mustang Fund."
"But I discovered that these weren't included in the company's relevant performance, nor were they related to any accounts controlled by the foundation. This money came from a completely unrelated account!" Hao Jianguo said, then proactively handed an account detail to the old man.
"Someone, go investigate this account!" the old man immediately ordered. Before long, the investigation results were delivered to the old man.
"This account is in a Swiss bank, created three months ago. The funds were transferred in a month ago and have now all been transferred out. It's clear that very mature professionals were involved in cleaning the accounts, so it's impossible to determine which account these funds were transferred to!"
"However, considering this account held up to 3.5 billion US dollars at its peak, Huang He still has at least 3.5 billion US dollars in readily available funds!" The old man's expression shifted slightly, then he said to Hao Jianguo, "Good. You've rendered a great service this time. You've helped us uncover a secret of Huang He's. This fellow actually has such a massive amount of hidden funds. If we had attacked Huang He according to our previous plan, we would have really been outsmarted by him!"
"It's my duty!" Hao Jianguo said quickly, but then his brow furrowed again. "Sir, I feel that Huang He must still harbor significant suspicion towards me. If I continue to stay with him, I might be in danger!"
"You haven't gained Huang He's complete trust yet? Huang He is still wary of you!" the old man asked, frowning at Hao Jianguo's expression.
"Yes, that's how I feel!" Hao Jianguo became even more disgruntled. He grumbled, "This time, I was responsible for all the operations, yet the entire fund personnel received bonuses of tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand US dollars. Even Xiao Swift, who did nothing but attend a few meetings, received over a million in rewards."
"Only I received my salary and not a single cent of bonus!" Hao Jianguo was indeed furious. "He even said it was a test and tempering for me, that I'm new to the company and already have so much authority. If I received a large bonus, it would cause dissatisfaction among other members of the company!"
"Sir, I don't think what Huang He said is true. He already suspects me, otherwise, he wouldn't be so stingy with me despite my great contribution!" Hao Jianguo said indignantly.
He thought he was highly valued and had Huang He's complete trust, only to find that Huang He was still keeping many things from him, like the soybean war launched this time.
This soybean war naturally achieved unprecedented victory. The Western Mustang Fund earned over a billion US dollars in profit, and the opposing forces that dared to short China received a bitter lesson.
Yet, he gained nothing, not even a bonus, only receiving a meager fixed salary of 5,000 US dollars per month... Although this salary was quite high even in the US, it was far inferior to what others in the company received!
"Hahaha!" Upon hearing this, the old man finally couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you laughing at?" Hao Jianguo asked, somewhat confused.
"I'm laughing at whether someone as smart as Huang He would do something so obvious that it would make you feel something is amiss!" the old man said with a smile. "If I were Huang He and discovered you had issues, if I didn't intend to lock you up and interrogate you immediately, I would give you a large bonus to prevent you from having any suspicions, thereby using you to achieve some goals!"
"Huang He would absolutely not fail to give you a bonus. He's a generous person and wouldn't care about such a small gain!"
"Then why would he do this?" Hao Jianguo continued to ask.
"Part of the reason is that he indeed doesn't trust you. After all, you've been in the US for so long; it's normal for him to maintain some suspicion. However, you've also performed exceptionally well, so he needs to test you, and this is the method of testing."
"Test me!" Hao Jianguo's hair stood on end. "But I've been acting quite passively these past couple of days. Won't this arouse Huang He's suspicion?"
"No, you're doing very well. Passivity is the best performance. You must continue to be passive!" the old man smiled. "Huang He deliberately treated you unfairly. If you were a spy trying to infiltrate the company, you would pretend not to mind for the sake of infiltration, or even work harder, trying to gain Huang He's favor through such means. But that would precisely confirm Huang He's suspicion!"
"Because if someone genuinely works for the company, they would care about the treatment the company gives them. They would consider their future and wouldn't stay under a stingy person. So, your passivity is the most logical reaction!"
"Therefore, your actions these past few days have coincidentally hit the mark, making Huang He trust you even more!" the old man nodded with satisfaction.
"I understand. I'll go back and act even more passively, maybe even submit my resignation letter!" Hao Jianguo said.
"No, that would be going too far. After all, your alliance was based on the objective of bringing down Zhuang Chen. Furthermore, you are playing the role of a passionate young man. So, from now on, don't be passive. You should go directly to Huang He to reason with him, preferably have an argument, and then question him whether he will help you swallow Zhuang Chen. Maintain that inextinguishable anger and hatred in your heart, and Huang He will completely believe you!" the old man advised.
"So that's how it is!" Hao Jianguo nodded, suddenly enlightened. Then, the old man clapped his hands, and the butler came forward with a tray, on which lay a document.
"This is a charitable foundation with a total of 10 million US dollars!" the old man said calmly. "This foundation is owned by our company, but you are its actual controller. You can use this charitable foundation for anything you wish at any time. Do you understand?"
"I understand, thank you, sir!" Hao Jianguo said excitedly. He was familiar with the ways of charitable foundations. Since charitable foundations don't pay taxes and the funds can be used for many things, this was essentially personal money that he could use freely without worrying about anyone discovering its owner.
Simply put, this was the old man giving Hao Jianguo a 10 million US dollar bonus!
"Listen, your next task is to get me information on Huang He's private funds. The next time Huang He intends to use his private funds for something, you must report it to me immediately. I will send people to monitor his entire financial chain."
"As long as I can find where Huang He's private funds are, I can freeze his bank accounts at any time, and his lifeline will be in my hands!" The old man's eyes gleamed with excitement.
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The next day, Hao Jianguo went to see Huang He with a face full of anger and dissatisfaction. However, soon after, Hao Jianguo emerged from Huang He's office beaming with joy.
Everything happened exactly as the old man had analyzed. Upon seeing Hao Jianguo's anger, Huang He was not displeased but instead very happy. He then told Hao Jianguo that he had prepared a special gift for him: a 5% stake in a company!
"My dear Comrade Jianguo, I believe you can undertake even more important work and tasks!" Huang He said.
"What work?" Hao Jianguo was taken aback, then asked curiously.
"The position of Chief Executive Officer of Jiangnan American Business Sales Group!" Huang He grabbed Hao Jianguo's hand and then smilingly pulled Hao Jianguo into his car. By the time Hao Jianguo realized what was happening, they were already at a high-class restaurant, where they met an extremely proud and beautiful woman!
"Miss Versailles!" Upon seeing the beautiful woman, Hao Jianguo exclaimed in surprise, because this woman was none other than Madame Versailles, the chairman and CEO of the Priority USA Group, which was currently very popular throughout the US.
Her popularity stemmed from several aspects. First, her investment in Weibo. Although it had been established for less than a year, it had already become the hottest social media site in the US, with over 5 million users. The most fashionable thing for netizens now was to share their lives and vent their frustrations on Weibo.
Many people now considered Weibo the sixth most valuable internet company, following Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and Microsoft, and the premier social media enterprise.
While some criticized Weibo for copying China's Facebook, it didn't matter. Did Americans' copying count as copying?
In addition to investing in Facebook, Versailles had also invested in the now-booming Google, becoming its third-largest shareholder.
Not only that, but Versailles had also directed the creation of an enterprise called "The Palace of Versailles." This enterprise was a server provider. However, unlike traditional server-selling companies, The Palace of Versailles didn't sell servers but server services, allowing internet companies to directly purchase computing power, storage space, and network resources from The Palace of Versailles, thereby enabling low-cost online entrepreneurship.
Although this project was not yet profitable, it was very promising. Many entrepreneurs in the US were eagerly purchasing the "Gong Services" provided by The Palace of Versailles.
Indeed, Gong Service was a shorthand for this type of network server resource sales, a term coined by Madame Versailles. She said that all palaces in the world were vast and wasteful. Instead of letting them lie fallow and incurring enormous maintenance costs, it was better to sell them for other companies to use. This was what she called Gong Service!