The international crude oil futures market is greatly influenced by external factors. From March to July of this year, a succession of significant international events occurred. The rupture of a Chevron pipeline led to a decline in Nigeria's daily crude oil production. Non-governmental armed groups in Nigeria announced their intention to continue attacking oil facilities in the Niger Delta region. Under international pressure, Iran maintained a hardline stance on its uranium enrichment research. Extremist groups became active in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. This was compounded by the peak summer driving season in the US and concerns over potential oil supply disruptions during hurricane season. The hostage conflict between Israel and Palestine intensified, and war broke out between Israel and Lebanon. Furthermore, BP began shutting down its largest US oil field after a pipeline leak.

Consequently, the international crude oil futures price underwent dramatic fluctuations. The price of oil, originally around 58 US dollars per barrel, climbed continuously. It fluctuated at a high of 70 US dollars per barrel for several months, at one point reaching a peak of 77.05 US dollars per barrel.

When the international crude oil futures price broke through 77 US dollars a barrel, Yi Anguo had already advised Chen Jianjun to close out his long positions and short the futures instead. Chen Jianjun, who had already made a killing, needed no further convincing upon hearing Yi Anguo's advice. He rushed to the international crude oil futures investment team within the Finance Investment Department and ordered the traders to immediately close out all long positions and short the market.

Seeing the profit data in the account, he was ecstatic. The construction funds for Hua Feng Industrial Park are, for now, nothing to worry about. I hope I can make another huge profit by shorting crude oil futures next. But there's really nothing to worry about. With a good son-in-law in control of the situation, it's probably impossible *not* to make a fortune!

Yi Anguo, of course, did the same. He held 30,000 crude oil futures contracts, having added 10,000 contracts when the price reached 65 US dollars a barrel. When the price broke through 68 US dollars, he added another 10,000. After liquidating all positions, his futures account totaled 438 million US dollars, with a profit of 388 million US dollars made in five months.

By August, the international situation had stabilized. The conflict between Lebanon and Israel was effectively resolved, and the hurricane season proved to be brief. The US government began investigating BP for potential manipulation of the American crude oil and unleaded gasoline markets, which cracked down on speculative forces in the international oil market. Global economic growth slowed, with the US economy decelerating significantly, and the US Energy Information Administration lowered its forecast for global daily crude oil demand for the next two years. The peak summer driving season in the US had ended, and Chevron discovered a massive oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. The panic surrounding the Iranian nuclear crisis had been fully digested. These factors led to a continuous drop in oil prices, and by late October, the international crude oil futures price had fallen back to 56 US dollars per barrel.

The drop from over 77 US dollars a barrel to 56 US dollars a barrel took only two months, much faster than the five-month climb from 58 to 77 US dollars. Of course, others couldn't have known this information in advance, but Yi Anguo, with his reborn advantage, had already grasped it. So, was there even a choice between going long or short on crude oil futures? When it was time to go long, he went long decisively; when it was time to go short, he went short decisively.

This time, Yi Anguo transferred out 388 million US dollars, again leaving only 50 million US dollars as margin. But he abandoned his conservative approach and directly bought 30,000 short contracts. When the price dropped to 72 US dollars a barrel, he added another 20,000, bringing his total short positions to a staggering 50,000 contracts. Such a move seemed risky, but it was also a test for Yi Anguo. At worst, 50 million US dollars would vanish into thin air.

But if nothing unexpected happened, he would not only make a huge profit but also be prepared for the price surge starting in the second half of next year, followed by a sharp decline in the second half of 2008. If holding 50,000 short contracts posed no problem, then holding 100,000 or even 200,000 futures contracts in the future should also be manageable.

That's right, for Yi Anguo, this is just a warm-up. His real target is the period from 2007 to the end of 2008, and even including 2009. The extreme fluctuations in the international crude oil market, the dramatic rises and falls—these are his prime opportunities to make money. The two or three hundred million US dollars he's earning now are just an appetizer; he doesn't give them a second thought.

But now, with 388 million US dollars in hand, there were so many things he could do. For example, he could continue to increase his investment in the An Jing online supermarket, accelerating its launch in major cities across the country and expediting the establishment of its logistics system.

Since stepping down from the Chen family business, Yi Anguo was considerably more relaxed. Lately, aside from spending time with his wife and children, he had focused on acquiring high-quality rosewood and producing samples of rosewood furniture. Since the 1990s, there had been hardly any significant changes in furniture styles. Almost every rosewood furniture factory produced nearly identical designs. In recent years, however, some changes had begun to emerge, mainly with Ming and Qing dynasty-style furniture growing popular in Zhejiang province. The impact in Guangdong province, however, was minor. Yi Anguo, knowing the future of the furniture market, understood that new rosewood styles would be in high demand. His goal was to be the first to launch the blockbuster designs that would become wildly popular.

With rosewood furniture, no matter how innovative your design, it will be copied by numerous manufacturers once it hits the market and becomes popular. Nevertheless, the first factory to launch the newest styles still held an advantage. Patented designs were virtually nonexistent for rosewood furniture; anyone could copy any style. It wasn't that applying for a patent was impossible, but the process was complex and incredibly difficult. Besides, by the time a patent was granted, others would have already replicated the design and produced many finished products.

It's difficult to prove that the appearance of a piece of rosewood furniture is entirely novel. Take a cabinet, for instance. It's still a cabinet, whether it's a bookcase, a wardrobe, a top-box cabinet, or a TV cabinet. No matter how you redesign it, its fundamental appearance won't change significantly. The same applies to a large bed; how different can you design it? It's still just a bed. If someone copies your work, they can just claim they were "inspired" by it. There's no rule against that, is there?

Therefore, every rosewood furniture factory produces any style that sells well, perhaps with slight alterations. They might change the carvings or tweak a small detail, copying 99% of your design while adding 1% of their own modifications. They could also slightly alter the dimensions. In short, there were plenty of ways to circumvent a patent if you had one. If you didn't, they would just copy it 100%, and there would be nothing you could do.

Yi Anguo's requirement for his carpenters and woodcutters was to produce only exquisite rosewood furniture, with no fakes, no substituting inferior materials, and no use of sapwood. Furthermore, a unique brand label was to be uniformly carved by machine underneath the panels, which would allow for quick identification and prevent future disputes over authenticity. Quality had to be guaranteed, which meant, of course, that the price would not be cheap.

With a commitment to quality, the price naturally couldn't be too low. But Yi Anguo had no intention of competing in the low-end rosewood furniture market anyway. Even in the low-end market, there are always some consumers who prioritize quality over price. There are always trade-offs; if you win the favor of those who only look at the price, you are destined to lose the consumers who value product quality.

Of course, many consumers want both good quality and low prices, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. So, consumers are destined to choose one or the other.

Take a five-liter bottle of pure peanut oil, for example. Some brands might sell for over 150, while others might sell for less than 100. Some people will choose the one costing over 150, while others will opt for the one under 100. A business can't simply compromise its standards to cater to consumers who only want to spend less than 100 on a bottle of pure peanut oil. By doing so, it is destined to lose a portion of the market. But in losing that low-end market segment, it wins over the high-end consumer market and ultimately earns more profit.

Yi Anguo now wanted to win with quality, not with low prices.

After the rosewood furniture samples were finished, Yi Anguo naturally had to enjoy them first. He replaced all the furniture in his own residence. The large bed was made of Laotian Siam Rosewood. The top-box cabinet was a bargain purchase of old Hainan Huanghuali Rosewood furniture, which had been expertly refurbished. The dressing table was crafted from Zitan Red Sandalwood. The desk and bookcases in the study were all uniformly made from Golden Phoebe wood. In the dining room, the round table, and in the living room, the TV cabinet and ten-piece sofa set were all crafted from authentic Laotian Siam Rosewood.

In addition to his residence, the furniture in Yi Anguo's office was also exclusively made from Laotian Siam Rosewood.

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