Yi Anguo just wanted to knock some sense into Ou Xiaolong. The man wasn't fundamentally bad and had no malicious intentions; he was just a bit grating.

The more Yi Anguo got to know him, the less he liked him. It was a shame, considering he'd once had a fairly good impression of Ou Xiaolong. After all, Ou Xiaolong had never looked down on him before, and his attitude had been much better than Ren Xingsheng's.

But it was a strange reversal. When Yi Anguo was a nobody, Ou Xiaolong had been kind to him and never looked down on him. Yet now that he was finally rising, Ou Xiaolong had unexpectedly grown disdainful.

First, he had created trouble for him, which was one thing. But this time, he was even gossiping and badmouthing him behind his back.

Calling him dishonorable, fickle, unfaithful, a player who didn't want to get married? If it had been anyone else, Yi Anguo wouldn't have been so annoyed. But hearing it from Ou Xiaolong really bothered him. He had always considered Ou Xiaolong a friend, a brother, and had held him in high regard.

Even with the Ren Xingsheng incident, while Yi Anguo had been annoyed and blamed Ou Xiaolong for being a meddlesome busybody, he hadn't truly held it against him. At most, he had been a little angry. But with Ou Xiaolong gossiping like this behind his back, Yi Anguo couldn't help but feel genuine anger rising.

If Zhuo Weidong hadn't accidentally let it slip, Yi Anguo would have never known how tarnished his image was in Ou Xiaolong's eyes.

After sending Ou Xiaolong away, Yi Anguo turned his attention back to the international crude oil futures market. It was his personal ATM.

What other investment or business could make money as easily and as quickly as the international oil futures market? It was like printing money.

Especially over the last few days, the market had been on a rollercoaster, making it incredibly easy to profit as long as you bet on the right direction. Of course, if you guessed wrong, you could lose so much so fast you'd start questioning your entire existence. If you insisted on shorting in a rising market or going long in a falling one, no amount of capital would be enough to cover your losses.

Essentially, for every long position, there's a short; for every winner, there's a loser. When the market rose, some people always believed it had peaked and chose to short, convinced it had to fall. When it fell, others always felt it had bottomed out and was about to rebound, so they stubbornly went long, always thinking they were buying the dip.

The easier an investment was for making money, the easier it was to lose it all. As the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. There's no profit without risk.

But Yi Anguo was an exception because he was practically cheating. Before his rebirth, he had intensely studied the economic data from 2008 and remembered the fluctuations in crude oil prices vividly. He might not recall the trends for every hour or minute, but he knew the general market movements. So, whether the price was rising or falling, he could generally predict its trajectory and position himself in advance, making money far more easily than anyone else.

Moreover, thanks to his substantial capital, his margin was more than sufficient. Even if he misjudged, it wasn't a problem; he could just adjust his position in time. For instance, if he went long and the price suddenly dropped significantly, anyone else would panic. But Yi Anguo wouldn't. He knew the price would eventually rise again. So, if the price fell too far, he would just buy the dip. At worst, it just meant investing a bit more. Others feared not knowing how deep the crash would be, but Yi Anguo wasn't afraid. He knew roughly at what point the price would stop falling and start to climb again.

The results were self-evident. The idiom "raking in a fortune daily" was no longer sufficient to describe it; earning several hundred million US dollars a day was routine for him.

No matter how well his physical businesses performed, they couldn't compare to the profits he was raking in daily from the international crude oil futures market. Even the hot-selling Huaxing smartphone, priced at 3,999 yuan, would only bring in less than 400 million yuan a day even with sales of 100,000 units. The first-day sales of 300,000 to 400,000 units had brought in just over a billion yuan. But in the last two days alone, he had made a staggering 2.5 billion US dollars on the futures market.

In two days, the price of crude oil had soared from $122 to $137 per barrel. Yi Anguo, who originally held 100,000 contracts, had added another 100,000 when the price rose from $122 to $127.

Earning 2.5 billion US dollars in two days was equivalent to nearly 20 billion RMB. How many Huaxing smartphones would he have to sell to make that much money? This was why Yi Anguo was glued to his computer, meticulously watching the market. The volatility was so extreme that millions of dollars could be won or lost in minutes.

Yi Anguo sometimes made the wrong call; losing a few hundred million dollars in a day was a normal occurrence for him. But with his deep pockets, he could afford the losses. He never panicked, his composure rock-solid. He knew that any temporary losses would eventually be earned back.

In truth, trading international crude oil futures is addictive. It's not much different from high-stakes gambling and can be utterly irresistible.

"Meng Die, you're not off work yet?"

Yi Anguo got up to relieve himself, grabbed a beer and a pack of fried peanuts from the fridge, and prepared to watch the market. This time of night was when the price of crude oil was most volatile.

"Oh! Is it time to go home? I didn't even realize!" Zhou Mengdie said, snapping back to reality.

"What were you so busy with that you lost track of time? Was it that hectic?" Yi Anguo asked after popping open his beer and taking a gulp.

"I wasn't busy with anything! I was just lost in thought," Zhou Mengdie said with an awkward smile.

"Daydreaming on the clock?" Yi Anguo teased. "What were you so engrossed in? Don't tell me you met a boy and you're thinking about romance."

"Of course not! I'm with you at work all day. Where would I meet any other guys?" Zhou Mengdie replied quickly.

"So you're saying I'm getting in the way of your love life?" Yi Anguo retorted.

"No, that's not what I meant! I mean, I don't even have a boyfriend, so how could I be zoning out thinking about one?" she explained.

"Then what were you thinking about so intently? Care to share? If it's inconvenient, then never mind," Yi Anguo said.

"I... I was thinking about Assistant Chen Xuejiao," Zhou Mengdie admitted after a moment of hesitation.

"Assistant Chen Xuejiao? What about her? Is something wrong?" Yi Anguo asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Assistant Chen has only just started working with you, but you already give her so much responsibility and trust. I'm a little envious! I've been with you for so long, but all I do are menial tasks like serving tea. I can't help you with anything important," Zhou Mengdie said, a hint of a pout in her voice.

Yi Anguo let out a wry laugh and shook his head. "And that's a bad thing? You're complaining about having a job that others would kill for."

"I know working with you is great. It's comfortable, there's no pressure, and people are respectful. But I want to do more to help you, not just be a flower in a greenhouse," Zhou Mengdie said. "If I were to leave you one day, I wouldn't know what to do. No one would probably hire me for another job. Being by your side, it feels like I've learned so much and yet nothing at all."

"I want the chance to prove myself and stand on my own two feet, just like Assistant Chen."

"Heh, are you sure you want to be like Assistant Chen, standing on your own?" Yi Anguo chuckled.

"In a little while, she might have to fly back and forth between China and the United States constantly."

"Are you sure you have no problem with that?"

"I... What problem would I have? It's not like I've never been abroad. I can handle a business trip to America just fine," Zhou Mengdie insisted stubbornly.

"Have you studied in America? I don't recall you ever studying abroad, have you?"

Yi Anguo frowned. He had expected her to back down from the challenge. After all, she wasn't a particularly daring person and had no experience studying overseas. It was only natural to feel intimidated and lack confidence about working in a foreign country.

"Even though I haven't studied abroad, I have traveled internationally, and my spoken English is excellent! A business trip to America would be no problem at all," Zhou Mengdie declared, puffing out her chest.

"This is no joke. To make it on your own, you need a full set of skills, especially social skills," Yi Anguo said, his tone turning serious.

In Yi Anguo's mind, Zhou Mengdie was a greenhouse flower. Working in China was one thing, as the country was perfectly safe. But working abroad was different; most people couldn't adapt. The United States wasn't nearly as secure as China—school shootings were common, to say nothing of general street crime. It was better during the day, but at night, it became far more dangerous.

"What's wrong with my social skills? I can drink, too!" Zhou Mengdie said, pointing at the beer in his hand.

"So what if you can drink?" Yi Anguo thought for a moment. "How about this? If you can outdrink me, I'll consider letting you go, letting you stand on your own and face a bigger challenge."

Yi Anguo remembered that Zhou Mengdie seemed to be a teetotaler; she always insisted on not touching a drop of alcohol at any function.

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