America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 359 Return to Wall Street

In the heart of Manhattan, New York, at 17 Wall Street, in front of the Lehman Brothers headquarters, a convoy of cars came to a steady stop in front of the glass-walled building.

As soon as the convoy came to a stop, a man in a suit who had been waiting nearby skillfully opened the door of the middle car from the outside.

Ivan Setonberg immediately recognized the person who opened the door as Humphries, the personal secretary of Richard Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers.

Seeing this courtesy, Ivan couldn't help but gasp, his tongue swirling in his mouth.

As the CEO's secretary, Humphries usually only maintained superficial politeness when facing executives of other financial giants on Wall Street, even in the Lehman Brothers building. But now he personally opened the car door. Ivan had never even dared to imagine such an attitude, let alone see it.

He remembered the last time he represented his former employer, NYNEX, to seek a $10 million loan from Lehman Brothers. In order to meet the credit manager, he made an appointment by email a week in advance, and on the appointed day, he arrived at the Lehman Building at eight o'clock in the morning, only to be told by the receptionist that the manager had an emergency meeting and that he should wait in the reception room.

They waited for a full three hours before finally being summoned by the manager.

When they actually talked, the other party just glanced at the documents he brought and said to wait for notification. The whole conversation lasted less than ten minutes. His perfunctory attitude made it seem as if he was holding a piece of waste paper instead of a ten million dollar loan application.

Thinking of this, Ivan couldn't help but turn his head to look at the young man who was about to get off the car, his new boss, Ernst Garfield.

He thought to himself: In America, there are probably only a handful of people who could make Lehman Brothers lower itself like this.

Especially among young people, it's probably hard to find another one who gets to enjoy the privilege of having the CEO's secretary personally waiting at the door to open the car door.

Ernst, unaware of Ivan's thoughts, straightened his tie and calmly stepped out of the car.

Humphries immediately stepped forward, bowed slightly, and said, "Mr. Garfield, this way please."

As the group headed towards the elevator, Humphries tried to find topics to probe Ernst's purpose for the trip, but Ernst always deflected his questions with bland remarks, and eventually even ignored him altogether.

After being rebuffed several times, Humphries wisely stopped asking questions.

Upon arriving at Richard's office, Humphries found it empty. He quickly explained, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Fuld is currently on an international conference call. He asked me to ask you to wait in his office for a moment."

Ernst showed no displeasure whatsoever. Instead, he smiled politely and replied calmly, "It's alright. We were the ones who disturbed you without prior appointment. I'll just wait here for President Fuld to finish his meeting."

"Then I'll go get you two cups of coffee. Please feel free to look around," Humphries said, then turned and quickly left the office.

Although Ernst was about the same age as him, or even a few years younger, he always felt uncomfortable in Ernst's presence, as if an invisible pressure was enveloping him.

This person is ranked fourth on the list of America's richest people. Even if this is only the public figure, the status brought by that enormous wealth and the influence derived from that status made Humphries feel inferior to others from the bottom of his heart.

Even though Ernst maintained a relaxed demeanor and wore a gentle smile, the aura he exuded from within still made him want to escape.

Aside from escaping the oppressive feeling that made him uncomfortable, the question that lingered in his mind the most was why Ernst had suddenly visited Lehman Brothers' headquarters today.

He had been cautiously probing along the way, but hadn't gotten any useful information, which made him increasingly unsure of himself.

Regardless of his purpose in coming to Lehman Brothers today, even if he just wanted to use CEO Richard's office toilet to defecate, Lehman Brothers had no reason to turn away this super-rich man. This is the result of the difference in status and position.

In Wall Street, a place where money and status determine success, Ernst's identity and power were enough to command everyone's utmost respect.

In the office, Ivan sat upright on the sofa, his whole body tense like a fully drawn string.

Ernst, however, did not consider himself an outsider at all. He stood up and began to look around the extremely luxuriously decorated office.

The office is at least 200 square meters in size. The floor is covered with marble that looks like it's of the highest quality. The walls are covered with genuine oil paintings by various famous artists. In the corner, there is a pure gold sculpture that is more than two meters tall. There are also antique clocks on the desk.

Touching this and looking at that, he was like a curious tourist, completely at home, feeling relaxed and at ease.

Looking at Ernst's handsome figure and composed demeanor, and then thinking about himself, Ivan couldn't help but sigh inwardly, feeling that he had simply wasted his life.

He is fifty years old this year. Starting from an ordinary employee, he climbed step by step to the position of senior executive in the company through his own efforts and earned millions of dollars in assets. In the eyes of ordinary people, he can be considered a successful person.

But once he got to Wall Street, he realized that money and status can be infinitely shrunk and magnified.

Ernst is like the master of this financial forest, standing at the top of the pyramid, looking down on all living beings; while he himself may be admired by some people outside, here he is at most a piece of cannon fodder that can be sacrificed at any time, and does not even have the right to be truly valued.

Just as Ivan was lost in his own thoughts, the office door was suddenly pushed open, and a tall man walked in, followed by Humphries, who had just gone out to get coffee.

It goes without saying that this man is Richard Fuld, the current CEO of Lehman Brothers.

Ivan's gaze fell on Richard, and he suddenly realized that he saw the same quality in Richard as Ernst—an indescribable yet captivating charm that drew attention at a glance.

"Hey, Ernst!" Richard's hearty laughter rang out before he even reached Ernst.

He strode forward, opened his arms, and gave Ernst a warm hug.

Even Ivan, an outsider, felt that Richard's enthusiasm was a bit excessive.

Richard is known on Wall Street as a notoriously strict and unyielding CEO, and Ivan has never heard of such a warm and enthusiastic scene before.

However, when Ivan thought about Ernst's net worth and the speed of his rise, he instantly felt relieved.

From starting his business to becoming a super-rich man, it only took him two years, and he has been hailed by the media as a new symbol of American wealth.

There's even an exaggerated saying circulating among the people: wherever Ernst went, money would fall from the sky.

Although this sounds outrageous, it also illustrates how astonishingly fast Ernst accumulated his wealth.

Wall Street, a place that values ​​money more than the soul, sees Ernst, with his walking money-printing machine-like qualities, as a god in their eyes.

Let alone a warm hug, even if Ernst farted, they probably wouldn't be able to resist rushing over to take a few deep breaths, hoping to get some of his good fortune.

After the hug, Richard's gaze fell on a wooden carving in Ernst's hand. He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "If you took a fancy to any of the other items in my office, like the paintings on the wall or the gold ornaments on the desk, I would have them packed up and sent to you without hesitation. But this—"

Richard shrugged, a helpless expression on his face. "I'm sorry, I really can't give this to you."

Ernst was taken aback when he heard this. He looked down at the wooden carving in his hand and then suddenly realized what was going on.

It turns out that when he was touring the office earlier, he found the wooden carving to be quite unique. It was a sailboat with dense patterns carved on its hull, which looked very mysterious, so he picked it up and played with it for a while.

Richard was laughing and hugging him when he came in, which made him forget to put this thing down for a moment. He didn't expect that Richard would misunderstand and think that he liked this wood carving.

Richard's words piqued Ernst's curiosity. Richard's office was full of valuable treasures, so why couldn't he give away this seemingly inconspicuous wooden carving?

Ernst couldn't help but examine the wood carving in his hand again, wanting to see what was so special about it.

Richard, seeing Ernst staring intently at the wood carving, assumed he had discovered something special and couldn't help but burst into laughter. "I never imagined that someone so young would have such a deep understanding of antiques, and such a discerning eye!"

Ernst rolled his eyes inwardly and thought to himself: What do I know? I just picked it up because I thought the wood carving looked nice.

Before he could explain, Richard continued, "That's right, the wood carving you're holding is made of hardwood. It's precisely because it's made of hardwood that I can't give it to you, because it's a valuable asset of Lehman Brothers, a family heirloom."

Ernst suddenly realized, "No wonder."

Perseverance wood is not a piece of wood, but refers to the timber used in the construction of the British warship HMS Perseverance in 1845.

This warship survived the Anglo-American War, but was eventually lost in the Arctic Ocean.

The Americans later discovered it a few years later, finding that the warship had been submerged in the Arctic Ocean for thousands of days and nights without suffering any damage.

The Americans then overhauled the warship and sent it back to Britain, directly improving the then-not-so-friendly Anglo-American relations.

In 1879, HMS Resolute was honorably retired. In order to preserve the Resolute for posterity, the British dismantled it and used the usable wood from the beds to make three desks.

The best one of them was given to Rutherford, the 19th President of the United States, as a return gift.

Then this table became a symbol of the White House. The American president seen in movies and news reports sitting at this large table signing various bills is the Resilience Table.

From Rutherford to the present-day Lofton, only three American presidents have not used the Resolute Desk for their work. It can be said that this desk has witnessed the rise of the United States and is the national treasure of the United States.

Therefore, it is also regarded as a national treasure of the United States, and its importance is in no way inferior to that of the Statue of Liberty.

The "hardwood" that Richard mentioned was some leftover material from making the table, which was then crafted into small trinkets by artisans.

Very few of these items have survived; only about ten are known to have been discovered worldwide.

"This is good stuff." Ernst, after learning that it was hardwood, started playing with it again.

He estimated that this palm-sized wooden carving could fetch at least 30 million US dollars on the American antique market.

Its value lies not only in money, but more importantly, in representing a special period of history and symbolizing status and position.

The fact that Lehman Brothers possessed such a treasure is enough to prove how profound its foundation was.

Richard, seeing Ernst's focused expression, smiled and said, "How about it? Isn't this wood carving quite special? Back then, the Lehman Brothers went to great lengths to acquire it, agreeing to many conditions from a British nobleman."

Ernst looked up, smiled and nodded. "It is indeed a fine piece. Both its craftsmanship and historical value make it a masterpiece."

Richard was delighted by Ernst's praise and laughed heartily, as if he himself had discovered and purchased the piece of hardwood.