Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

There are four principles to stock trading: [Be fearful when others are greedy! Buy more when others are fearful! Buy the dip when others sell! Go bankrupt when others suffer small losses!]

The people on the stock trading forum are absolutely right. Listening to their words is worth ten more years of hard work!

In a good mood, Wayne decided not to go back to the hotel for Kal'tsit's lovingly prepared dinner today. Instead, she planned to take her out to a restaurant for a nice meal. Having been in Colombia for so long, she hadn't really tried much of the local cuisine yet.

But before Wayne could even step out of the trading hall, his everyday cell phone suddenly rang. He took it out and saw, wow, it was the head of Rhine Labs.

Wayne smiled and pressed the answer button:

"Hello."

"Hello, is this Mr. Wayne? This is Menes, the head of the Rhine Labs division. May I ask where you are now...?"

"Wait, wait, wait, change your way of addressing him. Don't call him 'sir,' call him 'boss.'"

Menes was taken aback, but the matter was urgent, and he didn't have time to think it through. He quickly said:

"Boss, are you here now?"

"I'm in New York State, what's wrong?"

“You’re in New York State? That’s perfect!” Miss Menes exclaimed with delight. “Since you’re in New York State, please go to the New York State Financial Exchange on Wall Street immediately and ask the staff about the Rhine Life acquisition. They will take you there.”

Wayne nodded: "Mhm, and then?"

Miss Menezes swallowed hard. Something felt off. Was Mr. Wayne being a little too calm? He didn't seem surprised at all by his request, nor did he ask why.

Unable to figure it out immediately, Miss Menes dared not delay and continued:

"Then, please sign the rejection document on that acquisition agreement. Rhine Life's shares have been acquired by a Victoria company, which owns 70% of the company. They want to acquire us, but according to Colombian law, only 80% of the shares can be subject to a compulsory acquisition. The current acquisition requires confirmation of the will of both parties and a vote at the shareholders' meeting. Please sign your rejection document."

“Oh, I see.” Wayne nodded. “So that’s how it works, 80%. I’m not familiar enough with Colombian law. If you hadn’t reminded me, I would have almost made a huge mess (referring to the inability to enforce the takeover). Thank you so much, I’ll go right away.”

Menezes' expression was a little subtle, but at least Mr. Wayne had agreed, so she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

That was close! I almost became Victoria Corporation. I've heard that the nobles there are all bloated slave owners who haven't bathed for months. Although I know this is a propaganda tactic by the Colombian government to smear them, it's still hard to feel any goodwill towards Victoria.

The young lady breathed a sigh of relief and solemnly thanked them through the microphone:

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Wayne. Rhine Life will reward you handsomely once it is done."

Wayne shook his head, gave Kal'tsit a wink, and Kal'tsit gave him an OK sign before walking back to the backstage area of ​​the hall.

There's no need to trouble Wayne with signing. As her assistant and wife, Kal'tsit can just sign it; it's just a matter of saying no.

Huh? Why did Wayne sign the refusal?

Didn't you hear what the Miss Chief said? Signing an agreement is a matter of mutual consent, but in the end, it still has to go through a full vote at the Rhine Life shareholders' meeting. That's too much trouble, and who knows what kind of trouble those guys in Colombia might cause.

Wayne prefers a more assertive approach. Look, I own 85% of the shares. I can simply sign a rejection and then force a takeover, bypassing your shareholders' meeting. Isn't that simpler, more convenient, and more legal?

Besides, Wayne is a freeloader. Signing the document would be considered a negotiated prostitution, while not signing it wouldn't be. Compared to the previous situation where things might be ruined, or he might be set up or even arrested, the latter is much more comfortable.

"Ah, there's no need for such a generous reward."

Wayne raised his signature wicked smile.

"This is what I should do."

Chapter Forty-Eight: A Man with a Dream

After receiving Wayne's reply, Miss Magistrate immediately called Henry.

"Director Henry, Mr. Wayne is in New York right now, and he has agreed to help!"

Henry breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and turned to look at the brigadier general beside him. The brigadier general was clearly also trying to understand the inside story, as reports kept coming from the phone in his hand. After receiving Henry's look, the brigadier general immediately asked:

"They said they've already rejected the offer. Get ready, once Victoria stops the acquisition, we'll move in immediately! We absolutely cannot allow any more surprises!"

"understand!"

A loud voice came from the receiver. The brigadier general put down the phone, hung up, and plopped down on a stool, his fingers tapping incessantly on the table. Compared to his relaxed and leisurely demeanor just moments before, he was now clearly much more anxious.

The military's actions were not without risk. While the political world is full of colorful people, they are clearly not so foolish as to be so easily fooled as to ask if something had just happened after someone had run them over with a car.

Driving is driving, there's no need to overinterpret it. I just wanted to express what you think it means.

If the military is too slow to act, the political establishment will inevitably notice. Before achieving a certain level of strength and public support, the military doesn't want to openly clash with the political establishment. In other words, if Wayne's refusal is too slow, the brigadier general might have to abandon Rhine Labs to avoid political detection.

After all, what they did was a sneaky scheme, trying to take advantage of their inattention to force the issue, and they couldn't afford the consequences of being caught in the act.

Fortunately, Wayne acted quickly, and soon the phone rang again:

"General, Rhine Labs has reappeared on the trading board. Should we...?"

"Acquire it immediately!" the brigadier general ordered. There was no time to lose; they had to act decisively right away.

However, after calling out, there was no response from the other end of the phone. Instead, there was a series of questions and exclamations of surprise. The brigadier general frowned, sensing that something was amiss, and immediately pressed for an answer:

"What happened? Hey!"

"report!"

A voice immediately came from the other end of the microphone; the soldier's voice sounded somewhat embarrassed as he replied,

"I'm sorry, General, we're too late. The takeover has started again."

"?"

The brigadier's lips twitched. What the hell is going on?

I was saying I was worried things might go wrong if things dragged on, but you've only been here a few minutes. Even if things go wrong, there still has to be night. You got ripped off; anyone who didn't know better would think Columbia is in the Arctic Circle and doesn't have night at all.

What's going on with Victoria? They were rejected but they're still trying to acquire her? Are they planning to stall?

Are they from the political arena? Are they planning to stall until the military has no choice but to withdraw?

The brigadier clenched his fist. "Are you kidding me? Do you think we're so easy to bully? Do you really think the Colombian military is a pushover?"

So what if you're rich? So what if you have steam armor? So what if you have unicorns? So what if you have several times more mobile cities than Columbia? So what if you have Terran domination? Besides these things, what do you have that's better than Columbia? Do you think that just because you have these things, you can do whatever you want?

The brigadier, his resolve hardening, turned to Henry, his tone involuntarily taking on a commanding quality, and roared:

"Now, let that Wayne or that bastard Dong of yours refuse again, and our people will block the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange! I don't believe Victoria can act that fast!"

Henry frowned, somewhat displeased with the general's tone and address:

“Sir, Mr. Wayne is one of our shareholders. You can’t insult him like that…”

"Shut up, and do as I say!" the brigadier general roared.

At that moment, Henry felt that his beautiful fantasies had been shattered once again.

The military and the political establishment are essentially no different. As Colombians, their bandit nature is only slightly different, with no inherent superiority or inferiority. A bandit is still a bandit, and a robber is still a robber; they won't change just because they put on a suit or a military uniform.

They never treated Rhine Life as an entity worthy of equal consideration; Rhine Life was merely a small, insignificant chip in their game of power. And Rhine Life certainly wasn't the only chip; it was everywhere in Colombia—in the streets and alleys of corporations, organizations, and celebrities.

Henry had done everything in his power to provide the young people at Rhine Life with a place in republican Colombia, hailed as a beacon of democracy and freedom in Terra, where they could freely showcase their talents and pursue their dreams. But now it seems he was too naive.

Despite being decades old, I still act like a child, harboring some unrealistic fantasies about this rotten land, always believing that democracy and freedom may not just be a propaganda slogan, but that it truly exists in some corner of this land.

Does it really exist?

The vastness of the land makes it impossible to deny any possibility, but Henry can at least be certain that in this country, in this country that plants bombs on visiting planes, in this country that would ruthlessly crush the dreams of a group of dreamers for profit, in this country that disguises itself as a good person by wearing the skin of a good person, it probably does not exist.

Colombia remains a largely unchanged country in the dark and desolate Terra region. The so-called beacon of light remains a cannibalistic hell.

"I'm sorry, General."

Henry stood up, no longer concealing the deep disappointment in his eyes, shook his head, and said under the brigadier general's astonished gaze:

"I feel that our cooperation is inappropriate. I am not a member of the board of directors of Rhine Life, nor do I own any shares in Rhine Life. I am currently just a useless social outcast, and it would be presumptuous of me to discuss the future of Rhine Life with you here. Thank you for your appreciation, I will take my leave now."

"You!" The brigadier's eyes, a mixture of anger and astonishment, were fixed on Henry, but Henry, undeterred, bowed deeply and said:

"The coffee was delicious, goodbye."

He picked up his briefcase, turned around, and wanted to leave.

However, he did not notice that the brigadier general had already reached for his waist.

“Mr. Henry, we can still discuss this. Why are you refusing to cooperate so suddenly? If you are unwilling to contact that businessman, we can send someone else to make the contact.”

“That’s irrelevant, General.” Henry stopped with his back turned and said calmly, “Don’t underestimate any businessman, especially Mr. Wayne. He’s not just an ordinary businessman as you might imagine.”

Henry recalled the shareholders' meeting a few days before Rhine Life reached its peak and then crashed down.

Above that, Wayne showed genuine surprise, joy, and hopeful eyes to Rhine Lab.

He smiled confidently:

"He was a person with dreams."

Chapter 49 I'm going to give this Victorian a good beating!

dream.

The brigadier was quite surprised to hear the word "dream" from an elderly man with a gray beard. At his age, still believing in such things?

Only two kinds of people deserve to have dreams: the first kind are those who are born destined to realize their dreams, and the second kind are those who are born unworthy of realizing their dreams. The rest of the masses are merely beings who beg for food from the first kind and find amusement in the second kind.

He had investigated Henry's birth; he was born in a small, remote city in Victoria, the kind of place that even after leaving Victoria, the Victorian authorities, with the throne vacant at the time, had no time to attend to. Someone born in such a place, who had managed to rise to his current position as the executive director of a large listed company, should have had a clear understanding of Columbia's current situation long ago.

After all, in this fiercely competitive era, you can't sit in an office chair without some ability and insight.

He thought Henry would be a sensible man, but now it seems he was wrong; he had overestimated him.

He reached for the pistol at his waist. Now that he knew the military's plan and had refused the invitation to cooperate, Henry had no reason to continue living. The brigadier general didn't believe anyone could keep a secret unless that person was unable to speak.

"Well then, goodbye..."

He drew his pistol and pointed it at Henry's retreating figure. But just then, there was a knock on the door of the private room:

"General, someone is looking for you. Rhine Labs."

The brigadier frowned, clicked his tongue, and put the gun back into its holster at his waist.

With outsiders present, taking action might not be a good idea. Especially since the visitors are from Rhine Labs. The military is now determined to acquire Rhine Labs; all they need to do is find that so-called "dreaming Wayne," hold a gun to his head, force him to sign the refusal agreement, and then transfer the shares to the military—the acquisition can be completed smoothly. There's no need to leave a bad impression on future pawns here.

As for Henry, let's give him a break for now. He's in Colombia anyway, so he can't run away. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

"Let them in."

The brigadier said coldly, looking at Henry.