Chapter 148: 1.3 Billion
When it was almost ten at night, Lynn drove Tang Yue home. The shop assistant drove Tang Yue's car behind them. After arriving at the house, the assistant got out and began taking out the results of their shopping trip from the car and the boot, making trip after trip.
Lin Jiajie had already showered and changed into pajamas, and was watching a film in the first-floor living room. He looked on in surprise as his son returned with Tang Yue, his face glowing with satisfaction, while a little follower behind them placed one shopping bag after another into the living room.
After everything had been placed inside, Lynn turned and gave the assistant a £500 tip. His generosity left the temporary bag carrier flattered and shocked. The assistant thanked him again and again before leaving with a beaming smile.
Tang Yue, her face full of worry, came to sit beside Lin Jiajie and whispered, "Honey, our son seems a little strange today."
"What happened?"
"Do you know how much he spent on me tonight?"
"How much?"
"Almost one million pounds!"
"Oh. Mm?"
At first, Lin Jiajie did not react, thinking it was just a woman making a fuss over nothing. But then he realized she had said one million pounds, not one hundred pounds, or even one hundred thousand pounds!
Lin Jiajie was dumbfounded.
He looked toward Lynn. At that exact moment, Lynn's phone rang. Lynn turned his back to his parents, placed one hand on his waist, and answered the call.
"Hi, Chadley. Yeah, we haven't been in touch for a long time. Have you missed me? You have? I don't believe it. Ever since I bought that last car from you, you haven't called me once. People really are that realistic. But it doesn't matter. I'm not such a cold-blooded person. Listen carefully, I want a car. My garage is missing a Rolls-Royce. Let's go with the latest Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph. Get it delivered to me as quickly as possible. That's it!"
Hearing what Lynn said on the phone, Tang Yue became even more worried and said to Lin Jiajie, "Look, look, he's spending hundreds of thousands of pounds again! Aren't you going to do something?"
Ever since Lynn had been able to invest and earn money on his own, financial power had been in his own hands. Even when Lin Jiajie started his business, he had received funding from Lynn. Over the years, Lin Jiajie had never managed Lynn's spending. At first, he had muttered a few things like, "Starting a business isn't easy. Earn more, spend less," but later he had simply ignored it.
Now that he was suddenly asked to control him, he opened his mouth but found he did not know what to say.
Lynn turned around and sat down on the sofa, still making calls.
This time, he called Mo Yuan.
"Hello, Mo Yuan. Asleep?"
"Not yet. What's wrong?"
"Haven't you always said that as the club's CEO, you need to drive a Rolls-Royce to show your status? I already ordered a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph for you. When it arrives in a few days, come pick it up yourself."
"Have you gone stupid? Did losing to Leeds yesterday really hit you that hard?"
"Stop talking nonsense. Just come pick up the car in a few days. Also, I need to discuss something serious with you."
"Something serious?"
"That private jet I mentioned to you last year. How's it looking?"
"How else could it be? I've learned a bit about several famous companies, but in the end, money does the talking."
"Fine. I'll give you a £100 million budget. Buy me a private jet. Paint the Swansea crest on the body. Other than that, I don't have any special requirements, as long as it's comfortable. Also, keep the annual maintenance and operating costs under £10 million."
"Lynn, are you drunk?"
"I'm drunk your sister! I'm talking serious business with you. Tell me how much money you need. Within a month, I'll give it to you."
"All right. What did you ask me just now?"
"What?"
"You asked whether I was asleep. How the fuck am I supposed to sleep now?"
"Oh, good. Then one more thing. I'm also planning to buy a cruise yacht. In the future, when we go out to sea, we'll use our own ship instead of renting someone else's. I've already thought of the name. It'll be called the Black Swan!"
"I'm not talking to you anymore! We'll meet tomorrow! Right now, I suspect you aren't drunk, but that you hit your head!"
"Hahaha, brat. Then when I see you tomorrow, I'll beat you up first, then repeat everything I just said!"
After hanging up, Lynn turned toward his parents with a smile, only to discover that both of them were staring at him with eyes full of worry.
Lin Jiajie spoke with difficulty. "Son, are you all right?"
Lynn shrugged. "I'm fine. What's wrong?"
Lin Jiajie asked seriously, "A private jet for £100 million. What about a luxury yacht? How much is that?"
Lynn thought for a moment and said, "The cheaper ones are a few million or ten million. The expensive ones can be tens of millions or even over a hundred million. What's wrong?"
Lin Jiajie asked in shock, "What's wrong? What's wrong? Buying a car is one thing. A few hundred thousand, even a million at most. But things that cost tens of millions or hundreds of millions—how can we afford that? We can't sell off the entire family fortune just to buy a plane and a cruise ship, then spend the rest of our lives either in the sky or on the sea, can we?"
Lynn burst into laughter and said to Lin Jiajie, "Dad, the way you put that is hilarious. Either in the sky or on the sea. That kind of life would definitely be interesting."
After laughing, Lynn's expression returned to normal.
He knew that suddenly turning into a "prodigal son" would definitely worry his parents, so now it was time for him to confess.
"Dad, Mom, don't worry. I made money recently. I'll buy these things with the money I earned myself. I won't use a single penny from the family. On the contrary, I still need to give Dad some money so his business can grow bigger and bigger. It isn't much, Dad, so don't嫌 it's too little. Just £300 million."
Lin Jiajie and Tang Yue looked at each other.
The couple were both scared silly by Lynn!
Tang Yue's eyes were almost turning red. She thought there must be something wrong with her son's mind!
He had gone mad!
Completely mad!
Lin Jiajie said hoarsely, "Son, even if you won the lottery, you couldn't win that much. What exactly happened to you? Look, you've scared your mother so badly she's starting to tremble!"
Lynn ran upstairs in one breath. When he came back down, he was holding a laptop. He opened all his financial software accounts for his father to check, then crossed his legs and sat on the sofa.
"Dad, you're more familiar with these financial agencies than I am. You can confirm whether the money in my accounts is real or fake."
Lin Jiajie carefully looked over the money in every account and roughly added everything together. Shocked, he raised his head and stammered, "One point three... one point three billion pounds!"
Lynn smiled and nodded. "Thanks to 9/11, I achieved my American dream without going to New York."
Tang Yue asked nervously from the side, "Honey, is what our son said true? Is all this money his?"
Lin Jiajie's expression grew serious. He focused on operating the laptop, checking the transaction records of these accounts.
After ten minutes passed, Lin Jiajie took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. After putting them back on, he turned to Tang Yue and said in a deep voice, "Our son shorted U.S. stocks. He really did win the lottery. And it was a super jackpot!"
Tang Yue instantly relaxed. When she looked at Lynn again, she sighed and said, "Son, you scared your mother to death. If nothing's wrong, then nothing's wrong, but don't suddenly do so many abnormal things at once!"
Lynn smiled ingratiatingly. "Does being filial to Dad and Mom count as abnormal too?"
Tang Yue smiled and stood up, quickly walking to the living room entrance to carry the shopping bags upstairs one by one. She wanted to try on her new clothes. Lynn tried to help, but Tang Yue smilingly blocked him.
"Go. Chat with your father. He must be very concerned about how you plan to spend your £1.3 billion."
"Mom isn't concerned?"
"As long as you're fine, Mom doesn't care about anything else."
Lynn smiled and returned to sit in front of the sofa.
Lin Jiajie asked curiously, "Son, why did you suddenly invest such a huge amount of capital to short U.S. stocks?"
Lynn's expression became solemn.
"Actually, it was mainly because of financial pressure. I wanted to take a risk. The club wants to build a new stadium, but because of the club's credit situation, we won't be able to borrow much. And I don't want to build a small stadium, so I wanted to make more money.
"Dad, you know I've been investing in U.S. stocks for the past few years. For several years, the American market had been trending well, and the stocks I invested in kept rising. But starting last year, U.S. stocks entered a bear market. I wasn't the only one shorting U.S. stocks. Many others were doing it too, but they didn't have my appetite for risk. Recently, I went all in, hoping to get in and out quickly."
Lin Jiajie nodded in agreement and said, "Mm. Stopping now is good. Don't get greedy with short-term trades. But now that U.S. stocks have suffered such a major blow, after falling into a low point, it's actually a good opportunity for long-term positioning. You can consider it."
Lynn nodded solemnly. "That's exactly what I was thinking."
Lin Jiajie suddenly let out a long sigh and said helplessly, "In the past, I always hoped you would work at the company. I thought that was where your intelligence and talent could be displayed. But..."
"But even without being at the company, I can earn an unimaginable amount of money, right?"
Lynn asked with a smile.
Lin Jiajie nodded, then gathered his energy again and said, "All right. From now on, Dad won't interfere too much in your matters. Right now, I just want to understand your plan. How do you intend to use this £1.3 billion? If you spend it all on ridiculously expensive luxuries, you could waste it all in a month."
Lynn put away his smile and said, "Of that, I plan to use £300 million to build the new stadium. That also counts as my investment. In the future, as land and material prices rise, at least it won't lose value.
"Another £300 million will be used to purchase the private cruise yacht and private jet, including at least five years of maintenance and operating costs.
"That leaves £700 million. Out of that, £300 million will be handed to Dad for investment. My suggestion is to make long-term investments in China, following the plan I told you about before.
"As for the remaining £400 million, I'll use it myself for some investments to ensure stable wealth growth, and to make sure I have enough money when the next good investment opportunity appears."
Lin Jiajie nodded slightly.
Lynn's plan was fairly thorough and also fit his personality.
If Lynn made money and was still expected to live tightly, he would definitely be unwilling.
In his own words: what fun would there be in making money then?
"All right. Since you have your own ideas, and Dad approves, there's no need to discuss it further. There's just one thing Dad is very worried about right now."
"What?"
Lynn asked curiously.
Lin Jiajie said very seriously, "You need to branch out and have descendants. Otherwise, at the speed you're making money, when you eventually have an enormous family fortune, who will you leave it to?
"Last time, I mentioned that the daughter of an old classmate of mine was coming to Swansea for university, and I asked you to try meeting her. You agreed, yes, but when the time came, you said you were busy for all sorts of reasons.
"Can you put your lifelong happiness on your mind? You're already twenty-four, at least! I'm not asking you to get married immediately. At the very least, can't you bring a girlfriend home and make your parents happy?"
Lynn grinned, scratched his head, and said, "You also know that the female friends I've made here are all foreign women. I know Dad and Mom are relatively traditional, so I can't bring them home."
Lin Jiajie let out another long sigh.
"It's not that your parents are feudal or old-fashioned. But you need to understand, one day, we will return to our roots. We can't stay overseas forever. When you live to your father's age, you'll understand that people really need a sense of belonging. I like Swansea, but the feeling of walking on the streets of China is something you can't find anywhere else.
"If one day you also feel that way, foreign women tend to think very independently. Would they be willing to return to China with you? If they aren't, your home won't know peace. Your mother and I don't want you to end up heartbroken in the end.
"It's best to find someone you share a common language with, someone whose thoughts and lifestyle habits can also blend with yours. Otherwise, temporary passion can't guarantee a lifetime of love."
"Mm, Dad makes a lot of sense. I'll keep it in mind. If I get the chance, I'll meet the daughter of your old classmate. Dad, if there's nothing else, I'll go upstairs first. I still have work tomorrow."
"Mm, go. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Your Uncle Mo has already agreed to return to China with me to manage the new company. He really does have many fresh and eye-opening ideas. He should be a good helper."
Hearing this, Lynn smiled and nodded. "Mm. Better not let him run away. He's very capable."
In the original course of history, Mo Yuan's success had been inseparable from his father's guidance. When Mo Yuan became a carefree angel investor, his family's business had been built from nothing by Uncle Mo into assets worth hundreds of millions.
Lynn went upstairs.
The reason he said he was going upstairs was because his phone had been vibrating the whole time. He glanced at the caller ID. It was Catherine Carter.
After returning to his room upstairs, he answered Carter's fifth call.
"Hi. It's so late. Still not asleep?"
Lynn was very happy to receive Carter's call. At the very least, he did not believe men and women had to become enemies after separating. If they decided never to contact each other again, he would not disturb her. But if they could remain friends, he would not deliberately avoid her either.
So he was happy, and his tone was very relaxed.
"Lynn, I'm outside your house. I want to see you. I miss you."
"One minute."
Lynn hurried downstairs and left the house under Lin Jiajie's surprised gaze.
On the street outside the house, Carter's car was parked by the roadside. Lynn walked over and opened the passenger-side door. The moment he sat in, Carter threw herself into his arms, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him passionately.
Lynn had not expected Carter to do this, but he was quite excited by it. He pulled back slightly and looked at Carter in confusion.
Carter gazed at Lynn with a complicated mixture of love and resentment, clearly carrying a mouthful of grievance as she said to him:
Lynn froze for a moment.
Then he smiled again.