Insufficient balance

  "Withdraw, withdraw without hesitation, if the situation is really that severe, withdraw immediately. From what you said earlier, you've made a decent amount of money in Hainan over the past two years. Even if there's no risk, withdrawing now wouldn't be a loss, and making less money isn't a big deal. Moreover, since the bubble has become so clear, the risk is huge, and if we lose, it won't just be about losing money, but also about going bankrupt. If Hainan's property market is really that treacherous, I reckon there are many smart people in this world who have already started to withdraw."

  "Hesitated for a moment, 'I think this matter is better to be done as soon as possible. The central government may use iron-fisted measures at any time. Vice Premier Zhu has always been decisive and tough in his work style. If he makes up his mind to cool down the Hainan property market, you will suffer. By then, it will be too late to cry.'"

  "Some people, perhaps knowing it's a bubble, still want to make a fortune inside, but don't think that bubbles are easily burst. Once burst, you people who rely on blowing bubbles to accumulate wealth will have nothing left. It's better to withdraw from it as soon as possible. Now withdrawing might still be in time, but I wonder if you have any trouble over there?"

  The father and son sang in harmony, but it made Tang Tianhao even more anxious, as if the bubble in Hainan's real estate market would burst tomorrow, and his tens of millions seemed to be on the verge of being washed away, he couldn't help but rush back to Hainan to get rid of all the properties under his name.

  "No trouble at all, the current property market is still booming, some people are still hoarding, and a large amount of speculative capital is pouring in. The slightly better properties and land are in high demand, and for those under my name, as soon as there's a rumor that they're being put out, there will be many speculators fighting to grab them, so this doesn't need to be worried about."

  Wiped his forehead, "Big brother, I think I'll go to Hainan tonight to arrange things over there. If the mayor's election is handled by then, I'll come back; if not, you help me inform Mayor Su. I'm booking a ticket now, there's still one flight at dawn, and I can arrive tomorrow morning."

  As he was about to get up and leave, he seemed to remember something, turned his head back and said, "With Xiaoyu around, our old Tang family doesn't have to worry about lacking a successor, your uncle's company will be counting on you in the future."

  On the other side, Zhang Yahui had just come out of the kitchen, looking at Tang Tianhao with a surprised face. She had just heard Tang Yu say a bunch of "nonsense" over there and couldn't muster up any interest, so she turned back to the kitchen to cook. Unexpectedly, as soon as the food was ready, she saw her little uncle-in-law covered in cold sweat wanting to leave. Normally, Tang Tianhao wouldn't leave without eating.

  "Tianhao, why are you leaving all of a sudden? Don't you like the food your sister-in-law made? And Lao Tang, what's wrong with you standing there stupidly, not even helping to pull him."

  "Sister, I have an urgent matter to attend to in Hainan, I'm taking the early morning flight, so I won't be able to stay for dinner today, let's catch up another time and try your cooking." Without waiting for her to persuade him to stay, he hastily left.

  Just as they were about to eat, the doorbell rang again. Tang Yu also got up from bed to eat, and saw his second uncle coming in with a car key.

  "Leave the car at your house, I'll take a taxi to the airport, I don't feel safe leaving it there. Xiaoyu learned how to drive during winter break, right? If you want to go out and have some fun, just take the car. When Second Uncle gets back from Hainan, he'll give you one." Without waiting to hear their response, she hastily left again.

  Tang Yu remembered that his second uncle's car was a Porsche worth over 200,000 yuan. His second uncle often went in and out of construction sites, so it wasn't suitable for him to buy an expensive car. However, that Porsche had always been quite satisfactory. But after his second uncle got trapped in the Hainan real estate market, the car, along with his property in Dongling City, was auctioned off by the bank to pay off debts. Tang Yu hadn't expected that he would have the chance to get his hands on it so soon in this life.

  It's said that in his previous life, Tang Yu was a small-time car enthusiast, only he didn't have the ability to play with cars.

  Looking at the back of his second uncle leaving in a hurry, Zhang Yahui looked at Lao Tang with a complaint. "What is Tianhao doing? He's in such a rush that he can't even eat dinner. What's so urgent that he has to go to Hainan now? Besides, Xiaoyu is still young, why send him a car?" She didn't doubt Tianhao's words, as it was normal for Tang Tianhao to buy expensive gifts for his family members from time to time, worth tens of thousands of yuan. It wasn't surprising that he would want to buy a several thousand yuan car for Xiaoyu, given his net worth in the millions. But what was strange was why he wanted to send Xiaoyu a car at this particular moment.

  Tang Yu couldn't help but smile to himself, tonight's events had finally earned him some weight in his dad and second uncle's hearts, they wouldn't treat him like a kid anymore.

  Although I didn't explain some things clearly tonight, it's okay to gloss over them for now. Fortunately, my logical thinking is not bad, and I was able to persuade the two people by building a layered structure from superficial things. If it weren't for the memories of later generations, even many economists in this era wouldn't have thought that the bubble in Hainan's real estate market would be so severe, nor that it would burst completely and thoroughly in June.

  ……

  While having dinner, Old Dad Tang Tianhong would occasionally look up at Tang Yu with a puzzled expression, making Mom's face full of suspicion as she wondered what was going on between the two. After finishing dinner, when Mom went to clean up the bowls and chopsticks, Tang Yu took out the Go board and started playing on the tea table.

  Tang Tianhong took a glance, "Is it the 55-year-old Wu Qingyuan's game against Gao Xingke?" He took the white pieces and started playing with Tang Yu, one move at a time. The two were quite familiar with this game and didn't need to think much about their moves.

  It is said that Tang Tianhong used to be an idle person in the city, and he fell in love with Go. He would often go to Qingyun Teahouse to play a few games with Cen Peiren. It was actually his influence that made Tang Yu like Go from a young age. Before entering junior high school, he almost practiced every day, but after entering junior high school, he gradually put it down due to academic pressure. In college, he picked it up again and became a small expert. With the level of his past life, he should be several levels higher than his father, but that was achieved through practice after college. There is also a story in between, which will not be mentioned for now.

  In his previous life at this age, his chess skills were still far inferior to those of Old Dad.

  "Xiao Yu, where did you learn all that stuff? You little scamp, if I didn't see the birthmark on your neck, I'd suspect you're not my son! These past few months, being busy with city affairs, I've neglected your development and it's left me utterly astonished!" He said with a hearty laugh, revealing a hint of relief.

  "I've been paying attention to this kind of information for years, and with a keen mind, I can always discover some clues. Besides, the economics books in your study room aren't just for show, I have gained something from them. Plus, every time Second Uncle comes back, he shares some information, and yesterday at Zhongshan Park, I overheard a Hainanese and a Beihai person talking about housing prices in their hometowns. With these things, if you think carefully, you can still come up with some ideas."

  "Can you understand those big books in my study?"

  Tang Yu would occasionally take some books to read in his study, and Tang Tianhong knew about it but didn't bother him. He thought that as long as his son was reading books, he should be happy. Sometimes, Tang Tianhong would also find those thick economics books had been moved, but he just thought that Tang Yu had flipped through them while searching for other books, never thinking that he actually read those books.

  However, those thick economic masterpieces, Tang Tianhong himself put them there with some suspicion of being pretentious. Although he was a genuine economics Ph.D., many of the thick books were Western, mostly in English, and two in German and one in Russian, which he didn't understand very well.

  Besides, he has been working in government agencies for many years and has put aside some things. He doesn't believe that Tang Yu can understand those dry, lengthy and tasteless things.

  Seeing the skeptical look on his father's face, Tang Yu simply stopped playing chess and got up to bring two stacks of books from the study room and placed them on the coffee table for Tang Tianying to see. They were all thick economics textbooks, as well as some basic ones that Tang Tianying used when he was in school, which he occasionally flipped through over the years.

  "Dad, I've read all these books. At first, some of them were hard to understand, and when I asked you, your explanations were also vague. So I went to the city library to look up information myself, and I actually understood a lot of things. The more profound ones were still unclear, but the simpler ones I could grasp. I managed to get through all of them somehow."

  He pulled out two more books that were entirely in English, ignoring the awkward look on his dad's face. "Dad, you take these to show off at the door, your son is way better than you, I always get 100% on my English tests, it wasn't a waste of time studying, and I can still understand some of it."

  It's a bit embarrassing to say this, but in his previous life, Tang Yu did come across those economics books in middle school and even asked his dad for guidance. However, his dad thought he was just messing around and brushed him off with a few vague sentences, so he lost interest and just flipped through them casually.

  It wasn't until high school and college that he truly understood those books, after experiencing family changes, he almost read through all of his father's collection, especially those thick economics books, which he read several times.

  Those books were never sold even when we were in the most difficult situation at home.

  As for Tang Yu's English in his previous life, which made all the students who had passed the professional eighth-level English major sweat, it was really practiced from those thick economics books, starting from junior high school.

  Still somewhat skeptical, Tang Yu opened up the two English economics textbooks and Tang Tianhong looked through them. The pages were filled with dense scribbles, many places had Tang Yu's handwriting on them. Of course, they weren't annotations, but rather Tang Yu's individually looked-up definitions from a dictionary.

  Seeing the dense annotations on top, he flipped through two or three books, and almost every page had Tang Yu's handwriting. Only then did Tang Tianhong believe that his son had really read these books, but he still couldn't believe that he could understand this stuff. He casually mentioned a few basic concepts such as marginal quantity, commodity economy, and the law of the crocodile, and Tang Yu was able to say something about each one, even adding a few sentences of his own insights.

  Tang Tianhong only then discovered that his son had already made considerable progress in economics, and he didn't dare to ask any more questions. If he asked again, the one who couldn't hold on would probably be himself, after all, he had put these things down for many years.

  "When did you become interested in these things?"

  "At first, I was only interested in those few English novels. When I was in junior high school, my uncle said that if you want to make money from foreigners, you have to speak their language fluently first, so I thought about learning English well."

  He could only bluff at this time, even if he really found his uncle to verify, the words spoken three years ago, now that can still be remembered clearly. However, it is an undeniable fact that he was first in English every time in junior high school for three years.

  "At first, I just started with those few books to learn English, but later found that understanding the meaning was also interesting, so I tried to translate them. However, it was a bit difficult, and occasionally I could only translate one sentence without understanding what it meant. So I went to the library to find translated books and compared them. Only then did I realize that directly understanding the content was too hard, so I started looking for basic books in your study room. At first, I thought you would help me teach, but seeing your perfunctory attitude at the time, I thought you didn't like me learning these things, so I went to the city library alone to learn slowly. At first, it wasn't that I was very interested, but the more I learned, the more I discovered its charm, and I kept reading diligently. It's been about three years now, although I couldn't learn the deeper stuff, but I could still understand some basic things."

  "Of course, for a long time it was just superficial reading, without getting to the point. It wasn't until last year's second half that I truly got into it, and at that time I also read through many books, always thinking about putting my theories into practice to see if they were correct. Coincidentally, I heard my uncle mention his experiences in Hainan, so I started paying attention to all sorts of information. Unexpectedly, after a comprehensive analysis recently, I discovered a major issue - what a pleasant surprise!"

  This is a complete fabrication, he and Su Qing often went to the city library together in his previous life, but it was only after the changes in his family that he became interested in economics and read on. Reading those books in middle school had almost no gain other than rapidly improving his English level. However, bringing them out to fool his dad at this moment is not bad, and his dad can't help but believe him.

  There are those English notes written in his own handwriting as proof, and his father also knows that he often goes to the city library from time to time. Putting these together and thinking about it again, plus Tang Yu's performance tonight, it seems like what he said is true.

  Moreover, as a master of economics, he naturally knew how much people who had studied economics yearned to put their theoretical knowledge into practice. Tang Yu felt that having such thoughts after entering the industry was a normal reaction, and so he completely believed in what Tang Yu had said.

  "You little kid, you can really surprise people. Dad will probably have to ask for your advice on economics in the future. Yesterday I saw that you had a bit of political wisdom and thought you were interested in politics and wanted to be an official in the future. But looking at you now, it seems like your ambition isn't in that direction. However, it's good that you've already set life goals for yourself since middle school, which is not a bad thing."

  Tang Yu secretly smiled in his heart, he had more than just a little wisdom in politics, but this was not something that could be said out loud.

  "Politics and economics are actually interconnected, domestically this system wants to develop economy, without understanding politics it won't work."

  Tang Tianhong was taken aback, not expecting his son to have realized this at such a young age. He himself had only understood it thoroughly after graduating with a master's degree and gaining experience in the official circles, where he had learned from his mistakes.

  This son of mine is getting spoiled rotten!

  Now he actually acknowledges what his second brother said before leaving: "The Tang family has a successor."

  "You two, I just cleaned up and you've made a mess again. I'm talking to you, Old Tang! You brought out that pile of junk from your study room to show off to your son." Tang Tianhong smiled wryly at Tang Yu, not bothering to defend himself.

  She turned around, but Zhang Yahui caught sight of the half-covered chessboard, took two steps forward, and pinched Tang Yu's ear, "Let you play chess again, wasn't it told to you early on that you're not allowed to play chess during school hours? And Old Tang, indulging your little Yu like this, if he doesn't get into First Middle School, just wait and see how I'll deal with you. At that time, don't even think about going to the Education Bureau to put in a good word for him."

  Tang Yu naturally didn't dare to respond, and repeatedly admitted his mistake. Although Dad was in charge of major family matters, Mom had absolute authority over minor issues, such as not allowing Tang Yu to play chess, which was a rule set when he was in junior high school. Later, seeing that the two were secretly playing from time to time, it was changed to not being allowed during school hours. Tang Yu naturally didn't dare say at this time that he had already taken a leave of absence and wasn't in school. That would be a dead-end behavior that would make his ears suffer, and possibly even move on to his butt.

  Wanted to help clean up the tea table, was chased back to the bedroom by her mother to sleep, Tang Yu didn't have the energy to get up and wash up, so she just lay down and fell asleep. After a while, her mother brought in the evening's medicine, "You child, don't even know how to take your own medicine." She put down the water cup and left.

  After taking the medicine, thinking about tonight's events, he couldn't help but feel a little excited in his heart. He didn't expect that he could leave an impression on Old Dad and Second Uncle so easily, and with a conversation with Old Dad, at least explaining his economic foundation clearly. In the future, if he performs outstandingly in this aspect again, he won't be afraid of being suspected by him.

  Things, always settle one by one. Tonight, at least the disaster of Second Uncle's bankruptcy and future imprisonment has been eliminated. As for Dad's affairs in the city, it doesn't matter now. Even if Dad is pushed out to the Social Sciences Federation in the future, with Second Uncle's tens of millions of assets supporting him, he won't be left destitute.

  However, going back to '93 and reliving it as a child of a cadre or something similar seems quite tempting.

  Furthermore, Dad has had many political ambitions in this life, but unfortunately, he hasn't had the opportunity to put them into practice. Now that I've started anew, as his son, I should help him fulfill his ambitions with all my might.

  In short, it's about doing one's best to keep Su Mu Ru as the mayor, which is also equivalent to keeping his old man.

  But that's a matter for tomorrow; what I've done today is already enough.

  Touched the key to the Porsche left under the pillow by Second Uncle, a faint smile appeared in his heart. Second Uncle was indeed generous, daring to let this "newbie" who didn't even have a driver's license drive a car worth over 200,000 yuan, without worrying about it being damaged. But what Second Uncle didn't know was that he had more than ten years of driving experience from the future.

  Thinking and thinking, slowly closing his eyelids, smiling into a dreamland.

  Everything will have a solution. Tomorrow will naturally be better!