In the centre of South Brighton, near Old State Street, there is an ancient Greek-style financial building, which, despite its grandeur, is rarely paid attention to by Brightoners, but is actually home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton.

In fact, when the Federal Reserve was first established, it established a system of twelve branches across the country according to the geographical division of the consortium at that time, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton was undoubtedly controlled by the Brighton consortium and used to control the financial order of the entire New England region.

But even so, the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton, which has little impact on ordinary people except for raising interest rates and cutting interest rates, has always been unattended, but all this was broken on November 21.

As the subprime mortgage crisis in Brighton intensifies, the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton cannot but become the focus of attention, after all, as the central bank branch of the United States, the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton has the responsibility of formulating the region's monetary policy and supervising the region's financial institutions, and the subprime mortgage crisis is undoubtedly under their jurisdiction. In fact, a week after the subprime mortgage crisis erupted, the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton set up a commission of inquiry to try to intervene in the subprime mortgage crisis.

It must be said that the way the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton helped Brooke Investments find equity buyers and help find loans did make Brooke Investors' situation better and better, but because of James's final blow to the deficit, Brooke Investments was completely knocked to the ground.

Since the morning of the 21st, a large number of reporters have gathered at the door of the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton, because today's meeting on the rescue of Brooke Investments, which was initiated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton, will be held here.

"Dear audience friends, it has been ten days since the scam of Brooke Investment Company was exposed, and in these ten days, Brooke Investment Company has been jointly sued by many investors, including Goldman Sachs, demanding that Brooke Investment Company immediately return 600 million investment funds, and at the same time, other creditors of Brooke Investment Company have also demanded that it pay off its debts, and these pressures have undoubtedly forced Brooke Investment Company to the edge of the cliff. ”

However, after all, Brooke Investment Company is a relatively well-known investment company in Massachusetts, and it is also the most important company owned by Senator Brooke, so at the initiative of Councilor Brooke, the Massachusetts government and the Bank of Brighton launched a rescue plan for Brooke Investment Company, so today, all the financial industry executives in Brighton City will hold an emergency meeting here to discuss the matter. ”

When the reporter was talking about it at the door of the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton, someone suddenly exclaimed: "That's the governor's car, and the CEO of the Bank of Brighton, it seems that this time the state government is going to move seriously?"

"Not only Brighton Bank, but also Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Switzerland, six top Brighton bank CEOs, it seems that Brooke Investment Company is really very important, otherwise it would not have alarmed so many large companies, but this time the subprime mortgage crisis will also be paid for with taxpayers' money? But no matter what, the Brighton Fed Bank today can be far from so many people, it will definitely be an unprecedented party!"

Meanwhile, at the centre of all attention, Brooke had already arrived at the Federal Reserve Bank of Brighton, where he was in an office on the third floor.

He looked disdainful of the noise of the reporters downstairs, but the disdain on his face was fleeting, as the door to the room was pushed open and Christo, the patriarch of the Addams family, walked in.

"Sir, you are finally here, I am very sorry for the trouble I caused you, I also understand that this time it was my negligence, so that the Chinese came to my company to do something, I have a sin that cannot be shirked, but I ask you to save me, as long as Brooke Investment Company can be saved, whether it is the bank's acquisition of equity, or the loan guaranteed by the state treasury, Brooke Investment Company can be brought back to life!"

Brooke continued: "Maybe Brooke Investments is not a company with a long history, but his role in Massachusetts is irreplaceable, and more importantly, if Brooke Investments fails, it will have an unpredictable catastrophic impact on the market, and even affect the reputation of the Addams family, and people will say, look, the companies supported by the Addams family have fallen, and it seems that the Addams family will not be able to do it." ”

"If this happens, I will be very saddened, and my sin will be even greater, so Mr. Christo, I beg you to help Brooke Investments, please ......"

Without waiting for Brooke to finish speaking, Christo waved his hand: "Okay Brooke, don't say any more, I have brought you the heads of six top banks today, including the CEO of Brighton Bank, they are now in the conference room next to them, you go to them, I think your predicament needs you to find them yourself, and I ...... Need to go to another meeting. ”

Brooke, of course, understands what Christo means, what so-called bank CEO meetings are all disguises, maybe these bankers are already high in the eyes of ordinary people and the media, and they are the controllers of the financial order, but in fact, in the eyes of the real consortium, they are just spokespersons, puppets of the consortium to do things outside.

So going to the meeting with the bankers on my own was just going through the motions, and what really mattered was the meeting that Christo was going to attend.

Brooke could also guess that there were only a few people in attendance, and he also knew that the meeting that really decided the fate of Brooke's investment company was not qualified to attend. But this can't be helped, after all, the real power in this world is always in the hands of a very small number of people, and more people are just ants waiting for others to decide their own fate.

It was with this inside story that Brooke heard Christo say this, and he immediately said very politely: "Yes sir, I will not delay you any time, I hope you can have a better result." ”

Compared to Brooke's courtesy, Christo didn't speak, just said a word, and then left the room.

Christo went upstairs to another room, a very luxurious conference room, where Governor Edward, Harvard President Lawrence, and Louis were all sitting, and as Christo walked into the room, the four families that controlled the Brighton consortium were all there.

Christo came to his place and sat down, he first glanced at the other three and said: "Three, since the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis, this is the first time we have sat down and chatted face-to-face, which also means that the matter has reached the point where it cannot be solved, as representatives of the Kendini, Lawrence and Lowell families, I know you must all have your own ideas, so let's all say them today." ”

Edward Lawrence and Louis looked at each other, and finally Edward said, "Mr. Christo, I don't think it's the beginning yet. ”

Christo was very surprised: "I don't understand what you mean, the four of us are already sitting here, and I also said that because of the intensification of the subprime mortgage crisis, today we have to come to a result, whether good or bad, and you are still going to drag it out, do you think that the four of us are not enough, or is there still someone coming?"

"Yes, Mr. Christo, you guessed it right, Governor Edward said that because there was a fifth man coming. Louie said.

Christo was stunned at that time, he looked at the three of them in a daze, how could he not expect that the words he said casually would actually become a reality, how could this be possible?

You must know that in the past half century, only the four families have controlled the Brighton consortium, and what is to be discussed now, whether it is the subprime mortgage crisis in Brighton or the issue of Brooke Investments, is an internal issue of the consortium, so it should be discussed by the four of them, how can there be a fifth person? Is it the Balbo family, which has been removed, or have they colluded with other consortiums to betray the Brighton consortium?

As if to see Christo's thoughts, Lawrence said to him: "Don't worry, although we have not liked you for a long time, we still belong to the Brighton consortium, and the consortium controls so many properties that we cannot give up, so you don't have to worry about us selling the consortium." ”

"I have no doubt about that, so how can there be a fifth person? Don't you think it's strange to have a stranger come in at such a big conference that will determine the future of finance in Massachusetts and the whole of New England?" Kristol said.

"It does seem strange. Edward then changed the conversation and said, "But this man is different, because what we have to say has a lot to do with him, and we can even say that without him, we wouldn't have our current meeting, and of course, the most important thing is that this person is not a stranger, at least not to the four of us here." ”

Listening to Edward's words, Christo suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Then the door of the conference room was opened again, and a Chinese strode into the conference room, he walked to the conference table, he was not in a hurry to sit down, but first smiled and stretched out his hand to Christo: "I think you must be Mr. Christo, the patriarch of the Addams family, right?" I'm Zhou Ming, maybe you've heard my name somewhere." ”

But Christo just glanced at Zhou Ming's outstretched hand and said, "So you are the Chinese Zhou Ming?" I really didn't expect you to have the ability to sneak into this meeting. ”

"Also," Christo added, "I'm a cleanliness person, and I don't usually shake hands with people." ”

was dismissed by Christo, but Zhou Ming was not angry, just shrugged his shoulders senselessly and said: "So that's the case, I used to have a dog, and he wouldn't allow others to touch his tail when he was in a bad mood." ”

Before Zhou Ming's words fell, Christo took the case and said, "Chinese, what are you talking about? Believe it or not, you can't get out of this door today!"

Zhou Ming smiled, and then he sat down in the chair and said, "Of course I believe the words of the patriarch of the Addams family, but what can I do?"

In the face of Zhou Ming's irony, Christo was even more angry, at this time, Edward Lawrence and Louis immediately got up and became peacemakers, in the face of the persuasion of the three, Christo said: "It doesn't matter how this meeting is, but an uneducated person like this must teach him a lesson!"

"Lesson?It seems that Mr. Christo has really been in the outside world for a long time, and everyone is stupid, I'm afraid they don't know how the subprime mortgage crisis broke out, and whose hands are in control now, right?" Zhou Ming said meaningfully, "Of course, after all, Brooke is just an outsider, and Mr. Christo doesn't care about him at all, let alone his credit, right?"

I don't know if it was the persuasion of Edward Lawrence and Louis that worked, or if he was awakened by Zhou Ming's scolding, in short, Christo calmed down after a while.

Christo said to Zhou Ming: "Chinese, it doesn't matter if you let you stay, let you see what real control is." ”