North Carolina is a state on the Atlantic coast of the southeastern United States, one of the original thirteen states, with more than 50% of the rural population, one of the largest rural populations in the United States. Pen~Fun~Ge www.biquge.info It was inhabited by Indians in the early days, and even today, tens of thousands of people still live in the mountainous northwest, while 45% of the state's area is occupied by coastal plains, most of which are gently undulating, and the seashore is full of many swamps.

Is there a better place to be a mercenary training ground than the Great Dismore Marsh, which is rainy in July and August, and dry in October and November, a swamp that sits like a relic on the main rural continent?

Well, maybe the Amazon rainforest is too, but that's another extreme.

After a multi-hour flight and arrival in Raleigh, the state's capital, in the afternoon, Alice immediately bought some newspapers so that Acaman could have something to do while she was doing business at the rental company.

"Look, Maiya. ”

From a chair in the reception hall, Alice gloated and pointed to the news in the newspaper: "The court date has been set." ”

Maiya tilted her head over, this was the news that only came out this morning.

"Trial date: May 18! IBM will appear in federal court repeatedly!"

"Regarding the lawsuit filed by the Nasdaq exchange and Microsoft Corporation against IBM for hacking into the exchange's servers and interfering with the company's listing, the federal court made an announcement at 4 p.m. yesterday, saying that the hearing will be held at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on May 18. ”

In the two months after the incident, IBM, the defendant in the above two lawsuits, held two press conferences, but both were interrupted by riots by minority shareholders at the scene. Among them, Orlando Bryan, CEO of Lucent Technologies, a representative of IBM's minority shareholders, publicly expressed his opinion, saying that he would strongly condemn IBM's attempt to put the blame on ordinary employees. IBM did not respond to a request for comment. ”

In addition, IBM's shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange have suffered a heavy fall due to the incident, falling as high as 75% in two months, and only recently eased. IBM Chairman O'Dell's has made many speeches to strive for the majority of shareholders to have confidence in the company's prospects and successfully recover a large amount of outflow funds. ”

The article is accompanied by few pictures, mainly a long narrative, and the editor not only informs the reader of the latest news, but also summarizes what IBM has experienced over the past period of time.

"Stocks fell up to 75% ......"

Maiya shook her head: "Although it will definitely be able to rise back, it will definitely be damaged in a short period of time." Alice, did you take the opportunity to buy its shares?"

Alice also shook her head: "It's not time yet, who knows how far this guy's stock will fall, how long it will fall, and in a few days, I still have a lot of money to use, and I can't waste it on this guy now." ”

Maiya reached out and put her hand on the back of the chair behind Alice, leaned over, and looked at the news more carefully: "Actually, I've been thinking all this time, will IBM really do such a thing?"

A strange smile broke into the corner of Alice's mouth, and her big blue eyes seemed to be bent into a pair of crescents: "My dear, the evidence is conclusive, those strings of instructions were sent from IBM." For a large enterprise like it, there will definitely be many doors inside, but they can't dream that I will find clues from the transaction order, hehe~"

Maiya nodded slowly, she didn't know much about these things in the business war. However, what Alice said just now made her a little concerned: "You said that you will use a large amount of money in the near future? What are you doing? Or will it be used for the filming of "Alien II"?"

"No, no, the current filming funds are enough. ”

Alice shook her head and said, "However, it is precisely because the cost of this movie is so great that I have to hurry up and make a lot of money in the stock market." Thirty million, this loan is not a small number. ”

Yes, according to the estimates made by the finance department of DreamWorks, plus the 10 million for renting a supercomputer, the filming cost of the entire "Alien II" will reach 30 million. And the majority of the 20,000 was ordered by Alice through the mechanical designer Sextant Fumihiko hired by her to the defense industry giant General Dynamics.

In order to make movie props, and hire an arms company to tailor it, this kind of super burning bag behavior can only be done by Alice.

Maiya focused on the stock market: "What will happen to the stock market in the near future......

After a moment of thought, Maiya's handsome eyes looked at Alice thoughtfully: "The Plaza Agreement signed last year?"

"The yen is starting to appreciate. ”

In this way, the smile on the corner of Alice's mouth became more and more weird: "As soon as the yen appreciates, investors all over the world have begun to buy real estate in Japan.

Maiya's mother is of Japanese descent, which makes her pay attention to everything on that eastern island country no matter what, and she takes a slight breath, she is surprised: "You mean that now this house speculation fever will rise to a great level!?"

"The Plaza Accord was signed in September last year, and the dollar began to depreciate and the yen began to appreciate. ”

"You know, until September, the yen fluctuated around 1:250 against the dollar, but in less than three months after the agreement came into effect, it quickly appreciated to around 1:200, an increase of 20%," Alice said. Then in the first half of this year, now it's May 1st, and the ratio has risen to about 1:180, do you think this momentum can be stopped in a short period of time?"

To be honest, Maiya is really not very proficient in economics and business. Her father, Akaman, was just a soldier, and her mother, Kaori, was just a traditional housewife, so it was not too difficult for her, a high school girl who usually reads the most literary novels, to suddenly understand the stock market and the international financial world.

But that didn't stop her from asking, "How do you want to invest?" Alice, how do you think our family can invest?"

Alice was amused, she was really surprised that Maiya would ask that.

But just as she was about to say something, Mr. Akman had already come from a distance: "Girls, the Land Rover SUV is here, let's go." ”

"What, it's Land Rover again. ”

Alice stood up with a pout: "Let's just take it to the airport, why don't you change it." ”

Akman smiled loudly and patted his daughter on the shoulder: "No problem, no problem, next time I come to Raleigh, I will definitely rent you a Ford!"

Afterwards, the group got into a four-wheel drive vehicle of different styles but all Land Rover SUVs, and headed for a land contractor that had been surveyed earlier.

In the process, Maiya told her about her investment in Japan.

"Buying real estate is the best option. ”

"Especially for the Japanese, who don't have a lot of territory but a large population, they have a much thirst for land and houses than the Americans," says Akkaman. Maiya, do you remember your Uncle Taro?"

Mai Mi was stunned for a moment: "Uncle Taro, what's wrong?"

"On the 17th of last month, he made a transatlantic phone call to Kaori to discuss wanting to borrow money from us to buy a house. After I came back on the 19th, Kaori told me about it, and she said that Taro said that a house he was optimistic about had increased by 10% in just three months!"

"Ten percent!?"

Maiya was surprised, "And it's three months!?"

"This is just the beginning. ”

Alice interjected: "It took three months for the yen to increase by 20% against the dollar, and another three months to ferment is enough to increase the value of a private house by 10%." As long as the general trend of yen appreciation continues, more and more international investors will buy Japanese real estate, after all, this is just a need. And then in less than a year, after seeing so many international investors and capital settled, real estate companies and people in Japan will definitely not be able to sit still......"

"So, the house speculation fever is coming. ”

With Alice's analysis, Ackman decisively concluded: "This kind of thing is to start as soon as possible, start when the price has not risen yet, and make the most money when you sell it." Alice, you're going to get a hand here, right?"

Maiya immediately looked at her friends, it was such a big deal, but she couldn't help but be excited: "You're definitely going to make a move, right!? When are you going to start!?"

"Oops...... Look at you in a hurry. ”

Alice waved her hand and chuckled: "If you want to buy a house, of course, you can do it anytime, this house speculation boom will last for at least three or four years, as long as you don't get carried away by the profits." In my words, of course, I am waiting for Microsoft's dividends to be more, and after half a year of development, Cisco will almost be able to apply for an IPO, and then it will be a new round of earnings. ”

"Haha, don't let any other company hack into the NASDAQ when the time comes. ”

Akaman laughed loudly: "But Alice, Cisco will be ready to go public in half a year? So fast? The company has only been established for two years, right?"

"Because it's really moving faster than I expected. ”

Alice said calmly: "What happened to IBM happened suddenly, just like the so-called information security crisis, President Reagan gave me a large order, and also gave me $30 million in research and development expenses for the firewall project! What is the concept of 30 million? Our company's net profit for the whole year last year was only so much!"

Maiya said softly: "The government departments of several states on the east coast have designated procurement, and just releasing this news is enough for many shareholders to look forward to it." And now there is a lot of hype about IBM, and everyone does want a company like Cisco to rise faster. Right?"

As she watched her newly rented Land Rover slowly come to a stop in front of an office building, Alice chuckled softly and put on a quirky new pair of sunglasses for herself.

"So, we have to thank IBM a lot~" (To be continued.) )