Since the slave labor incident in China, Stanford has been very bad for a while. First, he had to withdraw from the Pacific Railroad project, and the director lost a lot of money. Later, in a series of businesses, he was beaten by others. It is estimated that Stanford's personal assets have shrunk by at least two-thirds in that year or two. At the same time, because of his bad reputation, his influence on the local government has also greatly declined. Of course, this also cost him a lot of opportunities to make money.

However, whether it is Scrooge or Morgan, their territory is mainly on the East Coast after all. It's okay to temporarily transfer forces to deal with a landlord like Stanford for the sake of a big deal, but once the benefits are in hand, it is completely unnecessary to continue to maintain such forces in the west, and it will bring more political backlash. So when the Pacific Railroad was finally completed, after the big conglomerates in the east made money, their power began to gradually leave the west, although it was not a complete withdrawal, but it also gave Stanford a chance to make a comeback.

It was not for nothing that Stanford was able to become the representative of the head snake back then, and his ability was absolutely outstanding. For example, later in the trap of soaring railway stock prices, Stanford saw the problem, so not only did not fall into this trap of countless people, but also made a little money. By now, in terms of wealth alone, Stanford is close to the peak of his year. However, in terms of influence, he is still far from his peak form. And over the years, the U.S. economy has generally been pretty good, and although it has been interrupted by economic crises from time to time, in general, the growth of the U.S. economy has been very strong. The United States as a whole has been growing at a high rate of 3 percent for quite some time.

In the eyes of Chinese, who are now accustomed to double-digit growth rates, and even seven percent growth feels like a recession, about three percent growth is too slow. But in an era when mainstream capitalism was still its own, a growth of about three percent was like a miracle. In addition, it is a three-percent increase for the whole, but it is not the case for individuals. For the majority of ordinary people, the growth is not reflected in their income, and in fact there has been no significant increase in their income levels over the years. So where is the growth going? Of course, it was to those who grew up to get rich first. With an overall growth of 3 percent, the growth of money in the hands of the rich is much more than 3 percent. So when Stanford returned to the level of assets of that year, some of the friends who followed him back then, but later cut with him quickly, are now much richer than him.

Of course, this situation will make Stanford extremely dissatisfied, and if you think about the root cause of your own situation, of course, you blame Scrooge as a hypocrite. It's just that now this hypocrite has become the top figure of this era, and what about himself, the gap with his strength is too big, even if he hates him again, even if he hates him so much that he grinds his teeth every night, but what can he do with Scrooge?

That morning, a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of Stanford's manor. The janitor stepped forward and asked, "Is it Miss Lucy and Mr. Dantès?" Mr. Stanford is already waiting for you. ”

After identifying the people in the car, the janitor opened the iron door, and the carriage drove directly into the manor. Stopped next to the main building. A young man got out of the carriage, stood aside, and stretched out his right hand. A white hand with patterned and lace-trimmed gloves rested on his right hand, and a tall woman in a long white dress and a hat with a white veil draped down stepped out of the car.

At this time, Stanford had already greeted it.

"Welcome, Miss Lucy; It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dantès. I heard from Mr. Dulles that you have a big deal that you want to work with me...... Ah, let's go in and talk. ”

A few people walked in together.

……

"It's coming to an end, do you still want to go to this year's middle-level cadre training?" Dorothea asked.

"Of course I want to go. It's just for example, but it's important to boost the morale of the middle management. Scrooge replied, "Why do you ask about this?" ”

"I've been feeling a little uncertain lately. Just now when I was taking a nap, I had a terrible dream that the house we were staying in was on fire. There was fire everywhere, smoke everywhere. I took little Greystone in my arms and looked for you in a house full of flames, shouting your name aloud, but getting no answer. Finally I found your office, pushed the door open, and I saw you sitting here, the couch you were sitting on, and your desk was all burning, and you were sitting here, and the flames were surrounding you, but you were not moving. I yelled at you again, and then you looked up and smiled at me, and then I woke up. ”

"You're imaginative." Scrooge laughed and leaned back, allowing himself to sink into the soft back of the sofa chair, "Flames all around?" And then I'm just sitting on it? Dorothea, don't you think this scene is beautiful? It's like ......" Scrooge wanted to talk about the hell boss sitting on a burning throne in some later video games, but it seemed that he couldn't really talk to Dorothea, so he said, "It's like some legendary monster." ”

"But, Scrooge, I always felt that this did not seem to bode well. I'm always worried about what's going to happen. Dorothea said.

"Did you see me on fire when you dreamed?" Scrooge asked.

"No, you don't have any flames on you." Dorothea said.

"Ah, doesn't that mean I'm not really going to get hurt? Don't worry, baby! We're going to be fine. Scrooge stood up, took Dorothea in his arms, and comforted her.

At this moment, the door suddenly moved, and Scrooge let go of Dorothea, looked at the door, and saw little Greystone's little head sticking out of the doorway.

Scrooge frowned slightly, but Dorothea smiled.

"Baby, are you here for Mommy?" Dorothea said to Gladstone with a smile.

Little Greystone pushed open the door and walked in, looking around.

"Mom, did you see Sister Dena and Brother Donald?" After looking around, he didn't see anything, Greystone said to Dorothea.

"What? Are you playing hide and seek? Scrooge asked.

"Hmm!" Gladstone nodded vigorously.

"They're not here, you go look for your Aunt Anna, maybe they're hiding there." Scrooge said with a smile.

"Well, then I'm leaving." Greystone turned around and ran out.

"It's so nice to see these little guys so harmonious." Scrooge smiled and said, "I wish they had grown up sooner so that I could sleep until noon every day." ”

"Well, there are still too few people in our family, and we have to rely on you to carry everything." Dorothea said.

"yes, there are too few people. Even in the next generation, there is currently one more person than our generation. That's not enough. Dorothea, we still have a lot more to do. Scrooge smiled evilly and pulled Dorothea into his arms.

"What are you doing! You're a man...... Door...... The door hasn't closed yet......"

……

"You're right, I do hate Scrooge as a hypocrite, doesn't he use slave labor all the same? And they killed so many. That doesn't mean I'm willing to fight hard with guys like Scrooge for this, though. To be honest, he was too strong and I was too weak. If you miss, you'll run, but the wrath of the MacDonald consortium, to be honest, is not something I can bear. Although I hate him, I will not lose my mind, and I am willing to gamble on it. Stanford shook his head and said to the young man and woman sitting in front of him.

"Mr. Stanford, no business is without risk. If you want to make a fortune in trading, you have to take risks, right? The woman, who identified herself as Lucy, smiled and said, "I think you've noticed a recent trend of big capital constantly crushing small capital. You can also see the speed of MacDonald's expansion. Yes, after the railroad was built, his strength shrank back. But in recent years, haven't you felt his power seeping into the West Coast again? And you also understand that this time is different from the last time, do you really think that your current industries will be able to withstand the competition of the MacDonald consortium in the future?

What's more, why don't you think about how much profit we will make once we succeed? In the entire MacDonald consortium, there is no one who can replace Scrooge, not to mention anyone who continues to maintain the rapid expansion of the consortium like Scrooge, and there is no one who can keep it. So once Scrooge died, I'm sure the consortium would collapse immediately. Rockefeller would defect with the oil and auto plates, and Scrooge's former allies, such as Morgan, and the Rothschilds in Europe, would immediately turn from allies into carcass-eating hyenas and vultures. At that time, with prior preparation, Mr. Stanford, you are a veteran, and you will naturally be able to take advantage of this opportunity to reap unimaginable benefits. Yes, there are risks involved in our actions, but high risks lead to high profits. In any case, it's better for us to take the initiative now than to wait for Scrooge to drive his steamroller to the door of our manor and react, right? Mr. Stanford, weren't you aware of the rumbling of MacDonald's steamroller on the ground? Are you really going to sit back? ”

"Very well, Miss Lucy, you convinced me. So how can I help you? Stanford asked.