Blackstone Code

 Chapter 3: This is not your mistake

A few minutes later, Mr. Fox’s assistant delivered two newspapers, one from four months ago and another from this week.

Financial companies like Mr. Fox's are actually very concerned about the financial trends of the entire country and the international community. They deal with money every day, and they know what this represents.

In addition, they are also very concerned about some social changes, such as the employment rate, the unemployment rate, and the social security issues.

If the unemployment rate continues to increase, they will lower interest rates while reducing large borrowings to reduce risk, which will also make their business more attractive.

When the country's economy improves significantly, they will increase interest rates while encouraging people to borrow more, because people pay back.

Every day, Mr. Fox’s assistant reads a large number of newspapers to analyze the next situation in the country and then decides whether to end certain businesses early or pretend to forget it.

This is definitely not a very simple and straightforward business. People in the business can't make much, and it is difficult to do it for a long time. Only people like Mr. Fox can run such a business for a long time.

This is why he spent a lot of money and hired a college student to help him. He regarded this as a career, not a way to make quick money.

After Lynch opened the newspaper and read it for a while, about ten minutes or so. Mr. Fox did not disturb him. Instead, he had coffee and cigarettes delivered to him.

There was a faint expectation in his heart that this ordinary person named Lynch would surely give him a surprise.

This is not an unprovoked guess, but merely the result of his observation.

It is impossible for an ordinary person like Lynch to remain calm when he is invited, let alone look at him when he shows his killing intent.

He is not an ordinary child - at the age of Mr. Fox,  the twenty years old Lynch can still be considered a child.

Ten minutes later, Lynch drew some lines with the pen in his hand, and then put the two newspapers in front of Mr. Fox at the same time, "I underlined the content that needs to be read so that you can read them more intuitively."

Both Mr. Fox and his assistant looked at it earnestly. After reading them back and forth several times, they didn't have the slightest clue. These were all information about real estate agents, but they didn't find anything at all.

Mr. Fox was a little confused, "I don't know what these represent, do they have any special meaning?"

Lynch was not irritable at all. He is very patient. After all, facing a good customer with good money in his pocket, anyone who needs money can be patient.

He walked to Mr. Fox's side. His subordinates wanted to stop but were stopped by Mr. Fox. This meant that Lynch had gained the trust of Mr. Fox for the time being. 

If he can complete what he said before, then this trust will last a long time.

"This newspaper provides information on the lease of two street-facing apartments, among which the rent for this house is..." Lynch pointed to the place where he underlined and did not continue.

Mr. Fox subconsciously completed the sentence, "135 dollars."

Lynch nodded and affirmed, "Yes, 135 dollars. Let's ignore other things first, and then see how much the house next to it is..."

Mr. Fox very cooperatively moved his gaze to the underlined information in the other newspaper, and very cooperatively continued, "172 dollars!"

"The two apartments are on both sides of the road, and the distance in a straight line between them is no more than one hundred meters. From these price changes, Mr. Fox, what have you found?"

After pondering for a while, Mr. Fox had already begun to think seriously and said, "The monthly rent has increased by 37 dollars!"

In Lynch’s mature and successful cases in the past, he always believed that by allowing participants to participate in the case at a deeper level, it can save a lot of time and avoid some problems that people may not have thought of.

They will convince themselves and believe that their conclusions are correct, which is especially obvious in math problems.

Before clearly pointing out the answers to the mathematical question, everyone who answers the questions firmly believes that their answers are right and that others' answers are wrong.

Mr. Fox completed the in-depth participation process through a simple "mathematical formula". This feeling made him begin to be surrounded by a false illusion, a false sense of security created by himself.

He would not think that Lynch was a liar because these were not what Lynch told him, but the conclusions he reached through serious thinking with his own clever head, and he believed his own conclusions.

"The increase in rent means that it takes more money to buy these houses. It takes four months..." Lynch said after a pause. "No, it is actually increasing every day. You may not be able to find it, but it does change again. Do you admit it, Mr. Fox?"

Mr. Fox nodded, "Then, what does this have to do with our previous business?"

"Of course, Mr. Fox, these houses here will not change over time, such as having a few more bricks or a few tiles missing."

"What did it look like when it was built? What does it look like now? It has not changed, it is constant, but the price has changed, do you know what does it mean?"

Without waiting for Mr. Fox to think about it, Lynch gave the answer, because Mr. Fox's head couldn't think of the answer.

What he does is guiding people into corners at the right time, instead of encouraging diverging thoughts!

"If the value of a thing has not changed, but something has changed in the process of 'payment', it can only be said that the value of the thing used for the standard has changed."

"In other words, in the past four months, the currency in our hands..." Lynch didn't know when he took a coin out of his pocket and stuck it between his thumb and his index finger.

With a light flick, the slightly hidden but audible metal tremor attracted people's attention. Mr. Fox, his assistant, and the bodyguard next to him, their eyes fell on the flying coin.

Lynch said confidently, "It has been depreciating, and it has depreciated by about 22-25% in four months, Mr. Fox."

Mr. Fox regained his attention from the five-cent coin that fell on the newspaper, and he began to think about Lynch's words seriously, and then looked at the assistant beside him.

The assistant is a bit embarrassed. He is not majoring in finance. He is only studying management. If it weren't for Mr. Fox, the salary is relatively high, and being his father [1], he would not even be here.

He felt that Lynch’s words were not quite right, but there was no obvious error or omission. In the process, Lynch also used gold as a second example and instilled the concept of "devaluation" and "currency as a kind of goods" in the people in the room.

He didn't lie, because these are true, and his examples are not problematic. It even involved that ten years ago, people could buy a newspaper with five cents, but now it takes fifty.

Newspaper, whether it is ink or paper, the production process has not changed much. It is not that newspapers are more expensive, but the value of money is depreciating. 

Mr. Fox, who had come to understand, suddenly felt a little horrified. He changed his sitting posture and said bitterly, "But our interest is very high, and some are still compound interest!"

He wanted to give himself some sense of security in this way, but this fragile sense of security was destroyed in Lynch's laugh a few seconds later.

"I know, Mr. Fox, the problem is that the currencies that are devalued are not those you can take out and put in front of people, but all your assets!"

"All your assets are depreciating at a rate of 5% every month, and this is also a kind of 'compound interest'. If you can't send all your money to the Federal Revenue Service as soon as possible to complete the final procedures..."

Lynch returned to the chair across the table and sat down. He shrugged and spread his hands. "The wealth you are proud of now may not even be worth a fart in a few years!"

"Do you still care about that insignificant ten percent now?"

[1]: This doesn't make too much sense. Perhaps the author is using a slang like a patron.