It was early November, a Friday, and the small shoe factory, named Cadillac (Crocodile) Shoes by Steve, saw its company shares listed on the market.
Just as Mike had guessed, Jordan, who only wanted to make a quick buck, moved faster than many had anticipated.
At this moment, in a medium-sized office within a Wall Street commercial building, Jordan was anxiously awaiting news from the stock market.
As time passed, just after noon, Donnie excitedly pushed open the office door.
"Don't speak yet, let me guess," Jordan, who had been restless, observed his partner's expression and said, "It's good news!"
Strictly speaking, Donnie, who had quit his job to join Jordan, could at most be considered his follower.
And the person responsible for operating the shares of Steve's small shoe factory was, from beginning to end, always Jordan.
"It really is good news, you can't imagine, three minutes… In just 3 minutes, we earned over 12 million dollars in the stock market…" Donnie eagerly shared the good news.
A small, unknown shoe factory raking in over ten million dollars as soon as its shares were listed was an unprecedented feat, even on the miraculous Wall Street.
It could be said that Jordan alone had set a new earning record for Wall Street.
"Twelve million dollars?" Jordan, who had created a money-making myth for small and medium-sized enterprises, felt a bit unreal facing such a result.
He tremblingly pulled a cigar from his pocket and took great effort to light it.
As he exhaled smoke, under the influence of nicotine, Jordan's mind became alert: "How much of the original share capital was sold?"
"Less than a third!" Donnie's excitement hadn't faded, and he said excitedly, "If we sell all of it, we could ultimately earn around forty million dollars. Jordan, we're about to become rich!"
"No, this is just the beginning, we can earn more." Jordan, who had already invested nearly ten million dollars in promoting the small shoe factory in the early stages, was not content with just earning forty million dollars after calming down.
He confidently said, "Watch, the herd effect will bring us more money…"
"Now we need to continue building momentum, the more extravagant the better! Parties, beautiful women, get everything arranged…"
"I want everyone to know that we've made money. So they envy us!"
Clearly, Jordan wanted to establish himself as a trendsetter, making more people envy him and thus buy his shares.
And it was evident that he, solely focused on earning more, had never considered reinvesting even a small portion of the money earned from the stock market to develop Steve's small shoe factory.
"Leave it to me, parties, beautiful women, yachts, everything will be there… I'm already a bit impatient to enjoy life." Donnie was clearly a hedonist.
Jordan's proposal perfectly suited his wishes.
As for Steve, the owner who had entrusted his small shoe factory shares to Jordan and Donnie for operation, he had now been completely forgotten by the two.
At the same time, Mike and Chris, who were at the King Investment Company in the Wall Street commercial building, also received firsthand information about Jordan's stock market earnings.
"This man is truly a wolf of Wall Street!" Listening to his subordinate's report, Mike couldn't help but exclaim.
The person he was praising was precisely Jordan, who had just created a business miracle.
Turning the shares of a small factory with less than a million dollars in assets into a ten-million-dollar valuation in a short period was not something just anyone could do.
Intelligence and courage were both indispensable.
A moment later, Mike pointedly looked at Chris and said, "Chris, a successful case is already before us, you know what to do, right?"
"Of course!" Chris gave a confident answer, living up to expectations.
For him, who had been closely following Jordan's movements, replicating his operations was not difficult.
Perhaps the effect would be slightly less, but the King Investment Company, which was now a large enterprise, was not afraid of a small trial-and-error cost.
"Very good, I'm waiting for your good news. At the same time, I need you to continue keeping an eye on Jordan…" Mike instructed with a smile.
This time, the King Investment Company didn't have many opportunities to intervene with the shares of Donnie's small shoe factory.
But that wasn't important.
Again, for the large King Investment Company, with a successful case to learn from, making big money was only a matter of time.
And Mike had no intention of letting go of a business talent like Jordan.
Once the time was right, he would not hesitate to win him over.
Unconsciously, more than a month passed, and Chris's investment department at King Investment Company had already identified several small and medium-sized enterprises.
They were just waiting for a wave of hype before issuing shares with great fanfare.
As for Mike, he had returned to his calm university life.
He attended classes every day and could even go to Tina's house to "discuss" work with her when he had nothing else to do.
Speaking of Tina, her main job now was to help Mike collect urban legends and then discern their authenticity.
After compiling them at the end of the month, she would hand the information over to Mike.
…
"Jordan, we've already earned over fifty million dollars, why do you look a bit unhappy?" More than a month of indulgence had made Donnie, who was already a bit bloated, look as if he had been hollowed out.
"I'm just a little uneasy..." Similarly, a month of lavish living had made Jordan also look a bit frail.
While making money brought happiness, during this past month of making big money, Jordan's family had some problems.
His wife, unable to tolerate his extravagant and unrestrained lifestyle, ultimately chose to divorce him.
For Jordan, who was "successful in his career," this was like having cold water splashed on him.
He seemed to gradually realize that not everyone loved money, and money couldn't buy everything.
"Don't be like that, Jordan. Your wife divorcing you is her loss…" As a partner in crime, Donnie also knew some of what had happened in Jordan's home.
In his opinion, Jordan's wife choosing to divorce was absolutely the wrong choice.
"How about this, tonight we'll have another party. I'll prepare ten models for you, guaranteed to satisfy you—" Donnie's look gave Jordan a look that all men understood.
Evidently, this month of wealthy living had already corrupted Donnie's sense of shame.
"I was just about to tell you about this. The shoe factory's shares have already been sold out, so we should keep a low profile now…" As the ill-gotten gains grew, Jordan also felt that the money was burning a hole in his pocket.
According to his plan, the two of them should now avoid surveillance by relevant departments and secretly launder the grey assets earned from the stock market.
"Low profile? We're already rich, why be low profile?" Donnie had already grown accustomed to the hedonistic lifestyle of the wealthy.
He had also picked up bad habits like gambling and drug use.
Now, asking him to return to his former simple life was akin to making things difficult for him.
Looking at his subordinate's out-of-control state, Jordan subtly frowned.
It was at this moment that Steve, who hadn't changed much, found Jordan at his rented luxury villa.
"Donnie and Jordan, the people who bought your shares are already blocking the factory entrance. You must find a way to solve this…" Steve stated his purpose as soon as he spoke.
The high-priced shares that Jordan and Donnie had sold through deception and other means had slowly dropped in price due to a lack of corresponding industrial support.
The shareholders, realizing what had happened, naturally sought out Steve, the "behind-the-scenes" boss.
As for Steve, he was also very wronged; Jordan and Donnie had never shared any of the money they earned with him.
Now, he, who was solely focused on developing the shoe factory, sought out Jordan and Donnie because he wanted to ask them for some funds to expand the shoe market.
This was the only way out for the shoe factory now.
On one hand, he could use this momentum to expand the shoe factory. On the other hand, he could also use this action to stabilize the confidence of the shareholders who had bought the factory's shares.
"Here's one million dollars, you can use it however you like." After listening to Steve's request, Jordan wrote a check.
"This is not enough at all; if we want to satisfy the shareholders, the shoe factory's scale urgently needs to be expanded…" He didn't take the check on the table; instead, he analyzed the situation.
"Alright, Steve. I'm not interested in your small shoe factory at all. Take this money, and we're even." Jordan irritably interrupted Steve's speech.
Strictly speaking, Jordan didn't owe Steve anything.
It was Steve's own fault for foolishly handing over all controlling rights of the small shoe factory earlier.
"Take it, Steve. This is one million dollars; even if your small, broken shoe factory were bought, it wouldn't be worth this much…"
Donnie, who hadn't left yet, suddenly spoke up, trying to persuade his childhood friend, saying, "So, let that damned small shoe factory go to hell. With this money, you can live comfortably for the rest of your life…"
Facing his childhood friend's "persuasion," Steve finally understood that the other party was completely a bad influence.
Looking at Jordan's cold expression on the sofa, Steve could only blame himself for trusting the wrong person before.
The current situation made him truly want to turn around and leave defiantly.
However, thinking of his shoe factory and those frantic shareholders, Steve ultimately picked up the check on the table with a sense of grievance.
One million dollars was a drop in the bucket for the current shoe factory, but it was better than nothing at all.
"That's right, what's the point of sticking to a small, broken shoe factory? With this money, you can live as freely as we do—" Donnie didn't know that his childhood friend took the money to continue developing the shoe factory.
Seeing him leave with the money, he smiled and shouted, "Steve, if you don't know how to spend that money, remember to come find me again."