Lu Zhou didn’t expect the romantic and meaningful Valentine’s Day gift he had devised was actually stolen by the investment banks on Wall Street.
In just a few days, the stars near the solar system had all been taken.
What was baffling was that the 68 K-type main-sequence stars within 20 lightyears were not enough. Some investment banks even put their hands on red dwarfs and blue giants.
In some sense, there was nothing wrong with this.
As long as someone could withstand the raging solar winds and tens of thousands of times the solar system’s radiation, in theory, red dwarfs and blue giants had habitable planets.
However, it wouldn’t be very comfortable to live on.
Also, there were some interesting people who regarded obtaining citizenship certificates and lands from planets as a postmodern “hobby”. Even though it was something that was not legally recognized, for many people, this was pocket change.
Lu Zhou was surprised that some people were taking this seriously. Some had even spent a million dollars buying land on a nearby habitable planet.
When Lu Zhou heard about this from Xiao Tong, he was shocked.
“Then?”
Lu Zhou put down the chopsticks and couldn’t help but ask, “He just… wrote a check?”
“Not quite.”
Xiao Tong said, “The general manager and deputy manager of the Proxima Centauri Foundation drove to the farm in Texas in person and delivered the bill to the farmer’s hand. He also gave him a specially customized space colonial pioneer medal and promised to erect a statue for him at the center of the Proxima Centauri plaza.”
Because of the Star System Colonization Fund and the fact that Chinese New Year was happening soon, Xiao Tong took a vacation and came back to China.
Two days ago, she finished the work in Shanghai and returned to Jinling.
She was reporting the situation to her brother.
Even though Lu Zhou felt like an email would be more convenient, he didn’t get to see his sister often, so meeting in-person was the better option.
“Brother, seriously, have you thought about setting up another public offering fund in your name and issue it on Wall Street? I bet you will be rich!”
When Xiao Tong said this, her eyes were flashing dollar signs.
“Forget about it. Having that much money is useless. And I won’t scam others.”
“How is this a scam!” Xiaotong said, “I believe that in a hundred years, you will definitely be able to send them there! You can also earn foreign profits for our country and support the aerospace industry! This is a great opportunity.”
“A hundred years…” Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head. He said, “I might not even be here.”
“That’s fine! If you and Chen Yushan do a good job, your kid will also be a super-powerful scientist! Ouch! Don’t hit me!”
“Stop pretending, I know it doesn’t hurt.” Lu Zhou retracted his hand and looked at Xiao Tong, who was holding her forehead. He said, “You don’t have to worry about making money for me. Just do what I tell you. If you can’t figure it out, tell me. I’ll ask someone else.”
“Pfft! I got this.” Xiao Tong said, “Wait and see, I will make you a billion dollars in five years!”
Lu Zhou replied, “A billion… The interest from the bank is more than that!”
“Hey, this is just a conservative estimate, and we can’t just consider investment income, we have to also consider supporting the aerospace industry…”
Xiao Tong scratched the back of her head embarrassingly. She then laughed awkwardly and looked to the side. She tried to divert the conversation.
“Speaking of which, bro, you are so awesome! My mentor, Professor Paul Krugman, praised you for at least ten hours in the office and on TV. How about you switch to researching economics?”
Lu Zhou: “I am not interested in money, so no, thanks.”
Xiao Tong sighed.
“Economics is not only about money, it’s mainly about the distribution of social resources. Forget about it, I won’t explain it to a layman… Speaking of which, the Star System Colonization Fund you registered recently seems to have caused a lot of trouble in academia. I want to use this as the topic of my graduation thesis.”
“Graduation thesis?” Lu Zhou looked at Xiao Tong and asked, “You’re about to graduate? Already?”
If he remembered correctly, Xiao Tong was admitted to Princeton around the beginning of 2022.
Only two years had gone by.
“Not yet… But I can prepare my graduation thesis first. If I write well, maybe I will be approved to graduate early?” Xiaotong said with a smile, “I’ll be able to help you manage money full-time!”
Lu Zhou said, “Focus on your studies. Money is not important. And this is just giving you a taste. I’ll hire a professional fund manager to look over you.”
Lu Zhou cared much less about finances than before.
But then again, money was something that would depreciate.
But knowledge would never go away.
With his current knowledge and learning skills, even if he were thrown into a completely unfamiliar era and had to start from the beginning, he wouldn’t starve to death.
After all, he was the one who created Star Sky Technology.
Star Sky Technology didn’t create him.
Xiao Tong didn’t fully understand Lu Zhou’s words. She thought that Lu Zhou didn’t think she could manage the assets on her own, so she spoke confidently.
“Don’t worry, bro, I won’t let you down!”
Lu Zhou heard the confident words and sighed.
“I hope so.”
The more confident Xiao Tong was, the more worried Lu Zhou was.
However, even though he was worried, Lu Zhou didn’t regret giving this task to Xiao Tong.
After all, she was a top student in Princeton, and her supervisor was a Nobel Prize laureate. She also had Star Sky Technology for support, so even if there was a small mistake, there shouldn’t be any major problems, right?
Also, given the status of Star Sky Technology in the aerospace field, if she wanted to research the fundamentals of a company, she could just ask Chen Yushan.
With so much support from the outside, Lu Zhou realized that even a monkey could manage this money.
Also, it was only 10 billion yuan. Giving it to his sister as play-money didn’t seem like a big deal.
What Lu Zhou didn’t expect was that this decision shocked people…
