There were two famous streets in America.
One was Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York, the other was K Street, in Washington, DC.
Because of the number of lobbying organizations and think tanks that had their headquarters here, K Street was often referred to as “lobbying street”, or even the “fourth US government department”.
Lawrence was sitting in an office on the corner of K Street. He nodded with his phone in his hand.
“Did the president say that?
“Okay, I understand.”
Lawrence hung up the phone and gave his phone to his assistant, who was standing next to him.
Woods was sitting across from him. He frowned and asked curiously, “Can I ask a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“You were on the phone with…”
“Chief of Staff.”
Chief of Staff!
Woods had a look of surprise on his face.
Having a phone call with the Chief of Staff wasn’t anything extraordinary, ExxonMobil also had this power, but having the Chief of Staff personally report to him…
Woods couldn’t help but gulp.
No wonder these blood-sucking vampires can always make the right choice, they have their own exclusive information channel.
He thought back to the Black Thursday financial markets crisis and wondered how much money this guy made from shorting the market…
“What did the White House decide on?”
Lawrence carelessly smiled and replied, “They plan on reconsidering the anti-monopoly investigation on Star Sky Technology since now is not the time to provoke conflict.”
Woods paused for a second as his heart skipped a beat.
“But the patent—”
“That didn’t belong to you in the first place, forget about it.”
Lawrence smiled at this Texas CEO. He was clearly looking down on him.
Instead of lobbying the White House, pressuring the Department of Justice, and bribing witnesses… These barbarians were more inclined to steal wealth off others.
This was like horse racing.
The real winner wasn’t the horse that crossed the finish line, it was the bookmaker that won all the chips from having the edge.
“Goddamn it!”
Woods clenched his fist. He tried to maintain his demeanor as he breathed heavily out of his nose.
Lawrence said, “Now that you know what is going to happen, there’s no need for me to stay here. Thanks for your hospitality, Mr. Woods.”
Lawrence stood up from the couch and nodded toward his assistant, gesturing to him to fetch the car. He looked at Woods and said, “We’re interested in the oil field in Paraguay. Our analysts have predicted that if every car on the planet is electric by 2040, the oil business will still be profitable, so I sincerely suggest you take a look at this project…”
Woods looked like he had something to say. Lawrence paused for a second and spoke with a smile.
“Of course, you don’t have to mock me. Princeton’s history classes didn’t teach me any investment skills, but thankfully, I learned about patience.”
Woods stood up from the sofa and asked, “Are you going to leave?”
“Yeah.” Lawrence nodded and said, “The flight is at 3 o’clock, so it’s time for me to go.”
“Where are you going?”
“To see an old friend.”
Lawrence smiled and spoke.
“Haven’t seen him in a long time, but I heard he’s doing well.”
…
Binghamton University.
Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry.
Professor Stanley sat at his desk, flipping through newspapers. Suddenly, it was like a stone was lifted off his chest, and his entire body relaxed.
His student, a PhD student with glasses, happened to walk into the laboratory. He noticed the professor and asked, “What’s wrong, professor?”
“Withdrawn.”
“Withdrawn?”
“Nothing, none of your business.” Professor Stanley stood up and adjusted his collar as he said, “Which classroom is the afternoon class in?”
“Building A, room 411… You plan on going yourself?”
The PhD student had a look of surprise on his face.
The professor hated giving classes to undergraduate students, explaining elementary concepts from a textbook. Most of the time, Professor Stanley made his students and assistants give the lectures; he would never personally give a lecture. He always said true science could only be discovered in a laboratory.
But now, Stanley wanted to give a lecture…
Pigs were starting to fly!
“Going over rudimentary things can inspire new research… I forgot who said this, probably a famous guy.” Professor Stanley then said, “Yeah, so, I’ll handle the class this afternoon, you can just help me sort through some papers.”
The PhD student nodded.
“Okay, professor, I’ll give you the PowerPoint copy.”
Professor Stanley snorted and spoke.
“I don’t need that, a real teacher only needs a blackboard and a piece of chalk.”
Student: “…”
Without explaining anything, Professor Stanley happily picked up the lesson plan on the table and walked out of the door.
As the student watched the door close, he wondered what his boss was doing.
He noticed the newspaper on the table.
He walked up and quietly unfolded the newspaper, turning to the page Professor Stanley was reading.
“The largest intellectual property fraud case in history was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence…”
His eyes widened as he remembered that Professor Stanley once worked on a research project with ExxonMobil.
ExxonMobil choosing to withdraw the lawsuit was bad news, but the look of relief on his supervisor’s face…
Suddenly, he thought of a rumor that was circulating in the academic community a while ago.
“Maybe the paper from six years ago was really…”
The student realized he might have discovered an incredible secret. He quickly closed the newspaper and placed it back to its original spot.
All he wanted was to graduate.
He intended to keep this secret forever.
At least, until he graduated…
