Chapter 9: The Awful Holiday at the End of the Month (Vote and Collect)

  After the training ended, everyone got a rare week-long vacation. Sun Xiang, Richie, Andy, and Eric were discussing where to go for fun. They decided to first visit Eric's home, then go to the Aviation Institute to broaden their horizons, and finally go to a bar to party. Sun Xiang had made up his mind to find Sherry in the last few days. After they had planned everything out, several people set off, but before leaving the camp, they added an extra person: Lieutenant Ryder also wanted to join the party before going home. The group dressed up and looked handsome, as expected of soldiers from the military camp with good physiques.

  Erik: "I'm telling you guys, I think I'm going to go after this girl. Oh man, she's literally the goddess of my dreams."

  As Eric was acting like a total idiot, several people couldn't help but want to go up and kill him. The five of them were riding in a military Hummer on the highway, which was already eye-catching enough. Pedestrians on the road kept glancing over at them, and this idiot was still non-stop muttering about Shakespeare, Freud, and other nonsense, even reciting it loudly on the street. It made the others want to die of embarrassment, and Reed let out a loud sigh of regret.

  The car soon arrived at Eric's home in Washington, which was a beautiful estate with a European-style courtyard. The villa looked very clean and tidy, with ivy crawling up the outer walls, making the courtyard look very secluded. As they entered the courtyard, they saw a Lincoln parked inside, which made Eric somewhat curious, but he didn't say anything and just parked the car beside it.

  "Doesn't look like it, your home has a lot of taste, I always thought you were a nouveau riche."

  Eric sneered and said, "You don't know that my great-grandfather's generation has been in the banking industry. I'm the second son of the family, and my brother is taking care of the family business with my father. There are shares of our family in Citibank, and there are also shares in several other banks. It's because my brother takes care of the family business that I can do things according to my own ideas. The economic crisis a while ago had a great impact on our family, many banks went bankrupt, and our family's industry shrunk by more than 40%. This villa you see was just bought back last year, we had to sell it during the crisis, you know my grandfather loved this villa the most, but now everything is over."

  Andy nodded and said, "It was like that. The economic crisis was too terrible at the time. I was only 13 years old then. Many people were sleeping on the streets, and many companies went bankrupt. During that period, I went to my grandfather's farm."

  "Thanks to the President, he's the one who pulled our country out of the mud pit. The first thing he rescued was the banking industry. Your bank didn't continue to lose money, mainly thanks to the President!"

  Sun Xiang grew impatient and pulled Ryder towards the villa, with several people following closely behind. "Hey! Steve, this is a matter of national importance, how can you not care at all?" Ryder asked. Sun replied: "At that time I was still in China with my father, and had no idea about this matter." But in his heart he thought: Your country's economic bubble has been expanding rapidly, to the point where it's unbearable for the nation, it would be strange if there wasn't an economic crisis.

  "So that's how it is, Steve! Where did you grow up then? China? What was that place like?" Reed asked.

  "Ah! I grew up in China when I was young, and only came to the United States with my father when I was a teenager. China is a beautiful place, just like America, it's divided into north and south, people living in the north are bold and generous, they sing nice folk songs, Tianyou. There are also many royal gardens; while people living in the south have delicate and agile minds, gentle and elegant. Maybe you don't understand what I'm saying, anyway, it's a quiet and secluded atmosphere. People are very simple, and the oriental wisdom of war is very powerful, if you have the chance to go east, I'll take you to eat all over the Yangtze River, haha Chinese food can make people swallow their tongues!

  Thinking about his hometown, Sun Xiang's emotions unconsciously sank, thinking about his beautiful hometown, lovely comrades, and the Jiangnan snacks he hadn't eaten for a long time. Sun Xiang's eyes suddenly became sour.

  Ryder didn't disturb Sun Xiang's memories, he also thought that most of the time every year was spent in the army, without time to spend with his wife and children, they must be missing him too, Ryder really regretted today's decision now, he wished he could fly back to Philadelphia immediately to spend a romantic night with his wife and children.

  Andy, Rich, and Eric didn't disturb the two who were lost in thought."

  The villa had two floors and more than 20 rooms, but only Eric's grandparents lived here. They were very kind old people. The arrival of Eric and his comrades excited the old couple. Grandma was busy baking cookies for them. Eric and others were listening to Grandpa telling stories. When Reid and Sun Xiang entered, they saw Grandma holding a tray of freshly baked cookies, and immediately went forward to help her hold it. Grandma was delighted and praised them as good children. After everyone sat down, they heard that Grandpa was talking about the economic crisis...

  "That was the most difficult time for our family, starting from October 24th, 1929, when the stock market crashed. Citizens took to the streets in protest, many wealthy individuals went bankrupt overnight, and a large amount of goods were left unsold. The banking industry was the worst hit, with almost everyone withdrawing their money from banks. Our controlling stake in several banks also suffered similarly, while smaller banks went bankrupt one after another. Larger banks began to mobilize funds from all over, but this could not last long, and they eventually had to suspend operations.

  President Hoover's laissez-faire economic policy was proven ineffective after the economic crisis began. It wasn't until President Roosevelt took office and implemented a series of new policies that the crisis was barely brought under control. Large financial groups also joined in to rescue the market, but soon everyone realized this was futile and withdrew their funds. The government then began to support large banks, and only then did the economic crisis start to subside. Unemployed people started working on large-scale public construction projects, and the country gradually stabilized."

  Grandfather finished his reminiscence.

  "This is all because the major merchants blindly expanded production, causing an imbalance in supply and demand in the market. Goods began to pile up, manufacturers couldn't get funding, and as a result, they would expand production even more. This vicious cycle led to a decline in stock prices. Because most people were stuck in the economic bubble, thinking everything was fine, no one wanted their factories to shut down. That's when the economic crisis started. Finally, Mr. President had to use national measures to intervene in the economy, stabilize prices, adjust supply and demand, and take other measures to resolve the crisis. However, the country's economy suffered damage and it would take over a decade for it to recover to its previous level..."

  "Wow!" Before Sun Xiang could finish, applause erupted from the room. Ryder was sitting facing the door, and when the applause started, he saw the newcomer and his eyes widened in shock, unable to help but exclaim: "Oh my god! Mr. President? How are you here?"

  Sun Xiang was also startled, and immediately turned around to salute. Andy, Rich and others also stiffly saluted President Roosevelt. This was a man sitting in a wheelchair, looking weathered, but his overbearing aura made people stand up straight with respect.

  "Oh, gentlemen, don't be so tense, I'm applauding for this young man's brilliant remarks." Roosevelt pointed to Sun Xiang.

  Xun Xiang responded graciously, "Thank you for your compliment, Mr. President."

  "Grandfather said to everyone, 'Don't be nervous, Mr. President is a very good friend of mine, and he happens to come visit me today.' After finishing speaking, he winked at the crowd with a smile on his face."

  After hearing Eric's grandfather, everyone felt much better. The president continued on the previous topic and said: "Such measures are also inevitable, before the economic crisis, the government has always advocated for a free economy policy, but such a crisis occurred, we cannot let it develop by itself, the government's intervention became the best way."

  Sun Xiang said, "Yes, apart from the government intervening, only an external war can resolve domestic contradictions." Sun Xiang noticed that when he said this, Roosevelt's eyebrows jumped, then looked at Sun Xiang deeply, and quickly returned to normal.

  Xun Xiang continued without changing his tone: "The current international situation is very unstable..."

  The president immediately interrupted Sun Xiang's words: "Oh, little friend, I and Eric's grandfather are good friends, we grew up together from childhood..."

  Sun Xiang felt very pleased in his heart, it seems that the start of World War II still has hidden circumstances. The President also began to pay attention to him, believing that he would soon have an in-depth conversation with the President, making my plan easier to implement.

  The grandfather and the president turned the topic to recent events, especially mentioning the recently released "Gone with the Wind" and so on... Everyone was chatting happily, and Richie also talked about some things that happened to Sun Xiang in the army.

  Seeing the President's interested look, Richie's mouth that couldn't be closed began to explain: "It was like this, Mr. President..." From the beginning of entering the army and fighting, all the way to leading everyone in flight training, the President listened with a face full of surprise, obviously showing a straight-line increase in interest in Sun Xiang.

  The whole afternoon was spent talking about Sun Xiang alone. At more than 7 o'clock in the evening, the president still had to attend a banquet and left early after eating something at Eric's house. A group of people sent him all the way to the door, and the president smiled and said to Sun Xiang after getting on the car: "I think we will meet again, little boy."

  Starting point. Welcome, book lovers! The latest, fastest and hottest serialized works are all on the starting point of original works!