Unarmed and Wealthy, That's the Original Sin

"Let's hear it."

"How many goddesses have you been secretly involved with behind my back?"

This question came from Tang Xin.

After their reunion, which felt sweeter than their honeymoon, Tang Xin nestled in Cao Cheng's arms and dropped this headline-worthy inquiry.

Cao Cheng chuckled, "Lingling, you already know about her, right? She’s practically family."

"Of course I know Lingling—the sweet girl who’s apparently glued to you."

"Nonsense. It’s not ‘glued,’ it’s admiration. Your husband here happens to know a thing or two about the piano, and, well, I’m just a tad better than Lingling."

"Pfft, look at you, so full of yourself."

Despite her teasing, Tang Xin was well aware of her man’s talents and took pride in them.

Her earlier remark was just a playful nudge, not an interrogation.

After settling their personal matters, the two moved on to business.

The European debt crisis was escalating…

Just as Cao Cheng had predicted, which only deepened Tang Xin’s admiration for him.

Including his strategies with CDS and stock index futures.

Using offshore capital, Tang Xin had seized a 300% profit from sovereign debt default swaps,

snatching a hefty slice of the pie right from Wall Street’s grasp.

A cool $3 billion in profit.

And this was just the beginning.

Cao Cheng had Tang Xin lay multiple traps—shorting the euro, scooping up core and safe-haven assets—all ripe opportunities.

Even Bitcoin.

Back then, there were no laws against buying it.

Following Cao Cheng’s advice, Tang Xin purchased hundreds of thousands of the digital tokens in May.

She didn’t think they’d amount to much, but she trusted her man’s judgment.

Besides,

it wasn’t expensive.

Less than a cent per coin.

Some programmer named Laszlo had spent 10,000 Bitcoins on two pizzas!

So,

the few hundred thousand Tang Xin bought totaled barely a thousand bucks—about the cost of a fancy seafood dinner.

She didn’t even bat an eye at the purchase. If it flopped? Just a meal’s worth of money.

Couldn’t her man have a little hobby?

What if he just liked it?

Spending a grand to make him happy? Why not?

Beyond that,

Tang Xin had a mountain of work.

Cao Cheng’s ambitions were vast, spanning countless fronts.

There were also his specialty—stocks.

Shares in luxury giants had long been quietly acquired.

On another front, they’d invested in Atlético Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Offshore capital was also funneled through UBS to acquire some… trickier assets.

Including a few European castles.

Now was the perfect time to buy.

The castles could later serve as the European headquarters for Miracle Cosmetics.

This was just a slice of Tang Xin’s workload.

Some responsibilities fell to Third Sister and Cao Cheng himself.

Like Third Sister’s investments in undervalued industries.

Cao Cheng, meanwhile, played the forex market.

Leveraging his private equity firm and collaborating with major domestic banks, he opened high-leverage positions to aggressively short the euro against the dollar.

Some moves required approvals, nods from higher-ups, and coordinated efforts.

The more money involved, the more constraints there were.

Not like the old days.

Back then, Cao Cheng could throw around tens of thousands, millions, even tens of millions at whatever he pleased…

But not now.

Now, even the slightest move meant shifting billions.

And with thousand-fold leverage, regulatory oversight was a must.

In early September, Cao Cheng made a trip to the capital to meet with officials from certain… specialized departments.

They were polite.

After all, being the Tang family’s son-in-law carried more weight than just having billions to your name.

Three days of back-and-forth.

As he was leaving, one of the regulators muttered to him,

"What you’re doing borders on financial terrorism. Tread carefully."

"Come on…"

Cao Cheng laughed. "I’m just helping them slim down. Folks in Europe are too flush with cash—losing a little weight is good for their health."

"Think about it: a man with no guns, no means to defend himself, but piles of money? That’s a dangerous combo. ‘A child carrying gold through a bustling market,’ as they say."

"No weapons, just wealth—that’s the real sin."

"And they’ve got zero self-defense capabilities. If they don’t die, who will?"

"I’m just doing them a favor, taking some money off their hands. Sure, they’ll be poorer, but at least they’ll stay alive."

"Besides, if I don’t take it, Wall Street will."

"…"

The regulator rolled his eyes. This guy really knew how to spin things.

But then again,

he had a point.

The European debt crisis did have Wall Street’s fingerprints all over it.

Wall Street’s big players were already sucking Europe dry.

Cao Cheng was just riding the wave, grabbing a bite. Nothing outrageous—just anticipating Wall Street’s moves.

Perfectly normal, right?

The person in charge advised, "This matter can't be hidden. You’ll be exposed sooner or later. Before, Wall Street already called you a financial thief. This time, the accusations will probably be even worse."

"Heh heh heh." Cao Cheng laughed. "Thieves calling me a thief—now that’s funny."

"..."

The person in charge said sternly, "I’m not joking with you. You know this yourself—having money is an original sin. Be careful when traveling abroad in the future."

"Why would I go abroad?" Cao Cheng was taken aback.

The person in charge was also surprised. "You’ve invested in so many industries, including many overseas. Aren’t you going abroad?"

"Just send a proxy to handle things abroad. Why should I go myself? In the future, the East will be the center."

The person in charge gave Cao Cheng a deep look.

He didn’t say another word, just patted Cao Cheng’s arm before leaving.

...

That evening.

Cao Cheng arrived at a traditional courtyard house.

His father-in-law had summoned him.

As soon as they met, tea was served.

The old man looked at the young man and sighed. "Although what you’ve done and said these past few days has been good, there are some things you shouldn’t have said."

"What did I say?" Cao Cheng was puzzled.

"For example, today you said you wouldn’t go abroad. You’re a businessman—do you really think you can just decide not to go if circumstances demand it?"

The old man shook his head. "Today you say you won’t go abroad, but what if one day you have to attend an economic summit? Even if many people understand, it’ll still count as breaking your word. Do you understand the implications of that?"

Cao Cheng understood.

Of course he did.

It was like pledging loyalty and swearing you’d never do certain things—only to turn around and do them later.

Even if there were unavoidable reasons, would anyone still trust you?

Besides.

It had been decades since the country opened up. Apart from a few top talents who couldn’t leave for security reasons, had the higher-ups ever restricted anyone from going abroad?

Especially businessmen.

As long as they hadn’t broken the law, they could come and go as they pleased.

So, in the old man’s eyes, Cao Cheng shouldn’t have said those words.

It was like Sun Wukong drawing a protective circle around Tang Sanzang—while it kept him safe, it also trapped him.

If Tang Sanzang stepped out of the circle, trouble would follow.

"Don’t worry, old man. I know what I’m doing. And do you really think I’m the type to pledge loyalty? I just genuinely have no plans to go abroad for fun." Cao Cheng chuckled and shook his head.

The truth was, they didn’t understand.

Right now, many people wanted to go abroad—whether for travel, shopping, or chasing the illusion of streets paved with gold.

But in another decade or so, just watch how many come running back.

And in thirty years... Cao Cheng would be middle-aged, and who knew how many foreign women would be coming here to work.

Everything in his dreams felt so real.

Cao Cheng believed it.

And even if nothing else—

In a few years, just wait and see what status his father-in-law would hold. It’d scare people to death.

By then, no one would dare bring up anything Cao Cheng had said today.

That was his real confidence.

...

The topic was dropped.

The old man didn’t press further.

After all, Cao Cheng’s actions these past few days had earned him plenty of recognition and support.

Curious, the old man asked, "How much did you make this time?"

"Haven’t tallied it up yet. A lot of the plans haven’t been fully executed or wrapped up." Cao Cheng smiled and shook his head.

The old man was surprised. "The European debt crisis has already started, and you still have unfinished plans?"

Cao Cheng grinned mysteriously. "Cosmetics."

The old man said, "I know you’ve been battling international brands lately. Isn’t that mostly settled?"

Cao Cheng countered, "Didn’t Old Li report to you?"

Old Li, who oversaw the serums, was a lifelong servant of the Tang family.

The old man shook his head. "I didn’t ask him."

"Then he’s really out of line! Such a big matter, and he didn’t even proactively inform the family head? Old man, I don’t know how you usually handle things, but if it were me, I’d kick him out of the family immediately."

"Here’s what we’ll do."

Cao Cheng declared magnanimously, "Old man, just leave this to me. From now on, you exile Old Li from the family and hand him over to me. I’ll discipline him for you."

"He’s gone too far, hiding something this important from you?"

"Is that acceptable?"

"No, it’s not, right, old man?"

"Don’t worry, leave him to me. I’ll make him regret being born." Cao Cheng gritted his teeth, putting on an exaggerated show of righteous indignation that made the old man’s veins bulge.

"!!!"

The old man snorted. "You little rascal, you just want Old Li for his skills and reliability, don’t you? Before anything’s even happened, you’re already trying to poach people from my household?"

"Heh heh~"

Cao Cheng chuckled awkwardly. "Was I that obvious?"

"Of course! I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve crossed bridges." The old man looked smug.

Cao Cheng grinned back.

The two continued sipping tea and chatting idly.

They didn’t bring up cosmetics again.

After all, what was the old man’s status? He couldn’t care less about trivial matters like this—he focused on the bigger picture.

Asking how much Cao Cheng had earned earlier was just small talk, pure curiosity.

...

After enough tea had been drunk,

The elegant older woman, who had remained silent most of the time, merely serving tea and occasionally interjecting,

Finally saw them off as they prepared to leave.

Old Tai Shan said, "With great power comes great responsibility, young man. Stay true to your original aspirations!"

Cao Cheng understood what he meant.

Old Tai Shan wasn’t asking him to donate money or engage in superficial acts to give back to society just to earn a reputation.

Old Tai Shan’s vision was far grander than that.

And from their earlier casual conversation, it was clear that what Old Tai Shan wanted was for Young Master Cao to settle down and focus on real, tangible industries.

Or rather...

to invest in industries that the nation truly needed.