At the same time.

Inside an office building on the other side of the ocean.

A dozen traders frantically issued final instructions.

"Close the position, close the position, quickly, quickly, quickly."

"Manager, there's no liquidity left in the market."

On the screen, the price of the September wheat futures contract ultimately remained at its daily limit down.

All the traders present were stunned, and it took them a long time to recover.

The supervisor, Jimmy, calmed himself down and said smugly, "Guys, you've done a great job. This isn't your fault."

Indeed, the four major grain traders hold a pivotal position in the grain market, and their words can even influence the price of grain in a country.

However, this is the futures market. Under normal circumstances, this is still the domain of the four major grain traders, because they can determine grain prices and regulate the quantity of grain exports, thereby achieving the goal of truly controlling the flow of grain.

Unfortunately, they cannot control the direction of the wind this time.

There are many reasons. A global wheat harvest is a fact, and it's the fundamental factor driving wheat prices. We can't simply stop exporting wheat, or export less. So the question arises: if we don't export, what happens to the existing wheat stocks if we store this bumper harvest?

Does the new wheat need to be stored in a wheat reserve warehouse? Ordinary storage warehouses obviously cannot meet the conditions for long-term storage of wheat. These are all hardware facilities and necessary expenses.

Secondly, the purpose of the four major grain traders in raising wheat prices this time was to control China. However, China now has a sufficient supply of wheat, so it is no longer within their control.

Finally, and most importantly, Chen Dong used capital to open a large number of short positions in international grain futures, and capital is always profit-driven.

Just because someone is a Freemason doesn't mean they have the final say in everything. In the market, whoever has more money or controls the resources still has the final say.

Now, neither of these conditions is met, and coupled with the fundamentals of wheat, a price drop is only natural. If the other side were to engage in a desperate, all-or-nothing tactic, regardless of whether they have that much money, the fact that wheat prices have more than doubled would be enough to crush them.

Countries that need to export large quantities of wheat don't care about these things. In order to sell their wheat as soon as possible, they are even willing to sell it below the futures price, because they know very well that the price is seriously deviated and is a price that has been maliciously inflated.

The conference room on the third floor was filled with smoke.

Several executives from the four major grain traders, each with a top-quality cigar air-freighted from Brazil in their mouths, were arguing fiercely.

The four major grain traders include AMD, Bunge, and Cargill from the United States, and Louis Dreyfus from France, which is also known as ABCD.

The representative of Party A, a burly man with a thick beard, said, "Guys, based on the current trend in the futures market, the price of wheat futures will eventually be lower than our entry price. I'm afraid we'll lose at least $3 billion."

The representative from Party B chimed in, "No, no, no, Walid, you need to understand one thing first. Several of our companies have more than 50,000 long contracts in the futures market, and now, less than one-tenth of those positions have been closed."

"What's even worse is that news media have photographed millions of tons of wheat being transported from Russia. Once this wheat enters the Chinese market, it will be the last straw that breaks our backs."

The representative from Party C pondered for a moment and said, "Have you found out who is shorting wheat futures? If we can reach a private agreement with them to close out our positions at a certain price, I think this operation will not only avoid losses, but we can also make a lot of money in US dollars."

“Vlada, I think you’re dreaming. These damned international speculative funds are like bloodsuckers clinging to our veins. They’re not only filthy, but also incredibly greedy. If they find out our bottom line, I swear to God, they’ll never agree to this. They might even increase their investment and leverage, making it impossible for us to liquidate our positions. At that point, our losses won’t be three billion dollars, but five billion, or even more.”

After the representative from Party D finished speaking, everyone present fell silent. What he said was likely to become a reality within the next two weeks. Furthermore, the international spot and futures prices for wheat had become inverted, meaning that even if they wanted to close out their contracts, they wouldn't be able to find counterparties.

However, if they increase their downward pressure to close out positions, the futures price could plummet instantly, which is something they don't want to see.

"Let's report this matter; it's no longer something we can easily change."

"agree!"

"agree!"

......

Three days later.

All the high-ranking officials of Longteng Group came to Yanjing to send Ah Hu off on his final journey.

Inside the public fundraising park.

Chen Dong, holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, placed it in front of a tombstone, accompanied by Zhou Huimin, Annie, and others.

The tombstone bears Ah Hu's name and a black and white photograph.

"Ah Hu, all of us brothers have come to see you..."

Looking at the black and white photograph before him, Chen Dong couldn't bring himself to say the words he was about to utter. They had known each other for four years, traveling all over the country together, weathering many storms; looking back, it all felt like yesterday.

“We met at the end of last year, and now you’re gone. It feels like a dream. You know, a few nights ago, I went to the detention center to see Jiang Fei and A Long. They said they knew they were wrong and begged you to forgive them. I will never forgive them, never.”

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