Chapter 176: Chapter 113: Anya’s Extraordinary Background

At last, Li Wei and the eccentric middle-aged man walked out, carrying a large pile of boxes. They sat down on a sofa to the side, unboxing them and taking pictures, while Sebastian finally entered Raymond’s office.

"Sebastian, please have a seat."

Raymond Styles sat behind a massive mahogany desk. Although he wore a professional smile, his eyes lacked the eagerness they held when he was facing Li Wei earlier.

He looked down, leafing through Sebastian’s resume.

"Recommended by the General Manager of BlackRock Europe... Yale University, Department of Economics..." Raymond nodded, his tone flat. "A good background. So, Sebastian, tell me, why do you want to intern at JPMorgan Chase’s private bank?"

In major banks, especially at their headquarters, one would always see all sorts of VIPs and the children of clients. The Sebastian before him was one of them.

BlackRock is one of the world’s largest asset management companies, with over 10 trillion USD in assets under management. Sebastian’s father was the General Manager for the entire European region, a high-ranking leader even among the top brass, and he possessed an extensive and deep network of connections in Europe.

And that kind of network was precisely what JPMorgan Chase needed most.

"Because my dad is the General Manager of BlackRock Europe," Sebastian decided he might as well be blunt. "And BlackRock has a conflict of interest policy for relatives, so they sent me straight to JPMorgan Chase headquarters."

However, to his surprise, Raymond seemed to be in a remarkably good mood.

"Excellent!" Raymond praised. "This shows that you’ve been immersed in it from a young age, exposed to systematic financial knowledge since you were a child."

Sebastian was stunned for a moment, unable to process Raymond’s response.

’I was supposed to provoke this guy, this phony American, until he was speechless with humiliated rage. It’s not like I wanted to intern here anyway.’

"Well then, Sebastian," Raymond said, lacing his fingers together, "could you briefly tell me what you believe your core competency for this job is?"

Sebastian took a deep breath.

"I believe I’m very approachable and get along well with people," he said.

Raymond was already prepared to give Sebastian a high score for the interview.

"The reason I believe I’m so approachable is that whenever I slide into female influencers’ DMs on Instagram, the girls usually respond," Sebastian said. "Then I’ll invite them to my vacation villa in Switzerland, and they always have very nice things to say about me afterward. Therefore, I believe I get along well with people."

"...Sebastian," Raymond paused. "Are you being serious?"

"Of course," Sebastian said defiantly. "I’m absolutely serious."

"Very good. Many high-net-worth clients have this sort of need," Raymond said. "And... could you perhaps invite me along next time?"

Sebastian froze for a moment, then burst into a loud laugh.

"Alright, Sebastian, last question," Raymond said, clearing his throat twice. "If you were to recommend an investment portfolio that you endorse the most, what would you recommend?"

"I’d recommend they be reincarnated into a good family," Sebastian said, twisting his head to look around. "By the way, do you have any coffee here? I’m tired of Evian. I want an espresso, and I need a proper demitasse cup for it."

Raymond held back for a long moment before finally taking a deep breath and speaking:

"Very aggressive. Many children of our ultra-high-net-worth clients will like you," he said, flashing a brilliant smile. "Congratulations, Sebastian. I am now officially informing you that you have received a summer internship offer for the Ultra-High-Net-Worth Client Group in the Private Banking division of JPMorgan Chase. Your latest start date is July 1st. I hope you’ll be able to adjust to a nine-to-five life."

Sebastian frowned. He hadn’t expected to get the offer after being so unreasonable. ’And wait, didn’t that Asian guy just get accepted too?’

"What about that Asian guy from before?" he asked with a frown. "As far as I know, this department only hires one person, right? You called him in first, and you were clearly much nicer to him."

"What?" Raymond paused, then covered his face with his hand as he laughed. "Sebastian, so is that why you answered the way you did during the interview?"

He pointed toward the door. "Mr. Li Wei is not an interviewee... He’s a client."

"Mr. Li Wei is the football player who’s been making all the headlines recently," he explained. "His signing bonus came in today. He’s here to pick up the private banking benefits his professional team arranged for him."

"A football player?" The term sounded somewhat foreign to Sebastian. "Is he good? Is he a big deal?"

"Extremely good," Raymond said after a moment of thought. "His contract is 200 million USD for two years. That’s pretty much the top salary in the entire professional league."

Sebastian was flabbergasted. "Okay, that’s seriously impressive."

"By the way," Raymond said, "during your internship, you’ll be responsible for managing his client relationship. I saw you two seemed to be hitting it off just now." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"What!"

"Don’t be shy, you two will get along great," Raymond teased. "Go make friends with the client before he leaves."

Outside the office, Li Wei and Don Quixote were unboxing the JPMorgan Chase Palladium Card.

A moment ago in the office, Raymond had been about to pitch some investment portfolios to Li Wei that looked impressive but actually came with exorbitant management fees.

But after Don Quixote came in, he chatted familiarly with Raymond for a bit, revealing that he was also from JPMorgan Chase and had even been an executive director. After that, Raymond knew the handsome young man’s agent was no ordinary figure. He didn’t try to show off his meager skills before a master, simply went through the necessary procedures, and then asked them to wait outside for a short while, as the wire transfer of over 2 million USD could arrive at any moment.

In the sandalwood box in the very center, nestled in black velvet, lay a card gleaming with a cold, silvery-white luster—the JPMorgan Chase Palladium Card.

Don Quixote couldn’t resist lighting a cigarette, while Li Wei picked the card up from the box.

The card was cool to the touch and heavy, much weightier than a typical card.

"So this is the weight of 2.3 million USD?" He flicked the card with his finger. "Sounds pretty crisp."

"Of course. It’s made of palladium," Don Quixote said, taking a drag from his cigarette. "It’s one of the most valuable precious metals in the world."

"It still feels a bit surreal," Li Wei said. "I might have to buy something, go on a big spending spree just for it to sink in."

"That’s your prerogative. What are you planning to buy?" Noticing the security guard’s troubled expression, Don Quixote instinctively stubbed out his cigarette. "Seriously? Not even letting private banking clients smoke? JPMorgan Chase is really going downhill."

"I was thinking..." Li Wei thought for a moment and gave a wry smile. "I can’t think of anything to spend it on right now. I plan to wire some of it back first to pay off my debts."

Don Quixote naturally agreed, and the two continued to unbox the other gifts for private banking clients.

The first box contained a Montblanc Meisterstück fountain pen. The clip was embedded with a small diamond, making it more expensive than the one Don Quixote had bought before.

"Here," Li Wei said with a smile. "This is to make it up to you."

The second box held a bottle of aged Macallan whisky. Although Li Wei was not yet of legal drinking age, that wouldn’t stop him from taking it home to enjoy with Don Quixote.

"We need to hurry up and move when we get back, or at least buy a dedicated wine cabinet," Don Quixote said, cradling the bottle affectionately. "This is some seriously good stuff."

"We’ll move," Li Wei said. "Let’s go look at houses later. By the way, how’s the house hunting going?"

"I’ve looked at three places, but we still need to see them in person," Don Quixote said as he pulled a dark blue cashmere travel blanket from another box. "I have to admit, the gifts from the private bank are pretty nice."

Just then, the office door opened.

Sebastian walked out. Seeing Li Wei, his expression turned a bit stiff, his features conflicted.

’I can serve and maintain relationships with those ultra-high-net-worth private banking clients who are much older but have immense wealth and social status. After all, this is the path my father paved for me.’

’But Li Wei is a few years younger than me! And he’s even a junior from my university. This is a little humiliating.’

’But then I think about Li Wei’s future titles and status: the current number one high school athlete in the United States of America, a history-maker in the NFL.’

’A two-year, 200 million USD contract. Although it would be difficult to earn the full amount, just meeting the basic appearance requirements would be worth tens of millions.’

’He earns more in one year than my father does in five. If my own father were here, even he would proactively try to build a connection with a person like that.’

Thinking this, Sebastian could only sigh and walk toward Li Wei.

Li Wei glanced at Sebastian and invited him to sit down.

"How did it go?" Li Wei said with a smile. "Did you pass the interview?"

Sebastian grunted in affirmation, then pointed at the card in Li Wei’s hand. "With a precious metal card like that, be careful not to keep it with coins. It’ll get scratched."

With that, he took a similar metal card out of his wallet.

"This is a private banking card, too," he said, his voice lacking some of its earlier confidence. "It’s just a supplementary card from my dad’s account, but the material is the same. See, it’s already a little scratched up."

"I see," Li Wei said, rubbing his nose. "That’s definitely a blind spot for me. Thanks."

"It’s nothing," Sebastian said, looking at Li Wei and Don Quixote. He held out a fist and bumped it against Li Wei’s. "I guess I’ll be the one servicing you, my big client, during my internship. Let’s exchange contact info. Hit me up whenever you’re free. Let’s be friends."

Li Wei, also a bit surprised, bumped his fist back. "No problem. We should go out for a drink sometime... whoops, sorry, I’m not old enough to drink yet. Let’s hang out sometime."

"Definitely," Sebastian said. He and Li Wei exchanged phone numbers. After also introducing himself and exchanging contact information with Don Quixote, he got up and left JPMorgan Chase.

Don Quixote and Li Wei continued unboxing. After all, in all his years of working, Don Quixote had never received the private banking treatment, so he was quite curious about it.

At one point, Li Wei took a picture and sent it to Anya. A few minutes later, Anya sent back a picture of her wallet:

From a flashy-looking row of various cards, Anya had also pulled out an identical one.

Anya: I have one too!

Anya: One more thing we have in common! +1!

Anya: You’re amazing, darling! I’m so proud of you!

"Your girlfriend is really something else," Don Quixote said, sucking in a sharp breath as he glanced at the photo Anya sent Li Wei.

"Right?" Li Wei said, pointing at Anya’s freshly done nails in the picture. "With nails that long and elaborate, I have no idea how she even lives a normal life."

Don Quixote: ?

"I meant look at the bank card she sent you!" he roared. "Look at her card!"