Whether Lehman Brothers followed suit or not, it ultimately didn't have much impact on Simon's operations in the stock index futures market.
Noah Scott specially came from Chicago to mend relations, and Simon naturally wouldn't turn him away.
In this country, it was impossible for Simon to make further progress without ties to investment banks.
Although he still wouldn't trust Noah Scott and Lehman Brothers too much, compared to other investment banks that remained silent, the information Noah Scott had just revealed seemed sincere enough.
After dinner, Simon and Janette parted ways with Noah Scott; it was just past eight in the evening.
Inside the presidential suite on the top floor of the Plaza Hotel.
Janette hung up their coats on the hanger, then went to the study, seeing the man already sitting by the window with his usual hardcover notebook.
She leaned over the back of the sofa and asked, "Simon, what are you going to do?"
Simon held the still hand-bound quarto notebook, drawing staves on the white paper with a pencil, and carelessly filling in musical notes.
Madonna's new album, titled 'You Can Dance', a dance-style album, was set to be released next month.
Simon had already given her a song that fit the album's style.
What he was writing now, however, was another song, which Simon intended to use as the end credit song for 'Pulp Fiction'.
However, Simon's mind wasn't entirely on this right now; he just wanted something to do for the moment.
Although he had received a warning from Noah Scott that his operations in the stock index futures market had been exposed, Simon found that he had no way to prevent this matter from being revealed.
Hearing Janette's question, Simon turned his head and gave the woman a somewhat helpless smile, saying, "There's nothing to do. Simon Westeros is going to be famous again".
Janette smiled, turned around the sofa, and sat down beside Simon, leaning against him.
In front of them was a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the entire Central Park, but outside the window, it was dark, with only the brilliant lights from the buildings on both sides of the park.
She held the man's arm, watching him fill in the notes on the score.
A moment later, Janette said again, "Actually, it doesn't matter if it's exposed. You haven't done anything illegal".
Simon shook his head and said, "A nineteen-year-old earning over a billion dollars in just a few months, isn't that illegal enough?"
"Haha, that just shows how amazing my little man is" Janette leaned over and kissed Simon's face, changing the subject.
"Simon, since we can't change it, let's not think about it. What do you think of the houses we saw today?"
Simon also tried his best to cast aside his sense of powerlessness, following Janette's topic.
"They're all not great".
Janette said with a hint of expectation, "I think that penthouse duplex on 68th Street is pretty good. It's a three-story structure, with a total area of over 1,200 square meters, right next to Central Park. The price of $15 million is a bit high, but this is a Fifth Avenue house, after all. It will definitely appreciate in value in the future. Even if you don't like the Baroque style inside, we can redecorate it".
As Janette described it, Simon recalled the luxurious Fifth Avenue apartment they had seen during the day.
The top three floors of a roughly 15-story light grey building constructed in the 1950s, with a total of 26 rooms, 3 living rooms, 2 kitchens, 6 bedrooms, and 7 bathrooms, also featuring a gym, wine cellar, and private screening room.
He noticed Janette unconsciously using metric measurements, a smile appeared on his lips, and he said, "Call the real estate agent tomorrow. We'll buy this one".
Such an Upper East Side apartment, right next to Central Park, would easily be worth over a hundred million in the era before Simon's rebirth.
$15 million, Simon actually didn't think it was expensive at all.
Of course, in 1987, $15 million was definitely an astronomical price, especially given the recent stock market crash in North America, which would surely lead to a sharp decline in the US housing market.
Simon remembered that two years later, the famous Empire State Building, the entire building, was sold for only $42 million.
Janette saw Simon agree, but then a hesitant expression appeared on her face, and she said, "If you don't like it, we can keep looking".
"Let's buy it," Simon turned and kissed the woman's cheek, saying, "Actually, I don't really like any of the houses in Manhattan. Since we're buying, one of us has to be satisfied".
Janette blinked a few times: "What kind of house do you actually like?"
"You know, modern, minimalist, and of course, it has to be the top floor. I want to stand by the window, and all other buildings in my line of sight will be beneath my feet," Simon said, suddenly inspired.
He flipped a page in his notebook and picked up a pencil, sketching rapidly, while slowly saying, "Something like this".
Janette leaned over curiously.
After waiting quietly for a while, a building, presumably of glass and steel structure, appeared on the draft paper.
The building was generally conical, but the top few floors extended into a terrace.
Then, Simon also marked a letter on the side; at first, it seemed like 'A', hmm, it probably wasn't finished, and was quickly changed to 'W'.
'W' was obviously for 'Westeros'.
Westeros Tower.
Simon's drawing skills were evident from the storyboard drafts for 'Run Lola Run'.
A few minutes later, he casually sketched some high-rise building silhouettes around the tower, and a building standing proudly on Manhattan Island, even taller than the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers, sprang to life on the paper.
Janette waited for Simon to finish drawing, then couldn't help but take the notebook from his hand, blinked a few times, and pointed to the platform at the top of the tower: "What is this?"
Simon explained, "A helipad".
"Then," Janette paused, and said, "How tall is it approximately?"
"If I don't want to see the Empire State Building outside my bedroom," Simon thought for a moment, and said, "It should be over 500 meters".
Janette briefly imagined herself living in a penthouse apartment on the top floor of a building over 500 meters tall, then slowly turned to Simon and said, "Can this really be built?"
"Since I earned over a billion dollars in just over five months, building another tower is naturally not a problem," Simon said, pondering for a moment. "If we start preparing now, perhaps construction could begin in three years.
Such a tower, including all expenses like land, should cost around $500 million. Of course, the internal facilities will also be very expensive, and there will be future maintenance costs. However, as long as such a building can be built, even if it costs a billion dollars, it's fine".
Janette's expression was still a bit slow.
She put the notebook back into Simon's hand, hugged the man's arm, and rubbed against him like a kitten, saying, "You little rascal, I want to move in right now".
Simon carefully traced the 'W' he had just temporarily changed with his pencil.
It was a good thing he hadn't finished drawing the 'A', otherwise the 'Avengers Tower' would have been exposed.
In his memory, the Avengers Tower in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was roughly the same height as the Empire State Building.
However, since he was going to build it, Simon would naturally follow his own preferences.
After a few more strokes, Simon heard Janette's words and pointed to the part of the tower above the helipad, saying, "When it's done, the top ten floors will all belong to the Westeros family."
"Mmhmm, mmhmm" Janette nodded several times, saying, "I'll change my last name in the future".
Simon smiled and tilted his head, bumping it against the woman's head, teasing, "Just for a big house, you're so spineless".
"Haha" Janette laughed, then pointed to the part below the platform, saying, "What about these?"
"Since it's the Westeros Tower," Simon said, "the lower part should naturally be the headquarters of Westeros Company. Of course, it still needs careful planning, and these matters will have to be handed over to professionals".
Janette then asked, "Where do you plan to build this house?"
Simon pointed to the right side outside the window, saying, "The corner next to it would be good. If Fifth Avenue isn't possible, then move a bit further east and build it next to Madison Avenue, so Central Park is still beneath our feet".
The two chatted in low voices for a few more moments before Janette returned to the present, asking, "In that case, you little rascal, are we still buying a house now?"
"Of course, otherwise where would we live?" Simon nodded, "The one you just mentioned will do. This building in the sketch will take a few years to plan and a few more years to build. Perhaps it will be seven or eight years from now when we move in. We can't go seven or eight years without a place to live".
"In that case, I'll try to push the price down again. I estimate we can get it for £12 million. The stock market has crashed now, and housing prices will definitely fall sharply, $15 million was the price before the crash" Janette said, then added, "Little rascal, when this tower in the sketch is built, do you plan to move to New York?"
Simon shook his head and said, "Of course, I'll live wherever I want. In the future, when we have a private jet, it won't be a problem even if I fly from New York to Los Angeles for work every day".
Janette gently patted Simon, saying, "I don't want to go through all that trouble".
Simon laughed, "Then I'll go to work every day, and you can be a stay at home wife".
Janette immediately shook her head: "No, I'm not going to be a stay at home wife".
Simon, without much of a stance, nodded: "Mm, you do whatever you want".
After chatting for a while, Janette took the sketch from Simon again and looked at it, saying, "Little rascal, actually, I still think it's a bit impossible".
"You just watch me build it," Simon said, then added, "However, I'll definitely have to work hard to make money now".
Janette couldn't help but say again, "Who was it just now who said that earning over a billion dollars at 19 was already very irregular?"
Simon thought for a moment and said, "Since many people already know, there's no need to hide it anymore. Perhaps, this should also be considered a good thing".
Before this, Simon always subconsciously tried to make his actions seem less conspicuous in many things he did.
Although the results were often quite striking, he never gave up on this perhaps ostrich-like way of doing things.
Now, if the operations in the stock index futures market are exposed, anything unexpected Simon does next should no longer seem so shocking.
It's important to know that a billion dollars was absolutely very valuable in this era.
Forbes magazine only started compiling its global rich list a few years ago.
According to the latest data this year, the wealthiest people in the world were only those oil families in the Middle East.
There were only three families with wealth exceeding $10 billion.
The fourth-ranked media family, the Newhouse family, saw their family wealth directly drop to $8.7 billion, and the threshold for the top ten on the rich list was only $5.4 billion.
Even after all taxes, Simon could already squeeze into the top 100 on the Forbes rich list.
In 1987, the global population officially broke through 5 billion, and as one of the 100 richest people among these 5 billion, it was conceivable that Simon was now definitely among the very top of the pyramid.
In just one year, an 18-year-old youth, from a state of destitution, suddenly squeezed into the list of the 100 richest people in the world.
As long as this status was accepted by the outside world, anything Simon did next that exceeded external imagination would probably not seem too abrupt.
Simon stayed in New York for another day, then returned to Los Angeles, while Janette remained in New York, continuing to handle matters related to the house.
On October 30th, Simon returned to Los Angeles, and the first-week box office for 'Final Destination' had also been released, raking in $18.16 million in seven days.
Both within Fox and among external media, it was widely predicted that the film's final North American box office would exceed $60 million.
Although it was far from comparable to 'Run Lola Run' and 'The Butterfly Effect', with two films in the top ten and one in the top fifteen of the North American box office in a single year, Simon's reputation as a hit filmmaker was now thoroughly cemented.
During his few days in New York, Simon also managed to complete the script for 'Basic Instinct' in his spare time.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, he handed the script to Jonathan Friedman, instructing him and Amy to negotiate a new film deal with Fox.
With three consecutive successful films, Simon would naturally strive for more benefits this time.
On the other side, after Noah Scott personally visited Simon that day, the two sides continued to maintain contact in the following days, and Simon occasionally heard news related to himself from Wall Street.
This continued until November, and although he had anticipated it, the outbreak of events still caught Simon somewhat off guard.
The fuse was at Lehman Brothers, and it was also related to Soros, whom Simon had always paid close attention to.
As the broker for Quantum Fund, Lehman Brothers' early leak of information during the October 22nd sell-off led to a significant drop in the S&P 500 index, causing heavy losses for Quantum Fund.
After a period of deliberation, Soros officially sued Lehman Brothers, and also implicated Simon.