Chapter 476: Huang Lixing Can’t Sleep!
Wan Chai Pier. The Green Dragon Society!
Huang Lixing had just finished handling a shipment of home appliances. Before he even had a chance to catch his breath, he received a discreet call from Tie Ying.
Learning that Li Yi hadn’t even gone to the brokerage firm this morning, he was immediately taken aback.
Although his main businesses were casinos and smuggling, he had dabbled in the stock market and naturally understood the strategy behind Li Yi’s short-selling of the Hang Seng Index.
You could say Li Yi was taking a massive gamble!
Putting tens of millions of dollars on the line meant massive profits if he won, but if he lost, he could lose everything.
More importantly, Li Yi was using five times leverage, which made a margin call even more likely.
At this thought, his first instinct was to rush back to the villa on Mid-Levels to check on Li Yi.
But just as he stood up, he paused.
Recalling Li Yi’s unpredictable tactics, he paused to think for a moment, then turned to Ah Biao and said, “Call the Far East Club right away and ask what the Hang Seng Index is today!”
“Yes!”
Just a few minutes later, Ah Biao walked in, his face pale with shock.
Before A-Biao could speak, Huang Lixing asked urgently, “Well? Did it go up or down?”
“It’s down!”
Huang Lixing immediately breathed a sigh of relief. With short selling, you only make money when the market drops.
No matter how much it dropped, at least he’d broken even.
Relieved, Huang Lixing sat back down in his chair and asked, “How much did it drop?”
“82 points…”
“How… much?”
Stunned, Huang Lixing jumped back to his feet.
“The Hang Seng Index closed at 1,820 points yesterday, but as soon as the market opened today, it plummeted. It dropped dozens of points in just a few minutes. By the time I called the Far East Club, it had fallen to 1,738 points—and it hasn’t stopped falling yet!”
Hearing this, Huang Lixing was completely stunned!
He already knew that Li Yi had bought in at 1,810 points. Now that it was at 1,738 points, that meant it had dropped by 72 points.
And for every point the Hang Seng Index dropped, he and Li Yi stood to make 580,000 yuan—so 72 points meant 41.76 million yuan!
In other words, overnight, the money they’d invested in the stock market had doubled!
“You… you didn’t hear wrong? Are you sure it’s 1,738 points?”
“Boss, there’s no mistake—I checked it three times!” A-Biao said earnestly.
“Hahaha, Master Li really lives up to his reputation—I’m impressed!” Huang Lixing said excitedly.
After a long moment, A-Biao suddenly said, “Boss, it’s already dropped this much. Shouldn’t we give Mr. Li a heads-up? After all, it’s best to lock in profits in the stock market!”
Huang Lixing shook his head and said, “No need. We have to trust Brother Li Yi—he knows what he’s doing!”
“Yes!”
“By the way, do you know why the Hang Seng Index dropped so suddenly?” Huang Lixing asked again.
“According to the Far East Club, it’s because the Bankers’ Association announced another interest rate hike, triggering a chain reaction!” Ah Biao replied.
“The banks raised rates. By how much?”
“One basis point!”
Hearing this, Huang Lixing couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
He had assumed that the inside information Li Yi mentioned would be something of immense policy significance, but he never expected it to be a rate hike by banks on Hong Kong Island.
That doesn’t make sense!
After all, bank rate hikes are incredibly common on Hong Kong Island, especially in recent years—banks raise rates every few days.
Although each rate hike might affect the Hang Seng Index, it certainly wouldn’t cause such a steep drop—unless there were deeper underlying reasons.
He pondered it for a while but still couldn’t figure out the reason, so he eventually stopped thinking about it.
As long as he hadn’t lost any money, that was all that mattered. He’d leave the rest to Li Yi to handle!
“Have you sent it over to Inspector Liu yet?” Huang Lixing asked again.
“It’s been delivered, and Mrs. Liu has already received it!”
“Good. Keep a close eye on Inspector Liu’s end. If all goes as expected, he’ll contact us soon. Be sure to notify me immediately when that happens!” Huang Lixing said.
“Yes!”
“Any word from Ma Laosan?”
“Yes. Third Master received a shipment this morning—not the one ship that was reported, but three!” said A-Biao.
“Hmph. Ma Laosan is showing me less and less respect as his boss. He wants to use my connections and channels but refuses to pay his dues according to the rules!” Huang Lixing said coldly.
“Boss, should I go and—”
“No need. We’ll deal with Ma Laosan and his crew later. Right now, the most important thing is to take care of those two tasks Brother Li Yi assigned us!” Huang Lixing said in a deep voice.
“Yes!”
………
Ever since learning that the Hang Seng Index had dropped, Huang Lixing had put his mind at ease and turned his full attention to other matters.
However, what happened next took him completely by surprise!
Starting on July 17th, Li Yi stayed at the Mid-Levels villa for the next three days, not even stepping outside, let alone going to the brokerage firm.
During those three days, he went downstairs for two meals on the first day, but for the next two days, he didn’t even come down the stairs; all his meals were delivered to his second-floor room by Tie Ying and the others.
The one thing that never changed was his daily demand that Tie Ying and the others buy him newspapers!
In addition to the major newspapers, he didn’t overlook the third-rate entertainment tabloids—he wanted them all.
As for the money in the stock market, it was as if he had completely forgotten about it; he hadn’t mentioned it once since.
His attitude left Lan Xinyi and her entire team completely baffled!
Stuck in the villa compound, they couldn’t get any news from the outside world. Li Yi wouldn’t let them go to the brokerage firm, nor would he tell them about the current state of the Hang Seng Index. The eight of them were like the blind and the deaf, completely unaware whether that money was a profit or a loss.
Lan Xinyi went upstairs to find Li Yi several times, hoping to talk to him, but Li Yi would only say, “Let the dust settle!”
This was driving Lan Xinyi to the brink of a mental breakdown!
Although the money wasn’t hers, and she wouldn’t bear any responsibility if they lost it,
But the problem was that Li Yi was now her client. If he suffered a margin call, it would inevitably severely damage their team’s reputation—and could even cause them to plummet from a top-tier team to a third-rate one.
More importantly, Lan Xinyi knew that most of this money belonged to Huang Lixing—and she knew exactly what kind of person he was.
If they lost all those tens of millions, she wasn’t sure if someone like Huang Lixing would stuff the eight of them into sacks and dump them in the river!
So, over the past few days, Lan Xinyi and the others have been on edge!
Huang Lixing was just as nervous!
At the close on the 17th, the Hang Seng Index had dropped to 1,701 points—a full 99-point decline from when Li Yi had bought in—and their profits had reached 57.42 million Hong Kong dollars.
Li Yi didn’t list the shares for sale that day. Although Huang Lixing was a bit worried, he didn’t say much.
By the close of trading on the afternoon of the 18th, the Hang Seng Index had dropped to 1,633 points, and their profits had reached 96.86 million Hong Kong dollars.
But Li Yi still showed no intention of listing the shares for sale; he hadn’t even left the house.
Huang Lixing had wanted to rush over to the Mid-Levels villa to talk to Li Yi several times—after all, this was nearly 100 million in profits. If they waited until the Hang Seng Index rebounded, it would all go down the drain.
But out of trust in Li Yi, he held back!
He lay awake all night!
Fortunately, when the market opened on the morning of the 19th, the Hang Seng Index continued its freefall just as it had the previous two days, causing Huang Lixing to silently breathe a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness he hadn’t let Li Yi put the property up for sale yesterday; otherwise, he would have made a lot less money today.
But by the time the market closed that afternoon, the Hang Seng Index had fallen to 1,528 points—a drop of 282.2 points from when Li Yi had entered the market—and their profits had reached a staggering 163.67 million Hong Kong dollars.
Yet, even at this point, Li Yi still showed no intention of cashing out!
By this point, Huang Li was getting a bit restless. He had never before witnessed a deal involving profits and losses in the hundreds of millions—it was just too damn thrilling.
So, he decided to have a serious talk with Li Yi…
……..
PS: There’s one more chapter before midnight!