Chapter 479: The Hong Kong Government Steps In to Rescue the Market!

July 20th, the fourth day since the Hong Kong stock market crash began. As soon as the market opened today, the Hang Seng Index continued its downward slide, just as it had for the previous three days.

The entire market followed suit, with every listed company’s stock price falling. Not a single company bucked the trend; even the stock with the smallest decline dropped by 5%. The entire stock market was in turmoil!

In reality, the Hong Kong stock market had become severely detached from economic and corporate fundamentals in recent years. Many companies traded at price-to-earnings ratios exceeding 200 times, creating a massive bubble fueled by financial leverage.

Previously, thanks to strong investor confidence and Hong Kong’s solid economic fundamentals, no major issues had arisen.

However, as more and more people borrowed money to speculate in real estate, banks became overwhelmed and were forced to raise interest rates to control the situation.

Yet every rate hike dealt a heavy blow to the already overburdened property market and the stock market, which relies on it for support. Eventually, the system could no longer withstand the pressure, culminating in a full-blown stock market crash.

The three-day plunge dealt another severe blow to investor confidence. Many sought to cut their losses to preserve capital, and a large number of investors began dumping their stocks.

This, in turn, caused stock prices to plummet once more, plunging the entire Hong Kong stock market into a vicious cycle!

That morning, investors across all four major exchanges on Hong Kong Island were gripped by unprecedented panic.

But even under these circumstances, Li Yi instructed Lan Xinyi and others to buy up massive amounts of futures contracts!

By 11:00 a.m., the over 1.4 billion Hong Kong dollars previously obtained from selling futures contracts had been entirely converted into new futures contracts.

By this time, the Hang Seng Index had fallen to 1,496 points, a drop of 14 points from when they first entered the market.

In other words, in less than an hour, Li Yi had lost nearly 14 million Hong Kong dollars.

More importantly, had he continued shorting, he could have made an additional 18 million Hong Kong dollars that morning alone—a combined total of over 32 million Hong Kong dollars.

Consequently, everyone—including Lan Xinyi—looked at Li Yi with a touch of regret.

However, Li Yi didn’t care in the slightest. Upon learning that all contracts had been fully acquired, he immediately ordered everyone to pack up and leave the exchange.

Just as everyone assumed Li Yi would take them straight back to the Mid-Levels villa as he had done the previous days, they were surprised to find him leading them to the city’s most luxurious restaurant, Yuan’s.

Then, as everyone stared in astonishment, Li Yi ordered three tables full of high-end dishes—choosing whatever was most expensive—without the slightest sense that he had lost over 30 million.

Seeing Li Yi’s calm and composed expression, Lan Xinyi and the others—for some reason—felt their hearts, which had been in their throats, slowly settle.

They followed Li Yi’s lead and began to feast heartily on the table full of delicacies!

However, just as Li Yi and the others were enjoying the feast, Huang Lixing at Wan Chai Pier was on the verge of being driven mad!

He had learned early that morning that Li Yi and his group had gone to the exchange, and upon arriving, they had immediately ordered a full-scale buyout of futures contracts—which had filled him with excitement.

Once the acquisition of 16,000 contracts is completed and successfully returned to the institution, the profit of 180 million will be in hand.

Even if, as agreed, more than half of that 180 million had to be split with Li Yi, he would still walk away with over 80 million.

In just a few short days, 37 million had turned into 80 million. Huang Lixing had never imagined money could be so easy to make. He even sat with Ah Biao and the others in the headquarters, reminiscing about the good old days—talking about his glorious past when he used to carry heavy bags at the Wan Chai Pier and how he’d earned his first fortune…

But… but what he never could have imagined was that the news that came back from Tie Ying and the others nearly blew his mind.

Not only had Li Yi failed to return the 16,000 contracts he’d acquired to the institutions, but he’d also used every last cent in his account to buy more contracts—he was going long on the Hang Seng Index.

What really made his heart bleed was that the Hang Seng Index had already plummeted from 1,528 to 1,496, and the downward trend was very clear.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he’d lose all the money he’d made just a few days ago—he might even lose his entire investment.

It really was a matter of one thought leading to heaven, and another to hell!

However, just as Ah Biao asked if they should consult Li Yi, Huang Lixing decisively refused.

He recalled what Li Yi had said yesterday; clearly, all of this had been planned in advance by Li Yi, not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Therefore, going over now wouldn’t make Li Yi stop; on the contrary, it would leave a bad impression.

Besides, they’d already made so much money—there was no rush!

Just as Li Yi had said, there was no need to rush—let the dust settle for a while…

However, the situation in the stock market that afternoon took everyone by surprise.

By 1:00 PM, Lan Xinyi and the others at Yuanji Restaurant had finished their meal; in fact, they’d even enjoyed two large pots of tea in the luxurious private room and taken a short break.

Just as everyone thought they were about to head back to the Mid-Levels villa to rest, Li Yi once again took everyone by surprise by having Tie Ying and the others take them back to the Far East Stock Exchange.

By the time they returned to the exchange, the bell signaling the afternoon session had already rung.

By then, the Hang Seng Index had dropped another 3 points since they’d left, reaching 1,493 points.

In other words, while they were having a meal, Li Yi had lost another 3 million!

Everyone on the team felt heartbroken for Li Yi!

That’s 3 million dollars—even with Hong Kong’s current high property prices, that could buy a nice house of over 6,000 square feet in a decent neighborhood.

But there they were, watching it vanish into thin air right before their eyes!

Yet, in less than ten minutes, the situation outside took a dramatic turn.

For some reason, a massive influx of capital suddenly poured into the stock market, with investors aggressively buying up stocks and futures contracts, clearly aiming to buy at the bottom.

Bolstered by such massive capital, the stocks and futures—which had been plummeting—suddenly pulled back from the brink and stopped falling!

Then, as everyone watched in stunned silence, stock prices began to rebound.

The Hang Seng Index soared just as rapidly!

Upon learning of this turn of events, everyone—including Lan Xinyi—was dumbfounded, while Li Yi’s smile grew even broader.

He knew the British Hong Kong government had stepped in to rescue the market!

Three consecutive days of market crashes had already inflicted heavy losses on all listed companies; many had seen their stock prices plummet by a third, severely denting investors’ confidence.

Under these circumstances, Hong Kong’s Chinese capital and British-owned enterprises, led by Jardine Matheson, had—in a rare show of unity—joined forces to demand that the British Hong Kong government intervene to save the market, lest the situation spiral out of control.

Under immense pressure from these groups, the British Hong Kong government had no choice but to step in and collaborate with these capitalists to rescue the market.

And that is how we arrived at the current situation.

In addition to raising substantial funds to rescue the market, the British Hong Kong government also announced a number of favorable policies, which provided significant encouragement and stimulus to a stock market that had previously lacked confidence.

And so, throughout the afternoon, the Hong Kong stock market shook off its earlier slump; trading volume surged across the four major exchanges, and the broader market began to soar at full speed!

By 2:00 p.m., the Hang Seng Index had risen to 1,530 points!

Just one hour later, it broke through the 1,600 mark and surged strongly toward 1,650 points.

By 4:00 p.m., the index had reached 1,695 points. The outlook was extremely promising, and investor confidence had been restored!

But just then, Li Yi made his move again…

……..