Chapter 487: The Sky Won’t Fall!
July 28, the 27th day of the sixth lunar month—an auspicious day for all undertakings!
Early in the morning, Li Yi woke up feeling refreshed and alert!
It had rained across the entire island of Hong Kong last night. A steady drizzle throughout the night had finally dispelled the stifling heat of the past few days, allowing Li Yi to enjoy a rare, restful night’s sleep.
When he reached the first floor, Lan Xinyi and the others had already finished getting ready, and everyone was sitting in the living room.
Seeing Li Yi come downstairs, everyone stood up!
Without saying much, Li Yi simply waved his hand and led the group out of the Mid-Levels villa.
After a quick breakfast in the city, the group arrived at the Far East Stock Exchange.
Once they arrived at the VIP lounge, Lan Xinyi turned to Li Yi and asked, “Mr. Li, what are our plans for today?”
“No plans for the morning—just sit back and watch!” Li Yi replied casually.
“Yes!”
“Oh, right. Later, go to the trading floor for me and keep an eye out to see if anyone is dumping a large number of shares today. While you’re at it, see if it’s anyone from your Far East group!” Li Yi added.
“Mr. Li…”
“Don’t ask any more questions about the rest!”
“Yes!”
Soon, the opening bell rang!
Shortly after, Lan Xinyi left the VIP lounge with several team members.
However, less than five minutes later, Lan Xinyi walked back in, looking rather grim.
“Mr. Li, the Hang Seng Index has surged. We’ve lost over 100 million Hong Kong dollars. Should we cut our losses and exit?”
Li Yi shook his head and said, “No need. Short-term fluctuations don’t mean much—don’t worry about it!”
“Yes!”
Lan Xinyi continued, “Also, regarding the matter you asked us to monitor—as soon as the market opened, we saw many colleagues selling off their shares. Although the volume per transaction wasn’t large, there were quite a few of them. Almost everyone from the brokerage and investment departments has mobilized, so the total volume of shares being sold must be substantial!”
The corners of Li Yi’s mouth turned up slightly. It seemed Chairman Li was quite receptive to advice after all.
Indeed, it looked like not only would he avoid a loss this time, but he’d also make a hefty profit!
After all, he had bought those shares at rock-bottom prices just a few days ago.
By comparison, the current price was already at a high point.
If he’d listed them for sale this afternoon, it wasn’t certain anyone would have taken them off his hands, but now? That shouldn’t be a problem!
“Got it. Keep an eye on it!”
“Yes!”
For the entire morning, the Hong Kong stock market remained steady with a slight uptick, just as it had in the previous days, with trading volume reaching astonishing levels.
By the time the market closed at noon, the Hang Seng Index had climbed to 1,738 points, and by then, Li Yi had already lost over 135 million Hong Kong dollars.
This not only left Lan Xinyi and the others deeply anxious, but even Huang Lixing was getting restless. He took advantage of his lunch break to rush over.
……..
Hong Kong Island. Yuan’s Restaurant!
In the private dining room, watching Li Yi tuck into his roast pork, Huang Lixing felt somewhat restless.
After a long while, he couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Li Yi, I heard that Chairman Li sold off a massive amount of his stocks this morning. Do you know anything about this?”
“I know,” Li Yi replied casually.
“The stock market seems to have gone up!”
“Right, it went up this morning!”
“Aren’t you… aren’t you worried?”
“Worried about what? Losing money?”
“That doesn’t really matter. We didn’t invest much to begin with, so even if we lost it all, we could handle it. I’m worried about Chairman Li…”
Huang Lixing truly hadn’t expected Li Futiao to actually believe Li Yi’s words and dump all those stocks.
Man, if the stock market surges, Far East Group’s losses won’t be just a little bit!
With a portfolio of that size, we’re talking hundreds of millions—even billions—at a time.
If he were to pin the blame on Li Yi later, that would be a real headache.
He knew full well the Li family’s clout in Hong Kong—they had influence in both the legitimate and underworld spheres. Even he, Huang Lixing, was nothing more than a lowly nobody in their eyes.
If the Li family came after Li Yi, he certainly wouldn’t be able to protect him.
However, Li Yi just smiled and said, “It’s not even close. I’m not afraid of you, Old Huang—why should I be?”
Huang Lixing gave a wry smile and said, “But that’s the Li family we’re talking about. How could I not be worried?”
Li Yi shook his head, choosing not to dwell on the matter. Instead, he turned to Tie Ying standing nearby and said, “Bro, turn on the TV!”
Tie Ying fiddled with the TV remote and asked, “Mr. Li, which channel would you like to watch? ATV or…”
“The news. Whichever channel has the news, that’s the one!”
“Mr. Li, ATV’s midday news starts in 10 minutes. Why don’t we wait and watch that?” Tie Ying suggested.
“Sure!”
Seeing that Li Yi didn’t seem to care at all about the Li family selling off their shares, Huang Lixing couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. To him, the Li family was simply an irresistible colossus.
“Brother Li Yi…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi cut him off: “Old Huang, take it easy—the sky isn’t falling!”
“Sigh…”
Meanwhile, Lan Xinyi and the others standing nearby grew increasingly shocked as they listened. No wonder Li Yi had asked them earlier to keep an eye on the trading floor today, watching for any large-scale stock dumping by the Far East Association—it turned out the chairman’s decision was related to Li Sheng.
They never would have imagined that Li Sheng had any connection to the Chairman, let alone that his words could influence him.
Since the matter involved so many secrets, they all kept their heads bowed, focusing on their meals and not daring to utter a single word.
For a moment, the entire private room fell into an eerie silence, and the atmosphere felt incredibly heavy!
Just then, Tie Ying turned on the TV.
Since it was midday, none of Hong Kong’s major TV stations were airing soap operas; instead, the screen was filled with commercials and other programs.
Although Li Yi found these programs rather dull, he still patiently watched them.
A few minutes later, the noon news finally began, and Li Yi put down his bowl and chopsticks to watch intently.
Although Huang Lixing, Lan Xinyi, and the others didn’t know why Li Yi had suddenly decided to watch the news, they all settled down and watched intently.
The first few stories were all about the British Hong Kong government—talk of all-out efforts to rescue the market, strategic agreements reached with certain regions, and so on.
In short, it was all good news!
With every news report, the expressions on the faces of Huang Lixing, Lan Xinyi, and the others grew increasingly grim. After all, while these reports were indeed good news for the Hong Kong stock market, they were far from favorable for them.
Li Yi, however, remained unfazed. Although these reports were unfavorable for his investments, their impact had already passed.
After all, these reports were merely rehashing yesterday’s old news. The slight rise in the stock market that morning was due to these positive developments, and he had lost over 50 million Hong Kong dollars as a result.
What he was truly waiting for was the latest news!
Of course, this news might not be released at this exact moment, nor would it necessarily come via television.
But he was certain of one thing: it would definitely be released before the market opened in the afternoon.
At 1:00 p.m., just as the noon news was about to wrap up, the attractive female anchor suddenly said: ““Breaking news: We’ve just received word from the airport that the ‘Young Talents Delegation’ that traveled to the mainland last week has returned to Hong Kong. According to Mr. Li Pengfei, the head of the delegation, although they were warmly received on the mainland, their proposals regarding the future of Hong Kong Island were rejected. The mainland authorities stated that sovereignty over Hong Kong Island must be fully restored, at any cost…”
Upon hearing this news, the corners of Li Yi’s mouth instantly turned upward, while Huang Lixing, Lan Xinyi, and the others were completely dumbfounded…
………