Chapter 609: Buying Back the Gold!

The Lin family took the bait much faster than Li Yi had imagined. Less than three hours after the gold shipment was sent off, news came from Li Futao.

With the seamless coordination of Chinese businessmen Zhou Yinglong and Li Jiuying, Lin Zhengrong—eager to bring down the Li family—immediately snapped up the 1.5 tons of gold offered by the “Zhou family” at a price of 22.2 million US dollars per ton after confirming that both the purity and provenance of the gold were in order.

Compared to the current international gold price of $597 per ounce, the Lin family’s purchase price for this 1.5-ton lot was clearly high.

When calculated, this works out to $630 per ounce.

But to bring down the Li family and secure his own position as the king of Hong Kong’s gold retail industry, Lin Zhengrong didn’t mind spending a few hundred thousand dollars more.

To him, while this sum wasn’t exactly pocket change, it was insignificant compared to what he was about to accomplish.

Besides, it was merely a small loss in profit—no big deal.

With the backing of British merchants like Smith and Charles, he simply didn’t care about such details.

What Lin Zhengrong didn’t know, however, was that Li Yi had dug a rather deep hole—this 1.5 tons of gold was just the beginning.

Upon receiving the news from Li Futiao, Li Yi immediately issued instructions, telling Li Futiao to follow the same playbook and continue having people he trusted sell off the gold—he intended to drain the Lin family dry.

At the same time, to provoke the Lin family, Li Yi handed over a portion of the gold to Li Jiuying, instructing him to put it up for sale in his shop.

Upon receiving Li Yi’s instructions, Li Futao and Li Jiuying acted swiftly.

While Li Futao enlisted friends to help stage a ruse, Li Jiuying’s side also began to make its move.

On the morning of October 20, the Li family’s 36 gold shops across Hong Kong Island simultaneously issued announcements adjusting their gold prices.

Effective immediately, members of the public purchasing gold at Li Family Gold Shops would not only be exempt from the 2% service fee but would also see their crafting fees cut in half.

The announcement caused quite a stir!

Lin Family Gold Shops Headquarters!

Sitting in his office chair, Lin Zhengrong was basking in the glory of how his family had dealt a crushing blow to Li Jiuying at the Zhou family’s estate the day before. He recalled how formidable Li Jiuying had once been—with 36 gold shops, multiple real estate projects, and as the major shareholder of Longheng Bank, he was simply in a league of his own, far beyond what their modest Lin family could ever hope to match.

But fortune is fickle—no one could have imagined that the Li family would one day fall so low, driven into a corner with no way out by the Lin family.

Just as Lin Zhengrong was basking in his triumph, a frantic knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Although the interruption annoyed Lin Zhengrong, he still called out to the door, “Come in!”

Immediately afterward, as the door swung open, Lin Zhengrong saw his most trusted subordinate, Zhang Zhihe, walk in with a grim expression.

“Boss, something’s happened!”

“Don’t panic—speak slowly. What’s happened?” Lin Zhengrong asked.

“The Li family has issued an announcement adjusting their prices!”

Lin Zhengrong immediately frowned and asked, “How did they adjust them?”

“No service fee, and the labor fee is cut in half!”

Upon hearing this, Lin Zhengrong jumped to his feet, his face darkening as he asked, “Is this true?”

“It’s been verified. All 36 of the Li family’s jewelry stores have received this notice—there’s no mistake about it!”

“With the Li family’s limited resources, they’d dare to do this? Have they found a new supply channel?” Lin Zhengrong asked, frowning.

Although this promotion didn’t feature any eye-catching discounts—merely waiving service fees and cutting craftsmanship fees in half—it was still a significant move for the gold retail industry.

After all, the gold retail industry’s profits come from a 2% service fee and the craftsmanship fees for jewelry. If both of these are reduced, profits are bound to drop as well.

If the Li family plays this game, after deducting rent, utilities, and employee costs, they’ll most likely end up in the red.

“Boss, our informant hasn’t reported anything yet, but before coming here, I specifically stopped by the nearby Li’s Gold Shop to take a look…”

“How did it go?”

“There’s definitely a lot more gold in their store now. They must have found a new supplier!”

“Smash!”

Lin Zhengrong slammed a beautiful teacup hard onto the floor, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

“How could this happen? Who dares to defy His Lordship’s orders and supply the Li family with goods?” Lin Zhengrong roared.

You must understand that crushing the Li family and erasing them from Hong Kong Island isn’t just the Lin family’s wish—it’s the collective will of the entire British-owned conglomerate’s senior leadership. They intend to clean house.

And as the Lai family’s biggest rival in the gold retail industry, the Lin family had been thrust into the spotlight. As long as they could bring the Lai family to their knees, the Lin family would dominate Hong Kong Island’s gold retail market.

Just when they thought they had the Lai family cornered, things took a turn for the worse at the most critical moment.

“Investigate! Find out exactly who is supplying the Lai family!”

“Boss, I’ve already had people look into it. But what should we do now? Should we follow suit and lower our prices too?”

Lin Zhengrong paused to think for a moment, then said, “Lower them. The Lai family wants to turn their fortunes around by cutting prices—how can we give them that chance? It’s just a battle of attrition, and isn’t that exactly what we want?”

With the backing of the British-owned conglomerate, Lin Zhengrong wasn’t afraid to engage in a price war with Li Jiuying. After all, a price war boils down to which side has deeper pockets.

Given the Li family’s current situation, Lin Zhengrong truly didn’t believe they could hold out for much longer.

“So, by how much should we lower our prices?”

“Issue an announcement immediately: Lin’s Gold Shop will waive service fees, and instead of halving the craftsmanship fees, we’ll waive them entirely!”

“Waive them entirely? Then we’ll have to sell based on the international gold price—but we’ll lose a lot of money!” Zhang Zhihe frowned.

“It’s fine. As long as we control the volume of sales, we won’t lose too much!”

“I suppose that’s one way to go…”

Just as they were speaking, the phone on the desk suddenly rang urgently.

Lin Zhengrong took a deep breath to calm his nerves and picked up the receiver.

However, the moment the call connected, Lin Zhengrong—who had been sitting down—suddenly jumped to his feet as if he had springs in his buttocks.

“Mr. Smith… I understand… We’ll do whatever it takes to block the Li family… I’ll handle it right away…”

After hanging up, Lin Zhengrong paused briefly before saying, “Mr. Smith said that the Jazz have already found out about the Li family’s manipulation of the gold price and have traced the source of their gold. They bought a batch of gold from the Zhong family at a high price, but the quantity isn’t large—less than 300 kilograms!”

“The Zhong family is selling off gold too?” Zhang Zhihe asked in surprise.

“Yes. The Zhong family’s main business is in real estate. With housing prices now halved, they’re hoarding their inventory and refusing to sell. Unable to recoup their funds, they’ve had no choice but to liquidate their gold reserves as a stopgap measure.”

At this point, Lin Zhengrong sighed and said with some frustration, “It’s just a shame we didn’t get word of the Zhong family’s gold sell-off beforehand. That’s what gave that bastard Li Jiuying a chance to catch his breath!”

At that moment, Zhang Zhihé suddenly spoke up: “Boss, since the Li family’s gold reserves aren’t substantial, could we buy back this batch of gold directly from the Li family’s gold shop?”

“Buy back?”

“Exactly. It’s only 300 kilograms anyway. If we buy back all the gold they have on hand, the Li family will once again face a shortage of supply!”

Zhang Zhihe continued, “Then, once we’ve firmly cut off their supply channels, won’t the high-profile event the Li family has been pushing turn into a complete joke?”

“Hahaha, that’s a brilliant idea. When the public can’t buy gold at low prices, Li’s Gold Shop’s reputation will be called into question. Once their reputation is ruined, they’ll be on the brink of bankruptcy!” Lin Zhengrong said with glee.

“So, should we still lower the price?”

“No need. Let’s leave that kind of money-losing publicity stunt to the Li family!”

Then Lin Zhengrong said again, “Go get the money right now and find someone to buy back the gold from the Li Family Gold Shop. Keep it discreet—don’t let anyone from the Li Family recognize you!”

“Alright, I’ll go right away…”

…….