Chapter 613: The Market Is About to Crash!

Hong Kong Island. Downtown!

The Lai family’s sudden announcement of increased gold supply left the Lin family feeling uneasy.

After all, they had gone to great lengths—and paid a hefty price—to cut off the Li family’s gold supply.

In just one week, the Lin family and the British-funded conglomerate backing them had spent at least two hundred million US dollars on this operation.

Although the bulk of the funds came from the British tycoons above, the Lin family had also invested a significant amount.

What’s more, in their relentless battle over the past two months to destroy the Lai family and claim the throne as Hong Kong’s gold retail king, they had lost at least tens of millions in profits.

If they didn’t manage to take down the Lai family, they would truly be taking a massive loss.

But just when they thought victory was assured, the Lai family unexpectedly increased their gold supply, leaving the Lin family utterly stunned!

In light of this, Lin Zhengrong didn’t dare to delay; he immediately sent someone to the Lai family’s jewelry store to investigate.

They wouldn’t have known without checking, but when they did, they were genuinely startled—the Lai family had indeed increased their gold supply.

Although supplies were still not entirely sufficient, the volume had indeed increased compared to the previous days—and by a significant margin.

Immediately, Lin Zhengrong set about investigating the source of the Li family’s gold.

Having invested so much, if they still couldn’t bring down the Li family, the Lin family would become a laughingstock among Hong Kong’s high society.

It didn’t take long for the Lin family to uncover the source of the Li family’s gold—gold financial products.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that yesterday afternoon, a henchman under Liao Yong—Li Jiuying’s right-hand man—had presented a contract at Longheng Bank to exchange for over 300 kilograms of gold.

Lin Zhengrong suddenly realized: the Li family’s gold came from matured gold financial products.

Gold financial instruments are securities similar to stocks, except that the investment is in gold; they are somewhat like gold futures.

According to regulations, these gold financial instruments have a fixed term. Upon maturity, investors can choose to sell them directly like stocks, or exchange them for physical gold of face value.

However, very few people choose to exchange them for physical gold.

First, people who invest in such financial products do so to make money; if the securities can be directly converted into cash through the market, why would anyone waste the effort to exchange them for physical gold?

Second, redeeming physical gold involves transportation, storage, and other logistical challenges—not only is it unsafe, but it also incurs significant additional costs.

Unexpectedly, the Li family had seized upon this loophole and redeemed a massive amount of gold.

Upon hearing the news, Lin Zhengrong was furious.

While he had his men keep a close eye on Li Jiuying, he also reported the situation to the senior management of the British-owned conglomerate, instructing them to plug this loophole at all costs.

Otherwise, their plan to strangle the Li family would come crashing down at the last moment!

The executives at the British-owned Group were naturally unwilling to see the plan fail; after all, they had already drawn their swords, intent on making an example of the Li family.

Failure would not only be a blow to their pride but, more importantly, would undermine their authority on Hong Kong Island.

Come to think of it, if they couldn’t even kill the chicken, how could they scare the monkeys?

Subsequently, the British-owned conglomerate reacted immediately, prohibiting securities firms from selling maturing gold financial products to the Lai family.

At the same time, they raised funds to buy up gold financial products on the market.

Since the British-owned group’s actions were so high-profile, Li Yi quickly got wind of it.

It wasn’t that Li Yi had particularly good sources; rather, those Anglo-Chinese types hadn’t even bothered to hide their intentions.

After all, their primary goal wasn’t to make money, but to teach the Li family—this “traitor”—a lesson and to intimidate the wavering elements within their circle.

Only by making a big show of it could they achieve the desired effect of striking fear into people’s hearts; even if they were to quietly wipe out the Li family, it wouldn’t satisfy their demands.

They were as arrogant as ever!

But what these Anglo-Americans didn’t know was that Li Yi had been waiting for this very moment!

Upon learning that the British-funded group was stationed across various stock exchanges and banks, ready to snap up gold financial products, Li Yi immediately ordered Lan Xinyi to rush the sales.

Upon receiving Li Yi’s order, all of Star Company’s sales representatives sprang into action, gradually offloading the company’s holdings of gold financial products.

At the same time, Li Yi had Li Jiuying’s people—and even Li Futiao’s people—enter the securities market to snap up these gold financial products.

Unlike before, when they had bought gold merely to act as shills—cheering and creating a false sense of momentum—this time, Li Jiuying was actually spending real money to buy!

Of course, all of this was done to provoke the people at the British-funded conglomerate.

Li Yi was well aware of the Li family’s financial situation—they didn’t have much liquid capital—so he specifically had Huang Lixing prepare 100 million Hong Kong dollars for Li Jiuying to handle the operation.

Armed with this 100 million Hong Kong dollars, Li Jiuying entered the securities market with true extravagance.

Whenever he spotted someone selling off gold financial products, he’d immediately wave his cash to snap them up. Naturally, the British-funded conglomerates weren’t going to let him get his hands on them easily, and the two sides frequently engaged in a fierce battle.

Amid their fierce competition, the price of gold financial products continued to climb.

Before they entered the market, the price was $596 per ounce, but after the British-funded group joined the fray, it soared to around $605—significantly higher than Li Yi had anticipated.

More importantly, the direct competition between the British-funded group and figures like Li Jiuying, coupled with Li Futao and others joining the fray, instantly prompted other investors to follow suit.

Overnight, Hong Kong Island’s gold market was ablaze, with investors crowding every securities exchange and bank selling gold products until they were packed to the brim.

This was hardly surprising, given that financial investing is all about chasing gains and cutting losses, and gold prices had been surging aggressively over the past few months.

More importantly, last year the price of gold had peaked at $850 per ounce, and now it hadn’t even reached $600, so in the eyes of many, there was still room for growth.

Seeing this, Lan Xinyi and her team immediately accelerated their sales.

Under Li Yi’s direct supervision, in just five days, Starry Sky Company had sold off nearly all of its remaining gold financial products, worth tens of billions.

Following Li Yi’s specific instructions, the majority of these financial products ended up in the hands of the British Capital Group.

However, so far, the British Capital Group hadn’t lost any money; in fact, they’d even made a small profit.

Whether it’s stocks or financial products, the real concern isn’t high prices—it’s the lack of buyers.

As long as investors have confidence and there are buyers willing to take them at high prices, prices can sometimes reach absurd levels.

Take those cryptocurrencies, for example. If you ask what the point is of something you can’t see or touch,

But precisely because investors believe their value will keep rising, in just over a decade, the price has skyrocketed from 10,000 coins for a pizza to $60,000 per coin.

The situation with gold financial products in Hong Kong is much the same right now. With buyers stepping in, coupled with international gold prices remaining stable and trending upward in recent days, this has further solidified investor confidence.

Consequently, the price of gold financial products here in Hong Kong has not only failed to drop due to Starry Company’s massive sell-off but has actually risen slightly compared to a few days ago, generally reaching $610 per ounce.

Meanwhile, the international gold price had barely reached $599!

Seeing this, Li Yi immediately ordered Lan Xinyi and the others to liquidate all the gold financial products the company held, including those acquired from the market by the Li and Lai families.

Subsequently, Li Yi personally called Li Futiao, asking him to contact the media outlets controlled by Huazi Group. Li Yi—was about to crash the market!