Far East Club. VIP Lounge!
Listening to her brother report the latest Hang Seng Index points, Lan Xinyi’s face grew grave, and her gaze toward Li Yi was filled with concern.
Making money on the Hang Seng Index mainly depends on the index’s price movements, with each point representing a gain of 50 Hong Kong dollars.
Take Li Yi’s short selling strategy, for example: for every point the Hang Seng Index drops, he earns 50 Hong Kong dollars per contract.
Conversely, when the Hang Seng Index rose by one point, he would lose 50 Hong Kong dollars.
He currently holds a total of 11,600 contract lots, meaning that for every point the Hang Seng Index rises or falls, he stands to gain or lose 580,000 Hong Kong dollars.
And just moments ago, due to their massive buying of the Hang Seng Index, the index had risen by 8 points in less than half an hour.
In other words, in just half an hour, Li Yi lost 4.64 million Hong Kong dollars, and this trend is still accelerating.
According to exchange regulations, if the loss reaches the margin requirement, the position must be forcibly liquidated.
In other words, if the Hang Seng Index rose by just 72.4 points, Li Yi’s account would be liquidated, and his entire 42 million investment would be lost.
Now it wasn’t just Lan Xinyi and the others who were on edge; Tie Ying, Bin Zai, and the rest were equally on the edge of their seats.
Don’t let their backgrounds as underworld figures fool you—they actually know a thing or two about the stock market, having been seasoned investors for years.
Li Yi, on the other hand, remained completely unfazed, as calm as ever.
After a long silence, Lan Xinyi finally couldn’t hold back any longer and said, “Mr. Li, the time is up. Should we continue trading or cut our losses?”
At that moment, everyone’s gaze fixed on Li Yi, waiting for his decision.
Li Yi knew exactly what Lan Xinyi meant by “canceling the trade.”
Since stock trading back then wasn’t as regulated as it would be in later years, his trading method still relied on manual record-keeping. A clerk would first record each transaction, and the trade and settlement would be finalized later, with the stipulation that all transactions had to be completed within 48 hours.
Precisely because of this, it gave many speculators the opportunity to engage in short selling. For example, in the Hong Kong drama *The Great Era*, Chen Wanxian relied on such tactics to repeatedly fleece the small investors in the stock market.
If Li Yi were to default on his order now, he would indeed lose some funds, but compared to a loss of millions, it would still be significantly less.
Li Yi cast a casual glance at Lan Xinyi and said, “If I default on the trade, wouldn’t that damage your team’s reputation?”
“Yes, but compared to the client’s interests, our team’s reputation is of no consequence!” Lan Xinyi replied.
“Haha, no need. Execute the trade immediately!” Li Yi said decisively.
“Yes!”
Soon, under the supervision of Tie Ying and the others, Lan Xinyi and her team completed the trade of these 11,600 futures contracts.
“Mr. Li, what should we do now? Wait to sell, or…”
“Let’s call it a day and go home!” Li Yi said.
“C-call it a day?”
Lan Xinyi, Lan Xinming, Tie Ying, and the others were all baffled by Li Yi’s move; there were still more than two hours left before the exchange closed.
Moreover, the Hang Seng Index required constant monitoring of market fluctuations, and orders could be placed at any time—what kind of move was this, going home now?
Li Yi, however, couldn’t care less about what Lan Xinyi and the others were thinking. He turned directly to Tie Ying and said, “Take Miss Lan and the others back to the Mid-Levels villa. Without my orders, none of them are allowed to leave, nor are they allowed to call anyone!”
“Yes, sir!”
With that, the group left the Far East Club in a grand procession!
………
Wan Chai Pier. Qinglong Society Headquarters!
Huang Lixing had already received a report from his subordinates. Upon learning of Li Yi’s actions today, he fell deep into thought.
After a long while, he looked at the head of his bodyguards standing nearby and said, “Ah Biao, what do you think of this?”
Ah Biao remained silent for a moment before replying, “Big Brother, I trust Mr. Li!”
A-Biao is not only Huang Lixing’s most trusted head of security, but also one of the few confidants who witnessed last year’s incident.
Compared to Tie Ying, Bin Zai, and the others, he understands Li Yi better and believes there must be a good reason for him to act this way.
Huang Lixing nodded and said, “That’s right. Brother Li Yi didn’t misjudge you!”
Hearing this, Ah Biao froze, then looked at Huang Lixing with a puzzled expression.
“After what happened last year, I actually began to doubt the entire bodyguard team. After all, Ah Long had been with me for quite some time, yet he tried to take my life!”
Huang Lixing continued, “But Brother Li Yi told me you were someone I could trust, so I replaced everyone else—but I kept you.”
“Thank you, Big Brother, and Brother Li, for your trust!” A-Biao said gratefully.
“Hmm. Pass the word: have Yuan’s place send a meal of the highest standard to Tai Ping Shan, and have them send a few bottles of top-grade red wine as well!” Huang Lixing said.
“Yes, sir!”
After Ah Biao turned and left, a faint smile appeared on Huang Lixing’s face, and his expression relaxed considerably.
In truth, he’d been on edge all day—after all, that was 37 million yuan!
After donating 5 million RMB, that was all the capital he had left to work with. If he were to lose it, it would truly be a devastating blow.
So, although he wasn’t physically at the stock exchange today, he had been keeping a close eye on the situation there the entire time.
Iron Eagle kept him updated on Li Yi’s every move.
When he learned that Li Yi had lost over 4 million Hong Kong dollars in just half an hour, he was genuinely concerned.
But when he learned that Li Yi had closed the trade without hesitation and had even taken his team straight back to the Mid-Levels villa, he actually felt reassured.
After all, anyone who dares to do something like that is either a fool or someone who knows exactly what they’re doing!
Li Yi was clearly no fool, so he must have been absolutely confident of victory.
That’s why he had Ah Biao order a meal for Li Yi and his group from the renowned Yuen’s Restaurant!
Li Yi was unaware of all this, and even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared.
He was absolutely confident of success with this investment.
After all, he wasn’t dealing with the stock of a single company, but with the barometer of the entire Hong Kong stock market—the Hang Seng Index.
Unlike ordinary stocks, this was essentially beyond the control of any individual or company.
More importantly, he was about to experience Hong Kong’s first stock market crash of the 1980s—the 1981 crash.
Prior to this, the Hang Seng Index had broken out of a two-year trading range. Starting from its 1978 low of 383.4 points, it had surged 3.7-fold by July 1981, reaching 1,810.20 points.
However, as Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong’s sovereignty reached an impasse, the Hang Seng Index was affected and plummeted sharply in a short period.
Starting from the opening on July 17, it plummeted by more than 300 points in a very short time. Although there was a slight rebound afterward, it soon crashed again.
By December 2, 1982, the Hang Seng Index had fallen to 676.30 points, a decline of 62.64% from its peak.
In addition, this stock market crash also affected the real estate industry, and land prices across Hong Kong Island plummeted.
At the time, a plot of industrial land in Kowloon Bay had been bid at HK$150 million before the crash, but after the crash, the price plummeted to HK$15 million—a 90% drop.
The decline in asset values plunged many companies that had snapped up land at high prices into crisis, leaving the entire Hong Kong Island in a state of despair.
Therefore, the Hang Seng Index’s plunge was inevitable; not even a divine being could save it.
The fluctuation of over ten points that afternoon was merely a normal rise caused by the massive influx of capital after they entered the market; it had absolutely no impact on Li Yi.
All he had to do now was wait—wait for the market to open tomorrow!