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New York, Manhattan!
By the time Li Yi received Li Futao’s telegram, it was already the next morning.
After a few days of adjustment, he had fully acclimated to the 12-hour time difference between the two places. He no longer felt the dizziness and discomfort he had experienced when he first arrived—that sensation of being wide awake yet still feeling groggy and miserable.
In the living room of the estate villa, after listening to Li Yunbao’s report, Li Yi couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth turn up slightly.
After setting this trap for so long, he had finally ensnared this bunch of scoundrels—all his planning had not been in vain.
For a moment, Li Yi felt elated!
“Brother Yi, my old man is asking what we should do next. How should I tell him?” Li Yunbao asked.
Li Yi thought for a moment and said, “Tell your old man that aside from stepping up our public relations efforts, we don’t need to worry about anything else for now!”
“Really, we shouldn’t worry about it?”
“For now, we just need to make sure the general public doesn’t end up as the fall guys for the British-funded group. Leave the rest to the market,” Li Yi explained.
Those bastards are already stuck with their investments. As long as investors stay vigilant and don’t get lured into buying at rock-bottom prices, the British-funded group will have no choice but to keep propping things up.
Once gold prices hit bottom in three months, they’ll be completely finished.
Li Yi knew full well that this plunge in gold prices wasn’t just a cyclical correction, but the combined result of a global economic recession and the erosion of gold’s monetary status—with extremely severe consequences.
It wouldn’t be until 2006—25 years later—that the price of gold would reach the high of $600 per ounce again.
Just think about the skyrocketing prices, currency devaluation, and the opportunity cost of massive capital tied up over those 25 years. Even if they could cash out at the same price later, the losses would be incalculable.
“Alright, I’ll send a telegram to my old man right away!”
Although Li Yunbao didn’t understand investing, he trusted Li Yi’s judgment, so he didn’t ask any further questions!
“Wait a minute, Yunbao. Have your old man remind Old Huang to be on high alert. We don’t want those foreign devils, cornered and desperate, to resort to underhanded tactics against him.”
Li Yi knew full well that, for him right now, Huang Lixing was his biggest Achilles’ heel.
If those bastards couldn’t beat him in business, they would inevitably turn their sights on Old Huang.
After all, if Old Huang were to get into trouble, it would affect him as well. The British-funded group could use this as an opportunity to make an example of him and send a warning to others—a risk he simply couldn’t ignore.
“Alright!”
With that, Li Yunbao hurriedly left the living room of the estate villa!
After Li Yunbao left, Li Yi fell deep into thought.
Overall, the operation had gone very well—no, it had gone surprisingly well.
Originally, when Li Yi first arrived in Hong Kong, his plan had been simply to take a small cut from those bastards while international gold prices were plummeting.
In his original plan, he’d intended to fleece them for no more than a billion or so Hong Kong dollars—just enough to teach them a lesson.
But he never imagined those bastards would be so ruthless—not only did they gobble up the massive amounts of gold financial products that Starry Sky had dumped, but they also had the audacity to chase him all the way to New York to ambush him.
Now their losses are skyrocketing—they truly have brought this upon themselves!
As things stand, if those bastards can’t find a buyer soon, by the time international gold prices hit bottom, the British-owned conglomerate’s losses will be at least 15 billion Hong Kong dollars—maybe even more.
But will they be able to find a buyer?
The answer is no!
Hong Kong isn’t New York; not only does it lack a decent gold futures market, but the market size is negligible.
If this were happening in New York, as long as they were willing to take a loss, there would still be buyers—after all, what this city has in abundance are financial titans.
Unfortunately, the British-backed group’s main battleground is Hong Kong Island. Aside from a few super-rich Chinese tycoons like Li Futao and Li Ka-shing, no one there has the financial clout to absorb the massive amounts of gold they’re holding.
So, this time, they were bound to lose!
A loss of over 15 billion—even a powerful business alliance like the British Capital Group would find it hard to bear.
Although the core members of the British-funded consortium are wealthy and well-established, and will undoubtedly find ways to mitigate their losses—perhaps avoiding a catastrophic blow—the minions following in their wake, cheering them on, will likely not be so fortunate.
If their losses become too massive, who knows how many of them will face bankruptcy.
And if a large number of members within the British-funded consortium were to go bankrupt, the day when this business alliance collapses completely would not be far off.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that these minions may not be particularly powerful on their own and seem insignificant; it is precisely their sheer numbers that prop up the British-owned conglomerate, this colossus.
If HSBC, Jardine Matheson, and Swire Group are the core of the British-owned conglomerate, then the vast number of small and medium-sized families and companies form the foundation of this massive business alliance.
And this time, he, Li Yi, had directly shaken the very foundation of the British-owned consortium!
Admittedly, his approach was a bit heavy-handed, but this was exactly what Li Yi wanted to see!
When you’re beating a dog, you have to hit hard—otherwise, the damn thing will bite you again next time. After all, these creatures hold a grudge.
It’s just a pity he’s currently in New York and can’t be there in person to see the ugly looks on those foreigners’ faces—a slight regret, indeed…
…………
Just as Li Yi was deep in thought, Li Yunbao returned to the villa’s living room, followed by Billy and George.
“Boss, trading at the market starts in half an hour. Should we head out?”
Billy spoke with great deference, a complete contrast to his attitude just a few days ago.
Li Yi’s performance in the futures market over the past two days had completely won him over!
After hearing Li Yunbao’s translation, Li Yi immediately said, “We’re not going to the gold trading market today. Just send a few people over to keep an eye on things!”
“We’re not going?”
Hearing Li Yi’s words, Billy, George, Li Yunbao, and Zhou Xinghua were all taken aback.
Investing in futures is all about short-term fluctuations; everyone keeps a close eye on market price changes, buying and selling at the slightest opportunity to profit from the spread.
Who could be as carefree as Li Yi? He’d invested ten billion dollars and wasn’t even going there himself!
Li Yi smiled and said, “With the scale of our investment, we can’t afford to focus on short-term fluctuations anymore. That doesn’t mean much to us—we have to look at the big picture!”
At those words, Billy, George, and the others fell silent.
Indeed, with an investment of nearly ten billion US dollars and 170,000 gold futures contracts, if the price fluctuations were too small, their intervention might actually drive the price up—making it a pointless endeavor.
Moreover, Billy and the others could see that Li Yi had grand ambitions. He wasn’t taking such a huge risk for a mere pittance; he was betting on a sharp plunge in the gold price.
With that in mind, Billy asked again, “So where are we going today, or should we just rest at the estate?”
“To 4 Times Square!” Li Yi replied.
“The Condé Nast building? Are you planning to invest in the stock market?” Billy asked in surprise.
“Let’s go take a look first. We’ll decide whether to invest later!” Li Yi replied evasively.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to invest in U.S. stocks; rather, he wasn’t very familiar with the trading rules here.
Although he had traded stocks in his previous life, he had mainly done so in China, and more often than not, he acted as a market maker, where he could control everything himself.
As for the U.S. stock market, aside from following others and dabbling a few times after the turn of the millennium, he had never really delved into it, so he didn’t feel entirely confident.
More importantly, he was currently short on cash.
He had brought over 2 billion US dollars with him on this trip, but most of it had already been invested in a gold short-selling project. Now, Li Yi had only a little over 15 million US dollars at his disposal.
And since that money had to cover all their expenses during their stay in New York, the amount he could actually use was quite limited. Still, that didn’t stop him from checking it out.
After all, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they would need to stay here for about three months, and he’d have to find something to keep himself occupied for that long.
Besides, although he doesn’t know much about the U.S. stock market, he understands the broader trends.
Combined with his extensive investment experience from both past and present lives, he shouldn’t end up losing money.
Billy assumed Li Yi was merely curious about the local stock market and wanted to get a feel for the atmosphere, so he didn’t say much. He immediately summoned the team members and assigned their tasks.
The group then split into two teams: one, led by George, continued on to the gold futures market to keep an eye on things.
The other group, led by Billy, headed straight for New York’s Times Square!