Chapter 566: The Gold King, Li Jiuying!

The next morning!

When Li Yi arrived at the company, he saw Lan Xinyi and Cai Bingyan standing at the entrance with grave expressions, as if waiting for someone.

Seeing him emerge from the elevator, the two hurried to meet him!

“What’s going on? You two don’t look too good!” Li Yi said as he walked over.

Lan Xinyi immediately replied, “Boss, there’s been a major setback in our plan. It might… it might not be possible to complete it!”

Li Yi frowned at first, then said, “Let’s discuss this in my office.”

They then went together to Li Yi’s office!

After closing the door, Li Yi asked, “What exactly happened? Why can’t we complete our plan on time?”

After all, acquiring physical gold on the market was Li Yi’s first step in dealing with the Li family. If this step couldn’t be completed, the rest of the plan would be impossible to carry out.

Consequently, Li Yi’s expression was extremely grave as he spoke.

However, after listening to Lan Xinyi and Cai Bingyan’s report, his furrowed brow slowly relaxed.

“Are you saying that people all over Hong Kong are now following our lead and snapping up gold?”

“Yes. According to our investigation, at first it was only the Li, Huo, and He families and others following the trend. Although these families were buying in large quantities, it didn’t have a significant impact on us.”

Lan Xinyi continued, “But for some reason, by the afternoon, rumors that gold prices were about to skyrocket had spread across nearly the entire island. As a result, large numbers of ordinary people also flooded into the gold shops, frantically snapping up every piece of gold and gold jewelry they could find!”

“There were simply too many people scrambling to buy gold—so many that even our own staff couldn’t squeeze into the stores. Our original plan to secure two tons of gold within three days might not be achievable!”

As she spoke, Lan Xinyi was also observing the expression on Li Yi’s face.

She knew just how domineering the man before her was. Whether it was Mr. Li from the Far East Association or the head of the He family, when it came to investments, Li Yi was absolutely uncompromising.

Now that their original plan was in jeopardy, she was genuinely worried Li Yi would lose his temper.

But to her surprise, Li Yi didn’t reprimand her. Instead, he asked calmly, “How much gold have we acquired so far?”

“One ton, at a cost of 90 million!” Lan Xinyi replied.

“So how much gold is left on the market now?”

“There shouldn’t be much left. According to my sources, the Far East Association has acquired at least 700 kilograms, the He family 500 kilograms, and the Huo family 300 kilograms. As for the general public, it’s impossible to calculate, but a conservative estimate suggests that major banks and gold shops together sold off at least 3 tons of gold yesterday!”

Hearing this, the corners of Li Yi’s mouth turned up slightly.

As far as he knew, the British Hong Kong government’s gold reserves currently amounted to just over two tons.

Of course, this was only the British Hong Kong government’s own gold reserves, not including the gold held by other banks and jewelry stores.

But even if you added those to the total, it wouldn’t exceed 5 tons.

In just a single day, they had snapped up more than half of the entire gold reserves on Hong Kong Island—his objective was nearly achieved.

“Step up the effort tomorrow and keep buying!” Li Yi said.

“Yes, sir, but…”

“But what?”

“Gold prices have already risen by 12% this afternoon. If we keep buying up like crazy tomorrow, the price might skyrocket again!”

“Don’t worry. As long as the price doesn’t rise by more than 50%, we don’t need to worry about the price!” Li Yi said.

“Understood!”

Li Yi knew Lan Xinyi was worried that buying gold at such high prices might inflate the market artificially. If gold from other regions flooded into Hong Kong, the local gold market could collapse instantly.

In the past, that might indeed have been a possibility, but now? There was absolutely no need to worry about it.

The reason was that the international situation was about to undergo a major shift—a shift that would drastically alter the current global landscape and ultimately cause the price of hard currency like gold to skyrocket!

When gold prices are skyrocketing worldwide, who would go to the trouble of shipping gold to Hong Kong? It doesn’t matter where it’s sold—it’ll sell anywhere!

………

Li’s Gold Shop Headquarters!

Li Jiuying looked at the sales figures reported by his subordinates, but instead of showing the slightest sign of joy, his face was filled with worry.

According to the consolidated data from all branches, the 36 gold shops under the Lai family’s name sold 876 kilograms of gold yesterday afternoon alone.

Although they had taken in over 80 million Hong Kong dollars in cash, the company’s gold reserves had dwindled to less than 300 kilograms.

For other gold shops, running out of gold reserves isn’t a big deal—at worst, they can simply close when they run out of stock.

But that wasn’t an option for the Li family’s stores, because in addition to selling gold and gold jewelry, their business also included a portion of the gold financial sector.

The most important business in their stores is the “24K Gold Accumulation Plan.” This plan is actually quite simple: citizens need only purchase one tael of physical gold to open a gold trading account and speculate on gold based on the daily gold price.

Through this business, the Lai family raised HK$300 million in just a few short years, catapulting them to become the largest gold supplier on Hong Kong Island, and Lai Kau-ying came to be known as the “Gold King of Hong Kong Island.”

It was by leveraging these funds that the Lai family expanded into the banking sector, leading to a massive increase in the family’s assets and ultimately resulting in their acquisition by a British-owned conglomerate.

However, that money—or rather, that gold—was merely entrusted to the Lai family by the public; it was not their own. Therefore, this business carried immense risk.

They were particularly afraid of rising gold prices—and even more so of a sudden surge!

If gold prices rose too sharply, two scenarios could arise:

First, account holders might rush to sell off large quantities of gold, putting the Lai family under immense financial pressure.

The other scenario is that account holders would demand physical gold withdrawals, putting immense pressure on the Li family’s gold reserves.

So, while the rest of the Li family and the managers of the various gold shops saw the profits brought by the skyrocketing gold prices, Li Jiuying saw the crisis lurking behind it all.

Especially after learning that the company buying the most gold was that “Big Circle Guy’s” Star Company, his concerns deepened. At the same time, he had a vague premonition that the “Big Circle Guy” might very well be targeting him.

Just as Li Jiuying was deep in thought, the phone on his desk suddenly rang!

His train of thought interrupted, Li Jiuying couldn’t help but frown, but he patiently picked up the receiver and asked, “Who is this?”

The voice of his trusted right-hand man, Liao Yong, came through the receiver: “Boss, all the branches are calling to demand more stock. They say there are long lines outside their stores and they need us to supply goods immediately!”

Li Jiuying frowned and said, “Don’t worry about the supply for now. What’s the latest on the company’s deposit account?”

“Since yesterday, the reserve account has increased by 15 million Hong Kong dollars. The public’s confidence in investing in gold is very strong!” Liao Yong said cheerfully.

Hearing this, Li Jiuying felt a slight sense of relief.

They weren’t worried about the public increasing their investments; what they feared most was a mass sell-off of gold.

“How’s the matter I asked you to handle yesterday regarding securing gold supplies coming along?”

“Don’t worry, boss. I’ve already taken care of it. HSBC is willing to source 2 tons of gold for us from Southeast Asia, and the Xie family on Macau Island and the Zhou family on Wan Island are also willing to sell us a total of 2 tons of gold bars. I plan to go sign contracts with them this afternoon!” Liao Yong said.

“What about the price?”

“These parties may already be aware of the sharp rise in gold prices here, so their asking prices are slightly higher than before—all at 4,000 Hong Kong dollars per tael!”

“4,000 it is. Compared to what we’ll make, their price hike is nothing!”

Li Jiuying then added, “I’ll start distributing the stock to all our branches right away. I’ll also withdraw the 500 kilograms of reserve gold we have in the bank. Give the branch managers a call later and tell them to raise the prices by another 15%!”

“Fifteen percent… Is such a steep price hike really feasible?” Liao Yong asked, somewhat taken aback.

“Buying on the rise and selling on the dip is a gambler’s common flaw—they’ll accept it. Hurry up and relay the order!”

“Alright…”

After hanging up, Li Jiuying, in high spirits, leaned back in his chair, calculating just how much the Li family stood to profit from this!

Based on the current situation, they’d make at least 50 million—and if executed well, even 100 million was possible.

But he didn’t realize that he was stepping, one step at a time, into a trap that someone had meticulously set for him…

……..