Chapter 619: The Broker!

Green Brothers, Inc. – President’s Office!

After putting the contract away, Li Yi said, “Mr. Green, I’m delighted to be working with your firm. Now, I’d like to ask you to recommend a suitable futures broker for us!”

A futures broker is an essential channel for conducting futures trading, and choosing the right broker is crucial. It is imperative to select a legitimate, reputable futures broker for trading.

Otherwise, there’s a high risk of being swindled out of everything by unscrupulous brokers.

Before arriving, Li Yi had asked around to learn about the basics of the local gold futures market and had gained some understanding of these brokers.

However, since the information he’d gathered had passed through so many hands, its accuracy was questionable. Therefore, he wanted to hear Reggie Green’s opinion—after all, Green was the local expert and a professional in the field.

After listening to Li Yunbao’s translation, Reggie Green immediately said, “No problem. There are currently over a hundred futures brokers in the New York gold market. In terms of overall strength, the strongest are Aaron Gold, Mokta Metals, Sharp-Pixley, and the Philip Brothers.”

“Among these four firms, Sharp-Pixley has the best reputation. I suggest you partner with them, though they tend to be quite cautious when working with investors!”

“No problem. As long as they have a good reputation and strong capabilities, that’s all that matters. Could you help us set up a meeting with their company representative?” Li Yi asked.

“It’s not easy to arrange a meeting with the head of the company. I don’t have the authority to contact their CEO directly, but I can help you set up a meeting with their investment manager!” said Reggie Green.

“Alright, then we’d appreciate your help, Mr. Green!” Li Yi said.

“No problem. Just give me a moment; I’ll call them right away!”

“Great!”

Reggie Green finished his call quickly and turned to Li Yi. “Li, I’ve already set up a meeting with their investment manager, Billy. You can go to Sharp-Pixley right now to meet him. I’ll have George accompany you there!”

“Thank you very much!”

After that, Li Yi and the others, accompanied by George, headed to the nearby Sharp-Pixley Company…

..banbanhaobang……..

Sharp-Pixley was also located on Wall Street, but as a renowned futures brokerage, their company was much larger than Green Brothers.

When Li Yi and the others arrived, Billy, the investment manager at Sharp-Pixley, was already waiting for them in his office.

Although he had already learned from Reggie Green that the clients were from Hong Kong, he was still somewhat surprised when he saw Li Yi and his group.

Mainly because the people in front of him were simply too young; Billy glanced over and saw that not a single person in this group of seven or eight was over forty.

And the team leader was absurdly young—he didn’t even look twenty!

“Mr. Li, we are delighted that you have chosen Sharp-Pixley. As New York’s most reputable brokerage firm, we can meet all your investment needs. Please trust us…”

Before Billy could finish, Li Yi cut him off: “Mr. Billy, we certainly recognize your company’s strength. Now, let’s discuss the specifics of our partnership. We’re planning to invest in the gold market—I’d like to know how much financial leverage your company can offer us?”

“That depends on your qualifications. May I ask how much margin your company has available?” Billy replied.

“2 billion!”

“Hong Kong dollars or US dollars?”

“US dollars!”

That’s right. For this trip to New York to short gold, Li Yi had prepared 2 billion US dollars—350 million from Li Futiao, 100 million from Old Huang, and the remaining 1.57 billion from Starry Sky Company.

To maximize profits, Li Yi had committed the entire profit from the company’s gold investment, plus all the funds previously borrowed from the bank—a total of 12 billion Hong Kong dollars.

He left the company with just over 2 billion Hong Kong dollars, 1.68 billion of which was earmarked for taxes owed to the British Hong Kong government.

Unfortunately, due to exchange rates, such a massive sum in Hong Kong dollars converted to only 1.57 billion US dollars.

Even so, when Billy heard Li Yi’s words, his face immediately betrayed utter astonishment.

2 billion US dollars converted to Hong Kong dollars amounts to a whopping 15.2 billion.

Who on earth were these people before him, capable of handling such a massive sum of money with a single gesture?

In light of this, Billy immediately said, “May I see your background information?”

Financing always requires documentation, especially regarding the investor’s background.

Brokerage firms may not concern themselves with the specific projects you’re investing in, but they must thoroughly investigate the investors’ backgrounds, as their decision to approve a financing application—and the amount they’re willing to provide—is based entirely on their assessment of the investors.

“Of course!”

Li Yi had already had the documents prepared while he was on Hong Kong Island—including company profiles, sources of funds, proof of assets, and so on—specifically for the brokers here.

Billy took the documents from Li Yunbao’s hands and immediately bent over the table to review them.

The more he read, the more shocked he became!

He had just received a call from his good friend Reggie Green, who said he was introducing a client to him. Although he had agreed and expressed his thanks, he hadn’t really paid it much mind.

The reason was that Green had mentioned the client was from Hong Kong, and in Billy’s view, the only part of Asia with a decent economy was that “chicken-foot” place.

As for other places, they were merely mediocre at best, so from the very beginning, he’d assumed the client was just an ordinary small-time customer.

Especially when he saw that the visitors were all young men who hadn’t even grown a full beard yet, it only reinforced his opinion.

But he never could have imagined that these people before him would be so well-funded—they were ready to put 2 billion US dollars on the table right off the bat.

After the initial shock, Billy’s composure vanished instantly, and the look in his eyes as he gazed at Li Yi and the others grew intense.

This was 2 billion US dollars, after all. If this deal went through, not only would he personally receive a hefty commission, but he might even be promoted to a true executive position within the company.

With that in mind, he cut straight to the point: “Sir, according to our company’s regulations, we can provide ordinary clients with financing up to 1 to 3 times their investment. The annual interest rate for margin trading ranges from 8.5% to 10.6%. Interest is not charged on the day of purchase or on holidays, but it is calculated on the day of sale…”

“Mr. Billy, we’ve come here with the sincere intention of partnering with your company, and we hope to see that same sincerity in return. After all, clients with 2 billion in capital are a rare find!” Li Yi said calmly.

Billy clenched his teeth and said, “Within my authority, I can extend the leverage to a maximum of 5 times. You can trade 10 billion yuan with a 2 billion yuan margin. But as you know, this carries significant risk, so we must strictly enforce margin calls…”

Before Billy could finish, Li Yi spoke up again: “No need to explain any further. I’m satisfied with the five-to-one leverage. What’s the interest rate on the margin loan?”

“I can get it down to 6% at most. Anything lower is beyond my authority!” Billy said.

Li Yi thought for a moment; a 6% annual interest rate wasn’t particularly high.

Based on 5x leverage, their financing amount would be $8 billion. At that annual interest rate, their daily cost of capital would be $1.33 million.

Since they would need to use the funds for about a month, the total cost of capital would be roughly $40 million—which was slightly less than what Li Yi had anticipated in Hong Kong.

With that in mind, Li Yi immediately said, “Alright, if there are no issues, we can sign the contract right now!”

“That fast?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Not really, but since this is a rather large investment, I need to report it to management…”

“How long will that take?”

“Two days!”

Li Yi glanced at his watch and said, “I can only give you two hours. If we don’t have a decision within two hours, we’ll have to look for another company!”

“Well… well… I’ll do my best!”

Billy then asked Li Yi and the others to wait in his office for a moment while he hurried upstairs!

Thief Eagle. New York International Airport!

As the plane slowly descended from the sky, Li Yi’s heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled. Lan Xinyi, Li Yunbao, and the other dozen or so staff members traveling with him all wore expressions of having narrowly escaped death.

Recalling what had just happened, everyone was still shaken to the core!

Ever since they decided to come to Thief Eagle to short gold, Li Yi, Li Futiao, and the others had quickly begun preparations: first assembling a team, handling various visas and formalities, and transferring funds, among other tasks.

With the assistance of Li Futao, a local insider, all preparations were completed swiftly, and the funds were successfully transferred from Hong Kong to Thief Eagle.

And so, on November 3, Li Yi and his team officially boarded their flight to Thief Eagle!

This “home invasion” team was personally led by Li Yi. In addition to Lan Xinyi and Cai Bingyan, the 12-member team included Li Yunbao and Zhou Xinghua.

Their destination was the Thief Eagle International Financial Center in New York, home to the world’s largest gold futures market.

However, since there were no direct flights from Hong Kong Island to New York, they had to fly first to the West Coast city of San Francisco and then transfer to a flight bound for New York.

The journey from Hong Kong Island to San Francisco was uneventful; though a bit tiring, it went smoothly.

However, upon arriving in San Francisco, Li Yi and the others realized that this was the season when hurricanes were rampant in the area.

Over the past month or so, the ubiquitous hurricanes had already caused multiple disasters in the area, resulting in countless casualties.

Due to the hurricanes, San Francisco had canceled numerous flights to destinations across the United States for two consecutive days.

It wasn’t until November 6 that the local aviation authorities announced that flights had resumed.

With only two days left before the international gold price dropped, Li Yi and his group immediately rushed to buy tickets and flew to New York upon receiving the notice.

However, shortly after takeoff, the plane encountered the hurricane and nearly crashed.

Fortunately, the captain was an experienced pilot, and with the co-pilot’s assistance, he managed to regain control of the aircraft after a tremendous struggle.

Although the plane eventually landed safely at New York International Airport, more than a hundred passengers, including Li Yi, were terrified; many were still shaking as they disembarked.

Once they were off the plane and their feet were firmly planted on the ground, Li Yunbao said, still shaken: “It feels so good to be on solid ground. When we were in danger up there, I was on the verge of despair!”

Lan Xinyi, her face equally pale, added, “That’s right. On the ground, we can still find ways to avoid suspicion, but once we’re up in the air, we’re completely at the mercy of fate!”

As soon as the two spoke, the others chimed in, sharing their own feelings:

“That hurricane was terrifying. When the plane hit it, I felt like it was about to be torn apart!”

“You’re absolutely right. I thought I was going to die right there. I was even thinking about what to say in my last words to my wife and kids back home.”

“You still had the presence of mind to think about that? I was so scared I went blank—my mind went completely blank…”

……..

Listening to everyone chime in with their innermost feelings—their words filled with the lingering fear and relief of having narrowly escaped death—everyone’s faces looked grim.

Just then, Zhou Xinghua, the leader of the Far East Association delegation, smiled and said, “Everyone, don’t be like this. I think this is a good omen—we should all be happy!”

Li Yunbao immediately asked in confusion, “Brother Zhou, what do you mean by that? How can you call this a good omen after we’ve been through such a dangerous ordeal?”

Zhou Xinghua smiled and said, “We have an old saying: ‘Those who survive a great calamity are sure to have good fortune in the future.’ The fact that we’ve escaped death this time foreshadows that our wishes will surely come true and our dreams will be realized!”

Hearing this, smiles involuntarily spread across everyone’s faces.

Seeing this, Li Yi couldn’t help but nod.

Assistant Zhou truly lived up to his reputation as Old Li’s most trusted right-hand man; setting aside everything else, his leadership skills alone were truly exceptional.

With his assistance on this trip, things should go much more smoothly.

“Brother Yi, you didn’t seem scared at all just now. Aren’t you afraid of dying?” Li Yunbao asked Li Yi.

As soon as he said this, everyone else in the room turned their gaze toward Li Yi.

Li Yi smiled and said, “How could I not be afraid? But what good would fear do? I can’t control the weather, and I don’t know how to fly a plane. Rather than panicking and screaming like everyone else, I’d rather trust the pilot to get us out of this danger!”

Zhou Xinghua immediately chimed in, “Mr. Li truly is a man of great deeds. That composure and calmness are truly admirable!”

“What composure and calmness? It’s just the helplessness of leaving things to fate!”

Li Yi then changed the subject and said, “Alright, that’s all in the past. Let’s not dwell on it anymore. We should hurry to the city and find a place to stay first!”

He knew full well that gold prices would begin to fall gradually the day after tomorrow, yet they hadn’t even found a broker yet, let alone signed a contract or opened a position.

So, they really didn’t have much time left!

“Mr. Li, I called the Green brothers before boarding the plane. They said they’d be here to pick us up. We should head out as soon as possible!” Zhou Xinghua said.

“Alright…”

Then, led by Zhou Xinghua, the group headed out of the airport.

Soon, they met up with the people there to pick them up at the terminal exit and got into their car!

………

Manhattan. Wall Street!

Inside a towering office building, Li Yi met their business partner for this trip, Reggie Green.

He was the owner of Green Brothers Securities and a close friend of Li Futao!

Prior to this, they had already settled into their accommodations—a private estate located on Manhattan Island.

The estate belonged to Reggie Green, who had lent it to Li Yi and his group as a favor to Li Fuzhao.

Furthermore, at Li Fuzhao’s request, Green Brothers Securities would be fully involved in this gold short-selling investment venture.

Of course, they were only responsible for providing the trading team; they would not invest any capital nor participate in profit sharing.

Once the trade was completed, Li Yi and his team would simply pay the service fee as per standard cooperation terms, making them the first partners for Li Yi’s trip to New York.

After some small talk, Reggie Green shifted the conversation to the partnership. Speaking directly in English, he said, “Li, I understand the purpose of your visit. I’ve already assembled our company’s top-tier team for you, and they’ll cooperate fully with you!”

Although Li Yi could understand English, he didn’t speak up. Instead, he waited for Li Yunbao to translate before replying in Mandarin, “Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Green. May I meet the team here?”

“Of course!”

Reggie Green then picked up the phone on his desk, dialed a number, and after a brief conversation, hung up.

Within minutes, a middle-aged man walked in accompanied by nine elite white professionals.

Li Yi exchanged a few brief words with the leader, Mr. George, then turned to Reggie Green and said, “I’m very satisfied with this team. We can sign the contract now!”

In truth, as far as Li Yi was concerned, as long as they were a professional trading team, it didn’t matter whether they were top-tier or not.

After all, Li Yi had his own detailed plan and didn’t need any advice from them.

If it weren’t for the fact that Lan Xinyi and the others didn’t understand the local rules, Li Yi wouldn’t have bothered to hire a local team at all.

Seeing that Li Yi had no further requests, Reggie Green immediately produced the prepared contract and handed it to him.

Li Yi couldn’t make heads or tails of such a highly technical English contract, so he handed it straight to Li Yunbao.

After a thorough review, Li Yunbao found no issues, and Li Yi and Reggie Green proceeded to sign the contract.

With that, the trading team for the gold short position was finalized.

Given the urgency of the situation, after signing the contract, Li Yi made another request to Reggie Green…

……..

Suburbs. Villa

Just as Li Yi and Old Li were at the Li family estate discussing how to smash the golden platter and steal from the Zhai family, several fair-haired, blue-eyed foreigners were gathering in a lavish villa on the outskirts of Hong Kong Island.

As core members of the British-owned conglomerate, they had all gathered specifically because of Li Yi’s sudden appearance.

On the spacious terrace of the estate villa, five elderly white men sat around a round table, with several bottles of expensive red wine and a few simple dishes laid out on it.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in his fifties sitting at the edge of the table spoke with a grave expression: “Sir, that young man from across the strait has come to Hong Kong again. Are you aware of this?”

The elderly white man in the center gently swirled the wine in his glass before replying calmly, “Hans just called to tell me.”

“Sir, what should we do now? Should we halt our operations against Starry Sky Corporation?”

“Why should we stop?”

“Sir, I’m worried…”

Before he could finish, the Duke cut him off coldly: “Smith, he’s just a Chinese man. Why are you so flustered? No matter how capable he is, this is still the territory of the British Empire. It’s not his place to strut around here!”

Smith fell silent for a few seconds, then spoke again: “Sir, you’re right—this is indeed our territory. I’m just worried that the arrival of that young man might interfere with our operation to hunt down that traitor, Li Jiuying!”

“Do you think that young man would help Li? They have a deep-seated grudge against each other,” the Jazz said, frowning.

Smith replied in a low voice, “But they’ve already made peace. Besides, there’s an old Chinese saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As far as they’re concerned, we’re their common enemy—they might very well join forces!”

No sooner had he finished speaking than another elderly white man nearby chimed in, “Smith is right. If that young man knew what had been happening lately, he’d most likely side with the Li family.”

“Because the Chinese are accustomed to prioritizing the greater good and understand the principle that ‘when the lips are gone, the teeth feel the cold’—just as they did thirty years ago when they sent troops to North Korea, even at the cost of confronting the entire Western world!”

However, the Jazz said with a look of disdain, “The outcome is already decided. What difference would that young man make? Unless he can help the Li family secure a supply route, no one can save them!”

Seeing the confident look on the Jazz’s face, the few people around him all fell silent.

To take down Li Jiuying, they had mobilized vast resources over the past month—not only cutting off all of the Li family’s gold supply but even going so far as to buy up nearly half of the gold financial products on the market.

Yet even so, the Li family had still not yielded. More importantly, not a single one of their 36 gold shops in Hong Kong Island City had closed.

Consequently, the others present were nowhere near as confident as the Duke.

More importantly, if the Li family alone was this difficult to deal with, adding a young man who was even more troublesome to the mix left them with even less confidence in victory.

Moreover, compared to Lai Jiuying, that young man’s tactics were even more terrifying; they had suffered crushing defeats in several confrontations.

Right now, the young man’s Starry Sky Company held tens of billions in capital—a strength sufficient to threaten their businesses on Hong Kong Island. Even with the Governor on their side, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

“Sir, that young man is a genius with extraordinary business acumen. According to intelligence our people have sent back from the mainland, the prize-based sales model currently sweeping the nation is his brainchild. To go up against such a genius, we must be on high alert!” Smith said.

Hearing this and recalling the young man’s recent moves on Hong Kong Island, everyone instinctively nodded in agreement.

“Indeed. Evidence suggests that Starry Sky has already sold off all its gold securities. This single investment in gold alone has netted them tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars. Such foresight and capability are truly formidable!”

“In a business competition, it’s indeed very difficult for us to defeat him…”

Just then, Smith suddenly spoke up: “Gentlemen, that young man appeared at Star Corporation out of nowhere, yet our informants at Customs have found no record of him entering the territory. It’s possible he didn’t enter Hong Kong through official channels. Could we use this opportunity to investigate him?”

“Are you suggesting we use the Governor’s Office to take him down?” the Jazz asked, furrowing his brow.

“Yes. As long as he can’t produce proof of entry, we can charge him with illegal entry…”

Before he could finish, the Jazz shook his head and said, “No!”

“Why?”

The Jazz replied in a grave tone, “Negotiations with the mainland have recently reached an impasse. Reports indicate they’re prepared to retake Hong Kong Island by force—all they need now is a plausible pretext.”

“Sir, are you suggesting this young man did this on purpose…”

Before he could finish, the Chief Executive cut him off: “Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, we cannot give them this opportunity. Therefore, our conflict with Starry Sky Corporation must be resolved through commercial means. The Governor’s Office absolutely must not get involved—at least not publicly!”

Upon hearing this, the room fell silent!

Defeating that young man through business means alone was simply beyond their capabilities!

Noticing the heavy atmosphere, the Jazz said calmly, “That young man does have some business acumen, but he is not invincible!”

“Sir, do you have a plan to deal with that young man?”

“Previously, we underestimated him, which is why we gave him an opening. From now on, we must focus all our efforts on dealing with that young man and his Starry Sky Company!”

The Duke continued, “First, all members of the British Capital Group are prohibited from collaborating with Starry Sky Corporation—especially the banking sector. Whether they seek financing, loans, or any other business, we must refuse them outright.”

“Second, inform all our partner companies that they must choose between us and Starry Sky.”

“Sir, are you planning to blacklist Starry Sky across the entire industry?”

The Jazz replied calmly, “It’s too late to completely shut them down now, and it wouldn’t be very effective. This move is meant to signal our stance to Hong Kong Island’s high society! While we can’t completely eliminate them, we can isolate Starry Company to a certain extent.”

“Furthermore, while we can’t target Star Company directly, we can go after the people around him—especially that Huang at the Wan Chai Pier. You could say he’s that young man’s Achilles’ heel in Hong Kong!”

Smith nodded and said, “That’s indeed a good idea. We’ve already set a few traps for that Huang, and it’s time to make our move!”

The Duke immediately said, “Smith, contact the other members on my behalf and instruct them to strictly adhere to the bottom line—under no circumstances are they to cooperate with Huang’s people.”

“Also, have the Governor’s Office step in to continue rigorous inspections of Huang’s fleet and casinos. If any issues are found, show no mercy.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Also, didn’t you guys make contact with Jiang’s people a while back? How’s that going?”

“They’re willing to cooperate with us, but they’re wary of Huang’s power. So I’ve sent men from the Black Dragon Hall to work with them. As soon as the timing is right, the two groups can work together from the inside and outside to completely wipe out Huang’s forces!” Smith said.

“Good. Speed up the operation. Once Huang is taken out, that young man will be as good as having one arm cut off!” the Jazz said coldly.

“Yes, I’ll make the arrangements right away…”

……….

Hong Kong. Li Family Estate!

When Li Yi arrived, Li Futi was handling work in his study. Upon learning of Li Yi’s arrival, he immediately came downstairs to greet him.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two returned to the study on the second floor.

As soon as they entered the room, Li Futiao said with a smile, “Brother Li Yi, your presence is truly unmatched—you’ve already intimidated quite a few people just by showing up.”

“Oh, really?”

“Just a moment ago, I received seven or eight calls in a row, all asking about you. Quite a few were from people at the British-owned conglomerate. Hearing the panic in their voices, I couldn’t help but laugh!” Li Fuzhao said.

Li Yi immediately laughed and said, “You make it sound like I’m some kind of monster. I’m a law-abiding citizen, not one of those ‘floods and beasts’!”

“Haha, in some people’s eyes, you’re far more terrifying than any flood or beast. They’d rather provoke those floods and beasts than cross you!” Li Futao said.

Thinking back on Li Yi’s actions over the past few months, Li Futiao could only describe him with one phrase—utterly ruthless!

Every time Li Yi struck, he would leave his opponents in tatters, and always caught completely off guard.

As expected, the British-funded group had fallen into another trap this time—they just didn’t know it yet.

Running into an opponent like this was just plain bad luck!

Li Yi shook his head with a smile and said, “That’s because they’ve done too many unscrupulous things—they’ve got a guilty conscience!”

“Hahaha, that’s certainly true!”

After a moment of lighthearted banter, Li Yi immediately steered the conversation back to business: “Old Li, I came over this time to talk to you about shorting gold…”

Before he could finish, Li Futiao’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, “Can we move forward?”

Ever since Li Yi mentioned a few days ago that he was planning to short gold, Li Fuzhao had been making preparations.

He was well aware of Li Yi’s investment prowess—whether it was shorting the Hang Seng Index earlier or later investing in gold and predicting the depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar, his predictions had always been spot-on.

So, he didn’t want to miss this opportunity to short gold.

However, Li Yi had gone silent after mentioning it that day, which had left Li Fuzhao feeling a bit anxious.

He hadn’t expected good news to come so suddenly; from the sound of it, Li Yi was ready to make his move.

“Well, Starry Sky has already recovered its funds and is ready to act at any moment. It all depends on how prepared you are,” Li Yi said.

“I’ve been raising funds these past few days. I’ve already secured 300 million USD, and if that’s not enough, I can raise another 100 million!”

Li Futiao continued, “Also, the team heading to Thief Eagle is all set—we’re just waiting for your order!”

“Alright, let’s get ready and fly straight to Thief Eagle. We don’t have much time left!”

Li Yi recalled that in his previous life, international gold prices began to fall on November 8. The decline was modest at first, but after November 15, prices suddenly plummeted.

Therefore, if they wanted to sell the gold at its peak, they had to reach an agreement with the brokerage firm there before November 8th.

“Brother Li Yi, are you planning to go to Thief Eagle yourself?”

“Yes! I don’t really trust anyone else!” Li Yi replied honestly.

With the safety of billions of dollars at stake, Li Yi dared not entrust the matter to anyone else.

So for this gold short-selling operation, he planned to go there in person to oversee the operation.

“Alright, I won’t be going this time. Take Yunbao with you—let him gain some experience!” Li Fu said.

“Alright, but Old Li, you know my status. I’m worried Thief Eagle’s customs might deny me entry, so I’ll need your help with the paperwork!” Li Yi said.

“No problem. I’ll arrange group entry for you under the pretext of business expansion. You’ll travel to Thief Eagle as an employee of the Li family!”

“Great!”

Li Futiao continued, “Also, we have partnerships with several securities firms in Thief Eagle. I’ll ask our contacts there to assist you. With their help, things should go much more smoothly!”

“Sounds good!”

“By the way, Brother Li Yi, I’ve already contacted the media outlets you asked me to reach out to. When do you plan to make your move?” Li Futao asked again.

Li Yi first pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Li Futiao, then said, “This is my market-crashing plan. Just follow the instructions on here when the time comes!”

“But we can’t act just yet. Otherwise, it might trigger a chain reaction and affect our operations with Zaiying.”

Li Fuzhao glanced at Li Yi’s plan and asked, “So when do you want to…”

Before Li Futiao could finish, Li Yi cut in, “We’ll wait until we’re at Thief Eagle’s place and have finished shorting gold before taking action. We’ll stay in touch via telegram then!”

“Alright!”

Li Futao then chuckled, “If gold prices really plummet this time, those guys at the British-funded conglomerate are going to be in tears!”

According to information the Li family had gathered, the Lin family and the British-funded conglomerate backing them had not only acquired over 9 tons of physical gold but had also purchased gold financial products worth nearly 10 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Such a massive sum would strain even the deep-pocketed British-funded conglomerate; reportedly, Jardine Matheson has already borrowed 2 billion from banks.

If gold prices were to crash, their losses would run into the tens of billions!

More importantly, Li Futao had just reviewed Li Yi’s plan. With his keen insight, he immediately recognized that this plan was clearly a trump card designed to prevent the British-funded conglomerate from exiting the market prematurely.

Clearly, Li Yi was concerned that members of the British-funded groups might get wind of the impending gold price drop early on, leading them to cut their losses and exit the market promptly. That’s why he devised this market-crashing plan.

According to Li Yi’s plan, he intended to have Banbanhaobang issue a warning to all investors across Hong Kong before the international gold price collapsed, making it clear to everyone that the price was about to fall.

At that point, everyone would rush to sell off their gold financial products. Under such circumstances, even if members of the British-funded group wanted to cut their losses and exit the market, there would likely be no one willing to step in and buy their shares.

After all, everyone would know the price was about to drop—only a fool would enter the market at that moment.

Moreover, the total value of the physical gold and financial products they held amounted to over 10 billion Hong Kong dollars. Even if someone wanted to buy the dip during the price crash, they wouldn’t be able to absorb such a massive volume.

In this way, Li Yi has completely cut off the British-funded group’s escape route.

As expected, the British-owned group is in for a major fall this time.

Li Yi, however, said in a flat tone, “I’m not the type to hold a grudge over every little thing, but I’m also not the kind of person who takes a punch without throwing one back. Since those bastards dared to lay a hand on me and my people, they should be prepared for the consequences.”

Li Futao smiled and said, “The fact that the Duke and Smith and the others provoked you is absolutely the biggest mistake of their lives!”

“Haha, they certainly won’t see it that way. The Anglo-Saxon arrogance ingrained in their very bones will lead them to believe that I—or even the world itself—is the one in the wrong, not them!” Li Yi said with a laugh.

“You’re right—those bastards might actually think that way. I have no idea what goes on in their heads!” Li Futiao said.

“We can’t control what they think. Right now, I’m taking my men to raid the Thief Eagle’s base, and you stay in Hong Kong to crash the market. Let’s join forces and teach these scumbags a lesson!” Li Yi said.

“Alright, let’s work together!”

“Let’s work together…”

……….

The moment Zhao Xinlan stood up, she captured the attention of everyone in the room.

In fact, it wasn’t just Li Yi who wanted to know the company’s financial status—everyone else did too.

Everyone knew the company had been making money lately, but exactly how much—only Zhao Xinlan, the CFO, knew.

Despite being watched by so many people, Zhao Xinlan didn’t seem the least bit nervous.

She cleared her throat and said in a clear, confident voice, “Boss, we’ve compiled the financial report for October. As of the end of October, the company has raised a total of 5.3 billion Hong Kong dollars. Combined with your personal funds and those of Vice President Huang, the company’s total capital has reached 8.7 billion Hong Kong dollars!”

“However, this does not include the assets from the real estate projects. Since the real estate division is funded by your and Vice President Huang’s personal capital—even though the company currently manages it on your behalf—its finances operate independently. I will present a separate report on that division’s financial status to you later.”

“Alright, let’s start with the situation at Starry Sky,” Li Yi said.

Zhao Xinlan nodded and continued, “Over the past three months, our company’s total investment profits exceeded HK$7.7 billion. During this period, our employee salaries totaled HK$1.75 million, insurance premiums amounted to HK$350,000, and utility and telephone expenses came to HK$20,000…”

Before she could finish, Li Yi interrupted again, “Manager Zhao, there’s no need for such a detailed report. Just tell me how much cash we have on hand and how much of it is available for use!”

Zhao Xinlan hurriedly replied, “Currently, our company has a total of 15.318 billion Hong Kong dollars in available funds!”

At those words, everyone in the conference room couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.

Wow, everyone knew the company had made a killing investing in gold recently, but they never expected the funds on the books to be this massive. Probably not even the British Hong Kong government has that much money!

But just then, Zhao Xinlan changed the subject and continued, “However, since most of the principal for our gold investments was borrowed from banks—amounting to approximately 7.15 billion Hong Kong dollars in principal and interest—and we need to set aside 16.5% for taxes, the funds we can actually access right now are only 6.82 billion Hong Kong dollars!”

No sooner had Zhao Xinlan finished speaking than the conference room erupted in enthusiastic applause once more.

Everyone understood that the 6.82 billion Hong Kong dollars Zhao Xinlan mentioned represented the company’s net profit over the past few months.

In other words, they had generated 6.8 billion in net profit in just three months.

More importantly, the majority of the principal for these investments had been borrowed by the company through various secured loans—this was nothing short of making a fortune out of thin air!

Of course, borrowing funds comes with costs, but compared to profits in the tens of billions, that interest was a drop in the bucket—hardly worth mentioning.

No one knew how to describe their feelings at that moment—this went far beyond simply making money; even a robbery couldn’t have been this fast.

After the applause died down, the company’s legal department and administrative office each delivered detailed reports on their respective operations.

Once all department heads had finished their reports, Li Yi cleared his throat and said, “It’s clear that everyone has done an excellent job recently. The company’s profits have exceeded expectations. Thank you all for your hard work.”

“To thank everyone for their hard work during this period, in addition to the real estate project, all employees will receive three months’ salary as a bonus this month. All department heads will receive a bonus of 200,000 yuan each, and deputy heads 150,000 yuan. The finance department should implement this as soon as possible…”

“Clap, clap, clap!!!”

The conference room erupted in another round of enthusiastic applause!

Although everyone knew that Li Yi, their boss, wasn’t a stingy person, and that with the company’s profits being so high this time, he was bound to show his appreciation.

But no one expected Banbanhaobang to be so generous—ordinary employees were given four months’ salary outright, while managers’ bonuses were raised to 200,000 yuan, dozens of times their regular pay.

Admittedly, this was a drop in the bucket compared to the billions in profits they had generated.

But they were well aware that these profits didn’t all belong to the company—most of it went to the investors.

Besides, the main reason the project succeeded was that the plan devised by their big boss, Li Yi, was flawless. While they had contributed, their role wasn’t as significant as they might have imagined.

They were already quite satisfied that the boss was willing to set aside so much money for bonuses.

The continuous applause echoing from the office drew frequent glances from the employees outside, who couldn’t help but cast curious looks in their direction.

As the applause died down, Li Yi spoke again: “Our achievements deserve recognition, but we can’t let our guard down just yet. The end of the year is fast approaching, and we need to make some arrangements for the work ahead!”

Upon hearing this, everyone in the conference room turned their gaze toward Li Yi.

“Manager Lan, your Investment Management Department needs to come up with a new investment proposal as soon as possible and submit it to me for review!”

“Yes, sir!” Lan Xinyi replied immediately.

“The Administration Department has two tasks ahead. First, you must urge the Real Estate Project Department to complete the project near the Hong Kong-British Government building as soon as possible, then find a suitable company to handle the renovations. We need to move into the new headquarters as soon as possible—this location is no longer suitable for our company!”

Li Yi continued, “Second, step up your recruitment efforts. The company has major plans for next year, and our current staff is nowhere near enough. You need to hire at least 200 more people!”

“Yes, sir!”

“The Finance Department also has two tasks. First, convert all funds in the company’s accounts into US dollars and deposit them into the designated bank. I’ll discuss the specifics with you privately later!”

Li Yi then added, “The second task is to refine the financial statements we just reviewed. In a few days, we’ll hold a press conference to announce our company’s financial results!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Ding Can, your office needs to immediately draft a plan for the press conference. Schedule it for next Tuesday or later, and make sure to invite every media outlet we can get our hands on!”

“Yes!”

Upon hearing that Li Yi was going to hold a press conference to announce the company’s financial data, everyone was as excited as if they’d been injected with adrenaline.

Lately, those unscrupulous media outlets on the island had been running wild, smearing Li Yi while he was away.

Since they hadn’t received orders from Li Yi, Lan Xinyi and the others had no choice but to swallow their anger and exercise restraint. Even though their investments had been extremely profitable, in the eyes of those scumbag media outlets, Starry Sky Corporation was nothing—a fact that left them all feeling incredibly frustrated.

Now that the boss was finally striking back, everyone was thrilled, eagerly anticipating the satisfying moment when those critics would be thoroughly humiliated!

After going over these matters, Li Yi immediately adjourned the meeting, but kept Zhao Xinlan behind.

Li Yi first inquired about the status of the real estate project. Upon learning that the project, originally valued at 1 billion yuan, had now shrunk to less than 600 million yuan, Li Yi couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.

A stock market crash had completely shattered confidence in Hong Kong’s real estate industry. In less than four months, property prices had plummeted by over 50%, and the total market value had shrunk by more than 60%.

More importantly, Li Yi knew this was not the final bottom; barring any surprises, such a plunge would likely continue for nearly another year.

Only after China and the UK reached an agreement on the issue of sovereignty, and the public gained sufficient confidence in the security situation here, would the local real estate market have a chance to rebound.

So for now, real estate projects could only continue to pour money into them slowly; there was no point in thinking about making a profit.

After getting a grasp of the basic situation regarding the real estate project, Li Yi immediately asked Zhao Xinlan about the specific regulations governing the movement of large sums of money in and out of Hong Kong Island.

After familiarizing himself with the relevant laws and regulations, he immediately called Li Futiao and then headed straight for the Li family estate…

……….

Downtown. Yuanhua Tower!

Early in the morning, all employees of Star Company received an order from the office to assemble immediately on the ground floor of the building, for reasons unknown.

Upon receiving this order, over a hundred employees quickly gathered downstairs and formed neat lines under the direction of their respective supervisors.

Their situation, however, also attracted quite a bit of attention!

After all, there were quite a few people in Hong Kong keeping a close eye on Star Company at the moment—some were even monitoring the situation around the clock.

It couldn’t be helped—this company and the person behind it were simply too formidable. Their past moves had been nothing short of earth-shattering, leaving everyone in awe.

Especially since that person had been sent over from the mainland, which naturally filled the British colonial government and British-owned conglomerates with suspicion and hostility toward him.

No one can sleep soundly with a stranger in their bed. Having such a powerful and ill-intentioned adversary firmly entrenched on one’s own turf would make anyone restless, wouldn’t it?

More importantly, even though they knew Li Yi was from the mainland, they couldn’t take action against him—after all, the other side was just waiting for an excuse to strike!

Consequently, for the British colonial government, Li Yi and Starry Sky Company were a problem they couldn’t attack or eliminate, yet they had to remain constantly vigilant against any trouble they might stir up.

To avoid being caught off guard, they had no choice but to keep a constant watch on Star Company.

Although this is a bit of a hassle, it’s the safer bet!

However, over the past month or two, Star Company has kept a very low profile. Aside from investing in gold, they’ve spent their time managing the real estate projects they’ve recently taken over, with no other notable moves.

They hadn’t even paid attention to the news reports in the newspapers, which had given certain people some relief.

But early this morning, they suddenly pulled off such a massive operation, leaving many secretly wondering what on earth had happened.

In fact, it wasn’t just the people tailing them who were puzzled; the employees inside Star Company were also curious. Why had their superiors suddenly called them all together? This was the first time since the company opened!

The answer was revealed soon enough!

When Lan Xinming, the head of the administrative department, announced that the gathering was primarily to welcome an important figure, many guessed that the big boss, Li Yi, might be arriving.

Throughout Starry Sky Corporation, CEO Li Yi is the undisputed figurehead—a status even Vice President Huang Lixing cannot match.

The only person besides the Governor of Hong Kong who could command a full-staff line-up to welcome him was undoubtedly the CEO, Li Yi.

Since the Governor certainly wouldn’t visit their company, the answer was practically staring them in the face.

No one knew who first voiced this guess, but in an instant, everyone in the company was buzzing with excitement. They all looked up eagerly, glancing from time to time toward the road in the distance.

All the employees of Star Company held CEO Li Yi in both respect and admiration, but above all, they were filled with gratitude.

On the one hand, Li Yi had personally selected most of them from among thousands of applicants, so it was no exaggeration to say they owed him a debt of gratitude for recognizing their potential.

On the other hand, the company had been open and transparent about its gold investments, so many employees followed suit and invested as well upon hearing the news.

When the company quietly offloaded its holdings over the past few days, they all chose to sell as well, and quite a few made a substantial profit.

Furthermore, Star Company’s salary levels were undoubtedly among the highest in the industry, so even though the employees knew Li Yi was from across the strait, they held him in high regard.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, a convoy of vehicles came into view.

Soon, the convoy pulled up in front of Yuanhua Tower.

The car doors opened, and Li Yi stepped out, flanked by several bodyguards.

Upon seeing Li Yi, the company employees spontaneously began clapping, and in an instant, the scene erupted in thunderous applause!

Li Yi immediately waved to all the employees present and gave a slight bow to express his gratitude.

Having the employees line up to welcome him was Li Yi’s idea. Since he had sold off all his gold and financial products, there was no need for him to continue hiding his whereabouts.

By coming to the company today and having all the employees line up to welcome him, he intended to send a clear message to those with ulterior motives: I, Li Yi, am back!

Just as Li Yi had anticipated, when he made his high-profile appearance at Star Company, those who had been secretly tailing him were stunned. They rushed to report this shocking news to their respective masters.

And the people behind them were also startled upon receiving the news.

We haven’t heard anything about that big shot entering the country—how did he suddenly show up at Yuanhua Tower?

And besides, this guy suddenly arrived on Hong Kong Island without a trace—what is he up to now?

Over the past three months, this guy has come to Hong Kong twice. The first time, he shorted the Hang Seng Index, raking in over 4 billion Hong Kong dollars and directly triggering a stock market crash that left the vast majority of investors with massive losses!

The second time he came here was to settle a score with Huang Lixing. In less than ten days, he brought down the Lai family—a clan with assets worth over a billion—and, in the process, thoroughly humiliated the British-owned conglomerate.

Right now, the British-owned conglomerate is focusing all its efforts on dealing with the “traitor” and cleaning house. With him returning to Hong Kong Island at this very moment, could it possibly be related to this?

In an instant, Hong Kong’s high society was abuzz with speculation, and everyone’s attention was riveted by the news…

……..

Stellar Corporation. Conference Room!

In the cramped, confined room, more than a dozen company executives had gathered.

From his seat at the head of the table, Li Yi surveyed the room and said, “Everyone has worked hard in my absence.”

“I hear our gold investment project has wrapped up, so I’m here today for two main reasons. First, I want to get an update on the company’s progress during this period, and second, to map out our future investment strategy. Now, please give your reports one by one, starting with the Investment Management Department!”

Upon hearing Li Yi’s words, Lan Xinyi didn’t hesitate; she stood up immediately.

She then produced a document and stated directly, “Boss, the gold investment project has now been successfully concluded. According to our Investment Management Department’s statistics, we invested 7.1 billion Hong Kong dollars in this project and have currently recovered 14.642 billion, resulting in a return on investment of 206%…”

Before she had even finished speaking, the conference room erupted in enthusiastic applause that lasted for quite some time!

As the applause subsided, Li Yi spoke again: “Continue!”

“In addition to the gold project, another investment we’ve made is also performing exceptionally well. As the Hong Kong dollar continues to depreciate due to international market fluctuations, our U.S. dollar deposit business has appreciated by 42%!”

Lan Xinyi then added, “However, since we’ve invested in one-year terms, this project isn’t yet complete, so the final outcome remains to be seen!”

After Lan Xinyi finished her report, Lan Xinming, the head of the administrative department sitting next to her, immediately stood up and said, “Boss, over the past few months, our administrative department has conducted two rounds of recruitment. Currently, the company has 147 employees, all of whom are highly educated professionals with work experience.”

“At the same time, we’ve established a real estate project department and conducted background checks and vetting on the personnel involved in the real estate projects. We’ve incorporated 38 managers and 428 frontline staff into our company’s employee system. Currently, the total number of employees in our company has exceeded 600!”

“Excellent. You’ve done a very thorough job. I’m very satisfied!”

Li Yi then turned his gaze to Zhao Xinlan, the finance manager, sitting beside him!

Compared to the Investment Management Department and the Administrative Department, what Li Yi was most eager to understand was the company’s financial status.

Upon catching Li Yi’s gaze, Zhao Xinlan immediately stood up with composure…

………

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!

On the evening of October 26, right after the Lin family and Li Futao’s people completed the final gold transaction worth 45 million US dollars, Li Yi had Huang Lixing bring Lan Xinyi to the Li family’s small villa for a secret meeting.

The purpose of this meeting was primarily for Li Yi to understand the company’s current operational status and formulate a plan of action for the next phase.

According to Lan Xinyi’s report, Starry Sky Company was thriving. The assets under management of its Da Hai Private Equity Fund had reached 7.9 billion Hong Kong dollars, an increase of 700 million Hong Kong dollars from two months prior.

Of this amount, 7.2 billion had been converted into U.S. dollars as per Li Yi’s instructions and deposited in major banks, earning interest while awaiting the dollar’s appreciation to profit from the exchange rate differential.

Currently, as the international situation evolves, uncertainties and risks in Hong Kong are rising, directly leading to a severe depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar.

The current exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar and the U.S. dollar has risen from 5.06:1 two months ago to 7.12:1, representing a depreciation of over 40%.

In other words, if Star Company were to withdraw the US dollars deposited in the bank and convert them back into Hong Kong dollars, its profit would reach 40%.

This rate of return is staggering, surpassing nearly all financial products currently available on the market.

More importantly, the Hong Kong dollar’s depreciation continues unabated, with no signs of stopping, and no one knows how far it will fall.

In short, the greater the depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar, the more Star Company stands to gain.

In addition, the company has borrowed over 7 billion Hong Kong dollars from major banks using time deposits as collateral, and has invested all of it in gold financial products.

When they first purchased these assets, the international gold price was only $250–270 per ounce; later purchases were made at slightly higher prices, but still did not exceed $290 per ounce.

However, the international gold price has now soared to US$595 per ounce, and just a few days ago it even reached US$598.

A rough calculation shows that their profits from the gold project have now exceeded 7 billion Hong Kong dollars.

In light of this, Lan Xinyi decisively decided some time ago to quietly offload her holdings and gradually close out her positions.

After all, the value of the gold financial products they hold is simply too high, exceeding HK$14.5 billion.

With such a large holding, they can only sell off their positions gradually; they cannot dump the entire lot onto the market at once, as that would likely cause severe price volatility.

To date, under Lan Xinyi’s leadership, Starry Company has already sold over 7.5 billion Hong Kong dollars’ worth of gold financial products on the market.

Even so, they still hold over 7 billion Hong Kong dollars’ worth of financial products waiting to be sold.

Of course, the company has had both good and bad news. Aside from these positive developments, Lan Xinyi also shared two troubling matters with Li Yi.

The first issue was the smear campaign launched by the British-owned conglomerate against Li Yi personally and the company, which has had a significant negative impact on the company.

Since the British-owned conglomerate controls two-thirds of Hong Kong Island’s media—particularly several television stations with which they maintain close ties—they have been using their media influence to continuously slander and smear Li Yi.

Many investors, unaware of the truth, began to doubt Starry Sky after seeing these smear campaigns, which severely impacted the company’s operations.

Originally, in August and September, Star Company was able to attract three to four hundred million Hong Kong dollars in venture capital each month, showing very strong growth momentum.

However, since the start of October, it has raised only 150 million Hong Kong dollars, a decline of over 50%, which has caused Lan Xinyi and others great concern.

After all, as an investment firm, while investment profitability is certainly important, the amount of capital raised is equally crucial.

The company’s second major headache is the losses from its real estate projects!

The real estate projects they took over from the Li family some time ago have, without exception, seen their prices plummet due to the broader market conditions.

Although their acquisition price was low to begin with—they bought real estate projects worth 1 billion Hong Kong dollars for just 600 million—the 400 million profit has now been wiped out by the plummeting property prices.

Moreover, property prices continue to plummet. According to industry experts, prices must fall by at least another third from current levels before a rebound is possible.

In other words, if they don’t sell these real estate projects promptly, they will continue to incur losses in the future.

So, whether to cut their losses and exit or continue holding has become a dilemma facing everyone.

There is currently significant disagreement within the company regarding this matter.

Some argue for cutting losses and exiting the market promptly, citing the fact that property prices across Hong Kong Island are currently plummeting with no sign of a bottom or recovery in sight.

Furthermore, under the smear campaign by the British-owned conglomerate, the company’s seven current real estate projects have been dismissed as worthless; even if property prices rebound in the future, there may be no buyers willing to purchase them.

It would be better to sell them off now, before we lose our principal.

However, others believe we should hold on. After all, property prices have already fallen this far—how much lower can they possibly go?

Given that, it might be better to hold on and wait for prices to rebound.

With both sides firmly entrenched in their views and unable to persuade one another, the decision ultimately rests with Li Yi.

After assessing the situation, Li Yi immediately laid out the company’s next steps.

First, they must accelerate the sale of these financial products and ensure that all holdings are completely liquidated and exited by November 5.

However, the specific method of disposal would be determined upon his further notice.

Second, regarding real estate projects, you must continue to hold onto them and keep injecting capital to accelerate construction progress.

Don’t worry about losses—no matter how much money is lost, you must not stop!

When Li Yi took over the Li family’s real estate projects, he knew they wouldn’t turn a profit in the short term—at least not within the next two years.

But even so, he took them on.

On the one hand, they needed to send a message to the Li family at the time: spending 600 million HKD to acquire real estate worth 1 billion HKD was a way to teach Li Jiuying a lesson and vent Old Huang’s frustration.

On the other hand, Li Yi saw the potential in the Li family’s real estate holdings!

Li Jiuying actually had quite good business acumen; all seven of the Li family’s real estate projects were built in prime locations in the heart of the city.

In particular, the commercial CBD project near Lower Albert Road was especially coveted.

The area is already thriving now, but compared to what it will be in ten years, it’s still a far cry. After all, that location would later become the renowned Central District on Hong Kong Island—the absolute heart of the island.

Furthermore, don’t be fooled by the fact that property prices on Hong Kong Island have plummeted by half—it seems as though the real estate industry has fallen into decline overnight.

But this is merely a process of deflating the real estate bubble, and the decline is limited to ordinary residential properties; real estate projects in the true core areas remain highly sought after.

Most importantly, no company is willing to sell off these prime properties.

So, it’s okay to take a loss now; with core real estate projects like this that have such huge potential, you won’t be able to buy them even if you wave cash in the air later on.

After settling these matters, Li Yi spoke with Li Jiuying on the phone again.

This time, Li Yi instructed Li Jiuying to resume gold shipments starting tomorrow, increasing the daily volume from the current 50 kilograms to 100 kilograms, and to add another 50 kilograms each day thereafter.

Although she didn’t understand why Li Yi was doing this, Li Jiuying knew the time had come to strike back.

Immediately, he had the 1.1 tons of gold transported from the Wan Chai Pier back to his own warehouse and ordered all his gold shops to post notices announcing an increase in gold supply!

The moment this news from the Lai family broke, it caused quite a stir…

…….

On the evening of October 20, Li Yi received another call from Li Futiao—another five tons of gold had been successfully sold.

In this transaction, one side went to great lengths to lure the other into a trap, while the other couldn’t wait to walk right into it—their coordination was flawless!

Upon receiving the news, Li Yi was in high spirits!

A quick calculation showed that over the past few days, they had sold 6.5 tons of gold to the Lin family and the British-funded group—and that didn’t even include the small amounts sold by the Li Family Gold Shop.

In other words, they now had only about three tons of gold left to sell.

Plus, they needed to set aside a few hundred kilograms for Li Jiuying, so the actual amount left to sell was at most 2.5 tons—a significant relief.

Of course, Li Yi was still pondering how to offload these remaining 3 tons of gold.

For him right now, how to sell the gold wasn’t the main issue; what mattered was how to get a high price while also taking the opportunity to screw over those bastards at the British-owned Group.

On the morning of the 21st, news came in again from Li Futiao.

Under pressure from the He family, the Lin family had already shipped the gold, and all payments had been settled in full; the transaction between the two parties was officially complete.

Immediately, Li Yi called Li Jiuying and instructed him to reduce the daily gold shipments starting today—from the previous 100 kilograms to 80 kilograms, with a further reduction of 10 kilograms each day thereafter.

At the same time, Li Yi also instructed him to step up gold purchases and raise the buyback price once more, putting on a show of desperation and going all in.

In his words, this was a tactic of feigning weakness—he had to let the Lin family and the British-funded group behind them have their fun, after all, they had spent their money.

Only then would they jump into the trap he had set without hesitation the next time.

Li Jiuying didn’t hesitate and carried out the orders immediately.

Over the next few days, Li Yi didn’t take any further action; instead, he watched coldly as the Lin Family Gold Shop and the Li Family Gold Shop went head-to-head.

As the saying goes, haste makes waste. He needed to give the Lin family and the British-owned conglomerate some breathing room, lest these scoundrels catch on to anything unusual.

It’s like fishing: the best catch is a fish that’s never taken the bait before. Once a fish has taken the bait and gotten away, it’s much harder to catch next time.

People are the same—you learn from your mistakes. If these bastards grew wary this time, it would be much harder to take them down next time.

And things unfolded exactly as Li Yi had predicted. As the Li Family Gold Shop’s shipments dwindled, the Lin family and the British-backed group behind them grew increasingly smug.

In their view, the Li family was truly on the verge of collapse this time—after all, they only had a few hundred kilograms of gold reserves.

Even with the sales volume capped, they couldn’t hold out for much longer.

So, on one hand, they continued to send people to buy up large quantities of the gold the Li family was dumping; on the other hand, they used the newspapers they controlled to smear Li’s Gold Shop, claiming their campaign was merely a publicity stunt and lacked sincerity.

After all, the Li family operated 36 gold shops throughout the city, yet their daily sales amounted to only a few dozen kilograms of gold—averaging just one or two kilograms per shop.

Basically, as soon as the shops opened, the triad members arranged by the Lin family would arrive and, with a wave of cash, buy up the entire daily quota.

As for ordinary citizens, those who arrived early might be able to snag a piece or two of jewelry, but if they arrived even a little late, there would be nothing left.

The power of the media is immense. With those people setting the tone, ordinary citizens who didn’t know the full story also felt that the Li family’s event lacked sincerity.

Overnight, public dissatisfaction with the Li Family Gold Shop grew by the day. Every morning when the shop opened, as soon as the daily quota was sold out, a deluge of abuse would pour in.

The reputation of the Li family—and Li Jiuying personally—on Hong Kong Island was significantly tarnished.

Seeing this, those scoundrels—including the Lin family—were celebrating in triumph, each of them gloating uncontrollably.

In their eyes, the Lai family was already on its last legs.

They believed that if they could keep them cornered for just a little longer, the Li family’s gold shop would lose all credibility and eventually shut down for good.

With this in mind, nearly the entire British-owned group mobilized to block the Li family, fearing that Li Jiuying might secure supplies through other channels.

To counter them, Li Jiuying worked day and night to secure new supply channels, even making a personal trip to Macau.

Li Jiuying’s trip to Macau was primarily to visit the Xie family, a giant in the gold retail industry, in the hope of purchasing a batch of gold from them at a premium price.

To provoke the Lin family and the British-owned group, Li Jiuying directly offered the Xie family an astronomical price of 22.8 million US dollars per ton.

This price wasn’t just high—it was absurdly high.

Currently, the international gold price was only $598 per ounce, but based on the price Li Jiuying offered, it equated to $645 per ounce—a full $47 more than the international market rate.

Buying at such a high price would certainly yield no profit; on the contrary, it would result in a significant loss.

Naturally, the Xie family was very tempted by this offer. With their supply channels now well-established, they could acquire a ton of gold from other sources for around 21 million USD.

A profit of $1.8 million on the resale—who wouldn’t be tempted!

The Xie family immediately agreed to supply the Li family with one ton of gold at that price.

However, just as the two sides were about to finalize the agreement, representatives from the British-owned conglomerate approached the Xie family.

News soon spread that the Xie family had canceled their partnership with the Li family and switched to partnering with the Lin family instead.

Upon learning of the situation, Li Yi knew immediately that it was time to act.

He immediately contacted Li Futiao again, instructing him to arrange for the remaining gold to be sold off as well.

Upon receiving Li Yi’s call, Li Futiao immediately followed the same playbook, finding another family with whom he was on good terms and asking them to help stage a ruse.

With Li Jiuying acting as the “front,” the Lin family and the British-owned conglomerate behind them took the bait once more, swallowing 2 tons of gold in one go.

By this point, the 10 tons of gold Li Yi had brought over from the mainland had been almost entirely sold off.

Of that total, the Lin family and the British-funded conglomerate behind them alone had purchased 8.5 tons in three large transactions.

In addition, through buybacks, they had also absorbed over 400 kilograms of gold offloaded by the Li family.

Although Li Yi still had 1.1 tons left in his possession, he had intentionally set this gold aside for Li Jiuying.

Li Jiuying had also played a significant role in this gold sell-off.

Thanks to skillful execution, what was originally expected to fetch only $210 million ultimately sold for $200 million—based solely on the 8.9 tons already offloaded.

Li Jiuying had both contributed to the success and endured the hardships, so Li Yi intended to hand over the remaining 1.1 tons of gold to her to be used in a counterattack against the Lin family and to restore the Li family’s business reputation.

Although the price might not match what they could have gotten from the Lin family, the significance was entirely different.

More importantly, Li Yi felt that fleecing the Lin family and the British-funded conglomerate out of over 20 million US dollars wasn’t enough—he wanted to make them lose 100 million US dollars in the future, and he still wanted to keep digging holes for them.

This 1.1 ton of gold was the bait; whether or not he could drive the British-funded conglomerate to the brink of collapse hinged entirely on this shipment.

In any case, the results of this gold sale were better than anyone could have imagined.

However, just as Li Futao, Huang Lixing, and Li Jiuying thought Li Yi was preparing to make a public appearance, Li Yi had already made a new move…

………

Although the Lin family had sent people to the Li Family Gold Shop to buy back gold in secret, they couldn’t hide it from Li Jiuying.

After all, it was clearly unusual for so many people to suddenly flood into the shop buying gold by the kilogram.

These days, most ordinary people who buy gold either purchase jewelry or small gold bars weighing one or two taels, typically for investment or to preserve their wealth.

Big clients who came in asking for several kilograms right off the bat were truly few and far between.

Moreover, Hong Kong Island is only so big. While there are plenty of wealthy people, the truly wealthy wouldn’t need to buy gold at a jewelry store even if they wanted to invest in it—wouldn’t it be better to buy gold financial products at a bank or securities firm?

So, Lai Jiuying immediately had his people look into those individuals’ backgrounds.

It didn’t take long to discover that they all belonged to a triad organization based in Causeway Bay—one with deep, intricate ties to the Lam family.

After a brief analysis, the truth became crystal clear!

Without delay, Li Jiuying reported the situation to Li Yi.

Upon receiving Li Jiuying’s report, Li Yi reacted immediately. He instructed Li Jiuying to adjust their strategy right away, limiting daily shipments to no more than 100 kilograms.

At the same time, he instructed him to continue contacting their existing sales channels, feigning an urgent need for gold, and spreading the word that they were willing to purchase gold at a price higher than the market rate.

Although Li Jiuying didn’t quite understand why Li Yi wasn’t seizing this opportunity to sell large quantities of gold to the Lin family through their Li Family Gold Shop, but instead was limiting the shipment volume,

However, he knew his business acumen was no match for Li Yi’s. Realizing Li Yi likely had other considerations, he didn’t press the matter and simply followed the instructions to the letter.

As soon as the Li family’s revised announcement was released, Lin Zhengrong—who believed he had struck at the Li family’s weak spot—was instantly energized.

Especially upon learning that Li Jiuying was actively buying up gold through various channels and offering a high price of $2,200 per ton, Lin Zhengrong became even more convinced that his strategy of cutting off the supply chain and massively repurchasing Li Family gold was working.

At that moment, while ordering his men to continue buying back gold sold by the Li family’s shops, he simultaneously sought to take credit with the bigwigs of the British-funded conglomerate.

Taking credit was only part of it; more importantly, he was requesting financial assistance from Smith and the others.

The Lin family’s business was not particularly large to begin with; their total assets amounted to less than 1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and that included fixed assets.

At current exchange rates, this amounted to a mere 150 million US dollars.

After having just acquired 1.5 tons of gold from the “Zhou family,” the Lin family’s liquid assets were running low. To mount a full-scale counterattack against the Lai family, they needed support from the British-funded conglomerate.

Of course, Lin Zhengrong’s decision wasn’t solely due to the Lin family’s lack of strength; more importantly, he needed to guard against Smith and his associates by dragging them into the fray.

The Li family had previously charged ahead on their own, only to be discarded as expendable pawns when trouble arose. Had Li Jiuying enlisted the British Capital Group’s financial and operational support back then, they likely wouldn’t have been abandoned so easily.

So, although the Lin family is serving as the vanguard this time, they won’t be fighting this battle alone.

Whether it’s Smith or the Duke, if you’re afraid of getting your hands dirty and refuse to get personally involved, that’s fine—just put up the money!

As long as everyone becomes a true community of shared interests, Lin Zhengrong won’t worry about becoming the next Li Jiuying.

Sure enough, after receiving Lin Zhengrong’s call, HSBC executive Smith immediately stated that they were willing to provide the Lin family with a low-interest loan of 200 million Hong Kong dollars.

However, before the Lin family could even finalize the loan, they received another piece of news: the Ho family, a long-established Hong Kong elite clan, had a batch of gold they needed to liquidate and were looking for buyers.

More importantly, just as Lin Zhengrong received this news, his informant planted within the Lai family called him.

According to the informant’s report, Lai Jiuying had suddenly withdrawn all funds from the company’s accounts and had prepared a lavish gift, intending to pay a visit that evening to Ho Man-tung, the head of the Ho family.

Upon hearing the news, Lin Zhengrong wasted no time and immediately called Smith to report the situation.

If this were any other family, Lin Zhengrong would have gone there immediately, determined not to let that gold fall into Li Jiuying’s hands.

But this time, he was dealing with the Ho family, and he felt somewhat out of his depth.

As a renowned, long-established family on Hong Kong Island, the He family had been on the decline in recent years, yet even a starving camel is bigger than a horse.

Given Lin Zhengrong’s current status and standing, he had no access to a big shot like Ho Man-tung and could only turn to Smith and his associates for help.

The British-owned conglomerate, determined to destroy the Lai family, spared no effort. Upon receiving Lin Zhengrong’s plea for help, they immediately decided to have Smith take Lin Zhengrong to the Ho family.

At the same time, they reached an internal agreement: no matter how much gold the Ho family put on the table this time, as long as the gold was genuine, they would take it all.

After all, gold is a hard currency. Unlike stocks or bonds, as long as the source is reliable, there’s no need to worry about being swindled—unless the price of gold suddenly crashes.

But the probability of a gold price crash was extremely low, and even if it did happen suddenly, it would rebound after a while, making the likelihood of a loss negligible.

And even if they did lose money, so what? The British Capital Group was a massive enterprise; a small loss was nothing. As long as it brought down the Li family, any cost would be worth it.

The reason the British Capital Group hates Li Jiuying so much and is willing to destroy him at any cost is not merely because the Li family’s betrayal has left them looking bad.

More importantly, the Li family’s betrayal had derailed the plan the Yingzi Group had been plotting for years to crush the Chinese-owned banking sector.

This struck at the very heart of the British-owned conglomerate’s core interests!

As everyone knows, the most profitable sector on Hong Kong Island is neither transshipment trade nor manufacturing, but the financial industry.

And within the financial sector, banks are the foundation—an indispensable component.

Consequently, over the past several decades or even centuries, hundreds or even thousands of banks—both Chinese- and British-owned—have sprung up on Hong Kong Island, locked in fierce competition.

In order to gain complete control over Hong Kong’s financial sector—and to better fleece the public—British-owned conglomerates have, over the past two decades, continuously employed various tactics to suppress and take over Chinese-owned banks, including, but not limited to, having the British colonial government act as their enforcer.

After more than two decades of such efforts, nearly all Chinese-owned banks on Hong Kong Island have now been crushed. Without exception, the top ten major banks are all controlled by British-owned groups.

Even those Chinese-owned banks that haven’t gone bankrupt are merely small, struggling institutions scraping by on scraps, with little presence in the market.

Consequently, the British-owned conglomerates believe they have completely eradicated Chinese-owned banks on Hong Kong Island and will ultimately control the local financial sector.

Now, they not only control Hong Kong Island’s currency issuance but also dominate nearly all major banks and the financial sector. Whether it’s the stock market or the real estate market, they are nothing more than their own “cabbage patch”—to be harvested however they please.

The reason the British-owned conglomerate chose to kick the Lai family while they were down was not only out of sheer meanness, but more importantly, because they had their eyes on the 42% stake in Longheng Bank held by the Lai family.

Although they used underhanded tactics to prevent Lai Jiuying from becoming chairman of the board at Longheng Bank, this still fails to put Sir and his associates at ease.

We understand the principle that “those who are not of our kind have different intentions,” and the foreigners understand it too.

Consequently, they have repeatedly offered to acquire these shares—even at a premium—but Li Jiuying has consistently refused.

As a result, Longheng Bank remained the only major bank that the British-owned conglomerate had not fully taken control of.

Last month, when the Lai family faced a crisis, the British-owned conglomerate saw an opportunity to bring them to heel. But just as they were sharpening their knives, preparing to seize that 42% stake in Longheng Bank from the Lai family, the Lai family betrayed them.

What the British-owned conglomerate never expected was that the Lai family would sell the shares they had been drooling over at a bargain price to the Li family, thereby securing a reconciliation between the two sides.

And that scoundrel Li Futiao took advantage of the plunge in Longheng Bank’s stock price to quietly acquire a massive stake from other shareholders and on the open market. By the time they realized something was amiss, Li Jia had already secured 76% of Longheng Bank’s shares.

Subsequently, catching the British-owned group off guard, Li Futao suddenly arrived at Longheng Group. Waving his share certificates, he demanded an immediate shareholders’ meeting to reorganize the board of directors.

The incumbent chairman of Longheng Bank, holding a paltry 17% stake, was powerless against the formidable Li family and ultimately meekly relinquished the chairmanship.

This not only meant they had lost control of Longheng Bank, but also that their plan to dominate Hong Kong’s banking sector had suffered a major setback.

And all of this was because of the Lai family—specifically Lai Jiuying—which is why the British-owned conglomerate was so determined to wipe out the Lai family.

After reaching a consensus, Smith personally prepared the gifts and, accompanied by his henchman Lin Zhengrong, headed to the Ho family’s residence.

But what they didn’t know was that the Ho family’s gold sell-off was a trap set specifically for them; by rushing over now, they were simply walking right into a trap!

……..

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…”

…….

The next day!

When Li Yi woke up in his room, it was already 11:30 a.m.

It had been nearly 4:00 a.m. when he saw Li Futiao off yesterday.

So even though it was nearly noon, Li Yi still felt groggy.

If it weren’t for the urgent knocking at the door, Li Yi would have loved to sleep a little longer.

Rubbing his sore eyes, he climbed out of bed and opened the door.

As he opened the door, he saw “Bandit” standing there.

Seeing Li Yi come out, Zhang Ziqiang hurriedly said, “Brother Yi, Mr. Huang and Comrade Yang Wenguang are here—they’re waiting for you downstairs!”

“Okay, tell them to wait a moment. I’ll wash my face and be right down!”

“Got it!”

After a quick wash and a change into clean clothes, Li Yi went downstairs.

The place where they were staying was located halfway up Taiping Mountain—an unused villa belonging to the Li family.

Usually, only Li Yunling would come to stay for a day or two now and then, and few people ever noticed the place.

Realizing that Li Yi didn’t want to reveal his whereabouts—and that he clearly couldn’t return to his Cloud Peak No. 1—Li Futao had arranged for him to stay here.

When he reached the ground floor, he indeed saw Old Huang, his brother-in-law, and Squad Leader Yan there. The group was chatting in hushed tones, though he couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Hearing footsteps coming from the staircase, they immediately stopped and turned their gaze toward Li Yi.

Upon entering the living room, Li Yi smiled and asked, “What brings you all here?”

Huang Lixing smiled and said, “It’s lunchtime, so we brought you some food. Also, Old Li has some news!”

Li Yi glanced at the table beside him, which was piled high with takeout boxes. From the packaging, they appeared to be from Yuan’s Restaurant.

He immediately turned to “Brother Bandit” beside him and said, “Save one for me. Divide the rest among the others—it won’t taste good once it gets cold!”

“Got it!”

While Zhang Ziqiang was handing out the meals, Li Yi turned to Huang Lixing and asked, “What’s the situation with Old Li?”

“He’s already found the actors and spread the word. With that guy Li Jiuying’s cooperation, the Lin family has taken the bait and is currently negotiating with Old Li’s people!”

“That fast?”

“Yeah. That’s why Old Li asked me to check with you—how high do you plan to set the price?”

“22.2 million per ton—not a penny less!”

“Isn’t that a bit too high? At this rate, the price is already exceeding the international gold price!” Huang Lixing immediately replied.

“It does exceed the international gold price—it’s about 30 dollars more per ounce!”

“Will the Lin family agree to such a high price?”

“They will. Besides, our price isn’t that outlandish. Don’t be fooled by the fact that their jewelry store prices fluctuate with the international gold price—they’re selling at retail, which is far higher than the international price. This price is well within their acceptable range!”

Li Yi had already done his research: the price of gold jewelry here is calculated as the daily international gold price multiplied by the weight of the gold, plus 1.02, plus a labor fee, with the 1.02 representing a commission.

As for the craftsmanship fee, each gold shop has different rules, but generally, it adds about ten to twenty Hong Kong dollars per gram on average.

But with a $30 increase per ounce, that’s only a $1 increase per gram. At the current exchange rate, that’s less than 7 Hong Kong dollars—they’re still making a profit.

Seeing that Li Yi had said this, Huang Lixing didn’t press the issue any further, but instead said again, “By the way, Old Li told us to send a batch of gold over this afternoon—at least one ton!”

“Got it!”

Li Yi then glanced at Yang Wenguang and Squad Leader Yan Guangming beside him and said, “Brother-in-law, Squad Leader Yan, we’re counting on you two for this!”

“We’ll get the job done!” Squad Leader Yan and Yang Wenguang said in unison.

Li Yi smiled and said, “This isn’t the army, so you don’t have to act like soldiers. Relax a bit!”

“Yes, sir!”

After wrapping up the business talk, Yang Wenguang asked, “Xiao Yi, how are your sister and Ruirui doing? Are they settling in well in Beijing?”

“They’re both doing great. A couple of days ago, Ruirui was able to stand up holding onto the wall, but he still can’t walk yet!” Li Yi said with a smile.

“Really? But come to think of it, the little guy is already eleven months old—it’s about time he started walking!” Yang Wenguang said with a delighted expression.

“My older sister asked me to bring you quite a few photos of her and Ruirui. They’re all in the suitcase upstairs. I’ll get them for you in a moment!” Li Yi said.

“Sure!”

“By the way, brother-in-law, let everyone know that if they want to write letters home or anything, they should just tell us. I’ll have someone take the letters to Yangcheng or Pengcheng on the other side of the river and mail them out for everyone!”

Li Yi continued, “If anyone wants to make a phone call or send a telegram, I’ll have someone arrange for you to do that back on the mainland!”

“Alright, I’ll let everyone know as soon as I get back!” Yang Wenguang said.

“Alright…”

……..

Downtown. Lin’s Gold Shop!

As Hong Kong Island’s second-largest gold retailer, the Lin family’s headquarters was quite impressive, occupying an entire four-story building right on the street.

The ground floor serves as the storefront, while the remaining three floors are entirely dedicated to office space.

In comparison, the headquarters of Starry Sky Company—which currently manages tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars—looked rather modest.

In the largest office on the fourth floor, the Lin family’s patriarch, Lin Zhengrong, was reclining in a comfortable leather chair, listening to a report from his trusted assistant.

Before the other person could finish speaking, Lin Zhengrong couldn’t wait to ask, “So does that mean the Zhou family is really going to sell their gold to stay afloat?”

“That’s right. I’ve already spoken with Mr. Zhou on the phone and confirmed that he does indeed have a batch of gold he’s ready to sell!”

“How much is it? Did he mention a price?”

“Mr. Zhou said the quantity is no less than one ton, but he didn’t mention the price, and…”

“And what? Don’t beat around the bush—just spit it out!” Lin Zhengrong said sternly.

“Yes. We just received word from our inside source that the Li family is raising funds—it looks like they’re planning something big. I suspect they’re after this batch of gold!”

“Hmph. That bastard Li Jiuying sure has his fingers in the right places, but as long as the Lin family is around, the Li family won’t get their hands on that gold!”

Lin Zhengrong then added, “Send an invitation to the Zhou family for me. Tell them I’ll be paying Brother Yingyuan a visit this afternoon!”

“Alright. But if you’re after that gold, I’d suggest you prepare plenty of funds. I suspect the Zhou family will jack up the price and demand an exorbitant sum!”

“Are you saying it’s because of the Li family?”

“That’s part of it, but not the whole story!”

“What other reasons are there?” Lin Zhengrong asked again.

“The Zhou family is short on cash!”

“Short on cash?”

“Right. Think about it—the main reason the Zhou family is putting their gold on the market is that they suffered massive losses in the stock market recently. On top of that, real estate prices have plummeted by half. They’ve been forced to sell their gold just to stay afloat. Since they’re desperate for a large sum of cash to keep things running, they certainly won’t sell it at a low price!”

“Haha, at the very least, the international gold price is holding steady. Even if the Zhou family is short on cash, their asking price won’t be too outrageous!”

Then, Lin Zhengrong changed the subject and said, “But you do have a point. Let’s see how much we have left in our accounts.”

“Just under two hundred million!”

“That’s good—enough to snap up this entire lot!”

But then he added, “Still, just to be on the safe side, we should let Mr. Smith know. After all, we can’t tie up all our capital at once—better to be prepared for any contingencies!”

The Li family was a cautionary tale; he couldn’t risk working his fingers to the bone only to be sold out in the end.

“Yes, sir. I’ll call Mr. Smith right away!”

“Go ahead. Also, pick out a decent gift for me to take with me when we visit the Zhou family this afternoon!” Lin Zhengrong reminded him again.

“Okay…”

………