Chapter 222: Losing Silver, Can’t Lose Face

Words : 1699 Updated : Sep 25th, 2025

"Mr. Lu, I've already purchased it." Chen Jinchun timidly raised his hand, when suddenly there was a doorbell ringing, and employees from the nearby Cantonese Restaurant delivered dozens of portions of dim sum. "Did you have them issue an invoice?" Mr. Lu asked, startled, seeing the familiar Fuyue Building staff uniforms. He had tried their chicken feet and water chestnut cake last time and found the taste quite good; Xiao Chen really did put some thought into it. Chen Jinchun nodded quickly, and Mr. Lu smiled, saying, "Distribute it to them later, and after you finish, you go back to rest early too." At that moment, Wen Chao came out of the trading room, and Mr. Lu picked up some dim sum as the two headed to the office next door. "Alright, Mr. Lu." Permitted by Mr. Lu, Chen Jinchun turned into a canteen lady, smiling and standing at the door, distributing breakfast to everyone. "Short-sold the Dow for 4 billion, yielding 689 million." "Bought into blue-chip stocks for 4.2 billion, a loss of 82.5214 million." "Long on London Gold with 1 billion, yielding 91.232 million." "Net profit of 697.7 million US Dollars." In review, Mr. Lu glanced over the holdings of 4.2 billion US Dollars, plus a contingency of one billion, totaling 15.9 billion dollars in accessible funds. The profit of 13.5 percent from last night, though not much, marked a deep dip in the market with significant room for upcoming rises. The purchased blue-chip stocks, averaging a rebound of 8 percent, could easily make up a total revenue of one billion dollars. After an intense night, Mr. Lu had no desire to sleep at this moment; eating breakfast, he browsed domestic and international news. The collapse across all three main US stock boards nearly triggered a circuit breaker as the news spread on the internet since last night. Many believed that another financial crisis was impending, worrying about their own pockets. At three in the morning, Little Wang's live-streamed topic flashed across trending searches, associated with Mr. Lu's short-selling of the Dow. Yet unlike before, this wasn't any good reputation—headlines like "The evils of Mr. Lu, hard to document," suggested if a financial crisis ensued, he'd be the main culprit. Amidst the mounting outcry, Mr. Lu almost became the Soros of '97, the Lehman Brothers of '08. Some spoke out, saying, "Last night's US stock plunge has nothing to do with him. The bitter fruits of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policy implemented eight years ago were already sewn, with no chance for a bear market given the high employment and low unemployment rates." "It wasn't until after 2 a.m. that news of Mr. Lu's short-selling of the Dow broke, yet US stocks began their descent at ten last night." "From ten to just past two, over four hours, the Dow continually fell, dropping over a thousand points." "If he truly had such influence, he'd either be co-opted or eliminated by now." A well-known financial scholar revealed the truth; today, aside from the Federal Reserve, no entity could dominate the US stock market's course. And even the Federal Reserve could only indirectly influence the market through rates adjustments; the market was simply too large. Yet, the truth often goes misunderstood, unaccepted—conspiracy theories, self-righteous, dominate the mainstream. Sёarch* The Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. And the conspiracists divided into two groups—one fervently building a golden statue for Mr. Lu, hoping he was a significant short-seller against the US stocks, boosting our national pride. The other group, moral crusaders, wished for global peace, condemning Mr. Lu's actions as selfish and destructive to the long-standing friendship between nations. Amid the verbal battles, The clock gradually moved to 9:15 a.m. The Shanghai Stock Exchange began its pre-market bidding, and over half of the more than three thousand stocks were lush green, just as retail investors thought today marked another tough battle around the 3000 point mark. Big A never disappoints when it comes to disappointing; surprisingly, when everyone is in despair, it always manages some leaps. If international stocks rise, I don't; I'm different from the international markets. If international stocks fall, I fall as well; the international markets affect me. Though so, countries recognize US stocks as the international standard, which Big A or Zhong doesn't acknowledge. This is the bitter fruit of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policies—they couldn't possibly accept it, nor would they pick up the tab. Even holding three trillion US Dollars in foreign reserves, second only to Japan, cannot be considered a major victim. But even if money is lost, face must not be. With US stocks collapsing all around, led by the United States and its followers, he is not one to follow; he must stand out from the crowd. At 9:30 AM, Big A's stocks opened with a sharp decrease of 2.15%. A massive amount of capital poured into the banking sector, swiftly lifting it, which in turn drove up securities, and then real estate sectors. The three pillars, at the very outset, exerted their force simultaneously and literally lifted the Shanghai Stock Exchange Index. Fifteen minutes after the opening, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Index turned from red to green and continued to rise steadily, painting a glorious picture of the nation's landscape. The 43rd defense of the 3000-point battle was declared victorious even before it had begun. Lu Liang sighed and went home to sleep. The day after tomorrow, even stricter measures on buying and mortgage restrictions would be implemented to use real estate to hedge against US Dollar quantification. It was unclear whether this was good or bad. But there was no other option, only this path to follow. The larger the country's economical stature, the more significant the impact of US Dollar quantification. US Dollar quantification was like financing with the global economy as the main body, with the Federal Reserve as the only investor. Rather than waiting passively for equity dilution, it made more sense to invest heavily in hard assets first, then develop light assets. Real estate represented hard assets, whereas mobile phones, automobiles, and other high-tech industries were considered light assets. In the evening, Lu Liang woke up in Su Wanyu's bedroom, seeing a vaguely shaped blue Haima cushion. This cushion had a complex history; Su Wanyu mentioned it was a birthday gift from her father when she was 12. She cherished it deeply, taking it from her hometown to Modu, from her dormitory to her rental and finally here. Every now and then, she would take it out to wash and sun. According to her, this cushion could be kept for the baby to play with in the future as it held her motherly scent. Lu Liang found it uglier the more he looked at it, out of sheer boredom, he fiddled with its long, curly nose. Su Wanyu tiptoed into the room. Seeing this scene, she said indignantly, "Stop playing with it, its nose is about to fall off." She wore blue jeans paired with a pink hoodie, blue light-blocking glasses to prevent myopia adorned her nose, and her hair was straight and smooth. Lu Liang embraced her tightly, and they tumbled on the bed, causing Su Wanyu to giggle incessantly. Suddenly, he smelled the aroma of food: "Don't you have classes today?" Frowning, Su Wanyu replied with dissatisfaction, "You forgot, I just finished my thesis. I have a two-week summer break now." "I slept through it," Lu Liang chuckled, though it was early September, Su Wanyu had just started her summer break last week. He checked his phone and saw two missed calls from Fang Shiyu; it must have been something to do with family. Suddenly, Lu Liang remembered, he had spoken to his mother the day before yesterday, Fang Shiyu's grandmother had passed away. The elders seemed to have also mentioned they wanted to visit Modu? Thinking of this, Lu Liang hurriedly called Fang Shiyu, "Yu, are you back?" "Your aunt and uncle are at your apartment now? Okay, I'll come right over." Lu Liang hurriedly got out of bed. Although his mother had mentioned early on that they were just bored at home and wanted to go out for a stroll. They wanted him to focus on his work and not worry about them since they still had some savings and the public safety was good. But it was the first time the elders had left their hometown to visit the city where he had been living and working for ten years, how could he truly neglect them? Seeing Lu Liang getting ready in a hurry to leave, Su Wanyu quickly asked, "Aren't you eating dinner?" "My parents have come over, I need to go there first." Picking up his phone, Lu Liang pinched Su Wanyu's cheek playfully, "You might have to help host them later." Su Wanyu's eyes widened, her face turning a flush red almost instantly, she stammered, "So soon, I'm not ready yet." "What's there to prepare? Just being there is enough." Lu Liang laughed, kissed her cheek, "I'll go first then." "Bye~" Su Wanyu said, her mind a blur, raising her stiff arms, her thoughts tangled, Meeting the parents??? Meanwhile, on the road, Lu Liang asked Fang Shiyu to take the elders to Linjiang Pavilion; he had just reserved a private room there. Forty minutes later, upon arriving at Linjiang Pavilion, Fang Shiyu brought them over. Both parents were dressed in brand-new clothes, and although they were financially better off now, they still preferred wearing their old clothes; new clothes were reserved for crucial occasions only. However, Lu Liang was somewhat relieved by one thing: they only wore their old clothes because they felt comfortable, not out of miserliness. With improved living conditions, they stayed in hotels as usual and wouldn't pick dingy motels just to save a few hundred dollars.

Chapter 222: Losing Silver, Can’t Lose Face

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