Chapter 698: Borrowing a Knife to Kill

After returning to the hotel in the evening, Chen Yang received a strange text message. It said that East Prosperity International had heavily invested in Hewlett-Packard computers in the US stock market. If he wanted revenge, he could short Hewlett-Packard stock.

Chen Yang went online and looked; he found that Hewlett-Packard's quarterly financial report was very good, with profits up thirty percent year-on-year. Its stock price had also risen to the highest level in recent years, thirty-four dollars.

Shorting a stock when it is at its peak would come at a huge cost. Chen Yang had no intention of being a sucker.

He even suspected that the text message had been sent by someone Tang Qingquan had hired, the purpose being to lure him into the trap.

Of course, this stage was precisely the peak of the computer industry's development, and Hewlett-Packard's stock still had upside potential in the short term. Even if Chen Yang entered the market, there would still be room for profit.

But his entry would, in the short term, surely drive Hewlett-Packard's stock up sharply, thereby letting Tang Qingquan and East Prosperity International reap even greater benefits.

This was absolutely not the outcome Chen Yang wanted!

So he sent Chu Ning a text message, passing along the news that East Prosperity International had invested in Hewlett-Packard computers. Then he had her ask Tang Qingquan whether he would mind letting Chen Yang join the investment as well.

About ten minutes later, Chu Ning replied, saying Tang Qingquan didn't mind Chen Yang investing in Hewlett-Packard, and he even apologized for what had happened during the day.

After reading the message, Chen Yang laughed. It was obvious that the text urging him to short Hewlett-Packard had come from Tang Qingquan, whose aim was to trick him into being a sucker.

As for the apology, he didn't believe a word of it.

After the US stock market opened that evening, Chen Yang continued, according to his own rhythm, using software to buy those familiar hot stocks. As for Hewlett-Packard, he didn't even glance at it.

Having Chu Ning act as a messenger was originally a 'borrowed knife to kill' ploy. With Chu Ning's 'financial poison' spell, he didn't need to lift a finger—it was enough to make Tang Qingquan drink a potion.

And everything unfolded exactly as Chen Yang had anticipated: after the market opened, Hewlett-Packard's stock showed only a brief rise, then plummeted like a waterfall, falling from thirty-four dollars to thirty-one dollars—a drop of nearly nine percent!

This sudden change left Tang Qingquan, who was also watching the computer, dumbfounded. He immediately called Luo Bin.

"What's going on with Hewlett-Packard? How did the stock suddenly drop so much?"

"Mr. Tang, I've already asked—Hewlett-Packard has released no negative news. Could it be that Chen Yang really took our advice and shorted Hewlett-Packard maliciously?"

"How could that be? He doesn't even have any shares. Even if he were shorting, he'd need to gather enough shares first, right?"

"Mr. Tang, he could borrow shares from a brokerage…"

"Damn, this guy is shameless—pretending to ask Chu Ning that tramp to sound me out, while secretly playing dirty behind my back."

"Mr. Tang, what should we do now?"

"What else can we do? While there's still profit, sell a portion first, then buy back when the price hits a new low."

"Good!"

Half an hour later, Luo Bin's phone rang again.

"Mr. Tang, we've already sold half of our shares, but Hewlett-Packard's stock began a rapid rebound at twenty-nine dollars and has now climbed back to thirty-two dollars."

"Damn, how many shares did you buy back?"

"None—the other side moved too fast, sweeping up all the shares before thirty-two dollars!"

"How much did we lose?"

"Mr. Tang, as of now, our losses have exceeded fifty million dollars."

"…, Chen Yang, you bastard, I will never coexist with you!!!"

A sleepless night.

The next morning, Tang Qingquan ignored his father's warning and came to Three Stone Technology Company seething with anger. Before he could even enter, he was blocked by the Modu media lying in wait outside.

"Mr. Tang, I heard East Prosperity International is using your authority as Deputy Mayor to maliciously suppress Three Stone Technology Company—is that true?"

"Mr. Tang, I heard your fiancée is Chen Yang's ex-girlfriend; are you targeting him because of that relationship?"

"Mr. Tang, is driving Chen Yang out of Modu's business district purely a commercial competition, or is it the intention of Deputy Mayor Tang and the Modu municipal government?"

Faced with the media's questions, Tang Qingquan said nothing, directly had his bodyguards stop the visiting media outside Three Stone Technology's door, then hurried into Chen Yang's office.

"Chen, I kindly offered to let you get rich alongside me, yet you damned well played dirty!"

Before going to bed last night, Chen Yang glanced at Hewlett-Packard's stock trend. Besides marveling at the power of the 'spell' Chu Ning carried, he also anticipated that Tang Qingquan would come to confront him.

He feigned anger and said: "Mr. Tang, you've come to my company to cause trouble two days in a row—aren't you going a bit too far?"

Tang Qingquan glared at Chen Yang, teeth clenched, and said: "Chen, stop pretending to be pitiful. Last night you screwed me out of fifty million dollars!"

Hearing that East Prosperity International had lost fifty million dollars the previous night, Chen Yang secretly smirked, but he remained calm and said: "Mr. Tang, I don't understand what you mean? What fifty million dollars?"

Seeing Chen Yang still playing dumb, Tang Qingquan snorted coldly: "You damned well had Chu Ning pass me a message yesterday saying you wanted to invest in Hewlett-Packard. I bore no grudge and was willing to let you get rich with us. I never expected you to turn around and short Hewlett-Packard, causing our company to lose fifty million dollars!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yang calmly replied: "I did indeed have Chu Ning pass you that message, but last night I didn't have time to buy Hewlett-Packard stock. If you don't believe me, you can check my stock trading records."

Having said that, Chen Yang voluntarily opened his laptop and pulled up last night's trading records for Tang Qingquan to view.

Tang Qingquan examined them carefully twice, found no evidence that Chen Yang had shorted Hewlett-Packard, and his face instantly flushed with embarrassment.

After a moment, he came up with an excuse: "Chen, just because this account shows no shorting of Hewlett-Packard doesn't mean you didn't do it. Perhaps you used another account."

Chen Yang coldly retorted: "To accuse someone, one need not lack excuses. Mr. Tang, next time you come to confront me, you'd better first find evidence. If you keep causing a ruckus like today, we'll only meet in court."

"Hmph, don't forget this is Modu—trying to scare me with the law, you're not up to snuff!" Tang Qingquan threw down a harsh remark and stormed off angrily.

After he left, Chen Yang then turned off the camera positioned in the corner of his office.

Two days later, while Chen Yang returned to Xingcheng to attend the IPO celebration banquet of the Old Hundred Agricultural Products Trading Company, the secretary of the Modu mayor received a VCD. Its contents showed exactly Tang Qingquan threatening Chen Yang in Chen Yang's office.

Upon viewing the video, the Modu mayor slammed the table on the spot.

That night, East Prosperity International suddenly issued an official statement, formally announcing that the deputy head of its investment department, Tang Qingquan, had been removed from his position due to dereliction of duty.