Chapter 285: The Calm Before the Storm, the King Reclines at the Fishing Platform!

In the next three days, the entire Star River system functioned like a precision war machine wound tight like a spring, every gear ticking, running at high speed.

And as the core of this machine, Lu Qingshan was completely idle.

He handed all affairs over to others and moved into a superbly situated hillside mansion in Shek O, living a life cut off from the world.

But this was not true rest.

His idleness was the lurking of a beast before a kill; his stillness was the deathly silence unique to the eye of a storm.

In the afternoon he would brew a pot of fine Wuyi rock tea, recline on a deck chair by the pool, appearing to read a book while his gaze already pierced the pages into the void. In his mind countless streams of information tangled and simulated wildly—from the trading rules of London Financial City, to the ocean currents around Ma Island, to Mrs. Thatcher's hard‑hearted character… every detail was a variable on his board.

He also thought of Yue E and Xiao Xue back in Baishan village.

That longing was no longer the weak remorse of a past life, but a cold, hard fuel driving the engine in his heart named "revenge" and "protection". What he aimed to build was an unshakable business empire, an absolute bulwark that could shield his wife and daughter from any storm. To that end, he would drag the whole world into the game.

That night, Lu Qingjun rushed back from the city to report the day's progress.

"Brother, Uncle Li has opened the Pioneer Fund account; thirty billion in capital has fully arrived and can be mobilized at any time."

"Wang Yuyun's side is swift too; the Wilson Building sign has already been taken down, and the bronze lettering for the Star River Building is being rushed into production. She says they'll use the brightest copper in Hong Kong so that anyone looking up in Central can see it!"

Lu Qingshan simply listened quietly, taking a sip of ice‑cold beer.

Lu Qingjun stared at his brother's side profile, which grew deeper under the moonlight, and finally couldn't help asking, "Brother, once the news from London arrives, do we act?"

Lu Qingshan shook his head, set down the bottle, gazed at the specks of light from fishing boats on the distant sea, and said softly, "No rush. When the currency‑exchange matter takes shape, we'll return to the Capital City."

"Capital City?" Lu Qingjun was startled—what business in the Capital City at this critical moment?

Lu Qingshan gave no explanation, merely turned, looked at his younger brother, smiled, and that smile carried a trace of icy chill: "Some matters need a proper answer. Some debts must be reclaimed."

…

On the fourth afternoon, a taxi stopped before the gate of Lu's residence at the end of Shek O Road, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The car door opened and Ye Ning stepped out.

She still wore that sharp professional suit, but the expensive fabric was riddled with visible creases. Her face bore the extreme fatigue of seventy‑two hours without sleep, dark circles under her eyes, and her once‑meticulously styled short hair was now a bit disheveled, a few strands clinging to her temples with sweat.

Yet her eyes shone startlingly, like two stars burning in the night, filled with excitement, agitation, and a hint of post‑catastrophe madness.

"Boss."

Entering the living room and seeing Lu Qingshan sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper, Ye Ning's voice trembled slightly and sounded hoarse.

Lu Qingshan set the newspaper down and pointed to the opposite sofa: "Sit and speak, you've worked hard."

"Not hard!" Ye Ning inhaled deeply, as if to expel all the foul air from her chest; she didn't sit but took a file from her briefcase, handed it over with both hands, the motion stiff from exertion.

"Boss, the matter… is settled."

Her voice was soft, yet like a calming pill, steadied the air in the whole room.

"Ninety billion Hong Kong dollars is a massive sum; any transaction over fifty million triggers dual monitoring by the Hong Kong government and London Financial City." Ye Ning spoke rapidly, as if recounting a freshly concluded battle, "After I flew to London, I didn't deal directly with any British bank. I first used our contacts in the United States to reach Morgan and Goldman Sachs. They're sharks that swallow everything whole; I told them this was capital from the East looking to scoop up U. S. Treasury."

"Did they believe it?"

"They only believed the money." Ye Ning's mouth curled into a faint cold smile, "I split the capital into hundreds of parcels, channeling them under the guise of overseas investment into dozens of trust accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Just that step almost got us caught. Morgan's compliance officer in Zurich, a notorious old fox, zeroed in on a single three‑million‑dollar tranche and demanded proof of source. Li Zhi'an spent an entire night in a hotel room forging all transaction records of a Panama shell company to pull the ruse."

Lu Qingshan listened quietly, his eyes growing ever more approving. This was no simple financial maneuver; it was a covert war without smoke.

"Then, using those trust companies as fronts, like countless underground streams, we routed the funds through a dozen foreign‑exchange brokers in London Financial City in batches and small amounts. The whole process triggered the alert system three times, each time Li Zhi'an forced it down with technical means. The most dangerous moment, our IP address was only three seconds away from being locked."

After Ye Ning finished, a chill ran down her back, drenched in cold sweat.

"Result?" Lu Qingshan asked, his voice still calm.

"Success." Ye Ning's face finally showed a smile mixing pride and fatigue, "We managed to convert the entire ninety billion Hong Kong dollars into US Dollars. Throughout, we moved like Ghosts, leaving no trace on any radar. Only…"

She paused, her tone growing solemn: "To evade tracking we took too many detours; the money chain was stretched long. All the funds need to fully settle and be transferred into our highest‑confidentiality account at a Swiss Bank, which even at best will take nearly a month."

A month.

That period was a bit longer than Lu Qingshan had expected, yet still within an acceptable range.

He knew the fuse of that war was slowly igniting over the cold seas of the South Atlantic, but the actual explosion still had some time.

A month was enough.

"You're not just exchanging currency." Lu Qingshan stood, walked to Ye Ning, poured her a glass of water, and handed it over, "You've dug a secret tunnel straight to the vault inside their heart. Well done."

Ye Ning took the glass; the weight in her heart finally settled. The boss's approval gave value to all the risk and toil.

She looked at the man before her, younger than herself, and her reverence deepened a few more degrees.

Lu Qingshan returned to the window.

In the distant horizon, dark clouds gathered silently; a storm seemed about to break.

A subtle curve lifted at the corner of his mouth.

What he waited for was precisely this storm.

"Notify Li Zhi'an and Wang Yuyun, hold a meeting tomorrow."

His voice echoed through the quiet living room, carrying a cold murderous intent.

"Tell them our hounds are in position, ready to tear the prey's throat at any moment."