Chapter 890: Fighting in the Hong Kong Stock Market

Taking advantage of Ma Rui not paying attention, Liu Wei suddenly stood up and threw herself into his arms.

Ma Rui was startled and instinctively reached out to push her away.

But Liu Wei held on too tightly; her arms were like vines coiled around his waist, her face buried in his chest, and she didn't say a word.

Ma Rui's arms froze in mid-air, and finally, they slowly drooped down.

The streetlamp stretched their shadows out long, overlapping together like a frozen painting.

After a long while, Ma Rui finally sighed softly, "Liu Wei, it's not that I don't like you. I just can't be with you..."

The person in his arms trembled slightly and held him even tighter.

Ma Rui didn't push her away again and continued, "I told you, my eldest uncle values me highly. He wants me to take over for him and lead the family down a different path in the future. I have quite a few cousins, and they are all watching me. If I try to sit on two chairs at once with you, I'll end up in a miserable state—not only would I fail to take over my uncle's position, but my family's position would also have to be taken over by my younger sister. I don't care about the money, but I can't afford to lose face like that."

"Ma Rui, I really like you. I'm not after your family's money. Even if you don't take over the position, we can still live a good life."

Ma Rui glanced at the fuzzy head in his arms and said, "Liu Wei, I won't lie to you. I cannot leave our family, but I can guarantee that from now on, as long as I'm around, you won't have to run around to film sets. You can act in my family's productions. If that really doesn't work, I'm also going to start producing television dramas; that advertising company of mine has some capital now, too."

Liu Wei's shoulders began to tremble slightly. She lifted her head from his chest, her eyes red-rimmed, and tears that had already swirled in her eyes several times finally couldn't be held back, sliding down her cheeks.

"Rather than going to other film sets and being subjected to unspoken rules, I'd rather be with you," she choked out, her voice muffled. "I don't want a title; I'm willing to follow you for the rest of my life."

When Ma Rui heard this, it felt as if something had fiercely tugged at his heart.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and in the end, he shook his head. "This isn't fair to you. And I can't do that either. At least... not until I succeed."

Liu Wei's tears were still hanging on her face, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, carrying a hint of craftiness: "You mean... it'll be okay after you succeed?"

"I... I..."

Ma Rui opened his mouth, suddenly realizing he had been played.

But looking at her eyes, which held both tears and hidden laughter, he found that he couldn't bring himself to hate her at all.

He took a deep breath and changed his approach: "How about this, I'll give you 5% of the advertising company's equity. You won't have to worry about your livelihood in the future. If you're willing to work, help me set up an entertainment company and sign some talented actors. My eldest uncle said that the artist line will be the most profitable in the future."

When Liu Wei heard this, her eyes lit up, and without even wiping her tears, she crisply replied, "Okay, I'm willing!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she stood on her tiptoes and quickly kissed Ma Rui on the cheek.

Ma Rui was stunned by the kiss, then helplessly shook his head.

"I know my limits," Liu Wei interrupted, grabbing Ma Rui's hand, interlacing their fingers, and walking forward with long strides.

The night breeze blew her hair up, and under the streetlamp, the two shadows stretched out long—one tall, one short—clinging tightly together.

Ninety-five Courtyard.

Recently, the threshold of the He Family had almost been worn flat by people.

Who were the people coming? Those borrowing money, those discussing cooperation, those wanting to transfer shares—a massive crowd, just like a market fair.

A ten-billion-dollar cake was placed on the table; who wouldn't want a slice? Especially the managers of those state-owned enterprises, who had a huge number of retired employees to support in their factories, with a burden so heavy it was almost entirely hanging by a thread thanks to state subsidies.

Hearing that He Yuzhu had money, their eyes all turned green, and they wished they could give away their shares for free, just to get a sum of working capital.

Yet He Yuzhu did not take advantage of others' precarious positions.

As someone who came from the future, he naturally knew which enterprises could survive and which were quagmires that even gods couldn't save.

So he chose thirty medium-sized enterprises and helped them out with loans—waiting for them to recover before discussing acquisitions.

Of course, he wouldn't be a living Bodhisattva for nothing.

The first step was to go through the city to buy back the plots of land that Cheng Shao, Wang Laoban, and Feng Laoban had bought from He Zheng. Those plots had been idle for a long time, and if they weren't developed, there was a risk the state would take them back.

The price this time was not the original price.

He only spent 1.2 billion, acquiring them at almost half price.

As soon as the land was in hand, He Yuzhu immediately started construction, beginning to build apartment buildings.

He knew very clearly—once the construction industry was active, it could drive the restart of dozens of upstream and downstream industries.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was August 1997.

He Zheng was laughing uproariously in the office.

Qin Tianzhen was also accompanying him with a smile on the side.

Yi Xiaotian rubbed his hands together and said with a face full of admiration: "Brother Zhuzi is truly brilliant! We cleared out our assets in Southeast Asia early, and we didn't ship any goods there this year—how wise! Look, the Thai baht has collapsed, the Malaysian currency has collapsed, even the South Korean one has collapsed..."

"But, what do we do next? The Russians are also struggling to hold on..." Bang Geng said.

As his voice fell, the office suddenly went quiet for a moment.

He Zheng looked at Yi Xiaotian, and Yi Xiaotian looked at Bang Geng.

The four of them stared at each other with wide eyes, and no one spoke.

What to do next? None of them had any idea.

Qin Tianzhen spoke up first: "Let's not just sit here thinking; let's go find our father."

He Zheng nodded: "That's all we can do."

Over the past two years, of the thirty-plus enterprises He Yuzhu had helped, twenty had already turned losses into profits. Seven were still losing money but were already heading in a good direction. Only three were on the verge of bankruptcy—the general managers of these three had one thing in common: they were two-faced, and after getting the money, they didn't think about reforming the enterprise, but instead spent all their time figuring out how to stuff the money into their own pockets. Once the money was spent, the factory remained in that half-dead state.

After He Yuzhu saw through their intentions, he gave the first batch of money, but cut off the second and third batches directly.

He wasn't going to be that big of a sucker.

He was just thinking about these things when the phone on the table rang.

He Yuzhu picked it up, and Zhao Ying's voice came from the other end, "Zhuzi, you need to come over immediately; something has happened in the stock market."

He Yuzhu didn't reply, waiting for her to continue.

"We followed your instructions and started slowly reducing our positions as soon as the market opened. Everything went smoothly at first, but by August, as soon as we reduced our positions, sell orders surged out like a tide—those weren't ordinary retail investors running, it was someone determined to smash the stock market down. What do you say we should do?"

As soon as He Yuzhu heard this, he understood—the financial crocodiles from M Country had arrived.

These people must have accumulated enough chips and were now moving to smash the market. He just hadn't expected that the funds in their hands were already so large that even a reduction in his positions would trigger a chain reaction.

He first asked the most urgent question: "How is our stock profit and loss situation?"

Zhao Ying flipped through the accounts on her end, her tone clearly more relaxed: "The principal has all been withdrawn. Everything left in the stock market is profit. We bought early, so we've basically tripled our money."

He Yuzhu had a clear idea in his mind; he pondered for a moment and said, "Do this: change it to selling in small amounts, bit by bit. Don't dump it on a large scale."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Zhao Ying, whose mind worked quickly, lowered her voice and asked, "Are you thinking... of going against that financial tycoon? Not letting him make his money so easily?"

"That is exactly what I mean. Hong Kong is not the same as it used to be; we cannot help the evildoer. Even if we lose some profit, we must finish off that big crocodile."

"I understand." Zhao Ying replied crisply, but immediately followed up with a question, "But if they go crazy and crash the market, can we hold out?"

He Yuzhu did not answer immediately; he first asked, "How much money do we have in the stock market, including the part in the United States, if we pool it all together?"

Zhao Ying did not dawdle either and had the Accountant calculate the figures directly. After waiting a few minutes, she picked up the phone again, her voice carrying a hint of surprise: "We can scrape together 12 billion US dollars."

He Yuzhu nodded, even though the other person could not see him: "Good. The stock market is currently at over 16,000 points. My idea is—use this money to hold the line firmly between 13,000 and 14,000 points. If it goes any lower and no one else steps in to save the market, we won't care anymore either..."

"Fine." Zhao Ying replied crisply and decisively this time, "We'll do as you say. I'll sell off part of the stocks in the United States right now."

He Yuzhu added, "Don't rush, take it slow."

Zhao Ying gave a hum and hung up the phone.

The office became quiet again.

He Yuzhu leaned back in his chair, gazing at the sky gradually darkening outside the window; he knew that this battle had only just begun. And it would not be easy to fight.