Chapter 65: Business Figures

February 19, 1995, Sunday, 10:20 AM, Yuncheng Nanxi Airport waiting lounge.

"Intern reporter for *Business Figures* magazine, Xia Fangfei... Hey, Di Ye, is this ID real?"

"You don't know if you're a reporter?"

Xia Fangfei held the ID up in front of Di Ye and shook it, saying with a grin: "You know I really like to roleplay. The name on this is real, and the photo is real, so now I'm a bit confused."

Di Ye was reading a newspaper and added without raising his head: "The magazine is real too, it's just that it was ordered to cease publication after only two issues were released."

"Why was it shut down?"

"Because this magazine was a revenue-generating project run by my brother-in-law's publishing house, specifically to collect money to write biographies for upstarts who wanted to be famous. Because what they wrote was too outrageous, they were reported by readers."

"What a pity."

Just then, the broadcast announced that the flight to Pujiang had begun boarding. Di Ye tossed the *Economic Daily* and *Pujiang Securities News* he had bought that morning onto the seat and dragged his suitcase toward the boarding gate. Xia Fangfei followed by his side, chattering away: "If I fail my interview in Beijing next month, how about I become a real reporter? Running all over the country, interviewing all kinds of famous people—that should be fun."

"This time, you follow my lead. If we can collect enough information, then forget about just running all over the country; running all over the world won't be a problem."

The straight-line distance from Yuncheng to Pujiang is about 500 kilometers. In 2023, it would take just over 2 hours by high-speed rail, but in 1995, the average speed of trains was only a little over 40 kilometers per hour, making the trip take more than ten hours, so Di Ye simply chose to fly.

Upon arriving in Pujiang, Di Ye took Xia Fangfei to stay at the Paramount Hotel, which opened in 1992. After lunch, he opened his suitcase, took out a camera and a micro-cassette recorder, and said: "The 6th to 8th floors of this hotel are the trading headquarters of Wanguo Securities. Tomorrow, you go and get close to the people at Wanguo Securities in the capacity of an intern reporter."

Xia Fangfei didn't understand the financial world and didn't know the status of Wanguo Securities in the industry; she just thought it was fun and asked: "And then?"

"Then you look for an opportunity to see if you can conduct a simple interview with Guan Jinsheng, the president of Wanguo Securities. I've already written down the questions; you just need to memorize them."

Di Ye picked up a notebook, pulled out a group photo clipped from a newspaper, and pointing to the person in the middle wearing a gray trench coat, said: "This is Guan Jinsheng. Don't mistake him for someone else. If there's no chance to interview him, just snap a few photos of him; they'll be useful later."

Xia Fangfei looked carefully, memorized his facial features, and asked: "I'm going to interview him, what are you going to do?"

Di Ye moved his finger a few centimeters to the left, pointed to a person in a black suit, and said: "I'm going to approach this person, Tang Renrong, the chairman of Haitong Securities."

Xia Fangfei was a bit puzzled and asked curiously: "You came to Pujiang to speculate on treasury bonds this time, why do you want to approach these people?"

"Not treasury bonds, but Treasury Bond Futures. If my calculations are correct, in 3 days, the Pujiang Securities Exchange will see a massive, earth-shattering brawl. If you can record the whole process, not only can you sell it for money, but you can also use it as credentials to become a reporter at any newspaper in the country."

Xia Fangfei immediately felt an excitement about participating in a historical event and pressed: "What kind of brawl?"

Di Ye was amused by Xia Fangfei's eager expression, flicked her rounded chin with his index finger, and said: "I can't tell you, because you need to maintain this state of ignorance to be able to get close to the people at Wanguo Securities. No one dislikes showing off in front of a great beauty."

Xia Fangfei was both happy at his compliment and dissatisfied with his concealment, pouting and acting spoiled: "You never like to show off in front of me, no matter what you do, you're always mysterious."

"If you perform well this time, next time, no matter what I do, I'll discuss it with you in advance."

"Really?"

"Really. Although I keep many things from you, I never lie to you."

Securities companies are closed on Sundays, so Di Ye and Xia Fangfei spent the day wandering around, enjoying a romantic time. The next morning, they began to act separately: one went to Wanguo Securities to scout for information, and the other went to Haitong Securities to handle large-client business.

In the 90s, the scale of the domestic securities market was still relatively small. 15 million in capital was considered a super-large account, the vast majority of which belonged to enterprises, with very few private players. Therefore, Di Ye attracted high attention from Haitong Securities, which arranged an independent operating room for him, fully equipped with a sofa, desk, and even a bed for napping.

After the large-client Manager arranged everything, they immediately went to the chairman's office to report to Tang Renrong. After listening, Tang Renrong asked suspiciously: "This person is a college student in his early 20s?"

"Yes, he said he wanted to write his graduation thesis and asked if I could help buy a few books on computer science. I've already sent someone to the Xinhua Bookstore to look for them."

"Running to a securities company to write a thesis, this person is truly unconventional. What kind of business is he doing?"

"Treasury Bond Futures."

Tang Renrong's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately decided to go see Di Ye. After knocking open the large-client operating room, he found Di Ye typing on a Notebook Computer, not even looking at the desktop computer displaying market trends on the desk.

Such a young and strange client left a very deep first impression on Tang Renrong. After introducing himself, he inquired: "Which university is Mr. Di a top student from?"

"I'm from Yuncheng University. During the winter break, I studied the treasury bond market and found that going long on 327 Treasury Bond Futures was profitable, so I got some money to play around with. I have to go back to school for classes in a few days."

Yuncheng University was at the bottom of the list among key universities and had no reputation; Tang Renrong had never heard of it. Seeing Di Ye's calm expression as he voluntarily stated the product and direction he was operating in, as if he had victory in his grasp, he was even more astonished and warned: "Mr. Di, futures trading involves relatively large sums of money. It's best not to disclose the content of your trades to others casually."

"Many thanks for the advice, Chairman Tang. I won't do it again."

Just then, a secretary came to inform Tang Renrong that Chairman Gao Ling of Liaosheng Guofa had urgent business with him. Tang Renrong then excused himself from the operating room and returned to his office to meet with Gao Ling, the chairman of Liaosheng Guofa (Group) Co., Ltd., only to learn that he wanted to borrow Haitong Securities' position to short 327 Treasury Bond Futures.

According to the regulations of the Pujiang Securities Exchange, every securities company has a limit on its position in treasury bond futures, so borrowing positions between peers is standard practice. But when Tang Renrong heard that Gao Ling wanted to short 327 Treasury Bond Futures, he remembered Di Ye's confident demeanor and suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of crisis, declining: "Chairman Gao, our company holds a large number of short positions in 316 Treasury Bond Futures that haven't been closed out. I can't help you right now."

"I knew before I came that you were in a hurry to close out the 316 short orders. I happen to have 316 long orders; I can help you close your positions, and then you can help me open short orders for 327."

Haitong Securities had about 400,000 lots of 316 short orders that needed to be closed urgently. With Gao Ling offering such terms, Tang Renrong couldn't refuse and had to agree.

The next morning around 11:00, after Tang Renrong finished handling the 316 short orders, he didn't immediately help Gao Ling open the 327 short orders, but instead found the large-client Manager to ask about Di Ye's situation.

"Mr. Di transferred another 5 million in capital today, all used to go long on 327 Treasury Bond Futures."

"Is he still the same, not looking at the market, just writing his thesis on the Notebook Computer in the operating room?"

"Yes."

Hearing this, the sense of crisis in Tang Renrong's heart grew even stronger. In the afternoon, when Gao Ling brought a 50 million check to borrow a position to open 327 short orders, he played the rogue, firmly refusing to lend the proprietary position and only agreeing to let Gao Ling open short orders using a client position.

The margin for a proprietary position is 1%, while the margin for a client position is 2.5%, which is safer but yields significantly lower returns. Gao Ling had no choice but to use the 50 million to open a client position and then left in a hurry.

The secretary was puzzled by this and said: "Chairman Tang, the daily trading volume of treasury bond futures is in the hundreds of billions. Mr. Di's 20 million seems like a lot, but it's actually just a drop in the bucket. There's no need to worry, right?"

"If even an ordinary college student knows that going long on 327 Treasury Bonds is a sure-win, what does that mean? It means the trend of going long on 327 Treasury Bonds in the market has already formed. Chairman Gao wants to go against the trend; the risk is very high."

"But how could an ordinary college student have 20 million in massive capital?"

"That's even more reason to worry. It means this person is not ordinary. If he can casually take out 20 million to play with, how much power must his parents have? The rise and fall of 327 Treasury Bonds all depend on whether the Ministry of Finance provides a Value Preservation Subsidy. Perhaps his family has already received accurate news about the subsidy in advance."

Having said this, Tang Renrong instructed: "Go tell Manager Deng to make arrangements; I want to invite Mr. Di to dinner tonight."

That evening, Di Ye took Xia Fangfei to the restaurant where Tang Renrong was hosting. Over the past two days, by acting cute and playing dumb, Xia Fangfei had interviewed everyone at Wanguo Securities with remarkable results. She was fully committed and truly thought of herself as a reporter, chasing Tang Renrong to ask about many gossip stories and inside information from the Pujiang financial market, gaining a full harvest.

However, Tang Renrong gained very little, finding out nothing and remaining completely ignorant of Di Ye's background, knowing only that he had transferred another 3 million in capital.

By the next evening, when Tang Renrong learned from the *News Broadcast* that the Ministry of Finance had announced the issuance of 1995 3-year certificate-style treasury bonds starting March 1st, with an annual interest rate of 14% and the implementation of a Value Preservation Subsidy, he asked his subordinate: "What is the closing price of 327 Treasury Bonds today?"

"148.21 yuan."

"According to this announcement from the Ministry of Finance, calculated at a 14% interest rate, the Value Preservation Subsidy for 327 Treasury Bonds will be shockingly high. Tomorrow, the price will soar to at least over 152 yuan..."

Tang Renrong picked up a calculator, pressed it a few times, and then sighed heavily: "Wanguo Securities and Liaosheng Guofa are both finished. That Di Ye is going to make a fortune!"