Chapter 69: Urban Legend

"Di Ye, the newspaper says yesterday's 327 Treasury Bond Futures trading volume was 482 billion yuan, of which 86.6% belonged to the short orders dumped by Wanguo Securities in the 7 minutes and 47 seconds before the market closed... How much is 482 billion times 0.866?"

"417.412 billion."

Di Ye stood outside the Pujiang City Workers' Cultural Palace, taking photos of the Huangpu District business department of Wanguo Securities while saying to Xia Fangfei, "Now you know what a massive historical event you witnessed yesterday, right?"

Xia Fangfei had been playing a fake reporter for a few days and had become a bit addicted; she sighed with the air of an insider in the financial circle, "Wei Wenyuan actually dared to cancel over 400 billion in trades—what guts!"

"Those short orders that Guan Jinsheng used to crash the market were fabricated by exploiting the daily mark-to-market loophole of the Pujiang Securities Exchange. They both exceeded the position limits and couldn't provide the corresponding margin, so they definitely had to be canceled."

"But it wasn't just Wanguo Securities operating in those last 8 minutes; there must have been others. Now that it's all been canceled, they've been wronged."

"Think about those who were going long. They had originally made millions or even tens of millions, but within a few minutes, they were turned from big profits into big losses—or even bankruptcy—by Guan Jinsheng's cheating methods. Aren't they even more wronged? The exchange closed at 4:30 PM, and the announcement came out at 11:00 PM. In those 6-plus hours in between, someone might have already jumped off a building to commit suicide."

Xia Fangfei thought that made sense, so she stopped dwelling on the issue of the canceled trades. She closed the newspaper and said discontentedly, "The market is closed this morning, and there isn't a soul at the business department. Why come here to take photos?"

"This business department is one of the landmarks in the history of Chinese stocks and has set many records. Now, the fate of Wanguo Securities is sealed; it will either go bankrupt or be acquired and restructured. The plaque here will definitely be changed in the future, so I'm taking a few photos as a souvenir."

After Di Ye finished taking photos and fulfilled his sentiment of witnessing history, he hung the camera around his neck and said, "Let's go, time to go shopping for gifts."

Xia Fangfei tossed the newspaper into a trash can by the side of the road and left gracefully.

A few minutes later, a passing office worker threw a paper cup with leftover soy milk into the trash can, hitting the newspaper squarely and making the black-on-white text of "Wanguo Securities" and "Zhongjingkai" sticky and illegible, as if foreshadowing the final outcome of the 327 Treasury Bond Incident.

At 12:30 PM, Wang Mishu drove Di Ye and Xia Fangfei to Hongqiao Airport, then returned to the Haitong Securities headquarters, reporting to Tang Renrong with a look as if he had seen a ghost regarding the history of how Di Ye made his fortune, which Di Ye had voluntarily revealed.

Tang Renrong had been in meetings at the exchange until 11:00 PM last night and only went home to rest after the announcement canceling the last 7 minutes and 47 seconds of trading was released. In the morning, he went to the Bank of Communications for a meeting all morning to brief high-level leaders on the specific situation of the 327 Treasury Bond Incident, and he was exhausted.

While Wang Mishu was reporting, he was eating a working lunch in the proprietary trading room with several subordinates. After listening, his already numb nerves were stimulated once again, and he exclaimed, "Good heavens! I thought Guan Jinsheng was crazy enough, but I didn't expect this kid to be even crazier. He actually raised over 20 million in a single winter break."

"Manager Tang, raising funds isn't what's crazy. What's crazy is that he actually dared to use the raised funds to speculate on 327 Treasury Bonds."

"If you lose, it's called crazy; if you win, it's called brilliant. As long as this guy goes back to Yuncheng, cancels the company, and returns the raised funds to the users, no one can hold him accountable. He'd have made 20 million for nothing."

"This trick of 'borrowing a chicken to lay eggs' is played beautifully! Manager Tang, this guy is definitely a financial genius. We must recruit him to Haitong immediately."

"Absolutely not. One look at this person and you can tell he's the next Guan Jinsheng..."

Tang Renrong ignored the discussion and banter of his subordinates and asked Wang Mishu, "What else did Di Ye tell you?"

"He said Wanguo Securities is similar to his disc rental company in that they both have a large number of clients with large amounts of funds stored in company accounts. This morning, all the major newspapers reported the news of Wanguo's massive losses. The exchange not only didn't hold a press conference to appease public opinion but instead closed the market. This will definitely create many rumors, and rumors will stimulate clients, leading to a run on the bank. He asked Manager Tang to remind the Municipal Government to handle it cautiously to avoid a financial risk that could spread nationwide."

Tang Renrong was shocked. He couldn't even finish his meal; he got up and ran back to his office, made several phone calls in a row, and returned to the trading room about 20 minutes later, instructing, "I'm going to the exchange for a meeting in a while. You guys shouldn't make any reckless trades this afternoon; stability is the top priority."

"Manager Tang, isn't that Di Ye being too alarmist? Wanguo isn't a bank, and even if they have massive losses, it's at most a billion or so. To the financial system, that's not a big deal at all."

"You don't know a damn thing! Rumors are flying everywhere now. Wanguo is the leader in the securities market; if even they can have massive losses, have other securities companies lost money too? If even the margin deposited at Wanguo can't be withdrawn, who can say for sure that the margin at other securities companies can be withdrawn? When the time comes, there will be a stampede of people trying to withdraw their money, and even we will be finished."

After Tang Renrong finished scolding, he asked Wang Mishu, "What time does Di Ye's plane arrive in Yuncheng?"

"Around 1:50."

"When the time comes, give him a call and tell his girlfriend not to publish the content she's interviewed over the past few days in the magazine for now."

Wang Mishu couldn't help but laugh and said, "Manager Tang, Miss Xia isn't a reporter at all; she's a student in the English Department of the Foreign Languages Institute at Yun University. That so-called 'Business Figures' actually ceased publication back in 1993."

Tang Renrong was dumbfounded. After a moment of stunned silence, he asked, "Why did she pretend to be a reporter?"

"Di Ye said finance is a game of numbers and psychology, so he watched the K-line charts here while Miss Xia pretended to be a reporter to collect information on Wanguo Securities employees, then synthesized it to infer how strong their intention to short the 327 was."

"Damn! These two are truly something else."

"That Miss Xia interviewed me. She asked very professional questions and looked exactly like a real reporter."

"Nonsense. You've never been interviewed by a reporter before, so on what basis do you think she was exactly like a real reporter?"

"Just because she's pretty!"

Tang Renrong still didn't quite believe it and questioned, "Wanguo is Guan Jinsheng's one-man show; the information of ordinary employees is not important at all. His girlfriend only chatted with Guan Jinsheng at the dinner table for a few minutes; it's impossible to infer how determined Wanguo was to short."

Wang Mishu pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, suppressed the shock in his heart, and reported truthfully, "Manager Tang, Miss Xia said she didn't chat idly, but asked Guan three questions. First: Does he believe the futures market is a place where strength speaks? Second: Does he approve of the business philosophy of tit-for-tat and never compromising? Third: Who is the person he trusts most in the company?"

Tang Renrong had known Guan Jinsheng for many years and was very familiar with his personality. Last night at the exchange meeting, he had also witnessed his extremely tough attitude with his own eyes. Hearing this, he was thoughtful and said, "The answers to the first two questions are self-evident. How did Guan Jinsheng answer the third question?"

"Miss Xia said Guan mentioned a few names, and the one ranked first was Zhang Lei, the Deputy General Manager of the Brokerage Headquarters."

As soon as Wang Mishu finished speaking, one of the subordinates exclaimed, "Zhang Lei? I heard that yesterday he was the one fully responsible for the trading decisions of Wanguo's 327 Treasury Bond Futures."

Another subordinate who knew Zhang Lei said in a hindsight tone, "Zhang Lei had never participated in Treasury Bond Futures trading before. Guan Jinsheng actually let him make the decisions—that's really playing the piano blindly. No wonder they lost so much."

Tang Renrong also knew Zhang Lei and didn't have a very good impression of him, feeling that he had a weak personality and was purely Guan Jinsheng's rubber stamp. He reviewed the three questions and realized that once the answers were known, one could immediately infer Wanguo Securities' trading strategy. He couldn't help but be amazed and exclaimed, "This Miss Xia is truly a master of insight into the human heart!"

"Manager Tang, Miss Xia said Di Ye told her to ask these three questions."

Tang Renrong was stunned again. He wanted to say something, but didn't know what to say, so he had to keep silent and hurried to the exchange for a meeting. Then he went to the Municipal Government with Wei Wenyuan for another meeting. By the time the meeting at the Municipal Government ended after 2:00 PM, news came from outside that several business departments of Wanguo Securities were experiencing runs.

"This Di Ye is truly a god-like figure. As long as he doesn't go down the wrong path in the future, his prospects will be limitless!"