Chapter 197: Damn, this is screwed.
Royal Hee Hotel, top floor V2 Presidential Suite.
Cai Yu folded his arms across his chest, leaned slightly back on the soft leather swivel chair, eyes fixed on the computer screen on the desk, a faint smile hanging on his dark face.
On the screen was the latest stock trend chart of Yimao Group. As he expected, the moment the market opened, the stock price plummeted like meteor fragments pulled down by Earth's gravity.
It had already been six days. The stock price of Yimao Group had fallen from 7.38 yuan to 3.83 yuan, nearly halved, but Yang Fei had remained silent, as if she never even held those five million shares.
If it were anyone else, they would've either jumped off a building by now or at least pissed themselves in fear, begging others to take over, seeking comfort, and venting their misery.
"As expected of the woman I, Cai Yu, fancy. What woman under heaven can compare to her composure?" Cai Yu withdrew his smile, though he felt a sting of pain inside.
In six days, she'd lost nearly twenty million, and she knew exactly who made her lose it. Yet she acted as if it had nothing to do with her, making him feel like he was trying to bite a hedgehog—no way to start.
Even if you just said a word or replied with a text, that'd be fine. But now, all his carefully planned show was about to turn into a one-man comedy.
"Young Master Cai, we can't keep doing this." From behind, Du Yuheng clung on like a ghost that wouldn't leave. "We've already thrown in six hundred million. Buying high, selling low, amusing ourselves for five or six days—even if it's left hand to right hand, the stamp duty, transfer fees, and all the random expenses already exceeded five million."
His face was bitter as pig liver, wrinkles on his forehead like those of a hundred-year-old granny. Cai Yu still looked calm—of course, their family only threw in one hundred million, and the Yimao Group shares went right back into their Xinjin Company afterward.
But it wasn't the same for the Du family. They had put in six hundred million, buying high and selling low.
They'd already lost at least two hundred million. Though the Cai family had promised to make up the difference, it was just that—a promise. They hadn't seen a single cent yet.
Worst of all, their goal hadn't been achieved. Not even a trace of hope. Yang Fei simply ignored them.
Du Yuheng had already changed more than ten phone numbers, yet Yang Fei just blocked him once and that was the end of it.
Being a fool is fine, but being an inexplicable fool like this? That's just double the stupidity.
"Very good." Cai Yu, who had been sitting silently staring at the screen, finally spoke two words.
Du Yuheng's face darkened. Very good?
He had no idea what was so good. Six hundred million, for god's sake!
I could hire a mercenary team to kidnap Yang Fei for that kind of money and let you have your way with her, and after all that—
After spending so much time and effort, being toyed with, you say two words: very good?
Very good, my ass.
Though he thought so, he didn't dare show any displeasure. He rubbed his hands together and forced a smile. "Young Master Cai, how about this? I've checked—Yang Fei still has classes every day and no bodyguards. I can call a few guys to grab her, drug her, and then you can do whatever you want. How about it? I could even—"
Before he finished, he met a pair of cold eyes. Cai Yu's faint smile disappeared, and he frowned slightly, staring at Du Yuheng.
He said calmly, "The woman I set my eyes on—if I have to use such means to get her, I'd rather destroy her. Don't ever have such thoughts again."
Seeing the killing intent in his eyes, Du Yuheng shivered. This guy's head wasn't screwed on right. He could only give an awkward laugh. "I was just saying hypothetically, Young Master Cai. But if we keep this up, sooner or later the Securities Regulatory Commission will notice us."
"They've already noticed. They just don't have evidence." Cai Yu's faint smile returned as he looked at the screen. He clicked the mouse, moved the trend chart aside, revealing a top-secret panel.
Du Yuheng glanced at it, and surprise spread across his face.
He could actually see such confidential data—all trading info and counterparties of Yimao Group were laid out clearly.
"Actually, the other side has made a move. Feihe offloaded six million shares today. Retail investors about one million. Over seven million total. Normally, at this kind of limit-down price, no one would buy. The only ones who'd dare are Xinjin and Feng Tang. I thought Feng Tang was running out of cash, but he still bought two million shares today. The strangest part is this fund called Zhonghe—it snatched up three million shares. If Xinjin hadn't acted fast, we'd have gotten nothing today."
After Cai Yu finished his long speech, he paused, glanced at Du Yuheng, and asked, "So, do you see what's going on now?"
"It means someone wants to save Yimao."
"Correct. But once you know who's behind it, you'll understand why I said 'very good.'" Cai Yu looked at the screen, his eyes lowering. "Zhonghe Fund is a small company backed by Shanghai's Wu family. The Wu family has close ties with the Qiao family. I've heard Qiao Xier holds a considerable stake in Zhonghe. So if I'm right, she's the one making the move. And why would Qiao Xier act? Isn't it obvious?"
A faint smile crossed Cai Yu's face. "Zhang Yang can't sit still anymore."
"If nothing unexpected happens, Yimao's stock price will rebound today." Cai Yu stared at the screen, stretched his shoulders, changed his sitting posture. "In that case, we keep selling!"
"If we keep selling and they buy it up, won't we just be giving them a bargain when the price goes up?" Du Yuheng's face twisted painfully.
"Then let them buy. Let's see who has more—us selling or them buying. Don't forget, their funds compared to ours are like feathers to a mountain. I'd like to see how much they can buy. Sell! However much they buy, we sell the same amount."
Staring at Cai Yu's head, Du Yuheng suddenly wanted to smash it with a brick. Damn it, it's not your money—you obviously don't care! Before, selling to yourself was one thing, just losing some transfer fees, but now you're literally giving money away. Damn it, something's really wrong here.
But right now.
He had no choice but to follow. Like an opium addict, unable to quit even if he wanted to. If they retreated now, it'd be like throwing billions straight into the ocean.
He wasn't stupid. There were only two paths left: either wait for Yimao's price to recover and recoup the investment—
Or keep going all in and seize Yimao's management rights. The first was unlikely. Only the second made sense. Most of Yimao's shares were already in Xinjin's hands. As long as they kept up the panic, retail investors would dump their shares.
So the only option now was to prevent Yimao's stock from rising and to fight Zhonghe for the retail investors' shares.
Just like Cai Yu said—how much money could Qiao Xier have? As long as her mother didn't step in—
Yimao would still end up in their hands.
"It's rebounding? Interesting." Sitting upright, Cai Yu looked again at Yimao's trend chart. After so many consecutive limit-down days, the stock had started to rebound after nearly hitting bottom as the market opened.
"Retail investors are also buying in. They probably think it's bottomed out and about to rebound since the trading volume didn't drop despite the declines." Du Yuheng said with concern.
"Check the news. Looks like the Qiao family's backing Feng Tang. Interesting." Cai Yu crossed his hands leisurely on the desk and said casually.
Du Yuheng glanced at him and quickly opened his own computer. Indeed, many media outlets were publishing a statement from Yimao Group's chairman.
Yimao Group first released audit and regulatory reports clarifying the false rumors about inflated earnings.
Then Yimao Group announced a partnership with Zhonghe Fund—Zhonghe would inject two hundred million within a month, buying forty million shares at five yuan each.
Then came another piece of news.
Yimao Group would manufacture the next-generation products of the famous Australian telecom company ATG and was negotiating with the Dutch Phip Group to acquire their patents to produce professional audio-visual equipment.
After reading these, looking back at the trend chart—the news had only been out for less than half an hour, and Yimao's stock had already risen back to four yuan.
Which meant the six million shares they sold at 3.83 yuan this morning had just evaporated a million.
"What a pity. Yimao's stage is too small." Cai Yu narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Otherwise, I'd make the Qiao family lose everything. Now that they've stepped in, shorting Yimao is no longer possible."
"Young Master Cai, what do you mean now?" Du Yuheng was almost crying. What do you mean shorting is no longer possible? Didn't you say earlier it was a matter of minutes?
"For now, we'll go with this. Since the Qiao family wants to prop up Yimao, fine—we'll help them. From now on, Xinjin only buys, no selling. Feihe stops dumping too. We'll observe for a few days. Worst case, if prices recover, we can sell later and still make some."
Cai Yu's heart ached. He couldn't tell if the Qiao family had really intervened. If they had, that was troublesome. But didn't they just reach a settlement recently?
Could this be Qiao Xier's personal action? If so, they couldn't have much cash. But he wasn't sure, so he decided to pause for now.
"That's all we can do." Du Yuheng sighed helplessly. What a mess. After all that chaos, they'd lost a fortune for nothing. Was it worth it?
Depressed but resigned, Du Yuheng followed Cai Yu's instructions. He took out his phone to call his traders, telling them to stop selling Yimao shares. The call had barely connected when his subordinate asked in confusion, "Young Master, didn't you just tell us to sell all Yimao shares at once?"
"What? When did I say that?" Du Yuheng's face turned green.
"Just now! You messaged us on your phone and on Penguin, telling us to keep suppressing Yimao's price since it was our own people buying anyway…"
"What the fuck? When the hell did I log on to Penguin? When did I send that?" Du Yuheng panicked. What the hell was going on?
Soon, his subordinate sent a screenshot…
Du Yuheng froze on the spot. Shit! His account must've been hacked! Damn idiots—couldn't they even tell? This was ridiculous. Damn it, this is totally screwed!
But his account had a complicated password—who could hack it? He had just been logged in moments ago!
No time to think, he rushed to Cai Yu's side and said anxiously, "Young Master Cai, check who bought those shares—it should be Xinjin, right?"
Seeing his panic, Cai Yu smiled calmly. "To fill thirty million shares, you need over a hundred million yuan. I just checked—Zhonghe doesn't have that much capital, and the Qiao family's involvement is just for show. Those thirty million shares are safe."
"Good, good! Then it must be us, Xinjin." Du Yuheng patted his chest in relief, though he still looked uneasy. He forced a smile. "Young Master Cai, better check again, just in case."
Cai Yu frowned. Working with such a rash man was beneath him, but since they still needed the Du family's support, he held his temper, opened the secret panel again, and checked.
As expected, Xinjin had taken most of it—twenty million shares—but Zhonghe had snatched about one million. Not too bad. The rest went to Feng Tang and some retail investors.
Xinjin now held over sixty million shares—about 35% of Yimao's stock. Valued at a little over two hundred million. Even if Yimao's price returned to its original level, it'd only be worth around four hundred million, while their total investment was six hundred million. In other words, after all this fuss, they'd lost over a hundred million and didn't even get a single text from Yang Fei.
Du Yuheng was speechless. Was there anything more fucked up than this?
He suddenly began to doubt the intelligence of the black crow before him. Was this guy brain-dead?
Cai Yu glanced at him. Maybe he saw that look on Du Yuheng's face, because anger rose within him. Just as he was about to speak, his phone rang.
"Aunt?" Seeing the caller ID, Cai Yu frowned slightly.
"Something big happened, Xiaoyu." His aunt, Cai Yanzhu, sounded nothing like her usual sultry calm. Instead, she was flustered—like a mouse cornered by a cat.