Back to the teenage years

Chapter 620 Ten Thousand Mountains

If Zhang Yunqi had already planned how to acquire 50% of Jinzhao Industrial's shares from Liu Mingde when he introduced Qiao Zhiwu to Liu Mingde, then his core purpose in actively participating in the restructuring and acquisition of Xiangtai Pharmaceutical was to cripple Lu Yuanzhou's cash flow.

This is the only way for him to acquire the remaining 50% of Jinzhao Industrial's shares!

These shares were accumulated in Lu Yuanzhou's hands.

The reason is simple: the financial restructuring of Xiangtai Pharmaceutical required an enormous amount of capital. No one could come up with that much cash, so leverage was inevitable. Leverage always has weaknesses and risks, and Lu Yuanzhou's weakness was that if Xiangtai Pharmaceutical's stock price fell below 30 yuan, Yongxin Trust, in order to protect the funds of its trust plan investors, would inevitably force liquidation and sell the shares pledged by Lu Yuanzhou. Lu Yuanzhou would not only lose everything, but would also owe Yongxin Trust a huge amount of principal and unpaid interest.

In order to recover its losses, Yongxin Trust will inevitably apply to the court for pre-litigation property preservation, freezing all executable assets under the names of Lu Yuanzhou and related parties. Then, Lu Yuanzhou's 50% stake in Jinzhao Industrial will be added to the freeze list, entering into judicial auction or debt settlement proceedings, ultimately leading to debt repayment.

In this way, Zhang Yunqi could acquire the shares through normal legal procedures. Combined with Liu Mingde's 50% stake, he would have 100% control of Jinzhao Industrial and would naturally take over the Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street on Huangxing South Road, a super project with a potential value of tens of billions.

The plan is flawless; each step is interconnected.

The crux of the problem isn't that Lu Yuanzhou saw through Zhang Yunqi's strategy in advance, because Zhang Yunqi had also seen through Lu Yuanzhou's strategy long ago.

Both sides were playing with their cards almost completely out in the open!
In reality, when Lu Yuanzhou pledged shares to go long and Zhang Yunqi borrowed shares to go short, both sides could observe each other's intentions in the market. However, neither side had a way out and they had to fight to the death. Whoever retreated would be doomed.

So where exactly does the problem lie?
At least for Zhang Yunqi right now, the answer seems to be no longer important. He lost, and he has to bear the consequences.

So, what is the price of losing?

Having exhausted its cash reserves, the hundreds of millions of yuan obtained by mortgaging core assets were completely trapped. The bank initiated compulsory disposal procedures, and the 50% equity of Jinzhao Industrial obtained by Zhang Yunqi from Liu Mingde was frozen by the judiciary. The Qingwu Commercial Pedestrian Street project will fall entirely into the hands of Lu Yuanzhou.

In just over twenty days, the unreturned off-exchange stock loans will generate astronomical cash payouts! This is enough to destroy the three major business systems under United Times: Liansheng Group, Lianzhong Group, and Aihua Group. Zhang Yunqi's capital empire, built up over several years, will completely collapse and face liquidation or dismantling!
Zhang Yunqi sat in his office.

The light from outside the window cast his profile onto the cold glass.

He didn't look at the stock charts, nor did he try to contact anyone. He just sat quietly, watching Lu Yuanzhou's crazy and arrogant behavior in front of him!

This young man has always been very concerned about appearances, at least on the surface. Perhaps he has been suppressing his feelings for too long and has lost to Zhang Yunqi too many times, especially in the Jiangchuan brawl and the Black Elk Peak fire. He has lived for more than 20 years and has never suffered such humiliation.

But now he's won everything! He's pushed Zhang Yunqi into an abyss! The ultimate thrill of revenge makes every pore of his body radiate an almost dizzying excitement!
So he made no attempt to hide his arrogance and did everything he could to humiliate Zhang Yunqi. He wanted to trample Zhang Yunqi under his feet and crush him to death!

After venting for a full half hour, Lu Yuanzhou probably felt satisfied. He threw down a sentence, telling Zhang Yunqi to crawl to his office like a dog and beg him before leaving with his tail held high.

The office became very quiet.

Zhang Yunqi sat alone for a long time, so long that the light outside the window dimmed. Then, he received what was probably the most ridiculous phone call in the world.

The call was from Li Yufei's biological mother, Xie Jing.

Xie Jing's voice sounded exceptionally warm on the phone.

She asked Zhang Yunqi if he had eaten.

Zhang Yunqi said he had eaten.

She said, "That's good, that's good."

Zhang Yunqi said, "Auntie, you can just say what's on your mind."

She said, "Um, it's like this, have you been suppressing the stock price of Xiangtai Pharmaceutical recently? I bought some Xiangtai stock, and it was too high..."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "Auntie, don't worry, Lu Yuanzhou has already won. The stock price will reach 40 yuan within three days. You can sell it then and make a lot of money."

"Oh, I see." Xie Jing breathed a sigh of relief on the other end of the phone, then, perhaps realizing that this was inappropriate, she said with considerable concern, "Well, you, you put in quite a lot of money, didn't you?"

"I am fine."

Zhang Yunqi hung up the phone and turned it off.

Wang Guibing walked in through the door at this moment, his steps heavier than usual. Behind him followed Xu Qingshan, whose face was grave. Xu Qingshan clearly knew the outcome and what Lu Yuanzhou had done immediately: "Boss..."

"No need to say anything, I know everything." Zhang Yunqi waved his hand, looked at him, and smiled again. After a long while, he suddenly asked a question, as if he were asking Wang Guibing, but also as if he were asking himself: "What if I have nothing left..."

"What's there to be afraid of! At worst, we can go back to Jiangchuan and sell video game consoles." Wang Guibing replied almost immediately.

Zhang Yunqi smiled and nodded.

Then he stood up and walked towards the door.

Wang Guibing immediately asked, "Boss, where are you going?"

At the end of the corridor was a window, through which the scorching sunlight streamed in, casting Zhang Yunqi's shadow on the floor by the doorway. The figure didn't stop, nor did he turn around: "I don't know either. I want some peace and quiet. If I don't return within twenty days, pay what you owe. If you can't pay, sell the property and continue paying."

******
Standing at the tail end of June.

The atmosphere in Rita City was already stifling.

The sun hung brightly in the sky, its strong light piercing through the thin clouds, and the whole city seemed listless. At this time of year, the sycamore leaves had already curled at the edges, the streets were sparsely populated, and the occasional bicycle bell rang out, carrying a lazy, languid air.

Li Yufei is free today.

In her bedroom, she lazily flipped through photo albums from her childhood in the Bamboo Fragrance Ancient Alley. When she saw some photos from deep in her memories, she couldn't help but smile.

The air conditioning in the bedroom was very strong.

The Moon Heart Lake outside the window has shimmering waves.

The girl, wearing a light pink fitted tank top, sat in a caterpillar-shaped recliner, her long, slender legs crossed. Her beautiful eyes held a serene charm, and she was incredibly pretty. When she smiled, even the cicadas chirping in the camphor trees outside the window seemed to grow louder. The semester at the Normal University was drawing to a close.

She finished her final paper and presentation, but recently she collaborated with the school's music production department to record a few demos, songs with a folk feel. Her manager, Sister Jinghua, mentioned that if she had any good work, she could contact a record company, but she felt she wasn't ready yet, and the melodies and lyrics weren't particularly outstanding.

A while ago, she finished filming the Hunan culture documentary for Hunan TV, and post-production was nearing completion. The production company gave positive feedback, saying that her camerawork was calm and story-telling. The day before yesterday, Sister Jinghua called and said that she had sent the sample footage of the Hunan culture documentary to many media companies and directors, and three film and television projects wanted to find a time to invite her to Beijing for an audition.

Li Yufei felt that everything in her life was well-organized, clear, and stable, but for some reason, she always felt empty inside.

She closed the photo album, got up and went downstairs to fetch water, but when she got to the first floor, she found that her aunt Liu Huihui had arrived.

Liu Huihui and her mother were sitting on the sofa in the living room.

The two women were very close together, their voices hushed, but they couldn't hide their excited, animated expressions—the kind of excitement that middle-aged women have when gossiping about something extremely mysterious.

Li Yufei couldn't help but feel a little curious.

She took a few steps closer and vaguely heard the name "Zhang Yunqi." Her heart inexplicably jumped, but by then her mother and the others had already seen her and stopped talking.

Liu Huihui's face broke into a warm smile, the fine lines around her eyes still etched with her lingering enthusiasm for conversation: "Yufei, remember to go to your aunt's house for dinner tonight. Your grandma came over yesterday and said she hasn't seen you in a long time and has been missing you..."

Li Yufei smiled slightly, but her pretty face didn't show the usual joy she had when she heard her grandmother was coming. She nodded and said, "Then I'll go back to my room to change my clothes."

She poured herself a glass of warm water, greeted her mother and aunt again, and turned to go upstairs. However, she did not go straight back to her bedroom, but stopped in a small patch of shadow at the corner of the stairs.

Soon, rustling sounds began to echo in the living room again.

Aunt Liu Huihui then vividly recounted, "Sister, let me tell you, Zhang Yunqi's purpose in suppressing Xiangtai's stock price was to short Lu Yuanzhou. I heard he poured hundreds of millions into it! Tsk tsk, these rich people really treat money like paper. But Lu is smarter; he saw through Zhang Yunqi's scheme long ago. Now Zhang Yunqi is probably going to go bankrupt. It's all because he's too greedy. He's a billionaire; wouldn't it be better if he just lived a peaceful life?"

Xie Jing's slightly worried voice rang out: "Then, isn't Liansheng Group also going bankrupt and going out of business? Your brother-in-law..."

Liu Huihui raised her voice: "It's okay, sister. Lao Xie has already said that Zhang Yunqi has taken on a debt that an ordinary person could never repay in ten lifetimes. His cash flow will definitely break down. In less than twenty days, Liansheng Group will be put up for judicial auction or debt settlement agreement. Lu Yuanzhou will definitely buy it. At that time, our brother-in-law will still be the general manager of Liansheng. Since Xiao Lu cherishes our Yufei so much, our brother-in-law's treatment will definitely be better."

Xie Jing said "Oh," but her voice was still somewhat hesitant: "I see... Then, won't Zhang Yunqi suffer too much? Sigh! Speaking of which, he helped our Old Li a lot back then, without him, my family wouldn't exist..."

Liu Huihui interrupted her, her tone somewhat dismissive: "Isn't this his own greed that caused this? Sister, don't be soft-hearted. The business world is like a battlefield; winning or losing depends on one's own abilities! He's already a billionaire, yet he still wants to take something from Lu Yuanzhou's plate. Didn't he just kick a hornet's nest? If you ask me, this is just ignorance and a lesson he deserves! We need to look forward. Lu Yuanzhou is a really good kid—smart, humble, handsome, and truly capable. His family background is exceptional; he and our Yufei are a match made in heaven..."

Sunlight streamed in slantingly through the window, casting long patches of light on the hallway floor. The cicadas in the camphor trees chirped louder and louder, their calls mingling with Liu Huihui's hoarse and drawn-out voice. Li Yufei leaned against the wall of the stairwell, the cool marble against her thin shoulders.

The girl didn't know how she ended up back in her bedroom.

She sat in the cold bedroom, holding her phone, dialing Zhang Yunqi's number repeatedly. Each time, a girl's voice came through the receiver: "The number you dialed is currently switched off."

Li Yufei lowered her hand, and the phone screen went dark.

She walked down the stairs, and the laughter and conversation in the living room stopped again in unison. She nodded to her mother and aunt: "I'm going out for a bit."

Xie Jing immediately stood up: "Where are you going? It's already five o'clock. You're about to go to your aunt's house for dinner. Your grandma is waiting for you..."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Yufei had already changed her shoes and left.

The afternoon sun was still scorching at five o'clock, and she hailed a taxi on the roadside and headed straight for the Yuelu South Gate Villa.

Throughout the journey, Li Yufei kept urging the driver to hurry.

When the taxi arrived at the South Gate Villa, she gave the driver one hundred yuan and asked him to wait a moment. She then got out of the car and saw Zhao Yihan pruning and tending to the flowers in the front garden. She asked, "Yihan, has Yunqi come back?"

Zhao Yihan looked bewildered. She stared at Li Yufei's pale face, dusted off her hands, and stood up. "Nothing's wrong, Sister Yufei. What happened to my brother?"

"fine."

Li Yufei took a taxi again, then headed straight for Huarong Jinhuishan and went directly to the top floor.

The elevator numbers slowly climbed, and every second felt like an eternity.

The moment the door opened, the girl walked straight into the familiar office. Wang Guibing, who was standing at the door, saw her and paused for a moment. Before he could speak, she had already pushed open the heavy wooden door.

The office was empty, and the girl's heartbeat slowly cooled.

"What about people?"

"gone."

"Where did you go?"

"I really don't know."

Li Yufei turned to leave, but Wang Guibing leaned against the wall, lit a cigarette, and looked at the girl's retreating figure, saying, "Where are you going?"

"Go find him."

“Yufei, you may have heard some rumors, but he may be at his breaking point. He may not even know where he wants to go.”

"I still want to find him."

"What if he went to Peking University to meet Chujian? What if he went to Baizhupo to meet Ji Ling?"

******
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