Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

Done.

Lu Yang casually handed the satellite phone to the little girl from his clan, his fingertips tapping unconsciously on the expensive mahogany armrest, producing a dull thud.

Seemingly nonchalant.

Actually, I was still very curious about that woman's movements.

"Chairman Dong... about Sister Mingzhu..."

Lu Nini closed the notebook and said somewhat nervously.

As a former "fan," she did keep track of Yin Mingzhu's activities.

However, she also knew that Lu Yang probably wouldn't want to know that Mingzhu was actually doing quite well recently, and wasn't as destitute as she had imagined after her company went bankrupt.

Of course, this is not her brother Lu Yang's fault.

It was Sister Mingzhu who made the mistake first.

So, with her head down, she spoke haltingly... about what had recently happened to Sister Mingzhu in China, how she had gotten rid of her previous crisis with just one yuan, how she had raised funds to start anew, how she had quickly registered a trading and sales company, and how she had signed a distributor contract with Lianxiang Company, a rival of their Century Group, to sell computers and VCDs.

"Ok?"

Lu Yang turned his gaze away from the window, a cryptic smile playing on his lips, tinged with amusement and a condescending scrutiny.

"She's quite clever... This time she even knew to pull off a feint while secretly making a move. But I'm curious, how did she manage to come up with so much money without selling her house and car in Beijing?"

500 million is a lot.

Surely it's not like Lianxiang and Li Zekai, those big idiots, would abandon their jobs and give that woman credit to become agents for their company's computers and VCD products just to disgust themselves, right?
Lu Nini stammered again, "Chairman, I...I heard it was given by Sister Mingzhu's mother, Aunt Ma Xiulan..."

Seeing that she was so nervous that she was picking at her fingers, Lu Yang shook his head. "I don't eat people, and there are no outsiders here. You don't need to be so formal. Just call me Brother Lu Yang."

At the same time, he thought to himself, "So that's how it is. It seems my mother-in-law has saved up quite a bit of money in the past few years!"

No wonder they're so confident in "running away from home".

It turns out that even if they leave their small family, they can still continue to live the life of a wealthy and powerful person.

Of course, the quality will definitely decline a bit, especially since such a large sum of money was given to that academically gifted eldest daughter who lives off her parents.

"Fine, it's my mother-in-law's money, she can spend it however she wants."

As a son-in-law, Lu Yang didn't intend to interfere too much. However, he was quite curious whether his mother-in-law would take out all her savings, even her last penny, to support her eldest daughter's business if that woman failed again this time.

Lu Nini blushed and whispered, "But Brother Lu Yang, they all say... when you're working, you have to weigh plants."

Calling someone "brother" is certainly more affectionate than calling them "chairman."

However, she had to address him by his job title during work hours. This wasn't her being pretentious; it was a rule that was set for her on her first day on the job. Even her older brother and sister-in-law Xiaoxiao had repeatedly reminded her of this, fearing that she might become arrogant and incur Lu Yang's displeasure.

Thinking of this, she felt a surge of secret joy. So Brother Lu Yang wouldn't do that after all. Is he a brother or a sister-in-law... Humph... They're making a mountain out of a molehill.

"That's it..."

Lu Yang shook his head. "Then do as you please!"

He didn't dwell on the issue any further.

Let her be.

Holding the agency rights for Lianxiang, he returned to his hometown in Hunan Province and started setting up operations from a prefecture-level city.

They did choose a smart and pragmatic starting point.

"Fine, let her struggle. I want to see how much brilliance this 'pearl' can shine without the 'support' of my good Sister Tan. Keep an eye on her, but don't worry about her for now."

What products someone chooses to represent is their business. Lu Yang didn't hold any special prejudice against Yin Mingzhu because she represented Lianxiang computers and Lianxiang VCDs.

He waved his hand listlessly, as if brushing away a tiny speck of dust.

In the grand scheme of things, Yin Mingzhu's new journey is not even a minor piece.

"understood."

Lu Nini nodded and quickly wrote down the instruction to "not intervene for the time being".

At the same time, she felt a slight sense of disappointment, but she quickly hid it.

I should have known better than to mention my job title during work hours. I've missed a golden opportunity to get closer to Brother Lu Yang.

Lu Yang stood up and straightened his perfectly tailored dark suit.

The mirror reflected a young face that had matured into a dignified one, with eyes as sharp as a hawk's.

Today is the real highlight.

"The time has come." His tone was calm and carried an undeniable authority. "Let's go."

The extended black sedan silently glided into the New York morning traffic, heading towards its destination—the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Today marks the official listing of Little Genius Tech, the company he founded, on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

An invisible, heart-pounding sense of anticipation filled the air—the prelude to a frenzy in the capital markets.

A technology company valued at $50 billion before its IPO would be far superior to Little Karami, no matter where it is located. Especially since this IPO company comes from a mysterious Eastern country, and its VCD players and computer learning machines have a market share of 37% and 41.9% respectively in that mysterious Eastern country. It has a unique advantage and no competitors in the short term.

Isn't that appealing?

Is it worth it for free-spirited American stock market investors to wave their free money and go to explore the truth behind this technology company from the mysterious Eastern country and unveil its mystery?

These are the slogans being shouted by Wall Street traders!

Whenever the sickle is swung, these chants are the opening act for the leeks to lose their minds, become unable to hold onto their wallets, and fall into a frenzy before they can even close their wallets.

Xiaoshentong's Series C funding round valued the company at $5 billion, having received approval from overseas investors led by Goldman Sachs. It planned a US IPO after the new year, distributing 18% of its total share capital, or 25 million ADRs (Advanced Placement Ratings), with each ADR representing 100 ordinary shares, priced at $36 per share, aiming to raise $900 million. However, the actual process differed from expectations.

Goldman Sachs, as one of the underwriters, together with Wall Street brokerages such as Modern Stanley, saw that the roadshow had indeed aroused the enthusiasm of investors, and decisively raised the price of each ADR from the original price of $36 to $39.9. Although it seems like only a small increase of $3.9, it actually raised at least $9750 million more for this financing.

Was this $9750 million a gift to Lu Yang?

no.

This extra $9750 million will also mean more underwriting fees, which will benefit underwriters such as Goldman Sachs and Modern Stanley, provided that the stock price does not fall below the issue price after listing.

Of course, if it were just for this small underwriting fee, these securities firms and investors wouldn't be willing to take such a big risk.

After all, if the stock price falls below the issue price after listing, it will fail to meet expectations.

The consequences include, firstly, damage to reputation. Although these Wall Street brokerages are known as devils and have no sense of propriety or shame, excessive losses for investors, especially institutional investors and core clients of the brokerages, will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction and a crisis of trust in the brokerages.

To put it simply, when harvesting chives, the sickle must be wielded skillfully, neither too heavily nor too lightly; one must strike the right balance.

While high pricing may result in slightly higher fees, a failed issuance or a drop in share price can be devastating to a brokerage firm's reputation, a classic case of "picking up a sesame seed and losing a watermelon."

But it's okay!

We have a mole, no, we have a good ally who's playing both sides. One foot is inside Little Prodigy, where he's a major overseas shareholder, and the other foot is inside a securities firm, where he's also the largest underwriter.

That's right, this refers to Goldman Sachs Capital.

How much more underwriting fees can the brokerage firms earn by simply raising the issue price of each hundred Adr shares from $36 to $39.9?
Moreover, it has to share this money with other brokerages!

To put it bluntly, this amount of money is really not enough to fill a gap in his coffers.

However, increasing the offering price by $3.9 will allow the child prodigy to raise more funds through its IPO.

The initial plan was to raise $9 million, but now it has reached a solid $9.975 million, just $10 short of the $50 billion target.

Further expand thinking.

You'll find that, without making a sound, Little Prodigy's market value had already quietly reached 55.42 billion US dollars before it even went public.

Take Goldman Sachs' lead investment in Little Prodigy's Series C funding round, investing $600 million for a 15% stake, as an example (the initial valuation was $5 billion, but the actual funding was calculated at $4 billion, with the extra premium being the benefit Goldman Sachs received for helping Little Prodigy go public in the US and acting as an underwriter). In less than three months, that $600 million has quietly grown to $8.313 million, a profit of $2.313 million, which is almost like robbery.

This doesn't even include the potential for a surge in stock price after the IPO, which could generate additional profits if managed properly.

So you see, how does capital make money?
To put it bluntly, it's all about ruthless manipulation and swindling. As long as the story is good and the sickle flies fast, the money just keeps pouring into your pocket.

Of course, Lu Yang also benefits, since he is the real major shareholder behind Little Prodigy and still holds 31% of Little Prodigy's shares. Besides sharing the risk of the stock potentially falling below its issue price, he earns more than Goldman Sachs and other securities firms.

But that's not surprising.

After all, Little Prodigy was created by Lu Yang himself, and was a child he raised.

No matter how you look at it, they worked hard and put in their heart and soul.

For capital firms and securities firms like Goldman Sachs, they have plenty of IPO companies like Little Prodigy that are eager to go public and cash out. Even if they mess things up, it doesn't matter. The losses are just a drop in the ocean for them, and they don't care. They can just move on to the next one and keep finding new ways to fleece investors.

Getting back to the main point, the listing time was almost up. Inside the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, there were huge electronic screens, flashing stock codes, bustling crowds, and a barrage of flashing cameras from reporters.

As the company's president, Xiao Jun led his core team and representatives of Chinese and foreign shareholders on the stage, radiating confidence and with a flushed face.

They are about to ring the bell at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange before the market opens.

Lu Yang, on the other hand, stood calmly below the stage.

This time, he ultimately did not go on stage. It wasn't that he didn't want to be in the limelight or wanted to keep a low profile—he couldn't really keep a low profile anyway—but rather that he was giving face to his brother-in-law on stage.

My brother-in-law has it tough!
I've finally gotten this big chance to shine!

"Fine, let him be!"

Lu Yang shook his head from below the stage, listening to Xiao Jun on stage using his broken English to introduce the recent operations of their Little Prodigy Company to the media and investors present. Actually, there was no need for an introduction, as this information was all publicly available. VCDs and learning machines were Little Prodigy's two flagship products. If their sales figures were not impressive and they could not dominate the domestic market, Little Prodigy would not have had the opportunity to go public in the United States.

It's only the mid-90s, not even the late 90s, around the turn of the millennium, during that dot-com bubble era. As long as it was a mainland internet company and had a good story, a lot of foreign capital would scoop it up like fish, list it in North America, and make money from the stock market.

At present, there is not much capital exchange between China and North America. Most overseas capital is still very cautious. They select leading companies in various fields in China and help them raise funds and go public in Manhattan and Wall Street in North America. Well... let's all work together to fleece the world's investors.

The child prodigy was undoubtedly lucky. In the mid-90s, he was able to win the favor of foreign capital by taking advantage of the gimmick of monopolizing the VCD market, and his valuation reached 50 billion US dollars.

Of course, this is a win-win situation. Didn't you see that most of the foreigners on stage were all smiles?

time up.

At the moment the market opened, the stock price soared like a rocket, drawing a steep, astonishing green line on the electronic screen. Cheers and exclamations erupted in the trading hall. It seemed that issuing 39.9 yuan per Adr, this seemingly high stock price, was not the limit for the little prodigy.

Less than 3 minutes after the market opened, the stock price had reached 41.3 yuan. 5 minutes later, it had reached 43.2 yuan. 8 minutes later, it started to plummet from 46 yuan to 40.1 yuan, which was close to breaking the issue price. Then it continued to rise, all the way to nearly 50 yuan. It closed at 49.85 yuan in the morning session.

"We succeeded! We succeeded! That's great! The increase exceeded 10%. As long as we can hold steady this afternoon, this is a great start!"

"I'm rich! Haha, I'm rich..."

"Congratulations!"

"Chairman, no, Brother Lu, my dear brother, how did you do on stage just now? Not bad, right? Look at the stock price, it's been soaring. We're about to make a fortune again. I need to calculate how much my shares are worth now... Awesome... What enthusiastic investors... This is unimaginable in China..."

The crowd erupted in cheers.

Lu Yang stood in the crowd, accepting congratulations with a polite smile on his face. In contrast to the excited executives and Xiao Jun around him, his eyes were calm, even carrying a hint of imperceptible aloofness.

What does it matter to me if the stock price goes up?

At the moment the listing bell rang, announcing the successful IPO, the $9.975 million raised was a foregone conclusion... After that, nothing else mattered to Lu Yang. Whether the stock price rose or fell in the short term after the listing, as long as Lu Yang remained consistent and never thought of further reducing his holdings of Little Prodigy shares or further selling his shares, what difference did it make whether the stock price was high or low?
It's just ups and downs.

In the end, they're all just sickles in the hands of capital, sickles used to harvest the韭菜 (a metaphor for easily exploited people)! (End of Chapter)