1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

At the bank, thanks to prior communication with Fu Qi's assistant and Cheng Xuemin's influence in Hong Kong, they were treated like VIP clients and invited into a private meeting room.

A well-dressed account manager who spoke fluent Mandarin warmly greeted them.

"Mr. Cheng, Mrs. Cheng, welcome to HSBC. How may I help you?"

Cheng Xuemin took out a square package wrapped in kraft paper from his inconspicuous canvas bag, placed it on the smooth teak table, and pushed it over.

"Open two accounts, one for me and one for my wife. Also, deposit all this cash into my wife's account!"

The account manager opened the kraft paper with a smile.

When the stacks of dark green hundred-dollar bills bearing Franklin's image were revealed, his smile froze for a mere fraction of a second, but he immediately regained his professional demeanor!

He quickly estimated the thickness and got a sense of it.

One hundred thousand dollars!

In Hong Kong in the early 1980s, this was by no means a small amount, especially in cash!
"Yes, Mr. Cheng, Mrs. Cheng, please have a seat. I will process your request immediately."

Without asking any further questions, the account manager got up to prepare the documents and called over two assistants. In front of them, he used a money counter to count the banknotes.

The clicking sound of the machine was particularly clear in the quiet room.

Feng Jiayou sat in the large, comfortable leather sofa, watching the stacks of US dollars being counted quickly, and was amazed by the speed at which the money counting machine was counting the money!
Surprisingly, in Hong Kong, money is counted by machines, without any human intervention.

This is indeed very advanced, but I also have some doubts. Can the numbers be counted accurately after just one run through this machine?
What if we shortchange them by one card?
Fortunately, after one pass through the machine, the total amount was exactly $100,000, without a single discrepancy. The whole process took only a minute or two, which was truly amazing and convenient!
The account opening went smoothly!

Cheng Xuemin provided the necessary passports and identification documents, as did Feng Jiayou!
Soon, two brand-new HSBC bankbooks and corresponding bank cards were delivered to them.

The $100,000 was counted accurately and deposited into Feng Jiayou's account. The long string of heart-pounding numbers was immediately printed on the passbook.

"Mrs. Cheng, here are your passbook and card. Please keep them safe. You set the password yourself, so please remember it." The account manager handed them over with both hands.

Feng Jiayou took it somewhat mechanically, her fingers touching the hard cover of the passbook, feeling a little unreal.

Especially this bank card in his hand, which has 100,000 US dollars in it?

Cheng Xuemin was also somewhat surprised that there were already bank cards in Hong Kong in the early 1980s.

That's really convenient!

After the matter was completed, the account manager politely saw them off.

Back in the car, Feng Jiayou still clutched the savings book tightly, as if she were holding a red-hot charcoal.

"Xuemin, this... so much money, are you going to deposit it all with me?" She finally couldn't help but ask in a low voice, her voice trembling slightly.

"Okay, you can take it. I don't mind! But it's just a transaction, the money will be gone in no time!" Cheng Xuemin squeezed her hand, signaling her to be patient.

Then he said to the driver in front, "Excuse me, could you go find a place nearby with a stock trading terminal, or... maybe go to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange?"

Although the driver and assistant were somewhat surprised, they still drove the car to the nearby financial district as instructed.

Finally, they stopped in front of an office building. The assistant explained that there were several securities company branches there that could provide trading services to clients.
Cheng Xuemin led the still bewildered Feng Jiayou into one of the securities companies that looked to be quite large.

Similarly, based on Cheng Xuemin's name and his status as a HSBC VIP customer, they were invited into a VIP room with several stock quote terminals flashing green lights!
"Mr. Cheng, are you interested in the Hong Kong stock market?" asked a young stockbroker telephone operator respectfully.

"Take a look!" Cheng Xuemin sat in front of the terminal, his fingers skillfully tapping a few times on the keyboard, bringing up the Hang Seng Index chart.

The curve on the screen meanders upwards, and although there are occasional fluctuations, it is generally in a clear upward channel.

Cheng Xuemin carefully examined the trading volume and technical indicators, then quickly switched to browse the information of several heavyweight stocks.

His gaze was focused, and his fingers occasionally tapped on the keyboard, bringing up different periodic charts.

Feng Jiayou stood beside him, looking at the constantly changing numbers and winding lines, completely unable to understand them, only feeling a sense of mystery and a little uneasy!

She didn't know what Xuemin was going to do, but she had a vague feeling that what he wanted to do was probably more than just look around!
That $100,000... her heart jumped again.

Cheng Xuemin actually harbored a mix of testing and anticipation in his heart!

His primary purpose in bringing this money to Hong Kong was to exchange and store it safely, in preparation for possible expenses.

But on a deeper level, he might have had the idea of ​​taking advantage of the initial rise of the Hong Kong stock market in this era, and the opportunity to have a visionary perspective, to try his hand at it.

Movie box office is a combination of art and commerce, while the stock market is a purer, more direct money game that better reflects the value of information asymmetry!

He wanted to know if his forward-thinking insights were equally valid in this field!
He focused his attention on the market conditions before him and on the vague fragments of memory in his mind about Hong Kong's economy and finance in this era.

He knew that the 1980s were the golden age of Hong Kong's economic development, and the stock market had experienced a period of great prosperity.

However, the specific timing and details of the trend are not very clear, as if viewed through frosted glass!
He needed a hint, a more precise guidance from that magic wand in his head.

He silently asked himself: At this point in time, where are the opportunities in the Hong Kong stock market? The Hang Seng Index? Or a specific stock?

At first, my mind was completely silent, with only the slight hum of the terminal fan in front of me and the faint noise coming from the trading hall in the distance.

Just when Cheng Xuemin thought there wouldn't be any special reaction this time and was about to make a decision based on his existing judgment,

hum!
A very slight tremor, like a feather scratching deep inside the brain, suddenly came over me!

It wasn't strong, and it was even a little blurry, but Cheng Xuemin caught it instantly!

coming!

Immediately afterwards, fragmented, flickering images and streams of information, like thawing streams, began to flow and converge deep within his consciousness.

It's not text, but more like an intuitive perception and image.

He saw a steep curve that stretched upwards, with vague time spans marked beside it.

It was very short, only one or two months?
The curve starts at... around 500 points? And the endpoint points to... 1500 points?
Even higher?

The magnitude and speed of this rise are simply astonishing!
At the same time, he sensed a strong, directional signal—weights, indices, the whole… rather than a specific individual stock.

The signal was saying: Now, all in, indexed.

Hang Seng Index!

In about a month, it surged from 500 points to 1,500 points?

Triple?! Even though Cheng Xuemin was mentally prepared, he was still shocked by the exaggerated magnitude suggested by this "golden finger" and his heart skipped a beat!
This is far more aggressive than the moderate rise he had originally anticipated, which was based on fundamentals!
This is an absolutely insane bull market!

Is this the prelude to bubbles?

Or is it a pulse-like surge triggered by a specific historical event?

However, the tips from the cheat code are always accurate. Although the information given is sometimes brief or even vague, the general direction is never wrong.

The same principle applies to the Shanghai negotiations, the film selection, and the judgment of economic development trends.

In a flash, several thoughts had already crossed Cheng Xuemin's mind!
Early 1980s... Hong Kong... Sino-Eagle negotiations? Real estate boom? Recovery after the banking crisis?
He couldn't quite pinpoint the exact trigger point, but the surging chart and the strong investment signal were crystal clear.

risk?

Of course!
All stock market investments carry risks, especially such a rapid surge.

But the existence of the "golden finger" itself is the biggest and most unreasonable risk hedge!

Moreover, he invests in indices, not individual stocks, thus avoiding black swan risks.

One hundred thousand US dollars is not a small amount of money in the Hong Kong stock market in this era, but it is by no means a major force that can influence the market.

There's room for both advance and retreat!
Most importantly, the time window!
If the prediction is accurate, this market opportunity is just around the corner and will be fleeting!
By the time he gets back from Cannes, the soup might be cold!
Almost instantly, Cheng Xuemin made his decision.

He looked up at the stockbroker waiting respectfully to the side, a young woman in a well-fitting suit and skirt, with exquisite makeup.

His eyes had regained their usual calm, even carrying a sharp glint like when he was placing a bet.

"Help me open a securities trading account using my wife's account, with the maximum permissions." Cheng Xuemin's voice was calm and unquestionable.

"Okay, Mr. Cheng, please have Mrs. Cheng provide her identification and signature." The telephone operator responded immediately and quickly retrieved the account opening documents.

While Feng Jiayou was still in a daze, Cheng Xuemin gestured for her to sign several documents.

She looked at the densely packed English and traditional Chinese clauses, her heart pounding, but she still trusted them and followed their instructions.

The account opening process is very quick!
The telephone operator respectfully handed over Feng Jiayou's shareholder code card and transaction password.

Then, Cheng Xuemin said something that shocked everyone in the room:
“Now, with all the US dollars in my wife’s account…” He paused, his gaze sweeping over Feng Jiayou’s instantly pale face before returning to the telephone operator, and said clearly:
"Buy everything. Hang Seng Index futures... or directly buy a portfolio of blue-chip stocks that track the largest weighting of the Hang Seng Index, one that can simulate the index's rise and fall to the greatest extent possible. Complete the position building today, all of them."

"All...all of them?" The telephone operator was genuinely stunned this time, almost thinking she had misheard.

When Cheng Xuemin asked her earlier, she thought it was just a routine inquiry, and at most she would buy a little something as a trial.

This is a newly deposited $100,000, all at once, fully invested, to buy index funds.

This move is too radical and too rare!

This is especially true for a newcomer who doesn't seem particularly familiar with the local market.

"Xuemin!" Feng Jiayou finally understood and became extremely anxious.

She grabbed Cheng Xuemin's arm, her fingers icy cold, her voice rising with panic, then forcefully lowering, trembling:

"You...you want to use this money to buy stocks? All of it? This...this won't do! Stocks are so risky!"
What if we lose money? That's $100,000! We...we still have squirrels to raise, and our homes..." She was so anxious that she couldn't speak coherently, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

Stocks were completely foreign to her in her simple understanding!

It only stayed at the level of descriptions of it by Western capital that I saw in the library.

Stocks are practically synonymous with gambling, risk, and losing everything!
What's wrong with her man?
Just moments ago I was feeling uneasy about staying in a luxury hotel, and now I'm about to throw almost all of my family's foreign exchange savings into this stock market that looks dizzying?

"Mr. Cheng!" The telephone operator couldn't help but remind him out of professional ethics, even though she knew it might be useless, and said:
"Are you sure you want to buy in with all your funds? Although the Hang Seng Index has been performing well recently, market volatility still exists. Investing all your funds would concentrate the risk very much."

"Should we... establish a partial position first and observe the situation?"

She had met many big spenders, but few were as young and decisive as Mr. Cheng, who was almost reckless in betting a large sum of money on the index all at once.

Cheng Xuemin did not answer Feng Jiayou immediately. Instead, he gave the telephone operator a clear look and said in a calm but resolute tone, "I'm sure, all of it! Do as I say, now!"

There was an undeniable power in his gaze, which made the telephone operator swallow back the words of persuasion that were about to come out.

The customer is king, especially a king who can be personally arranged for VIP reception by Mr. Fu Qi and carries $100,000 in cash with him!
She said no more, immediately sat back in her seat, picked up the phone, and began to relay instructions to the traders.

Her voice regained its professionalism and calmness as she quickly recited Feng Jiayou's shareholder code, trading password, purchase target, price, and quantity.

Cheng Xuemin then turned around, took Feng Jiayou's cold, trembling hands in his own, and led her to a relatively quiet sofa area in the corner of the VIP room.

He forced her to look into his eyes.

"Wife, look at me." Cheng Xuemin's voice was low but unusually steady, carrying a strangely reassuring power. "Listen to me, don't panic!"

Feng Jiayou's eyes were already brimming with tears as she looked at her husband, her eyes filled with incomprehension.

“I know what you’re worried about. You think stocks are risky, like gambling, right?” Cheng Xuemin said slowly, his tone calm and unhurried. “Under normal circumstances, that’s true. But this time is different.”

He organized his thoughts slightly and explained in a way she could understand: "Hong Kong's economy right now is like a river that has been frozen for a long time. Spring is coming, the ice is melting, and the water is about to start flowing."

"The Hang Seng Index is like a ruler that measures how much the river has risen. I've read a lot of data and talked with Mr. Fu and others. All the signs indicate that this ruler is about to jump up a lot soon. Not just a little bit, but a huge jump. It might... rise a lot in just one month."

"But... what if you're wrong? What if it falls instead of going up?" Feng Jiayou's voice trembled with tears. "So much money..."

“There’s no chance of anything going on!” Cheng Xuemin interrupted her, his eyes sharp and firm. “I’ve looked at it, analyzed it, and… I have a gut feeling that this time, I won’t be wrong!”

"Even if I'm wrong and we lose some money, we can afford it. My royalties and film awards in China will continue to come in. But if we miss this opportunity, it may never come again."

"Honey, trust me. I never do anything I'm not sure I can do, especially when it comes to our family and the future of our little squirrel."

He squeezed her hand tightly: "We won't touch this investment in the short term!"

"Consider it as planting a seed for our family in Hong Kong, a place that may become increasingly important in the future."

Trust me, it won't be long before you see this seed sprout and grow even better than you imagine.

……

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