Starting with a fully invested A-share portfolio to become a capital...

Chapter 278 Joint Meeting of Three Departments in Hong Kong Island: The Li Siblings Compete for Zhang Yang
Hong Kong Island, China.

Financial Regulatory Bureau.

As the central bank of Hong Kong Island, it was established in 1993. Its main functions include maintaining monetary stability, supervising the banking system, developing financial infrastructure, and managing the Exchange Fund.

In addition, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) reports directly to the Financial Secretary and is supported in decision-making through specialized committees such as the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee.

At this time, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's conference room also brought together two "sister departments": the Securities and Futures Commission and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau.

The joint meeting of the three departments demonstrates the high level of importance attached to it.

"Everyone's here, let's begin."

The middle-aged man sitting in the main seat gestured for everyone to take their seats. He had a square face and an imposing gaze. He was none other than Li Jinsong, the Director of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Wang Mingxu, who was talking to Zhang Yang in the car, was sitting in the second seat on the right.

"According to the information sent by the airline, Liao Guopei and Lin Guangchang have already left Hong Kong Island on this morning's flight. We also have the results of our investigation into whether there was insider trading or other transfer of benefits in the short selling of China Unicom."

Li Jinsong glanced at Wang Mingxu, signaling him to present the investigation results.

As a former Asian financial center, and having experienced the bombardment of Wall Street capital 12 years ago, Hong Kong Island is now extremely cautious about financial issues. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and Futures Commission, and the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau operate under a system of mutual supervision.

This joint meeting was initiated by the Securities and Futures Commission, which requested the Financial Supervisory Authority to provide specific investigation results.

As for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, it will act as a witness.

"Cough-cough-"

Wang Mingxu cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention in the process.

He scanned the room and said, "I did not contact Liao Guopei and Lin Guangchang, but I have found out the identity of Mr. J behind the scenes and have had a friendly conversation with Mr. J. In my personal judgment, there is no insider trading or transfer of benefits in this round of short selling of China Unicom."

"So, Mr. J is in Hong Kong Island?" someone asked impatiently.

His name is Duan Yanchen, and he is the third-in-command of the Securities and Futures Commission.

“Unfortunately, he should have left Hong Kong Island as well.” Wang Mingxu smiled and argued, “I think this matter should be put behind us. We can’t assume it’s insider trading just because someone made money in Hong Kong Island, hold this meeting and that meeting, and apply for an arrest warrant for him.”

He said that when he made the arrest, he glanced at Cao Zexiang, who hadn't said a word.

Cao Zexiang was dressed in a suit and tie, arms crossed, his eyes sharp as an eagle's.

As the head of the Hong Kong Island Securities and Futures Commission, he has always been upright and incorruptible. During his tenure, he has sent over a hundred people to prison for suspected insider trading.

Three cups of slapstick?

It doesn't exist for him.

It was precisely because of his uprightness that he kept urging the Financial Regulatory Bureau to provide a reasonable explanation, or else to detain them first and release Liao Guopei and Lin Guangchang after the investigation was completed.

According to Cao Zexiang, Liao Guopei and Lin Guangchang are highly suspected of insider trading. Note that it is highly suspected because they came to Hong Kong on November 2nd to open put options worth tens of billions of dollars and short positions worth more than 3 billion dollars. On November 11th, they cashed out more than 23 billion Hong Kong dollars. In just 10 days, 23 billion Hong Kong dollars, is there really such a coincidence in the world?
Cao Zexiang felt there was definitely something fishy going on, especially with that "Mr. J" who had been hiding behind the scenes and refusing to show his true identity, making him highly suspected of insider trading.

It was only through his strong advocacy that this tripartite joint meeting was finally convened.

"Director Wang, you yourself said that it was your personal judgment that they did not engage in insider trading. You cannot speak for all of us. What do you say, Director Du?"

Cao Zexiang spoke casually, turning the question to Du Tao of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau.

Seeing the "thunder" thrown at him, the obese Du Tao laughed and smoothly extricated himself, saying, "Everyone is just doing their duty. I trust Director Wang's judgment and agree with Village Chief Cao's statement."

His stance was very clear: he was just there to go through the motions, and that the two departments could fight or argue as they pleased, but not him.

Du Tao's words made Cao Zexiang's face darken. Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to step in and continue stirring things up to find an answer.

"Since you, Director Wang, have spoken with Mr. J, may I ask what you discussed? What did he say that led you to your conclusion?"

Seeing that the other party was relentlessly pursuing him, Wang Mingxu was prepared and took out his phone, saying, "I've been waiting for you to say that, Village Chief Cao."

He found an audio file and pressed play.

Although Wang Mingxu had promised Zhang Yang that he would not leak the contents of the recording, considering Cao Zexiang's style of doing things and to avoid causing more trouble, he chose to break his promise.

However, he wasn't unprepared; the audio file's sound had been processed so that even if Zhang Yang were speaking next to Cao Zexiang, no one would guess it was the same person.

The logic of short selling is very simple: make money by exploiting cognitive differences. The iPhone 3GS achieved remarkable results in the European, American, Japanese and Korean markets, and its launch in the Hong Kong market triggered a buying frenzy.

Given these conditions, major investment banks and venture capital firms, including investors, would have believed that the iPhone 3GS would also be popular in mainland China, and that China Unicom's performance would increase significantly with the launch of the Chinese version of the iPhone 3GS.

The difference in understanding lies here. I live in mainland China, and I know that the mainland doesn't yet have a well-developed 3G network application ecosystem. On October 30th, the mainland version of the iPhone 3GS was launched, with the 16GB version costing 6999 RMB. I realized this was a marketing decision based on flawed pricing, so on November 2nd, my friend and I arrived in Hong Kong Island to fly.
After the audio recording finished playing, Wang Mingxu looked at Cao Zexiang with a mocking expression and asked, "Village Chief Cao, do you still think it was insider trading? Before November 2nd, you probably thought the Chinese version of the iPhone 3GS would sell like hotcakes, right?"

Two questions caused an awkward silence in the meeting room.

On October 30th, the day the Chinese version of the iPhone 3GS was launched, China Unicom stores and Apple stores in mainland China were sold out. At that time, no one would have thought that the Chinese version of the iPhone 3GS would suffer a Waterloo just over ten days later.

Not to mention ordinary people, Goldman Sachs analysts even raised their target price for China Unicom on November 1st.

10 seconds.

20 seconds.

30 seconds.

The meeting room was silent for a full half minute.

Seeing that Cao Zexiang, Du Tao and others remained silent, Li Jinsong broke the silence and said, "Based solely on the content of the recording, I believe their short-selling logic is reasonable. China Unicom could not possibly cooperate with the other side in short-selling, because the losses caused by their strategic mistake this time have far exceeded the profits of Liao Guopei and Lin Guangchang."

“That makes sense, very much so.” Du Tao was very good at changing sides. Seeing that Wang Mingxu and Li Jinsong had the upper hand, he immediately took sides and looked at Cao Zexiang, who had been silent for a long time.

After a long silence, Cao Zexiang also stated: "I agree with the investment logic behind this recording, but another problem arises: how can you prove that the person speaking in the recording is Mr. J?"

"besides!"

His gaze swept across the room, finally settling on Wang Mingxu, and he asked in a deep voice, "Who exactly is Mr. J?"

"I can only reveal that he is from the mainland. Any further information will have to be dug up by Village Chief Cao himself," Wang Mingxu said with a smile.

"Why don't you reveal his identity? Are you feeling guilty or afraid?"

Cao Zexiang pressed on relentlessly.

"If you're so eager to know, I'll go to the mainland with you tomorrow, no, tonight. You're just being overly sensitive and stubborn."

"Go and go."

"Are you sure you want to go?"

"Very sure!"

“Okay.” Wang Mingxu agreed immediately, then looked at Li Jingsong in the main seat and said, “Director Li, did you hear that? I need to ask for leave to accompany Village Chief Cao to Yanjing, so that he doesn’t keep thinking that we have a conflict of interest with Mr. J.”

His words were very straightforward, directly revealing Cao Zexiang's thoughts.

In Cao Zexiang's view, the fact that neither Wang Mingxu nor Li Jinsong would reveal the identity of "Mr. J" suggests the possible transfer of benefits, and he must investigate thoroughly before eliminating the bad apples.

"approved."

Li Jinsong didn't hesitate, glancing at Cao Zexiang out of the corner of his eye.

"Then let's set off as soon as possible. I want to see who he really is." Cao Zexiang stood up without fear.

"Village Chief Cao, don't be in such a hurry. I haven't prepared any local specialties for our visit to the mainland yet." Wang Mingxu had just finished speaking when he changed the subject and looked at Du Tao, asking, "Director Du, are you going or not?"

"I...I think I'll pass."

Du Tao waved his hand and gave himself an excuse, saying, "We still have several international economic forums to attend, and we need to make preparations."

"Do you think there was insider trading or transfer of benefits?" Wang Mingxu asked again.

"Well, well..."

Du Tao thought about it carefully, his eyes darting around twice, and replied, "I definitely trust everyone's judgment."

The phrase "everyone" encompassed everyone present, seemingly expressing a stance, but in reality, it didn't. The reason he was able to climb to this position was because he was a smooth and unassuming person.

……

Futian District, Shenzhen.

Starbucks.

After hanging up with Shen Jun, Zhang Yang talked with Yang Xingping for more than two hours about "Huaxing Mobile," urging him to continue integrating resources in Shenzhen and minimize the cost of the smartphone supply chain.

It's worth mentioning that although Huaxing Mobile hasn't found an assembly factory yet, its operating system UI has been put on the agenda, and the company that has taken on the order is called Metso Design.

Metso Design was founded at the end of 2008, and its CEO is Zhu Ying. Although it has been established for less than a year, its strength should not be underestimated. The core team members are mainly from Microsoft Asia Design Center and have participated in the design of products such as Windows Phone and Office.

In 2009, the company officially began operations, and major mobile phone manufacturers such as HTC and Huawei placed orders with it, demonstrating its strength.

After saying goodbye to Yang Xingping, Zhang Yang took a taxi to the OCT InterContinental Hotel in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, and went straight to the Pipette French restaurant.

Pipette, a French restaurant, opened in 2006 alongside the OCT InterContinental Hotel and is a representative of French cuisine in Shenzhen. The restaurant is designed with the concept of a "container" to deeply integrate wine culture with French cuisine. Its underground wine cellar houses thousands of bottles of fine wines from famous wineries, and it has themed private rooms such as Latour and Champagne. The minimum spend is 1.2 yuan.

The fact that a minimum charge of 1.2 yuan was set in 2009 shows the extravagance of its private rooms.

"This way, sir."

After Zhang Yang gave his name, the restaurant waiter led the way for him.

Not a moment.

They arrived at the door of a private room.

Although it's called the entrance to a private room, it actually resembles the entrance to a palace, because the main gate alone is 3 meters high and is carved with exquisite patterns.

The waiter rang the doorbell on one side, waited three seconds, and then pushed open the door to the private room.

When the door to the private room opens, what greets the eye is not luxury, but French retro decor. The so-called French retro decor emphasizes the symmetry of the central axis and the division of the facade into three sections.

For example, the design of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace uses a 73-meter-long spatial axis to arrange 17 arched floor-to-ceiling windows and 17 giant mirrors in a strictly symmetrical manner, creating an infinitely extending visual tension.

Inside the private room, Lee Jae-yong slowly stood up and smiled, gesturing, "Mr. Zhang, please have a seat."

41-year-old Lee Jae-yong has soft features and a warm complexion. The thin-rimmed glasses he wears add to his refined and scholarly air.

As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha. His dark suit, paired with a white shirt and light gray tie, exuded a rigorous business style.

"President Li, I've heard so much about you."

Zhang Yang walked confidently into the private room.

The waiter outside the door hadn't left; he looked at Lee Jae-yong, seemingly asking when the food would be served.

“I have long admired Mr. Zhang.” Lee Jae-yong replied with a smile, then added, “I heard that Mr. Zhang said he would bring 10 billion in net profit to the Samsung Group. Would you like to discuss this in detail?” “Of course.”

Zhang Yang nodded.

On November 14th, Lee Jae-yong called Zhang Yang to make an appointment, but since the latter was still in Hong Kong Island, he was unable to keep the appointment and could only politely indicate that he was not in Shanghai.

Just two days later, on November 16, Lee Jae-yong called Jang Yang again, only to be told that he was not in Shanghai.

After being turned away twice, Lee Jae-yong gradually lost patience. Upon learning that Zhang Yang would be crossing the border into Shenzhen on the 17th, he took a flight directly to Shenzhen to wait for him.

"Let's serve first."

Lee Jae-yong gestured to the waiter outside the door.

In these high-end private rooms, there's basically no need to order food. Instead, all the restaurant's signature dishes will be served at once. If there's nothing you like, you can then order separately.

"Wait a moment, you two."

The waiter quickly ran to inform the chef.

This is a high-end French restaurant where all dishes and cooking processes take place in private rooms, and any suggestions can be made to the chef.

Not a moment.

A blond, blue-eyed white man in a white chef's uniform walked into the private room, followed by two kitchen helpers pushing a stove cart.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am the head chef of Pipette. You may call me Price. Are there any dietary restrictions?"

"No."

"No."

Zhang Yang and Lee Jae-yong spoke in unison.

After receiving a clear answer, Price smiled slightly, waved to the kitchen helper, and then began to prepare the French meal.

When eating French cuisine, the most common appetizer is escargot, a classic dish from the Burgundy region. It involves baking escargot with garlic butter and parsley, allowing the garlic and creamy flavors to permeate the tender escargot meat. It is often served with French bread and dipped in sauce.

"Baked snails, please enjoy."

Price smiled.

Next, he began preparing the second dish, which was the common pan-fried foie gras.

Every piece of foie gras he fries is air-freighted from France, so as to reproduce the taste of French foie gras as closely as possible.

Like monkey brains, foie gras is a highly controversial ingredient because the foie gras used in French foie gras is not ordinary foie gras, but rather "fatty liver".

During the rearing period, geese are forced to eat large amounts of food to develop fatty liver. It is this extreme feeding that allows the goose liver to grow to the size of two palms.

"Please enjoy your pan-fried foie gras."

One after another, exquisite French dishes were served.

During Zhang Yang and Lee Jae-yong's meal, a professional sommelier served them, enthusiastically pairing drinks with each dish.

The lunch lasted from 12:24 pm to 1:49 pm.

Despite the long time span, there was actually less food than boxed meals; most of the time was spent watching the chefs and sommeliers tell stories.

Lee Jae-yong took out a handkerchief, wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth, and then waved to signal the restaurant staff to leave.

A short while later, the door to the private room closed, leaving only Zhang Yang and Lee Jae-yong.

"Let's get down to business, Mr. Zhang. I'm really curious to know how you helped Samsung Group achieve a net profit of 100 billion?"

Lee Jae-yong got straight to the point.

Zhang Yang, who was standing to the side, first folded the oil-stained tissue and casually placed it on the table, while responding: "President Li's focus is actually off. As long as the contract is signed, there is still a high amount of compensation if it cannot be completed."

"So, you're not absolutely certain?" Lee Jae-yong pressed.

“I am a very cautious person. I will do my best to accomplish anything that I can accomplish 99% of the time. President Li, I think we should discuss the matter of making concessions, or rather, grant me a few requests.”

Zhang Yang spoke calmly, without bowing or scraping because of Lee Jae-yong's status.

"You said."

Lee Jae-yong picked up the wine glass on the table and took a small sip.

"Samsung Group is going to build a factory in Shenzhen or in the neighboring Huicheng to ensure the supply of LCD and OLED screens."

"and many more!"

Lee Jae-yong frowned and asked, "You mean OLED screens?"

“That’s right.” Zhang Yang nodded.

"That might be difficult, because we plan to use the OLED screens ourselves, but we can try to negotiate. What other conditions do you have?"

Lee Jae-yong continued to question.

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and said, "If I remember correctly, Samsung's most expensive mobile phone screen is called WVGA. A 3.5-inch WVGA screen can sell for $30-40. I hope we can supply it at a lower price."

How much is the discount?

"$5."

"That's $25 a piece?"

"Yes."

"impossible!"

Lee Jae-yong raised his voice and explained the costs: "We invested a lot in the research and development of the 3.5-inch WVGA screen. Nokia and Apple both approached Samsung Group and said they were willing to sign a contract for $35."

"Do they dare to sign a contract for 100 billion in net profit?" Zhang Yang said with a faint smile.

Now the whole world knows that China's mobile internet is about to explode, and it will be more than enough to help Samsung Group achieve a net profit of 100 billion in 5 years.

Would Nokia sign such a contract?

Will Apple sign a multi-billion dollar contract?

impossible!

Betting agreements are a favorite of capital, but also contracts that capital is unwilling to touch.

"This……"

Lee Jae-yong hesitated.

Even if a WVGA screen that costs $10 to produce is sold for $25, Samsung would still make a $15 profit. But this price is too low, a full $10 less than the prices offered by Apple and Nokia. Lee Jae-yong was undecided for a moment.

After much hesitation, Lee Jae-yong said indirectly, "We need to consult Samsung headquarters about this, because this price is simply too cheap."

"can."

Zhang Yang didn't expect to reach an agreement in one go.

Business is a long-term endeavor; whether doing business or negotiating, slow is fast, and fast is slow.

Zhang Yang's two conditions brought the dinner party to a close.

However, he had just stepped out of the hotel...

(I believe I am who I am)

(I believe in tomorrow)

Zhang Yang casually took out his phone and discovered that it was Lee Boo-jin.

He looked around the hotel and, if nothing unexpected happened, since Lee Boo-jin had informants, the other party was probably following Lee Jae-yong.

Zhang Yang found a corner and answered the phone, saying, "Hello, President Lee Boo-jin."

"Zhang Yang, are you playing me?" Li Fuzhen was very angry. She did not expect that Zhang Yang was a man who said one thing in front of others and another behind their backs.

Sure enough, the more handsome a man is, the more likely he is to deceive women.

"how do I say this?"

Zhang Yang asked a question he already knew the answer to.

“Didn’t I tell you not to see Lee Jae-yong? You actually went into a hotel with him, you…”

"stop!"

Zhang Yang interrupted Lee Boo-jin, correcting her, "We're having dinner at the Pipette French restaurant. Don't say that Lee Jae-yong and I went into the hotel; it's easy for people to misunderstand."

"It all means the same thing: you broke your promise, so if I can't reach an agreement, Lee Jae-yong definitely won't be able to either," Lee Boo-jin said sternly.

As the "eldest princess" of the Samsung Group, she may not be able to lower supply prices for Zhang Yang, but she can definitely sabotage business.

Seeing how difficult the other party was, Zhang Yang thought for a moment and came up with a reason: "You misunderstood. I didn't want to cooperate with Lee Jae-yong. I was just inquiring about prices. He wants to apply for a supply price of $25 for the 3.5-inch WVGA screen."

"Is he crazy? $25?" Lee Boo-jin's heart skipped a beat. She hadn't expected Lee Jae-yong to make such a big concession.

"Maybe, who knows."

Zhang Yang smiled.

Lee Boo-jin on the other end of the phone didn't completely trust Jang Yang, but promised, "25 US dollars, right? If all goes well, I'll supply you with it for 24 US dollars, and I can also help you with the factory construction you mentioned."

"Waiting for good news."

"I won't keep you waiting long."

Lee Boo-jin hurriedly hung up the phone and immediately booked a flight back to South Korea. Whether she could gain a foothold in China's electronics market depended on who Zhang Yang's "10 billion yuan net profit order" went to.

……

While Zhang Yang was busy traveling, Shen Jun of Eastmoney kept his word and had people promote the posts related to the exposure of Fuchun Road's identity, but he did not put them on the hot topics or homepage. Instead, he focused on applying extreme pressure to force Zhang Yang to comply.

When retail investors see these "nonsensical posts," they become like trolls, offering friendly insults to the poster's parents.

[Yan Yan who loves stock trading]: What's going on lately? Why are there so many brain-dead posts? If Joker is Fuchun Road, then I'm Xu Xiang!

[No Questions Asked About Return Date]: Joker, the master, runs his own company and has hundreds of thousands of paying users. How could he possibly be that beast Fuchun Road?

[I didn't actually sleep that night]: Are the poster's parents still alive? Are these people spreading rumors about Joker, the "god of pop culture," sent by Li Daxiao to stir up trouble?
[Pineapple Rice]: Forget about those baseless claims. I, Zhang Deshuai, will just say it here: Joker, the great god, is so sunny and handsome, dedicating himself to retail investors to the point of death. He could never be that dark beast, Fuchun Road!!
(End of this chapter)