Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

"Our drop was actually man-made! Who did it? I'll make them pay dearly!"

"Dongda Group didn't say who did it, but they probably know, which is why they intervened to prevent the market from continuing to plummet."

"Hehe, this time Dongda Group is not only supporting the market, but also teaching those speculators a lesson."

What's the explanation?

"It's very simple. We retail investors are numerous but have little money, so we can only use the funds we have to speculate on stocks. Some people have a lot of money, and the banks are giving them leverage."

This time, Dongda Group's stock price surged rapidly, exceeding 10% from the opening bell, meaning that everyone who used ten times leverage to trade stocks was wiped out, leaving them with nothing.

"That's for the best; those opportunistic scoundrels should be dealt with."

"What should we do now? Should we sell our stocks and leave the stock market?"

"I don't know? You could try to sell your shares?"

"What does that mean?"

"Dongda Group has achieved its goal: clearing out those investors. We won't interfere with the rest. We decide the stock market's ups and downs; they won't be taking over."

"Mid-term results from various stocks are showing increases, and I haven't heard of any companies running into problems in the second half of the year. The economy is still growing, so selling stocks isn't a good option."

"It's estimated that some business owners are speculating, and their losses will be exceptionally heavy; some stocks may even be delisted."

"That makes sense. Let's wait and see who would do something so unethical to fleece us."

"Merchants are only interested in profits and don't care about ordinary people like us."

"I still want to sell my shares. Without Dongda Group intervening in the market, this is very dangerous. Who knows what might happen next?"

"what ever."

"If I sell my stocks now, it won't be easy to buy good stocks later. The market won't drop too much; it'll bottom out at 4000 points. I'll keep my stocks in my hands."

"Non-index stocks are hard to sell; nobody's a fool."

"I wonder how many days Dongda Group can prop up the market?"

"The stock market crash so far is abnormal; for them, it's not a matter of funds, but rather a matter of our personal choices."

"Maintaining a stable stock market and then making our own choices is what we do; this has always been Dongda Group's approach."

"I've chosen to wait and see. The market should fluctuate between 4000 and 4500 points, weeding out overvalued stocks. Those stocks will likely rise after that. My own stocks are doing well, so I won't sell!"

"Me too."

Hang Seng Index profitability is based on the difference between the price level and the contract multiplier, the number of lots traded, and the cost.

The typical contract multiplier is HK$50 per point.

"Mr. He, we've made quite a bit of money this time? I didn't expect foreigners and some businessmen to be so ruthless in their speculation. We've taken on a total of 620 billion in contracts."

If the stock price rises by 10% in a single day, it's all ours. It's guaranteed by banks, enough to make fourteen banks bleed, and 99% of speculators will be wiped out.

Outsiders make up 88% of the workforce, and the remaining 12% are businessmen, including Comrade Superman, who invested 100 million with ten times leverage; he's desperate.

"There's no need to stay until the market closes, this is good. If they're overreaching, just cut them off. Send the list of speculators to Old Li, so he won't ruin his reputation in his later years!"

We'll give out another year-end bonus. The company has money, so we can't shortchange our employees. Salaries increased last year, but not this year. We'll give out a year-end bonus of 500,000 yuan, including retired workers.

"We need to come up with about HK$115 billion, which isn't too much, and we also have nearly HK$500 billion in cash."

"Exchange 300 billion Hong Kong dollars for American dollars and put them into the account back home, where funds are a bit tight."

"I'll take care of it."

Ordinary people did not experience major turmoil despite the warning from Dongda Group. The economy is normal, the stock market is currently risk-free, and the rise to 4500 points is a forced surge.

Economic newspapers don't believe there will be a major drop. They think that if the market can hold the psychological level of 4,000 points, it will fluctuate between 4,500 and 4,000 points for the next three to six months, digesting the sudden drop of 500 points.

Ordinary people in Hong Kong also feel this way. It's not unreasonable for the market to digest itself for half a year. They can afford to wait, and they are very optimistic about Hong Kong's economy.

Unlike the Dongda Group and ordinary people, these "businessmen" who participated in the speculation had terrifyingly gloomy faces, as if their fathers had died.

It's not just talk; that very night, both houses caught fire, and one family perished in the flames—a true tragedy.

Then, within three days, seven more people practiced the game and conducted freefall experiments. These were people who were too in debt and had nowhere else to turn.

"Bao Sheng, Elder Ying, you two must help me this time. I'm truly desperate and have no other options."

"Superman, how much money did you invest? Doesn't Niu Feng Bank care about you?"

"I invested 100 million with ten times leverage, which isn't too much. Niu Feng Bank is also struggling to survive this time; they've leveraged at least 50 billion."

"What? Niu Feng Bank invested so much money in the Hang Seng Index? They've really forgotten the pain of the past. This is too reckless. If it were a small amount, Dongda Group might not care, but this huge sum is just an attempt to crash the market."

"Mr. Bao, this isn't even the largest amount. Foreign investors have invested at least HK$500 billion. I thought nothing would go wrong, so I bought some Hang Seng Index shares, but I didn't expect..."

"You guys are really bold. You didn't even consider how much money Dongda Group has before you did it. It's already pretty good that you managed to stop them for nine minutes with thirty-three index stocks."

Bao Sheng and I have roughly calculated that Dongda Group usually holds HK$200 billion in cash and invests no less than HK$200 billion.

What's terrifying is that Malaysia has 200 billion in foreign exchange reserves. How much of that does the East Asia Group have?

A conservative estimate is 400 billion US dollars, or 3 trillion Hong Kong dollars. Our stock market's total market capitalization is 1.4 trillion, not to mention the 33 indexed stocks. How much money are you short?

"1.7 billion!"

"How come there's an extra 700 million? You should be paying back 1 billion!"

"One hundred million was used to buy stocks to manipulate the market, and six hundred million was loans taken out over the past few years. Niufeng Bank demanded that I repay the loans early to plug the financial hole."

"Sigh, you need too much funding. I can't come up with it right now. We're building the second phase of the old airport, and we might be able to come up with two or three hundred million in a month."

"There are over 1.7 billion people, I can't help them all, what about you, Bao Sheng?"

"Not for now. Most of my money is invested back home, and the second phase of the old airport project is still a loan from Dongda Bank. Superman, you know a lot of people, can you think of another way?"

When Superman heard what the two said, he didn't know what to do for a moment. He knew that they were indeed taking out a loan to build the second phase of the old airport project.

Then I feel like they don't want to lend to me. A company worth hundreds of billions, even if they were to take out a loan, they would still miss out on 1.7 billion. Why would they do that? I need to think about it carefully.

He often reflects on his mistakes, which is one of his strengths.

After Superman left, Bao Sheng asked, "Are you really not going to do anything about him?"

"I misjudged this person before. He is a businessman with no bottom line when it comes to making money. He values ​​profit too much when it comes to important matters."

This is completely different from you, me, and He Sheng. Today made me realize we're not on the same path. I will no longer help him.

"Let him fend for himself this time. They colluded with foreigners to attack the stock market, which angered Mr. He. He hates nothing more than being exploited by ordinary people for no reason."

"Outsiders are interfering too much, with ulterior motives. How could he tolerate that? I just want to know how much money he's made in gold and oil futures. He can't possibly spend it all."

"We all want to know, but Mr. Ho won't say. He's cleared out a lot of land in Yuen Long, the North District, and the New Territories, but he has no plans for it; the Tung Tai Group isn't really interested."

"They will still build houses; the population has doubled, and there definitely won't be enough housing. But the profits won't be too high either. Dongda Group's housing prices are 10% lower than the average."

"Asking around, a 10% net profit is fine. The real estate business is doing well, but it's getting harder to succeed if too many people crowd in."

"Ask them."