Pirates began to dominate the Chinese entertainment industry.

"Young man, sigh." Boss Huang of Hengjiang Real Estate clapped his hands, his tone regretful but tinged with contempt for Ji Yun's lack of tact.

Ji Yun glanced at the current price of the put option.

With the current share price at $35, a put option expiring in January with a strike price of $25 is priced at $0.45 per share. One contract equals 100 shares, costing only $45 – an absolute steal!

The reason is that the market judges that the probability of the stock price falling below 25 within a month is less than 5%.

To others, such a contract would be worthless, but to Ji Yun, it was a gold mine. He had seen several movies, including "The Big Short" and "Margin Call," and knew that a month after the release of the financial report, Freddie Mac's stock price had plummeted to single digits.

He has $143 million, enough to buy more than 3.1 contracts.

If the stock price drops to $15 a month later, each contract would be worth approximately $1000, and the total value of these contracts would be $3177 million!

If it drops to 10, each card is worth 1500, the total value is...

$4766 million!

"I'm sure, buy!" Ji Yun said to the trader, her tone incredibly firm. "One-month put options, strike price 251.43 million, all in!"

These words caused an uproar in the room.

Everyone looked at Ji Yun as if she were a madwoman.

"They've really gone mad!" Mr. Liu murmured.

Ji Yun's move was completely against the market trend. Even if some people were not optimistic about this stock and chose to buy on dips, there are probably very few people in the world who would bet that it would drop by more than 30% in a month.

Moreover, it's a "too big to fail" stock like Freddie Mac; shorting it is tantamount to going against the Federal Reserve!

"Mr. Ji, please choose carefully. This is a major American mortgage lender; how could it have dropped so much in just one month?" Manager Liao was a little anxious, as this concerned his performance.

"Isn't this too aggressive? The overall market... is still optimistic about the lifeline of the US real estate market." Li Ying's expression was solemn. Even though she was not optimistic about the US housing market, this was too pessimistic.

Financial professionals generally don't interfere with other people's investments, but worried that Ji Yun might regret it for the rest of her life due to a moment of impulsiveness, she still advised: "If you bet all 1000 million on these 'end-of-life options,' and they go to zero, you won't even have a trace left. Why don't you buy some call options, or at least make some spread trades?"

Ji Yun appeared to nod in consideration, but in her heart she was thinking: You are all right, but this is an unpredictable reality.

Who could have known the financial crisis in the US would be so massive? Who could have imagined the US government would wait until these two giants were on their last legs before reluctantly stepping in to take over?

"Maybe I'll make a profit when their financial report comes out. Besides, it's only ten million, I can afford to lose it," Ji Yun said with a smile. This is the unique confidence of a reborn person; he can always find an opportunity to make money.

"You..." Li Ying frowned, her anger finally turning into a sigh.

"Good! That's the kind of unstoppable momentum I want. Also, buy me 5 million worth of one-month call options with a strike price of 40." Boss Huang instructed his personal trader, then turned excitedly to ask, "Mr. Liu, aren't you going to invest some?"

President Liu had already regained his elegant and calm demeanor, glancing at Ji Yun with a seemingly casual look. "Our fund already made its move, 3 million, bullish."

Ji Yun paid no more attention to them.

"Buy!" he urged, patting the trader on the shoulder.

If you don't buy now, you won't be able to buy them after the market opens!

The trader nodded and began setting up the program so that it would automatically buy as soon as the market opened.

After placing the order, there were less than 5 minutes left before the US stock market opened.

Time passed second by second.

Everyone gathered together out of curiosity, eager to see what Freddie Mac's financial report looked like.

After witnessing the madman's actions firsthand, they couldn't help but wonder how long he could hold out without exploding.

Maybe tonight? The earnings report will be released, the stock price will surge, and all the contracts will become worthless?

The more they thought about it, the more excited they became.

10:29:57 PM.

58 seconds.

59 second...

"The market is open!" a trader shouted.

Everyone's eyes immediately turned to the large screen on the wall.

Freddie Mac's stock price has begun to fluctuate.

Investors in global markets are speculating on the contents of Freddie Mac's earnings report, with bulls and bears engaging in a war of words.

The stock price began to fluctuate wildly, +0.1%, -0.3%, +0.5%...

Back and forth, constantly pulling and tugging, the battle was extremely intense.

No one was in the mood to enjoy the food and socializing anymore. Several investors who had bought property from Freddie Mac stood in front of the screen, anxiously waiting for the answer to the mystery worth hundreds of millions.

Mr. Liu put down his wine glass, sat on the sofa, closed his eyes to rest, but his hands were clenched together in front of him.

Boss Huang pulled the young starlet into his arms and roughly rubbed her thighs, ignoring the pain she was showing.

Ji Yun and Li Ying stood to one side. Ji Yun picked up a lotus-shaped pastry from the table and started eating it by herself, which earned her a few playful, coquettish glares from Li Ying.

……

Everyone waited in silence for death's verdict.

In this tense atmosphere, the second hand ticked round and round.

Until 5 minutes passed...

"The financial report is out!" someone shouted.

"Let's look at the profit and loss directly!" General Manager Liu said loudly.

The report is scrolled through quickly, and the screen eventually stops at the company's total profit and loss:

In the fourth quarter, the company reported a net loss of $122 billion!

This figure far exceeds the market's expectation of 20 billion US dollars, and is even more than 6 times the market's expectation...

Everyone's hearts skipped a beat, and they realized at the same time:

"Freddie Mac is finished!"

Sure enough, as soon as the news broke, Freddie Mac's stock price reacted with lightning speed. It plummeted from $35.2 to $30 in the blink of an eye, and even showed signs of further decline.

The VIP room of the Shanghai bank was deathly silent, then erupted in gasps of surprise.

The white-haired man nearly dropped his wine glass, and Mr. Liu slumped helplessly onto the sofa, unsure how to face the impending massive losses his fund was about to incur.

However, Ji Yun didn't think it was a big deal. In 2008, a fund of over 3 billion yuan only lost 30 million yuan, which was not even considered a big deal in the financial world.

"President Ji, you made the right bet!"

With losses like those of Freddie Mac, no amount of maneuvering by the Federal Reserve and George W. Bush can reverse them!

The stock price will most likely fall below 20. With this move, you've netted $1589 million, making 1.1 million in one night!

From this day forward, your name will be known throughout Shanghai!

Manager Liao roared in a low voice, his hand trembling as he gripped Ji Yun's arm. This was the power of finance—life or death in a second, capable of instantly making a middle-aged man lose his rationality and restraint.

Ji Yun calmly reassured the manager, Liao, who was on the verge of going crazy. He knew in his heart that this 1.1 million was just the beginning.

"President Ji, I admire your judgment. You're right, it's just a few tens of millions, we can afford to lose." Boss Huang raised his glass to Ji Yun, then drank it all in one gulp.

Ji Yun smiled but didn't say anything in response to Boss Huang's praise, as it was exactly what he had expected.

Ji Yun didn't think that tens of millions could really hurt him. The era of large-scale infrastructure construction was about to reach its peak, and these real estate bosses were about to enter an era of sudden wealth, with several becoming the richest people.

Looking at Ji Yun's calm demeanor, Boss Huang felt a flicker of surprise. At such a young age, her courage, vision, and even composure seemed to surpass his own...

He pulled out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Ji Yun with both hands. "We're all in Shanghai, so let's keep in touch. Feel free to come to me anytime if you need anything; I still have some influence in Shanghai."

"Mr. Huang, you're too kind. There's great potential in the domestic real estate market, and we'll have opportunities to cooperate." Ji Yun accepted the gift with both hands.

Seeing that Ji Yun was giving him face, General Manager Huang smiled happily, exchanged a few polite words, and then left with the young starlet, who was still quite angry.

"How...how did you know?" Li Ying walked up to him at this moment, looked up and stared into Ji Yun's eyes.