1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 387: Would Rather Die Than Retreat
"The temporary suspension of the market is a good thing, as it can cool things down, but it is still unknown whether it can solve the problem. The root cause is that the second- and third-tier shareholders are too crazy about margin trading (leverage), and if they cut their positions, the consequences will be serious."

"Then may I ask Professor Zhang, what will you do when the market reopens next Monday?"

"Well, I firmly believe that Hong Kong itself is a very good market. There is nothing wrong with our economy. It is just that the decline in exchanges around the world has temporarily caused the current environment. I hope all stockholder friends can stay calm."

"Yes, then may I ask Professor Zhang, what will you do when the market reopens next Monday?"

"...I will sell my stocks and try to avoid losses."

On TV, the host was interviewing a financial expert, seeking professional advice on the current suspension of Hong Kong stocks.

There's actually not much to say.

No matter how beautiful the words are, when it comes to the wallets of citizens, even if the Queen of England comes in person to tell everyone to calm down, it cannot stop the excited investors who gather at the door of the stock exchange.

Just like the experts on TV, even if they claim that the exchange has done nothing wrong, when it comes to their own safety, they still have to honestly sell out their positions on the opening day.

Zhai Yuan silently turned off the TV and said softly, "This is what it means that everyone is dead, except me."

I also increasingly understand Shi Nansheng's so-called "fear of gain and loss" mentality.

Even though the situation was certain to win with Feilong riding on his face, Zhai Yuan's mind was still somewhat fluctuating.

It’s not that we are afraid of not falling, but that the fall will be too small.

"Let nature take its course. The time to really do something will come after the stock market crash."

Zhai Yuan took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and put the stock market issue aside for the time being.

His eyes fell on the newspaper on the table.

Today, the "September 1st Daily" published another breaking news.

The headline is sensational: "Rebars leaked from the No. 1 reactor of Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station, Hong Kong may become the next Chernobyl"

Editor-in-chief: Wei Jianbang.

In fact, Zhai Yuan had already learned the original course of events from Xia Meng and others.

As the largest Sino-foreign joint venture in the mainland since the reform and opening up, Daya Bay has always been regarded as an important measure for development and construction and a national treasure.

The cause was that shortly after the construction of the power station started in September this year, a mainland engineer was taking a walk after dinner when he suddenly discovered that about 9 of the more than steel bars that were supposed to be placed were missing. He hurriedly reported it for investigation and found out that the French construction party had read the wrong drawings, which almost caused a disaster.

Immediately afterwards, the mainland immediately suspended construction to remediate the situation. As a commercial power station built with a loan, the interest alone for the Daya Bay project would be as high as millions of US dollars if it was delayed for one day.

Even so, the mainland still puts safety first and announced that it would take a full two months to conduct self-inspection.

It sounds like turning setbacks into a mirror for self-reflection.

However, after the incident was published in newspapers, it became a new target of attack in the eyes of British and American foreigners.

Print media, led by the "Sing Tao Daily", published editorials one after another, demanding an immediate halt to the construction of nuclear power plants and that citizens would rather burn coal to generate electricity, causing a huge uproar.

Overseas media also continued to criticize.

Now the "September 1st Daily" has also gotten involved. Wei Jianbang personally wrote an editorial on nuclear fear, continuing to follow this hot topic, and directly used the sensational Chernobyl as the title.

"Alas, ever since Wei Jianbang, that idiot, came to power, the sales of the September 1st Daily have been declining day by day."

Zhai Yuan shook the newspaper in his hand and pondered.

After handing over power to Wei Jianbang, the former editor-in-chief of the Forbidden Fruit Group, the light-hearted entertainment pages of the September 1st Daily dropped sharply, while the political pages continued to increase.

Now sales have fallen directly below the 20 mark.

If we have to say something gratifying, it is that the $100 million operating fund distributed by Mark Simon through the National Endowment for Democracy has resulted in an increase in profits despite a sharp drop in newspaper sales.

In addition, he also took the time to mention the two plays "Farewell My Concubine" and "Red Sorghum".

The foreigners waved their hands and said that as long as the film produced the subject matter they wanted to see, all filming expenses would be reimbursed, and they would also arrange for overseas distribution.

Naturally, Zhai Yuan would not be polite to the other party. He called Master Zhang that day and added an investment of 50 yuan to "Red Sorghum", and asked him to help contact another mainland director.

Brother Chen Kai.

…………

Mid-levels area.

1 Kennedy Road.

The Hong Kong Masonic Center - Yongren Hall.

To the left of the Yongren Hall is the Governor's House, and to the right is the Magistrates' Court. Surrounding it are office buildings of major trading companies. It is a landmark building at the core of the political and business circles.

Passing through the glass door at the main entrance and passing by a lounge on the left, the walls are covered with photos of the old site of the guild hall that was bombed during the Japanese occupation.

Entering the hall, you will find that the interior is elegantly decorated. There are compass and square symbols engraved on the door, and patterns of the sun, moon and stars carved on the ceiling. There is a large wooden chair in front, and next to it are hammers, Bibles, files and other tools used by ancient stonemasons.

At first glance, it seemed as mysterious as a clan temple. At this time, the hall was empty, but there were faint voices of conversation coming from the restaurant on the right.

"The U.S. stock market has suddenly fallen, and there was no news of it in advance. If we allow retail investors to rush in and liquidate their positions, the Hong Kong economy will fall into a recession in a matter of minutes. What do you want me to do in this situation?"

The restaurant covers an area of more than one thousand square feet and is decorated in a typical old European style, with three stained glass windows in the front.

Li Fuzhao, then chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, stood in front of the window and said with a grim expression: "For now, we can only temporarily suspend the market and pray that the US stock market will rise as soon as possible. I have to withstand a lot of pressure, boss!"

"Uncle Zhao, you don't have to harbor illusions anymore. We all know that the U.S. stock market won't be able to rise in the short term."

Liu Qiuhua, the young deputy director of the Financial Services Department, took off his gold-rimmed glasses, sighed and said to Li Fuzhao, "In front of the media, I will continue to make it clear to the public that the suspension of the stock market was a negligence of the Financial Services Department and the Securities and Futures Commission, and try to avoid the Stock Exchange falling into a credit bankruptcy crisis."

After a pause, he continued, "But it's not easy for you to continue serving as the chairman of the Stock Exchange!"

Li Fuzhao's face changed slightly when he heard this, and a flash of anger flashed across his brows: "Are you pushing me out as a scapegoat? What qualifications do I, the chairman of the Stock Exchange, have to talk about suspending the market? Without the consent of the Financial Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Securities and Futures Commission, the review will not be passed!"

Liu Qiuhua was silent for a moment, then spoke again: "Uncle Zhao, what do you think is the point of talking about this now? It is impossible for the exchange to lose its credibility because of you alone. I will tell you one thing in advance. This time, not only the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, but also the chairman of the Futures Exchange, Zhan Yousen, will resign. After the market opens on Monday, the Hong Kong government has decided to invest 20 billion to close positions and rescue the market. This is not a joke."

Li Fuzhao sneered: "It's only 20 billion, I'll give it to you!"

Liu Qiuhua frowned. The middle-aged man in front of him, who came from one of the four major families, didn't seem as easy to deal with as Zhan Yousen.

"It's not just about money..."

"It's your foreign boss who doesn't like me, I know! I teamed up with other Chinese bosses to attack Jardine Matheson's business, and Wei Yixin couldn't explain to the British, I also know! You don't want to see the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant landed safely, then HK Electric will no longer have to import coal from the UK at a high price, and Lawrence Kadoorie's China Light and Power Company will lose its competitiveness. But I support Li Ka-shing and help him issue B shares, which makes the foreigners unhappy, I know it all!"

Li Fuzhao suddenly interrupted Liu Qiuhua, his eyes fixed on the young Chinese deputy director in front of him, no longer showing the courtesy he had at the beginning.

He snorted and laughed, "Young man, in the 60s, those foreign brokers didn't allow Chinese businessmen to list their stocks. It was my uncle who established the Far East Exchange to help everyone raise funds for listing. Even Li Ka-shing has to call me Brother Zhao, otherwise Cheung Kong Group wouldn't have been able to get a license. I was afraid of offending the foreigners, so I would have lost the Far East brand long ago!"

Liu Qiuhua's eyes narrowed slightly, and he reminded in a deep voice: "Today, the four stock exchanges in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have merged into one. Uncle Zhao's Far East is no longer the only one in power. You might as well take this opportunity to step down gracefully and not make things too difficult for me."

"Are you trying to scare me? There are 21 seats on the Stock Exchange Committee now. If you have enough votes, I will automatically step down."

Li Fuzhao laughed, patted the deputy director on the shoulder, and didn't even look at him again.

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the guild hall, passing by a Masonic banner on the wall that read "Only talk about business, not politics."

Li Fuzhao sneered and said disdainfully: "Pick!"

Behind.

Liu Qiuhua stood in front of the glass window, looking at Li Fuzhao's departing back with a gloomy face.

I heard footsteps again.

Yang Sen walked out from the other side of the restaurant, came up to Liu Qiuhua and sighed.

"I knew from the beginning that Chairman Li was not as easy to deal with as Zhan Yousen. I didn't expect him to be so difficult to deal with. He is indeed from one of the four great families, Sir Liu."

"Humph! Talking about the past is like eating shit!"

Liu Qiuhua, the deputy director of the Finance Department, felt humiliated and snorted in disapproval.

He immediately turned around and asked Yang Sen: "What did the Legislative Council say?"

Yang Sen smiled and said, "My father-in-law said that according to Hong Kong regulations, if the Hong Kong government believes that there is a need to suspend the market, it should do so through the Commissioner of the Securities and Futures Commission using legal provisions, rather than handing this power over to the Stock Exchange. We, the candidates, will do our best to criticize the Chairman of the Stock Exchange for exceeding his authority and failing to perform his duties at the hearing tomorrow."

Liu Qiuhua frowned and pondered: "Li Fuzhao also has many friends in the Legislative Council..."

"Don't worry, Sir Liu. No matter how many of his friends speak out, if the market continues to fall on Monday, all public opinion will turn to us. By then, our group of candidates will win the hearts of the people and get more votes. It will be like killing two birds with one stone. This is called the power of democracy."

……

Li Fuzhao walked out of Yongren Hall with a sullen face. The driver had already opened the door of the luxury car to greet him.

"Uncle Zhao, where are you going?"

The driver sat in the driver's seat and asked, then added: "The stock exchange is now surrounded by a large number of stockholders, and there are also reporters squatting near the door of my house."

Li Fuzhao took a deep breath and said, "Let's go back to the New Territories first and avoid the reporters."

The driver made his statement, and the car sped away.

Sitting in the car, Li Fuzhao pondered for a long time, took out his phone and dialed a number: "Jingchang, please help me collect information in the Legislative Council. This time, the rich man asked me to meet him, and it seems that he is planning to take action against me..."

After making this call, Li Fuzhao dialed the second number: "Jingwei, help me contact Li Jiacheng, Li Zhaoji, Shark Dantong, Huang Tingfang, Rong Jianzhi... In a word, I want to meet all the Chinese bosses in Hong Kong. I have prepared tea in the New Territories and will be waiting for you..."

Hang up the phone forcefully.

Li Fuzhao let out a deep breath, his eyes filled with gloom.

Failure, do you want to get rid of it?
I would rather die than retreat!

(End of this chapter)