I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 224 Going Long? Going Short?
"Why do you say that?" Shi Guangrong asked.

"Last year during the Spring Festival, you published an article titled 'Cotton Farmers' Profits Are Poor and Cotton Planting Area Has Decreased Sharply' on major financial websites under the pseudonym 'Orchid in the Valley'. In mid-December, you published another article about the reduction in cotton planting area in the cotton-growing region of northwestern Shandong."

"Glory, you never do anything without a purpose. Are you just creating hype for yourself?" Zhao Yanjing asked with a smile.

“Unlike some people who fabricate content for publicity, I conducted on-site investigations both times! The content is absolutely true!” Shi Guangrong explained.

"So, you plan to go long."

Shi Guangrong did not answer, but his expression betrayed his thoughts.

Zhao Yanjing didn't speak. He lit a cigarette, took a puff, and the rising smoke obscured half of his face. After a while, he suddenly spoke.

"Gongrong, we're classmates. I advise you not to do too much."

"Why? Do you understand the basic situation?" Shi Guangrong asked, somewhat surprised.

“You only know one side of the story, not the other.” Zhao Yanjing looked at him. “You’re my classmate, so let me tell you a few things you don’t know.”

"First, a couple of days ago, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued regulations requiring central state-owned enterprises to be cautious about entering the financial sector, including the real estate market, stock market, and futures market. Do you know what this news means?" Zhao Yanjing asked.

"Will there be a large sell-off?"

Zhao Yanjing chuckled and continued, "Secondly, the central bank will soon announce measures to raise the reserve requirement ratio for deposit-taking financial institutions."

"What? Is what's circulating in the market true?" Shi Guangrong was taken aback. This rumor had recently started circulating online, and he was somewhat inclined to believe it. The economy had just started to heat up, and now they were going to tighten monetary policy again?!
This means that economic policies may shift from loose to tight, which could trigger another large-scale capital outflow!

Zhao Yanjing smiled: "There's no such thing as a baseless rumor. Of course, it's up to you whether you believe it or not."

Shi Guangrong might not have believed others, but given the background of this man's family in the domestic financial and banking industry, he had no choice but to believe him.

This time it's true!
"Let me tell you something else," Zhao Yanjing smiled and continued, "Do you know how much cotton reserves our country currently has?"

“Cotton is a national strategic material, and specific figures are generally not made public,” Shi Guangrong said. “Some say it’s 80 tons, others say it’s more than 100 million tons, but these are all guesses from institutions.”

"Let me tell you," Zhao Yanjing said with a mysterious smile, holding up two fingers.

"20? No, 200 million tons?!" Shi Guangrong exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Yes, 200 million tons! Our country produces about 600 million tons of cotton a year, and our current storage capacity is one-third of the total production! This doesn't even include imports from abroad! You want to raise prices? We can just dump hundreds of thousands of tons and blow you to smithereens!"

Shi Guangrong didn't speak, but involuntarily looked at Fang Qingye beside him.

Fang Qingye's face was flushed from drinking too much, and she remained silent, simply sipping her tea with her head down.
Zhao Yanjing's gaze also shifted to Fang Qingye, a hint of arrogance in his eyes, before he looked at Shi Guangrong.

"Glory, I was just saying that casually, you can just listen to it. But be careful not to tell anyone else."

“I understand, Yanjing,” Shi Guangrong said hurriedly.

After the banquet, everyone dispersed. Zhao Yanjing and Zhang Lan took a taxi back to their homes.

In the car, Zhang Lan, who hadn't said much at the dinner, spoke up: "Yanjing, you said a bit too much just now. You shouldn't have revealed those things to Guangrong. He can guess that you're going to short cotton futures."

Zhao Yanjing sighed slightly after hearing this: "I know, but he's been our classmate for many years. It's not easy for him to make money. I can't bear to see him stumble, especially in front of me."

Zhang Lan paused for a moment, then said, "I think Glory is now working under Fang Qingye."

"I saw it a long time ago, but I don't quite understand why Glory, who is also a very proud person, would follow Fang Qingye's lead so blindly? I've never heard of Fang Qingye in the futures industry."

“There are many talented people in the futures industry now, especially among ordinary people. It’s normal that you don’t know them,” Zhang Lan said with a smile.

"I'll call Ye Qingjun tomorrow and ask. He's been very active in Shanghai lately. Let's see if he knows anything about it." He then took out his phone.

Zhang Lan had also heard of Ye Qingjun. He was the leader of the Ningbo gang in the futures industry, who initially switched to A-shares and joined the "Ningbo Limit-Up Daredevils" founded by Xu Xiang. Later, he established his own company and re-entered the futures industry. She heard that he made a fortune trading cotton futures last year.

It's about grassroots heroes.

While Zhao Yanjing and his wife were discussing this matter, Shi Guangrong and Jiang Yiling were also talking about it as they drove home in their Audi.

Jiang Yiling, driving the car, looked at Shi Guangrong, who was sitting silently in the passenger seat, and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

“Zhao Yanjing is also going to speculate on cotton futures, and he’s going short,” Shi Guangrong said.

Jiang Yiling was somewhat surprised: "Oh, he's going to short it?"

"Yes, what he just said was clearly a reminder to me not to do too much," Shi Guangrong explained.

"Zhao Yanjing controls a huge amount of funds, and more importantly, he has connections with the national team. So what will you do?"

"I already had a lot of confidence in Zheng Mian, but after hearing what Zhao Yanjing said..." Shi Guangrong sighed deeply as he finished speaking.

“Aren’t you working with Fang Qingye? Why don’t you listen to his opinion?” Jiang Yiling said.

"This guy can't hold his liquor. He drank a bit too much today. I wonder if he even heard what Zhao Yanjing said? I'll go see him tomorrow."

"Okay, don't think about it. Get some rest tonight, or you won't be able to sleep again," Jiang Yiling said with concern.

"Yeah, it's possible I really won't be able to sleep."

Fang Qingye slept very well.

Although I was a little dizzy from drinking last night, I didn't black out. In my dazed state, the driver that Shi Guangrong found took me to the hotel. After a quick wash, I fell fast asleep.

When I opened my eyes, it was already past eight in the morning, and the morning sun was shining throughout the room.

"It's a beautiful day today."

Fang Qingye got up, dressed, and went to wash up.

Just then, his phone rang. He saw that it was Shi Guangrong calling, so he pressed the speakerphone button.

"Aoba, are you up? Let's have breakfast together."

"Having breakfast? Where are you?"

"I'm in the lobby of your hotel."

"You came so early?" Fang Qingye was a little surprised.

"It's getting late, it's been more than two hours since dawn."

"Okay, I'm washing up now, please wait a moment."

After washing up and getting dressed, Fang Qingye went out, took the elevator to the first floor, and saw Shi Guangrong, noticing that he looked rather unwell.

"Did you drink too much last night? The three of us only had one bottle of wine, that's not much, is it?" Fang Qingye asked with concern.

"I didn't drink too much, I just didn't sleep well last night," Shi Guangrong sighed.

"I'm having trouble sleeping again."

(End of this chapter)