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

Chapter 760 Emergency Meeting with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Late at Night

At 10 p.m., in a suite at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong, Fang Qingye had just ended a video call with his wife, Bai Ou.

"Don't worry, Zhang Jinchuan has paved the way, and things are progressing better than expected." He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the night view of Victoria Harbour, his tone relaxed. "He said he can arrange for me to meet with President Chen Delin soon."

In the video, Bai Ou's voice was filled with laughter: "That's good. I'm relieved to have Mr. Zhang's help. Take care of yourself and don't stay up too late."

"Let me see our little darling," Fang Qingye said with a smile.

"What are you looking at? Yangyang should go to bed early."

"Just take a look."

Before he could finish speaking, the hotel's rarely-ringing telephone in the room suddenly rang sharply.

"Bai Ou, I have to go now, the phone is ringing."

"it is good."

Hanging up his wife's call, Fang Qingye frowned slightly—very few people knew this number. He hesitated for a moment, then picked up the receiver: "Who is this?"

"Is this Mr. Fang Qingye?" A calm female voice came through, devoid of any emotion. "This is the President's Office of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. President Chen Delin wishes to make an urgent call to you. Please wait."

Fang Qingye's heart sank. Before he could even think about how the other party knew the number, the voice on the other end of the line changed to a deep and authoritative male voice—the very voice he had heard on the financial news on TV these past few days.

“Mr. Fang, I apologize for disturbing you so late at night.” Chen Delin got straight to the point. “Given the huge position that Tuofang Fund has recently established in the British pound foreign exchange market, I think it is necessary to talk to you before the market opens tomorrow. I originally wanted to meet with Ouyang Shaoqiang, the general manager of Tuofang Fund, but after learning that you are in Hong Kong, it is more appropriate to meet with you.”

As expected, it alarmed the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Fang Qingye thought to herself.

"President Chen, it is an honor to meet you." He said calmly.

"Okay, the car I sent will arrive at the side entrance of the Mandarin Oriental in fifteen minutes. I believe we should all talk about how to prevent a high-stakes gamble from impacting Hong Kong's financial stability."

"clear."

Fang Qingye immediately knocked on the door of Yue Kai, who lived across the hall, got dressed, and packed her briefcase.

"Where did the boss go?" Yue Kai felt a little strange; Fang Qingye seemed a bit off today.

"The Monetary Authority."

Fifteen minutes later, the two went downstairs and got into a black Toyota with "Hong Kong Monetary Authority" printed on it. Inside the car, besides the driver, there was only a middle-aged woman wearing a business suit and glasses.

"Mr. Fang, President Chen is waiting for you in his office." The woman's tone was polite but distant—it was the same voice from the previous phone call.

Instead of heading to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's publicly listed address, the car detoured to a quiet street in Central, and then took a private elevator entrance via a dedicated underground parking garage access road.

"Excuse me, please wait here." The woman reached out to stop Yue Kai, who was about to enter the elevator.

Yue Kai looked at Fang Qingye, and seeing him nod slightly, he stopped outside the door and looked around warily.

When Fang Qingye entered Chen Delin's office alone, the president was standing in front of the huge glass curtain wall, overlooking the still brightly lit Hong Kong.

There was no one else in the room.

Chen Delin turned around and, instead of speaking directly to Fang Qingye, instructed his secretary, "Mr. Fang and I have something to discuss. There's no need to take notes. Don't let anyone disturb us."

After the secretary closed the door and left, he turned to Fang Qingye and said, “Mr. Fang, please have a seat. Thank you for coming so late at night. I think we can skip the formalities.”

He walked to his desk, where a concise risk report summary lay spread out.

"Tuofang Fund, a Hong Kong-registered institution, used up to $360 billion in leverage to establish a short position in the British pound. This scale exceeds the scope of ordinary market behavior."

Fang Qingtai sat down calmly, meeting the other party's gaze: "What does President Chen mean?"

"What I mean is that any factor that could affect the financial stability of Hong Kong is within my purview," Chen Delin said calmly. "I have no intention of interfering with your investment decisions, but I must confirm: if the referendum result contradicts your expectations, will the huge losses from forced liquidation trigger a chain reaction of panic selling, impacting the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate? Will it plunge Hong Kong's financial market into turmoil?"

He paused briefly, then emphasized, "What I care about is not how much you lose, but whether the storm you've stirred up will breach the dam that Hong Kong's financial sector has built up over the years!"

Mr. Chen, your concerns are valid...

But how could I be at a loss?
Fang Qingye smiled inwardly, but his expression remained solemn. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze sweeping over the summary on the table before looking directly at Chen Delin.

“President Chen is concerned about the safety of the dam, not which boat in the river catches the most fish, and I completely understand that.” Fang Qingye’s voice was calm. “The core of your question lies in two points: first, whether I will capsize; second, if I do capsize, whether I will damage your dam.”

"Please speak," Chen Delin said calmly.

“Regarding the first point,” Fang Qingye continued, “although our position is large, it is not naked short. We have a tiered stop-loss plan, and the collateral assets amount to 150% of the position value, which are held in custody by three global systemically important banks. This means that even if the market experiences extreme adverse fluctuations, we will be automatically liquidated when the threshold is reached, and there will never be a margin shortfall.”

"Furthermore, Topway Fund's parent company, Topway Technology, holds over 300 billion yuan in cash in mainland China, which I can readily transfer to Hong Kong to replenish my holdings. You can verify what I've said through the People's Bank of China, and I'm quite familiar with Governor Pan of the People's Bank of China; you can also call him directly to inquire."

President Pan.
Three hundred billion...

A barely perceptible ripple flashed across Chen Delin's eyes.

"I will verify it."

Fang Qingye smiled slightly and continued, "As for the second point, which is what you're truly concerned about—whether it will damage the dam." His tone shifted, becoming more serious.

“I believe the real risk comes not from well-prepared participants like myself, but from those who are unprepared and panic-sell when the market suddenly changes. Our presence provides the market with a sufficiently deep and well-stocked hedge, which absorbs volatility to some extent rather than exacerbating the turbulence.”

He paused briefly, then offered a more strategic perspective:

"Even if we take a step back and say that the UK referendum really does produce a black swan event, the global market will definitely be shaken. Where will global capital go then? Will it be to Europe, which is in chaos, or to Asia, which is relatively stable and has a deep and mature market like Hong Kong? A crisis in Europe may be an opportunity for the East. Our investment here is precisely to find a safe haven for capital in the storm—and Hong Kong is fully capable of becoming that haven."

Chen Delin fell silent. He slowly walked back to the window, turned his back to Fang Qingye again, and gazed at the dazzling lights of Victoria Harbour.

After a while, he slowly spoke, his tone much gentler: "You are very confident and farsighted." He turned to look directly at Fang Qingye, "But confidence and recklessness are often separated by a fine line. I hope your judgment is correct."

"My judgment is definitely correct," Fang Qingye said with certainty.

My tiny butterfly wings are not enough to shake the British referendum.
"Our conversation ends here. Thank you for your cooperation," Chen Delin said, his tone softening.

Are you asking them to leave?

Don't rush me, I haven't told you about my business yet.

Fang Qingye smiled and said, "President Chen, even if you hadn't summoned me today, I was just planning to pay you a visit."

"Oh? Is something the matter?"

"Yes. I'd like to talk to you about Ele.me's IPO—because it uses an AB share structure."

(End of this chapter)