Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

This day should have been a time of happiness, family reunions, and joy. But at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Central, the atmosphere was as stifling as under the scorching summer sun.

The top floor of the headquarters of Zhonghuan Jiahe Group.

On the huge electronic price display, the numbers were jumping wildly.

"5.10 yuan!"

"Boss! It's broken 5! Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) shares have reached HK$5.1!"

Cheng Yiyan turned around and reported to Lu Chen, who was sitting on the leather sofa: "Based on the 40 million shares we hold, the current market value has exceeded 200 million! Even after deducting transaction fees, our value has more than doubled!"

In just one week, 100 million yuan in cash was magically conjured up in the capital market. This is the allure of finance, and also its toxicity.

Lu Chen held a cup of tea in his hand, his expression eerily calm.

He looked out the window at the bustling Victoria Harbour, his eyes devoid of any greed, displaying only the calm of a hunter before closing his net.

"5.1 yuan...that's about right."

Lu Chen put down his teacup and tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest.

"The price-to-earnings ratio of this stock is seriously inflated. Even if all Kowloon Motor Bus buses carried all the citizens of Hong Kong three times a day, they wouldn't be worth this price."

"The current price increase is purely a bubble created by money."

Lu Chen turned his head, looked at Cheng Yiyan, and gave the final instruction.

"Old Cheng, start selling in batches. Same old rules, don't crash the market all at once."

"Okay, boss."

Cheng Yiyan took a deep breath and picked up the dedicated phone line leading to the trading room.

"Attention all traders, activate the 'retreat plan'."

"Group A, 500 sell orders were placed at a price of 5.07."

"Group B, take some buy orders at 5.01 to create the illusion that the main force is still washing out weak hands."

"Group C, prepare for a large order. Once Lei Juekun places his order, immediately place it with him!"

The sound of keyboards clattering echoed incessantly, like the symphony of death.

Under the meticulous manipulation of the Golden Harvest Group, Kowloon Motor Bus's share price fluctuated repeatedly around HK$5. Each dip was quickly pulled up, giving the market the illusion that it "couldn't fall any further."

As a result, countless uninformed retail investors shouted "buy the dip" and rushed into this meat grinder.

Lei Juekun's funds flowed like water, continuously buying up shares at this high price.

Stocks were exchanged for stacks of real money, which flowed into Lu Chen's pockets.

11:00 AM.

Lu Chen has already sold one-third of his stocks.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

More than half of the shares have been sold off.

3:30 p.m.

With the completion of the last block trade, Lu Chen's Kowloon Motor Bus shares were reduced to a symbolic few tens of thousands.

"Boss, clearance sale complete."

Cheng Yiyan put down the phone, let out a long sigh of relief, and gleamed with the satisfaction of a full stomach behind his gold-rimmed glasses.

"Total profit..."

Cheng Yiyan looked at the numbers on the calculator, her voice filled with satisfied delight.

"HK$320 million."

This was a perfect robbery.

In just one week, Lu Chen swindled nearly 200 million yuan from Lei Juekun and greedy stock investors.

"very good."

Lu Chen picked up his wine glass and walked to the window.

The banquet is over.

"Now, it's time to see how Boss Lei will foot the bill."

……

Kowloon, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon Motor Bus Headquarters.

At the same time, in the chairman's office, the air was so stuffy it was suffocating. The ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts, and various takeout boxes and waste paper were scattered on the floor.

Boss Lei slumped in his chair, looking as if he had aged ten years.

This week was hell for him.

In order to keep his position as chairman and to prevent the pack of wolves from Jiahe from storming the board of directors, he chose to bite the bullet and keep buying up goods in the market.

He'll buy anything that's available, no matter the price or how much money he has to borrow.

"Chairman..."

The deputy general manager pushed open the door and cautiously reported, "We just received news from the exchange that our shareholding ratio has reached 42%."

"42%..."

A hint of relief finally appeared in Boss Lei's bloodshot eyes.

"It's secure," he said hoarsely. "With this 42%, plus those old shareholders who have always supported me, my control is definitely secure."

"Yes, Chairman." The deputy general manager nodded, but the expression on his face was more like a grimace. "But... our funding chain has been completely severed."

"Golden Princess Cinemas' profits from last year and the construction payments that Kowloon Construction just received have all been poured into it."

"And..." The deputy general manager trembled as he took out a bank payment reminder, "We urgently borrowed HK$100 million from HSBC as a bridge loan for this week's shopping spree, and the interest payment will start next month."

"It's okay! As long as the company is still around, we can earn money slowly!"

Boss Lei waved his hand dismissively. Although his heart was bleeding, he felt it was all worth it.

After all, he preserved his family's business and repelled Lu Chen's attack. This was a great "Battle to Defend Kowloon Motor Bus".

However, this joy lasted less than ten minutes, just as he was about to ask someone to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate this hard-won victory.

"Chairman! Something terrible has happened!"

The trader, who had just been on the phone, suddenly screamed, "The stock price... the stock price is wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Boss Lei's heart skipped a beat.

"Someone's dumping shares!" the trader pointed at the screen. "Several large sell orders, hundreds of thousands of shares each, suddenly appeared! The price was driven down! It dropped the stock price from 5.1 to 4.9!"

"What's the panic? That's just profit-taking, a normal market reaction," Boss Lei said, trying to remain calm.

After all, the deputy general manager had already mentioned to him that if the other party couldn't gain control, they would definitely sell their shares to cash out.

Boss Lei feigned optimism, saying, "It's probably those guys from Golden Harvest who did it. They realized they couldn't take over Kowloon Motor Bus, so they're planning to leave. Send the word down, we'll take as much as they can! I want to seize this opportunity to completely turn Kowloon Motor Bus into my Lei family's business!"

"But... we can't eat anymore, Chairman," the trader said helplessly, spreading his hands. "We're completely out of money! Not a single penny left!"

Boss Lei was stunned.

He then remembered that just ten minutes earlier, he had used his last sum of money to buy up a large order on the market.

Boss Lei could only grit his teeth and bear the losses, consoling himself, "It's alright, we haven't lost control of the company anyway. This kind of loss was part of our plan. It's just that those bastards are getting off easy!"

However, things took a far greater turn than he had imagined.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

The sell-off suddenly turned into a tsunami.

Lu Chen began to pour out his tens of millions of shares without any attempt to hide it.

4.7...4.4...4.1...

Retail investors who were frantically chasing the rising prices finally realized something was wrong.

"The bookmaker ran away!"

"Run! Kowloon Motor Bus is about to collapse!"

Panic instantly spread throughout Hong Kong. Those stock market investors who had hoped to profit from the situation now only wanted to cut their losses and run for their lives.

As a result, the buy orders vanished instantly, while the sell orders piled up like mountains.

The stock price began to fall freely.

4.0...3.7...3.5...

"Stop! Stop now!!"

Lei Juekun stared at the alarmingly green numbers, feeling as if his heart was about to leap out of his chest.

He bought many of his stocks at a high of 5 yuan, and now every cent drop means that his hundreds of millions of yuan in assets have evaporated out of thin air.

That's real money! That's money he borrowed from loan sharks at exorbitant interest rates!

Thanks to the absence of price limits in Hong Kong stocks, Mr. Lei could only watch helplessly as his stock price plummeted.

"It's over..."

When the closing bell rang.

Kowloon Motor Bus's share price remained at HK$3.2.

Due to panic selling by investors, the stock price is even lower than it was a week ago.

Lei Juekun stared at the screen, feeling dizzy and his throat suddenly tasted sweet; he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

He won the controlling stake.

But he lost all his liquid assets, incurred a huge debt of 100 million, and held a bunch of severely depreciated stocks.

This is hardly a victory.

This was a devastating defeat, a desperate attempt to survive by cutting off an arm.

……

The spring of 1983 was a bloody season for Hong Kong's business community.

Later, some bloggers, when reviewing this period of stock market history, referred to it as the "Kowloon Bus Massacre".

Mr. Lui, the powerful chairman of Kowloon Motor Bus, managed to retain his position, but at a devastating cost.

Having exhausted all cash flow at the peak of the stock price and burdened with massive short-term bank debt, his balance sheet collapsed as the stock price fell.

In order to control risks, HSBC began to frequently collect debts and froze some of Mr. Lei's assets.

Boss Lei, trapped in a desperate situation, was like a wild beast caged in a cage. He tried to seek help from other wealthy people, but in this society where connections were paramount, no one was willing to offend the rising star Lu Chen for the sake of the sinking Titanic.

So two months later.

1983 October.

A bombshell news story shocked the entire Hong Kong entertainment industry.

Mr. Lei announced that, in order to recoup funds, he would sell his wholly-owned "Golden Princess Cinemas" and its film library to Golden Harvest International Group for a "bargain price" of HK$160 million.

At the signing ceremony, Boss Lei looked gaunt and remained silent throughout. Cheng Yiyan, standing opposite him, was as elegant and charming as ever, with a gentle smile.

With this, Golden Harvest successfully entered the film market it had long coveted, thanks to Golden Princess!

A massive, monopolistic entertainment empire, stepping over the corpse of Boss Lei, was officially crowned king.

Of course, these are all for later.