The Great Sage Returns from Ten Years of Imprisonment

Ling Yun looked at Da Meiyuan and nodded confidently.

"Wow! Quite ambitious, but you're not wrong."

"It won't be long before I surpass those billionaires on the Forbes rich list and become the nominal richest person; it won't be difficult for me."

"As for you few, you'll all have personal wealth exceeding two or three billion by the end of the year without any problem. You'll never have to worry about making money again."

After saying that, he picked up his backpack, smiled, and went upstairs.

The four beauties stood frozen on the sofa, unable to react for a moment.

They only came to their senses when Lingyun walked up the stairs.

"Oh my god! By the end of the year, we'll all be super-rich women with billions in assets? Am I dreaming?"

"Making billions in just over four months? I wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing! Even robbing a bank isn't this outrageous!"

As they cheered, they all turned to look at the stairs.

The next moment, Da Meiyuan suddenly jumped up from the sofa, giggling as she ran towards the stairwell.

"You all sit here, I'll go scrub Yunzi's back!"

The other three beauties were stunned for a moment, then spat out a disdainful spit.

"Pah! Are you going to get a back massage? Shameless!"

"My God! Is this really my sister? My sister could never be so shameless!"

Da Meiyuan ignored Yanzi and the others' teasing.

She ran up the stairs with a quick gait, giggling, and followed Ling Yun to the master bedroom on the second floor.

Before we knew it, it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon.

Lingyun, who had just woken up from a nap, was having lunch with Jia Jingwen in the restaurant.

Da Meiyuan and Lei Lei were not there; they were either at the theater rehearsing or at school and the publishing house.

Only Ada Choi was free, staying at home with Ling Yun.

As they were talking, the phone that was placed to the side rang twice in a row.

Ling Yun picked up his phone and glanced at it, only to find that it contained text messages from Director Xie and Chairman Zhao respectively.

He first opened Mr. Xie's text message and read it with a smile.

"As you predicted, the acquisition negotiations between the Korea Development Bank and Lehman Brothers have just failed due to intervention from the South Korean government."

"Following the announcement, shares of the Korea Development Bank surged, while Lehman Brothers lost its last lifeline!"

Upon seeing this good news, Ling Yun smiled even more broadly.

The next moment, he typed a message with lightning speed.

"This is truly heartening news. You're right, this really was Lehman Brothers' last lifeline."

"Without this lifeline, Lehman Brothers is doomed. Even a miracle won't save it. Lehman Brothers' stock will plummet again tonight."

After sending the message, he thought for a moment and immediately added another one.

"The Korea Development Bank is in dire straits, barely able to save itself. How could it possibly have the capacity to acquire Lehman Brothers? It would require the combined resources of the entire nation."

"That's precisely why the South Korean government jumped out to oppose it, risking offending its own masters and Wall Street; they will definitely pay the price!"

"This is a very good opportunity. Once the Korea Development Bank's stock price rises by more than 30%, we can short the bank."

"However, the investment should not be too large. In the international financial market, South Korea is a country that does not follow the rules of martial law and may ban short selling at any time!"

Then, Ling Yun opened the text message sent by Chairman Zhao and read it.

Like the first text message, this one is also good news.

"The two Hong Kong branches of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have just contacted the Hong Kong branch of Grand Ocean Group, saying they want to discuss the acquisition further."

"These guys have softened their stance considerably. Lehman Brothers lowered the company's selling price to $20 million, and Merrill Lynch lowered it to $50 million."

"They must have been affected by the company's stock crash last night. It's said the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is preparing to freeze their assets, which is why they're in such a hurry!"

"You're dreaming!"

Ling Yun scoffed and quickly replied.

"Ignore them for now, just leave these bastards alone and let them lower the price on their own. They definitely won't last past this week!"

"Our strategy remains unchanged: try to acquire Merrill Lynch's Hong Kong branch before nightfall on Sunday; we'll deal with Lehman Brothers' Hong Kong branch after the financial crisis erupts."

After sending the message, he put his phone aside.

Then I picked up the TV remote and casually switched to CNBC Europe, watching international financial news while eating.

At that moment, CNBC was reporting on the news of the collapse of financial stocks in European and American stock markets last night!

A moment later, Director Xie and Chairman Zhao each sent a text message.

Ling Yun picked up his phone, glanced at it, and sent a message to each of them, telling them to proceed according to the established plan.

Over the next two days, the trajectory of the international financial market was almost exactly as Lingyun had predicted!

European stock markets opened on Thursday afternoon.

The situation did not improve at all; the financial sector plummeted at the opening, with the overall decline quickly exceeding 3%.

Dragged down by the plunge in the financial sector, major European stock markets also plummeted, leaving the entire financial market in a state of gloom.

Around 6 p.m., two major pieces of news suddenly broke out on Wall Street.

It is said that Barclays Bank and American Bank are in contact with senior executives of Lehman Brothers, expressing interest in acquiring the bank.

However, things backfired.

These two pieces of news not only failed to stabilize the plummeting financial markets, but instead instantly caused the share price of Barclays Bank in the UK to collapse.

In just twenty minutes, Barclays' stock price plummeted by more than 8%.

Since the US stock market had not yet opened, the American banks temporarily escaped unscathed.

Seeing that things were not going well, the British financial authorities quickly stepped forward to clarify.

The claim that Barclays' acquisition of Lehman Brothers is merely a rumor, and even if the rumor is true, the acquisition would still require approval from the UK Financial Services Authority.

However, the UK Financial Services Authority is taking a cautious approach to the acquisition.

The acquisition would have been impossible to obtain approval from the UK Financial Services Authority if Lehman Brothers could not divest all its toxic assets and obtain a guarantee from the US Treasury Department.

For Lehman Brothers, these two conditions were incredibly difficult and simply impossible to meet!

For example, divesting all toxic assets would take a month or two to complete, even if the Lehman Brothers board agreed, but Lehman Brothers simply couldn't survive that long!

Even though the British financial authorities intervened in time to clarify, they were still unable to prevent Barclays Bank from experiencing a precipitous plunge!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, China Aviation Oil Investment Department and United Securities Investment Team, which had completed their arrangements early on, reaped a huge profit from Barclays Bank!

From China Aviation Oil's perspective, this is undoubtedly revenge for being ambushed a few years ago!

At 7 p.m., the news that Lehman Brothers' daily overnight repurchase market financing channel, on which it relied for survival, was completely cut off was confirmed!

As soon as the news broke, all of Lehman Brothers' clients and counterparties began to flee at an accelerated pace!

At 9:30 p.m., the US stock market opened on time.

The next moment, gasps of surprise came from both the United Securities investment team and the trading area of ​​Yuanda Hong Kong Island branch.

"Holy crap! A 12% drop at the open? This is absolutely insane!"

"It's hopeless. At this rate of decline, Lehman Brothers stock will be worthless tonight!"

Just as Lingyun predicted, Lehman Brothers' stock plummeted at the opening bell.

After opening 12% lower, the stock quickly fell by more than 10%, triggering a circuit breaker once again!

During the circuit breaker period, the SEC, the U.S. Treasury, and the Federal Reserve all stepped in to put out the fire, saying they were trying to find ways to save Lehman Brothers.

But the market didn't buy it at all. After Lehman Brothers' stock resumed trading, it continued to plummet, and there was no way to stop it!

Not only that, but two of the world's three major rating agencies, S&P and Moody's, suddenly stepped in, adding fuel to the fire.

As if they had conspired, these two top rating agencies simultaneously downgraded Lehman Brothers' rating to junk status, forcing many institutions to frantically sell off their holdings.

As a result, Lehman Brothers' stock was caught in a vicious cycle of rating downgrades, frantic selling, and plummeting stock prices, ultimately leading to its complete demise.

As a result, by the close of trading on Friday morning, Lehman Brothers' stock had plummeted by about 45% again!

After two consecutive days of sharp declines exceeding 40%, this stock is practically worthless and has completely lost any possibility of saving itself through equity financing!

Overnight, countless more bulls holding Lehman Brothers stock were wiped out.

Meanwhile, across the ocean in Beijing and Hong Kong, the United Securities investment team and Yuanda Hong Kong branch were making a fortune, with deafening cheers!