Rebirth 05: From Coal Mine Owner to Mobile Phone Tycoon

Sir Zheng gave Lu Yuan a meaningful look, his tone firm.

"But I believe in your abilities, I believe you can absolutely do this."

Sir Zheng has seen far too many arrogant and self-important young people.

He always acts like he's in charge of everything, always saying he's going to short this today and that tomorrow.

But he was clearly a greenhorn, unaware of the consequences of his actions, only aware of the superficial glamour of those who were airdropped.

Before meeting Lu Yuan, Sir Zheng would have thought that Lu Yuan was no different from those greenhorn recruits.

But upon meeting Lu Yuan, Sir Zheng immediately sensed that Lu Yuan was different from the others.

He discovered that every step the boy took, though seemingly coincidental, contained profound meaning.

Moreover, when faced with trouble, they can always quickly find the optimal solution that is advantageous to themselves, and can even set up a series of traps for their opponents.

Just like at this banquet, Sir Zheng, as the owner of the manor, saw everything that happened clearly.

The first conflict with Wei Min was indeed an accident; no one could have predicted it beforehand.

Lu Yuan merely showed others his polite yet not easily provoked side.

The second conflict with Wei Min at the salon can be said to have been deliberately escalated by Lu Yuan's indulgence.

Taking advantage of this conflict, Lu Yuan not only humiliated the other party, but also took the opportunity to give Zhou Mei and her studio a resounding "GG".

It also provides an opportunity to demonstrate one's confidence as a boss and recruit more artists.

Once this incident spreads within the industry, the artists under Zhou Mei's studio will not only have their own popularity, but will also be less likely to be bullied or harassed by their peers.

After escalating the conflict, Lu Yuan can then use this as an excuse to openly compete with Wei Min for the last item in the auction.

Apart from one Indian businessman, almost everyone else, especially the Chinese, gave up bidding out of a desire to help others.

The auction turned into a scheme targeting Wei Min, which Lu Yuan likely devised immediately after learning Wei Min's identity and based on the current situation.

And by taking advantage of the opportunity to bid on the Langyao red vase, they tested Wei Min's financial situation and learned about Wei Min's maximum bid.

Then, using this last set of kingfisher feather phoenix crown and headdress as leverage, he kept bidding against Wei Min, escalating their conflict to the extreme. To the point that Wei Min's mind was consumed by revenge against Lu Yuan.

This led to false bidding and malicious price gouging, which Lu Yuan seized upon and detonated.

This move directly ruined the other party's reputation and made them infamous.

Sir Zheng felt that things could end here.

Lu Yuan was able to win over Wei Min at a low price and then personally nail her to the ground and carry her away; this was already a complete victory.

But unexpectedly, Lu Yuan pulled another divine move at the end.

The item is bought at the highest bid, regardless of whether the bid is inflated or not.

The result was obvious: when Lu Yuan declared that not a single penny of the donated funds could be less,

His reputation spread throughout Hong Kong's upper-middle-class circles.

Oh right, at the same time, he also upheld the fairness and reputation of the Zheng family, and even swindled Wei Min out of 90 yuan, which he then added to the Zheng family's charity fund.

Little Zheng suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

If they knew, they would find out that Lu Yuan had used this auction to win over the goddess, seduce the diva, and even potentially sign a future pop star.

Lu Yuan's victory was far from complete.

That's like Qin Shi Huang touching an electric gate – he won!

Therefore, in Sir Zheng's eyes, anyone who can do the former is already a genius, while Lu Yuan, who can do the latter, must be a prodigy.

So he wanted to see what surprises Lu Yuan could bring him in this discussion.

Because most people who borrow stocks from brokerages are secretive about their intentions and wouldn't tell the brokerage directly, especially those who want to short sell.

I would never say that.

Sir Zheng was eager to see what reason Lu Yuan would give to persuade him to lend stocks to his Kunlun Mirror Fund.

He thought Lu Yuan would try to cover up his true purpose, but to his surprise, Lu Yuan just openly admitted it.

Sir Zheng was unsure whether Lu Yuan was playing the honesty card or something else entirely.

Lu Yuan was confident that even if he knew the purpose of the other man, he would still find a way to convince himself.

While it's feasible to restrict oneself solely with rules, it's far too weak compared to previous performance.

So Sir Zheng decided to play along and put some pressure on Lu Yuan to see if there would be any surprises.

Lu Yuan never expected that he could get a top-tier brokerage firm in the world to lend him stocks simply by relying on the principle of avoidance.

Even if all the steps are legal and compliant, so many people want to borrow it. Lu Yuan isn't shameless enough to think he's the chosen one.

Wherever he went, he received the green light. He was chosen by everyone else, with no regard for the fact that he was a newcomer with no reputation whatsoever.

"Okay, in addition to securities lending, I would also like to borrow your company's financial leverage."

"This is not appropriate!" Sir Zheng immediately shook his head.

"I can't lend you money at the same time and then use that money as collateral to lend out our shares."

"This money will not be used as a margin, but will be a special fund of Kunlun Fund for the purchase of future stocks."

"To ensure that this fund is used for its designated purpose, I am willing to accept supervision from a representative sent by your company."

Little Zheng narrowed his eyes

"So you're not only going to short sell, but also to buy long at the same time?"

"Yes, shorting too often is not a long-term solution. In the long run, it's better to buy on dips."

Lu Yuan nodded, then looked at Lin Shaoyang.

"Moreover, my partner Lin Shaoyang is skilled in value stock selection and is also adept at buying on the rise."

"As long as there are profits and the profits can be sustained, then Mr. Zheng will not face so much pressure when facing the board of directors in the future."

How much do you want?

"5 million US dollars."

"You really dare to ask for that? Do you know how much interest this will generate in a year? This is a financial instrument, not a regular bank loan."

Sir Zheng held up four fingers.

"At HSBC Investment Management's interest rates, the annual interest would be at least US$4000 million."

Indeed, if there were a return of $4000 million a year, and if Lu Yuan's short selling wasn't too excessive,

Even if I end up losing money with Lu Yuan this year, I won't have to bear too much pressure. Just like Lu Yuan said, it's normal to have both profits and losses in business.

At this point, Lu Yuan could tell that Sir Zheng was somewhat tempted, but he could also sense that the current price was still not enough.