Chapter 41
Translator: Aafkee
Proofreader: Superclubs2
At nine the next morning, Xiao Zhan arrived at the conference centre, where the ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on time.
Xiao Zhan’s role as a guest was only to go through the formality and be there when the group photos were taken. The whole ceremony did not take too long. It was almost over when it was only about half-past ten.
Just as Xiao Zhan was about the leave the conference hall, an unfamiliar woman dressed in professional clothing suddenly walked over and spoke to him respectfully, “Good morning, CEO Xiao. I am the secretary of Chairman Xia Yuanbo of Bo Da Materials. Chairman Xia is currently in the VIP room on the second floor and wishes to invite you over to have a seat.”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes became cold in an instant. He smiled faintly at the other party out of politeness and replied, “No problem, but allow me to make a call first.”
After making the call, Xiao Zhan followed the secretary to the VIP lounge on the second floor. Xia Yuanbo was sitting on the sofa, and a few wine glasses and snacks were placed on the coffee table in front of him.
When Xiao Zhan entered, Xia Yuanbo stood up to shake his hand.
Xia Yuanbo was even older than Xiao Zhan’s father. With that seniority, Xiao Zhan did not neglect what was expected of him in terms of basic courtesy as a junior.
Xia Yuanbo had invited Xiao Zhan specifically, and yet it did not seem like there was anything urgent as he talked a little about that year’s economy and then moved on to the current industry policies before finally moving on to talk about his own company.
Xia Yuanbo’s intention was finally revealed when he began talking about his company, “Mr Xiao, although I am your senior in terms of age, you are the expert in this stock market. The younger generation has now the forefront of this circle.”
Xiao Zhan replied calmly, “You are flattering me, Director Xia.”
He had been holding onto Bo Da’s stocks for almost two months now and had yet to make a move. It seemed like Bo Da Materials’ board of directors was becoming a little impatient and began to probe him for his intentions.
Xia Yuanbo, “Now that I think about it, you are one of our stockholders as well, Mr Xiao. How about you share some of your insights regarding the performance of our company’s stocks?”
Xiao Zhan took a sip of champagne and smiled lightly as he replied, “Thank you for your acknowledgement and appreciation, Director Xia, but I think my insights are no longer necessary since I am not your company’s stockholder anymore.”
There VIP was completely filled with silence right after those words left Xiao Zhan’s mouth. The only sound that could be heard was the clinking sound of the wine glass against the glass coffee table as Xiao Zhan gently placed the wine glass down.
Xia Yuanbo jerked his head up, his smile frozen on his seemingly old face. He stared at Xiao Zhan in shock and dismay. Even the secretary, who had been standing on the side and was preparing to refill Xiao Zhan’s wine glass, was frozen in shock.
Xia Yuanbo’s handphone rang right at that moment.
Xia Yuanbo glanced down and saw that it was a call from one of the board of directors members. His heart sank, and the hand which was holding the wine glass trembled lightly for a moment as he felt as if he was thrown into an ice cave.
Xiao Zhan leaned on the sofa as he stared at Xia Yuanbo calmly.
Xia Yuanbo accepted the call and an anxious voice sounded immediately from the other side of the line, “Director Xia, Value Scan’s CEO tossed away all the stocks ten minutes ago!”
Xia Yuanbo’s eyes widened. He exclaimed, “All of them?!”
“Yes, all of them, and the selling price was 21.3 per stock. The total capital is about 130 million dollars.” He continued urgently, “One more thing, Director Xia. Yong Kang Electrics contacted us regarding the sales contract from last time. The supervisory board is very anxious and wants to hold a board meeting immediately…”
Xia Yuanbo could hear ringing in his head. His mind was completely empty, and the back of his neck was completely drenched in cold sweat. He looked up in a daze and saw Xiao Zhan standing up.
Xiao Zhan, “Thank you for your invitation, Director Xia. Let us wrap up here today. I have an appointment in the afternoon so I will excuse myself now. Goodbye.”
Xiao Zhan turned and left the VIP lounge room straightaway before Xia Yuanbo could utter a word.
Uncle Wang was already waiting for Xiao Zhan at the car park. He opened the doors to the back seats of the car the moment he saw Xiao Zhan. Xiao Zhan took out his phone and glanced at his schedule for the day after getting into the car.
Xiao Zhan had already called his account manager and told him to sell the stocks before he went to meet Xia Yuanbo. 0.1% of the stocks was not a small amount. The price of Bo Da’s stocks was forced down by a couple of decimals the instant those stocks left Xiao Zhan’s hands.
However, other players in the market were quick to respond to the changes. The K-line* was back to being red within 20 minutes. At about half past eleven, Xiao Zhan returned to his office just as the market closed. The closing price for the stocks was even slightly higher than how much Xiao Zhan sold out the stocks.
(T/N*: K-line, also known as candlestick chart. It is a commonly used chart in the stock market to represent trading patterns over short periods of time. The data is shown as green or red. I won’t explain finance stuff in detail, but if you are interested, you can have a look at Wiki.)
Xiao Zhan received a call from Lu Chuiqing shortly after returning to his office. Since Bo Da’s stock prices exceeded 20 yesterday morning, Lu Chuiqing had been sending him messages from time to time asking if he had sold the stocks, afraid that Xiao Zhan might have missed the peak timing to sell the stocks at a high price.
Xiao Zhan picked up the call, and as expected, Lu Chuiqing called to ask him just that.
Xiao Zhan, “I’ve sold all of them.”
Lu Chuiqing, “...Really?! All of them?”
“What was the price when you sold them?!”
“About 21.”
Lu Chuiqing sucked in a breath of cold air as if he was forced to lower his voice due to his circumstances. Even then, his voice was filled with surprise and excitement, “How much was that in total? Let me see… you have 0.1% of the stocks, about six million stocks… If you are selling at about 21… You get 127 million?!”
Xiao Zhan could not help but laugh. Given the events of the past few days, he could confirm that Lu Chuiqing was truly talented at making money. “Thereabout.”
Lu Chuiqing sucked in another breath and sighed, “Xiao Zhan, I’ve never even seen so much money in my whole life… How did Bo Da react to that? Did they contact you?”
“I’m not a stockholder anymore. It doesn’t matter regardless of whether they contact me or not,” Xiao Zhan leaned on the side of his office desk as he watched the K-line going up and down on his computer monitor, “Xia Yuanbo is probably facing some trouble now. He should be too busy trying to think of ways to maintain that stock price.”
“No way they’re going to maintain that price!” Lu Chuiqing said, “It’s best if it keeps dropping every day! He should take responsibility for all those things he did!”
Xiao Zhan smiled, not continuing with that topic, “I’ll go fetch you after work tomorrow.”
On Saturday, Lu Chuiqing went to Xiao Zhan’s house as per usual. Thinking that Xiao Zhan would soon make a sum from the stock market, Lu Chuiqing could not help but be in a good mood. He went to carry Lil Buddy and petted the cat for a long while.
When Lu Chuiqing finally had enough of touching the cat, Xiao Zhan carried it back to its own small room and filled up its feeding bowl with cat food.
Lu Chuiqing lay on his stomach on the sofa, reading about the already closed market every now and then, swaying his legs in good mood.
Xiao Zhan sat on the side and said, “Xiao-Qing, let’s split the earnings 50-50 between us if the short-selling is successful.”
Lu Chuiqing jerked his head and sat up from the sofa. He did not even hesitate, “This is your money. There is no reason for me to have them. We’re not yet marri-, we are not sharing our property yet. What is yours, is yours. And what is mine, is mine.”
Xiao Zhan raised his eyebrow slightly, “But I did listen to your advice, so I have to pay you for being my financial advisor, can’t I?”
Lu Chuiqing touched his nose, thinking how Xiao Zhan was giving him too much credit. Lu Chuiqing insisted, “You have been cooking my meals every weekend. I’ll take that as my payment.”
Xiao Zhan, “How about this? I’ll open an account with half the money. The account belongs to me, but you can do whatever you want with the money. You can use it directly if you have any investment plans. If you do end up earning anything, all you have to do is return me what you used, and the rest is yours.”
Lu Chuiqing curled his lips slightly, “Doesn’t that count as borrowing your money to make an investment… Forget it, forget it. The money has not even arrived yet. Let’s not talk about these.”
Lu Chuiqing paused, leaned over slightly and raised his head to kiss Xiao Zhao’s lips quickly before he scratched his cheeks with his finger, “But thank you.”
Xiao Zhan wrapped his arms around Lu Chuiqing’s waist and laid him down on the sofa, clearly not satisfied with the simple light kiss on his lips. He deepened the kiss with his lips and tongue.
Lu Chuiqing circled his arm around Xiao Zhan’s neck and could not help but slip his hand in through the collar of Xiao Zhan’s suit jacket, pressing his palm against his shoulder.
In his eyes, there was no more suitable man than Xiao Zhan in this world for suits and formal wear. Although it was a little embarrassing to admit, Lu Chuiqing could not deny how he thought how the moments when Xiao Zhan wore or took off his suit were the most attractive.
Just when Lu Chuiqing was attracted by his Alpha to no end, a cat’s cry suddenly coming from the side of the stares startled him back into reality.
The two on the sofa turned their heads, only to be met with the sight of Lil Buddy, who had already finished his food, sitting at the side of the stairs, staring at them.
Lu Chuiqing flushed red. He turned his head away and coughed. In an attempt to uphold the principle of not being a bad influence on a “child”, he said, “Xiao Zhan… let’s go back to the bedroom.”
Xiao Zhan was not concerned at all as he lowered his head and continued to leave light kisses on Lu Chuiqing’s neck, “It’ll go back up on its own later.”
“And when is ‘later’...?”
As expected, Lil Buddy lay by the stairs for ten plus minutes and realised that its owner was too preoccupied with its second owner, who it would see every weekend, completely ignoring him. Seeing that, it went upstairs by itself to sleep.
Lu Chuiqing started off by keeping an eye on Lil Buddy to see if it had left. Gradually, he did not even have the time or mind to think about it.
The next morning at nine, Lu Chuiqing woke up in a daze and saw Xiao Zhan still sleeping beside him. They might have overdone it last night. His legs were already unstable when he came down from the sofa. He did not expect another two more rounds waiting for him in the bedroom.
Lu Chuiqing still felt tired and sore after a night’s rest, so he lazily nestled in bed, not wanting to move. He reached out his hand from under the covers for his phone on his bedside table, wanting to check the time.
Lu Chuiqing tapped on his phone’s screen and saw a notification. He sleepily glanced at the news headline. His mind blanked out for two seconds before he read the headline again. He sat up violently from the bed, all the sleepiness gone.
Lu Chuiqing reached out and shook Xiao Zhan’s shoulders, “Xiao Zhan! Wake up! Big news!”
Xiao Zhan pulled Lu Chuiqing back into his arms. Hugged by Xiao Zhan again, Lu Chuiqing lifted his head from his chest, raised his phone and turned the phone screen towards Xiao Zhan. His voice was filled with obvious excitement, “Look!”
Xiao Zhan looked down, only to see a notification from a financial application showing a piece of major news.
Bo Da Materials announced at nine o’clock this morning that its current round of three-month short-term financing bonds could not be repaid on time and that the redemption was delayed.
Just as Lu Chuiqing said, it violated its side of the contract.
Thank you for this! As a CPA as well this novel is so fun for me
ReplyDeleteNot so fun for me to translate! xD
DeleteMe gusta, a veces considero que el gusto de estas novelas no solo es el interés si no la edad o negocio si se tiene jajaja
ReplyDelete