Chapter 4: Breaking the Mold

"Hey, Mom. Yes, I've had lunch."

"Wenjing? She's been quite busy with work lately. I'll find some time to talk to her."

"I won't be coming back for the May Day holiday. Please tell Dad for me, and make sure you both take care of yourselves..."

After returning from his midday walk, Lu Liang received a call from his mother, who was asking why Lin Wenjing wasn't answering her phone.

Having barely managed to brush her off, he soon received a call from his father.

"Have you two been having problems?" Lu Jianjun’s weathered voice came from the other end of the line.

"We divorced last month."

Lu Liang hesitated for a moment before telling the truth.

Among all familial relationships, the bond between father and son is the most unique and contradictory. It is marked by worship in childhood and distance in youth, yet as one grows older, a gradual mutual understanding begins to take root. That is why, in many cases, Lu Liang would tell his father the truth while telling his mother lies.

"So it finally came to this," Lu Jianjun sighed. Although he hadn't lived with his son and daughter-in-law, through their interactions over the past few years, he understood exactly what kind of person Lin Wenjing was. Their family temple was too small to house such a big Buddha.

Lu Jianjun didn't ask for the reason. "When do you plan to tell your mother?"

"I've been busy lately. I'll head back at the end of next month."

"Let me know when you're coming back."

After a long, silent pause, Lu Liang said softly, "Dad, I have some things to take care of."

Speaking the truth didn't mean the two had much to talk about. Lu Jianjun replied, "Go do what you need to do, and take care of your health."

"You too."

Ending the call, Lu Liang stepped out of the stairwell and happened to run into Li Manli, who was heading out to pick up a delivery. She had been standing there for a while and seemed to have heard something; she was startled by Lu Liang's sudden appearance.

"G-good afternoon," Li Manli said, looking flustered, a trace of imperceptible disdain flickering in her eyes. Although they hadn't deepened their acquaintance, living across from each other meant they had gradually figured out each other's schedules. She felt that Lu Liang must be unemployed, as she could always hear him coming and going from his room every afternoon. Now, having learned the news of his divorce, she considered him a middle-aged man who was jobless and essentially a failure. She really didn't want to have any association with him.

Lu Liang glanced at her coldly, said nothing, and returned to his room.

"Serves you right, getting dumped by your wife," Li Manli muttered with a look of annoyance before returning to her own room.

***

Time flew by. Another fourteen trading days passed, and the name of the "Demon God" stock, Storm Technology, spread across the entire financial market.

It had logged 29 consecutive, neat, and spectacular limit-up days, setting the record for the longest streak of consecutive limit-ups in A-share history. The stock price broke into the triple digits, reaching a staggering 113.26 yuan.

The value of Lu Liang’s holdings had reached 3.8505 million yuan.

But this did not satisfy him. Taking advantage of the upcoming Saturday and Sunday, Lu Liang paid off all his loans for the month, leaving him with 250,000 yuan in cash. Over the past month, he had kept over 300,000 yuan in funds, waiting for this very moment. According to his observations, the breaking of the limit-up streak was imminent, but there was still triple the profit to be made before reaching the peak of 327 yuan. He wanted to capitalize on it fully, not wasting the fortune he had been granted.

That evening, Lu Liang invited Zhao Haisheng out for a late-night snack.

Zhao Haisheng was filled with emotion. "Brother Lu, congratulations. You've struck it rich overnight."

He was the one who had helped Lu Liang with the lottery allocation and knew he had hit 68 lots. Many people participated in new stock subscriptions, and many won, but Lu Liang was the one he envied most. He had won the "Demon King" lottery—the demon king of the Growth Enterprise Market—which had a small float, making it even more suitable for hype. As of yesterday, it had already surged 15.86 times.

"It’s just good luck. It’s impossible to win that many every time."

"That's true. In all my years in the industry, the highest allocation I've seen for 5,000 entries is 76 lots; usually, it's just thirty-something."

This was the kind of luck Zhao Haisheng couldn't envy. Ultimately, it was because the Growth Enterprise Market had a small float and a 300,000-yuan threshold. If it were a main board stock starting with 60, getting 5 lots out of 5,000 entries would be a stroke of immense fortune, as the main board had almost no subscription threshold, leading to a massive number of participants and a winning rate of only 0.05%.

"Haisheng, I have a feeling this stock is going to keep rising."

Lu Liang drank a few beers and slowly revealed his intention: he wanted to open a margin trading account.

Zhao Haisheng was surprised. "Brother Lu, are you that confident in Storm Technology?"

Lu Liang smiled and said, "It's not really about confidence. It's just that my luck is in, I've made some money, so a little loss doesn't matter."

"That’s something only someone who has already made money can say," Zhao Haisheng said, torn between laughter and frustration. "How much capital do you have?" He didn't try to persuade Lu Liang; after all, he made his living this way, and their relationship was merely that of a client and an intermediary. It was just that when they bought houses before, he was the client and Lu Liang was the agent; now their roles were reversed.

Lu Liang said, "Not much, just 250,000. How much leverage can you give me?"

Zhao Haisheng thought for a moment. "I can give you two-to-one leverage, which is 500,000. We provide the brokerage account."

"That works."

Lu Liang had considered off-market margin financing, but decided against it. Aside from the legal issues, the most important factor was safety. After all, Zhao Haisheng was a legitimate employee of Guotai Securities. While the leverage ratio was lower, it was safe and reliable.

***

On Monday morning, Lu Liang arrived at the Guotai brokerage office. Before nine o'clock, he completed the 500,000-yuan margin setup, giving him 750,000 yuan in available funds in his account.

The brokerage office was packed because, for the first time in eight years, the A-shares had firmly stabilized above 4,000 points. Countless people believed the bull market had arrived and that it would now push toward 5,000, 6,000, or even 7,000 points. Lu Liang felt the same.

He found an empty seat and sat down, quietly waiting for the pre-market call auction at 9:15.

As expected, following warnings from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the company's own risk disclosure announcements, and after two days of market fermentation over the weekend, Storm Technology’s limit-up finally broke. In the pre-market auction, it took only three minutes for the stock to go from a limit-up to a limit-down.

Every price fluctuation in the auction was over three percent, with various institutions taking turns to make their moves, each trying to outdo the other.

If this had been a month and a half ago, when Lu Liang was less familiar with the rules, his mood might have fluctuated with the ups and downs. But now, he understood that the first eight minutes of the pre-market auction were nonsense and held no reference value.

The true opening price of the stock was decided in the final two minutes, from 9:24 to 9:25. Because the pre-market auction ended at 25 minutes, every transaction within those last two minutes had the potential to be finalized. The bidding institutions became more cautious, as they weren't sure if retail investors could maintain the same enthusiasm as the previous week.

Influenced by many factors, the first ten minutes of pre-market trading were essentially a waste, and the stock ultimately opened at the previous Friday's closing price.

113.26 yuan—the closing price of last Friday, and the opening price of today.

Lu Liang went all-in.

He added 6,600 shares, bringing his position to 99.5%, leaving only three thousand yuan in available funds. In the face of trading volumes that reached tens of thousands of shares at a time, his 6,600 shares were like a drop in the ocean.

But it seemed the market makers were specifically watching Lu Liang. The moment his trade went through, the stock price plunged 5%.

Zhao Haisheng received a risk alert for the margin account and rushed over. "Brother Lu, did you go all-in?"

"I was worried it would lock into a limit-up later and I wouldn't be able to buy, so I went all-in at the opening."

Seeing Lu Liang’s calm and indifferent demeanor, Zhao Haisheng couldn't help but remind him, "Brother Lu, if Storm Technology hits the limit-down and locks today, there's a high probability it will open at the limit-down again tomorrow."

For a demon stock that had seen 29 consecutive limit-ups, once it started to fall, it wouldn't stop until it hit at least three or five limit-downs. Although a 30% loss was the forced liquidation line, to ensure the firm's interests were not harmed, they usually stopped losses early.

"I understand. I get it."

Lu Liang kept his eyes fixed on the screen in the hall and suddenly smiled. "But it seems we don't need to worry anymore."

Just as the two were talking, a large bullish candle shot toward the sky, and massive buy orders swept across the market.