Chapter 59: Even Monster Stocks Need Clever Pretexts

The red sun was sinking in the west, and the sunlight poured through the window onto the sofa.

Lu Liang lazily opened his eyes, instantly feeling his mind clear and his whole body filled with a sense of comfort and pleasure.

Seeing that the shoes and socks of the mother and daughter were still in the foyer, he first went to the bathroom to wash his face, and then pushed open Zhang Yun's bedroom door.

The mother and daughter were lying on the bed, sleeping in each other's arms—a picture of quiet serenity and beauty. A trace of happy smiling appeared at the corners of Zhang Qian's mouth.

The little one was not asleep. The moment the door opened, she blinked her big, round eyes at Lu Liang.

A flash of joy bloomed on her face as she whispered, "Uncle, you're awake."

Zhang Qian startled awake. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she blinked and said, "I'll go wash my face first, then make dinner."

"Let's tidy up and go eat out."

The trio of three arrived at a nearby shopping mall.

Having recently been rebuilt and newly opened, Zhang Qian pointed at the third storefront near the entrance. "What do you think of this location?"

With an area of 185 square meters, although not directly adjacent to the subway entrance, it was one of the mandatory routes for residents of several nearby communities heading to the subway.

At a little past seven in the evening, the street was bustling with heavy foot traffic. Snack stalls could be found within every five paces, and restaurants within every ten.

Recalling what Zhang Qian had mentioned before falling asleep, Lu Liang pondered for a moment. "If you open here, the competitive pressure will be immense."

Urban fast food generally fell into two categories: priced per dish, or priced by weight—both deeply loved by urban workers.

What Lu Liang used to eat frequently was the priced-by-weight variety, costing around twenty yuan a meal with dozens of dishes to choose from at will.

"Let's give it a try. If the hygiene inside is clean and tidy, we should be able to carve out a niche."

There was a resolute tone in Zhang Qian's voice. This was a residential area dominated by small eateries with varying levels of hygiene and sanitation.

Urban fast food joints were usually located in metropolitan business districts, and with not a single one on this street yet, there should be promising potential.

"How much money are you still short?"

Lu Liang stopped trying to dissuade her; after all, it wasn't a huge sum.

Zhang Qian shook her head with a beaming smile. "I still have some savings left. It should be enough."

Lu Liang stared at her for a long time before sighing, "If you're short on funds, don't force yourself."

"Rest assured, I won't pretend to be richer than I am just to save face." Zhang Qian's face instantly blossomed into a smile.

"Little darling, have you figured it out yet? What do you want to eat?"

"Chestnut and chicken casserole!"

"Let's go. I thought it was going to be McDonald's again."

That night, Lu Liang stayed over at Zhang Qian's place and arrived at Yongfeng Building early the next morning.

There were a few new faces in the company. Tang Caidie had re-hired an accountant, along with a clerk and a receptionist.

Seeming intentionally to balance the current male-to-female ratio where women heavily outnumbered men, the accountant was a man in his thirties who looked honest and steadfast.

However, since male candidates generally showed no interest in applying for clerk or receptionist positions, those roles were still filled by young women.

Including Lu Liang, there were now two men and four women—finally looking like a proper company.

Tang Caidie had formulated a set of management protocols primarily targeting the financial auditing department.

Expenses under two thousand yuan required the approval of two people, while expenses exceeding two thousand yuan required Lu Liang's signature.

The previous practice of buying things first and then bringing back receipts for reimbursement was gone forever.

She stated that during the startup phase, it was best to strictly adhere to the rules; once the company grew larger in the future, adjustments would become difficult.

Besides, unlike other startup teams, their company was not short on cash, nor did they need to rely on emotional ties to bind their employees.

Things were becoming increasingly formal, a development Lu Liang was happy to see.

After holding a brief morning meeting to greet the newly arrived colleagues, he began his workday tasks.

Last Friday, Tele A had gained 3.55%, closing at a price of 9.80 yuan.

In the new week, the stock opened 1.25% higher, charging toward the ten-yuan milestone.

Lu Liang realized this was an excellent opportunity to accumulate shares.

People seemed to have a particular fondness for whole numbers, a trait especially evident in the stock market where every round number acted as a barrier.

Punch through it, and the sky's the limit, potentially surging by another four or five percentage points instantly; fail to break through, and it would drop sharply.

Lu Liang prepared to catch the falling knives at 9.97 yuan.

However, unlike last time, he did not set a rigid buy-in limit line, ensuring that retail investors could not see that there was financial support underneath.

Leveraging rapid seat-trading execution, every time the stock failed to breach ten yuan and pulled back, Lu Liang would buy up massive amounts of chips, yet without any pending orders appearing in the transaction details.

Over and over again.

The first half hour after market opening was often the most active period of the market.

The previous week's average daily turnover rate of only 5.2% also began to slowly climb upward.

When the turnover rate was about to break 7%, Lu Liang decisively stopped trading; his held position had already reached 24 million.

In just over ten minutes, he had scooped up 11 million in shares. Continuing to buy further might attract the attention of institutional players.

After all, a high-open pullback was inherently a form of share-washing, through which they intended to flush out retail investors inside and secure more chips.

If they sensed someone was snatching their chips, they might suspend their plan and team up to flush Lu Liang out first.

The virtuous tradition of predecessors planting trees for descendants to enjoy shade did not exist in the stock market.

They would rather suffer losses themselves than let others profit, let alone help carry someone else's sedan chair.

As ten o'clock approached, Lu Liang calmly watched the two institutions put on their performance inside, with the stock price hovering around 9.99 yuan.

Through a few days of observation, Lu Liang already knew there were two institutions present, one of which was a private equity fund from Shenzhen named Zhongxin Fuying.

Its legal representative was Li Jianlin. The company was established in April of this year with a registered capital of 50 million, and had established 10 trust plans under its umbrella, managing an asset scale of approximately 2.8 billion.

"Both are based in Shenzhen?"

Tele A was also a Shenzhen-based enterprise, which inevitably led Lu Liang to suspect the possibility of insider trading.

Otherwise, a company established in April wouldn't have prepared 2.8 billion in funds within a mere two months.

They had entered Tele A's trading book with a high degree of purpose.

Lu Liang pulled up Tele A's profile.

As the saying goes, riding a favorable wind to soar straight into the blue sky, even a speculative demon stock required a clever pretext to earn the qualifications of becoming one.

As long as there was positive news or a corresponding concept, even a piece of crap could be hyped up to the price of gold.

Tele A's full name was Shenzhen Tellus Holding Co., Ltd. Its predecessor was a machinery company, and its actual controller was the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

Shuibei in Shenzhen was the largest gold and jewelry wholesale market in all of Asia, where 80% of the nation's gold and jewelry transactions were completed.

And Tele A was the largest property owner in the Shuibei district's Tellus-Gimay Gold Jewelry Industrial Park.

"Building a jewelry ecosystem" was the narrative it had always been spinning.

Put bluntly, it was a landlord making money off rent collection.

Lu Liang truly could not fathom what kind of concept a rent-collecting enterprise could possess that warranted hype.

As his research deepened and he fully exercised his imagination,

he finally found a factor related to the hottest prevailing concept: Tele A's actual controller was the Shenzhen SASAC.

In recent years, plans for state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform had been constantly brought up, hyped over and over again, yet never officially implemented.

If the SOE reform plan were implemented, a batch of SOE stocks would take off, naturally creating the probability of nurturing a demon stock.

"Playing it this way, aren't they afraid of getting into trouble?" Lu Liang was astonished.

Insider trading came in many forms, the most common being obtaining advance knowledge of critical corporate decisions and reacting in the stock market accordingly.

Touching red-head official documents was the ultimate taboo of taboos. To dare obtain advance knowledge of state policies meant having one's head lopped off in a split second.

Lu Liang felt a bit timid. Figuring he already held a 30.4% position, he decided to lock his positions and wait on the sidelines.

Once the market trend officially launched, he would take further action based on the circumstances. Primarily, he wanted to avoid unwarranted disaster and certainly didn't want to be targeted by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

At this moment, Chen Jinchun knocked on the door to inform him that the founding team of ofo had arrived to sign the contract.

Lu Liang walked over to the adjacent meeting room and saw Dai Wei and his classmates, whom Tang Caidie was currently entertaining.

Taking advantage of the time spent preparing the contract, Lu Liang asked, "Mr. Dai, how much do you know about Mobike?"

"We've always been paying attention, but ever since stepping out of campus, our development philosophies have been rather different." Dai Wei was surprised that Lu Liang would suddenly bring up Mobike.

He then explained the differing philosophies of the two companies.

Although both were shared bicycle startups, he always believed that bicycles were meant for riding to solve the "last mile" problem.

They didn't need to be overly fashionable or high-end; as long as they were rideable, that was enough.

After all, since they all used solid tires, issues like poor elasticity and a strong bumping sensation were unsolvable, dooming the riding experience to be less than comfortable.

Hu Weiwei was too idealistic, possessing the romantic sentimentality typical of literary youths. She had once stated that she loved cycling and longed to ride a bicycle she loved through the autumn leaf-strewn streets of Beijing, gazing at the centuries of changing history along the red walls of the Forbidden City.

She hoped everyone could experience this kind of romance, believing that cycling made life better.

Because of this, Mobike's manufacturing cost was twice that of ofo, and Dai Wei was not optimistic about Mobike's future development.

Lu Liang smiled and said calmly, "Mr. Dai, Mobike still has many commendable aspects. You should learn what's worth learning."

After all, Dai Wei was facing an investor; he couldn't possibly say to Lu Liang's face that their ofo was inferior to Mobike.

"Naturally. To learn the advanced techniques of the foreigners in order to control them."

Dai Wei replied.