Chapter 62: Zero-Sum Game

July 15, Tuesday.

This was also the 17th day of Lu Liang's locked-in position.

Without him quite realizing it, the more than 65,000 lots he held had already grown to a value of over 190 million yuan. His cost price was 9.5 yuan, the current share price was 29.23 yuan, and his net profit per lot was 1,973 yuan.

"It's about time to prepare to make a run for it."

If Lu Liang only had one or two million yuan in chips, he definitely would have waited until around 45 yuan before cashing out.

Because his capital volume would be small, he could run whenever he wanted, coming and going with complete freedom.

But now, he held nearly 200 million yuan worth of chips.

Moreover, he had learned that the order book for TeleA was not as vast as he had initially imagined.

It was simply that institutional hot money had colluded with major shareholders to forcibly lock in their positions, creating a small circulating volume on the order book to make it easier to drive up the share price.

To prevent the profits he had already secured from being spit back out, Lu Liang had to begin scaling back his holdings starting from the 30-yuan mark.

July 16, Wednesday.

TeleA opened with a massive surge of 7.55%.

The current share price was 31.45 yuan.

Everyone thought it would hit the daily limit-up today, breaking away from the broader market to chart an independent course.

Li Jianlin and Wu Junle thought so as well.

Holding nearly 2.2 billion yuan worth of chips, they needed to drive the share price even higher to make it convenient to offload large quantities.

Never had they expected that right after pouring 50 million yuan into the market, TeleA—which should have easily been locked at the daily limit-up—hovered persistently around 31.5 yuan.

Until the afternoon close, it remained unable to hit the limit-up, and the 50 million yuan seemed to have vanished like a stone sinking into the sea.

"There must be minority shareholders cashing out."

"Tomorrow. It will definitely hit the limit-up tomorrow."

Li Jianlin and Wu Junle wore grim expressions, yet they had no choice but to comfort each other.

They had plotted for half a year and lurked for half a month, personally forging this wave of market movement.

They would rather believe that some shareholders lacked basic professional ethics than accept that someone else had swooped in and plucked the peaches of victory right out from under them.

Together, the two firms held 2.8 billion yuan, having already deployed 2.2 billion yuan. There was no turning back now.

At most, their personal stakes in this money accounted for 15%; the rest belonged to high-ranking officials and prominent figures from the Pearl River Delta.

The money of those heavy hitters was not so easy to take.

In this battle, they could only win; losing was simply not an option.

On the other side, Lu Liang had been observing the Top List for a few days.

He calculated that as long as his daily selling volume remained below 48.5 million yuan, his name would not appear on it.

He timed it to absolute perfection, dumping 14,000 lots at the 31.45-yuan price level to cash out 44.03 million yuan.

With a total initial investment of 62.00 million yuan, he was now just 18 million yuan short of recovering his principal entirely.

In addition, he still held 51,300 lots with a total value of 161 million yuan. As long as his offloading went smoothly, he should be able to make a profit of around 140 million yuan.

Over the next two days, Lu Liang did not push things to the extreme, only offloading 30 to 40 million yuan each day to avoid disrupting the market trend as much as possible.

This was only the first wave of market momentum; there would be a second wave and a third wave afterward, continuing until the share price climbed to 108 yuan.

If he killed the chicken now, there would be no eggs laid in the future.

Lu Liang was extremely cautious, yet even the most meticulous plans have blind spots.

He had only accounted for avoiding the Top List on the first day, overlooking the cumulative net outflow of funds across the three-day Top List.

July 18, Friday, 5:15 PM, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange released the three-day Top List.

TeleA made the list once again. No. 88, Punan Road ranked at the very top with a three-day net capital outflow of 128 million yuan.

The moment the news was made public, it was like a depth charge, completely blowing up the domestic financial circles.

Over the past half month, market sentiment surrounding TeleA had been scorching hot, and it had already established itself as the leading stock for the state-owned enterprise reform concept.

Multiple factions had been closely monitoring the individual stock's situation, and naturally, they were well aware that Zhongxin Fuying and No. 12, Futian Road were acting as the market makers.

Yet now, the previously unknown No. 88, Punan Road appeared to have become the one who ultimately reaped the rewards.

Hot money speculators were human.

Institutional players were also human.

As long as they were human, they possessed curiosity.

A massive crowd of onlookers eagerly dialed their friends to make inquiries or pulled up transaction records from the past 30 days.

They wanted to know whether No. 88, Punan Road was a third market maker lurking in the shadows, or if Zhongxin Fuying and No. 12, Futian Road had had their victory stolen by an outsider.

Through the 30-day transaction details, they quickly uncovered a jaw-dropping truth.

They really had been robbed of their fruits of victory.

The very first time No. 88, Punan Road had appeared on the Top List was back in the middle of last month, long before the market movement had even been triggered.

Ever since that day, the stock had entered a prolonged period of grinding decline.

Anyone who knew the ropes could see that a market cleanse was taking place back then, with the Li and Wu families attempting to flush No. 88 out.

As it turned out, No. 88 had feigned being washed out while actually remaining in deep hibernation.

Unaware of this, Li and Wu had ignited the market trend.

A retail giant slaying the dragon, trapping and killing the market makers, and making a dashing exit—how could anyone not love such a delightful and satisfying storyline?

Simultaneously, the name of Lu Liang from No. 88, Punan Road etched itself into the minds of major hot money institutions for the very first time.

At that exact moment, supervised by Su Wanyu, Lu Liang was taking his fourth simulated CET-4 English exam.

Following 45 private tutoring sessions, Lu Liang achieved a respectable score of 340 points this time around.

Although he still hadn't reached the passing threshold of 425 points, the dawn of hope was already visible.

Lu Liang picked up the test paper and said with a smile, "Teacher Su, I reckon by the next mock exam, you'll be honoring your promise."

Last week, when they reached the 33rd lesson during the third mock exam, he had wanted to invite Su Wanyu out for dinner.

Su Wanyu had declined—though not entirely—stating that once he surpassed 425 points, she would be the one to treat him to dinner.

"You're still 85 points away; whether you can pass or not is still far from certain."

Su Wanyu's brows were picturesque, carrying an air of proud defiance; the cold detachment she wore when they first met was entirely gone.

Lu Liang was cultured and refined, radiating an innate grace along with a maturity and stability rarely seen in his peers.

Young yet successful, having spent 45 hours alone together, she did indeed harbor a slight fondness for him, and she had no desire to lie to her own heart.

Lu Liang chuckled playfully, "How come I feel this exam was exceptionally difficult? Did you secretly dial up the difficulty level?"

"Boss Lu, you may question my teaching abilities, but you can never question my character."

Initially, when Lu Liang dropped witty remarks, Su Wanyu could only blush and remain silent, but by now she had learned how to strike back.

"They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but your glasses are so thick that they keep me from seeing your character clearly."

Lu Liang had always hoped Su Wanyu would take off her glasses; she was genuinely very pretty, her looks simply sealed away by the eyewear.

The 540-degree thick lenses made her large eyes look almost like beady beans, not to mention that the black frames covered a full third of her face.

Su Wanyu blushed, wondering how to respond, when suddenly Lu Liang's phone rang.

"You go ahead and handle your business, I'll run to the restroom."

She hurried out of the office, keeping her head down the entire way to avoid looking at Lu Liang's employees, under the lingering impression that everyone was staring at her.

Lu Liang couldn't help but chuckle. As he answered the call, Zhao Haosheng said anxiously, "General Manager Lu, a lot of people are inquiring about you."

"Why are they inquiring about me?" Lu Liang asked, bewildered, still unaware that he topped the Top List for net capital outflow.

"Why don't you take a look at the Top List published by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange?" Zhao Haosheng stammered, temporarily at a loss for how to reply.

Lu Liang turned on his computer and saw No. 88, Punan Road sitting proudly at the top of the list, prompting an instant realization: "What did you guys say?"

"General Manager Lu, please rest assured about this. We strictly maintain the confidentiality of our clients' account information."

Zhao Haosheng quickly offered his absolute guarantee; if Lu Liang's position leaked, he would come to hand over his head.

Yet aside from the account information, Lu Liang's personal profile was likely already in everyone's hands.

Many people were also trying to use him to contact Lu Liang, hoping to arrange a face-to-face meeting.

"Tell them I'm busy and reject them all."

Lu Liang lit a cigarette, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

The three-day Top List was indeed an oversight on his part.

Still, it was of little consequence; whether he became famous sooner or later, fame was inevitable anyway.

The crucial issue right now was Li Jianlin and Wu Junle; those two must utterly despise him.

With a three-day net capital outflow of 128 million yuan, any fool could guess what kind of market movement next week would bring.

It would inevitably trigger a stampede-style offloading. Whether one could prop up a collapsing building and turn the tide depended entirely on operation and capital in equal measure.

"Looks like I've really offended them thoroughly."

"Still, isn't that just how the speculative market works? If you don't lose, and they don't lose, how am I supposed to make money?"

The essence of finance was a zero-sum game; whenever someone profited, someone else inevitably lost. Wealth did not materialize out of thin air.

Lu Liang quickly talked himself through it, though he remained uncertain whether Li and Wu possessed any spirit of chivalry or if they would gracefully accept a loss.

He called Meng Changkun and learned that he was in his office upstairs. Lu Liang said, "I'm heading over right now."

As he stepped out, he happened to run into Su Wanyu on her way back. Lu Liang hurriedly dropped a parting remark: "Let's call it a day for the lessons."

A failed marriage had taught him that romance was the most unreliable thing in the world; even the most solemn vows of the past would be worn away by time and defeated by the mundane trifles of everyday life.

Only career and wealth were eternal.