Chapter 63: Drag it out! The longer it drags, the more you earn

"Brother Lu, what brings you here in such a rush?"

Meng Changkun wore a warm smile as he brewed Gongfu tea.

A newly lit cigar rested on the ashtray. He fanned away the smoke with his palm, caught the rich aroma of the cigar, and maintained a completely unruffled composure.

The very next second, upon hearing what Lu Liang had to say, he spat out the tea he had just taken into his mouth, muttering, "Damn it, this water is a bit too hot."

Meng Changkun's head felt a little dizzy. In just over a month, Lu Liang had made over one hundred million, and in the process, might have caused others to lose nearly a billion.

"Brother Lu, you truly remain silent until you make your move, and then you amaze the world with a single feat," he exclaimed in awe, marveling repeatedly.

Upon learning of Lu Liang's concerns, Meng Changkun turned very serious. "Business is business. This is a society ruled by law; we use our brains here, not bloodshed."

If people sought revenge every time they lost money, society would descend into complete chaos. After all, no matter how wealthy a person was, they were still made of flesh and blood.

Besides, losing money in the stock market—let alone one billion, even tens of billions—meant you had to swallow your pride and accept the outcome of the gamble.

This was a red line no one dared to cross; only petty small-time operators with nothing to lose would go around shouting threats of violence.

Take him, for instance. If he were to lose ten or twenty billion, he would certainly still live more comfortably than he did right now.

During every major festival, those he owed money to would still come to his doorstep bearing gifts, and a single sneeze from him would prompt a full-body medical checkup.

Because as long as a person was alive, it was merely an unrealized book loss; only upon death would the account be forcibly closed and turned into a real, actual loss.

The same principle applied to Li Jianlin and Wu Junle.

Even if they lost all twenty-odd billion down to the last penny, they wouldn't die; at worst, they would simply spend the rest of their lives slowly paying off the debt.

Of course, Lu Liang still needed to be careful. Having suffered such a heavy blow this time, they would definitely find ways to target him in the future.

"Still, you don't need to worry too much. As the saying goes, business is business. At most, they'll throw some mud, file complaints against your company, or report you for regulatory violations."

Hearing Meng Changkun say this, Lu Liang felt a wave of relief. Having wealth for only a short time, he still needed to consult seasoned veterans regarding certain unwritten rules.

As long as his physical safety wasn't threatened, he didn't care about denunciations, frame-ups, or smearing campaigns, knowing full well that the other parties wouldn't dare cross that line.

Li and Wu had engaged in insider trading and regulatory violations first. If they dared to report Lu Liang, their own scandals would likely be exposed as well.

Curious, Meng Changkun couldn't resist probing subtly, "This wouldn't happen to be about that fifty million you managed for me last time, would it?"

Lu Liang smiled and nodded. "Though there are still tens of millions tied up and unable to be cashed out just yet."

With one hundred million in principal, fifty million each, he had never entertained the thought of embezzling a single cent.

Old Meng had helped him immensely with both official and personal matters and had even promised to split the profits fifty-fifty.

Seventy-five percent of the returns actually belonged to Lu Liang; if he were to embezzle the funds now, he simply wouldn't be acting like a decent human being.

"Money comes in way too fast this way."

Meng Changkun felt somewhat dazed. Even with just a 25% share of the profits, his cut amounted to thirty million.

He had invested fifty million, and in less than a month, he had made thirty million. This was goddamn faster than robbing a bank.

After all, this was fifty million, not five million; the larger the capital volume, the lower the rate of return typically became.

Take the tenfold skyrocketing stocks in the stock market, for instance; the manipulators and orchestrators behind them at best made three to five times their money, often even less.

Because when massive amounts of capital tried to withdraw, they inevitably impacted market trends and had to give back a portion of their realized profits to liquidity.

Unless someone stepped in to take over the bags—just like Lu Liang had done this time.

"It's alright, I suppose," Lu Liang replied nonchalantly. If he had managed to capture the entire span of this market wave, his conservative rate of return would have reached 300%.

"Brother Lu, in my eyes, those so-called market gurus out there aren't even a fraction as capable as you."

"Brother Kun, you flatter me. I just happened to have better luck."

"Luck is also a part of one's capability."

Meng Changkun wasn't just flattering him. At Lu Liang's current rate of wealth accumulation, surpassing his own net worth was merely a matter of time.

While the two were chatting casually, Lu Liang received a phone call from Chen Jinchun, who informed him that someone had called the company expressing a desire to visit him.

"Stall! The longer you stall, the more you make, and the greater your leverage in the future," Meng Changkun advised kindly. Right now, Lu Liang was like a promising, well-regarded startup.

Many people wanted to make angel investments to secure precious founding shares, just as he had done previously.

It was just that they weren't sure whether Lu Liang's success was due to sheer luck or genuine skill. Therefore, while dangling the promise of immense fortune, they would also attach harsh and stringent conditions.

The best way to handle this was to use concrete actions to reshape those people's perception of him.

Turn good luck into undeniable, absolute skill.

"You also don't need to worry that turning them down will offend them."

Meng Changkun paused, a look of utter disdain flashing across his eyes. "Capital is entirely driven by profit. As long as you can make money for them, they wouldn't mind taking a few slaps to the face."

Lu Liang understood. After asking a few more questions, he bade farewell to Meng Changkun and returned to his company downstairs.

Just past six o'clock, most of the staff had already left for home, leaving only a bored Chen Jinchun slumped over her desk, doodling and sketching.

"Director Lu, you're back." As Lu Liang's assistant, she wasn't permitted to leave until Lu Liang himself knocked off for the day.

"Who were the ones who called earlier?"

Lu Liang inquired, intending to return their calls one by one.

Even if a business deal falls through, courtesy remains; not cooperating today didn't mean they couldn't cooperate in the future.

The surface pleasantries still needed to be maintained to leave a positive impression on others.

"Director Liu from Fuying, Director Zhang from Caiyi..."

Chen Jinchun reeled off seven or eight names and the companies they represented in one breath.

Lu Liang picked up the list of documents, and just as Meng Changkun had guessed, they were all small-scale asset management and fund companies.

According to Old Meng, the people contacting him right now were all looking to pick up bargains; the truly powerful heavyweights were still sitting on the sidelines watching.

The world had never lacked geniuses, nor did it lack so-called golden-touch investors. Only those who had weathered the tests of the market and survived were qualified to command their genuine respect.

Chen Jinchun added, "Oh, right, Director Lu, there's also Manager Li from Zhongxin Fuying. He called three times in a row, hoping that upon receiving this message, you would call him back immediately."

"Li Jianlin?" Lu Liang asked in surprise. Seeing Chen Jinchun nod, he pondered for a moment and said, "I understand."

Back in his office, Lu Liang thought for a long time before finally dialing Li Jianlin's number. "Hello, this is Lu Liang."

He wanted to find out what medicine the man was selling in his gourd.

"Director Lu, what brilliant moves. On the 21st of last month, you must have been quietly rebuilding your base position, right?" Li Jianlin's tone remained completely unruffled.

Working backward from the known outcome, it was easy to deduce Lu Liang's trading strategy at the time, and he couldn't help but praise it inwardly.

Lu Liang was momentarily stunned, then chuckled and said, "Manager Li, you flatter me too much. When I was picking stocks back then, I noticed that Teli A's price movement looked a bit unusual, so I kept an ace up my sleeve. I honestly didn't expect such an unexpected harvest."

Though the two had never met and this was their first conversation, they spoke like old friends discussing each other's trading techniques.

Gradually, Li Jianlin steered the conversation toward the main point. He sighed and said, "Director Lu, you really drove us into a miserable corner this time."

Lu Liang dropped his smile and said softly, "So, are you here to call me to account?"

"No, no, no, Director Lu, please don't misunderstand. Our skills were inferior to yours, and we're willing to accept defeat since we gambled."

Li Jianlin was terrified that Lu Liang would get the wrong idea. "It's just that we have a massive amount of capital locked up in there, and we need your help to lift the price a bit."

He hastily added, "We won't ask for this favor for free."

Lu Liang: "Oh? I'm all ears."

Li Jianlin stated, "According to our investigation, you should still have over twenty thousand lots held in there, right?"

Lu Liang asked with a smile, "Have you really investigated that thoroughly?"

He did indeed still have over twenty thousand lots left, intending to keep them as a base position while waiting for the next market rally, but there was no way he would admit to it face-to-face.

"No matter how many you have, we are going to push this market wave past fifty yuan."

Li Jianlin smiled, knowing Lu Liang was bluffing, but he chose not to pierce the lie. He said in a deep voice, "If you plan to exit the market, just give us a heads-up in advance."

Their mistake had been rooted in overconfidence.

If they had asked the major shareholders to investigate the list of floating shares before the market movement kicked off, they wouldn't have found themselves in such a passive position.

Even so, things hadn't reached an irreversible point yet, provided that Lu Liang didn't go around creating chaos from here on out.

Twenty thousand lots—two million shares—were worth sixty-five million at the current price.

That wasn't too much, but it certainly wasn't little either.

If Lu Liang recklessly dumped his shares next Monday regardless of the consequences, their entire scheme would be utterly ruined.

Because of this, they were willing to help hoist the palanquin once more, letting Lu Liang escape first at the absolute peak.

"Manager Li, I appreciate your good intentions."

Lu Liang pondered for a moment before adding, "I'm very sorry, but I am extremely optimistic about Teli A's future and intend to hold it for the long term. Let's leave it at that for today; I have other matters to attend to, so I'll hang up now."