Chapter 926
: Was it out of good intentions or an "insult"?
Let's rewind to a little over a month ago, on April 15th.
That day, just as Lu Yang coldly predicted on the yacht, Nasdaq did not experience the exhilarating retaliatory rebound that Xiao Jun had hoped for, nor did it recover its lost ground.
On the contrary, the market seemed to have been completely drained of its blood, and panic continued to spread like a plague. The market opened lower and continued to decline, with technology stocks once again becoming the hardest hit. Funds fled this once-hot sector like a receding tide.
On this day, Xiaoshentong, as the leading technology stock among Chinese concept stocks, fell by 7.9%.
Just one day! Just one day!
The day before, he was still basking in the glory of successfully buying at the bottom and making a floating profit of 3 million US dollars in one day, even fantasizing about the chairman's throne.
At that moment, that ecstasy was extinguished instantly, as if doused with a bucket of ice water, leaving only cold ashes and a bone-chilling cold.
The glaring green drop on the screen mercilessly wiped out all his bottom-fishing gains from the previous day, even making his cost basis seem incredibly fragile.
A tremendous sense of frustration and a vague unease gripped him.
He recalled Lu Yang's resolute words on the yacht: "Sell all the Little Prodigy stocks you bought from the secondary market immediately!" At the time, that voice sounded so out of place, even carrying a hint of jealousy of his success.
But now, it rings in his ears like a warning bell.
"Is it still not too late... Is it really still not too late?" He sat in his spacious and quiet CEO office, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the expensive mahogany table, his mind in turmoil.
The huge losses pained him, but what he found even harder to give up was the power that was about to be within his grasp—his ambition to become the chairman of the Little Prodigy company.
Selling it? That would mean admitting defeat, giving up the say that comes with more than 15% of the shares, and completely bowing down and admitting defeat in front of Lu Yang.
How could Xiao Jun swallow this insult?
What if... what if this is just the last darkness before dawn?
Clinging to a last shred of hope, he chose to continue holding on, hoping for a miracle.
On April 19, the market seemed to finally give Xiao Jun a chance to breathe, and it also ignited the burning ambition in his heart that he was unwilling to let go.
After a series of sharp declines, heavyweight stocks, led by semiconductor giants, spearheaded a strong rebound.
As a benchmark for Chinese tech stocks listed in the US, Xiaoshengtong's stock price surged by as much as 10% during trading!
Xiao Jun's heart pounded as the stock price soared, and his blood seemed to boil again.
Although it fell back slightly at the end of the trading day, the closing price remained firmly at $40.01, holding above the $40 mark.
"Look! Lu Yang was wrong! The market panic has subsided! The short-selling power is exhausted! This is a signal of a bottoming out and rebound!"
Xiao Jun almost shouted into the air; the hesitation and panic he had felt a few days ago were completely dispelled by this big positive candlestick.
He was once again convinced of his judgment, and that recovering lost ground and reaching new heights was just around the corner!
He had already sketched out in his mind how he, as the largest shareholder, would walk onto the stage under the spotlight at the next board meeting.
Lu Yang's warning? He had long since forgotten it.
However, the market was far more ruthless than he had imagined.
The rebound was short-lived.
Over the next three days, the market experienced a dramatic shift, with consecutive sharp declines! The ground that had just been recovered was instantly shattered, and panic returned with even greater force.
Xiao Jun's heart plummeted from the clouds, shattering into pieces. He stared at the screen with a deathly pale face, watching the numbers in his account shrink at an alarming rate. Just when he was disheartened and almost ready to give up in despair, the market played another cruel joke on him—a small positive line quietly appeared, a slight rebound.
This faint glimmer of hope, like a straw swaying before the eyes of a drowning man, made Xiao Jun, who was already in despair, instinctively reach out to grab it.
Maybe...maybe this time it's for real?
But what followed was an even more violent drop!
Then came the temptation of another small positive candlestick, followed by another sharp drop...
This process repeats itself endlessly.
The market, like a highly skilled executioner, repeatedly tortured Xiao Jun's spirit and wealth through this cycle of "hope-despair."
He was tormented and exhausted, struggling daily in the quagmire of greed and fear, and completely lost his objective judgment of the market.
Every slight rebound gave him a glimmer of hope, delaying the painful decision to "stop the loss."
He was led by the nose by the market in a daze, like sinking into quicksand. The more he struggled, the deeper he sank. Unbeknownst to him, he had been forced to hold onto his fatal chips for more than a month.
When he was finally awakened by the continuous blows and realized the truth, it was too late.
Once standing at a high of $40, the stock price of Prodigy Electronics has now plummeted.
The stock price steadily declined, falling without resistance below the important psychological threshold of $20.
Yesterday's closing price was a chilling number: $15.95!
It has plummeted by more than 77% from its glorious peak of $69.5 before the stock market crash!
what does this mean?
This means that the total market value of the once priceless shares of the child prodigy held by Xiao Jun has shrunk by more than two-thirds, and even more!
Wealth and glory on paper vanish in an instant.
Behind the cold, hard numbers lies a catastrophe that could devour him.
In order to buy at the bottom and maintain his position, he pledged almost all of his Little Prodigy shares to several overseas hedge funds, obtaining two hundred million US dollars in return!
The agreement clearly stipulates that once the total market value of the pledged shares falls to the warning line, the institution has the right to require him to add margin or repay the loan in advance.
Otherwise, forced liquidation will occur!
Based on the current stock price of $15.95, the total market value of the shares he pledged is already very close to, and may even be lower than, the warning line of the $200 million loan!
Once the institution initiates a forced liquidation procedure, he will instantly lose ownership of these stocks, lose everything, and may even owe the institution money!
This is not all.
He also owes his "older brother" Mu Qizhong a private loan of 100 million US dollars!
The original agreement was equally ruthless: if he could not repay the debt by the due date, the debt would be settled with the shares of the child prodigy he held at the market price at the time.
The current stock price... $15.95... This means that the number of shares that need to be sold will be astronomical!
What made his scalp tingle even more was his mother's side.
To help him raise funds, his mother secretly used the 15% stake in the core assets of the Qian Group, which she held on his behalf, as collateral to borrow US$100 million from HSBC Bank in Hong Kong!
This money also has a strict repayment deadline.
If he cannot repay the loan, HSBC will have the right to dispose of the shares of Qian's Group that were used as collateral!
This is not only a personal disaster for him, but will also directly shake the foundation of the Qian Group, put his mother in huge legal and financial risks, and may even trigger violent turmoil within the family and shareholder lawsuits!
Panic, like a cold, venomous snake, coiled around his heart, tightening ever tighter.
He felt suffocated.
Today, it's his nephew Qian Xiaohao's first birthday party, which is nothing short of a trial he has to face.
He had to come, bringing carefully prepared expensive gifts, to play the role of an uncle.
But deep down, he desperately resisted seeing Lu Yang—the one who had already seen through everything and offered advice.
He was afraid to see the pity or mockery that might appear in the other person's eyes, as if to say, "I told you so."
However, the abyss of reality lies right beneath our feet.
He had no other choice.
He had to put aside all his pride and self-esteem to beg his "cheap brother-in-law".
Even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, he had to try. He begged Lu Yang to give him another hand and help him through this fatal cash flow crisis, to save the stocks that were about to be forcibly liquidated or used to offset debts. Those were his last capital to turn things around, and also the last barrier to avoid implicating his mother and the Qian family.
The car came to a smooth stop in front of the grand gate of the Qian Family Manor.
The driver respectfully opened the car door.
Xiao Jun took a deep breath, like a prisoner about to step onto the execution ground, and vigorously rubbed his stiff cheeks, trying to force out a gentle smile befitting his role as "uncle".
He picked up the expensive, beautifully packaged gift box and strode towards the villa surrounded by laughter and childlike decorations.
In the living room, Qian Youyou was holding Qian Xiaohao, who was dressed like a little prince, surrounded by a group of women, her face beaming with happiness.
But when her gaze fell on Xiao Jun as he walked in, her smile froze instantly, as if covered by a layer of frost.
She didn't even call him "brother" as politely as she usually does.
Lu Yang stood a little further away, holding a champagne glass, and was talking quietly with an elder of the Qian family.
Noticing Xiao Jun's arrival, he turned his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over calmly. A faint, elusive smile seemed to curve at the corner of his mouth. His eyes, sharp as a scalpel, seemed to have already pierced through Xiao Jun's feigned composure, seeing the turbulent waves within him and the crumbling foundation of his body.
That gaze made Xiao Jun feel like he was being pricked by needles, and he could barely maintain the smile on his face.
"Brother, you're here."
Qian Youyou's voice was cold and devoid of warmth, carrying obvious dissatisfaction and alienation.
This half-brother, without even saying hello, instigated his mother to use the entire Qian family's fate as collateral for his debt of 1 million US dollars to the bank.
It should be noted that even the total market value of the Qian family is only a few billion RMB. This is because the Qian family has been developing very smoothly over the years, thanks to the man beside her. No matter what project it is, they can make a lot of money. Otherwise, how could her mother, who holds less than 15% of the group's shares, be able to get a loan of 1 million US dollars from foreign investors?
This made her so angry that she didn't speak to her mother for several days.
Seeing that his younger sister wasn't giving him a friendly look, Xiao Jun's heart sank. His smile widened, even becoming somewhat ingratiating: "Youyou, Xiaohao looks so energetic today! Come here, let Uncle give you a hug!"
He stepped forward and tried to take his nephew from Qian Youyou's arms, using the affectionate gesture to cover up his embarrassment and close the distance between them.
Qian Youyou stiffened almost imperceptibly, but under everyone's gaze, she couldn't refuse directly, so she had no choice but to let Xiao Jun take the child over. Xiao Jun held his soft, cuddly nephew, kissing him repeatedly, saying auspicious words: "Happy birthday, Xiao Hao! Uncle hopes you grow up healthy and happy!" He tried to soften his sister's attitude with this warmth of blood ties.
However, Qian Youyou's eyes remained cold, even carrying a hint of barely perceptible disgust.
Lu Yang completely withdrew his gaze and continued talking to the others, as if the scene before him had nothing to do with him. That deliberate ignoring made Xiao Jun more embarrassed than a direct accusation.
"Youyou!" Madam Qian couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't tolerate her daughter treating her son like this, especially in such a public setting.
Her voice was filled with suppressed anger, "Your brother is here, why didn't he even give a proper greeting? What's wrong with hugging and kissing Xiao Hao? He's Xiao Hao's uncle!"
Qian Youyou's pent-up anger was instantly ignited.
She turned sharply to her mother, her voice rising slightly with emotion, no longer caring about the occasion or decorum: "Mom! Don't you know what he's done?! And you too!"
Her anger was directed at her mother, her eyes filled with heartache and rage. "How could you take company assets and mortgage them to overseas institutions without even informing me?! Those are the core shares of the Qian family! They were entrusted to you by your father to be kept safe and left to Xiaohao in the future! How much did you borrow? One hundred million US dollars! A whole one hundred million US dollars!"
Qian Youyou's voice sounded particularly jarring in the warm banquet hall, and the surrounding laughter and chatter instantly subsided. Many relatives and servants cast surprised and inquiring glances at her.
Madam Qian's face turned pale instantly.
Ignoring everything else, Qian Youyou continued her accusations: "Have you ever thought about what would happen if we couldn't repay this money?! Have you considered the consequences if so many shares fall into the hands of foreign institutions?! The entire Qian Group isn't just owned by the Qian family! The total shares my father transferred to me were only 37%! Adding the 10% he gave me when I came of age, that's only 47% in total! My position as the largest shareholder wasn't secure to begin with! The 15% of shares you held on behalf of others is the key! Only with your 15% can I control the Qian Group as the absolute controlling shareholder! Otherwise, how can I secure this position? How can the Qian Group still bear the Qian name?!"
Her words came like a machine gun, each one striking at Madam Qian's weak spot and revealing the sensitive face of the Qian family's internal power structure.
Mrs. Qian's face flushed red and then turned pale as her daughter questioned her in public. She felt extremely embarrassed, but her protective instincts made her straighten her back, and her voice hardened:
“I’m your mother! These shares I hold were transferred to me by your father after so many years of marriage, and they are my rightful share! Do I need to report to you and ask for permission to use them as I see fit? Yes, your father did make arrangements before his serious illness, saying that I would retire after his death and that the shares would remain with Qian’s Group. But have I retired now? I am still the vice president of Qian’s Group! I am a member of the board of directors! Don’t I even have the right to dispose of the shares under my own name?!”
She became more and more agitated as she spoke, her voice rising in shrillness, "Besides, I'm only doing this to help your brother! You yourself are unwilling to lend a hand to him, so how can I, as his mother, be wrong to help my own son through this difficult time?!"
The mother and daughter's heated argument brought the atmosphere in the living room to a freezing point.
What should have been a joyous birthday celebration was now filled with a tense, almost hostile atmosphere.
The birthday boy, Qian Xiaohao, seemed to sense the tense atmosphere and squirmed uncomfortably in Xiao Jun's arms, his little mouth pouting as if he was about to cry.
Throughout, Lu Yang maintained an almost detached, bystander attitude.
He gently swirled the champagne glass in his hand, his gaze calmly sweeping over the arguing mother and daughter and Xiao Jun, who was holding a child and had a livid face. The ambiguous smile on his lips never disappeared.
He didn't interrupt or offer any advice, as if what was unfolding before him was nothing more than a family drama that had nothing to do with him.
However, his all-knowing gaze, especially when it fell on Xiao Jun, carried a silent pressure and judgment, making Xiao Jun feel like a prisoner who had been stripped naked, with all his embarrassment and wretchedness exposed.
Xiao Jun felt extremely uncomfortable under Lu Yang's gaze, his expression shifting constantly, a mixture of embarrassment, shame, and panic, like a jumble of mixed emotions.
He quickly picked up Xiao Hao, steeled himself, and tried to smooth things over between his mother and sister, his voice unusually humble:
"Oh dear! Mom! Youyou! Stop arguing! Today is Xiaohao's special day, we're all family, what's all the arguing about? It's all my fault! It's all my fault! I was too rash and overconfident, I didn't listen to my brother-in-law's good advice..."
He managed to utter the words "good advice," feeling as if he had swallowed a knife. "Fortunately... it's not beyond repair yet, as long as..."
He took a deep breath, clinging to his last glimmer of hope, and turned to Lu Yang with an almost pleading look: "If only my brother-in-law would lend me another sum of money to help me get through this difficult time and prevent my shares in Little Prodigy from being liquidated... I promise! I, Xiao Jun, swear to heaven that from this day forward, I will follow only my brother-in-law and sister's lead! If you point east, I will never dare to go west! Whatever you ask me to do, I will do! Without a word!"
This was the bare minimum of commitment he could think of, almost tantamount to surrendering all his autonomy.
"roll!"
His response was Qian Youyou's merciless, angry, and disappointed rebuke.
"Who cares if you follow my lead? You've caused such a huge mess, dragging Mom down with you, do you want to drag us down with you too?!"
Mrs. Qian looked at her son, whose face had turned pale from being scolded by her daughter, with a pained expression. She then glared at Qian Youyou, her eyes filled with resentment at her daughter's "unfeeling" attitude.
Then, she cast a complicated gaze, filled with the last glimmer of hope, at Lu Yang, who had remained silent to the side.
This son-in-law is incredibly capable and has unfathomable wealth. If he wanted to, resolving his son's "trouble" might not be difficult... However, he is a son-in-law, and even more so a "cheap son-in-law," not his own son.
How much does his mother-in-law really mean to him?
Could we get him to set aside past grievances and come up with a huge sum of money to fill the hole caused by his son's stupidity?
Mrs. Qian opened her mouth, but her throat felt like it was blocked by something.
Looking into Lu Yang's calm, unfathomable eyes, the meaning of rejection was almost beyond words.
She ultimately failed to utter that humiliating plea.
After a long while, the last glimmer of light in Madam Qian's eyes dimmed, leaving only exhaustion and a deep sense of powerlessness.
She seemed to have aged considerably in an instant.
"That's enough..." Her voice was hoarse, carrying a sense of despondency and weariness. "It's your own business, young people. I'm too old to manage it, and I don't want to interfere anymore."
She stepped forward and stiffly took the still sobbing Xiao Hao from Xiao Jun's arms, forcing out a smile that looked worse than crying: "Good boy, Xiao Hao, don't cry. Grandma will take you upstairs. There's a big cake upstairs, it's so sweet."
After saying that, she looked away from everyone, picked up her child, and walked heavily toward the stairs.
That silhouette was filled with loneliness, grievance, and the desolation of being hurt by loved ones at the same time.
The only sounds in the living room were her footsteps going upstairs and Qian Xiaohao's muttering.
"Brother-in-law..."
"younger sister……"
As Xiao Jun watched his mother's lonely figure disappear around the corner of the stairs, his heart felt as if it had been violently clenched.
He turned his head and looked at Lu Yang and Qian Youyou again, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something more.
Is it an even more humble begging?
Is it a more resolute guarantee?
Or are they just weak words of self-justification?
But faced with Lu Yang's penetrating gaze and Qian Youyou's icy rejection, all her words stuck in her throat, sounding so pale and powerless, so... self-humiliating.
The immense sense of loss, resentment, panic, and the intense humiliation of being publicly reprimanded by his own sister and completely ignored by his "brother-in-law" surged and accumulated in his chest like volcanic lava.
Xiao Jun was once the president of a technology empire worth 20 billion US dollars!
He was once a business elite admired by countless people!
Even now that he's down on his luck, even after he's bowed his head and admitted his mistakes, they won't even give him the slightest bit of sympathy or a way out?!
Lu Yang's all-knowing yet slightly pitying gaze filled him with more shame and indignation than any mockery; Qian Youyou's "Get out" completely shattered his last shred of dignity.
"Fine..." Xiao Jun squeezed out these two words through gritted teeth, his pleading gaze instantly replaced by a twisted stubbornness.
"Even without your help," his voice suddenly rose, carrying a sense of resignation and a declaration to salvage his last shred of dignity, "I, Xiao Jun, am not necessarily doomed! Things change, we'll see!"
He stopped looking at anyone, turned around abruptly, and strode towards the villa gate.
Qian Youyou watched her brother's angry departure with a complicated expression.
The anger remains, but deeper down, there seems to be a trace of pain and helplessness brought about by blood ties.
She glanced at Lu Yang beside her subconsciously.
Lu Yang's gaze remained fixed on the direction Xiao Jun had left, his eyes deep and unwavering, as if everything that had just happened was already within his expectations, or even a move he had already anticipated on his chessboard.
Qian Youyou took a deep breath, and finally raised her voice to the figure that was about to disappear out the door:
"elder brother!"
Xiao Jun abruptly stopped at the door, but did not turn around.
Qian Youyou's voice carried a hint of weariness, but more so a calm, almost cruel, sense of reality:
"I may have been too harsh just now. But I still have to say this one last thing: with your intelligence and personality, you simply can't navigate the financial markets! Especially the American financial markets, which aren't places where you can win just by being bold and ambitious! If you continue to be so stubborn and gamble with unrealistic fantasies, the final result will only be worse than it is now, so bad that it's beyond repair!"
She paused, as if giving him a final chance to think, before offering what she considered the only viable alternative:
"Now, before the stock price completely crashes to worthless levels, before we're forced to liquidate and go bankrupt, sell all the stocks we can! Pay back the money we owe! Even if we don't have much left in the end, at least we can keep our freedom and avoid being burdened with debts we can never repay! At worst... we can start over!"
She uttered the last four words with great difficulty, as if she had made a huge decision:
"I... I can reserve a vice president position for you at the Qian Group. A stable and reliable job is much better than dancing on the edge of an abyss and ending up shattered!"
"Vice President?"
Xiao Jun turned around abruptly, his face contorted with disbelief, a mixture of immense humiliation and absurdity.
He felt as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
From the president of a $20 billion listed company to the so-called "vice president" of a local private enterprise in mainland China? This is not just a difference in position and power, but a complete denial of all his past achievements! It is a tremendous insult to his personal value!
Moreover, once he accepts this outcome, he will not only lose the capital to turn things around, but his personal wealth will also evaporate by hundreds of millions of dollars, meaning all his efforts over the years will be in vain, and he will be back to square one.
No! This is even worse than before liberation! This is practically throwing him into the deepest abyss!
He wanted Xiao Jun to act like a loser, accepting his sister's "charity" and returning to the Qian family to become a so-called "vice president" who had to depend on others.
Is this the end of his dream of a capital empire and the pinnacle of power?
This is worse than killing him!
"Heh...heh..." Xiao Jun let out a low, self-deprecating, and angry laugh. He stared intently at Qian Youyou, then glanced at Lu Yang, who remained silent and seemingly detached from the situation.
"Is that so?" His voice was hoarse, filled with scathing mockery. "What a vice president... What a wonderful sister of mine! This 'great favor,' this 'charity,' I, your brother..."
He took a deep breath, as if using all his strength, and spat out each word with unwavering resolve:
I understand!
Before he finished speaking, he no longer hesitated. He flung open the heavy villa door, letting in blinding light. Without looking back, he strode out, leaving behind that "home" filled with warm decorations and cold reality.
"bump!"
The door slammed shut behind him with a heavy thud, causing Qian Youyou, who was standing next to Lu Yang, to turn deathly pale. ... (End of Chapter)