Chapter 2499
The Situation is Clear
When Shanghai tycoon Johnny Deere visited Hong Kong Island, he was warmly welcomed by Hong Kong's triads and high society.
Why?
Because of his hard work in making a living, people from all walks of life in Hong Kong highly appreciate his contributions.
But if someone of similar status went to Hong Kong Island now, they probably wouldn't receive such a warm welcome.
The current community organizations on Hong Kong Island, regarding people from the mainland,
The only thing I realize is that they used to take everyone's jobs.
The truly grassroots, as well as upper-class individuals like Lou Xiao'e, still have a strong sense of identification with the mainland.
It won't affect them!
However, through the development of the past two or three decades, a group of middle-income people has emerged.
Some of them were treated as Hong Kong Island residents, as if they were registered residents of John Bull Island.
They looked down on their former poor relatives in every way.
Those people are also the most adept at reading people's expressions and changing their tune depending on the situation.
It's like a certain famous martial arts novelist who initially slandered us to the extreme.
In recent years, they've started to say nice things about us again, albeit hesitantly.
To be honest, this kind of person is the most dangerous, and also what Lou Xiao'e is most worried about.
These people control public opinion and perception in Hong Kong.
In fact, Lou Xiao'e felt far more pressure than she showed He Yuzhu.
If possible, she would love to keep He Xinghua in Beijing as well.
But there's nothing we can do; things on our side are at a critical juncture.
Either she goes to oversee things, or He Xinghua goes.
She wasn't too comfortable letting anyone else go.
However, she wasn't completely unprepared.
There's a big triad in Xiao Rizi, and the He Group is one of the triad's financial backers.
In addition, Ah Biao found a group of retired experts in mainland China to provide He Xinghua with 24-hour close protection.
Therefore, Lou Xiao'e was somewhat confident about the dangers that were out in the open.
Ho House, Hong Kong Island.
This building, Jinmen Building, was bought by Lou Xiao'e from that swindler Mr. C a few years ago when both stocks and real estate in Hong Kong Island were plummeting.
It faces Central across the sea and is considered an emerging financial center.
Just like Lou Xiao'e's current status on Hong Kong Island, she has started to establish her own independent business and compete with the various foreign firms clustered in Central.
Hong Kong Island's economy is doing well this year.
Since John Bull signed the return agreement with our family, the people of Hong Kong have been at peace.
In the end, those who were meant to leave have all left.
Those who stayed still wanted to live a good life.
By November, the Hong Kong stock market had reached over 1,600 points.
The real estate market was even more frenzied.
Lou Xiao'e holds a stake in Swire Properties' East Island project.
The pre-sale units were snapped up as soon as they were released, with the price per square foot exceeding HK$1,500, nearly 50 percent higher than at the beginning of the year.
Lou Xiao'e's projects are currently under construction, and brokers come to her every day wanting to buy the subscription rights to a certain property at a 40% premium.
These speculators have completely forgotten what Hong Kong Island's economy was like just two or three years ago when it was in a deep recession.
However, this is normal.
Lou Xiao'e had a newspaper spread out on her desk. The front page featured the latest data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority: total deposits in the Hong Kong banking system increased by 28 percent year-on-year in 1984.
Among them, Hong Kong dollar deposits grew by as much as 33%.
Where did the money come from?
From Southeast Asia, from Taiwan, from Europe...
These people sensed the last chance to return home from Hong Kong Island, like sharks smelling blood.
They all swarmed forward, hoping to get a piece of meat from this gluttonous feast.
The world's center remains Europe and America at present. However, the focus of global development is now definitely in Asia.
However, there is a difference between money invested in Hong Kong Island and money invested in daily life.
The money invested in Hong Kong Island was intended to leverage this opportunity to benefit from China's reform and opening up.
As for the money flowing into daily life, it's hard to say what people are thinking right now.
Putting aside other matters, in November, the America Ministry of Commerce released trade data for September.
America's financial circles immediately erupted.
The trade deficit with small businesses has reached a new high.
Some well-known companies, such as Toyota and Sony, have overseas orders booked until June of next year.
Some members of parliament in América have already called for a 20 percent tax increase on ordinary people.
Wall Street capital, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, also began to openly establish long positions in Japanese yen.
In just two weeks, the exchange rate of Japanese yen to US dollars rose from a low of 251 to 243.
Lou Xiao'e and He Xinghua both understood what this price increase meant.
The rain is coming from the wind!
América was starting to lose her composure.
At this point, Lou Xiao'e and He Xinghua's connections in Ameryka came in very handy.
Lou Xiao'e is unaware of other details, but senior officials in Armerica have recently been in close contact with some European finance ministers and bank executives.
Especially after a man named James in America became the finance minister.
They immediately sent a signal to the outside world.
This person has repeatedly stated his position in front of the media.
He wanted to contact the British, the Germans, and the French to discuss the possibility of joint intervention in the exchange rate.
In fact, this is tantamount to playing your cards openly.
Lou Xiao'e's convertible bond fund, "Little Days," launched on the Hong Kong stock market, was snapped up for US$100 million in just one week.
Ordinary people, sensing the inevitable appreciation of Japanese swords, are thinking of following in the footsteps of the big shots.
The big shots eat the meat, while they drink the soup.
Lou Xiao'e's reputation suddenly improved again.
Many media outlets previously touted her investment in Xiao Rizhi convertible bonds as a Waterloo in her business operations.
Two newspapers even confidently stated that with the depreciation of the Japanese yen, Lou Xiao'e would buy a house next year to make up for her losses.
But now, public opinion in Hong Kong has become unified.
One by one, they praised Lou Xiao'e's foresight.
His words were full of flattery.
It's a very simple matter. As mentioned before, Lou Xiao'e invested early.
At that time, the convertible bonds she invested in were still at low prices.
If Lou Xiao'e exchanges US dollars for Japanese yen and invests in convertible bonds, her investment will double if the Japanese yen appreciates by 10%.
What if the Japanese sword appreciated by 50%?
Lou Xiao'e's investment profit doubled.
Now, everyone can understand her actions.
Unfortunately, by the time those people tried to catch up, it was too late.
If everyone can see an opportunity to make money, then it's not an opportunity.
Even Lou Xiao'e made a statement to a senior executive at a certain bank over the phone – her fund would be subject to purchase restrictions.
After hanging up the phone, Lou Xiao'e let out a long sigh, her eyes filled with contempt.
In the first half of the year, she repeatedly assured those people that the investors in the fund would not redeem their shares.
As a result, nobody listened to her.
This forced her to borrow a huge sum of money from a certain company to make ends meet.
Of course, that was with the tacit approval of Beijing. (End of Chapter)