What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 626 The Eight Trigrams (4k)

Yu Xing hesitated about the reporters lying in wait, but still managed to get a quick glimpse of the Hong Kong night view through the underground parking lot.

However, the paparazzi on Hong Kong Island are not to be underestimated. As soon as the group quietly returned to the hotel and their feet touched the ground, nearly ten reporters suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the parking lot.

Yu Xing glanced at the microphones of the group and saw the words "Next Magazine" and "3 Weekly". He remembered that they were gossip and entertainment media, so he didn't bother with them.

The accompanying bodyguards and hotel security guards separated the paparazzi reporters. Although they couldn't stop them from taking pictures, they certainly couldn't conduct interviews.

Just as this big news story of interviewing the king of short sellers was about to slip away, a paparazzi suddenly called out in dialect, "Mr. Yu, are you going to eat yet? Isn't the first view of the night beautiful?"

Yu Xing stopped in surprise, not expecting to hear his native accent in Hong Kong.

Haiyan belongs to Jiaxing, and the local dialect is basically Northern Wu dialect.

He laughed and replied in his dialect, "Jiaxing? Suzhou? Who's inside, Xu Mian?"

Yu Xing could tell that the other person's accent wasn't particularly familiar, so he asked if the other person's family was from Jiaxing or Suzhou.

The paparazzi immediately replied, "Mr. Yu, my mother is from Haiyan. I learned the local dialect from her when I was a child, but I haven't used it much in recent years, and I can't speak it well anymore."

Yu Xing nodded slightly: "I rarely have the opportunity to speak my hometown dialect when I'm away from home. Alright, it's kind of you to stay here for so long. Let me ask you a few simple questions. Let's all be understanding."

The paparazzi beamed and introduced himself, "Thank you, thank you, Mr. Yu. I'm He Yaochen from '3 Weekly.' Mr. Yu, could you, cough, could you say something about that?"

Yu Xing didn't understand and asked blankly, "Which one? What are you talking about?"

Worried about offending President Yu and losing this hard-won opportunity, He Yaochen hesitated for two seconds before saying, "It's that one, the proverb about crossing the mountain peak."

"..." Yu Xing thought that the paparazzi were indeed worthy of the title, but still said, "Deception will last forever."

The big short seller himself uttered the signature words of his short-selling report, which had been known for its high-flying nature.

The group of paparazzi were quite excited and immediately rushed to ask their questions.

Yu Xing did not answer any other questions, but simply gestured for He Yaochen to ask again quickly.

He Yaochen couldn't help but feel grateful and quickly asked, "President Yu, you shorted Steinhoff as soon as you arrived in Hong Kong. Do you have any more shorting plans for this year?"

“I did not short Steinhoff, I have no position in it,” Yu Xing reiterated, then said, “Guoshanfeng does not have any short-selling plans. It only looks at the fundamentals of listed companies and will only investigate if it encounters an anomaly. I don’t know if we will encounter such a situation later this year.”

He chuckled again: "So you're going to pin this on me? Given Steinhoff's situation, there were warnings years ago, and Daniel was already conducting an investigation. It was bound to happen sooner or later. A scam is a scam; it won't last."

He Yaochen said, "President Yu, it's hard to say that it's not your fault. You started analyzing this morning, and the company exploded by the afternoon. Now the market value has dropped by more than 7%, and it might be completely worthless tomorrow. Market sentiment may not carefully look at the intricacies involved, but will simply and crudely associate it with you."

"Yes, that's true." Yu Xing nodded. "That works too."

Hearing this brief response, He Yaochen felt that even though the big short sellers might be oblivious to the many problems they had, it was just the demeanor of the king of short sellers. Let them think that way.

He then asked, "Mr. Yu, do you regret letting Silicon Carbon Data Company conduct research on voice functionality? Without Silicon Carbon Data's research, you wouldn't have encountered this ordeal."

Yu Xing laughed. He had been asked a similar question before in Lingang, and he gave a similar answer then: "I have no regrets. This is not my hardship, it is just part of my life."

He glanced at his watch and said, "One last question."

Before He Yaochen could even marvel at the mindset of the big short seller, all sorts of questions immediately began racing through his mind.

When it came to this last chance to ask a question, a group of paparazzi, seeing that President Yu was only answering He Yaochen's questions, hurriedly whispered their own questions or what they thought were the most sensational.

Finally, He Yaochen asked, "Mr. Yu, are you very pessimistic about LeEco's car manufacturing?"

Yu Xing's eyes flashed, but he did not answer directly with a calm expression: "Many people do not understand this matter. LeEco Auto is just a non-listed business in the LeEco ecosystem. I am not at liberty to talk about it now."

He Yaochen seized the opportunity: "President Yu, what about LeEco, a listed company? Are you optimistic about its future? Are you optimistic about its ecosystem?"

Yu Xing almost suspected that this paparazzi had a grudge against LeEco.

He was in the eye of the storm, and in Hong Kong, so all he wanted was to get through the IPO application process smoothly. He just smiled in response to these questions and then turned to walk towards the elevator that went directly to the hotel.

The paparazzi kept trying to ask questions, but this time there was absolutely no response.

Although He Yaochen had some regrets, he was generally satisfied.

Other paparazzi didn't have time to think much and quickly checked the photos they had taken. As for the questions and answers they got, they could be manipulated. Reputable media outlets would use euphemisms, while unreputable media outlets would create sensational stories.

Yu Xing went to the hotel and returned to his room. Before he could even chat with Xiao Ying for a few minutes, Li Song called.

"Mr. Yu, Mr. Yu," Li Song's voice sounded furtive. "I'm at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Where are you? I'll come find you."

Yu Xing was surprised, wondering why this guy had come to Hong Kong.

Soon, he met the short seller.

When Li Song arrived at the guest room, he was immediately struck by the sight of the people inside. These were probably the people who had manipulated the mountain and carried out some of the work.

Needless to say, I met President Yu for the first time since the incident was exposed. Secretary Zhang Yangxu has been with President Yu for so long, so he must be well-versed in the secrets of short selling.

He greeted him with an excessively respectful tone that he himself didn't realize: "Good evening, Mr. Liu. It's been a long time."

Liu Wanying nodded with a smile: "Yes, President Li, what brings you here? Where is President Xu? I've been missing her; it's been so long since I played cards with her."

"Whenever it's convenient for you to return to Lingang, we'll be there whenever you call," Li Song said, speaking on behalf of his wife.

Liu Wanying found it a bit strange, but she just kept smiling.

"You arrived in Hong Kong today?" Yu Xing asked, puzzled. "What brings you here?"

Li Song was still in a state of excitement. Since the meeting ended, he felt that the king of short selling had made a great debut. When he actually witnessed the explosion of Steinhoff in the afternoon, his excitement reached a new level.

As a company founder who once considered going public as a crucial career goal but never quite achieved it, watching a listed company with a market value of 1400 billion RMB collapse in a single day evokes a mix of emotions: excitement and exhilaration.

Based on this sentiment, Li Song replied, "I've come to pay homage to the glory of the king of short sellers."

Yu Xing rubbed his forehead, unable to hold back his words, "You... how did President Xu talk to you... never mind, it was my slip of the tongue, just speak normally." "Hey, I was quite the dashing young man back in the day, a true artsy type," Li Song said nonchalantly. "President Yu, I'm here to attend the 'King of Short Sellers' meet-and-greet. Hey, I didn't expect that after just taking down Zotye on the mainland, you'd be in Hong Kong taking down Steinhoff in the blink of an eye. This battle has spanned more than a thousand miles!"

He exclaimed excitedly, "Ten years have passed since I honed this sword, its sharp edge yet to be tested. Today I present it to you; who has a grievance to redress?"

Yu Xing: "..."

Liu Wanying: "..."

Before the two could speak, Zhang Yangxu, who was standing next to them, started clapping and said, "Good, good, President Li, you're right!"

Li Song and Zhang Yangxu exchanged a glance, wishing they could drink three cups together right then and there.

Yu Xing watched this scene unfold, and thought, "This...a perfect encounter..."

He had to cool things down: "Li Song, short selling requires calmness and objectivity. What's done is done, and what's past is past. This time it was just a coincidence, caused by a combination of factors."

Upon hearing this, Li Song was immediately startled, realizing that his emotional fluctuations might be classified as those of an inferior donkey.

He quickly changed the subject, also seeking clarification directly: "Mr. Yu, was the report against Steinhoff something that happened on a whim?"

Li Song believed the answer was no, but he asked his wife's opinion, and no matter how President Yu answered, she would provide appropriate emotional value. If it was pre-arranged, then she was "worthy of the name of operations"; if not...

Yu Xing shook his head: "It's temporary; we didn't know each other before."

Hearing the expected answer, Li Song couldn't help but feel admiration: "President Yu, you truly deserve to be called the King of Short Sellers!"

“I’m so tired of you guys shouting like that all the time.” Yu Xing lit a cigarette. “Speaking of which, that George used to be an employee of Steinhoff. He had about 50 company stock options, but he was fired and they were going to be taken back. So, he went to all this trouble to come and find me.”

Liu Wanying said with a smile, "It is said that he was suing Steinhoff for those stock options and it was possible to get them back through litigation, but he did it anyway. Mr. Li, guess what his answer was?"

The trigger for Steinhofer's collapse today should be attributed to George, who stayed behind after the meeting to exchange views and understand the whole story.

Li Song shook his head.

Yu Xing couldn't help but chuckle: "If the scam were really exposed, he would definitely suffer heavy losses on the stock options he might get back. But he said that he could only have stock worth 50 at most, while Chairman Weize was worth 50 billion, so he resolutely decided to die with him."

Since the news of his trip to Hong Kong broke, Yu Xing has not made any public appearances, and he has even been working online. The news of his trip to Hong Kong has been confirmed by Hong Kong media, and it is destined to be a very influential press conference.

George noticed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and, regardless of whether the King of Short Sellers would actually show up, flew to Hong Kong ahead of time.

Li Song was amazed.

50 turned into 50 billion...

Will George have any chance of survival after he goes back?
He shook his head repeatedly with a sigh, uttering only two words of supreme praise: "Awesome!"

Liu Wanying then said, "Exposing the mountain peak brings a lot of trouble, but it is not without its benefits. When the empty promises are exposed, scams will follow."

In fact, the company emails of Silicon Carbon Group, Silicon Carbon Data, and Baixiaosheng have all received many similar complaints recently, which is something that needs to be handled carefully going forward.

“Come on, let’s blast it, it’s already like this.” Yu Xing wanted to laugh. “Guoshanfeng’s positioning is a research company based on the fundamentals of listed companies.”

It's not a mysterious research company, but it may have a very strong influence.

Li Song believes that this is a positioning that President Yu gave after taking into account various factors after the exposure, and it is also a satisfactory explanation to all parties.

He firmly believed that there would definitely be further short selling after the peak, but he didn't ask about it in this situation.

After chatting for a while, Li Song returned to his room and, still feeling excited, called his wife, Xu Xin.

Xu Xin was equally surprised by the exploding fireworks of the German listed company. Listening quietly to her husband's description from the front lines, she couldn't help but blur her impression of Yu Xing and Liu Wanying again. These two were truly a pair of black and white monsters.

Finally, she suddenly heard her husband ask a question.

Li Song rubbed his face: "Tell me, what is this General Manager Yu?"

"What is it? What is what?" Xu Xin asked, puzzled. "He's just a big short seller."

Li Song said with dissatisfaction, "Speak properly."

Xu Xin: "?"

Li Song corrected, "It's the biggest short seller in the world!"

Xu Xin couldn't help but curse: "You idiot!"

That's too obsequious! I can't accept it!
She felt that President Yu's flight from Lingang to Hong Kong, with Zotye and Steinhoff exploding one after the other, was so engrossed in short selling that he had lost all sense of the world around him.

But to her surprise, her husband was completely absorbed in flattery and had lost all sense of right and wrong!

However, mainland internet users who were also closely following the short seller's trip to Hong Kong expressed almost the same astonishment.

—Oh no, the king of short sellers has found a suitable region in China to take advantage of!
—The world's number one short seller!

—This isn't a scam, it's online short selling, sexy tutorial!

--Butcher!!

While Zhihu, Weibo, and Baixiaosheng were still buzzing about the daytime events, Hong Kong news released the latest reports on Mr. Yu's situation, which were said to be his own responses to some questions. However, the most important point came from a report in Eastweek magazine.

Eastweek: Is there something wrong with LeEco, a listed company? The big short seller smiles and tacitly agrees!

The fireworks over there haven't even finished yet, and now there are already more fireworks going off?
Moreover, this is LeEco, the company whose car manufacturing was previously criticized by short sellers?
This……

Upon seeing the news in Beijing, Jia Yueting broke out in a cold sweat. Within two minutes, he and his company jointly announced a preliminary plan for a deep cooperation between LeEco and Sunac, fearing a panic sell-off when the market opened the next day.

Regardless, let's hedge with positive news first!

Under no circumstances should the stock price be allowed to fall to the liquidation price!
(End of this chapter)