After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

"Greed and destitution, how strikingly similar they are."

Lu Liang took a deep breath, cast aside his dejection, and shifted his attention from Tesla's market activity to the earnings of this venture.

He had borrowed 1,098,000 shares from State Street and was left with 87,000 shares unsold. He sold the remaining 1,011,000 shares at an average price of $195.25, cashing in $197 million.

He then repurchased at an average price of $124.32, spending a total of $125 million. After deducting State Street's borrowing fee of $1.96 million for the 11th day, and the $630,000 borrowing fee from JPMorgan,

he had a balance of $69.41 million left.

"As expected, ideals are busty, but reality is flat-chested—a significant gap indeed."

Lu Liang shook his head and sighed; he had planned to make $100 million but ended up with less than $70 million.

"..." Wen Chao gave a bitter smile.

Is $70 million not a lot?

What if it's just a $100 million investment?

And in US dollars, at that?

That would already be considered a lot, wouldn't it!

He started preparing on the 30th, and now it was the 11th; even counting the holidays, it was a full 11 days.

In 11 days, he made $69.41 million,

equivalent to 441 million RMB—is that not a lot?

Such words,

could only come from Lu Liang.

The counting was completed before dawn had even arrived.

Lu Liang, feeling pleased, turned his attention back to Tesla's market activity; the stock price had already fallen below $110.

The drop surpassed -16%; the sudden plunge had caused speculators to lose their reason, pouring in funds heedless of the cost.

Everyone seemed as though they were scrambling for money; the entire market was selling off, but there were very few buyers.

"Is there really bad news, or is it just feigning a massacre?"

Lu Liang looked thoughtful; if not for shorting Tesla, he was actually quite optimistic about the company.

After all, being selected by the nation to invigorate the domestic new energy industry surely had its merits.

There were still seven days until the 18th, five working days. Would it be too soon to buy the dip now?

The clock struck midnight on the 12th.

Lu Liang was startled and quickly ordered, "Start buying into Tesla now. Don't limit the cost, but try not to affect the market too much."

[December 17th, Tesla, stock price $342]

Whether the valley came early or late was inconsequential.

In two months, the stock price soared by $230, making it hard for Lu Liang not to be tempted. Long positions were not like shorting; as long as he instructed to buy on dips, he needn't constantly watch.

US stocks were not like A-shares; there was no worry about being invited for a 'tea talk' by regulatory authorities.

With a single command from Lu Liang, six traders switched accounts from short to long. The available $69.41 million started to dwindle rapidly.

By four o'clock closing time, at $118 a share, he had bought 193,000 shares, spending $22.774 million.

The next morning, Lu Liang visited State Street Bank to return the 1,098,000 borrowed shares and retrieved $100 million.

Hilt called over an assistant to help Lu Liang with the procedure while showing a melancholic expression like that of someone who had been abandoned, "Lu, are you dissatisfied with our services?"

Two days prior, when news spread of Lu Liang shorting Tesla, he had been alarmed, thinking their information had leaked.

Upon investigation, it was found that the source wasn't State Street, but JPMorgan Bank; rumors had it that Lu Liang borrowed Tesla shares from them to short Tesla.

Suddenly, Lu Liang gave a thumbs up, his expression solemn, full of admiration: "Hilt, State Street is this!"

"To repurchase shares and settle accounts, I had to let the news out, to go in personally. But State Street's confidentiality is top-notch; they would never leak information, so I had to turn to JPMorgan."

"Compared to you guys, JPMorgan is this." Lu Liang suddenly raised his pinky finger, his face full of scorn.

Hilt beamed with joy: "State Street has stood at the pinnacle of world banks for 223 years. To use a phrase from your Chinese culture, 'Integrity is the foundation.' We protect our clients' information more securely than nuclear secrets."

Lu Liang nodded in agreement, his face full of amazement: "Mr. Hilt, it looks like we can collaborate often in the future."

"Dear Lu, I look forward to your next visit, may God bless you." Hilt closed his eyes and made a prayerful gesture, smiling as he saw Lu Liang off.

With $100 million back in hand, Lu Liang visited the bank. Under President Liu's resentful gaze, he transferred the funds into his brokerage account. His available funds instantly reached $146.63 million, and he held 193,000 shares of Tesla.

There was no help for it, plans cannot keep up with changes. Since Tesla had a market opportunity again, he could only apologize to Old Liu for the time being.

He could only promise to keep all his funds with them in the future if he didn't need US dollars, as even the Bank of China's words were of no use.

After pacifying President Liu, Lu Liang returned to the company.

At half-past nine that evening, he ordered the six traders to buy Tesla stocks at any cost, without caring about the share price.

He took advantage of the fact that Tesla hadn't released positive news yet; as much as they could buy, they should, without worrying about impacting the market.

Tesla shares were only at 120 US dollars now, but they would go up to 342 dollars in two months—the more they bought, the more they would earn.

After delegating these tasks, Lu Liang went home to sleep; since he was going long without using leverage, he didn't need to worry about a margin call.

He only arranged for Wen Chao to oversee the operations in person, while he remotely monitored the main account, so there was basically no chance of chaos.

Two weeks had passed since he could last sleep soundly; Lu Liang chose to sleep alone tonight.

The next morning, while brushing his teeth, he checked Tesla's performance from last night.

The closing price was 119 US dollars, up by 3.42%.

The account held 442,000 shares, with an average cost of 120.2 dollars per share, a total position value of 53.12 million dollars, and a loss of 530,400 dollars.

"Keep silent and make a fortune, or show off a bit?"

Lu Liang suddenly fell into thought. If he announced he had broken even and cashed out, Tesla's stock would definitely soar.

But he had more than a hundred million dollars yet to invest, and if the news got out, it would only exacerbate the cost of future investments.

"Forget it, I'm a low-key person."

Lu Liang calculated in his mind. After weighing the pros and cons, he decided against indulging in momentary satisfaction.

It was, after all, better to earn more money, even if that felt great.

But life doesn't always go as planned.

At ten in the morning, Lu Liang was leisurely sipping tea in his office, watching a sample clip of the Crown Princess Consort.

The leading lady was Zhang Tian'ai, and indeed, as Old Meng and Little Wang had said, she was very beautiful at first glance, careful inspection revealed she was still very beautiful, but it was a sort of nondescript beauty.

Watching the video, one would find her beautiful, but afterwards, it was hard to remember her face.

Suddenly news came in,

Disrupting Lu Liang's leisurely drama-watching.

Tesla announced it had secured a low-interest loan of one billion dollars from JPMorgan. They promised to deliver every car to customers within 16 weeks, calling for public oversight and vowing to pay ten times the deposit if they failed to comply.

"That's the responsibility of a big company."

"Tenfold compensation, what more does Little Wang have to say?"

"What can Little Wang say? However, it could be interesting to see Lu Liang become the laughingstock."

"What do you mean?"

"I heard from a friend that Lu Liang started shorting Tesla the night before last, using high leverage, and he's likely to face a margin call tonight."

"The night before last? Isn't that like committing to a doomed course?"

Once the news spread, it immediately caused a stir, everyone was curious how much money Lu Liang would lose this time.

Some guessed 50 million dollars, others one hundred million dollars, and some two hundred million dollars.

None were without the intent to see him fail.

Little Wang was so angry he couldn't even eat, heading directly to the office: "They're saying that, don't you want to make a statement?"

"Young man, don't get too worked up; what's there to make a statement about?" Lu Liang asked with an easy smile.

He inquired, "Surely no one's trying to redeem their investment, right?"

"That's unlikely, they're not that foolish. If they wanted to redeem, I'd be the first to buy from them."

Wang Xiaocong was fuming, getting angrier the more he thought about it. The high-intensity confrontations over the past few days had made him irritable.

"Old Meng recommended this, a soul-cleansing Zen class; it might be just the thing for you." Lu Liang smiled, handing over an invitation.

"To hell with Zen."

Wang Xiaocong glared at the invitation but then suddenly asked, "Oh right, should I continue with the lawsuit against Tesla?"

Lu Liang said, "Drop it; I've shifted from short to long, a rise in stock price is a good thing."

Wang Xiaocong felt a lump in his throat, "You've publicized it, and now you back out, doesn't it seem a bit cowardly?"

"Here, the soul-cleansing Zen class."

Lu Liang offered the invitation again, then squinted his eyes and said softly, "Keep calm, we'll update the net value on the 25th. This matter is like a spring; the tighter it's pressed, the stronger the rebound."

He wasn't exactly patient either, but he didn't seek immediate gratification; sometimes he held back his punches just to strike harder later on.