Chapter 68: This Person Cannot Be Trusted

Transfer two million into the JunCai account!

This was Zhang Long’s plan. After all, with the weekend approaching, the risks were unpredictable, so he decided to keep a million as a reserve. If the market opened next week with a downturn, at least he’d have something to cover losses and average down his positions.

Of course, if it ended up being one of those full-blown crashes, nothing would be enough to cover the losses.

...

“Has Zhang Long transferred the funds yet?”

At HSBC Financial, the department director wandered over to Qin Miaotong’s desk to check in. The one-point-six million that was withdrawn didn’t need to all come back, but at least some of it should.

“Ahem, not yet.”

Qin Miaotong’s tone was awkward. She’d communicated amicably with Zhang Long, saying that they expected seventy-five thousand to be deposited by this morning, but now it was already 10:30 and there was still no sign of movement, nor any activity in the account.

“Call and ask him.”

The director frowned. “With three million in activated funds enjoying commission discounts, it’s not really appropriate to only keep less than a million in the account for trading. Mention it, subtly.”

“Mm, okay.”

Qin Miaotong didn’t argue. As for how to bring it up subtly, she’d figure that out later; she didn’t dare push him.

It wasn’t that Zhang Long was intimidating, but that he didn’t tolerate any nonsense and was always direct. If you tried to beat around the bush, he’d just hang up.

“Go call and urge him.”

At UBS Financial, Gu Su’s director was also watching Zhang Long’s reinvestment closely—it was simple math: the more money in the account, the larger the trades, and since Zhang Long was an aggressive independent client, he definitely needed to be watched.

Right now, with less than a hundred thousand in the account, there was hardly any action—and not much commission to earn, either.

In this kind of bear market, commissions were basically tears. Bull markets were so much better; as long as your luck wasn't terrible, you could make money lying down or even while sitting on the toilet. No matter how much the fees increased, clients would still keep trading or funding their accounts. Life was good.

“What are you waiting for? Call him!”

The director snapped out of his thoughts, seeing Gu Su hesitating, and couldn’t help but glare at her.

“Uh, right away.”

Gu Su shrank back and obeyed.

...

“Mr. Chen, please hear me out.”

At Shengxin’s stock analysis department, a star analyst was calling Chen Youwei. “You’ve thrown another five million into Tohai Energy, and now it’s all locked in—too much. You know what the bear market means. If you just wait passively for some day for it to rebound, it’s hard to say when that will be.”

“My suggestion is, if you have any idle funds, invest them somewhere else to seize other opportunities. It’s not scientific or rational to put all your eggs in Tohai Energy.”

Chen Youwei was a major client, with seven million in his account—all of it, ahem, locked up and illiquid.

Having such a big client sitting on the sidelines was a real waste—it was important to coax some capital out for trading.

“What’s scientific?”

“What’s rational!”

Chen Youwei snapped back without hesitation: “When I was following Zhang Long’s trades, even though I was locked in some positions, I still had two million left to do short-term trades, and the profits were pretty good. But after listening to your advice, I ended up losing everything. Is that your idea of science and rationality?”

“Don’t change the subject. Last time you mentioned some value stock with insider info—was that reliable? I’m not adding any more idle funds for now, but if your info is accurate, I can liquidate half my Tohai Energy holdings. But don’t let it rally right after I sell, or I won’t be so polite next time.”

“Don’t worry, it’s very unlikely,” the star analyst replied confidently. “Just last weekend, I attended a financial summit and met with an old mentor whose sources are very reliable. The word on Tohai Energy is that the acquisition is a bust.”

“Tohai Energy is preparing to delist.”

Hearing this, Chen Youwei’s frown deepened immediately. “Delist? Is it really that bad?”

“Damn it, what rotten luck,” Chen Youwei muttered. If Tohai Energy was really preparing to delist, then this was a disaster. Even if it was restructured and relisted someday, who knew when that would be. Of the five million he was stuck in, only two and a half remained. Should he sell half or get out entirely?

...

“Sorry, next week.”

Zhang Long answered calls from HSBC and UBS, replying directly and without any pleasantries: next week. This week, there was no way to add funds—he had no free cash.

The JunCai account would be buying two million worth of Tohai Energy over the next two days, with one million reserved. As for the HSBC and UBS accounts, he’d deliberately make some losing trades so that by Friday, each account would be down by a few thousand.

It might have been overly cautious, but Zhang Long preferred to stick to his plan: the accounts couldn’t all be filled with winning trades and zero losses. At the moment, all the trades in both accounts were profitable, so he’d throw in a few small losses to make things look realistic.

A 100% success rate was impossible.

It wasn’t about the amount of capital—each account barely had one and a half million in real trades, not tens or hundreds of millions. Still, in a bear market, with most people losing money, making a profit at all put you in the top one percent.

For Zhang Long, making money was just a matter of speed—fast or slow. There was no need to make his accounts look like infallible cash machines; if the platforms saw that, they’d think he was some kind of stock market genius!

Staying low-key and steadily amassing wealth was the real path to success. Rotating profits and losses among the three accounts, he gave the platforms the illusion of normal accuracy—everyone wins.

“Ah, next week?”

Gu Su sounded a little disappointed, her tone soft and pitiful. “Which day, Brother Long? You know I just follow orders—can you give me a date?”

“Tuesday or Wednesday.”

With that, he hung up. Zhang Long shook his head—at least HSBC’s Qin understood the drill.

Gu Su, on the other hand, was too cutesy for his taste.

...

And so, Zhang Long stopped paying much attention to HSBC and UBS, randomly picking a few stocks that wouldn’t rise this week and might even fall slightly, then bought in to complete the trades.

By Friday, he’d be down a few thousand and could close out.

The JunCai account would capture three daily limit-ups in Tohai Energy, while the small losses in the other two accounts were just a drop in the bucket.

“Brothers, I’m in despair.”

“I’m standing on the rooftop right now...”

Suddenly, a message from Windy popped up in the stock traders’ group. Zhang Long had just placed a buy order for Tohai Energy and, taking a break, looked to see what was happening. Was someone really going to jump?

“Don’t do it, Windy—it’s not worth it.”

“There’s still so much time ahead of you...”

In an instant, the group was full of people trying to talk Windy down. So what if he was down a few hundred thousand? As long as he was alive, the market would eventually recover. The bear market had lasted over five years and was nearly over. When the bull market returned, all those trapped stocks would soar again. Perseverance was key.

“Whoosh~” A photo from the rooftop.

Windy didn’t reply, just posted a selfie from the roof—he was really up there.

But, as it turned out, the mood was a bit different from what everyone expected. He was on the roof, yes, but he didn’t look like he was about to jump—he was having a barbecue and drinking beer.

In the selfie, it wasn’t just Windy; there were two other friends as well. Oh, come on.

“If you’ve got the guts, jump, Windy...”

“Yeah, if you’re a real man, do it!”

The conversation in the group immediately shifted, and everyone started teasing him. After all, Windy looked way too happy in the selfie—drinking and having a barbecue, not a trace of heartbreak over his losses.

What more could be said? Roast him!

“Ding dong, ding dong—”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Zhang Long, who had been happily watching the drama in the group, immediately snapped to attention. Who could it be?

As far as he knew, only Luo Man knew this address. With a puzzled look, he went to open the door—only for his gaze to sharpen in surprise.