"Assistant Cheng, President Wei Li, now that the board meeting is over, I'll return to Galaxy Games."
Lin ShuFang had only attended the board meeting as a proxy. Since she didn't understand much else, she excused herself once it ended.
"Manager Lin, take care!" "I'll see you out!"
Wei Li and Cheng YuFeng escorted her from the room.
Afterward, Wei Li asked Xia BoYin and Wei Peter to return to work, leaving only himself and Cheng YuFeng in the conference room.
Tapping his fingers lightly on the table, Cheng asked: "President Wei, what do you make of what just happened?"
Wei Li replied: "Bob and the other directors were clearly coordinated. They even bribed Richard Xin and Chen XingHan to defect at the last moment."
Cheng nodded: "Judging by their behavior, they're desperate to know whether the company's gold futures investment is profit or loss. I suspect they think it's losing, so they want to sell their shares early."
"Not only that," Wei Li said thoughtfully. "If that were all, they could sell quietly. No need for such theatrics. I suspect they want to short the stock — profit from a decline. That's why they're so eager to confirm whether the futures are still long and losing."
"You may be right," Cheng agreed after a pause.
Wei Li continued: "Only we two know the investment flipped from long to short. If you don't want Bob and the others to find out, we should contact HSBC to ensure secrecy. They'll protect their reputation, but better safe than sorry."
Cheng nodded: "It's night in Los Angeles now. I'll contact HSBC shortly, then report to Chairman Lin later tonight."
"Oh, one more thing," Cheng added as he gathered his papers. "Richard Xin and Chen XingHan are vice presidents. Their actions amount to betrayal. Chairman Lin won't keep them at Hutchison. In the meantime, President Wei, watch them closely so they don't harm the company."
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them," Wei Li assured him. "They were bribed, but they're not fools. They won't dare sabotage the company. If they do, they'll face lawsuits."
Cheng nodded. He knew this too, but wanted caution.
Leaving the room, Cheng immediately contacted HSBC's Shen Zhou, asking him to keep Hutchison's investment details secret. Shen promised confidentiality.
Next, Cheng contacted Yuan TianFan, instructing him to remain silent. Finally, he reached out to Pacers Securities, asking An Yuan to remind the traders involved to keep quiet.
Suspecting Bob and the others planned to short Hutchison, Cheng checked the market. The stock hadn't fallen much that day, but it was declining, with rising volume — clearly more shares being sold.
He also noted heavy activity in the options market. Many put warrants with a strike price of HK$6 were listed, with occasional trades.
Cheng kept gathering information, preparing to brief Lin BaoCheng later that night.
Meanwhile…
Li JiaCheng, Feng JinXi, Niu BiJian, and Bob met together.
After the recent board confrontation, they were convinced Hutchison's futures investment was long. They had already confirmed this earlier from Fros, who handled the purchases. The board meeting only reinforced it.
Previously, the four had pooled HK$200 million: Li JiaCheng HK$40 million, Feng HK$60 million, Niu BiJian (for Jardine) HK$60 million, and Bob HK$40 million. They had bought nearly HK$200 million worth of put warrants. Now, more confident, they decided to double down.
They agreed: as long as gold showed no rebound, they would hold back negative publicity for now. Instead, major shareholders would quietly sell shares while they continued shorting through options. Their new total commitment: HK$400 million, split proportionally as before.
Though only HK$200 million had traded so far, they believed issuing lower strike prices with greater safety margins would attract more buyers. They weren't worried about deploying the full HK$400 million.
Once the joint funds were spent, each could decide individually whether to short further.
The Qi DeZun family did not join this scheme. They held large amounts of Hutchison stock and focused on selling. The four conspirators didn't want to share option profits with them.
Since Lin BaoCheng's takeover, the Qi family had been gradually selling. Much of the stock Lin and HSBC bought came from them.
Even so, the Qi family still held over 10%. Selling all quickly was impossible. So they sold as much as possible each day, eager to unload while prices remained relatively high.
In that era, Hong Kong's securities market was less regulated. Using multiple accounts to buy 20–30% of a company's shares secretly was not considered illegal if undiscovered.
Likewise, major shareholders like the Qi family could reduce holdings without announcements. With ties to regulators, they faced no scrutiny.
This lax oversight allowed buyers like Lin BaoCheng to acquire large stakes cheaply, and big shareholders like the Qi family to sell at high prices without hindrance.