Arriving at Hutchison Whampoa, Lin BaoCheng went straight to find Wei Li.
"Chairman Lin!"
Before Lin reached his office, Wei Li, having already received reports, came out to meet him.
"Come, let's go to my office," Lin said, leading him inside.
In the office, only Lin, Wei Li, and Cheng YuFeng were present.
"Wei Li, if we suspend Richard Xin and Chen XingHan, will it affect company operations?" Lin asked directly. He would not ignore their betrayal and had decided to remove them. If they weren't directors, he would have expelled them outright without needing a board meeting.
"There may be some minor impact on management, but nothing serious. We can promote replacements," Wei Li replied, shaking his head. Unless many executives left at once, even his own departure wouldn't greatly affect Hutchison.
"Good. Suspend them for now," Lin ordered. Then, after a pause: "Hint to them that they should resign voluntarily. That way it's better for everyone. As long as they haven't caused major losses, I won't pursue responsibility."
He wanted to avoid widening the purge and unsettling the company.
Wei Li nodded: "Since you say so, I believe they'll understand what to do."
Lin nodded, then asked: "How much liquid capital does the company currently have?"
"Just over HK$100 million, from asset sales. But this was meant for real estate development. You're not planning to invest it, are you?" Wei Li asked, worried.
"You know our gold futures investment is profitable," Lin said. "So no matter how much Bob or the Qi family sell, no matter who shorts us, once we announce the truth, the stock will soar. Why not buy back shares before the announcement? Then, when the price rises, we can either sell for profit or use them as collateral for bank loans. Either way, it's guaranteed profit. Don't you agree?"
"You're right," Wei Li admitted after a moment's thought.
"The key is secrecy. If word leaks, we can't buy cheaply," Lin stressed.
"Nothing has leaked yet. It should be fine," Wei Li assured him.
"Good. Handle Richard and Chen," Lin said, dismissing him.
After Wei Li left, Lin told Cheng YuFeng: "Arrange for lawyers to sign a contract with Iwasaki FengLong. He'll invest USD 200 million. Profits will be split evenly. To avoid disputes later, a contract is safest."
"Understood, Chairman Lin. I'll handle it," Cheng replied.
"Be discreet. Many know you're my assistant. If they see you meeting Iwasaki, they'll guess our cooperation. If they realize his funds are going long, they'll suspect something," Lin warned.
"I understand," Cheng said firmly.
"Good. Go," Lin waved him off.
After Cheng left, Lin phoned Iwasaki. Since the funds weren't yet deployed, he decided not to meet in person — shorts were watching his movements closely.
When Cheng met Iwasaki to sign, Iwasaki readily agreed. He knew profits required Lin's cooperation.
That morning, Iwasaki instructed his traders to absorb Hutchison's short positions. Large volumes of shorts were swallowed.
But as millions of HKD in shorts were consumed, more appeared. Iwasaki kept buying. One side released shorts, the other absorbed them. Trading volume surged.
Hutchison's share price showed little movement. The Qi family, Jardine, and Bob sold steadily. Some bargain hunters entered, HSBC quietly bought, but overall the trend was downward.
Because of buying support, there was no crash. If intraday charts existed then, the pattern would show a step‑like decline.
The big shareholders dared not dump too heavily. A crash would force them to sell at even lower prices, hurting themselves.
Following Lin's instructions, Iwasaki focused only on options, not shares.
Li JiaCheng's group had pooled HK$400 million to short. Before today, over HK$100 million in shorts had been absorbed. But in just ninety minutes that morning, more than HK$200 million worth were swallowed.
Li JiaCheng immediately sensed something was wrong. With Lin back in Hong Kong, he suspected the funds might be his.
He voiced his suspicion to the others.
"Unlikely," Niu BiJian shook his head. "Richard Xin just told me Lin returned to Hutchison and suspended him. Lin went straight there, not to a bank. How could he have so much money?"
"As far as I know, Lin's gold futures at Standard Chartered are still long and untouched. That proves he's long," Niu added.
He had inquired at HSBC but got no details. However, he learned Lin's Standard Chartered futures were long and unmoved. He even paid to confirm it: Lin's positions there had not changed.
Since Standard Chartered's gold futures hadn't moved, they assumed Hutchison's HSBC investment hadn't moved either.