Chapter 354: How Did Things End Up Like This?

“Chairman, we purchased the gold futures at an average price of 1.31 million dollars.”

After receiving the report from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China President Lin Jialun, Chairman Xi Jinping turned his gaze toward Zhang Hui, Chief of the Central Committee Secretariat.

Zhang Hui immediately understood the meaning behind that look. After spending quite some time calculating something on his phone, he finally said,

“Chairman, the current gold futures price is 1.38 million dollars. Our investment return is 5.3%.”

“We’re still a long way from the target. What’s our total profit so far?”

“Approximately 10.6 billion dollars.”

“And if we assume the futures price rises to 1.5 million dollars, how much profit will we make?”

“The return will be approximately 14.5%, with profits of around 19 billion dollars.”

Xi Jinping frowned in confusion.

At his order, Bank President Lin Jialun had invested 199.8 billion dollars in gold futures. With a return of 14.5%, the profit should have been close to 30 billion dollars.

Why had Zhang Hui, Chief of the Central Committee Secretariat, reduced the figure so drastically in his report?

Xi Jinping asked him directly,

“You promised to give the presidents of the eleven banks 5% of the profits.”

“We can simply tell them we suffered losses.”

The sheer audacity of those words left Chief Zhang Hui literally speechless.

All eleven bank presidents knew perfectly well that Xi Jinping had invested in gold futures. They were following his every move with intense attention. How could they possibly lie about suffering losses under those circumstances?

But if he said that aloud, the Chairman would undoubtedly explode in anger. Zhang Hui decided to smooth things over and let the matter slide.

“I’ll try to persuade the bank presidents not to take offense.”

“Do that.”

After replying indifferently, Xi Jinping turned toward Bank President Lin Jialun.

“Why can’t the gold futures price break through 1.4 million dollars?”

Every time the price approached 1.4 million dollars, enormous sell orders seemed to appear on the market as if by magic. Because of that, the 1.4-million-dollar mark had remained an impenetrable barrier for nearly an hour.

Xi Jinping was deeply concerned about it.

Lin Jialun thought for a moment before answering,

“The gold futures price has never broken through 1.4 million dollars in history. It seems investors are simply being cautious.”

“Hmm, so that’s the reason. Then how do we break through 1.4 million?”

“The best method would be to inject a large amount of money into the futures market.”

Xi Jinping felt his chest tighten.

He had no spare funds whatsoever for additional injections into the futures market. Nor could he pressure the bank presidents for even more money.

“Is there no other way?”

“We can only wait until the 1.4-million-dollar barrier is broken.”

“Will that work?”

“If the current trend continues, I believe it’s possible.”

“I see. Roughly when do you think we’ll break through it?”

“I can’t say for certain, but it definitely won’t happen today.”

At that moment, Zhang Hui joined the conversation with a question.

“President Lin, if we assume the 1.4-million-dollar mark does get broken, will we be able to reach 1.5 million dollars?”

“There will be almost no sell positions left, so breaking through that level should be easy.”

“So the main obstacle is 1.4 million dollars?”

“Exactly, Chief Zhang.”

Zhang Hui nodded and turned toward Xi Jinping.

“It’s already late. Why don’t we go get something to eat?”

“It’s fine. Missing lunch once won’t kill us.”

“The main battle will most likely unfold tonight. We’ll be so busy then that even if we want to go eat, we won’t be able to.”

“Hmm... You have a point. Minister He, President Lin, let’s go have lunch.”

Lin Jialun looked as though he had been waiting for precisely those words.

“Chairman, I’ll stay here and continue monitoring the futures market.”

“All right. Minister He, Chief Zhang, let’s go.”

Xi Jinping abruptly rose from the sofa, opened the office door, and walked out.

Minister He Lifen and Chief Zhang Hui hurried after him.

The instant the office door closed, Bank President Lin Jialun let out a heavy sigh, took a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

After exhaling a long stream of smoke into the air, he quietly muttered to himself,

“Why the hell did I ever mention futures investments to the Chairman? Why did I bring this disaster down on myself...?”

Sighing heavily and smoking, Lin Jialun eventually crushed the cigarette butt into the ashtray.

Then he opened the office door and stepped out to use the restroom.

When he returned to his seat, he immediately fixed his eyes on the laptop monitor.

“W-what?!”

Lin Jialun stared at the screen in disbelief.

In the same instant, cold sweat broke out all over him.

A catastrophe had occurred.

Only three or four minutes earlier, the gold futures price had been sitting just below 1.4 million dollars.

Yet somehow, unbelievably, it had crashed all the way to 1.3 million dollars.

Even more terrifying was the colossal, almost inhuman volume of sell orders flooding the market.

“A-ah! This is insane! I’m going to lose my mind right here!”

Clutching at his face in despair, Lin Jialun dialed Zhang Hui’s number.

After several rings, an astonished voice came through the phone.

[President Lin, what happened?]

“S-something terrible happened!”

[Stop stuttering and speak clearly!]

“G-gold futures... They’re crashing!”

[Whaaat?!]

Zhang Hui shouted so loudly that Lin Jialun’s ears rang.

“The gold futures price just dropped below 1.3 million dollars.”

[Don’t tell me... Bongard Investment Group pulled out of the market?!]

“There’s no other reason the futures price could have collapsed like this.”

[A-ah!]

Click.

Zhang Hui let out a groan of despair and abruptly ended the call.

“Haa... I’m going insane.”

Bang!

A short while later, the office door flew open with a crash, and Minister He Lifen rushed inside.

He was about to ask Lin Jialun what had happened, but before Lin could answer, Chief Zhang Hui and Chairman Xi Jinping himself stormed into the office.

Lin Jialun shot up from the sofa to greet them.

Breathing heavily, Xi Jinping dropped into the main chair and asked Lin Jialun,

“Ahem... Report the current situation.”

“The thing is... Gold futures have crashed to 1.24 million dollars, and the selling volume is growing like a snowball.”

“Get me water!”

Xi Jinping roared at the top of his lungs.

Hearing his shout, the secretary ran in with a glass of cold water.

Grabbing the glass, the Chairman gulped down the water in a few swallows, then hurled the glass against the wall with all his strength.

Crash!

Shards flew everywhere.

Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the beads of sweat pouring down his forehead and asked Lin Jialun,

“President Lin, are you certain Bongard Investment Group has pulled out?”

“Bongard Investment Group is the only investor capable of dumping such an enormous volume of positions onto the market.”

“Is there any chance the futures price will rise again?”

“Now that Bongard has pulled out, the chance of another rise is zero.”

“Haa... This is enough to drive a man insane. Give me a solution! How do we fix this?!”

“There’s no other option now except to sell our futures immediately.”

“What are you waiting for?! Sell them now!”

Lin Jialun quickly dialed someone, gave a short instruction, and hung up.

As though he had been waiting for that exact moment, Xi Jinping immediately asked,

“President Lin, estimate our potential losses.”

“Since the futures price is still falling like a rock, I can’t give you an exact figure.”

“Aah! Fucking bastards!”

Xi Jinping roared and sprang up from the sofa.

Walking over to the window, he crossed his arms over his chest, stared outside, and began taking deep breaths as he tried to regain his composure.

Lin Jialun and the others sat silently, afraid of adding fuel to the fire and worsening his already terrible mood.

After some time, Xi Jinping seemed to have extinguished at least some of his anger and returned to the sofa.

Lin Jialun and the others quietly sat opposite him.

“President Lin, how far have the futures fallen?”

Lin Jialun glanced sideways at the laptop screen before answering,

“Well... They’ve crashed to 1.11 million dollars.”

“Fucking bastards!”

Boiling over with rage again, Xi Jinping unleashed another vicious curse.

He glared savagely at Lin Jialun and continued,

“When will we be able to sell all of our futures completely?”

“We’ll have to wait until the market absorbs the entire volume Bongard Investment Group dumped for sale.”

“And when the hell will that happen?!”

“...I’m sorry.”

Lin Jialun answered in a guilty voice barely above a whisper.

Xi Jinping stared at him as though he wanted to devour him alive, then lit a cigarette.

“Haa... How did things end up like this?”

Bzzzt—

About thirty minutes later, Lin Jialun’s phone vibrated.

As though he already knew who was calling, he immediately answered.

“How did it go?”

[We just finished selling all the gold futures. The average sale price was 1.11 million dollars.]

“What’s the final loss?”

[30.5 billion dollars. If we include the loss from the short positions, the total comes to 30.7 billion dollars.]

“Understood. We’ll talk later.”

Click.

After hanging up, Lin Jialun reported to Xi Jinping that the total loss amounted to 30.7 billion dollars.

The moment he heard that, the Chairman abruptly rose from the sofa and strode out of the office.

Chief Zhang Hui hurried after him.

Minister He Lifen watched their retreating backs before asking Lin Jialun,

“Were you the one who suggested that the Chairman invest in gold futures?”

“...Yes.”

“What the hell? Why?”

Yesterday morning, Xi Jinping had summoned Lin Jialun.

He told him that Politburo member Liu Peiqi had stolen the secret funds and ordered him to come up with a way to replenish the treasury.

Without thinking much of it, Lin Jialun had suggested investing in gold futures.

He explained everything that had happened yesterday morning to He Lifen without hiding anything.

“...I never imagined the Chairman would turn it into a game on this scale.”

“President Lin, you know perfectly well how big the Chairman likes to play.”

“I have no answer to that.”

“Haa... How the hell are we supposed to clean up this disaster now...?”

Some time later, Xi Jinping and Chief Zhang Hui returned.

Judging by the drops of water on the Chairman’s face, he had apparently gone to the restroom to wash away some of his rage.

He Lifen and Lin Jialun immediately rose from the sofa to greet them.

Xi Jinping dropped heavily into the main chair and addressed Lin Jialun.

“President Lin, tell me how we’re going to cover these losses.”

“I haven’t had time to think it through yet, but I’ll find a solution as quickly as possible.”

“If you want to stay alive, you’d better.”

At that moment, Minister He Lifen cleared his throat and asked to speak.

“Chairman, before we can plan for the future, we need to finish what we’ve already started.”

“What do you mean by what we’ve already started?”

“We need to return the money we borrowed from the eleven banks.”

“Ah! Right, the debt...”

“The presidents of all eleven banks expect to receive the entire principal back.”

“But as you know, Minister He, we’ve just suffered an enormous loss of 30.7 billion dollars.”

“You said you would sell 30 tons of gold to cover the investment losses.”

“And you’re suggesting that we sell the gold right now?”

Anger once again rang in Xi Jinping’s voice.

But He Lifen ignored it and continued.

“If you fail to keep your promise, the banks may leak the IOUs to the media.”

“The IOUs... Hoo. Looks like we’ll have no choice but to sell the gold.”

“If you’ve made that decision, you should sell it as quickly as possible.”

“Why the rush?”

“Physical gold prices move in sync with futures. The moment rumors spread that Bongard Investment Group has left the futures market, gold prices will inevitably plunge as well.”

“Hmm... That makes sense.”

Deciding to strike while the iron was hot, He Lifen prepared to deal Xi Jinping the decisive blow.

“If you don’t mind, Chairman, I can personally handle the sale of the gold.”