Chapter 104: Smoke of War Rises Again

Xiao Ran won here, but what about Fang Ruohai’s team? Of course, they lost—thoroughly. Fang Ruohai and his two companions invested a full five hundred million. It was only because Fang Ruohai realized the situation early that they avoided losing even more. Yet, they still suffered a devastating loss.
Not only did they lose all five hundred million, but they also had to cover an additional three hundred million in losses. Xiao Ran made seven hundred million, while Fang Ruohai and his team lost even more. Fang Ruohai’s mind was now completely blank; his entire body was numb, so cold as if he were dead.
Wang Minggui was even more devastated. Seeing the numbers plummeting, he fainted in the afternoon. When he learned that his side had lost a full eight hundred million, he fainted again instantly. Wang Yu’s face turned deathly pale—he realized he had become a pariah, so poor he could apply for bankruptcy.
Fang Ruohai was utterly despondent. Trembling, he picked up the phone to call the United States. Although this amount wasn’t huge, it was still a massive loss for his family. What made things worse was that he didn’t even know how Xiao Ran had won—his defeat was inexplicable. He refused to accept it.
“Dad… I lost!” Fang Ruohai’s trembling voice spoke volumes: “I lost eight hundred million Hong Kong dollars, that’s one hundred million dollars (calculated using today’s exchange rate since the original rate is unknown). I lost without any clear reason.”
“I know,” Fang Poli said calmly, not as angrily as Fang Ruohai had expected. “Don’t worry. That amount isn’t even worth my attention. Do you know what worries me the most? You and A Xin are both too proud. You’re different from A Xin—her pride is superficial, but yours is deep-rooted. I sent you to Asia this time hoping you’d face a setback. Only through setbacks can a man grow!”
Tears streamed down Fang Ruohai’s face as he cried bitterly, “Dad, I lost eight hundred million—lost to that bastard Xiao Ran… I’m sorry to you, and I’m sorry to A Xin. I swear I’ll make that scumbag Xiao Ran pay for this!”
“Don’t rush. Don’t rush!” Fang Poli’s tone remained steady as he comforted his son, a faint smile on his face. “In the stock market, no one knows who wins or loses until the battle is over.”
“But that bastard Xiao Ran hurt my sister so badly—should we just let him get away?” Fang Ruohai’s emotions gradually stabilized, and his despair faded. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I’ll risk my life to make sure he ends up dead on the streets, avenging my sister.”
“Your elder brother will fly over tomorrow, along with five hundred million dollars. Use it wisely!” Fang Poli’s tone was always so calm. “The Hong Kong stock market reacted due to the U.S. market. I’ll do my part to help you out!”
Overjoyed, Fang Ruohai immediately realized that the Fang family’s total assets were only around one billion dollars—how could they come up with five hundred million so quickly? Of course, he had no idea. Fang Poli always had a way.

Xiao Ran had no idea about any of this. 700 million couldn’t make him forget the possible reproaches from Lin Qingxia. He was now thinking about how to persuade her. If things went wrong, she might even ignore him.

Lin Qingxia ignored Xiao Ran, just as he had expected. After pestering her for a while, he finally got her to speak: “Aran, be honest—how much damage have you caused this time?”

Xiao Ran hesitated. With any other woman, he would have dared to boast proudly. But Lin Qingxia clearly disliked such behavior. If he confessed, it would be asking for trouble. Having not hesitated for a long time, he took some time to decide this time—except for his greatest secret, he wouldn’t hide anything from her.

“The initial investment was 110 million…” Xiao Ran looked up at Lin Qingxia, who was smiling, and hesitated before continuing, “Now it’s about 1.3 billion…”

Bang! Lin Qingxia’s expression froze. The coffee cup in her hand slipped and shattered on the floor. Her face turned pale as she muttered, “Over ten times the profit? That means you’ve cheated investors out of at least 1.3 billion? You’re really amazing!”

Even a fool could tell how sarcastic that last sentence was. Xiao Ran immediately felt a pain in his heart. He stepped forward, but Lin Qingxia dodged easily and glared at him with her beautiful eyes. Xiao Ran could only smile bitterly. He never expected Lin Qingxia to hate his actions so much.

Lin Qingxia looked at Xiao Ran with deep disappointment, slowly speaking in a melodious voice, “Aran, I really didn’t expect you to be such a person—hurting so many people’s interests for your own gain! Do you know someone committed suicide today?”

Xiao Ran indeed didn’t know, nor did he dare to find out. “The Great Era” had already depicted the tragedy of the stock market crash in great detail. He couldn’t imagine how many people would be driven to suicide because of his actions. But Xiao Ran’s thinking was indeed naive.

This wasn’t like the 1998 financial crisis, which was artificially created, nor was it a tragedy he could cause alone. Yet Xiao Ran really didn’t want Lin Qingxia to misunderstand him. Realizing this, he stepped forward quickly and said urgently, “Qingxia, it really has nothing to do with me. Think about it—how much money do I have? I definitely can’t cause a stock market crash!”

“I know, but it’s still wrong for you to make money from the crash!” Lin Qingxia’s tone carried indescribable pain.

Xiao Ran felt as if his heart was being squeezed, extremely uncomfortable. He shouted at Lin Qingxia, “I’m not making money from investors—I’m making it from Fang Ruohai. Qingxia, can’t you understand even this?”

“Really?” Lin Qingxia clearly didn’t believe Xiao Ran’s words. With no other choice, Xiao Ran recounted everything that had happened these days. Then, in a very serious tone, he told her about today’s events and emphasized that Fang Ruohai had lost 800 million.

“Oh, I see!” Lin Qingxia’s tense expression relaxed immediately. She apologized and stepped forward, whispering, “I’m sorry. I wronged you!”

Xiao Ran smiled bitterly again. What was there to blame him for? In fact, he had indeed acted as an accomplice in the stock market crash. It was his aggressive buying that accelerated the collapse of the stock market. Yet he knew that what he did in the future might not always be right. At least he knew that many real tycoons resorted to shady tactics, sometimes out of necessity.

He thought it was necessary to mention this to Lin Qingxia. Holding her soft body tightly, as if afraid she might vanish from his arms, he said, “Qingxia, have you ever thought that Hong Kong film companies could compete with Hollywood, or even surpass it?”

“How could that be…” Lin Qingxia immediately understood the deeper meaning behind Xiao Ran’s words. She stopped speaking mid-sentence, her face showing shock. Pushing away Xiao Ran, who was still holding her, she exclaimed, “Are you trying to compete with Hollywood?”

“Let’s go sit on the sofa and talk,” Xiao Ran said without turning around. He led Lin Qingxia to the double sofa and then spoke seriously, “Why can’t we compete with Hollywood? Hollywood wasn’t very strong at first either!”

“Hong Kong films lack a strong local market support and rely solely on overseas markets, which will inevitably lead to problems!” Xiao Ran gently held Lin Qingxia’s delicate hand and said, “So, to achieve success, we must first break into the mainland market. With that as a foundation, we can use it to dominate the Asian market and at the same time acquire Hollywood film companies.”

Lin Qingxia was filled with shock. She had always thought Xiao Ran was talented and capable, but she never imagined his ambitions could be so vast. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but interject, “But that’s definitely not easy!”

“It’s not just difficult—it’s extremely hard. Hollywood is very resistant to Asians, especially Chinese!” Lost in his thoughts, Xiao Ran said calmly, “If it weren’t for that, I would have given the script to Hollywood long ago!”

“But it’s the difficulties that make it challenging, right?” Xiao Ran chuckled. He truly saw this as a huge challenge. “This is what I’ve always told you—my dream that I must fulfill. But to achieve this dream, I need to accumulate funds as quickly as possible. Now you understand why I had to take risks in the stock market, right?”

Lin Qingxia still wasn’t fully convinced. Tilting her head, she asked, “But at the company’s current rate of expansion, there’s no need to rush. You’re already doing very well. I believe it won’t be long before the stock market shows results!”

Xiao Ran affectionately tapped Lin Qingxia’s small, straight nose. “That’s what you don’t understand. According to my estimates, as soon as Hollywood enters the 1990s, it will develop rapidly. So we must keep up with them, and that requires a lot of money. At least $2 billion will be needed to support it.”

“So, sometimes I have to reluctantly harm some people’s interests, even if they are good people.” Xiao Ran shook his head. By his nature, he didn’t want to hurt others. “But I’ll repay tenfold in the future as compensation. Everyone who wants to succeed in their career will inevitably harm others, whether intentionally or not. I hope you can understand me, okay?”
Lin Qingxia fell into thought. She already knew that some things would inevitably harm others. Yet she still didn’t want Xiao Ran to do such things, at least not things like what happened in the stock market that day. After thinking for a while, she directly put forward her condition: “I agree to you, but I have one condition—never do this in the stock market again!”
Xiao Ran hesitated for no time and immediately nodded in agreement. “From now on, I’ll only be the one to turn the tide. But I hope you’ll allow me to complete this one time, okay?”
That night, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by over 500 points, setting the largest single-day decline in over a century in the U.S., which made Xiao Ran cry out in frustration. All stock investors in Hong Kong learned about what happened that night. The next day, everyone waited for the market to open, bracing for disaster.
Yet the market didn’t open. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange suspended trading for four days, temporarily breaking the vicious cycle. Although some soon claimed this suspension was illegal, at that moment, all stock investors in Hong Kong just wanted to avoid the turmoil for those few days.
That day, stock markets around the world tumbled as if they had diarrhea. The Nikkei Index dropped by over 3,000 points, the London Financial Index fell by over 200 points, and Australia also saw a decline of over 500 points. Fortunately, on Wednesday, Wall Street stocks finally rose by 150 points.
To Xiao Ran and Fang Xiaoqiang’s disappointment, the government even lowered interest rates, which was extremely unfavorable for their plans to amass wealth. Xiao Ran also learned from Guan Xin that Fang Ruohai’s brother had come to Hong Kong with $100 million. He dismissed this news as insignificant. After all, they couldn’t beat him when he had plenty of money, let alone now that he had so little.
The two days before the market reopened were quite uneventful. Xiao Ran simply placed a few thousand trades to test the waters. What he wanted was February 25th—on that day, the Hong Kong stock index plummeted by over 400 points.
Fang Ruohai and his brother didn’t take any action either; they just followed Xiao Ran by placing a few thousand trades, seemingly having no intention of competing. This puzzled Xiao Ran a bit, but for someone with such high confidence, it didn’t matter. What mattered was not losing the battle the next day.
He believed that by winning just this battle, plus the one on the 26th, he would have almost enough money to acquire the Hollywood film company. He eagerly awaited those two days…
Fang Ruohai and Fang Ruoshan were both looking forward to the battle on February 25th. They had gathered all their strength. Fang Po Li was already making moves in the U.S., and the rise in Wall Street stocks was a good sign.

Tony left, replaced by another expert, Mo Fei, one of the best traders in the whole of America. Mo Fei carefully reviewed their past encounters and gradually frowned. “Have you noticed that during your fights, it seems there’s another group taking advantage of the situation?”

This statement shocked Fang Ruohai greatly. Mo Fei smiled calmly and pointed at the records. “I’ve checked all the records. Every time you were fighting, that Tianxia Fund would always show up to take advantage of the chaos. But they’re very astute and operate very discreetly, probably fearing that you two might team up against them.”

Of course, Mo Fei also didn’t expect that Tianxia Fund and Xiao Ran were actually in the same camp. He stroked his beard before smiling sagely. “If they show up to cause trouble tomorrow, it could lead to problems. But now that we’ve discovered them, there’s no need to worry! Anyway, they don’t have much capital, so we can just take it easily later.”

An expert—truly an expert! Wang Minggui and Wang Yu thought in amazement as they looked at this foreigner in his thirties. Fortunately, Fang Ruohai wasn’t willing to give up these two excellent allies, so he helped them out this time, allowing them to be here.

But with this war still unfinished, who will ultimately come out on top? Perhaps it will be clear by tomorrow, or the day after…