As the night settled in Zhonghai, the street lights of the city were lit. But the natural work hours were extended due to the huge crisis faced by Yu Lei International as their employees were discouraged to leave on time. In the center of it, all was Mo Qianni. She was trying to put out all the fires as they started.
Lin Ruoxi picked up the phone, and before Mo Qianni could speak, she asked, “Nasdaq is open now, how’s the situation?”
Mo Qianni through the phone sounded fatigued and distressed. “How should I put it? The situation is much worse than predicted.”
“I’m here at the company. Will be there soon. For now, just roughly describe the situation,” Lin Ruoxi replied.
“Just minutes after the stock market opened, our share price has plummeted for almost eight percent and it is still falling. Many are flooding the market with our share.”
Lin Ruoxi frowned from the unexpectedly dire condition. “That fast huh…”
Mo Qianni sighed, “I wasn’t aware of recent financial news earlier but apparently the American financial reports showed poor performances during the last few days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen for nearly one percent, while the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite were also at identical lows. Everyone is extremely wary right now of the stock market’s situation. It didn’t take long for the crowd to notice that something’s off.”
Lin Ruoxi clenched her phone as she replied, “Alright, try not to engage on any countermeasure at the moment. I’ll be back to handle the remaining tasks. Qianni, I need you to reassure our employees that we’re doing fine.”
“Got it, please come back soon. I’m about to go mad. That Li Minghe left all his responsibilities to me at this crucial hour and he is nowhere to be seen.” Mo Qianni was wrought up.
Lin Ruoxi glanced over at Yang Chen before she gave her final order and ended the call.
As the car navigated into the parking lot, Lin Ruoxi unfastened her seatbelt and said, “I need you to go over to the police station to bring Mingyu back. I know how this may look but right now, I need her help back here if we want a shot at recovering from this mess.”
Yang Chen definitely was no professional in the field of finance and economics, but he understood the urgency of the situation which prompted him to nod in agreement. “You lest be worried about this. If the company falls, you can still rely on me.”
Lin Ruoxi rolled her eyes at his sweet talk. “You’re the one who should relax. No matter how much I lose, I will never ask you for living expenses.”
After she ended her sentence, she hopped off the car and jogged to the elevator.
“What a strong, independent woman,” Yang Chen happily mumbled to himself as he shook his head. After he saw Lin Ruoxi off, he lowered the car window and signaled someone by the dark corner.
At the shady corner of the parking lot was Fanny as she vaguely nodded to his command, naturally for her keep an eye out on Lin Ruoxi in his absence.
Yang Chen knew it would be unlikely for anyone to come over at this time and threaten Lin Ruoxi’s safety in broad daylight, but prevention is better than cure. Moreover, with Fanny acting as his eyes, no matter what tacky situation were to happen, he would be back in an instant.
Soon after, he drove towards the police station. Even though it was a small task that he could undoubtedly get someone to do in his stead, he wanted to be the one to personally escort Liu Mingyu out of the station.
Along the way, his phone started vibrating.
Yang Chen picked up the call, and it was Molin on the other side of the line.
“Found anything?” Yang Chen wanted to hear about Li Minghe’s detailed background.
Molin answered with a yes and with some degree of disbelief, he said, “Your Majesty, I got to admit I was a tad bit amazed by the results. Li Minghe’s actual background was far more complicated than expected, from his great-grandfather onwards. It would seem like he and you share some commonalities.”
“With me?” Yang Chen was puzzled.
“Exactly. To be more precise, his bloodline is very much intertwined with the Yang clan of Beijing. He also has close ties with Madam Persephone, though certain details are yet to be verified. Due to the sheer number of people and incidents involved, it might be a little… inappropriate to be discussed on the phone. I arranged an email for you, is that fine?” Molin elaborated.
Annoyed, Yang Chen said, “Then why are you wasting time going around the bush? Send it quickly!”
Molin agreed profusely and in a matter of seconds, an email was sent to Yang Chen’s inbox.
Yang Chen hung up the phone immediately and went to the mail app on his phone, one hand on the wheels while the other scrolling through the crucial email.
Yang Chen’s facial expression shifted through many emotions as he read the email. It went from the original anxiety to seriousness, then gradually to a face filled with astonishment and bewilderment.
After he went through all of it, Yang Chen forced his phone into his pocket, his other hand furiously hitting the steering wheel as he cursed. It took some time before he could gather his thoughts to calm down.
Meanwhile, at Yu Lei’s headquarters, Lin Ruoxi who had made her way back into the office sat right at the commanding seat at the far end of the meeting table. She took a look around the table at the people seated around it. Her employees, mainly from the finance and accounting departments, were firefighting through ever-growing problems resulted from the catastrophic event.
Mo Qianni and her team of executive employees were frustratedly seated along the table as multiple projectors showed countless constantly updated data and news. It was safe to say that the atmosphere was a heavy one
The staff members were aware that the company’s share price was falling uncontrollably, as multiple collaborators and significant business partners kept Yu Lei’s phone lines active. All in all, things were massively out of hand.
The previous excitement from the safe return of their leader Lin Ruoxi quickly dissipated as everyone fell back into this battle of company survival.
Under such circumstances, Li Minghe and Wu Yue’s absence had been the least of their concerns.
“Ruoxi, if this goes on, within less than half an hour our stocks would plummet through the twenty-percent baseline!” Mo Qianni dispiritedly notified.
Lin Ruoxi kept her silence as her pupils were locked onto the data displayed. Her elegant face was devoid of any emotion as one of her hands was held towards her supple lips, seemingly in deep thought about something.
Several of the executive board were disheartened at their current situation. Even when the company had been through two monumental crises, they ultimately managed to cruise through with Lin Ruoxi’s brilliance. But this time, it was clear that the situation was vastly different from the previous two in a bad way.
The previous two crises were mainly due to financial shortcomings, which at most had only led to decreased revenues, losing some competitive advantage.
However, this time, the corporation under the preexisting circumstances of decreased competitive advantage and uncertain future had to deal with ongoing destructive setbacks.
Just when the others could only hope for divine intervention, Lin Ruoxi lightly sighed before she gave her order. “Department Head Wei, pass a message to the financial management department. When our share price falls to fifteen percent, purchase two to five thousand units using separate accounts. Repeat the purchase every ten to fifteen minutes. Alternate these purchases via at least a hundred accounts.”
“Huh?” Department Head Wei was stunned.
Lin Ruoxi frowned. “What, you want me to repeat?”
“Erm, no no no…” Department Head Wei smiled stiffly. “Boss Lin, the problem is if we do that, it wouldn’t do any good for our current situation. There are tons of investors getting rid of our shares in the hundreds of thousands. We would hardly be doing anything to help the downward trend.”
“All you need is execute my instruction. I did not ask for your explanation,” Lin Ruoxi stoically replied.
Department Head Wei gulped as he ran out to give orders to his department.
Mo Qianni warily added, “Ruoxi, I understand that you’re anxious. But Department Head Wei is right. There’s really no reason to do that.”
Lin Ruoxi gave out a long sigh. “I’m aware of that, but I’m doing everything possible to deal with this while we wait for what the heavens want us to experience… Qianni, I need you to schedule appointments with the CEOs of the biggest banks. We need to make sure our funds are sufficient and fluid.”
Mo Qianni puzzlingly nodded. “Understood. Oh yeah, should we transfer a portion of our funds to the Athena team? Maybe they could help.”
Lin Ruoxi shook her head. “There’s no use relying on traders in this situation. Look, even the investors who have bought our stocks at sky-high prices are now willingly selling them at a price so low. That’s because they’re all aware that they would only lose more should they hold the stocks instead. Not even the Athena team can change the perspective of the general public towards us. Now what we could do is to push our operations back on track. I will discuss with the others to modify the issues of acquisition and allocation. We can do this.”
Mo Qianni struggled to align herself with Lin Ruoxi’s plan, but deep down she knew it was the only viable way, so she turned around and left the conference room.
The world’s economy all had their attention focused on the east tonight while Yu Lei International’s branches across the globe received the impactful blow, causing the immense pressure to build up!
Their close competitors were clearly rejoicing with the seemingly dire situation over at Yu Lei International. The corporation which had dominated through various sectors were on the verge of collapse, while others sympathized with the inherent bad luck bestowed upon the company.
There were even certain spectators predicting that among all assets owned by Yu Lei International, only the entertainment branch company would survive the catastrophe. That was because solely based on Lin Hui’s phenomenal influence, the company could rake in huge amounts of revenue over the foreseeable years.
In this silent yet chaotic night, by the ocean of Zhonghai lay multiple sanatorium-like villas built by the Chinese government. While the disaster took place, inside one of those villas was an entirely different story…