Chapter 68: The Jianghu is a Game of Mutual Schemes

While Zhang Yang was trading, Liao Guopei, far away in Chancheng, stared at the second consecutive limit-up and the two million lots of buy orders for Rhein Biotech. He swallowed hard and muttered, "A second-limit establishes the sector leader; Xu Xiang is really going to hype up shikimic acid."

When he opened the shikimic acid concept sector...

Oceanus Bio-Tech hit the 10% upper limit.
Puruo Corporation (now Puyao Pharma) hit the 10% upper limit.
Hualan Biological Engineering rose by 8%.

At this moment, market funds poured in en masse, causing the popularity of the shikimic acid concept to skyrocket. Every speculative retail investor, refusing to believe they would be left holding the bag, rushed upward with all their might.

Yet the true leader of the shikimic acid concept, Jianfeng Group, showed only mediocre gains.

Why would this happen?

It was very simple.

The company's underlying business had not been thoroughly dug into.

Half-baked retail investors examining Jianfeng Group's operations might categorize it as a cement enterprise, a stock belonging to the infrastructure sector.

However, if veteran investors or professionals were to investigate, they would discover that behind the cement business, there was actually a pharmaceutical subsidiary.

Having read Zhang Yang's research report and conducted a careful investigation, Liao Guopei could no longer sit still. He began tentatively and slowly accumulating shares, trying his best not to be noticed by other funds in the market.

By the morning close, he had bought a total of 500,000 yuan worth of Jianfeng Group shares.

Looking at the 500,000 yuan worth of chips in his account, Liao Guopei tentatively sent a QQ friend request to Zhang Yang, but it was not accepted for a long time.

It wasn't until 4:00 PM, when Zhang Yang published his trading strategy post for the day, that Liao Guopei seized the opportunity to reply and leave a message asking him to check his private messages. Only then did the two manage to connect.

[joker]: Chancheng Shadowless Kick?
[Chancheng Shadowless Kick]: It's me. [Image.jpg]

To prove his identity, Liao Guopei even sent a screenshot of his securities account information, showing available funds amounting to a full 16 million yuan.

And this was just one of his securities accounts; to conduct "wash trades" and drive up the stock price, he had another five or six smaller accounts holding millions each.

After confirming the other party's identity, Zhang Yang asked with a hint of puzzlement, "What do you want from me?"

[Chancheng Shadowless Kick]: Jianfeng Group. I read your research report and feel it has great potential. I wanted to ask for your thoughts.

As soon as the message was sent, as if anticipating Zhang Yang's confusion, Liao Guopei typed again: "I'm in your VIP research report group, and Brother Jumping-Building posted what you sent him in your private message. I happened to see it and found it interesting. Can you share your train of thought?"

Upon seeing this message, Zhang Yang immediately checked the member list of the VIP research report group and sure enough, he found Liao Guopei's QQ account.

Seeing that the other party was cutting straight to the point, Zhang Yang didn't beat around the bush either.

[joker]: The Ningbo Striking Team wants to engineer consecutive limit-ups, which will inevitably keep the shikimic acid concept heated. My ideal play is to intercept the lead, and secondly, to ride the trend of the secondary dragon.
[Chancheng Shadowless Kick]: How do you intercept it?
[joker]: Rhein Biotech lacks performance support from actual shikimic acid revenues. According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission's explicit regulations, when a stock experiences abnormal fluctuations, the listed company must issue an explanatory announcement. This is our window of opportunity to enter.

"..."

Liao Guopei fell into deep thought.

He wasn't pondering the feasibility of the plan, but rather wondering who "joker" actually was.

With a high win rate, daring moves, and a deep familiarity with market rules, he refused to believe that "joker" could be a nobody.

Yet, after searching through all his memories without finding any impression, Liao Guopei typed out: "How much capital do you have available?"

[joker]: About 800,000.

Today, Zhang Yang had already bought 200,000 yuan of China Construction Bank and established a base position of 200,000 yuan in Jianfeng Group. If Liao Guopei wanted to intercept the lead or play the secondary dragon, Zhang Yang wouldn't mind pulling out the 200,000 yuan from China Construction Bank and going all-in heavily on Jianfeng Group.

Of course, should Liao Guopei lose his nerve and back out at the last minute, Zhang Yang still had a trump card: Tao Yuang, a fund manager at Huaxin Securities.

He was well aware that Tao Yuang was desperate for an opportunity to prove himself to senior management in order to secure more company resources.

To this end, Zhang Yang had deliberately mentioned shikimic acid at the end of his market research report, appending several related enterprises.

Tao Yuang could use Zhang Yang to swindle resources from Huaxin Securities.
Zhang Yang could equally use Tao Yuang to turn a profit for his own stocks.

The most crucial point was that Zhang Yang was one hundred percent certain Tao Yuang would not let slip this opportunity. At a critical juncture for promotion, accurately judging a market trend was no different from capturing two spies before enlisting in the military—it was something that could genuinely lead to a promotion.

There was only one point of uncertainty: Zhang Yang couldn't predict whether Tao Yuang would recommend Jianfeng Group specifically, and this was his primary concern.

Through their interactions during this period, he also understood that Tao Yuang was a sophisticated egoist. If Zhang Yang asked him for a favor to recommend Jianfeng Group, he would undoubtedly be ruthlessly rejected, because the man would never gamble with his own future. Therefore, Zhang Yang hadn't brought it up directly; he had simply mixed Jianfeng Group among several shikimic acid concept enterprises.

The financial underworld wasn't about physical combat, but mutual calculation of interests.

As for Liao Guopei, regardless of whether he cooperated or not, Zhang Yang wouldn't lose out—it was merely a question of earning more or less money.

Shikimic acid was the short-term main market theme.

...

After careful consideration, Liao Guopei asked for Zhang Yang's phone number and dialed it. "I don't want to offend Xu Xiang, nor do I want to provoke the Ningbo Striking Team. Your idea is sound. We can play the secondary dragon trend, using the abnormal fluctuation announcement as our signal to enter and take a cut."

"No problem."

Zhang Yang replied calmly.

Hearing Zhang Yang's youthful voice, Liao Guopei felt a growing sense of astonishment inside.

He wouldn't look down on the other party simply because of his youth, because stock trading was unlike any other field—it was purely a domain governed by innate talent.

What did the theory of talent mean?

To put it bluntly, hard work could allow you to make small profits in the market, but if you wanted to make a fortune and multiply your capital by tens or hundreds of times, you had to be a naturally gifted player.

Just like a child from an ordinary family getting into Tsinghua or Peking University—that wasn't a height achievable through hard work alone; it required matching exceptional talent. With hard work alone, getting into a top-tier 985 university was the absolute limit.

After hanging up the phone, Liao Guopei began formulating his own plan.

Since they were going to play the secondary dragon, he had to build momentum for Jianfeng Group in advance, gradually raising its market exposure.

After all, hot-money speculators didn't make money from others; they took it from millions of retail investors.

He had to make retail investors aware of Jianfeng Group as a shikimic acid concept stock, and then violently drive up the limit-up price in one fell swoop to lure speculative retail investors into following suit.

As for Zhang Yang, he was almost 100 percent certain the kid was a rising-star hot-money operator. Making a connection with him early on might prove to be a tremendous asset in the future.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

He Jing also made up her mind and sought out Dean Bao Xingwei to explain the situation.

Entering a national institution to pursue a doctorate wasn't her ultimate dream. Perhaps this choice had once made her waver, but after careful deliberation, she decided to stick to her first choice.

Hesitation was an instinct, but self-restraint was rationality; she had to take responsibility for her own life.

Bao Xingwei frowned, seeming incredulous as he asked, "Is this your own choice, or someone else's opinion?"

He subconsciously thought of Zhang Yang—the first person to reject him under the pretext of "becoming a hot-money speculator."

"This is the choice I made after careful consideration, and I am simply not up to such an important position," He Jing replied in a self-deprecating manner.

Looking into her apprehensive yet firm eyes, Bao Xingwei knew He Jing's mind was made up and found it pointless to say anything more. He merely waved a hand, signaling for her to leave.

After He Jing departed, his assistant, Cheng Hongfa, couldn't help muttering, "These students really haven't experienced the harsh beatings of society. One by one, they're harboring wild fantasies and daydreaming."

Ignoring him, Bao Xingwei muttered to himself with a heavy sigh, "Foreign capital is stirring restlessly. Let's just hope a financial war doesn't make a comeback."