At many private gatherings of tycoons, words like "Chen Yan," "Zhang Yonghao," "blown position," and "oil futures" are often heard the most.

Moreover, most of the tycoons had a pessimistic view of the actions of Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao, treating their behavior as a joke.

For tycoons who already possessed certain social resources and substantial capital, being aggressive was not advisable.

Keeping one's money safe with minimal risk or using the money from banks and other capitals to make money was considered the right path.

People like Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao, who personally gambled with their own capital, were seen as ridiculous.

Even in Hong Kong and Qindong, some places familiar with Zhang Yonghao and heard many rumors about Chen Yan, their reputations suffered greatly.

At some tycoon gatherings, people openly ridiculed them,

"Do you think Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao took the wrong medicine? They are the fastest rising newcomers in the past two years, yet they suddenly made such a terrible move."

An older attendee chuckled across from him,

"Exactly. That's why I always say, to see if someone will stay rich, don't look at their short-term achievements. Look at it over long periods like ten years, twenty years."

"A dark horse emerges in three generations, an eagle in five, a real dragon in nine. People like Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao are just pretending to be rich, which is why they gambled so aggressively."

Among the attendees, there were not a few who supported both of them,

"Right. They still don't understand. Actually, at our level of wealth, making money from risks is the lower strategy. Time is the greatest force."

"If it's a steady appreciation, even at an annual increase of 10%, 15%, in 10 years, our wealth would have quadrupled. In 20 years, it would have increased sixteen-fold."

"That's the foundation for a family to prosper for generations."

Upon hearing this, many nodded.

Indeed, having completed their initial accumulation, all the tycoons began to pursue stable appreciation through time, not risking it all in one go.

After all, making money is easy when you are rich but starting from scratch again when you have none is extremely hard…

And Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao were in such a predicament now....

.......

As tycoons watching Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao collectively expected their downfall,

At that moment, Zhang Yonghao in Tiandu was also feeling a bit panicked.

After hanging up a call from Chen Yan, he solemnly hammered his fist on the desk a few times and then silently cursed Chen Yan.

Vice President Wang and the chief financial officer sitting opposite him were also a bit anxious.

They looked at Zhang Yonghao and asked, "What did Chen Yan say?"

Zhang Yonghao looked up at them, shook his head, "He maintains an indifferent attitude, telling us not to worry and to keep waiting."

Vice President Wang, who lost his patience first, retorted.

Out of the 40 billion, there were several billion of his own.

His eyes reddened and his face grew ferocious, "Keep waiting? Has he lost his mind? Wait for what? For all of us to blow up together?"

He had obviously endured enormous psychological stress over the last few days as positions continued to blow up.

His voice hoarse, he said, "The World Petroleum Organization's meeting has ended, and they have decided to reduce oil production and raise prices over the next few years."

"Are we waiting for a world war?"

Hearing that, the chief financial officer also started to get uneasy; he rubbed his plump face and said with a trembling voice, "Exactly. The situation is very clear now, why is he so bent on continuing to short?"

"Could he be planning to lose our money?"

Among the three of them, Zhang Yonghao was the only one who could still think rationally.

Hearing the chief financial officer's words, he fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head, "To gain my trust, Chen Yan even gave me unprivileged access to his account."

"Although I can't operate his funds, I can always check the fund flows and positions in his futures account."

"So far, we have all been buying in proportion following him. There's no way he could be cheating our money."

Hearing Zhang Yonghao's words, the chief financial officer and Vice President Wang both fell silent.

If everything was indeed as it appeared, then there was "one possibility" left: the three of them simply had bad luck and Chen Yan might really have made a miscalculation, causing them to fail together.

The possibility made their breathing quicken, a bit unable to recover.

After all, this time they had truly gambled all their fortunes following Chen Yan.

20% of Headline Technology's shares, more than 40 billion!

How many 40 billions can one earn in a lifetime!

If it was all lost, they would indeed be doomed!

The atmosphere in the room gradually became oppressive.

Suddenly, Zhang Yonghao fiercely pounded the desk, then he stood up and said fiercely, "Tell me! If we cut our losses now and stop following Chen Yan's operations."

"Give the shares directly to Chen Yan, consider the blown cash as bad luck, and distribute the remaining money proportionally, what say you?"

"We might have lost over ten billion, but at least we would still have more than twenty billion!"

Hearing Zhang Yonghao's words, the chief financial officer took out his cellphone, logged into his account to check, did some calculations, and said, "It's not over ten billion."

"We have only blown up over ten billion. There are nearly ten billion in losses."

"If we close out now, we will have to take a hit of at least twenty-six or seven billion."

"That leaves us with only twelve or thirteen billion."

"And, as the price of crude oil futures keeps rising, our losses are still widening."

"We need to make a decision quickly."

Hearing the chief financial officer's words, Zhang Yonghao's expression froze.

Twenty-six or seven billion gone just like that!

He really felt great pain all over his body.

While he was in agony, Vice President Wang spoke, "Having something left is better than nothing! If we continue following Chen Yan, we might lose it all!"

Hearing Vice President Wang's words, Zhang Yonghao showed a conflicted and hesitant expression.

At this moment, the chief financial officer spoke again.

He said, "Director Zhang, have you considered this possibility?"

"It's not just us who are on the edge of blowing up. Chen Yan is too."

"Chen Yan has become reckless with gambling and won't stop."

"If we pull out first, when Chen Yan blows up after a while, the cash in his hands will dry up instantly."

"Moreover, he told us before that he had 20-30 billion of those 80 billion by mortgaging our company's shares to get loans."

"This money, unlike ours, needs to be repaid."

"If he has no money to return it, he either lets the bank auction those shares, or he has to find a suitable buyer."

"After all, his main business is still in the gaming and entertainment industry. He's merely investing in our company."

"After repaying the loans, he'll definitely need more cash to operate."

"So he'd still continue selling our company's shares."

"Therefore, we can completely use the remaining money to buy back the shares he mortgaged or the isolated shares he plans to sell later."

"As a result, his share of the stocks will significantly decrease, while our share will be replenished."

The more he talked, the brighter the chief financial officer's eyes shone, "Isn't the purpose of our investment to make more money and then repurchase the shares to dilute Chen Yan's influence in the company?"

"He loses more than we do and can only focus on managing his own company without interfering in ours."

"Isn't that also what we wanted?"

Hearing the chief financial officer's words, Zhang Yonghao's eyes also lit up.

After a while, he suddenly saw the light and exclaimed, "That makes sense!"

"As long as we cut losses, even if Chen Yan does blow up, our purpose will still be achieved."

"After all, we at most lose over twenty billion, but Chen Yan will lose over 80 billion and also has to sell our shares to alleviate his financial pressure."

As he spoke, he began reinforcing this plan, "However, we shouldn't just buy back fourteen billion worth of shares."

"If the rest of the shares scatter, that could also be troublesome."

"From my point, we should directly find allies, pull them onto the field. Take over Chen Yan's shares."

"That way, the company will again be completely under our control."

"And this ally must have influence over local governments and banks, so that Chen Yan's mortgaged part of the shares would end up in his hands."

As he spoke, he and Vice President Wang exchanged glances, both seeing the choice in each other's eyes.

Killing two birds with one stone. They were also going to approach this person for financing to dilute Chen Yan's shares—it was perfect to handle together.

Having formulated this counterplan against Chen Yan, the three of them finally let out a sigh of relief.

This month, watching the futures rise and fall, their positions continuously blowing up, their mental pressure was indeed enormous.

They felt that they never wanted to touch financial products again in their lifetime.

This is simply inhumane.

Now that everything has settled down, admitting defeat and cutting losses was the best option for them.

But after making that decision, Zhang Yonghao couldn't help but think of something and suddenly asked, "What if Chen Yan really guessed right."

"What if the oil futures really do fall, what then?"

After saying this, he couldn't help but laugh, "Haha. What am I thinking?"

"How could I dream of turning the tables on something even the World Petroleum Organization has set in stone?"

He pointed at Vice President Wang and said, "Like you said, unless there's a world war or a superpower steps in, there won't be any surprises."

"How could such an unprecedented black swan event happen?"

Hearing him, the financial director and Vice President Wang also couldn't help laughing,

"Right. How could that possibly happen? Even if it did, it wouldn't be anytime soon, and Chen Yan's account would have long been margin called."

"Yes. If it really happens, I'd drink water standing on my head."

"I'd eat shit standing on my head."

"Hahaha."

...

While Zhang Yonghao had already made his decision.

In Tiandu, at Villa No. 8 of Zhao Family's Courtyard.

Zhao Xuan and Zhao Ying, father and daughter, were having dinner.

During the time Zhao Ying was sent to run the Weibo account by Chen Yan, she seemed to have found a new life.

Whether it's actually clashing with "gossip" or not, this successor of the Bagua Palm seemed really adept in her new company.

At least she was enjoying herself.

Sometimes she'd go to the operations department to see which celebrity's data was being manipulated.

Or, she could be seen in the content department checking which celebrity was trending.

Or she might use her senior admin account to block a few accounts that she didn't like, which weren't fighting fair.

Anyway, her days were very comfortable.

And once Zhao Xuan knew she was in Tiandu, he quickly brought her back home from the company-arranged place.

The father-daughter reunion... didn't change anything.

Zhao Ying acted as if she was completely unaware that her father had been missing for so long, still cheerfully living each day.

But Zhao Xuan was different.

He had previously asked Chen Yan to look after Zhao Ying, and owed a favor for that.

Later, he agreed to cooperate with Chen Yan to deal with Zhao Qingtian but backed out.

Now, Chen Yan had spent a huge amount of money to buy Weibo just to make his daughter happy.

This filled the heart of this old father with guilt...

Recently, when Zhao Xuan heard that Chen Yan and Zhang Yonghao were deeply stuck in the futures quagmire, he thought of doing something.

So, while they were eating today, Zhao Xuan spoke to Zhao Ying, "Ying Ying, have you called Chen Yan recently?"

Zhao Ying, busy eating, strangely glanced at herself and asked naively, "Why should I call him?"

Zhao Xuan paused.

This silly child...

He said, "Friends should also call to check on each other now and then."

Zhao Ying simply responded, "Oh, I sometimes call Qiao Qiao, and she tells me what Chen Yan has been up to."

Zhao Xuan: ....

Zhao Xuan felt his daughter was beyond help.

How could Chen Yan be so good to her, he must be blind.

How could such a shrewd man raise such a daughter devoid of emotional intelligence?

So, a tired, weary, and broken Zhao Xuan no longer wanted to continue the conversation, and thought, he might as well handle things himself...

...

In the following days, the situation with the crude oil futures remained very grim.

The OPEC meeting seemed to have hammered the final nail, causing the oil futures prices to climb steadily.

That day, Zhang Yonghao again waited all afternoon and on finding the next day that the situation remained grim, he proactively called Chen Yan to request termination of the agreement.

This delay caused him to lose over a billion more, making him extremely pained.

And since he needed to prepare for swallowing up Chen Yan's shares later, Zhang Yonghao didn't haggle and promptly settled with the original agreement, keeping the remaining money and transferring the 20% of the shares to Chen Yan.

With that, the Strong Buy Card took effect, and Chen Yan now held a total of 61% of the shares in Headline Technology.

He officially became the major shareholder of Headline Technology.

All he had to do was exercise his rights to change the board of directors and he could become the chairman of Headline Technology.

If he managed to acquire another 5% of the shares, removing Zhang Yonghao's veto power, he could take complete control of Headline Technology, and then completely oust Zhang Yonghao from the company.

However, Zhang Yonghao clearly felt that Chen Yan wouldn't have that opportunity.

Because although he had stopped the agreement, Chen Yan hadn't withdrawn his observation account.

In these few days, the entire 8 billion of Chen Yan's funds had been invested into the oil futures to top up the margin, meaning, Chen Yan really was gambling to the end, truly going all-in on shorting!

According to Zhang Yonghao's estimation, it wouldn't take two days before Chen Yan would either need to top up his margins or definitely face a margin call.

And even if he did top up, it wouldn't matter, because... Chen Yan's losses would reach 8 billion by then, leaving him powerless to turn things around, even losing the topped-up margin.

Honestly, at this point, Zhang Yonghao kind of admired Chen Yan.

Because he felt Chen Yan was truly living up to his promises by risking "his entire fortune."

He had said he would short to the end!

He said no turning back, and there was no turning back!

...

The next day, the oil futures price had risen for the thirteenth consecutive day, reaching a recent high, with countless Hong Kong funds chasing this trend, attempting to blow up Chen Yan's position and force a liquidation.

But at this time, Chen Yan received several calls.

The first call was from Meng Xue.

Clearly, the recent events had finally reached the ears of this lady who had stepped away from the circle.

During the call, Meng Xue was so worried she cried. But even though she cried, she still told Chen Yan not to worry, she had already called her father to bring money to save Chen Yan.

This woman in Tiandu, who had become "half" his girlfriend, was someone Chen Yan treasured immensely.

He consoled Meng Xue with a laugh, asking her not to worry, he knew what he was doing.

He joked that it would be more useful for Meng Xue to worry about how to get the remaining 5% shares of Headline Technology from somewhere and remove Zhang Yonghao's veto power than to worry about his futures trading.

Meng Xue just cried on the phone, swearing at Chen Yan for being heartless, it was such a time, and he still joked, not knowing to be more serious.

Chen Yan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he truly felt there was no problem.

So, he could only helplessly console the girl.

After hanging up on Meng Xue's call, as his daughter had mentioned, He Ruifeng, the richest man in Qindong, indeed called.

The old man didn't say much, just stated, "Since you want to gamble, then go ahead."

"A man must have his convictions. I won't throw the He family's money down the drain, but... if you fail, I can pay off all your debts."

"And I can also loan you another 20 billion for turnover. Consider it a dowry."

Touched by this, Chen Yan asked, "Can I take the dowry without getting married?" and then got scolded by the old man...

After hanging up on He Ruifeng's call, Chen Yan's face was full of smiles.

He had to admit, being cared about felt very good.

But, he felt these days were probably gone.

Because, according to the system's operating guide, in the past week, all the major financial firms in Hong Kong had been lured into the trap.

And by tomorrow, it would be time to harvest...

But, Chen Yan still felt something was missing.

Shares had been secured, and it was time to reap the harvest. But... where to get the last 5% of the shares in Headline Technology?

Couldn't this opportunity be used to secure them all together?

While he was pondering this, his phone suddenly "ring, ring, ring" started to ring.

Chen Yan picked it up, and it was Zhao Xuan calling...

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