After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

"Mr. Lu, I've missed you."

Ota Ling pursed his lips, gripping Lu Liang's hand tightly, his emotion similar to that of a daughter-in-law who finally becomes the mother-in-law.

In the past month or two, the Nikkei index had risen by over 2000 points, and they, with nearly ten billion US dollars in their hands, could only stand by and watch.

Mitsui Sumitomo, one of the three major commercial banks in Tokyo and among the ten largest in the world, had actually missed the boat in its own national financial market.

This had put him under great pressure and led to some board members questioning him. A slight mishandling, and his next year's rotation as chairman might be at risk.

"Mr. Ota, I've arrived, haven't I?"

Lu Liang showed a smile, bringing good news.

According to his observations, this big market movement was expected to start in the next few days, at the latest within ten days. However, the way they would cooperate this time would need to change a bit.

Ota Ling's brow tightened, "How will it change?"

Lu Liang gestured for Wen Chao, who was outside the door, to come in and introduced him, "Mr. Ota, this is Wen Chao."

"I'm acquainted, Mr. Wen manages your assets."

Wen Chao had been in frequent contact with Ota Ling during his time in Tokyo; their relationship was not unfamiliar.

He had even invited him to the highest standard of home banquet in Tokyo, which was politely declined.

"Mr. Ota may not know that Wen Chao is being trained by me as my successor. Before coming to Tokyo, he was also the vice president of our private equity firm and the true person in charge."

Hearing this, Ota Ling suddenly felt uneasy.

The next second, Lu Liang's words confirmed his suspicion, "I hope Wen Chao can join your Mitsui Sumitomo investment department as an informal consultant."

"As Mr. Ota might know, a few days ago, our private fund issued its fourth phase, raising three billion US dollars."

"Of the nearly eighty billion US dollars in the third phase fund, a large portion of the liquid assets will be used this time."

"To avoid capital conflicts and ensure that everyone can make money, my suggestion is to pool the funds and concentrate our efforts."

Lu Liang, with a smile on his lips, offered his generous suggestion without insisting, leaving it entirely up to Mitsui Sumitomo to accept or reject.

Ota Ling asked with furrowed brows, "Mr. Lu, if we disclose our positions, what will you do?"

"Since our funds will be pooled, there can't be secrets; Tianxing Private Equity should also disclose its position."

Lu Liang spoke with an air of righteousness and then added, "However, market conditions change rapidly, and there might be some slight delays."

Ota Ling's face darkened, almost blurting out that Lu Liang had played a shrewd game.

The so-called pooling of funds was effectively making them unilaterally disclose their positions.

If Lu Liang's judgment was incorrect, they might end up paying him while being sold out.

Because one point was true, as Lu Liang had said: market trends can change in an instant.

One second, shorting the market might make money, and the next, it might lose money.

Especially when he mentioned a slight delay, if everyone together shorted a market.

By the time Tianxing decided the trend had bottomed and covered their positions, it would surely trigger a rebound. Because of the so-called delay, they wouldn't cash out in time and would be buried in it.

Therefore, the capital position of every institution is their biggest secret, as it can reveal whether they are currently profitable or at a loss and whether covering at a certain price point would be profitable or how much they would lose.

If the institution is confident that covering their positions would result in a profit, then this market trend is likely at its end.

If the institution is certain to cover at a loss, then there's probably still a wave of upward momentum to come.

Institutions, unlike individual investors, do not cut losses unless absolutely necessary.

Cutting losses means turning a paper loss into an actual loss; not cutting means it's just a paper loss and there's a possibility of a rebound.

Lu Liang said sternly, "Mr. Ota, we are partners, we don't abandon each other, we don't give up; this is a matter of principle."

"Mr. Lu's strong sense of principle is touching, but we still need to consider it further."

Ota Ling very much wanted to imprint his size-41 shoe on Lu Liang's size-43 face but managed to restrain the impulse.

Lu Liang nodded, "However, I hope Mr. Ota can decide as soon as possible so that Wen Chao can also join early and get acquainted with the situation."

After a few more exchanges, Ota Ling said his goodbyes and hurried off; he needed to discuss with the board.

Lu Liang and Wen Chao stood at the company entrance, watching him leave. Wen Chao suddenly asked, "Mr. Lu, do you think Ota Ling will agree?"

In his view, Lu Liang's conditions were slightly outrageous, practically asking Ota Ling to strip naked and dance.

In fact, it might be easier to get him to strip and dance, as after all, when the men in Tokyo had enough to drink, some would dance the Awa Dance in their boxer shorts at the dinner table, which he had witnessed before.

"Don't worry, just get ready to accept the advisory position," Lu Liang said, squinting his eyes and smiling.

He thought Ota Ling wouldn't have any reason to refuse, since they had already incurred a month's worth of sunk costs.

Given the recent surge in the Nikkei index, if they planned to use ten billion US dollars, they would already be facing at least a 5% loss now.

Earning less means losing; although somewhat illogical, this is consistently how businesses calculate profits and losses.

As night fell, as Lu Liang had expected, Ota Ling called to inform them that they were willing to accept Lu Liang's suggestion.

However, Ota couldn't get through to either Lu Liang or his secretary Xu Jiawei. He could only reach out to Wen Chao.

"Mr. Ota, Mr. Lu asked me to apologize on his behalf, he had an emergency and has already boarded the flight back home."

Wen Chao's words caught Ota Ling off-guard. He quickly asked, "Did Mr. Lu say how we will proceed with the collaboration?"

Buying high and selling low is a common human folly. If Lu Liang were too eager, Ota might even suspect that he was trying to set them up.

But Lu Liang's indifferent attitude, his readiness to leave without a word of farewell, made Ota feel confident.

He even began to rationalize, thinking that Lu Liang sought to know their position information simply to strengthen the control over the funds and ensure that they could earn more when the time came.

After all, just like last time, they would offer 20% of the net revenue to Lu Liang, which, for him, was a considerable sum of overseas funds.

Now, Ota Ling also understood Lu Liang's intention; they had restricted Lu Liang's assets in Tokyo from flowing out, and Lu Liang had turned to the United States for counterbalance.

However, what Lu Liang was doing was akin to asking a tiger for its skin, because the price he paid was to promise President Trump an investment of five billion US dollars in Detroit over the next five years.

So far, only two hundred million US dollars had been invested, leaving four-point-eight billion remaining.

Knowing President Trump's character, if Lu Liang dared to break his word, he would certainly be ridiculed continually, made a spectacle in front of the whole world, and could even face sanctions.

This process was likely to last for seven years.

Although President Trump was a political novice, he had a very successful first year in office, and if he maintained his performance, he would definitely be re-elected.

Lu Liang didn't want to touch his domestic assets, so due to the shortage of funds, he had to help them earn more and distribute more dividends.

After pondering, Ota Ling thought that the chances of Lu Liang setting them up deliberately were small, and it was worth the gamble.

"Mr. Ota, Mr. Lu has entrusted me with full responsibility. All updates will be communicated to me in real time."

Wen Chao couldn't help but look out the window, as if he could see through the clouds to the plane headed for Edinburgh.

A deep admiration was evident in his eyes; this was strategic aloofness, but not everyone had the confidence to do it.

The next day, at Edinburgh Airport at four in the morning.

"Can't you choose a slightly more bearable time?"

Lu Ya and Zhuo Yifan came to pick him up, and his sister's undisguised disdain was evident on her face. She might grumble and complain, but if Lu Liang came, she would have to be there or else she probably wouldn't sleep well.

"In fact, it's just a matter of time difference and flight schedules."

Lu Liang was listless, his face full of melancholy, never before so desperately wishing he had a private jet.

Although there was first-class on international flights, spending over a dozen hours confined to a few square meters of space made him feel very uncomfortable.

However, although his Bombardier was reserved, it would take over four more months to be officially delivered. Thinking about another ten-plus hours back home in a few days made his head hurt.

"Heh, just let Yu come back to the country sooner and you won't have to run back and forth," said Lu Ya, with an air of annoyance. The root cause of it all was Lu Liang himself.

"But that still depends on my sister, doesn't it?"

Lu Liang winked and smiled broadly: "How's the ideological work going with her recently?"

"As long as you break up with your girlfriend, it should be pretty much settled."

"Is there really no other way?"

Lu Liang furrowed his brows, unwilling to give up the whole forest for one tree.

"If you weren't my brother, I would have slapped you to death by now," Lu Ya's gaze was unfriendly.

She sighed deeply: "It's not that there's no other way; we just have to wait until Yu completes her studies."

"I knew my sister is the best." Lu Liang chuckled.