It was the same teahouse in Central, the same private room, and once again the two men inside were Li JiaCheng and Feng JinXi.
But unlike last time, this time it was Li JiaCheng who had invited Feng JinXi for tea.
They drank, they chatted.
"Brother Li, surely you didn't invite me just for tea today?" Feng JinXi asked with a smile. Though possible, he doubted it.
"You saw through me, Brother Feng. Let me get to business."
Li JiaCheng's expression turned serious. "Last time, thanks to your reminder, I learned Lin BaoCheng was acquiring shares of Cangjiang Industries. This time, something good came up, and I thought of you — a courtesy in return."
"Oh? And what good news is that?" Feng JinXi asked, intrigued.
Li JiaCheng explained: "You know I have a grudge against Lin BaoCheng, so I keep close watch on him and his companies, especially Hutchison Whampoa. Over a month ago, I learned that Lin sold off all of Hutchison's short‑term investments and redirected the funds. Do you know where he put them?"
"Where?" Feng prompted.
Li JiaCheng smiled: "Into gold futures. A total of 150 million USD, leveraged five times through HSBC."
"So bold?" Feng exclaimed, shocked. "Hutchison's market cap is only about 2.6 billion HKD. He dared to put over 600 million HKD into gold futures, with five‑times leverage? A 10% drop wipes out half the principal — over 300 million HKD. That's reckless."
"Yes, young men are daring," Li JiaCheng said, shaking his head. "And from what I know, he made the decision himself, only reporting to the board afterward. He didn't consult other shareholders."
"That offends the others badly," Feng said, shaking his head. "Even if he holds over 40% and can't be outvoted, the board and management can still obstruct him. He shouldn't have done that."
"Young and arrogant. He just acquired Hutchison, he's riding high. He doesn't care about others' feelings," Li said with a smile. To him, that was better — if Lin were a seasoned fox, he'd be harder to deal with.
"That's true," Feng agreed. Lin had risen only last year, and now controlled Hutchison. At such a triumphant moment, arrogance was natural.
Li continued: "At first I didn't pay much attention. Then gold rose above 195 USD per ounce. I wanted to know if Lin was long or short. If long, he profited; if short, he lost."
"And which was it?" Feng asked.
"Long," Li replied. "I paid to find out. His entry price was 188 USD. At the peak, he gained about 5%. With five‑times leverage, that's 25% on principal — around 150 million HKD profit."
"At that point I stopped watching. He'd made money. But recently gold fell below 180 USD. I wanted to know his position, so I paid again to ask Hutchison's investment manager, Fros. He said the position hadn't moved. Meaning, at the entry price, Hutchison is now losing."
In reality, Lin had flipped from long to short, sending An Yuan and Yuan TianFan to London to manage it. Fros didn't know. Only Wei Li inside Hutchison was aware, and Lin and Wei planned to disclose it at the end of April in the quarterly report.
Because the trades used HSBC's channel, Yuan TianFan knew, and Shen Zhou might know if he checked. Otherwise, few did.
"By calculation, Hutchison's investment is now down about 5%. With five‑times leverage, that's 25% — around 150 million HKD loss," Feng concluded.
He looked at Li: "Brother Li, you're thinking of shorting Hutchison, aren't you?"
"Exactly," Li admitted. "Hutchison's stock is still under 7 HKD. The market doubts Lin's leadership. If news breaks that he lost over 100 million with company funds, the stock will plunge. We short it, we profit."
Feng pondered: "Relative to Hutchison's 2.6 billion HKD market cap, a 100 million loss isn't huge. Lin and Hutchison might rescue it. The drop may not be large."
"I worry about that too," Li said. "So I plan to wait until gold falls to 175, even 170 USD. Then shorting will be safer and more profitable."
Li wasn't urging immediate action. He feared a small drop wouldn't yield much, and might alert Lin. Better to strike hard at his weak point, causing real damage.
"Alright, we'll wait as you say," Feng agreed. He was satisfied — Li wasn't blinded by personal grudge, making him a reliable partner.
As for offending Lin, Feng didn't care. If successful, he could earn tens of millions, even over 100 million HKD.
Such profit outweighed friendship. They weren't friends anyway. Feng wouldn't turn down money.