Chapter 231: Chapter 231: A bumper harvest
The year 98 was also an eventful year in Hong Kong. Affected by the financial crisis, the stock market, foreign exchange market, futures market and property market all fell. In addition, there was an outbreak of avian influenza. It can be said that there was a high degree of insecurity and all-round bad luck.
In front of the stock exchange, some citizens were protesting, holding signs that said things like 'Give me back my hard-earned money'. Of course, they must have known that it was useless, and they were just letting off steam. In contrast, our compatriots on the mainland did a much better job of this, with a more grand national style. No matter how much they lost, they would never protest outside the stock exchange.
In front of a private bank, people are queuing up to withdraw money. This is also different from the mainland. At this time, the exchange rate changes have little impact on most mainlanders, but for an international financial centre and free port like Hong Kong, every drop in the linked exchange rate means a drop in their wealth.
On one street corner, there are many maids from the country that has been most vocal on the South China Sea issue. They are waiting for their employers, while not far away, an elderly man with a bag on his back is begging for money from the heavy-looking passers-by.
In short, this year has been a very difficult year for Hong Kong people. However, it was in this situation that they still reached out a helping hand to the flood-stricken mainland, and it seems that the total donations amounted to nearly 700 million yuan!
This is really very rare. On the whole, it is no less than the tens of billions donated in 2008. However, after experiencing the subsequent confrontation with Feng Yiping, I can't help but interpret this phenomenon from many perspectives.
The people who made the donations must have done so with empathy. But were there not other thoughts mixed in?
For example, perhaps they wanted to show that although I am having a hard time now, I am still much better off than you; perhaps in difficult times, they are more aware of the importance of having parents behind them; perhaps they are preparing to ask their parents for support, so they want to appear filial; perhaps they were moved by the words of the Prime Minister, who had just taken office in March of that year, 'Defend Hong Kong at all costs' at a press conference.
In short, Feng Yiping felt that the people of Hong Kong in 1998 were very close to the mainland.
At the same time, perhaps the prime minister's words at the press conference made international speculators think twice, so they consciously refrained from making any major moves in July, the month of the first anniversary of Hong Kong's return. However, starting in early August, the speculators launched a new large-scale attack on Hong Kong.
There were precedents of countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia losing all the fruits of decades of development overnight. This financial battle for Hong Kong in August was critical and tragic. It was rumoured that the current Financial Secretary, who would later become the Chief Executive, had burst into tears several times due to the pressure.
Everyone on the street looked nervous, and it was rare to see someone with a smile on their face. The TV in the electrical store kept rolling financial news, and every small fluctuation affected the audience's nerves. freeweɓnovel.cøm
It is estimated that only Feng Yiping maintained an optimistic attitude throughout. While everyone else was anxious, he experienced it all as a bystander, and clearly knew the future direction and outcome. In this situation, he felt a sense of God's vision.
On the evening of 14 August, ATV and Cable TV jointly organised the 'Yangtze River Disaster Emergency' event, with celebrities calling for donations or the donation of items with special commemorative significance for disaster relief auctions. It was also on this day that the SAR government used the Exchange Fund to enter the market and start the counterattack.
This tug-of-war, which lasted until the end of August and in which the SAR government ultimately emerged victorious, did not involve Feng Yiping. All his funds had been invested in the foreign exchange market by the fighting nation.
This time he was most confident, and he remembers it very clearly because it was a very special day. It was the second day of the second half of the year, the day after classes started, September 2nd, and the fighting nation's ruble depreciated by 70%! So he didn't hesitate to invest it all, and used the maximum leverage of 5 times.
This is also the reason why he had to come to Hong Kong in person. If he had entrusted a trader with the operation, it would have definitely aroused the suspicion of others.
It can be said that the fighting nation is indeed a strange flower. This country, which was founded on the ruins of the Soviet Union and inherited most of its legacy, is said to be a democratic country, but its currency often depreciates sharply. What is even stranger is that its people just quietly accept it.
Feng Yiping reckons that it may be because it was once a world power, but has now become a second- or third-rate country, and its people have long since lost their sense of shame and integrity.
Anyway, speaking as a good citizen who accepts his lot, Feng Yiping would definitely not be able to bear a one-time devaluation of the renminbi by 70%. Not to mention anything else, he couldn't even afford formula milk for his child. If he were to buy an iPhone later, he would have to sell one of his kidneys beforehand, and after the devaluation, he would probably have to sell both kidneys.
Although he has not yet reaped the rewards, he has already started preparing for gifts. He bought a watch last time, so this time he doesn't need to buy any more luxury goods, so once again he went to Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok to pick up some of these electronic products that are considered new relics for him to take back.
His first choice was a mobile phone, but after looking around, the most classic motorcycle, the 308, was not yet on the market, and the others were not to his liking. After wandering around for a long time, he picked up a few CD players. They were really not cheap, none of them were less than four digits, of course, relative to the profits he was about to get, they really weren't much.
In mid-August, the ruble floated against the US dollar to the upper limit set by the Russian government and the Central Bank, 9.5 rubles to the dollar. Less than a week later, the Russian government underwent a change, with Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, who had been dismissed in March, returning to power and replacing the government of Kirienko.
After the new government took power, it implemented a series of revitalisation measures, but this did not ease the downward pressure on the ruble. On 27 August, the ruble depreciated by 30%, and it was getting closer and closer to the time of Feng Yiping's harvest.
On August 31st, all the teachers at Yizhong had returned to school to do various preparations. Feng Yiping's homeroom teacher, Chen, received a long-distance call from Hong Kong in the morning. Feng Yiping asked for leave over the phone, saying that he had a stomach problem when he was about to return to school and was afraid that he would have to postpone his arrival at school for a week.
A week's leave was of course not easy to ask for, but Feng Yiping just wanted to give notice. Faced with such a huge, high return that would be hard to come by in the future, even if he had to skip school, he had to do it.
On 2 September, just as he had remembered, the ruble plummeted 70%. After roughly calculating his gains, Feng Yiping really did wake up from his dream with a smile on his face that night. A few days later, the US dollar deposits in his UBS account would double, and the first digit in the eight-digit number would change from 1 to 6!
This is the charm of finance.