After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 163 - 162: Falsely Claiming One Billion Dollars

The long-awaited 25th had finally arrived.

A week earlier, Lu Liang had shorted the British Pounds, confronting three renowned Wall Street institutions and bringing them down.

This led to JPMorgan losing 1.75 billion dollars, Blackstone Fund losing 1.82 billion dollars, and Quantum Fund losing 320 million dollars.

Rumors were that he had scooped up one billion dollars overnight.

But Lu Liang did not come forward to confirm, and Little Wang only hinted in a live stream that maybe it was true.

Whether it was true or not remained a question mark.

Now it was finally going to be revealed.

Although the 25th was the day to announce the net worth of the first private equity phase, it was possible to estimate the profit made from shorting the British Pounds that night from the net value of the second phase.

With the first phase at 100 million dollars and the second phase at one billion dollars, multiplying the earnings of the first phase by ten would essentially confirm the earnings of the second phase.

Though there might be variations due to the different timings of the two updates, they should not be far off.

Just after twelve noon, Wen Chao's office phone started ringing incessantly.

No sooner had he hung up, another call came through, continuing non-stop for a whole half hour.

The net value of the first phase spread quickly.

On the 25th of last month, the net worth was only 1.035, but this month it had more than doubled, reaching 2.224.

This also meant an earnings of 189 million dollars for the month.

Multiplying this figure by eleven amounted to 1.3079 billion dollars.

It confirmed that scooping up one billion dollars overnight was false.

It was actually 1.3 billion dollars, a bit more than a billion.

Upon receiving the news, most people stuck to the goal of making a fortune quietly. However, the Wall Street research institutes couldn't help wanting to know how much money Lu Liang had made from them by shorting the British Pounds that particular night.

On the international financial stage, even a penny drop was Wall Street's concern; whatever Lu Liang earned represented their loss.

There were threats and bribes, and inevitably someone couldn't help but disclose the net worth situation, with a current net value of 2.224 and an estimated profit of 1.3 billion dollars.

As soon as the news got out, Wall Street was in an uproar, posting several articles late into the night, severely criticizing Lu Liang, portraying him as a financial butcher.

He was blamed as the chief culprit for the twelve percent plunge of the British Pound, and the 46 million Britons should remember him as the one who devalued their wealth.

The news went round and round internationally and finally reached domestic shores.

"Incredible!"

"Financial butcher, kind of cool~"

"I remember Old Suo's peak record was about one billion dollars, right?"

"Just to add, he used over ten billion dollars at that time to make a billion."

"11 billion in principal to earn 13 billion, that's seriously fierce."

"It's not about being fierce, he's too ruthless, definitely used more than ten times leverage."

"With such a huge amount of money and such high leverage, Mr. Lu should really consider checking if he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy."

"Wow, 1.3 billion dollars, that's enough for everyone in the country to have two bottles of Coca-Cola."

Netizens were abuzz, all marveling at Lu Liang's strong heart; ordinary people would have had heart attacks playing like this.

Once again, a million people volunteered, hoping that Lu Liang wouldn't just lead the wealthy but also give them a chance.

Ever since he frequented foreign networks, Lu Liang, unexpectedly online on Weibo, responded, "Will consider."

The responded netizen widened their eyes in disbelief; they had actually been noticed by Lu Liang.

What surprised him even more was the implication of the statement; was Lu Liang considering involving himself in Public Funds?

Once the message was released, it rapidly climbed to the top of the trending searches.

Shortly after, even the Director Zhao of the Modu Human Resources Bureau called to inquire about the specifics.

They dared not invest in private equity, but public funds were different, being supervised and thus without concerns.

But the voice over the phone seemed a bit noisy, "Mr. Lu, is it inconvenient to talk on the phone right now?"

"Is it better now?" Lu Liang asked Little Wang to turn off the box music and went to the restroom to take the call.

"Mr. Lu, are you considering getting involved in public funds?" Director Zhao asked politely.

"I'm considering it," Lu Liang said with a smile.

"Mr. Lu, if you encounter any difficulties, just let us know, and we will assist you as much as possible to overcome them."

"Thank you in advance, Director Zhao."

"Then you carry on."

Lu Liang washed his face and walked out of the bathroom.

Little Wang was being hugged left and right, playing a silent game of poker with the girls.

Suddenly his phone rang. He picked it up, looked at it, and chuckled, "The gold content in these four characters of yours is really high."

Setting up a public fund meant that from now on, everything needed to be steady and sound, with little opportunity for speculation, which made some people anxious.

"A public fund is a public fund, and a private fund is a private fund," Lu Liang chuckled, feeling it was time to get back down to earth and get some real work done.

Setting up a public fund didn't mean he would give up on private funds. As long as there was an opportunity for speculation, he would still strike hard.

"You saying that puts my mind at ease."

Little Wang breathed a sigh of relief, inevitably curious, "Why the sudden interest in setting up a public fund? Are you playing at being a savior now?"

Lu Liang picked up his glass, took a sip, and laughed, "Do I look that noble?"

"Not really." Little Wang was brutally honest.

"That settles it then."

Lu Liang smiled, offering no further explanation.

The public fund was just for the service of the new energy industry ecosystem, while the private fund was a cash cow.

He wouldn't give up on either.

"Let's go, I'm going back to sleep."

Lu Liang said his goodbyes and was about to leave when Little Wang suddenly stopped him, "Zhuang Xiaoting is planning to come over, aren't you going to see her?"

They were spending the evening at someone else's bar, and hearing that Lu Liang was also present, she had come specially from home to join for a few drinks.

It seemed a bit inappropriate for Lu Liang to leave so suddenly.

"You're here, just tell her I had to leave for something."

Lu Liang chuckled, waved his hand, and didn't take a cloud with him.

Tomorrow, he was off to Beijing to help Douyin pull in investments, hoping to have a fighting chance before Watermelon Video launched.

After all, holding a 40% stake and being considered a co-founder, it would be embarrassing if Douyin died a terrible death.

The next morning,

Lu Liang boarded a ten o'clock flight to Beijing.

Douyin, which had been online for 80 days, had a registration count that had surpassed one million, and an average daily active users count over seven days of 78,000.

If it wasn't for the Damocles sword of Watermelon Video, even Douyin without Byte's backing could have been a company with promising market prospects.

The first round of financing was valued at ten million dollars,

out of which Lu Liang's presence probably accounted for 50%.

After all, it was his investment, however bad, they still had to save face. Shen Peng from Redwood, Zhu Hu from Golden Sand River, and Zhang Lei from Zhang Lei all showed up.

A dozen venture capital bigwigs from top-tier domestic firms were there just for the chance to fight over an investment quota of 1.5 million dollars - probably only Lu Liang had that kind of clout.

Yang Zhenyuan bowed deeply and passionately spoke about Douyin's future developments and the goals after the financing.

Zhu Hu glanced at Lu Liang, and asked with a grin, "Are you going to manage things? If you're not, I'll start playing for real."

By playing for real, he naturally meant giving a capital lash to the start-ups, pushing them to develop as hard as they could.

If they failed to meet the expected goals, they would have to return the invested capital along with the profits.

After all, with Byte's Watermelon Video about to launch, nobody really had high hopes for this emerging company.

"Whatever, I don't really care," Lu Liang said nonchalantly, signaling Old Zhu not to worry about saving his face and to just do whatever needed to be done.

In the crowd, he spotted a familiar figure and quickly approached, "Mr. Zhang, long time no see, how have you been?"

Zhang Yiming gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Thanks to Mr. Lu, work has been smooth and everything's going well."

"Mr. Zhang, don't be so stern. Who knows, we might have a chance to cooperate."

Lu Liang said softly, smiling, suggesting that while Douyin and the upcoming Watermelon were separate entities, they might not remain so indefinitely.

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He was somewhat pessimistic about Yang Zhenyuan's team because ByteDance's tech lineup was too powerful. So, changing his strategy, he planned to find an opportunity to set history back on its proper course.

Let Douyin return to the arms of Byte.

And naturally, he'd keep his slice of the pork, leaving a layer of grease and thus securing a stake in Byte.

Zhang Yiming was taken aback, glanced at Yang Zhenyuan on the stage, and squinting his eyes, asked, "Does Mr. Yang know?"

"Does it matter?" Lu Liang retorted with a smile.

Zhang Yiming was silent for a long while before sighing, "It doesn't matter."

Lu Liang held 40% of the shares, and the investors present had come merely to give him face. When the day came, Yang Zhenyuan's opinion wouldn't matter that much.