Chapter Sixteen: When My Prospective Father-in-Law Tried to Break Us Apart, I Turned Him into a Billion-Dollar Investor

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Liu Zhe had originally assumed that even though Yan Fei was an ordinary social elite, he would appear somewhat reserved in his presence. That was why the top-tier club owned by the Liu family—one of the best clubs in Shen City—was chosen to receive Yan Fei, to give him a warning and make him understand the rules of social hierarchy.

After the first round of interaction, Yan Fei showed no trace of fear. Instead, he was poised and dignified, like a prince dressed in simple cloth standing in a palace without any sign of timidity, looking utterly natural.

Gazing deeply at Yan Fei, Liu Zhe spoke in a low voice, “My daughter’s intelligence needs no elaboration. Since you are a reasonable man, return the fifteen million yuan she lent you, and then leave her alone.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Fei pondered briefly before replying, “Mr. Liu, rest assured, not only will I repay the fifteen million yuan borrowed from my junior sister, I will also pay interest far exceeding the market rate, and it won’t take longer than a month.”

“Heh…” Liu Zhe sneered coldly and said lightly, “With what will you repay? Given your current unemployed state, hiding out in the urban village, I see no hope whatsoever. Young man, don’t be unrealistic. If I were you, I’d accept Professor Chen An’s invitation to study finance diligently. The future might still hold promise for you to become a great figure. Take a chance on a bright future.”

Listening to Liu Zhe’s words, Yan Fei found himself somewhat agreeing. In his previous life, this path would certainly have been the right one to take. But now, Yan Fei was no longer the same as before.

After a brief silence, Yan Fei pulled out an investment contract saved on his phone and handed it to Liu Zhe, saying gravely, “This is an investment contract for Dianping, twenty million US dollars for a 20% stake. With your experience, Mr. Liu, you should be able to distinguish its authenticity.”

Liu Zhe read through the contract, his face showing some shock. He knew of Dianping, a company backed by two world-renowned giants, Red Shirt China and Google. The fact that Yan Fei had invested in this company and become the second-largest shareholder after Zhang Tao stunned him greatly.

From Liu Zhe’s investigation, Yan Fei was just a scholarly elite from a humble background, barely possessing a few tens of thousands of yuan. How could he be connected to such a major company as second-largest shareholder of Dianping?

After a moment of silence, Liu Zhe made a call to a business acquaintance to verify the truth within the industry, then looked seriously at Yan Fei. “It seems I have underestimated you. But I’m curious, where did you get twenty million US dollars from?”

Yan Fei smiled calmly, “I don’t have twenty million US dollars, but I think that’s not a big problem.”

Liu Zhe’s expression froze for a moment before he burst into hearty laughter. “Interesting, truly interesting!” From Yan Fei’s face, Liu Zhe sensed that he genuinely believed this was a minor issue.

To Liu Zhe, whether it was misplaced confidence or reckless audacity, possessing such fearless courage was a rare and precious business talent. If given the chance, this young man could surely achieve great success.

After stopping his laughter, Liu Zhe looked at Yan Fei and asked, “Though Dianping has investments from Red Shirt and Google, due to the financial crisis, its cash flow is probably not looking good. Such internet companies live or die in an instant without a solid cash flow. Why do you think it’s worth investing in?”

Yan Fei smiled and replied, “First, Mr. Liu, let me ask you a question: How large is China’s catering industry? And how large is the retail daily goods industry?”

Liu Zhe’s expression turned serious, “Both the catering and retail industries are in the trillions of yuan scale, but Dianping is unlikely to gain any significant market share from these two sectors.”

“I don’t think so,” Yan Fei said firmly. “Offline retail is currently dominated by Suning, GOME, Carrefour, and other big malls, while online is ruled by Alibaba and JD.com. But I believe Dianping’s group-buying model will carve a path through the competition and gain a significant market share. Within ten years, its valuation will surely reach the scale of tens of billions of US dollars.”

Shaking his head, Liu Zhe said seriously, “Since you know the current layout of retail and catering, do you think Alibaba and JD.com won’t follow the group-buying model? Not to mention Suning, GOME, and the numerous supermarkets all advancing online channels. And Dianping has countless competitors. On what basis do you believe Dianping won’t perish in this fierce competition?”

Liu Zhe’s meaning was clear: Dianping was surrounded by countless rivals, with giants entering the fray to crush the market. Dianping would inevitably lose against these giants and die out sooner or later.

From the future’s perspective, Liu Zhe was right—the market was indeed absorbed by the giants. But Yan Fei dared to take on this market because he had his trump card. Calmly, he said, “Mr. Liu, your vision is sharp and clear. Markets always change, and I have a plan for venturing into this market.”

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Seeing this, Liu Zhe thought Yan Fei was just reckless and naïve; his interest quickly faded, and he was ready to warn Yan Fei to stay away from Liu Suxin. But then Yan Fei solemnly said, “Mr. Liu, I want to discuss a deal with you. Are you interested?”

Liu Zhe, with little enthusiasm, restrained his emotions and decided to waste a few minutes, replying calmly, “Go ahead. You have three minutes.”

Yan Fei smiled, “I’m a trading prodigy. Mr. Liu, please look—this is my trading record turning $140,000 into $4.5 million. If you’re willing to invest some money with me, we’ll split the profits 30-70.”

Liu Zhe looked at the trading account on the laptop Yan Fei handed him, showing a hint of shock. Then he looked seriously at Yan Fei and said, “You don’t think a momentary streak of luck is your true capability, do you? Even if you gave me 70%, I’m not convinced, since you don’t have the capital to bear losses.”

“Mr. Liu, you misunderstood,” Yan Fei smiled lightly. “I meant 70% for me and 30% for you.”

Liu Zhe’s expression turned icy cold, and with anger mixed with laughter, he said, “Very well, young man, you are truly becoming more interesting. Tell me, where does your confidence come from?”

Yan Fei opened his A-share futures account and pushed it toward Liu Zhe, smiling, “I shorted the CSI 300 Index at 3530.24 with 27.9595 million yuan margin. On Friday, the CSI 300 closed at 3344.46. My account’s unrealized profit is over 9.8 million yuan, and I believe the index will continue to fall.”

Liu Zhe looked at the CSI 300 chart with a cold expression. “I admit your courage is great. But the CSI 300 looks bottomed out to me; I don’t see room for further decline. I’m not optimistic about this gambler’s behavior.”

Yan Fei shook his head with a confident smile, “Not at all. I believe the CSI 300 will only bottom out near 2795. Mr. Liu, are you interested in a bet? If I’m right, we split the profits 70-30.”

“Heh!” Liu Zhe smiled lightly, “Interesting. I’m willing to take your bet. But how do you guarantee the safety of my principal?”

Seeing Liu Zhe was swayed, Yan Fei confidently smiled, “Mr. Liu, if you invest with me, I promise any losses will come from my capital first. If my capital loses over 50%, you can close the position at any time and take your principal back.”

After a moment of thought, Liu Zhe tapped the table, then picked up his phone. Once connected, he said, “Prepare an investment contract...”

Hearing Liu Zhe’s call, Yan Fei’s tense heart finally relaxed. He felt even more confident about making twenty million US dollars in the short term, and many business plans could now be set in motion.

Soon, a young man entered with the completed investment agreement. Liu Zhe glanced at it briefly before handing it to Yan Fei, saying calmly, “I’ll invest one hundred million yuan in you. The funds will be transferred today. If you have the courage, sign it. But this is a one-time opportunity. If you lose, disappear entirely from my daughter’s world. Never appear again.”

Yan Fei smiled confidently, took the pen, signed his name, and pressed his seal. Liu Zhe put away the contract and immediately called the company’s finance department to transfer 100 million yuan into Yan Fei’s personal account.

With the contract in hand, Yan Fei happily left the club. Liu Zhe stood by the window, watching Yan Fei’s retreating figure, feeling uneasy. He had intended to push Yan Fei away from his daughter but unexpectedly ended up investing 100 million yuan in him.

With this 100 million yuan, Yan Fei had no plans to touch the more than one million US dollars in his overseas account. Returning home, he picked up a pen and began calculating. He quickly formulated an investment plan: he would continue to invest 30 million yuan in CSI 300 index futures, while the remaining 85 million yuan would be invested entirely in copper futures contract 0911.

The next day, after breakfast, Yan Fei watched the CSI 300 index market closely. At 9:30 a.m., the index opened at 3283.44, down 61.02 points from the previous day’s close—a drop of 1.82%, a sharp downward start.

Seeing the opening price, Yan Fei did not immediately short the market. He sensed that after such a steep gap down, the bulls would surely counterattack, possibly pushing the price back to around 3310.

As Yan Fei expected, the bulls launched a furious assault. Dozens of small orders totaling hundreds of contracts and several large orders of hundreds of contracts surged in like beasts unleashed, voraciously devouring the short positions above.

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Amid this bullish onslaught, the CSI 300 quickly rebounded, breaking above the 3300 mark within two minutes and continuing upward, narrowing the decline to less than 1%.

Countless waiting retail and institutional investors saw the strong bullish momentum and quickly followed by buying long positions, driving the index higher. The entire market signaled a strong rebound, convincing everyone watching that the decline had bottomed and a rally was starting.

Yan Fei stared intently at the market. When the index climbed to 3315, he unleashed his 30 million yuan short position like a tiger descending the mountain, dumping a large order of 201 contracts.

This sudden move doused the fervent bulls with cold water, causing many retail investors to hesitate and stall their orders.

Seizing this moment of hesitation, the shorts quickly followed with several large orders of two to three hundred contracts, trying to push the index down further.

The bulls reacted instantly, releasing chips rapidly to consume over a thousand short contracts and continued to lift the CSI 300 index.

Nearly two thousand long contracts surged out, pushing the index up to 3319.80. But then the short sellers unleashed a massive 3,000-contract order, sweeping away the bullish orders below and driving the index sharply down to 3298.68.

This thunderous strike not only broke below the psychologically important 3300 level but also shattered the bulls’ resistance. The index lost control and resumed its decline. Countless investors followed by selling off, switching to shorts, increasing bearish pressure and accelerating the fall of the CSI 300 index.

The entire day passed with no meaningful bullish resistance. At the 3 p.m. close, the index fell to 3140.27, down 6.11% on the day, leaving a huge green candle on the chart.

Back at 9:35 a.m., Yan Fei had fully executed his 30 million yuan short position of 201 contracts at an average price of 3315.28. After watching the market for a few more minutes, he felt certain today would be a big down day and closed the CSI 300 index chart.

He then opened the copper futures market, noting the opening price was 48,000 yuan per ton, a massive gap down. For a full 35 minutes, the market showed no meaningful rebound, oscillating between 47,900 and 48,000 yuan per ton.

Yan Fei was somewhat puzzled, sensing that copper prices might remain range-bound today, leaving no room for speculation.

After some thought, Yan Fei decided to go against the trend and go long, reasoning that the heavy drop today would lead to a rebound tomorrow. Although he believed copper prices would eventually decline, it didn’t preclude a short-term bounce.

Watching the market for a few more minutes, Yan Fei no longer hesitated. He placed a long order of 3,600 contracts at the limit down price of 47,150 yuan per ton, using 10% margin, to test the market’s reaction.

Upon his order’s appearance, copper prices immediately rebounded from 47,800 to 47,820 yuan, with many long orders stacking on top of the limit-down orders as support.

Seeing the market’s response, Yan Fei smirked inwardly, growing more confident in his judgment. He promptly withdrew his pending order and aggressively bought up short contracts at 47,820, investing the entire 85 million yuan into long positions, pushing the price further up to 47,900 yuan per ton.

Within three minutes, all 3,600 contracts were filled at an average price of 47,800 yuan per ton. As Yan Fei predicted, the market oscillated near 47,800 for the rest of the day and closed at 47,792.

Looking at the slight unrealized loss in his account, Yan Fei breathed a sigh of relief. Today’s copper price action had once again confirmed his forecast. He was now almost certain of a strong open and upward movement tomorrow.