The 1987 Hong Kong stock market crash wasn’t as severe as the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

However, Hong Kong’s stock market had been performing well since the Sino-British Joint Declaration, making the ’87 crash unexpected—trapping Xia Ziyu in the stock market. That would be several months earlier than the Hainan Island plan.

Thinking about the 1987 Hong Kong stock market crash reminded Xia Xiaolan of the 1987 U.S. stock market plunge, which triggered Hong Kong’s crash.

Memories are interconnected. Xia Xiaolan hadn’t thought about it before—1987 was such a special year. She had been focused on making money honestly and had forgotten about this opportunity.

Xia Xiaolan thought it was time to consider this option.

She worried that Du Chengrong would provide funds to Xia Ziyu.

Having Xia Ziyu lose just ten million Hong Kong dollars wouldn’t be a harsh enough lesson—but what if she took major short positions before the crash and lured Xia Ziyu into competing with her?

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t decide whether to trap Xia Ziyu using the Hainan real estate bubble or the Hong Kong stock market crash.

Both had their pros and cons, making it quite a dilemma.

But Xia Xiaolan was certain about one thing: this was an opportunity to make big money. Compared to the 1987 Hong Kong stock market crash, the profits from trading government bonds were mere pocket change.

Should she take this money or not?

Xia Xiaolan hesitated and struggled with the decision.

Du Zhaohui watched Xia Xiaolan’s expression with both delight and slight fear.

When Xia Xiaolan showed this expression, someone was bound to suffer… but since it wouldn’t be him, what was there to fear?

Du Zhaohui interrupted Xia Xiaolan’s contemplation:

“I had someone investigate. Yu Shihua is indeed my mother’s friend. They attended the same middle school, the same grade but different classes, often going to and from school together. When I met with Yu Shihua, she wouldn’t discuss the 20% matter, instead playing dumb and reminiscing about old times!”

Du Zhaohui strongly disliked people playing the sentiment card with him.

He had dated many women, and some tried to be clever, claiming they weren’t after his money but purely liked him as a person. Du Zhaohui didn’t believe a word of it.

He had many good qualities, and being handsome was one of them—plus he was rich!

Among all his qualities, the most dazzling was his wealth. Anyone who claimed to like him but not his money was just splitting hairs.

Fake!

Why talk about feelings when they could straightforwardly discuss benefits?

To Du Zhaohui now, Yu Shihua was just like those “girlfriends” who claimed not to love his money. He and Yu Shihua didn’t have much-shared history to reminisce about—when he was fighting alone against the Du family, Yu Shihua hadn’t helped him!

Only Xia Xiaolan had helped him.

Taking 10 million Hong Kong dollars at face value—this kind of help made Du Zhaohui feel secure.

He couldn’t help running his hand through his hair, but instead of feeling his sleek locks, he only felt short stubble, which irritated him:

“Why did you insist on letting Xia Ziyu and Du Jiaji know about the 50 million loan?”

Xia Xiaolan snapped back to reality, “Are you stupid? To fish, you need to put the bait in front of the fish. How else will they take the hook?”

Though this bait was originally meant for Hainan Island.

Learning that Xia Ziyu was playing the stock market made Xia Xiaolan waver!

The 1987 Hong Kong stock market crash, the so-called “Black Monday”—which day was it again? Let her think carefully.

Seemed like it was in October.

The U.S. Dow Jones Index fell first, but Hong Kong didn’t take it seriously. A week later, it affected the Hong Kong market.

So when did the U.S. Dow Jones Index start falling?

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t remember the exact date.

She vaguely recalled that in early October, the U.S. House of Representatives proposed a bill to tax corporate mergers and acquisitions… The U.S. was a major market for mergers and acquisitions, and this bill meant many tax benefits for corporate restructuring would be eliminated, plus stricter legal regulations on capital market mergers and reorganizations.

The benefits were gone.

Regulations became stricter.

No more advantages to gain, no loopholes to exploit. With merger funding mainly coming from corporate bonds, this bill was poison for many U.S. companies.

The U.S. government also decided to raise interest rates to support the dollar’s value.

Ha! These two stimuli broke companies’ financial balance. In just one day, many U.S. companies’ stock prices began falling—this was the beginning of the 1987 U.S. stock market crash!

Xia Xiaolan remembered now and had cleared her thoughts.

The U.S. stock crash came first, followed by Hong Kong’s crash. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t remember the exact day—she just needed to have someone monitor the U.S., watching for when the House proposed the merger and acquisition tax bill!

Setting aside whether to trap Xia Ziyu, Xia Xiaolan decided to profit from this Hong Kong stock market crash.

This was different from the 1997 financial storm. In 1997, international financial predators targeted Hong Kong—anyone who joined them in harvesting Hong Kong stocks was profiting from the national disaster… Xia Xiaolan certainly wouldn’t dare. As a Chinese person, why would she work against her country?

Just like inflating Hainan land prices to 6 million per mu before selling—that deserved punishment.

The ’87 Hong Kong crash was different.

Hong Kong hadn’t returned to China yet, and Xia Xiaolan felt completely safe after careful consideration!

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t help smiling and patted Du Zhaohui’s shoulder: “The agreement to repay your 50 million with 100 million next year remains unchanged. Du Zhaohui, do you have any other money? How about I help you make some pocket money in the stock market?”

Why did she casually pat his shoulder?

He might get the wrong idea.

Xia Xiaolan withdrew her hand, while Du Zhaohui wished she had patted him more.

After a while, he processed what Xia Xiaolan had said.

“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t touch the stock market?”

When he was competing with Du Jiaji for that 5% shareholding, Xia Xiaolan had said stock market profits were illusory and meaningless.

“Last year and this year are different. I’m not used to making money from the stock market, it’s not my expertise, that’s why I said it’s just helping you make some pocket money. Stop the idle talk—are you in or not?”

Of course, he was in!

Although the 50 million yuan had nearly drained Du Zhaohui’s resources, when Xia Xiaolan asked if he could raise more money, he had to nod even through gritted teeth.

This was truly a sweet burden. Thinking about making money with Xia Xiaolan again, Du Zhaohui felt the sweetness outweighed the pain.

The allure of money and Xia Xiaolan’s charm were intertwined, equally inseparable.

Xia Xiaolan thought, since they were playing, why not play big?

Among the wealthy people she knew, besides Du Zhaohui, there was Tang Yuanyue. No, that wouldn’t work—Tang Yuanyue’s future wife was the jealous type, so better stay away.

There was also Harold… never mind, the Wilson family’s wealth didn’t need her mosquito-leg contribution.

After thinking it through, there was still Huo Chenzhou.

Although Huo Chenzhou’s money wasn’t his, he could get funds from Dongfeng Holdings. Xia Xiaolan wanted to ask his opinion.

As for who would handle the actual operations in Hong Kong, Xia Xiaolan had someone in mind—Ji Jiangyuan would be perfect. As an economics major, experiencing the ’87 Hong Kong stock market crash firsthand would be an excellent practical opportunity!