Xia Xiaolan looked at Bai Zhenzhu in surprise.

“Sister Zhenzhu, your financial resources are even more substantial than I thought. Come on, let’s not be so serious. If we can gather this 10 million, great. If not, it’s no problem…”

100 million was the capital.

Would 98 million or 95 million not count as capital?

Xia Xiaolan wanted to give her friends some spending money. Those willing to invest with her would have the chance to receive it. If they weren’t willing, that would be fine too—Xia Xiaolan wasn’t afraid of these friends running bigger businesses than her. Having just one friend flourishing among the group wasn’t interesting. When facing business troubles, how could they help each other if everyone was broke? They couldn’t!

So, it would be better if everyone was financially comfortable.

If she were borrowing money today, Bai Zhenzhu’s immediate offer of 4 million could help ease her urgent needs.

“Of course, I’ll contribute. I can put in 4 million too!” Chen Xiliang quickly declared.

Where did his 4 million come from? It was from Luna’s dividends over the past two years, plus profits from Chen Xiliang’s wholesale business. The TV drama production went through Luna’s corporate account, not touching Chen Xiliang’s money—that sum was originally a bank loan intended for buying Elegance. After Yu Shihua snatched Elegance, the loan money couldn’t sit idle, so Xia Xiaolan decided to invest it in TV drama production.

Chen Xiliang had earned considerable money these past two years, with few major expenses. Perhaps his most extravagant purchase was buying two apartments in ‘Luohu Tiancheng.’

His promise to contribute 4 million would likely require scraping together his savings and drawing from his reserves.

While Chen Xiliang was being generous, Kang Wei disagreed.

“You two are taking the major shares, not leaving much for me. How about this: Brother Chen and Zhenzhu, step back a bit, each contributes 3.5 million, leaving 3 million for me and Guangrong. I’ll put in 2 million, letting Guangrong contribute 1 million.”

Shao Guangrong couldn’t possibly come up with 1 million.

Besides his building materials store, he had no other income sources, being a salaried civil servant. Moreover, his share in the building materials store had been reduced to 4%.

Kang Wei speaking up for him meant he intended to cover the 1 million, just like when he previously lent money for the building materials store investment… But Shao Guangrong wasn’t thick-skinned enough to accept such a large favor from Kang Wei:

“How about this: Kang, you put in 2.6 million, and I’ll try my best for the remaining 400,000.”

400,000 was Shao Guangrong’s absolute limit.

With his accumulated dividends from the building materials store only amounting to around 100,000, and needing to maintain a modest appearance at his workplace—he’d even given up riding motorcycles—he didn’t have many expenses… He desperately wanted to spend money on Little You, but she wouldn’t allow it, so Shao Guangrong’s dividends, after repaying Kang Wei’s principal, were mostly saved up.

Of course, having 100,000 still left him 300,000 short of 400,000.

Shao Guangrong calculated that if he scraped together savings from all his family relatives—his parents, his uncle, and other members of the Shao family—surely they could gather over 100,000.

That would still leave him over 100,000 short.

He’d need to think of other ways.

400,000 was a number Shao Guangrong felt somewhat confident about.

Kang Wei didn’t argue with Shao Guangrong on the spot—forcefully covering for him would only make Shao Guangrong lose face!

Xia Xiaolan realized these people probably thought she was borrowing money.

“Hey, hey, hey, everyone listen to me. Whether we get this 10 million or not doesn’t matter. The premise of you raising money for me is that it shouldn’t affect your business cash flow. If that’s the case, I’d rather not take the money!”

Making money in the stock market was a one-time deal, while Chen Xiliang and others’ businesses were gradually getting on track—that was everyone’s foundation for long-term development.

Xia Xiaolan believed it wouldn’t be worth compromising their business operations for this speculation.

Bai Zhenzhu said it wouldn’t affect anything.

The other three agreed it wouldn’t affect them.

The shares were thus determined: Chen Xiliang contributing 3.5 million, Bai Zhenzhu 3.5 million, Kang Wei 2.6 million, and Shao Guangrong 400,000, to be gathered within a week and handed to Xia Xiaolan.

With everyone’s contributions settled, Xia Xiaolan naturally had to clarify the risks.

She briefly explained her plan, emphasizing this wasn’t a loan but an “investment”:

“Investments can bring profits or losses. We’re all friends, and I don’t want this money to ruin our friendship. I believe we’ll profit, but what if we lose? If you feel you can’t bear the loss, just forget what I said earlier. We don’t need to mention the money again—it won’t affect our friendship!”

She thought she could help her friends make some money.

But what if things didn’t go well and they didn’t profit?

Any investment carries risk. Ten years later, Soros would borrow 120 billion to short the Hong Kong dollar, with other speculators following in his wake to get a piece of the action. These sharks would bring down several Southeast Asian countries, thinking Hong Kong couldn’t withstand the impact—originally the Hang Seng Index was over 16,000 points before Soros’s attack, but Soros and his followers spent a year hammering it down to just over 6,000 points. Hong Kong investors were devastated, believing Hong Kong would share the fate of the collapsed Southeast Asian countries, holding no hope for the Hong Kong government’s market rescue.

But Hong Kong had just returned to China then.

Could the Chinese government watch Hong Kong fall?

The Chinese government couldn’t lose face—having just reclaimed Hong Kong from Britain, how could they allow Hong Kong’s economy to collapse… The Chinese government definitely wouldn’t tolerate that!

Some said the Chinese government mobilized foreign exchange reserves to enter the market.

Others said the Chinese government’s foreign exchange reserves weren’t even used—just standing behind the Hong Kong local government gave them enormous support and confidence. Anyway, the Hong Kong government ultimately succeeded in saving the market, Soros was defeated, and although Hong Kong people suffered heavy losses in this financial war, with countless people becoming negative equity holders—it was still far better than Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries!

Xia Xiaolan didn’t think she was more brilliant than Soros ten years later, who could sweep through Southeast Asia.

Even someone so formidable had misjudged sometimes, not gaining the expected returns in Hong Kong. With her foreknowledge, Xia Xiaolan still couldn’t make guarantees.

Anything she did would cause unpredictable chain reactions.

If the Hang Seng Index didn’t crash in October because of her one hundred million capital movement, and Xia Xiaolan needed to short… Well, the possibility of losing money was low, just that the profits might be smaller. The Hang Seng Index would fall, it was just a question of how much.

Xia Xiaolan stated the worst-case scenario upfront to give Bai Zhenzhu and others mental preparation.

Her willingness to help them make money was one thing, but she couldn’t guarantee profits every time. If they lost money, everyone would have to bear their losses. If they blamed her because they couldn’t afford to lose, Xia Xiaolan, not being particularly good-tempered, would confront them!

3.5 million.

It could only occupy 3.5% of the shares. Chen Xiliang swallowed hard—didn’t this mean Miss Xia had one hundred million in her account?

How many zeros were in one hundred million?

Chen Xiliang, whose assets weren’t even ten million, counted on his fingers and became parched:

“…I’m not afraid of losing.”