Chapter 101 Sanctions Lifted, Xinghai's Market Value Surpasses One Trillion Yuan

"Knock, knock." The muffled sound of knuckles rapping against glass had just faded.

Shen Qingqiu's fingers tightened abruptly around the wine glass, her fingertips turning pale.

She took a deep breath, her heaving chest rising and falling slightly.

"Flip Gates's dining table?" Her voice was very low, slightly raspy. "Lu Jingming, do you have any idea how much market share Microsoft occupies on the PC side?"

Lu Jingming didn't take the bait.

He turned around and pulled that one-dollar plastic lighter from his pocket.

He spun it between his fingers twice but didn't light it.

"Eighty percent or ninety percent? Who cares."

He pulled out a chair and sat down, his long legs crossed casually.

"The table is too steady; someone has to kick it to see how sturdy it really is."

Shen Qingqiu looked at the man in front of her, dressed in a faded black T-shirt.

She felt that he was either crazy or boundless in his arrogance.

Just as the two were speaking, it was broad daylight in Manhattan, New York, on the other side of the ocean.

The doors of the NASDAQ trading center had just opened, and hundreds of traders in red vests rushed into the hall like hungry wolves.

The air was thick with the smell of cheap coffee mixed with the pungent odor of sweat, making people's eyes sting.

"Quick! Switch to the over-the-counter trading panel!" A blonde trader roared at the top of his lungs, his spit spraying onto the display screen.

"The Department of Commerce's revocation notice is out! The blockade on Xinghai Technology has been completely lifted!"

The big screen flickered twice.

Several shadow stocks associated with Xinghai Technology's OEM business opened with a direct gap upward.

The red K-line chart was like a firework with a lit fuse, shooting a brutal straight line directly to the top of the screen.

"Buy! No matter the price, sweep everything for me!" The trading supervisor, anxious, slapped his subordinate on the back of the head, his eyes bloodshot.

"Xinghai's current unlisted valuation has already broken through eight hundred billion! And it's still rising!"

The sound of keyboards clacking was as dense as hail.

A fund manager wearing gold-rimmed glasses stared fixedly at the trading board, his breathing as labored as a bellows.

"What the hell! No one is selling! Everyone is holding onto their shares!"

He kicked the computer tower, leaving a black scuff mark on his leather shoe.

"Do these Chinese people know witchcraft? They've crushed all our short-selling institutions overnight!"

In the top-floor office of the Morgan Consortium, one of the top three on Wall Street, a set of expensive bone china tea sets lay shattered on the thick wool carpet.

Mr. Morgan's hand holding the cigar trembled, and ash fell all over his lap.

"That idiot John! He actually bowed his head and apologized!"

He gritted his teeth, making a strange creaking sound.

"Go check immediately! How deep is the capital behind Xinghai Technology!"

In just half an hour, all of Xinghai Technology's shadow stocks hit the daily limit.

The overall valuation of Xinghai in the off-market, across various algorithms, jumped frantically.

Nine hundred billion.

Nine hundred and fifty billion.

Finally, it nailed itself firmly to the one-trillion mark, the number glowing a blinding red.

The news traveled back to the country in a second via undersea cables.

Late at night, the Weibo server crashed instantly.

Programmers were dragged out of their warm beds to install memory sticks into the servers overnight to expand capacity.

The top ten trending searches were all filled with dark red "explosive" tags.

#Xinghai Sanctions Lifted#

#US Department of Commerce Posts Apology Online#

#Xinghai Valuation Breaks Trillion#

The editorial offices of major financial media were brightly lit, with keyboards clattering loudly.

The editor-in-chief, clutching a freshly brewed cup of strong tea, roared at the reporters below.

"Retract the draft! Get rid of that waste of paper on the front page about Microsoft's financial report!"

He was so excited he slapped the table, tea splashing onto the reports.

"Replace the whole page with Xinghai! Increase and bold the headline font, write 'The Eastern Tech Giant Awakens'!"

Xinghai Technology Park.

A dim lightbulb was lit in the security room, and cold wind poured in through the door cracks.

Old Zhou was wrapped in a military overcoat, huddled on a folding stool.

He held an enamel tea mug in his hands, with a few pieces of porcelain chipped off the lid, revealing the black base.

On the table nearby, a broken radio was playing the midnight news from the financial channel.

"According to the latest flash news from Wall Street, our country's enterprise Xinghai Technology..."

The female broadcaster's voice was a bit shaky; she had clearly just received the script.

"Its off-market valuation has officially broken through the one-trillion mark, becoming the first in the country..."

Old Zhou's hand holding the tea mug froze.

He opened his mouth, his eyes dazed.

"Clatter."

His upper set of removable dentures fell right out.

It landed squarely inside the steaming tea mug.

A few drops of boiling tea splashed onto the back of his hand.

Old Zhou shuddered violently, sucking in a breath of cold air from the burn.

"Good heavens..."

He didn't care about the burn and reached out to fish out the dentures, his fingers trembling.

"One trillion? How many courtyard houses in Yanjing could that buy!"

He wiped the dentures messily with his sleeve and shoved them back into his mouth.

He turned his head to look at the lights still shining on the top floor of the building, his cloudy eyes welling up with tears.

"Mr. Lu has really poked a hole in the sky this time."

The top-floor private room of a hotel in Donghai City.

The light from the crystal chandelier shone on the leftovers on the table.

Old Li had already passed out from drinking, lie on the corner of the table, snoring loudly.

Dazhuang was hugging an empty wine bottle, mumbling drunken words that no one could understand.

Shen Qingqiu put down her wine glass, her gaze fixed sharply on Lu Jingming.

"Since the market value has reached a trillion, a whole bunch of wolves and tigers will definitely be eyeing this piece of fat meat."

She adjusted her glasses, the sharp edge of a female business warrior flashing behind the lenses.

"Those institutions on Wall Street are bullies who pick on the weak."

"Sanctions couldn't suppress you, so the next step will definitely be to smash you with US dollars."

Lu Jingming twitched the corner of his mouth, revealing a sharp canine tooth.

"Smash with money? The thing I lack the least right now is..."

Before he could finish, there was a loud "bang."

The heavy solid wood door of the private room was slammed open by a brute force.

Wood shavings fell from the hinges.

Chu Xuan stumbled in.

He tripped and nearly fell onto the carpet.

His usually meticulously combed center-part hair was now a mess like a bird's nest.

That flashy floral tie was twisted all the way to the back of his head, looking utterly ridiculous.

"Lu, Mr. Lu!"

Chu Xuan panted heavily, his chest heaving violently.

He clutched a crumpled tissue in his hand, wiping the grease and sweat off his face haphazardly.

"Something huge happened!"

Shen Qingqiu frowned, her cold, sharp gaze sweeping over him.

"What are you panicking about? Straighten out your tongue and speak."

Chu Xuan swallowed, his throat dry as smoke.

He dashed to the table in a few steps, picked up half a glass of boiled water, and drank it in one gulp.

"Those top venture capital firms on Wall Street, they've all gone crazy!"

He held the empty glass, his hand shaking so much that the bottom of the glass kept knocking against the table.

"Sequoia, Blackstone, and representatives from the Morgan Consortium!"

Chu Xuan's eyes were wide as saucers.

"Mr. Lu! The phones of those Wall Street VC firms have smoked out our front desk!"

He panted, pointing toward the door.

"They say as long as you are willing to release one-thousandth of the shares, you can name your price, and they will wire the US dollars overnight!"

The private room was quiet for two seconds.

Only the faint "whooshing" sound from the air conditioner could be heard.

Shen Qingqiu turned to look at Lu Jingming.

The sugar-coated bullets of capital had arrived; this was the most difficult open conspiracy to defend against.

Lu Jingming sat in the chair, not moving.

He reached into his pocket and took out the plastic lighter.

His thumb pressed on the grinding wheel.

"Click," a flame flickered out.

The ghostly blue flame illuminated the disdainful coldness in his eyes.

"Tell them, I won't sell a single share of Xinghai, not even to a dog."