Chapter 66: President Ma Comes for the Debt, Reward [Stamina-Enhancing Fluid]

Hua Jun immediately contacted the shareholders of Yihua Entertainment to find out who was shorting the company's stock.

Yihua Entertainment operated somewhat like a family business. Hua Jun’s family collectively held a 53.5% stake. The second-largest shareholder was Alibaba Investment Company with 3.47%, the third was Mr. Ma of Alibaba with 2.7%, and the fourth was Tencent Technology with 1%. The remaining shares were held by various executives and funds, each holding less than 1%.

Hua Jun called Mr. Ma first and asked bluntly, "Mr. Ma, did you sell our company's stock?"

Mr. Ma immediately replied, "I was just about to call and ask you the same thing. What on earth is going on? Why has Yihua Entertainment's stock price suddenly plummeted? It's on the verge of hitting the limit-down. Are there any negative news reports about to drop?"

"There's no negative news! At most, there was a minor controversy over Huo Bing endorsing a diet pill, but that's not enough to affect the stock price. Mr. Ma, you have extensive connections. Could you help me look into what's happening?" Hua Jun replied.

Since the shares were bought with real money, Mr. Ma couldn't just ignore the situation.

After hanging up, Mr. Ma immediately contacted several brokerage executives to find out who was dumping Yihua Entertainment stock.

Through these inquiries, Mr. Ma learned the truth: Sihai Investment was shorting Yihua Entertainment.

Mr. Ma immediately called Hua Jun back and asked, "What kind of grievance do you have with the Sihai Group? It's Sihai Investment that's shorting Yihua Entertainment's stock."

"It's him! I should have guessed it was him! Damn it, he beat up my family and now he's shorting our stock. He is way too arrogant!" Hua Jun said angrily.

"What happened? Tell me about it," Mr. Ma said.

Hua Jun glossed over the details, mentioning only that Yang Chen had beaten up his family while deliberately omitting their own provocation. He portrayed Yang Chen as a scoundrel relying on a wealthy creditor for backing.

After hanging up, Mr. Ma called Yang Chen directly.

"Ha-ha-ha... Chairman Yang, busy?" Mr. Ma said with a smile.

"Is Mr. Ma calling to inquire about my shorting of Yihua Entertainment?" Yang Chen asked straight to the point.

Mr. Ma laughed heartily and said, "Personally and through Alibaba Investment, I hold over 6% of Yihua Entertainment's shares. Your shorting is causing us heavy losses. You can settle your personal grievances privately; there's no need to drag others down with you."

"Then you should sell your shares quickly, because I intend to short Yihua Entertainment all the way down to a delisting at face value," Yang Chen replied candidly.

Mr. Ma took a deep breath, let it out heavily, and said, "Since Chairman Yang has capital to invest, shouldn't you settle our debt first?"

Fifteen years ago, riding the wave of the Olympic Games and aiming for diversified development, the Sihai Group established the Sihai Sports Division, creating football, basketball, and table tennis teams.

Wang Sihai had been exceptionally generous with funding for the sports division, spending heavily to sign well-known coaches and athletes.

However, sports success couldn't be bought with money alone, and in the end, only the Sihai Football Team managed to develop successfully.

To foster better growth for the football team, Wang Sihai cut the other sports programs and concentrated resources solely on football.

To sign world-class managers and bring in more foreign players, the Sihai Football Team sought external financing.

At the time, Wang Sihai was extremely confident in the team and made a performance promise to investors: the Sihai Football Team would secure at least three league titles and one AFC Champions League title within the next five years. If he failed to deliver these results, he would return the investors' principal along with interest at the prevailing bank rate.

Ultimately, Alibaba invested a staggering 2 billion in exchange for a 40% stake, another 9% was distributed among several other investors, and Sihai Sports retained a 51% controlling stake.

Unfortunately, the football team failed to achieve the promised results, and these investments transformed into debts owed by Sihai Sports.

Wang Sihai had repaid the other investors, but Alibaba's 2 billion remained unpaid. With principal and interest combined, the debt now exceeded 3 billion.

Ha-ha...

A debt collection?

To Yang Chen, this wasn't a threat; it was a reward.

Yang Chen immediately refused, saying, "The funds of Sihai Investment have nothing to do with Sihai Sports. The debts of two independently operated subsidiaries are not interchangeable, and Mr. Ma understands that better than I do. Sihai Sports can't even afford to pay its coaches and players right now; where would we get billions to pay you back?"

At that moment, the system notification chimed.

"The host has refused to repay the debt to Alibaba. The system rewards the host with the formula and manufacturing process for the [Enhanced Stamina Liquid]."

Yang Chen felt a slight movement in his pocket and subsequently pulled out a USB flash drive.

Mr. Ma chuckled and said, "Chairman Yang, don't try to brush me off. As long as you are willing to pay, with a little financial maneuvering, the money from Sihai Investment can be turned into the money of Sihai Sports. I can temporarily hold off on demanding this money from Chairman Yang, but you must immediately stop shorting Yihua Entertainment's stock. Do me this favor, deal?"

Yang Chen replied with a smile, "Let me put it this way, Mr. Ma: unless I am dead, Yihua Entertainment will be delisted. There is no room for negotiation. If Mr. Ma has the ability, come and finish me off; otherwise, don't bring this up again. I have things to do, goodbye."

Those four assassins were connected to GRM and Hua Jun, which meant they all had to die.

The other party had tried to kill him; if he could just let that go and reconcile, would Yang Chen still be a man?

Mr. Ma pondered for a long time before making a call to order the immediate liquidation of all his Yihua Entertainment shares, leaving not a single one behind.

With Yihua Entertainment's stock price already down by 15%, Mr. Ma's massive sell-off instantly drove the price straight down to the limit-down floor.

Mr. Ma was a decisive man. Since he couldn't control Yang Chen and couldn't persuade him, his only option was to sever ties with Yihua Entertainment immediately.

Looking at the 20% plunge, Hua Jun completely panicked.

Hua Jun called Mr. Ma again, only to discover he had been blocked.

Left with no other choice, Hua Jun called Yang Chen directly.

"What on earth is your game? Why are you shorting Yihua Entertainment's stock?" Hua Jun demanded.

"You teamed up with GRM Chairman Park Jung-gook to hire assassins to take me out. Did you really think I wouldn't find out?" Yang Chen countered.

"You... stop talking nonsense. How could I ever do such a thing? Do you have proof?" Hua Jun asked, his conscience making him nervous.

Yang Chen smiled and said, "You and I both know the truth. Let's skip the nonsense."

Yang Chen hung up immediately and blocked Hua Jun's number as well.

Furious, Hua Jun immediately called GRM Chairman Park Jung-gook.

"Didn't you say the four guys you hired were professional assassins who would never expose their financial backer even if they died? Why does Yang Chen know that you and I teamed up to assassinate him?" Hua Jun accused.

Park Jung-gook hurriedly replied, "Impossible! Those four have worked for me before; they would never betray me."

"Yang Chen told me to my face, how could that be fake? Now he's shorting my company's stock until it gets delisted. You've ruined me!" Hua Jun roared in anger.

Park Jung-gook continued to prevaricate, "It must have been your own subordinate, Zhang Hao, who leaked the news. The four people I hired would never betray me!"

"Bullshit! If Yihua Entertainment gets delisted, I will never let you go!" Hua Jun threatened before slamming down the phone.

Park Jung-gook stood frozen for a moment. Regardless of how Yang Chen had discovered the truth, he had to shift the blame onto Hua Jun immediately to avoid retaliation.

Park Jung-gook quickly issued instructions to leak information to the media in the Dragon Country, claiming that Hua Jun had spent a massive fortune in South Korea to hire assassins to murder Yang Chen.

Hua Jun had intended to use a borrowed knife to kill someone, but ended up becoming the scapegoat himself.