After Divorce, I Can Hear the Future-Chapter 981: Financial Free Trade Port

After a brief conversation, Zheng Xuanyi took his leave, and Lu Liang lay in the warm-filled bath, his arms naturally resting on the edge of the pool.

Two girls returned to the room to serve him, one responsible for wiping his arms, the other massaging and washing his head.

Seeing that Lu Liang was not making any inappropriate moves, one of the girls grew bolder. She tilted her head playfully and asked, "Sir, are you unhappy?"

"Just thinking about something." Lu Liang opened his eyes, stirred the water to create ripples, and asked casually, "What’s your name?"

"Sir, my name is Li Cailing." The girl replied.

"Then you must be Shin Ryujin?"

"Yes, sir."

"How old are you both?"

Hearing Lu Liang’s inquiry, the two girls answered in turn. They were both born in 2001, one in June, the other in April.

They were both members of the same girl group, under JYP Entertainment, called ITZY, which in Chinese roughly translates to ’everything you want’.

Unfortunately, Lu Liang hadn’t heard of them. After all, his memory of Korea’s girl groups stopped at Girls’ Generation.

"The seniors are very popular, but I believe one day we’ll be even more famous so that you, sir, will know our names," Li Cailing said earnestly.

Lu Liang suddenly laughed, turned to look at her, and realized she had a pair of beautiful Maoyan eyes.

Although like fox eyes, which also have upturned corners, Maoyan eyes are rounder, while fox eyes are more slender.

However, whether Maoyan or fox eyes, both are typical of East Asian beauty, totally different from squinty eyes created by lifting.

"Li Cailing, right? I’ll remember that and look forward to the day I recognize your name."

Lu Liang stood up from the bath, put on a robe, and patted her little head, "Work hard in the future. I’ll have a word with your Chairman Li for you."

After saying this, he declined the company of the two girls and went to the bathroom to get dressed alone. Suddenly, from outside, came Li Cailing’s excited voice, "Thank you, Mr. Lu Liang."

Lu Liang smiled gently, suddenly realizing that over the years his benevolence had somewhat flourished.

Whether an action or a word, as long as he liked it, he would give appropriate help.

After a while, Lu Liang changed into brand-new clothes and, under the guidance of the two girls, arrived at the club restaurant.

"Mr. Lu, did you rest well?" Li Zairong asked, smiling.

He also glanced at the tardy Zheng Xuanyi, obviously knowing about their private talk.

"Li Cailing, this girl isn’t bad. I’ll trouble Chairman Li to take special care of her." Lu Liang said with a smile.

At these words, Li Cailing beside him covered her mouth in surprise. She thought Lu Liang’s so-called word was probably with Li Zairong’s assistant or the head of JYP, completely not expecting Lu Liang to be so direct.

The other side’s Shin Ryujin came to realize, her face full of envy. After all, the two before their eyes, one representing Samsung, the other Hyundai, together accounted for at least 40% of Korea’s national economy.

With Lu Liang’s words, her little partner might very well breeze through Korean Entertainment in the future.

However, it was not just her who was envious but also Zheng Xuanyi.

After all, over the years, the beauties he introduced to Lu Liang numbered not just ten but at least eight.

Yet Lu Liang never told him to specifically look after anyone.

He saw the shadow of Sakurada Miyuki in this girl.

"It’s a small matter."

Li Zairong agreed without hesitation and said, "Now hurry and thank Mr. Lu."

"Thank you, Mr. Lu Liang." Li Cailing was so excited she knelt directly to Lu Liang.

"This is not your concern, you may go out now."

Seeing Lu Liang waving his hand, Li Zairong also waved to disperse the serving girls.

For a moment, only the three of them were left in the restaurant, and Lu Liang talked about the recent trend of Bitcoin.

The influence of the US stock market circuit breaker was still fermenting. Assets other than US stocks were experiencing a spring, including Bitcoin.

Lu Liang had just taken a quick look, and the price of Bitcoin, unknowingly, had risen to $35,200.

Xingheng, holding 1.7 million Bitcoins long-term, had an estimated total asset of $60 billion.

"I think XO and SW should cooperate. The Korea market still has potential to explore," Lu Liang’s tone was gentle, but all could hear his undeniable attitude.

XO was Hyundai’s cryptocurrency platform, and SW was Samsung’s. The two had been internally consuming each other, turning a profitable project into a money-burning competition, benefiting the users.

Zheng Xuanyi and Li Zairong chose silence, as they couldn’t defy Lu Liang’s face but initiating the conversation might put them at a disadvantage, so both waited for the other to speak first and then propose terms.

Seeing neither speaking, Lu Liang directly looked at Zheng Xuanyi, "Chairman Zheng, what do you think?"

Zheng Xuanyi’s eyes flashed with a trace of helplessness, but he quickly said, "Cooperation is certainly a good thing, just afraid Chairman Li might be unwilling."

Li Zairong laughed, "XO is developing first, and with Xingheng’s support, if it is willing to cooperate with SW, how could we disagree."

Lu Liang, unwilling to bother with their banter, said directly, "Since you both have the intention to cooperate, let’s settle this matter first. I’ll let Xu Jiawei come over to facilitate the cooperation and provide Bitcoin support for SW’s development."

"Collaboration is fine, but who will lead in the future?" Li Zairong frowned, unable to hold back his question.

"XO holds the first-mover advantage and has a larger market scale, so for now, XO should take the lead."

Upon hearing Lu Liang’s words, Zheng Xuanyi immediately beamed with joy and quickly said, "I’ll have someone provide a collaboration proposal later."

Lu Liang nodded slightly, then looked at Li Zairong, "Or is it you, Chairman Li, who has a different opinion?"

Li Zairong hesitated for a moment and said, "Mr. Lu, I suggest that we share resources, eliminate competition, and let both sides develop independently, which can also avoid violating monopoly regulations."

At the end of last month, the US stocks halted trading three times in ten days, with the market capitalization of the three major indices evaporating by more than ten trillion US dollars. At least hundreds of billions of dollars flowed into the cryptocurrency market. The capital circles of Europe and America are no longer concealing their support for cryptocurrencies.

He was unwilling to abandon the trading platform, which Samsung spent billions of dollars to establish, just because of Lu Liang’s word, unless Lu Liang was willing to let them develop in the Hong Kong stock market.

Today, under Lu Liang’s development, the Hong Kong stock market has already become the most promising financial market in East Asia.

The consortia of East Asia dream of entering and developing together with Lu Liang, but first, they must seek approval from Tianxing.

After all the hard work put into development, now that it’s time to reap the rewards, they wouldn’t allow others to come in and pick the fruits.

"Samsung wants to enter Xiangjiang?" Lu Liang suddenly smiled, and Li Zairong hurriedly explained, "Just the Hong Kong stocks."

He was cautious, not daring to covet offline financial business, only purely pursuing value appreciation.

Li Zairong then said, "Mr. Lu, you should know that the more hands, the greater the fire. If Hong Kong stocks want to break through geographical limitations, the best approach is to embrace all rivers and attract the capital from various countries to build together."

Samsung Capital wants to enter the Hong Kong stocks because they have an advantage that neither the Japanese nor the Korean stock markets can match.

The Hong Kong Dollar is pegged to the US Dollar, which means, in simple terms, the Hong Kong Dollar is a voucher for exchanging US Dollars, minimizing the impact of US monetary easing.

"The biggest obstacle for Samsung Capital entering the Hong Kong stocks might not be us, Tianxing." Lu Liang looked at Li Zairong with a somewhat intriguing smile.

A concept from over a decade ago, called the Three Countries Free Trade Zone, where the GDP of the Three Countries collectively accounted for more than 26% of the global GDP.

If there were deep cooperation, the Three Countries would be able to eliminate dependence on the US Dollar, achieving last century Neon’s dream of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

However, just after the concept was proposed, an island dispute suddenly broke out, and the proponents of the Free Trade Zone in Japan and Korea either died or resigned, causing this project to end without a result.

If Lu Liang agreed to Samsung entering the Hong Kong stocks, it would give the United States reason to suspect that the next step might be to allow Japanese capital in, achieving a major financial market integration of the Three Countries.

If the Three Countries formed a financial free trade, would the next step be other industries, until it became a true Three Countries Free Trade Zone?

"It’s up to how you perceive it."

Li Zairong smiled noncommittally, sipping the sour and spicy Sinqi soup, patiently waiting for Lu Liang’s response.

The entry of Samsung Capital into the Hong Kong stocks indicates their willingness to accept that the Hong Kong stocks are a market dominated by Tianxing, acknowledging his elder brother’s status.

If Tianxing Finance wants to be this elder brother, they must help the younger ones withstand external pressure and play a role in stabilizing the market.

"Chairman Li, could you answer one question for me first?" Lu Liang asked.

"Mr. Lu, go ahead."

"What exactly prompted you to make this decision?"

Lu Liang had not forgotten that Samsung was more conservative than Mitsui, having stood firmly on the side of American capital, opposing them.

Now that Delimei had successfully broken into Wall Street, the American capital they once relied on could no longer be relied upon, which was why Li Zairong showed favor.

"Do you want the truth or a lie?" Li Zairong asked.

"Depends on whether you want to tell the truth or a lie." Lu Liang asked with a smile.

Li Zairong was silent for a moment and sighed, "Xiangjiang cannot fully represent East Country, it still offers opportunities for trial and error."

After all, it is a region of one country, two systems, and the currency in circulation is still the US Dollar voucher, not the Renminbi.

It shouldn’t touch a sensitive nerve in the United States, and although it’s somewhat risky, it’s worth a try.

An iron-clad Samsung and a transient president; as emperor at home and a dog abroad.

He wanted to change this status quo.

"I believe this is your honest truth."

Lu Liang suddenly turned to the silent Zheng Xuanyi and asked, "Chairman Zheng, what does Hyundai think?"

Zheng Xuanyi knew it was time for him to express his stance, seriously cupping his fists as he said, "Following Mr. Lu’s lead."

"Then it’s happily decided."

Lu Liang’s mouth curved upwards, exuding vigor as he said, "Having touched the tiger’s behind, what’s a few more whiskers?"

He added, "The name Free Trade Zone isn’t suitable, too large and conspicuous; we should call it Financial Free Trade Port instead."

"Financial Free Trade Port? That’s a good name."

Li Zairong smiled and proactively extended his hand toward Zheng Xuanyi, "Chairman Zheng, here’s to our future cooperation being pleasant."

"I hope so too, so as not to disappoint Mr. Lu’s facilitation." Zheng Xuanyi grasped Li Zairong’s hand firmly.

This project also represents that the Hyundai Group, for the first time in nineteen years, will once again engage in a strategic partnership with the Samsung Group.