After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 351 - 348: Changing Commanders, Silent Mockery

"Mr. Lu, I will definitely do my utmost best and not let you down,"

Zhang Jing’s eyes were resolute; after fifteen years in the business, success had never been this close.

Boss Lu had already paved the golden path; if he managed poorly or made a blunder, he would have no face to stay at the company.

"Do what you can, just try your best."

Lu Liang picked up the financial report, acknowledging that public funds were the most labor-intensive and least profitable projects.

He had spent over half a year on this project, earning only a 1.2% management fee, which amounted to 3.6 billion yuan.

Although the cap was 2%, the remaining 0.8% depended on the settlement cycle, only accruing if the annual rate exceeded 13%.

This was Lu Liang’s last exercise of the general manager’s prerogatives, retaining 600 million yuan for the company’s expenses in the latter half of the year, planning to distribute 3 billion yuan as dividends.

Shareholders’ dividends from the company, categorized as "interest, stock dividends, and profit income", were subject to a 20% proportional tax rate, resulting in 2.4 billion yuan net.

Suddenly, it was three o’clock in the afternoon, and trading ended for Thursday; the new energy sector witnessed a net outflow of 130 billion yuan.

Despite the proper handling of spontaneous combustion incidents involving new energy vehicles, the impact was profound, and institutions were adjusting their projections accordingly.

If no incidents occurred in the meantime, it was expected that the new energy sector would continue to decline over the next 1-3 months, affecting the entire market and making third-quarter sales targets challenging to achieve.

At eight in the evening, Tianxing Mixed Fund updated its net asset value for the day and announced a change in fund management.

Lu Liang was stepping down not only from his role as fund manager but also as the general manager of the fund company.

These two most crucial positions were to be succeeded by Zhang Jing, the former deputy manager and deputy general manager.

Throughout the entire company, all active positions no longer bore the name of Lu Liang; he had vanished as if into thin air.

Upon the announcement, there was an industry earthquake. frёewebnoѵēl.com

"Holy shit, why leave now and not earlier or later?"

"Does Lu Liang despise the new energy sector that much, thinking it hasn’t exploded spectacularly enough these days?"

"Who is Zhang Jing? Can the 300 billion yuan public fund still launch smoothly without Lu Liang?"

"It’s just a two-day drop of 10.52%, Liangzi come back, we don’t blame you!"

The forums were boiling, with tens of thousands of fund holders no longer as spirited as they had been days before.

Over these two days, new energy funds had an average drop of 15%; they only fell by two-thirds.

Even having fallen by two-thirds, tonight’s updated net asset value was still 1.372.

For those who hadn’t left the scene halfway, their semi-annual returns reached 37.2%.

Even for those who joined the fund during the redemption wave, they still enjoyed a return of 10.2% to date.

When compared across the industry, it could be called a leading performance.

However, now with Lu Liang’s departure, would Tianxing Fund still remain a fresh stream in the market?

Everyone was skeptical, and a large number of fund holders posted for advice: "Lu Liang is leaving? Should we leave too?"

"Leave? Where can we go?"

"Should we buy a five-year government bond with a 4.39% yield?"

This soul-stirring question from a netizen abruptly ended the advice thread and silenced the entire forum.

Apart from government bonds, they had nowhere else to go, but government bonds were term-based, and redeeming early meant forfeiting most of the earnings.

A five-year 4.39% yield would, after deducting fees for early redemption, leave about 2.26%, which was still less than what could be earned merely storing the money in Alipay.

Being too greedy is never good; one shouldn’t forget the original intention of buying funds.

A fund that can outpace inflation and provides immediate cash when urgently needed is a good fund.

In fact, it’s Lu Liang’s fault for feeding them too well; in the past six months, he directly led them to a return rate of 52%.

They mistook a somewhat stable fund for stocks, and not just any stocks but the top performing ones.

"Let’s disperse; there’s nothing to discuss. Lu Liang has completely commanded us."

"Let’s let the bullet fly a little longer and decide based on further developments."

Fund managers lurking in the forum widened their eyes in astonishment at this turn of events.

When did fund holders become so easy to persuade? They were itching to ask, had these people been CPUed by Lu Liang?

"If I weren’t restricted from buying other funds, I might have already bought them," muttered someone, revealing the truth inadvertently.

Ultimately, this market is driven by returns; the premise for being ’CPUed’ is to let them taste the sweetness

Moreover, Lu Liang’s Tianxing Fund wasn’t really ’CPUed’; a net asset value of 1.372 was the best proof.

Conversely, for them, in such a booming new energy market this year, most funds had a net value below 1.

Companies that couldn’t even secure the principal had no right to be trusted; considering these, they were lucky not to be told to piss off.

Silence fell upon the crowd as most fund companies’ profits stemmed from investors’ principal.

They lacked the courage to compete in the market, but they had plenty of nerve when it came to taking money from investors’ pockets.

Friday morning, nearing eight o’clock.

As was customary, Tianxing Foundation would release the previous day’s redeemed shares between eight and eight ten in the morning.

Many people were paying attention, constantly clicking their mouse, rapidly refreshing the page, waiting for the moment the shares were released.

Based on the released shares, one could determine how much capital had lost faith in the future of Tianxing Fund.

"Damn it, it’s so annoying, a broken fund, it’s like grabbing an Apple release."

"A broken fund? Then why are you here?"

"Just watching the excitement, okay?"

The stock bar was especially active early in the morning.

They had been displaced for half their lives and really didn’t want to monitor the stock market every day, allowing rises and falls to affect their mood.

The benefit of funds is that you don’t have to constantly watch the market or make trades; just take a glance each day to know if you’ve gained or lost.

Although it’s commonly said that funds don’t rise as much as the stock market and fall more than the stock market, which has always been scorned by stock investors.

But Lu Liang’s fund was different—even now, it still had a 37.2% return rate.

In the stock market, simply not losing money for the entire year already surpasses 95% of people, and if you can make a 10% profit, that definitely exceeds 99% of people.

This time, it might be the last chance to get on board.

The Tianxing Mixed Fund might be the only evidence of Lu Liang’s existence in the public fund arena.

A thin camel is still bigger than a horse—when Lu Liang left private funds to establish a public fund, those powerful investors in the private fund sector didn’t make a fuss, indicating he had kept something in reserve.

Evidence of this suggests that the public fund also had something held back.

At 8:07 AM, people refreshing the page suddenly saw the gray icon light up.

2.752 billion yuan!

Some people were still thinking.

After all, a ten-digit subscription balance was more than fifty times the total shares released over the past half year.

It indicated that indeed many people were pessimistic about Zhang Jing becoming the new manager of Tianxing Fund and they were resisting with their actions.

Chasing rises and cutting losses applied in any situation.

With so many people pessimistic, it also made them hesitate about whether to continue buying or not.

Unlike the stock market, funds had lower risks; most people used up 80% of their liquid assets, even half of their life savings.

Now that the Tianxing Mixed Fund was changing leaders during a volatile market period, it was bound to have dramatic fluctuations—what if they incurred losses?

During their hesitation, they subconsciously refreshed the page again.

2.752 billion yuan worth of shares, within seconds, were reduced to just 2.249 billion.

Those who hesitated were always in the minority; most people were still willing to take the gamble.

Worst case, they’d lose ten percent and then bail, which for stock traders was just a single limit-down event.

When you mix in Big A, if you don’t hit a few limit-downs a year, you’d hardly claim you trade stocks.

At 8:08 AM and thirty-two seconds, it took just one minute and thirty-two seconds for the 2.752 billion shares to be snapped up.

As soon as the news spread, there was stunned silence in the industry.

After a long while, someone scoffed with self-derision, "When the whale falls, does everything else thrive? It’s a joke!"

They were still planning to promote a new fund with only 0.8% management fees, to nicely catch this wave of immense wealth and shelter the injured Tianxing Fund investors.

2.752 billion yuan, in a terrifying one minute and thirty-two seconds, harshly slapped their faces left and right.

Lu Liang, silent and not commenting, was like silently mocking them, "Your big bro, is always your big bro."

What quality fund, and they didn’t weigh their own worth? Wanting to catch his traffic?

Simultaneously, in the dim bedroom, the phone placed beside the bed vibrated quietly.

It was as if a silkworm baby was wriggling under the covers, suddenly a tousled little head peeked out from the end of the bed.

Li Manli looked around with big, confused eyes, "How did I end up over here?"

She burrowed back into the covers; the bed was large enough for her to circle around Lu Liang from the left side to the right.

Picking up the phone beside the bed, she leaned close to Lu Liang’s ear and whispered weakly, "Liang, Lu Liang, your phone is ringing."

Lu Liang hummed in response, glanced at the caller ID, and answered the call, "I know, I’ll be there soon."

Zhang Jing had called to inform him that the 2.752 billion yuan had been completely snapped up in one minute and thirty-two seconds.

Last night, late into the night, they had finished tallying, and Lu Liang already knew they would release that many shares, so he had instructed Zhang Jing to let him know once the subscription was over.

Public funds were not like private funds—with private funds, there were only dozens of investors, each a giant in their field, capable of independent thinking.

But as for public funds, they had counted a total of 337,200 individual investors.

More people meant more confusion and more blind following, especially prone to triggering a bank run.

Lu Liang was also a bit worried—if they couldn’t achieve the effect of selling out in seconds this morning, there would only be more people applying for redemption today.

So he instructed Zhang Jing, at the instant of release, to first lock five billion shares to create the illusion of a scramble.

Now, it seemed his worries were overly cautious; the later release of the locked five billion was also instantly sold out.

Suddenly, Lu Liang felt an unusual burning sensation in his chest.

Looking down, Li Manli was lying on his chest, sticking out her tongue, gently gasping for breath, her cheeks flushed red.