Chapter 220: You guys just go for it

At 8:50 a.m., an Audi drove down the long Nangang Avenue and finally arrived at the securities company. It was just as the Nanjiang stock market was about to open. The entrance to the securities company was already packed with people, who were staring intently at the display screen at the entrance to the securities company, as if they were afraid of missing the prices of each stock after the hotel opened for business.

Zhou Ming left the Audi in Nanjiang, and this time it was Zhou Ming and Su Han who came by car. Zhou Ming got out of the car and entered the securities company through the side door, avoiding the crowd at the main entrance.

At this time, the securities company was in the early stages of opening, and the staff in the company were busy with their respective tasks, collecting yesterday's trading data and some orders that had not been processed due to the market being closed, and comprehensively calculating the opening price of each stock today.

In fact, all of this work should have been completed yesterday, but due to the fact that Chen Yunfei, the secretary of the municipal party committee, brought Zhou Ming here for a meeting, this work was delayed until today. While they were busy, they saw Zhou Ming coming over and all got up to greet him, looking very positive and excited. After all, Zhou Ming's own legend and his confident declaration at the meeting yesterday were still fresh in their minds.

Zhou Ming did not show much emotion about this, but simply waved his hand and then asked the office manager to go get Vice President Luo, Manager Li, and Chen Shu and Ye Ning from the finance department to come to the meeting room immediately.

After giving his instructions, Zhou Ming walked directly towards the meeting room. In fact, his instructions were very unusual, because according to the staffing of the securities company, since the chairman and general manager Cao Jianning was not often at the company, the first vice president Luo Han and the marketing manager Li Hong were the actual general manager and vice president. However, now Zhou Ming had simply told them to come to the meeting.

If this had been anyone else, the office manager would definitely have felt that he took himself a bit too seriously, but in the face of Zhou Ming, he felt so justified.

Zhou Ming came to the meeting room and sat down. A few minutes later, Luo Han, Li Hong, and Chen Shuyu separately walked in. Zhou Ming waved for them to sit down and said, 'Today we will have a brief meeting. You all talk about the difficulties we are facing as our securities company is about to change into a stock exchange. Today is different from yesterday, when there was also Secretary Chen and so many employees here. We are just a few of us, so let's get straight to the point.'

Although Zhou Ming had said that, the deeply-rooted concept of status still made everyone focus their attention on Luo Han.

Luo Han organised his thoughts and said, 'Consultant Zhou, our stock exchange currently lacks sufficient member companies. Because the name "stock exchange" is a bit unsavoury, many companies are worried about the political implications and dare not enter rashly. Then there is the issue of the stock exchange's functional transformation. Because the current securities companies both open accounts and conduct audits and operations, all shareholders are also accustomed to this kind of comprehensive operation in the securities company. I am worried that once the mode of operation changes, ordinary shareholders will not be able to accept it and there will be no way to make a smooth transition.'

After Luo Han started, Li Hong immediately followed up, saying, 'Yes, Advisor Zhou, both the stock investors and the provincial leaders are worried that this will breed some bad phenomena. There will be many scalper companies that will help stock investors open accounts in the name of securities companies and earn handling fees.'

'Consultant Zhou, I think you must know how difficult it was for me to sell the shares of the South Development Bank in the first place. Now that people have finally accepted the stock, I think we must be careful.' Li Hong continued, 'In addition, there is also a major problem with the stock index you mentioned, Consultant Zhou. Because according to the formula you gave, the stock index of our Nanjiang stock market is quite low, only a little over 100, which will make the market very unconfident.'

'That's not really a problem.' Zhou Ming waved his hand and said something that surprised Luo Han and Li Hong, then turned to Chen Shu and asked, "You've been interning here for a while now, what do you think is the biggest problem right now?'

Chen Shu thought for a moment and said, "Teacher, I don't think there are any technical problems with changing the securities company into a stock exchange, as long as the data left behind by the securities company can be organised.'

Zhou Ming looked at Ye Ning again, and Ye Ning said, 'Teacher, I think the same as Chen Shu, but I have one more worry than him, which is whether there will be market reactions after the securities company changes to become the stock exchange. Will someone take advantage of the situation to speculate and drive up the stock price, or artificially create panic in the market and sell their stocks?'

After listening to Ye Ning's words, Zhou Ming nodded silently and then asked, 'Are there any other questions besides these?'

After asking, Zhou Ming looked around quietly and said after seeing that no one else was going to speak: 'Since there are no other questions, let's get started. First, prepare an application report for the stock exchange and submit it to the Nanjiang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government for approval. No matter what, we have to get the qualification first. This application report should be simple and plain, not too fancy. Try to get it done within three days and show it to me. Any questions?'

Faced with Zhou Ming's question, the four of them, Luo Han, Li Hong, and Chen Shuyu, were all stunned. They looked at Zhou Ming in surprise. If they hadn't seen that everyone else was also so surprised, they would have thought that they had lost their memory. Just now, weren't they talking about the difficulties of changing stock exchanges? Why would they have to prepare an application report? Haven't those difficulties been solved yet?

In the end, Luo Han spoke up and asked on behalf of everyone, 'Consultant Zhou, by saying this, do you mean that you want to temporarily put all these problems aside?'

'I didn't mean that,' Zhou Ming replied. 'The problems you mentioned are all very good and will definitely be encountered during the implementation process.'

Zhou Ming's answer made Luo Han and the others feel even more puzzled, because if Zhou Ming had said to put these problems aside for the time being and solve them when they were encountered, that would have been understandable. After all, the development of the entire securities market is like wading across a river by feeling the stones along the way. It is impossible to have perfect preparations, and one can only get started and see what happens. This has always been the consistent thinking behind Nanjiang's development, and it is understandable that Zhou Ming would want to do the same. However, now he doesn't think so, which is very confusing.

Zhou Ming could see their confusion. He sighed and said, 'Before I answer your questions, I want to ask you one. I want to know who is actually in charge of the securities company? Who actually works here after the stock exchange opens?'

'Of course it's me...it's us. I'm the first vice president of the securities company, and he's the manager of the marketing department,' Rohan replied, but his answer was very unconvincing.

'Yes, you two are the first vice president and the marketing manager, and you are actually in charge of the securities company. And your current responsibility is to dump all your problems on me?'

Zhou Ming reached out and tapped Luo Han. He continued, 'Luo, look at the questions you have raised. You are worried that there are not enough member companies and that the shareholders will not accept the changes? I want to say that if there are not enough member companies, won't you go find them? Worried that the shareholders won't accept it, won't you do more publicity, or apply to the relevant departments of the municipal party committee for help with ideological work? Now you're dumping it all on me. What do you mean? You want me to recruit member companies and do ideological work for the shareholders? I want to say that I'm just a development consultant for Nanjiang, not your kindergarten teacher!

Under Zhou Ming's questioning, Luo Han and Li Hong both lowered their heads, but Zhou Ming's words did not end there. He continued, 'You have been leaving me problems since I arrived. I want to say that the work of the two of you as leaders is too easy. So I really want to know, if I were not here, who would you leave these problems to solve? The central leadership or God?'

'Here, I just want to tell you that my role as a development consultant is only to give you the courage to make decisions, unless you really encounter some key problems that cannot be solved,' Zhou Ming concluded.

As soon as Zhou Ming finished speaking, Ye Ning was the first to speak, saying, 'Teacher, I'm sorry. We've relied on you too much. You told us to come to Nan Jiang for an internship first to train our ability to face problems independently, but in the end, we still had to leave the problems to you. Even if it's just the simplest data collation and market response, we've let you down and failed to meet your expectations of us. I'm very sorry!'

Ye Ning's words suddenly made Luo Han remember that although Zhou Ming is the Nan Jiang Development Consultant and is currently in Nan Jiang, he will not stay forever and may even leave soon. So once he leaves with the students in the finance class, as he said, can these problems really be left to the central leadership and God? Then what is the use of having a first deputy general manager like myself?

Such thoughts made Luo Han feel very ashamed, because once upon a time, he too had resolved to break through all difficulties to create his own country's securities market!

But now?

Just such a small problem has made him give up and think of waiting for Zhou Ming to solve it. He really shouldn't have done that.

It is indeed as Zhou Ming said, he is a figure that transcends the times, not a kindergarten teacher here to guide you. You should learn to walk on your own, not needing a teacher to hold your hand every step of the way.

With this in mind, Luo Han said to Zhou Ming, 'Consultant Zhou, I understand. I also want to say sorry to you. Please rest assured that we can solve these minor problems. We will submit the application report for the stock exchange to you for review as soon as possible.'

'Remember, confidence and perseverance are what you lack the most right now. As long as you believe that when you encounter any problem that you cannot solve, I will be behind you, and you just need to go for it,' said Zhou Ming.

Luo Han, Li Hong, and Chen Shuyu all stood up together and bowed deeply to Zhou Ming: 'Thank you very much, Consultant Zhou, we'll remember!'

'That's enough, you all go back to your work. Changing a securities company into a stock exchange requires a lot of preparation,'

Zhou Ming said, and the four of them, Luo Han, Han, and the others, bid farewell and left the meeting room. After they left, Su Han cast a doubtful look at Zhou Ming, who smiled and shook his head, saying, 'It's not that I don't want to help them, it's just that none of their problems are on the crux. I'm waiting for that crucial moment.'

'Of course I understand, Zhou Ming, you are the most amazing person, these things are not worth your effort, just like when you were in Hangzhou,' Su Han said with a smile.

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