Chapter 16: Rebirth from the Ashes

Time flew by like a fleeting moment, and the day passed in the blink of an eye. The next morning, the last issue of the "Famous New Newspaper" was printed and distributed as usual.

Many subscribers to the "Famous New Newspaper" immediately saw the bold headline on the front page: "42 Years of Stormy Roads, Grateful for Your Company."

Seeing this headline, many people felt a pang in their hearts and quickly turned to the main text. After reading it, many were filled with mixed emotions—sadness, indifference, anticipation, and more.

Of course, many were intrigued by the article's conclusion, which boldly claimed that the "Jiu Ding Daily" would definitely shock the entire Hong Kong media industry.

In addition to these readers, other newspapers in the media industry also received the news. To avoid falling too far behind their competitors, many newspapers subscribed to other industry papers to keep up with news trends as early as possible.

Thus, the article in the "Famous New Newspaper" was also seen by them. Although they understood the history of the "Famous New Newspaper" and its previous glory, they knew it was now in decline. Nonetheless, it was still an old newspaper that had made contributions to Hong Kong's media landscape and had once created brilliance.

Regarding the "Jiu Ding Daily," a small number of newspapers approached it with a scrutinizing attitude, while most newspapers chose to ignore it.

In Hong Kong, new newspapers appeared every year, and many old newspapers went out of business. They were already used to such changes. The "Famous New Newspaper" was only noted because of its past glory, which made them pay some attention.

As for whether the "Famous New Newspaper" was reborn from its ashes or would fall into the abyss and close down completely, their attitude was clear: time would tell!

...

That day, after handling some company affairs and understanding the progress of his subordinates' work, Xia Yu continued to collect and analyze information from the stock market. He indeed found a few opportunities, but none were outstanding enough to be the headline of the financial section in the first issue of the "Jiu Ding Daily."

Xia Yu continued to search patiently.

Finally, Xia Yu's eyes lit up as he discovered a piece of news. After browsing through some information and considering it carefully, he smiled: "I've finally found a hot topic. Mingheng Industrial's financial report has loopholes. It's difficult for the average person to spot, but the methods used are not flawless. If someone studies it carefully, it will likely be exposed in two to three days."

"The first issue of the 'Jiu Ding Daily' will be published the day after tomorrow. If we can expose it one or two days in advance, it will definitely set off a firestorm for this stock. The impact will be tremendous!"

"However, I can't miss this opportunity. I spent 230,000 on acquiring the newspaper, and with an additional 20,000 on purchases and expenses, I now have only 270,000 left. I need to keep 50,000 as a reserve and invest the remaining 220,000 in the stock market to make some gains."

Without hesitation, Xia Yu went to HSBC's investment department again. With great confidence, he decided to use a five-times leverage for the stock market investment. It wasn't that he was afraid to use ten-times leverage; it was simply unnecessary.

In financial investment, more funds are not always better. The amount of funds should be chosen according to the situation, balancing power and efficiency while aiming to minimize risks and maximize profits.

With ten-times leverage, 220,000 HKD would become 2.2 million HKD, which would be too much for handling Mingheng Industrial. The large amount would be difficult to manage and could trigger uncontrollable factors.

Moreover, since he wasn't personally managing the trades, there would be no time to avoid risks. Hence, it was better to proceed steadily.

Also, Xia Yu knew that obtaining ten-times leverage was not easy and required approval from HSBC's higher-ups, which was unnecessary and time-consuming.

If others knew Xia Yu's thoughts, they might be astonished. Five-times leverage was considered steady? How could those who dared not use leverage survive?

Having established a cooperative relationship before and with HSBC's investment department remembering the eight-times returns Xia Yu achieved, his request was quickly accommodated. Soon, 220,000 HKD was converted into 1.1 million HKD and entered the market according to Xia Yu's plan.

Shortly after returning to the newspaper office, Liu Zhong reported that the company had been registered, the newspaper had been renamed, and the finance department had hired an experienced accountant with ten years of experience. The efficiency was very high, which pleased Xia Yu greatly.

Then, the heads of other departments came in one after another to report their work, with satisfactory results. Xia Yu encouraged them individually.

Finally, Zhao Cheng came in excitedly with the printed newspaper framework for Xia Yu to review. After confirming its accuracy, Xia Yu took out today's stock market notes, highlighted a large section of the analysis, and handed it to Zhao Cheng, saying, "This is the content for the financial and commercial section of the first issue. Remember to keep it confidential and manage your team well. If any information leaks, you'll be held responsible!"

The highlighted section was about Mingheng Industrial's analysis. After returning from the stock exchange, Xia Yu had focused on analyzing its financial report and wrote a compelling article that would surely expose Mingheng Industrial.

Receiving the notebook and hearing Xia Yu's instructions, Zhao Cheng's eyes lit up. He nodded solemnly and promised not to leak any information, holding the notebook as if it were a treasure. His eagerness made Xia Yu smile.

Over thirty years old and still behaving like this! However, it also proved that people in Hong Kong were indeed enthusiastic about stock trading.

After sending Zhao Cheng off with a smile and some light-hearted scolding, Xia Yu resumed his work. No one else came to disturb him, so he took out his notebook and continued writing "Xun Qin Ji."

According to the layout plan for the "Jiu Ding Daily's" novel section, since there were no other quality novels submitted apart from "Xun Qin Ji," and the previously serialized novels were unsatisfactory, Xia Yu had no choice but to serialize "Xun Qin Ji" entirely. Given the page size, it could accommodate 20,000 words of content, which meant that Xia Yu's 480,000-word manuscript would only cover 24 days of serialization.

Thus, Xia Yu had to continue writing "Xun Qin Ji" whenever he had time to complete it as soon as possible, ensuring he had enough manuscript material for future needs.

At the same time, Xia Yu instructed his staff to actively solicit submissions to alleviate his pressure.

Of course, serializing 20,000 words of "Xun Qin Ji" daily had its benefits. With the quality of "Xun Qin Ji," 20,000 words would be sufficient to engage readers, greatly increasing the appeal of the "Jiu Ding Daily" and boosting its chances of becoming a hit.

When one is busy, time always flies by. Before he knew it, the day had passed.

In the evening, Xia Yu headed home. The bus and walking consumed a lot of his time.

"Just a little longer. Once the business is up and running and the novel becomes popular, I'll have the leverage to discuss dropping out of school with my parents. Then, the sky will be the limit!" Xia Yu thought to himself, lost in thought.

As long as he had a reasonable reason to persuade his parents, he could use the money to buy a house for his family, improve their living conditions, and then buy a car for convenience. All of this had to be done step by step; there was no need to rush.

After returning home, having dinner, and spending time teaching his younger siblings, Xia Yu began his writing work again and did not sleep until late at night.