The financial crisis was in full swing.

The Hong Kong dollar exchange rate was maintained, but both the stock market and the real estate market plummeted.

Tung Wong Group, a listed company with two listed subsidiaries, mainly operates in real estate, property management, and shopping malls, so it was inevitably affected.

The impact was neither too big nor too small.

The decline in the real estate industry mostly wiped out the crazy gains made between 1995 and this year. Calculating the returns, the Zhao family was actually still making a profit.

Moreover, the steepest declines often occurred in "pseudo-luxury homes," new communities trying to become high-end residential areas, usually located in the suburbs of Hong Kong City.

As of now, Tung Wong Group's operations remained healthy.

However, they had acquired too much land in the past two or three years, and all at high prices. This led to an unfavorable development outlook, which was directly reflected in the stock market.

Compared to the high point in the first half of the year, the Zhao family's assets had shrunk by 30%, with billions of Hong Kong dollars disappearing just like that.

No wonder Zhao Yimeng's mother was envious when she mentioned Su's father.

Sihai International had cashed out in advance to avoid the disaster, selling their Hong Kong City properties to the Huang family. Seeing the rapid and continuous decline in housing prices, Huang Zewen's father, Huang Jinfei, was recently selling properties to recover capital, terminating the lease on his office building in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong City, moving back to Casino, 1997 to continue his business, and laying off more than three hundred employees.

The Huang family's performance clearly illustrated many problems.

Huang Zewen's father had essentially gambled and lost this time. Even with price cuts and discounts, he might not be able to find someone to take over.

Meanwhile, the Sihai International Building in Central stood firm, and they had acquired a large plot of land in the mainland, which was truly enviable.

The mother and daughter's conversation continued.

Zhao Yimeng asked, "Don't we also have a 5% stake in the Peng City project in cooperation with Sihai International? How is that real estate project doing? Has it been losing money recently?"

"The housing prices in the mainland have reportedly fallen a bit as well, but the land acquisition prices were cheap, and they won't be selling the properties anytime soon, so the impact isn't significant."

Her mother once again steered the topic to Su Yehao, asking, "Why are you investigating Xiao Hao? Have you changed your mind and become interested in him? Among the younger generation, that Su kid is already considered relatively outstanding. Besides, he's the only son in his family, and he's quite likable."

"...But he's a playboy. Last night, I saw him at his tavern, drinking with a beautiful woman. I just heard that he's made a fortune in business and was a little curious, but it has nothing to do with whether I like him or not."

Zhao Yimeng was not a girl easily swayed by emotions.

Continuing to browse the information about Su Yehao, especially focusing on tAt Network Technology Company, she suddenly said to her mother:

"If I want to invest, can you give me some money? Last night, I heard Su Yehao say that he plans to invest one hundred million to expand the market. I feel that this industry has a lot of potential. If I talk to him, maybe he'll be willing to transfer some shares to me. Network communication programs are already very popular in the UK, which proves that there is definitely potential."

"Hmm? How much money do you want?"

Her mother took the documents and read them. Since she didn't know much about this industry, she couldn't give Zhao Yimeng any advice.

Zhao Yimeng frowned and thought for a moment, saying, "Fifty million? I need to talk to him to find out. That guy is really annoying. The first-generation product was snatched from me. I was already quite optimistic about it back then, and he only spent a few thousand to buy it."

"That's what you get for not insisting. The opportunity is lost once it's missed. You can't blame others. But since Xiao Hao is planning to invest one hundred million, it shows that he's also very optimistic about this project. I don't think it'll be easy for you to cooperate with him, since he's not short of money. Everyone knows that Sihai International can earn tens of millions a month just from investments, several times more cash than our family."

"...The tables are turning. Why didn't you sell more shares some time ago?" Zhao Yimeng muttered.

Her mother laughed and said, "Anyone can say that in hindsight. It's already very dangerous now. If the shareholding ratio is reduced further, it's hard to say whether the company will still be in the Zhao family's hands. The shareholders have been quite vocal recently, making your father very angry. It was money earned from a bubble in the first place. When the tide recedes, it takes it all away. Who can we blame?"

Zhao Yimeng sighed and said, "That's right. His family's company isn't listed, so he can make decisions himself. That's so comfortable."

"Yes, free and easy. Who wouldn't be envious?"

——————————

Su Yehao had no idea that Zhao Yimeng was eyeing tAt.

He returned to the Su family mansion to visit Second Aunt. After all, they had lived under the same roof for many years, and it wasn't good to avoid her all the time.

When he got home.

Su's father was about to go out, wearing a shirt and suit, saying that he was going to meet with a delegation from Zhucheng next door to discuss undertaking infrastructure projects.

Sihai International employed so many workers, and he couldn't just give them vacations all the time. Without income, morale would decline.

Therefore, even if the orders didn't earn much money, Su's father was still quite interested, asking Su Yehao if he wanted to join in the fun.

It sounded boring, so Su Yehao decisively refused.

After staying at home for more than ten minutes, Second Aunt asked him and Jiang Yu to have dinner together that evening.

Actually, Su Yehao didn't want to eat either.

But he called Jiang Yu, and she agreed first, so he simply agreed as well, planning to return to Hong Kong City after eating.

Driving the McLaren, he picked up Yin Liuli and went to the pier.

Driving the Riva speedboat, they cruised for a few nautical miles. The sea breeze at the end of November was a bit cold, and the temperature was only seventeen degrees Celsius today.

After playing on the sea for an hour.

Not long after going ashore, he unexpectedly received a call from Zhao Yimeng.

As soon as he answered, Zhao Yimeng's tone was dissatisfied, questioning, "You've made so much money, don't you know how to get a new phone? It keeps reminding me that you're out of service area."

"I just arrived at the pier after taking a speedboat out to sea, so I was indeed out of service area. Could it be that you've started missing me after so long and are planning to treat me to lunch?" Su Yehao said calmly. He only ate some sandwiches made by Yin Liuli in the morning, and he was a little hungry.

Zhao Yimeng then said, "I don't miss you, don't be narcissistic. Treating you to lunch is not a problem, but I just happen to have something I want to talk to you about."

Su Yehao was completely puzzled. He couldn't guess what he and she had to talk about. They didn't have much interaction at school, and after graduation, they had completely lost contact.

It was always a good thing to have someone treat.

He said casually, "Okay, send me a message and tell me which restaurant you choose."

"Okay."

Zhao Yimeng hung up the phone.

Su Yehao went ashore and arranged with the temporary coach to return to Hong Kong City that night, reminding him to fill up the speedboat with fuel.

When he got into the car, he received a text message saying to go to Chen Sheng Kee. The restaurant was famous for its tangerine peel duck. Su Yehao had taken the little girl to eat there once.

He originally planned to bring Yin Liuli with him, but when she learned that it was Miss Zhao, whom she had met last night, who was treating, she directly refused. She was mainly afraid of socializing, and there was nothing to talk about, which would be awkward.

So Su Yehao first took Yin Liuli back to her apartment.

The Porsche 911 that used to be at home had already been given to Yin Liuli for transportation, which was more convenient for going to and from work.

Learning that Yin Liuli's lease was about to expire again, and she had no plans to move yet, Su Yehao looked at the apartment building as he left, thinking about directly buying a large apartment of more than one hundred square meters and writing her name on the property certificate...