What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 489 The Mountain Peak Incident

Two industry leaders are about to be imprisoned, five presidents are under judicial investigation, dozens of vice presidents, vice presidents and other senior executives have been included in the investigation, the global diesel passenger car business has shrunk dramatically, several departments and teams have undergone large-scale adjustments, the supply system that the automotive industry has long relied on has suffered a blow to trust, and industry compliance standards are facing a comprehensive restructuring.

Initially, people thought it was just a short-selling attack by a major player against Mitsubishi...

Finally, everyone was shocked to discover that this was a systemic crisis in the automotive industry.

On the last day of July, Takata Corporation was still in its descent, and the sporadic signs of fraud in Japanese industry seemed insignificant compared to its devastating state.

There has been no new development after the mountain peak, and no new heavyweight companies have dared to come forward and surrender—many believe that there are some, but they are simply afraid of the horrific scene of Takada's seppuku.

Turning oneself in now might truly require a spirit of fearlessness.

In just one week, the Japanese business and industrial communities have launched a major reflection on craftsmanship and Japanese manufacturing, and the Takata scandal, which has been dubbed the "death airbag" by Western media, has generated a much larger-than-expected wave of public opinion.

Even someone like Nobuhiro Murao, who previously defended companies for falsifying data, wouldn't dare to advocate for defeat under these circumstances.

The mountain peaks seemed to have fallen silent.

However, the sheer scale of short selling across the globe makes one wonder if it could reappear at any time.

American industry insiders call him the "King of Short Sellers," Japanese media hate him as the "Demon King of Short Sellers," and Europe has formed a multinational joint investigation team, determined to find the mastermind behind it all.

Such turmoil in the automotive industry is destined to be the news of the year. In addition to uncovering more inside stories, many authoritative media outlets are also struggling with one question: how should this black swan event be called?

If it's a diesel emissions issue involving automakers like Volkswagen and Renault, it could be called "emissions scandal." If it's a monopolistic market practice by the German Big Three (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi), it could be called "monopoly scandal." If it's a systemic fraud in the Japanese supply chain, it could be called "materials scandal."

Unfortunately, this is a series of events that span from Europe to Japan, and from car manufacturers to upstream suppliers, so it's not easy to explain in a simple way.

Ultimately, it was the unanimous naming by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg that led most of the world's media to agree on the term "black swan" for this industry event.

The crisis, which spanned Eurasia and swept across the global automotive industry, was called the "Guoshanfeng Incident" because it was triggered by short selling by Guoshanfeng, exposed in a chain reaction due to fear of Guoshanfeng's continued actions, made hasty rectifications due to concerns about Guoshanfeng's hidden presence, and caused anxiety due to Guoshanfeng's presence in the shadows.

It is worth mentioning that while the media was enthusiastically reviewing the performance and role of Guoshan Peak during this crisis, Harvard Business School also publicly invited Guoshan Peak, hoping that its founders or members would visit Boston for exchanges.

Dean Nitin Noria publicly pledged to keep the other party's identity strictly confidential and agreed to a secret meeting.

This voice from Harvard Business School filled many people with anticipation, believing that this more academic-sounding exchange might bring Guo Shanfeng to the fore, but there was no movement for several days.

Coincidentally, as if inspired, several hedge funds on Wall Street also reached out to Guo Shanfeng, expressing their willingness to engage in commercial cooperation with him within the legal framework.

Even more coincidentally, Carlos, the deputy head of the French AMF team that had investigated the mountain, saw this situation and solemnly extended an invitation on Twitter: We invite all members of the mountain team to Paris to accept our investigation, and we will prepare a cup of hot coffee for each of them.

Having neither responded to Harvard nor paid attention to hedge funds, and certainly not going to Paris to walk into a trap, it seems that Guoshanfeng has truly gone silent this time.

However, this enthusiastic "love" or "demonstration" of the mountain overseas has once again sparked passionate speculation about its identity in China, with spontaneous grassroots investigation teams appearing on many forums, QQ groups, WeChat groups, and micro-chat groups.

The reasons behind this are: its registration location in Hong Kong, its Eastern-style naming, and its initial targeting of Chinese companies listed in the US. All of these prove that there is at least one Chinese person playing an important role behind it.

Who are they? What industry are they involved in? How were the investigations or clues conducted?
How does such a world-class short seller operate?

Yu Xing overheard his colleagues' casual conversations about Guo Shanfeng's true identity in the cafeteria of the Silicon Carbon Group, and even watched as they created a small WeChat group. "I think Guo Shanfeng may have already been to Harvard Business School. The dean said it was confidential, and Chanos from Wall Street also said he knew Guo Shanfeng's identity before."

“Your information is outdated. Chanos later said it was a joke; he didn’t know who Over Peak was.”

"The dean, Noria, was interviewed by reporters and has never seen the mountain."

"Even if you see him, you probably won't say 'see you,' right?"

Yu Xing pricked up his ears and ate his meal in silence.

After dinner, while taking a walk to digest, he idly searched for the Harvard invitation he had previously ignored, and then curiously searched for the dean, Nitin Noria, who had sent the invitation.

Although it's unclear what their motives are, I definitely won't go.

Looking at the information on his phone screen, Yu Xing suddenly seemed to realize something. This Harvard dean was of Indian descent.

He put away his phone, with only one thought in his mind—this has reminded me.

Indian, Indian, India has a stock market too.

Perhaps we can explore beyond the mountain peak.

Yu Xing had this idea in mind when Li Song called to express his gratitude for using the carbon silicon group's emission testing equipment.

All the cars Li Song bought have arrived. Although the major scandals in the automotive industry have been exposed, he still conducted a thorough test, and the results did indeed reveal emissions problems, but it was really of little use now.

"No need to thank me, Mr. Li, you're quite quick-witted, but you should be earlier next time." Yu Xing, unaware that he was a beat too late, said with a smile, "You said last time that you were interested in the domestic stock market, when will you actually find a suitable target and help me make some money too?"

Upon hearing this, Li Song suddenly became excited: "President Yu, do you have money?"

Yu Xing laughed and said, "Yes, your wife gave it to me."

Li Song: "..."

He heard that Silicon Carbon Data was brewing a new project. Although he hadn't received any specific details from Xu Xin, he could guess from recent news that it was related to short videos.

“Mr. Yu, your money is being watched and used for specific purposes. Besides, even if you have money, I won’t include you in my schemes,” Li Song added. “I don’t even understand it myself. If I were to help you make money, I’d be lucky if I didn’t lose money myself.”

Yu Xing said in a serious tone, "Really? I was starting to doubt that you were a mountain climber."

Li Song laughed heartily: "Could Guo Shanfeng be as miserable as me? You're doing so well in Lingang, I think you're the one who's Guo Shanfeng. I need to have someone investigate you properly."

Yu Xing smiled and said, "Stop fooling around."

Li Song stopped joking around. After talking about the mountain peaks, and by disguising himself as a company executive and working with investors on research, no one would ever guess that he was also a short seller.

(End of this chapter)