What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 609 Trinity (5k)

"Qingtian Software has suspended trading."

"Half an hour before it was suspended from trading, Huishan Dairy was also suspended from trading."

"A company with a market value of 400 billion and a company with a market value of 40 billion suffered similar fates in just four days, but this is not surprising in the series of victories over the mountain peak."

"Perhaps the only thing worth talking about is that they are two listed companies that committed fraud after Guoshanfeng's identity was exposed."

"To date, Over the Peak still maintains a 100% win rate."

"However, Yu Xing, the king of short selling, is experiencing a dramatic rise and fall in his career."

"This report is based on my limited observations within a limited timeframe, and may not be sufficiently objective, but I do not subjectively take sides with Alibaba, Tencent, or Silicon Carbon. Thank you."

When Sohu CEO Zhang Chaoyang saw the latest short video from his company's financial account, he couldn't help but laugh. The direction of public opinion is indeed very different for people with different stances. The public opinion surrounding Alibaba, which was once shorted, Tencent, which was suspected of being shorted, and silicon carbon, which is difficult to separate, is closely related to their interests.

The most intense competition among the three companies is currently in the short video market, and according to Yu Xing himself, "short video" represents a revolution in information carriers, which naturally has a far-reaching impact.

"Many media outlets have already conducted detailed analyses regarding the possibility that Yu Xing is suspected of market manipulation and insider trading. However, I believe we should wait for investigations by different regional agencies. Before the final results are released, there is no need to rush to label him. If public opinion could kill Guo Shanfeng, he wouldn't be so active now. Moreover, the intensity and direction of public opinion may have become very disconnected."

“My local colleagues visited the stores of Silicon Carbon Group in first- and second-tier cities over the past two days and found that they were once again overcrowded.”

"The main reason is naturally the reduction of new energy subsidies next year, and the secondary reason is likely the astonishing public opinion phenomenon this time."

"Advertising and promotion have always emphasized penetration. Any case of Guo Shanfeng in the past would be worthy of a report. When these are put together with Yu Xing, this is probably the most popular business figure I have seen since I joined Sohu in 2001, which naturally brings extremely high publicity penetration."

"Regardless of Yu Xing's own wishes, the public's attention has already shifted beyond his control."

"Similarly, Douyin and silicon carbon are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries of this round of online popularity, which seems to be beyond the control of Alibaba and Tencent."

“My colleagues visited several carbon silicon stores and learned that in just two days, Monday and Tuesday, the conversion rate from small orders to large orders increased by about 25%, which is undoubtedly amazing in the automotive industry.”

"Judging from the current situation, there is a significant difference between the trends at the commercial level and the general public level. This may be due to factors such as business competition, or it may be because Yu Xing's past behavior was not pleasing. However, objectively speaking, the popularity of Douyin is expanding rapidly."

"After all, Douyin has probably accomplished an unprecedented revelation of its founder."

"Sohu Finance is currently selecting the best product of the year, and I personally would like to cast my vote for Douyin."

Sohu Finance has opened a new short video account and registered on mainstream platforms including Douyin, Weishi, and Weiliao.

Zhang Chaoyang looked at his own content, and after a while, he wanted to stop and check the user comments. Sure enough, he felt the stratification mentioned by the editor-in-chief Pan Shuo. The channels that Alibaba and Tencent could influence were undoubtedly huge. Just looking at the headlines of those reports about the "King of Short Sellers," Yu Xing would probably be executed soon. However, most of the comments on Douyin tended to let Guo Shanfeng continue to grow bigger and stronger and create new glories.

He sat in his office and scrolled through short videos for a while, then called over Pan Shuo from Sohu Finance to ask him for more firsthand information.

When Pan Shuo arrived at his boss's office, before the other party could even ask him anything, the first thing he did was seek help.

"Mr. Zhang, could you help me arrange an exclusive interview with Mr. Yu? This is something all the media outlets are after!"

Zhang Chaoyang shook his head: "I can't get an appointment with him. He hardly replies to my messages, but he will definitely have to face the media later. I just don't know when."

Pan Shuo asked, "Are you still going to contact CCTV? Or will you start your own Douyin account?"

He knew that President Yu never had his own publicly available Douyin account, but would occasionally appear in videos on the "Silicon Carbon Group" company account.

“He’s definitely waiting, but it might not be CCTV. It’s not easy for the media in Beijing to get involved because there might be a series of lawsuits later, and it’s not convenient for someone who’s embroiled in lawsuits to appear on camera like that,” Zhang Chaoyang said with a smile. “Once the storm passes, there will probably be cameras around.”

Pan Shuo nodded: "The media influence that carbon silicon data can have is not as great as that of Alibaba and Tencent. President Yu still needs public opinion support at this critical juncture."

Zhang Chaoyang said dismissively, "Even if I write eight thousand headlines a day demanding that Yu Xing apologize, it won't do him any good. What he needs isn't public opinion support, but policy support."

Pan Shuo then asked, "Will there be any policy support later?"

Zhang Chaoyang smiled and said, "It hasn't decreased at all."

Pan Shuo was somewhat surprised.

“Today, the Zhejiang Daily published a report titled ‘Ensuring the Development of the New Energy Industry.’ What do you think it means at a time like this?” Zhang Chaoyang laughed. “Supporting Yu Xing shouldn’t be described as supporting Guo Shanfeng; it should be described as providing a guarantee for the development of the new energy industry.”

Pan Shuo immediately understood this point. Compared to the so-called in-depth reports on portal websites or the frenzy of self-media, these kinds of reports, which not many people read, are the real trend indicators.

He was about to continue speaking when he suddenly received a firsthand message from a colleague, which he immediately relayed to his boss: "Mr. Zhang, the Silicon Carbon Group has announced its annual delivery plan, saying that they already have 3 large orders on hand..."

"3 orders?" Zhang Chaoyang repeated the number, somewhat bewildered, "What does that represent?"

“On behalf of…” Pan Shuo hadn’t studied the automotive market in depth, but he immediately used the phrase, “On behalf of President Yu, I have received substantial support from a large user base!”

He continued, "There's still a little over a month left. We already have 30,000 orders, so we can probably guarantee a large portion of next year's orders as well. The silicon carbon plant won't be able to keep up with the demand. I don't know when the second phase of the plant will be able to reach full production capacity."

"According to the sales figures released by Carbon Silicon in October, the Buick Envision ranked first with 1.9 units, and the Audi Q5 ranked second with 1.1 units. Carbon Silicon's Kyushu may overtake Audi this month or next month..."

The Envision's unit price is not as high as that of Kyushu. If we divide SUVs into the 30 RMB range, Silicon Carbon Group will surpass Audi to become number one.

Zhang Chaoyang silently calculated in his mind that if the 3 yuan deposit were converted into revenue, it would be at least 90 billion yuan.

He shook his head: "The performance of the silicon carbon car is too strong. Even if President Yu makes a mistake, it's just a small mistake that short sellers would make overseas."

“President Yu builds factories and develops new industries in China, and spends the money he makes abroad on domestic projects,” Pan Shuo exclaimed. “He invests, he pays taxes, he receives stock options, and he drives industry development. If it were me making the decision, I would support him too.”

As Sohu's analysis suggests, less than a day later, following Zhejiang Province's support for the new energy industry, Lingang also revealed that it will provide strong support for the construction of the second phase of the carbon silicon group's factory, and the construction time is expected to be shortened from 10 months to 7 months.

The second-phase factory officially started construction in October this year. The original construction period was expected to be completed by July next year, but it has now been brought forward to April next year, which will undoubtedly provide great support for the production capacity of the silicon carbon group.

The speed of carbon silicon, or rather, the speed of Lingang, the speed of Shanghai.

On Wednesday morning, the announcement of large orders by Silicon Carbon Group, followed by supportive attitudes from various localities, left those in the automotive industry feeling uneasy.

No, aren't many opinions criticizing Yu Xing?
How come the Silicon Carbon Group managed to snatch away all the users in a single transaction?

A 30,000 yuan deposit? A car in the 300,000 yuan range?
Why not buy up all the production capacity for next year?
Silicon Carbon Group disregarded the sentiments of its peers, urging potential customers to carefully consider their car orders and selections while also offering a significant subsidy policy. The policy guarantees a minimum subsidy for customers who place orders at the end of the year, and will continue to be implemented regardless of any changes to next year's subsidies.

In other words, for any customers who place large orders at the end of the year, if subsidies are reduced next year, the difference will be borne by the Silicon Carbon Group.

Such a series of news reports acted as a catalyst, with many media outlets visiting the offline silicon carbon stores of the "King of Short Sellers" and finding them packed with people, which replicated the market enthusiasm when Kyushu went public.

However, this enthusiasm after eight months is even more terrifying. The Silicon Carbon Group's directly operated stores have been expanding, but almost all the stores seen by the media have reached their maximum capacity.

Coincidentally, potential car buyers in Kyushu have become enthusiastic due to factors such as the reduction of subsidies next year and the popularity of the "King of Short Sellers," while existing car buyers have directly shown their support and created a trend.

Some people put stickers on the back of their Kyushu cars that read "Made by the King of Short Sellers," some put stickers that read "Over the Peak," and others put stickers that read "Support President Yu." But the most widely spread sticker was one car owner's sudden idea.

The car owner didn't put on any lettering; instead, he photoshopped the Kyushu "lightning" logo into a "snake" logo.

He posted a video on Douyin, claiming that he suddenly understood Mr. Yu: "Mr. Yu had already subtly incorporated the mountain peak into the car when he was making the car. The lightning bolt logo is winding, isn't it just like the shape of a snake?"

Many car owners and onlookers echoed this claim.

"I've never liked Kyushu's car logo. No wonder, no wonder, shouldn't Kyushu's real car logo be a mountain peak?"

"The Kyushu logo is a snake with its body raised, ready to launch an attack!"

"As expected of Guoshanfeng, as expected of a car made by Guoshanfeng!"

The trend of changing logos on Douyin is somewhat far-fetched, but... even some employees of Silicon Carbon are wondering, was that really what Mr. Yu (CEO of Douyin) originally intended? It seems there's some truth to it. Short selling is like a snake, and in the automotive industry, it's like electricity...

Without any response from the parties involved in the "King of Short Sellers" incident, the media, actively seeking out material, successfully broadened the scope of the "car logo debate," sparking wider discussion and more refined logo modifications.

Inspired and encouraged by this, Bi Sheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, who had been digesting the shock for several days, made a difficult decision.

Bi Sheng did not mention Shanfeng or the King of Short Sellers, nor did he mention Yu Xing. He simply announced that Pinduoduo had reached a cooperation agreement with Tencent and would continue to develop rapidly in the e-commerce market.

The collaboration between Pinduoduo and Tencent was conducted in secret, and there have been new contacts recently, but Tencent absolutely does not want Pinduoduo to make this relationship public.

Ren Yuxi was not optimistic about Pinduoduo at first, but after witnessing its rapid development, he began to regard Pinduoduo as a hidden weapon.

He learned of Bi Sheng's official announcement immediately and angrily called to question him: "Mr. Bi, why did you announce our secret cooperation? You've ruined this hard-won good situation!"

“Mr. Ren, Pinduoduo has reached a point where it needs to develop more rapidly,” Bi Sheng explained. “We also hope to obtain better valuations and investments in the financing market.”

Ren Yuxi said with dissatisfaction, "Tencent will provide Pinduoduo with the development funds it needs."

Bi Sheng responded nonchalantly: "Pinduoduo has its own independent financing and development plan. Mr. Ren, we hope to introduce more institutions that can provide resources."

Ren Yuxi felt like she had swallowed a fly, but she held back and didn't confront him directly.

As he predicted, Alibaba quickly received the signal that Pinduoduo was targeting Tencent and immediately cut off WeChat's sharing link function for Pinduoduo.

Tencent was furious, believing that Bi Sheng's move was too reckless.

However, Bi Sheng did manage to contact Yu Xing as he wished, and went directly to Lingang to meet this short-selling king who was in the eye of the storm.

"Pinduoduo shouldn't have announced its alliance with Tencent," Yu Xing criticized Bi Sheng as soon as they met.

Bi Sheng chuckled: "Tencent and Alibaba are teaming up to smear you. Alibaba doesn't know that Tencent is still up to no good. I have to stand up and expose their collusion."

Yu Xing shook his head helplessly: "There's no need."

Bi Sheng said firmly, "I think it's necessary! Aren't you going to thank me?"

“It really wasn’t necessary.” Yu Xing offered a cigarette. “But thank you anyway, thank you for providing ten dollars of help to the billionaire.”

Bi Sheng lit a cigarette nonchalantly: "This is called a small gift with great meaning!"

“Alright, we’ve already done it. Although we’re missing out on WeChat, Tencent’s WeChat already has more users than WeChat.” Yu Xing pondered. “Pinduoduo already has a certain number of e-commerce users, so it’s not like we can’t do it. And the subsequent financing won’t be a problem.”

After discussing Pinduoduo's development for a while, Bi Sheng couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Yu, what's Guoshanfeng like?"

Yu Xing threw his cigarette butt into the ashtray: "There have been a lot of things going on over the mountain peak. It was all so sudden. I was hesitating too. It's time for you to come and have dinner with us."

He hasn't been to the office for the past few days, using online meetings to listen to the work of the silicon carbon group, and spending the rest of his time dealing with overseas litigation risks and... financial enthusiasm.

Bi Sheng soon met a group of foreigners.

While the translator was speaking, he quietly asked President Yu, "What do they all do?"

"The European lawsuit hasn't come yet, but a group of lawyers who want to help me with the case have already arrived," Yu Xing said casually. "There are also some financial representatives who want to give me money; they are willing to entrust their funds to my hedge fund management."

Bi Sheng asked in surprise, "Huh? Your hedge fund? Which one?"

Yu Xing replied, "The hedge fund that goes over the mountain peak hasn't been established yet, and I'm also hesitant. However, there are more mature short-selling systems overseas, and there are even a group of big short sellers who have established funds on Wall Street, so it's not surprising."

Bi Sheng still found it strange; the public opinion was still arguing, and in just a few days, even overseas funds had already come in.

He then asked, "How much money can they provide?"

Yu Xing glanced at the different representatives of potential investors and made a rough estimate: "I didn't answer many of the calls, but this is a portion of them, probably around 20 billion US dollars."

Bi Sheng was taken aback. Looking at the group of foreigners, he suddenly felt that they were dazzling, but the most dazzling one was Brother Yu next to him.

Their identity was revealed on Monday, and it's Friday noon now, so it's only been four days.

In just four days, a staggering $20 billion has come knocking on their door?!

Bi Sheng even felt a sense of awe. Was this the king of short sellers?

Goodness, the moment the title of "King of Short Sellers" is revealed, funds are practically pouring in!

Bi Sheng suddenly felt a pang of regret; judging from the current situation, it seemed Pinduoduo had been somewhat reckless…

But then he thought that his recklessness might actually bring him more financial support.

Bi Sheng was an outsider and didn't interrupt. While quietly observing the situation, he also secretly searched for relevant information on his phone and immediately realized that the amount of intended funding was far from reaching its limit.

American hedge fund bosses known for their short selling include Chanos, who manages a $70 billion fund; Ehorn, whose fund size is $120 billion; Ackman, whose fund size is $200 billion; and Paulson, whose fund size is the largest, is $360 billion!
These people have a series of nicknames on Wall Street, such as "Wolf King", "Little Buffett" and "Short Selling Master", while Guo Shanfeng is known as "King of Short Sellers".

Taking advantage of the break, Bi Sheng said to President Yu, "Why bother listing silicon carbon? It's just pure money!"

“It’s not the same thing. They want money to make money,” Yu Xingping said calmly. “Silicon Carbon has its own development plan and needs to fulfill its promises to its employees. We have given up on going to Nasdaq and are going to list in Hong Kong.”

Bi Sheng was taken aback: "Hong Kong listing? When? Next year?"

Yu Xing gave an answer: "Next week."

Bi Sheng: "???"

He was one of the people who rang the bell at Baidu in New York back then, and he never imagined that Silicon Carbon Group would continue to try to go public under such circumstances, especially with such a short interval between them.

Bi Sheng had a lot of questions, but he couldn't ask them in this situation.

Finally, after finishing his lunch, he had only one thought about this situation, which differed from public opinion: according to the claims on Douyin, Mr. Yu had previously only held the title of "King of Short Sellers," but now, with his identity exposed…

The king of short sellers may very well receive divine power to match him.

That night, Bi Sheng stayed in the hotel room next to Yu Xing's. He was still browsing the news, but he was no longer so worried. However, he suddenly came across a Douyin post about Bai Xiaosheng's revelations.

An anonymous user, known as "Bai Xiaosheng," presented evidence of financial fraud by Lusheng Molong, an A-share listed company, accusing it of embellishing its financial statements this year by inflating sales prices and understating costs.

This Douyin video, tagged with multiple hashtags such as "King of Short Sellers" and "Over the Peak," has garnered significant attention.

When Bi Sheng returned to the Baixiaosheng Forum, he found that half of the page was already discussing this mainland listed company, with many people expressing their delight at the discussion.

—Attention, attention, Lu Shengmolong, you have entered the domain of the King of Short Sellers!
—The king of short sellers is inspecting the A-share market!
Bi Sheng quickly browsed the forum, then turned around and went to knock on the door next door, where he saw that President Yu was also browsing the forum.

With a strange feeling, he asked, "Mr. Yu, do you think this revelation is true?"

"It's pretty close." Yu Xing rubbed his forehead, looking somewhat bewildered and helpless. "This...this situation isn't working. This...this wasn't short selling."

While the profit-driven Guoshanfeng is still caught in a vortex of public opinion, the noble Guoshanfeng has already bravely emerged.

Bi Sheng glanced at his phone, then at President Yu who was deep in thought, and a thought popped into his head: the power of the short-selling king was overflowing!

(End of this chapter)