Debuted right after graduating from high school

Chapter 782 It's the beginning of the year again.
The day after having dinner with Jay Chou, Fan Wumian easily found Ling Kun, the still relatively unknown wife of the superstar, through a Microblog search.

It's just about discovering talent. In recent years, the mainland's cultural and entertainment industry has risen rapidly, and celebrities' incomes have been increasing. The artists under their management have gradually become more established and are trying to continue their cooperation with Fan Wumian in the form of personal studios. They need to bring in some fresh blood to reduce the production costs of film and television dramas.

Ling Kun's account information was casually sent to a senior executive at the Holy Fire Meow Meow Agency. Without saying a word, the executive contacted the girl and flew to the North Island City to meet her, subtly inquiring about her relationship with Fan Wumian.

Ling Kun, dressed up beautifully, looked completely bewildered after hearing this.

Seeing that she was confused, the executive guessed that he had misunderstood. Although he couldn't understand Fan Wumian's actions, he still pondered it carefully. In order to avoid giving the boss a blind eye, he specifically reminded her that this time he had received Fan Wumian's personal instruction to try to sign a contract with Ling Kun.

The girl thought of many things in an instant, and couldn't stop smiling.

Fan Wumian had too many things to think about and had already forgotten about this matter. He flew to Xiamen to inspect the third "Mountain Bandit General Store" store in the country, located in Wanda Plaza.

This newly established brand, founded just a few months ago, mainly sells trendy toys and lifestyle products. It attempts to monetize IPs such as Ali, Peppa Pig, Bad Boy, and Mischievous Rabbit through these physical stores, and has launched a series of peripheral products such as stationery, dolls, ornaments, and puzzles.

One after another, Fan Wumian spent money to acquire a bunch of cartoon copyrights, including "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" and "Boonie Bears" which just aired this year. Tencent and Marvel Entertainment also cooperated with his IP company, making the goods in the Mountain Bandit General Store dazzling and quite interesting to browse.

There aren't many small fish that fall into his little fishpond but swim away on their own. Xue Shiyun, who once said she wanted to find Fan Wumian to be her "sugar daddy," is definitely one of them.

This girl used her beauty and sob story to get a large sum of money from Fan Wumian, which helped her family through a difficult time. She also benefited from the booming real estate and infrastructure market, and with his resources, she rose to prominence, acquiring many cement plants and venturing into real estate, construction, transportation, and building materials markets, making a fortune in one fell swoop.

During his visit to Xiamen, Fan Wumian once again invited Xue Shiyun out for dinner. Seeing her dressed in high-end clothes and exuding a powerful aura, he couldn't help but tease her, saying:
"Making money really changes things; the aura of a strong woman immediately comes out. It seems like quite a few media outlets interview you frequently, and you have a very high profile online. Not to mention, your family company is also applying for an IPO. You're living a really comfortable life."

"Finally finished, huh? When are you going to give me the treat you promised?"

"Business people value integrity above all else. You won't go back on your word, will you?"

She was radiant and confident in public, with a deeply ingrained image of a rich, beautiful, and successful woman. However, when Xue Shiyun met Fan Wumian, she was like a mouse seeing a cat, naturally shrinking in embarrassment.

After all, Fan Wumian had already seen her most pathetic side clearly.

Occasionally, when Xue Shiyun thought about the things she said to Fan Wumian in order to get rid of trouble, she would feel so embarrassed that she would dig her toes into the ground, feeling extremely ashamed.

Seeing that Fan Wumian was bringing up old grievances again, Xue Shiyun resorted to shamelessness and said:

"What did I promise you? I hit my head on the headboard a while ago and lost my memory. If you're so capable, show me the contract."

"Our company is expected to make a profit of about 5 million this year. The stone quarry and sand mining we invested in last year were very profitable. The IPO price was around 60 billion RMB, which is pretty good."

"I've earned enough for you to buy your freedom, so you're not allowed to mention that matter again, and you absolutely cannot tell anyone else."

It must be admitted that although Fan Wumian provided her with funds and other resources at some critical moments, the fact that she and her family were able to develop a company valued at tens of millions of RMB into a medium-sized enterprise valued at 60 billion RMB in just a few years shows that they were quite capable.

Capabilities are only one aspect; the most crucial factor is that they caught the wave of opportunity. A few years ago, after the "4 trillion yuan stimulus plan" was introduced, the real estate market in various regions exploded, and infrastructure projects started one after another. As an upstream supplier, her company reaped huge benefits, with orders so plentiful that they were frantically expanding production and simply couldn't keep up.

Fan Wumian also provided some assistance during this process. Just as the financial crisis of 2008 was beginning, he helped her company buy up a batch of high-quality assets through bank connections, including other cement plants, building materials companies, and so on.

Fan Wumian didn't really take it to heart, and smiled as he said:
"Your current average bond issuance cost is over 10%, which is a bit too high. Try to lower it after you get the money from the IPO. Be careful to control the risks. No country's real estate market can keep rising indefinitely."

"The main reason I came here is to remind you that you need to start thinking about the transformation a few years from now. Don't put all your eggs in one basket in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. However, there shouldn't be any problems in the next four or five years. There's still time to explore."

"I reviewed the financial report on the way here. If the IPO goes smoothly in March or April next year, we'll probably catch a market rally, and the company's market value could potentially reach 10 billion RMB."

Xue Shiyun nodded and said:

“I’ve also heard about how you invited representatives from several large companies to dinner in Guangzhou and asked them to scale back their business.”

"Because of the rapid expansion and long payment cycle, my company even withheld part of the employees' wages, allowing them to voluntarily deposit part of their wages with the company, which would pay 10% interest."

"If we don't go public, the pressure will be really immense. I've been looking for promising businesses these past few days, and I've found that the education industry seems to have a good market. Those training institutions have high profits and don't lack students."

Fan Wumian blinked and reminded him:
"You can try to invest more, but it's best to withdraw in time. Healthcare, education, and real estate are all vulnerable to heavy crackdowns because they significantly impact people's quality of life. We won't let them leech off our wealth."

After a few words about business, they talked about the company's recent situation and some management problems.

Before the company officially goes public, Xue Shiyun's father plans to hand over the chairmanship to her and retire, just like the situation at Country Garden.

After helping her fill in the gaps, Fan Wumian gave her a private lesson, "predicting" his assessment of the future real estate market and advising Xue Shiyun not to miss the best opportunity for transformation.

As times changed, real estate and construction companies began to develop, and almost every boss was ambitious, hoping to expand and strengthen their businesses. As a result, there was an oversupply and declining profits, which eventually led to a market collapse, and no one made any money.

After the real estate market collapses, Fan Wumian believes a polarization will likely begin. With an aging population and further urbanization, smaller cities will gradually decline, while large cities will steadily recover, much like in other developed countries and regions where the population is mainly concentrated in medium and large cities. Currently, he has nearly 2000 billion RMB in assets invested in real estate and infrastructure. Naturally, he needs to carefully assess market trends. In the future, aside from some high-quality commercial real estate projects located in medium and large cities, Fan Wumian will liquidate all other projects to cash out.

If the benefits brought by information asymmetry are exhausted and there is nowhere to invest the massive amount of funds, Fan Wumian has also made preparations in advance to heavily invest in commercial real estate giants such as Wharf Holdings and Sun Hung Kai Properties, in addition to buying up a large number of shopping malls, hotels and office buildings at bargain prices, so that he can be a landlord in the future.

In recent years, Xue Shiyun has not found a boyfriend and has been too busy to talk about marriage.

There are actually quite a few decent men around her, but she always subconsciously compares them to Fan Wumian, and naturally feels that he is far inferior, making it difficult for her to genuinely like him.

As a successful career woman with good personal qualities, she naturally doesn't need to rely on others and feels that marriage is something she can do without.

Fan Wumian hadn't really put any thought into it and had already booked a sea-view room at the hotel, but after dinner, Xue Shiyun said that she had reserved a "king of the villas" for him in the villa area developed by the company. It covered more than 6 acres and was already decorated.

With nothing to do in the evening, he decided to take a car and go for a stroll. For some reason, Xue Shiyun even made up an excuse that the mattress was comfortable and invited him to lie down and try it out.

Perhaps it's because she's reaching a certain age and is more susceptible to hormonal influences, but Xue Shiyun, who has been single for so many years, is starting to crave certain things.

It was a rare opportunity to run into Fan Wumian, but seeing that he only talked without taking any real action, Xue Shiyun had no choice but to awkwardly take the initiative to flirt with him, even turning off the bright main light in the bedroom to hint at something.

Fan Wumian understood these little schemes all too well.

Although it was completely unplanned, he didn't want to be branded as "worse than a beast," so he quickly made Xue Shiyun completely lose control of her emotions. The two of them hurriedly took a shower and he gave her everything he could.

The process of becoming the chairman of a near-listed company with assets of two to three billion yuan, and also a nationally renowned "post-85s" most beautiful entrepreneur, is certainly fascinating.

As a result, her trip was delayed by two days. Xue Shiyun went to the company every day to handle work. Her employees clearly noticed that her mood had improved a lot, and they all reported some backlogged issues to her.

Even many female employees find it a real headache to have a female boss who is easily affected by hormones.

On his way to Shenzhen again, Fan Wumian felt like the sky had fallen, because even flirting with girls had started to feel uninteresting and instead became a real hassle.

With many women around him and an increasing number of children, he has been unable to manage his time effectively, and over time, it is inevitable that he will begin to develop resentment.

This made him reflect deeply and finally decide to tighten his belt.
2013 years.

I took a break at the beginning of the year and only attended the Shenzhen premiere of the movie "Minions".

The movie was originally called "Despicable Me", but when Fan Wumian was writing the script, he put the protagonist's perspective on these Minions, and their "master" became a supporting character to enrich the plot.

Another film, "The Secret Life of Pets," was released during the summer of 2012 and grossed a total of $9.31 million worldwide. It became a hit with its protagonist, a mischievous rabbit known as the "gangster boss," and received a very positive response.

As is customary during the Spring Festival, after extending New Year's greetings to everyone at the Spring Festival Gala, Fan Wumian went to the Maldives for a vacation, stayed on the island for a few days, and then went to Paris Fashion Week to attend the European launch ceremony of the Tesla Model S, which was held at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

Speaking of the Eiffel Tower, it is now more of a romantic and fashionable cultural symbol. There is really nothing to see there. Fan Wumian even picked up a rusty screw that had fallen off the ground.

Influenced by this shareholder, the new Model S looks much better, referencing the appearance of the Porsche Panamera and further improving upon it, attracting many French people to come and visit.

Traditional gasoline car manufacturers and oil companies do not currently pay much attention to electric vehicles, mainly because of their high costs, small user base, and lack of market competitiveness and core advantages.

Some female celebrities at French Fashion Week privately invited Fan Wumian to dinner or drinks, including Emma Watson, Megan Fox, and Miranda Kerr. This time, he really showed his mettle and politely declined them all.

It has nothing to do with physical health; it's just that I've become psychologically tired of the endless life of a playboy, and it's a kind of intermittent sage mode.

Also during Paris Fashion Week, Fan Wumian reached an agreement with luxury brand Versace for an overall acquisition of 8.5 million euros, hoping to use this to enter the men's fashion and fragrance market and make up for Valentino's shortcomings.

The market demand for men's fragrances in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong is relatively small, but in markets with strong body odor such as Europe, America, and South America, the annual demand for men's fragrances reaches three to four hundred billion US dollars. Valentino just happens to have ample cash flow on its books, so acquiring Versace is no problem for them.

As the world's richest man, Fan Wumian's every move in Paris attracts considerable attention. When he had dinner with the founder of Airbnb, a Silicon Valley internet company, the news quickly spread in the industry, attracting many institutions to snap up Airbnb's initial public offering (IPO) shares.

This internet company, which mainly engages in the short-term rental business, is currently valued at between $20 billion and $30 billion. A few days after the two had dinner, news broke that Fan Wumian's family trust fund would provide Airbnb with $5 million in financing, holding a total of 22.5% of the shares, but the specific figures were not made public.

Soon after, Airbnb's valuation jumped to over $35 billion, thanks to the resolution of its funding shortage and the boost in traffic from Microblog and Myth+.

Subsequently, two Silicon Valley cryptocurrency companies, Coinbase and Circle Internet Financial, also announced that they had received $1000 million in funding from Fan Wumian.

For some reason, Bitcoin still appeared. Fan Wumian quietly sent people to acquire and mine it over a long period of time. As of now, he has more than 37 Bitcoins. The total acquisition cost was less than $80. On the contrary, he spent a lot of money on mining with his own team. The cost of purchasing equipment and labor was quite expensive.

In Fan Wumian's view, the initial total returns from cryptocurrencies are just a drop in the bucket; investing directly in trading platforms is the most profitable approach. However, if one were to hold a large amount of Bitcoin for more than a decade, it might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars by then.
(End of this chapter)