I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 571 Central State-Owned Enterprises Need to Invest

The next morning, the market opened as scheduled at nine o'clock. Fang Qingye and his team had already withdrawn their short positions that they had not yet traded, but the price of the M1403 contract did not rise as a result. Instead, it continued to fall, but fortunately, it did not hit the daily limit down.

Later, Fang Qingye learned that major short sellers, including Lin Guangmao and Ye Qingjun, had all received verbal "advice" from their respective futures companies.

After the trading session that day, Jiang Wei, a major bullish player, was also forced to liquidate his positions by the exchange, thus abruptly ending the fierce battle between bulls and bears.

It is said that in this fierce battle between bulls and bears, due to the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange's forced hedging and liquidation, Jiang Wei's losses were not particularly severe, amounting to approximately 600 million yuan.

But what awaits him is not just the 600 million yuan deficit, but also legal judgment.

Soon after, Jiang Wei was criminally detained on suspicion of manipulating the securities market.

The ups and downs in the stock market did not affect the joy and celebration in real life; the Spring Festival of 2014 has arrived.

"Crackling and popping!" Firecrackers rang out in the courtyard of the Four Seasons Nursery.

Today is Lunar New Year's Eve. As in previous years, Fang Jianwen and Fang Jianhua's families have come to Miaopu's parents' place for their reunion dinner.

Things like pasting couplets, window decorations, and setting off firecrackers should be left to the younger generation.

Fang Qingye's cousin, Fang Qinglin, was in charge of setting off the firecrackers.

Last year, he ranked 8th in the college entrance examination in Nanxin County and was admitted to the Computer Science and Technology major at Shanghai Jiaotong University, which made Fang Jianhua and his wife very proud.

He's the youngest in the family, so this task was naturally left to him.

Although firecrackers are banned in many places during the Lunar New Year, no one in this small county town is currently enforcing the ban.

The couple, Fang Qingye and her husband, put up couplets all the way from the main gate of the nursery to the living room and kitchen in the courtyard. They were all handwritten by Fang Jianwen, the father, imitating Yan Zhenqing's regular script, which was square, upright and vigorous.

Originally, Fang Qingye was supposed to stand on a stool to paste the couplets, but unfortunately, her phone kept ringing in the afternoon, all of them were phone calls to wish people a Happy New Year.

Most people send a text message or WeChat message to wish others a Happy New Year, while others make a special phone call.

I just received a New Year's greeting call from Wang Chenyang in Shanghai. On behalf of him and his wife Xu Mei, I wish Fang Qingye and his wife a Happy New Year.

Of course, we inevitably talked about work-related matters again.

“Chairman Fang, this subsidy war with Meituan is burning through cash faster than I imagined. In less than three months, we’ve already burned through 10.6 billion! And it’s getting worse every month. In January alone, we burned through 5.5 million! At this rate, even if we raise another 30 billion, I don’t think it will be enough! I’m really worried about all this.”

Hearing Wang Chenyang's words, Fang Qingye chuckled: "Chenyang, have a peaceful New Year. We'll talk about everything after the New Year! No matter what, the most important thing about the New Year is to be happy!"

"Hehe, Mr. Fang, you're good at taking things in stride. Alright then, Happy New Year to your whole family!"

After receiving Wang Chenyang's call, Fang Qingye continued to stand on the stool and paste the couplets, while Bai Ou stood behind her to check if the heights on both sides were consistent.

He asked, "Wang Chenyang's phone number?"

"Yes, they're worried about Ele.me's financing. They say even another 30 billion yuan might not be enough," Fang Qingye replied.

"To be honest, this is the first time I've truly experienced what it means to spend money like water," Bai Ou remarked.
“I looked at Ele.me’s financial statements a couple of days ago, especially the fourth quarter report, and it made my heart race. At this rate, we must start a new round of financing immediately after the Chinese New Year, otherwise we may run out of funds.”

"Don't worry, there's always a way." Fang Qingye said casually, "Even if those big capitalists stop investing, we're not afraid."

"Don't we at Tuofang Technology still have over 3 billion? Shi Guangrong promised me he could come up with 700-800 million without a problem. And then there's Lin Guangmao and the others—I've helped them twice! Otherwise, they'd either be in jail or jumping into the Huangpu River! Raising 1 billion for investment shouldn't be a problem, right?" "So don't worry, our current task is to have a happy New Year! See, are we on the same page, left and right?"

Seeing her husband's relaxed expression, Bai Ou's initial anxiety disappeared. She carefully examined the sign: "The left hand is a bit high, lower it a little."

After the couplets were pasted up, Fang Qingye and his companion went to paste paper-cut window decorations. His phone rang again; it was Qiao Yongfeng calling.

"Brother Qiao, Happy New Year! Wishing you prosperity!" Fang Qingye said first.

"Hehe. You should be the one making a fortune. I heard that your Ele.me and Meituan are engaged in a fierce battle in the food delivery market. How's it going?"

"It's alright. Meituan came on strong, waging a price war and grabbing territory, which put us on the defensive. But thankfully, the decline in market share was within our expectations," Fang Qingye said.

"You're burning through money pretty fast, aren't you?" Qiao Yongfeng asked on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, Ele.me's CFO just called me and complained about it, saying that the money raised is not going away quickly and he is worried that he will not be able to make ends meet in the coming years."

"Oh, do you need any more investors? Can I introduce you to someone?"

“Sure, which investment institution?” Fang Qingye asked.

Have you heard of China Construction Investment Corporation?

"China Construction Investment Corporation? China Construction Investment Corporation Limited? Its parent company is Central Huijin Investment Ltd." Fang Qingye asked.

"Yes, Jiantou has a wholly-owned subsidiary called Jiantou Huake Investment Co., Ltd., which specializes in equity investment in the information technology and 'Internet+' industries. Their CEO will be traveling to Shanghai on business after the Chinese New Year. Would you like to meet him?"

"Sure, Brother Qiao, you can arrange it."

"Okay, let's celebrate the New Year first, and then we'll talk about it after the New Year."

The two chatted for a few minutes and then hung up.

Before Bai Ou could ask, Fang Qingye said, "Brother Qiao said that the CEO of Jiantou Huake, a subsidiary of China Construction Investment Corporation, is coming to Shanghai and asked me to meet him."

"China Construction Investment Corporation? Isn't that a subsidiary of Central Huijin Investment Ltd.? A state-owned enterprise?"

“That’s right.” Fang Qingye smiled and said, “Haven’t you noticed that although Brother Qiao runs his own private enterprise, he deals with state-owned enterprises?”

"To use an inappropriate analogy, I'd say Brother Qiao is a bit like a broker."

"Haha, you're right, but Brother Qiao didn't ask for a single penny for his services."

Bai Ou smiled and said, "If Jiantou Huake wants to invest in Ele.me, it means that state-owned capital is going to enter the Internet consumer industry."

"It may not be a bad thing. The resources brought by state-owned enterprises are no less than those of angel investors and large investment banks, especially domestically. Of course, they should invest financially and not interfere with Ele.me's operations."

“If you can really attract investors with state-owned backgrounds, you won’t need to contact Lin Guangmao and his group,” Bai Ou said.

"Yes, that's a last resort. We only contacted them as an emergency measure. They can't bring any resources other than funds," Fang Qingye said calmly.

(End of this chapter)