Restart life

Chapter 531, May 0519th: [Hurun Comes for an Exclusive Interview]

What can two women and one man do?

There are exactly three people, enough for a game of Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game).

They were simply drinking beer, eating snacks, and playing cards to play Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game).

Chen Guiliang also ordered some takeout.

“Playing cards like this is no fun. How about we play the King’s Game?” Chen Guiliang suggested.

Tao Xue asked curiously, "What is the King's Game?"

Xu Fengyin, a seasoned veteran in the industry, rolled her eyes at Chen Guiliang: "You think I don't know what you're thinking?"

Chen Guiliang didn't respond to that, but instead said to Tao Xue, "You don't know the King's Game?"

Tao Xue shook her head: "I've never played it."

Chen Guiliang said, "You've all played Truth or Dare before, right?"

"Tch!" Tao Xue also realized what was happening.

Perhaps it was because playing Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) was really boring, or perhaps it was under the influence of alcohol, but they actually agreed to play the King's Game without really understanding why.

Playing with only three people is actually too few; the winning rate is 100% every round. To put it bluntly, it's just a ruse. The person who draws the King directly issues orders to the other two.

At first it was normal, just some interactive punishments, but gradually it became unsuitable for children.

Tao Xue didn't wake up until late morning the next day.

She opened her eyes, her head throbbing, and felt like this wasn't her bedroom. Turning her head, she saw Chen Guiliang lying in the middle, with her and Xu Fengyin sleeping on either side.

Upon careful recollection, Tao Xue felt both ashamed and angry. She quickly dressed and left, afraid that it would be awkward if everyone woke up.

Just as she was searching for her clothes, Chen Guiliang and Xu Fengyin also woke up one after the other.

Xu Fengyin remained remarkably calm, glancing at her phone: "It's 10:30. If I rush to the company now, I'll probably get half a day of absence marked as absent. I reek of alcohol; I'll go take a shower first."

Then, without even looking at Chen Guiliang and Tao Xue, she took her change of clothes and went to the bathroom.

After closing the bathroom door, Xu Fengyin let out a long sigh of relief and frantically rubbed her face to clear her head. She had only ever seen such experiences in erotic comics before, and had even fantasized about them, but she never dared to experience them in person.

At this moment, her emotions were very complex: anger, shame, tension... and a faint sense of excitement and stimulation.

In contrast, Tao Xue was simply filled with a mixture of shame and anger.

Chen Guiliang had barely uttered half a sentence when Tao Xue interrupted him, "Shut up! You're driving me crazy! I don't want to talk to you for the next three days!"

Chen Guiliang silently left the bedroom, found Tao Xue's clothes on the living room sofa, and handed them to her: "I was drunk last night and don't remember anything."

"Do you think I'd believe that?" Tao Xue said irritably.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Filming for 'Silk Road Dust' starts this summer. Do you want to visit the set? I'll go with you, and we can go to the Gobi Desert and grasslands together."

Tao Xue didn't refuse outright: "Let's talk about it later."

After Xu Fengyin finished taking a bath, Tao Xue went to take one as well.

Seeing Chen Guiliang sprawled out on the sofa, Xu Fengyin asked, "Are you feeling pretty smug right now?"

Chen Guiliang feigned ignorance: "What are you so proud of? I've forgotten everything that happened last night."

Xu Fengyin said with a grin, "How about coming again tonight? I'll go and persuade Xiaoxue."

"Really?" Chen Guiliang was a little hooked.

Xu Fengyin immediately stopped smiling and said sarcastically, "What a man's true colors!"

Chen Guiliang retorted, "What are you thinking? I was talking about playing Dou Dizhu (a card game)."

"Hmph." Xu Fengyin sat down and played on her phone.

Chen Guiliang said, "How about we go to your hometown for the National Day holiday?"

Xu Fengyin's attention was instantly diverted: "You want to see my parents? Be careful they don't beat you to death!"

Chen Guiliang asked, "Where do you want to go?"

Xu Fengyin bit her lip: "Let me think about it some more."

It was already noon when the three of them finally went downstairs and found a nearby restaurant to eat.

They each pretended nothing had happened and went about their business.

In the afternoon, a foreigner named Rupert Hoogewerf came to visit.

Two years ago, Rupert Hoogewerf had been trying to visit Chen Guiliang in person, but Chen always refused.

Hurun wanted to know Chen Guiliang's specific assets, especially those of Game Science, since Game Science has never been listed on the stock exchange.

Even Youke's claim of having the largest market share is based on statistics from a third-party organization; Youke has never actually published any financial reports!
"Hello, Mr. Chen."

"Hello, Mr. Hurun."

Rupert Hoogewerf smiled and said, “I am very pleased to visit Mr. Chen in person. I have great respect for Chinese entrepreneurs, especially self-made business owners.”

Chen Guiliang said, "Thank you. Shall we take photos first, or conduct the interview first?"

Hurun Report is a high-end business magazine published quarterly. In addition to reporting on companies and entrepreneurs, it also features various economic topics, luxury goods reviews, high-end travel experiences, charitable activities, and more.

It's not just about releasing a rich list every year. "Mr. Chen can decide whether to take photos first or conduct interviews first."

"Let's start the interview."

Having conducted similar interviews countless times, Chen Guiliang is already quite adept at it.

Most of the questions Rupert Hoogewerf asked were also asked by others during previous interviews.

There are also a few differences.

Rupert Hoogewerf: "Many people believe that ByteDance's stock price is severely undervalued due to the crisis of Chinese concept stocks last year. It dipped slightly recently due to a share issuance, but has now rebounded to $150. How much do you think it needs to rise this year to reflect ByteDance's true market value?"

Chen Guiliang: "It depends on how much confidence investors have in ByteDance."

Rupert Hoogewerf: Do Game Science and HarmonyOS have any plans to go public?

Chen Guiliang: "It's confidential for now."

Chen Guiliang was completely bluffing about the specific issues.

Both the Forbes list and the Hurun list seriously underestimate some Chinese companies.

Take Alipay as an example. Since Jack Ma spun it off from Alibaba, Alibaba has been entitled to share 37.5% of Alipay's pre-tax profits in order to compensate existing shareholders such as SoftBank.

These can all be seen in Alibaba's financial reports, but Forbes and Hurun seriously underestimated the value of Alipay when making their statistics, which is why Jack Ma's ranking on the rich list is not high.

It wasn't until Ant Group was preparing for its IPO that Forbes and Hurun took it seriously, and Alipay's valuation suddenly increased tenfold!
The same applies to Tencent's assets. Forbes and Hurun only calculate the value of businesses like QQ and games, while other businesses are given only a rough estimate. This results in Pony Ma's assets being significantly undervalued when they are statistically analyzed.

Clearly, Chen Guiliang's assets have also been underestimated.

After the interview, Rupert Hoogewerf chatted casually with Chen Guiliang until they felt they had gotten to know each other well before he asked, "Is the market share estimate of Game Science in the annual white paper on China's online game industry published by the Ministry of Culture accurate?"

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Quite accurate."

Rupert Hoogewerf finally revealed his true intentions, saying, "Mr. Chen, could you provide me with a brief financial statement for Youke? A very, very brief one, I just need a rough figure."

Chen Guiliang said, "I'm sorry."

Rupert Hoogewerf felt very helpless, as he had to personally visit entrepreneurs every year in order to compile corporate data.

Especially for those unlisted companies, it's impossible to count them at all.

However, the outcome of a visit is often one of two things:
One type is entrepreneurs who boast, with some even daring to inflate their assets by more than ten times.

Another reason is that entrepreneurs deliberately underreport their assets or refuse to disclose information altogether to avoid being targeted because of excessive assets.

Chen Guiliang clearly belongs to the latter category. He refused Hurun's interview for two consecutive years, and now he refuses to reveal any information in interviews.

Rupert Hoogewerf had no choice but to change the subject: "Mr. Chen, what are your hobbies?"

Chen Guiliang retorted, "Is that considered part of the interview?"

Rupert Hoogewerf said, "The interview is over. It was just a casual chat and can be used as a supplement to the interview. Our magazine also covers other content, including the hobbies of the wealthy, such as luxury cars, watches, jewelry, yachts, airplanes, and golf."

Chen Guiliang said, "I don't really have any interests. If you really want to know my hobbies, it's reading, playing video games, and occasionally playing basketball."

Rupert Hoogewerf said, "We also pay attention to the values ​​and philosophies of life of the wealthy. You can tell a person's values ​​from what books they like to read. What books does Mr. Chen like to read?"

Chen Guiliang said: "Vulgar or refined. Vulgar includes online novels, while refined includes various ancient books."

Rupert Hoogewerf chuckled, "What about the half-vulgar and half-refined ones?"

Chen Guiliang said, "The authors of these kinds of books usually want to show off. And this kind of showing off makes me feel very embarrassed when I read them."

Rupert Hoogewerf said, "Mr. Chen is a man of strong emotions."

Chen Guiliang said, "Mr. Hurun's Chinese is very good."

Rupert Hoogewerf asked, "As an entrepreneur, do you have your own unique values ​​and philosophy of life?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Don't take yourself too seriously."

Rupert Hoogewerf asked, "Should one be humble?"

Chen Guiliang said, "It can't be defined by mere humility. What I mean is, the earth will keep turning no matter who's gone. Do you know about historical materialism?"

Rupert Hoogewerf asked, "Is history created by the people? But I think the heroic view of history also has some merit. Otherwise, how do you explain the enormous changes that the appearance or death of a great figure can bring to history?"

Chen Guiliang said, "There is no contradiction. One is from a long-term and macro perspective, and the other is from a short-term and micro perspective. I think successful entrepreneurs should not take themselves too seriously. If they think they have created a lot of value for society or solved a lot of jobs, it is easy to become complacent."

Rupert Hoogewerf said, "We're planning a charity feature. Would Mr. Chen be willing to participate?"

Chen Guiliang said, "I'm sorry. If I want to do charity, I'll donate quietly and won't make a big fuss about it."

After exchanging ideas for a while, Chen Guiliang took photos for the magazine and then took Rupert Hoogewerf to visit the company.

Back at the hotel, Rupert Hoogewerf was as depressed as usual.

His previous valuation of Youke was based on estimates derived from the game business data disclosed by Tencent, NetEase, and Shanda. Things like cloud computing centers are simply impossible to accurately quantify.

Even Xiyi Capital, which was jointly created by Youke and ByteDance, is difficult to reflect in ByteDance's financial statements.

Because of Xiyi Capital's shareholding structure, ByteDance holds exactly 19.9% ​​of the shares, so it doesn't need to disclose specific data on the investment companies' revenue, profits, and assets. It only needs to list an investment portfolio in the notes to ByteDance's financial statements.

Why don't these Chinese bosses like to flaunt their wealth?
Rupert Hoogewerf plans to make Chen Guiliang the richest man in China this year, because the sales of Hurun Report magazine have been declining, and he needs to do something big to boost sales.

It's nothing new for those old guys to be the richest people; it's only when a young person in their twenties becomes the richest person that it attracts attention!
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(In the previous chapter, some readers questioned the protagonist's assets and even listed some data. First, in 2011, China's smartphone sales were only 72 million, not over 100 million. Second, the best-selling HarmonyOS phones were the A1/A2, so the average price was only over 2000 yuan, not 4000 yuan. Third, at that time, the asset calculations on the rich list severely underestimated most emerging industries.)
(End of this chapter)