The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

Hong Kong stocks opened at 11:00 a.m.

Sun is waiting for news from the verification team.

He sat by the window in the command center, holding his phone with the screen constantly lit, his WeChat chat window pinned to the top by the two informants.

At 10:40, he sent a message: "What's going on?"

No reply.

At 10:50, another message was sent: "Say something."

No reply.

At 11:01, my phone finally vibrated.

It wasn't WeChat, it was a phone call.

Caller ID: Secretary.

He accepted it.

The secretary's voice was weak: "Mr. Sun, the Hong Kong stock market has opened... Please take a look at the market data."

Sun Zheng switched to the stock market software and found Alibaba's Hong Kong stock listing.

绿的。

It's not a light green, it's a deep green, the kind of green that stretches straight down.

Decline: -7.2%.

Within seven minutes of opening, the stock price had fallen by 7.2%.

He scrolled down to look at Tencent.

-5.8%.

Welcome.

-6.1%.

All three are declining.

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His finger remained on the screen, not moving.

Why did it fall?

The sales figures for the promotion were impressive, with the combined GMV of the three companies exceeding 200 billion yuan, a record high.

Based on past patterns, the stock price should rise on the first trading day after a major promotion.

He clicked on the research report feed and scrolled through a few articles—

"The emergence of Weiguang Credit Purchase has locked in the future spending power of 30 million users overnight, posing a risk of zero ROI for BAT's billions in subsidies."

"Weiguang Technology generated 147 billion RMB in GMV with zero cash consumption, prompting the capital market to reassess the user stickiness pricing model of traditional e-commerce platforms."

Analysts have urgently lowered their valuations of Alibaba and Tencent's e-commerce businesses—if users' future spending power has already been exhausted, the logic of "burning money for growth" through billions in subsidies will no longer hold true.

Sun Zheng placed his phone on the table.

He finally understood.

The capital market's reaction was not because Weiguang made 14.7 billion yuan—14.7 billion yuan is nothing to BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent), their daily turnover is more than that.

The capital market reacted because of an even more alarming fact: Weiguang Credit Purchase overdraws users' spending power for the next one to two months.

With over 31 million users and an average credit limit of around 2,000 yuan, the total credit exposure is over 60 billion yuan.

This 60 billion yuan isn't money, but it locks up these users' spending power on other platforms for the next one to two months.

Users' wallets are empty—not because BAT's subsidies have drained them dry, but because Weiguang's credit purchase program has "prepaid" them.

When they get paid next month, the first thing they'll do is pay off Weiguang's credit bill.

Only after paying off the debt can you have the freedom to spend money.

And Weiguang can also issue them new credit limits.

Repeatedly.

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What about the remaining 3 billion yuan in subsidies that BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) prepared?

To whom should it be sent?

Sending it to users with empty pockets? Even if you send them red envelopes, they won't spend them—because their spending power has already been overdrawn by Weiguang.

What will they do after receiving the red envelopes?

I'll save it and pay off Weiguang's bills first when I get my salary next month. I'll keep the money from the red envelope to buy groceries.

The 3 billion yuan subsidy has turned into money for users' food expenses.

BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) can't recoup a single penny of their ROI.

This is a radical solution.

I'm not taking your firewood.

It means the ground under your stove collapsed, and the firewood fell into the hole, leaving you unable to retrieve it.

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Sun Zheng leaned back in his chair, staring at the air conditioner vent on the ceiling.

A cold wind blew across his face, but he was covered in a thin layer of sweat, which settled on his forehead and temples.

My phone vibrated again.

The secretary's message: "Mr. Sun, we've made contact with the two people we sent to Hangzhou."

He opened WeChat and finally saw the message from his informant.

It's not text, it's a voice recording.

He pressed the button and listened.

The voice in the recording is shaky, and there's background noise, like it was recorded in a hallway.

"General Manager Sun... the investigation team... the investigation team didn't seal anything up. They... they have a license, a pilot license jointly approved by the Supreme People's Court and the People's Bank of China... Director Qin, who led the team... shook hands with Lin Che, and... he even patted him on the shoulder..."

The voice paused there, followed by a heavy breathing sound.

"Mr. Sun, what... what should we do?"

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Sun Zheng put down his phone.

On the table in front of him lay the empty bottle of champagne from the previous night, its neck pointing upwards. Beside it was a stemmed glass, the dried wine stains on its rim gleaming pale yellow under the light.

He reached out and picked up the cup.

My fingers are shaking.

The cup slipped from his hand.

boom.

The wine glass fell to the ground, the stem broke, and the glass shattered into three pieces, shards splashing onto the table legs and his shoes.

Everyone in the command center turned to look at him.

He didn't move.

He just sat there, staring at the broken glass at his feet, without saying a word.

About ten seconds later, the secretary jogged over, holding a tablet in her hand.

"Mr. Sun... Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen by 11%."

No response.

"besides……"

The secretary's voice became even softer as she handed him a tablet with a screenshot of an email on the screen.

From: Chairman's Office, Weiguang Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd.

The recipients are three addresses, each pointing to a private email address belonging to the top decision-makers at Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu.

The email subject line only has three characters:

Invitation

Sun Zheng stared at those three words for a long time.

The secretary stood to the side, her knees trembling slightly.

"President Sun... Lin Che sent an invitation... he wants to see you."

Sun Zheng pressed his hand on the table. A shard of glass cut the base of his palm, not deep, but a little blood seeped out and dripped onto the table, a small, bright red drop that slowly spread.

He didn't feel any pain.

Or rather, this pain is nothing compared to the eleven percent on the screen.

His lips moved slightly.

"He wants to see us."

It's not a question.

The email notification also popped up on Qian Minghui's laptop screen.

He glanced at the title, closed his laptop, and began tidying up the things on his desk—water cup, charging cable, folders—packing them one by one into his bag.

His movements were calm, as if he were about to go home after get off work.

In the video call, Zhou Guoping's camera had been turned off ten minutes earlier, and only his name remained on the black screen.

Now it doesn't even have a name anymore.

He left the meeting.