Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

"Mr. Shen, this idea... is really too ahead of its time."

Huang Zheng had an expression on his face that said, "I give up."

Wu Mei couldn't help but ask curiously, "Direct sourcing from the production area certainly saves time and bypasses the cold chain, but how many transit warehouses do you plan to build?"

"Currently, the vast majority of users who can buy fruits and vegetables online are concentrated in first- and second-tier cities."

Shen Mo said, "Therefore, the initial layout will focus on covering East China, North China, South China, and some provincial capitals in the central and western regions."

"That would require at least 20 transit warehouses."

Huang Zheng made a rough estimate.

Shen Mo nodded and said, "Using these transit warehouses as the core, for the last three kilometers, we will cooperate with local logistics companies to complete the last-mile delivery and radiate to surrounding counties and cities."

Shen Mo then tapped the table. "Hangzhou is our first pilot city. If the C2M model works in Hangzhou's fruit and vegetable category, we can replicate it in other cities and expand it to other categories."

Huang Zheng asked, "What product do you plan to choose for your first product?"

Shen Mo smiled and said, "The answer will only be revealed after we officially start working together."

Huang Zheng and Wu Mei whispered among themselves, discussing the matter quietly.

This project appears to be smaller in scale than Ouku.com.

However, its model is completely different from B2C Jingdong and C2C Taobao, as it organizes production and distribution from the source of the supply chain.

This is the new track that Huang Zheng has been searching for: not to create an e-commerce platform, but to create an e-commerce model.

"Mr. Huang, I think we should give it a try."

Wu Mei lowered her voice and said.

After much deliberation, Huang Zheng made up his mind and said, "President Shen, we are willing to join, but before that, I need to deal with Ouku.com first."

"no problem."

Shen Mo took Huang Zheng's hand with just the right amount of force.

Whether it's YiTaoGO or Pinduoduo, they're just appetizers, part of the plan. The real show is yet to come.

…………

I spent the afternoon discussing the cooperation framework with Huang Zheng and others, agreeing on the basic terms, including the exit mechanism.

Just like with miHoYo back then, when one of the four founders received an offer from Cisco and felt that miHoYo's future was bleak and wanted to withdraw, Cai Haoyu and others bought back his shares.

I wonder if he's kicking himself now?

After Shen Mo and Huang Zheng reached an agreement, they did not go directly back to the school, but instead made a detour to Zhejiang University's Zijingang Campus.

The most famous thing on this decadent street is the giant chicken leg.

These are authentic chicken legs, not duck legs that are mistaken for goose legs.

The charcoal stove at the alley entrance was emitting white smoke, and the aroma of cumin and chili powder could be smelled from afar.

Shen Mo found a seat towards the back and sat down. Not long after, Liang Wenfeng came over with the team members from Lingfeng Quantitative.

"President Shen."

Liang Wenfeng greeted him.

"Sit down, everyone sit down."

Shen Mo pushed the menu over, "Order whatever you want, it's on me today."

"Thank you, Mr. Shen."

One by one, they introduced themselves with smiles on their faces.

Shen Mo recognized everyone, then looked at Liang Wenfeng and asked, "How are things going at the company and the lab?"

Liang Wenfeng took out a document and handed it over: "This is the equipment purchase list. Please take a look."

Shen Mo took a closer look and saw that the five NVIDIA Tesla C1060 computing cards were among the highest-performance computing cards available today.

Price per ticket: $1699.

Thankfully, Bitcoin hasn't taken off yet, and there hasn't been a mining boom that drove up demand for graphics cards, so the price of Nvidia's high-end graphics cards hasn't skyrocketed.

"Are five tickets enough? I think we can buy five more."

"That's enough."

Liang Wenfeng said, "These five sheets are sufficient to support the first stage of matrix operations and deep learning model training."

"What about the second and third phases?"

Shen Mo waved his hand and said, "Don't be stingy with money. We're not just doing quantitative trading, but also artificial intelligence. Five graphics cards are hardly enough to build a micro computing center."

"If the Americans find out, they'll think I can't afford it!"

"Yes, Mr. Shen."

Such generosity was beyond Liang Wenfeng's expectations.

"Computing power is not omnipotent, but without computing power, nothing is possible."

Shen Mo continued reading: two dual-socket servers, Intel Xeon 5500 series processors, 48GB ECC memory…

Liang Wenfeng explained, "Loading massive amounts of historical data and training models requires huge memory throughput, and the ECC error correction function can ensure the stability of long-term operation."

Shen Mo flipped through the pages again and again; the list also included storage devices, cooling systems, power supplies, and so on.

The ultimate goal of AI is electricity.

The global AI war is a short-term contest of computing power, algorithms, ecosystems, and development tools, but a long-term contest of energy.

The likelihood of China making a breakthrough in EUV lithography machines is higher than the likelihood of the US rebuilding its power grid and power plants.

Not to mention, the American AI is competing with the leaves for electricity.

As for Europe, they can't even have free access to air conditioning, let alone AI?

"Including the 70-square-meter office, the total cost was 52.28 yuan," Liang Wenfeng said, adjusting his glasses.

Shen Mo pressed further, "After deducting labor costs, the most you can invest in the stock market is only two or three hundred thousand, right?"

Liang Wenfeng nodded. "Mr. Shen, if possible, could you please make another investment?"

"We definitely need to add more! It would be such a waste not to!"

"The A-shares market is in a very good state right now. It started to rebound strongly at the beginning of the year and has already returned to 2000 points. It is estimated that it will not be long before it returns to 3000 points, or even recreate the bull market boom of 07."

Lin Qingyan was smug; this bull market had allowed her, a mere green leek (a metaphor for a small, unsuspecting investor), to recover some of her losses.

"When you think that A is going to work, it's usually not far from failing."

Shen Mo stared at her with amusement, and the more he looked at her, the more she seemed like a top-quality leek.

South Korea still boasts about its "golden age," with stories of "office workers getting rich overnight by watching stock market videos in the bathroom" and "prisoners becoming a hundred times richer"...

As a result, it collapsed in just two months!

"Mr. Shen, I'm not interested in trading individual stocks."

Liang Wenfeng took a sip of cola and slowly began to speak.

"If you don't trade individual stocks, what do you trade?"

Lin Qingyan had originally intended to recommend a few stocks, but now her face was filled with doubt.

"I plan to focus on ETFs."

Liang Wenfeng revealed, "Currently, there are nine ETFs on the market, including the SSE 50 ETF, SZSE 100 ETF, and SSE 180 ETF. I plan to use machine learning to verify the stability and latency performance of the ETF arbitrage program..."

"Why an ETF?"

Shen Mo narrowed his eyes. ETF arbitrage is all about the premium/discount trick.

When the ETF's trading price in the secondary market is lower than its actual net asset value, it is bought at a low price in the secondary market, then a basket of stocks is redeemed in the primary market, and then all of these stocks are sold to realize cash.

Conversely, it involves buying a basket of stocks in the secondary market, subscribing to ETF units in the primary market, and then selling them at a higher price in the secondary market.

"Because ETF arbitrage is currently the most suitable method for training fully automated trading models."

Liang Wenfeng said, "By monitoring the premium/discount rates of products such as the SSE 50 ETF and SZSE 100 ETF in real time, we can capture even a small price difference and place orders using machines at the millisecond level to earn low-risk or even risk-free returns."

How much do you need?

Shen Mo clicked his tongue in amazement, no wonder he could turn 8 yuan into hundreds of millions.

It turns out that while others were betting on the rise and fall of individual stocks, Liang Wenfeng was already "making money" using quantitative trading and mathematical models.

"The threshold for ETF primary market subscription and redemption is 100 million."

Liang Wenfeng's eyes were full of anticipation.

"100 million isn't enough. I'll add another 200 million to Lingfeng Quantitative."

Shen Mo held up two fingers.

"President Shen..."

Liang Wenfeng's hand holding the cup trembled slightly.

"Don't feel pressured, it's okay to lose some money."

Shen Mo smiled and said, "It is my honor to witness your boundless potential being unleashed and to witness the development of artificial intelligence in China."

Lin Qingyan muttered to herself, "Quantitative analysis... is it really that bizarre?"

Shen Mo rolled his eyes at her: "Let me put it this way, if the stock market is a field of leeks, and the big players are harvesting them with sickles, then quantitative trading is like a giant combine harvester that can dig up even the roots of the leeks. Do you believe me?"

Lin Qingyan retorted, unconvinced, "Then what are retail investors?"

"Hehe, retail investors are just like leeks being harvested."

Shen Mo joked, "I go to work at 9 a.m. every day and earn about ten thousand yuan a month! I save money by playing the stock market!"

They fantasize about getting rich overnight, completely unaware of who the real winners are!

Once Lingfeng masters quantitative trading, not only retail investors but also institutional investors will have to kneel down and sing "Conquer"!