How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 585

Wall Street Shorts Luckin, Yang Chen Gets Maotai Equity

Yang Chen was worried about his cousin’s safety, so he quickly got up and rushed over.

However, as soon as he left the neighborhood, Li Xiaofei called.

“Brother, I’m fine. Thank you. Hehe…” Li Xiaofei said with a giggle.

Yang Chen: “Wait for me there, I’ll come find you now.”

Li Xiaofei: “Ah? It’s so late, don’t come. We’re going home right away, we promise not to linger outside.”

Yang Chen: “I’m already out, wait for me.”

More than twenty minutes later, Yang Chen arrived in front of Li Xiaofei and Chen Meng.

Li Xiaofei hopped over, and just as she was about to try to sweet-talk Yang Chen, he lightly slapped her on the head.

“Ah! That hurts! Why did you hit me!” Li Xiaofei looked displeased.

Yang Chen: “Do you think no one dares to touch you?”

Li Xiaofei: “No, I know I have you, so I’m not afraid.”

Yang Chen: “What if you can’t contact me, or they don’t give you a chance to contact me?”

Li Xiaofei didn’t dare to speak.

Yang Chen tapped her on the head again and said, “Speak!”

Li Xiaofei: “Ouch, that hurts! Can you be a little gentler?”

Yang Chen tapped her on the head again and said, “Gentler? When others hurt you, you tell them to be gentler, will they listen to you?”

Chen Meng quickly walked over and said, “I’m sorry, it’s all because…”

Yang Chen: “Don’t talk, it has nothing to do with you. Li Xiaofei, I’m telling you, I can’t save you every time. If you don’t have a sense of danger, something will happen sooner or later. Don’t meddle in things that aren’t your business. What are you to her, coming to this kind of place late at night to find her? Showing off your abilities? Tomorrow, go with your aunt to Longteng Garden to look at houses, and move into whichever one you like.”

Li Xiaofei: “Okay…”

Yang Chen pulled Li Xiaofei into the car and said loudly, “You take a taxi back yourself. You are responsible for your own safety; no one is obligated to protect you at risk. What kind of behavior is this? Daring to learn from others to stay out all night and get drunk in a bar.”

Chen Meng lowered her head and didn’t speak.

Yang Chen stuffed Li Xiaofei into the car and drove her home.

“Brother, I know I was wrong, I won’t do it again, please don’t be angry,” Li Xiaofei said in a pleading tone.

Yang Chen: “I’m angry, so angry that I can’t be appeased.”

Li Xiaofei: “Oh, I really know I was wrong, I will never take risks again, and I won’t meddle in other people’s business. It’s just that she is our next-door neighbor, from a single-parent family. Usually, my mom and her mom visit each other, and they have a good relationship. Her mom has bad eyesight, and the two of them had a fight over her dating, so she ran out in the middle of the night. Her mom was worried, so she asked me to help find her.”

Yang Chen: “She doesn’t even care about her own safety, why do you have to meddle in other people’s business? Do you think you’re very capable? Without my connections, you would have been beaten up countless times in school these past few years. Don’t treat my connections as your personal ability; you are just an ordinary girl, you are not a superhero. Understand?”

Li Xiaofei: “Oh, I understand…”

Soon, Yang Chen took Li Xiaofei downstairs.

“I still have important things to do, so I won’t take you upstairs. Wave to me from the balcony later, and also say hello to my aunt for me.”

Yang Chen said.

Li Xiaofei nodded and said, “Goodbye, brother.”

Li Xiaofei quickly ran upstairs, bringing her mother to the balcony to wave to Yang Chen.

“Chen, come up and sit for a while!” Auntie shouted.

Yang Chen: “No, I still have very important things to do, so I won’t go up. Tomorrow, you and Xiaofei go to Longteng Garden to look at houses and move there. It’s almost the New Year, prepare some New Year’s goods; I’m spending this year in Haicheng, so you guys come over there too.”

Auntie: “Haha… okay, okay. Then what do you want to eat?”

Yang Chen: “I want to eat everything Auntie makes.”

Auntie: “Haha… okay, okay. Then drive slowly on the way back, and be careful.”

Yang Chen: “Okay. I’m leaving, you guys rest. Li Xiaofei, remember what I just said, if you dare to act recklessly again, I’ll break your legs.”

Li Xiaofei: “Okay, I got it!”

Yang Chen left angrily. He wasn’t angry with Li Xiaofei, but with Zhang Lijun.

From the moment he took Zhang Lijun under his wing four years ago, Yang Chen had often told Zhang Lijun to restrain his men.

Because if the underlings caused any big trouble, he, as the boss, would definitely be implicated.

If Zhang Lijun were to be investigated, it was possible that Yang Chen would be found out.

Zhang Lijun repeatedly assured that he would definitely discipline his men well, let them be proper businessmen, and absolutely not do any illegal or criminal business or things.

These years have passed, and Zhang Lijun’s so-called discipline is this result?

Dozens of people blocked two girls in the street, and even clamored to bully them.

If they really succeeded, dozens of people would gang rape two girls in the street. The impact would be so bad that even a god couldn’t save them.

Yang Chen got into the car and called Zhang Lijun.

Zhang Lijun: “Brother Chen, I…”

Yang Chen: “Come to the Xingchen Defense headquarters to see me. Immediately!”

Zhang Lijun: “Okay, I’ll go right away.”

Then, Yang Chen called Qiu Tian.

Qiu Tian: “Hello, Brother Chen, what are your instructions?”

Yang Chen: “I’m going to the headquarters now, you come over immediately!”

Qiu Tian: “Okay, I’m at the hotel next to the headquarters, I’ll go over now.”

Half an hour later, Yang Chen met Qiu Tian and Zhang Lijun in the secret room of Xingchen Defense.

Zhang Lijun knew that his men had caused trouble, so he knelt down to apologize as soon as he entered the door.

Yang Chen waved his hand, signaling Qiu Tian to help him up.

“Sit down and talk,” Yang Chen said coldly.

Yang Chen: “Zhang Lijun, I gave you four years, and I have never treated you and your brothers badly, but your performance has disappointed me too much. Today, if they had surrounded girls from ordinary families instead of my cousin, do you know what the consequences would be of dozens of people abducting or raping two girls in the street? I gave you four years, and you managed to produce these scumbags?”

Zhang Lijun knelt down again and said, “Brother Chen, it’s my fault, I’m willing to accept any punishment.”

Yang Chen: “You don’t even have the right to kneel down and apologize now, I’m too disappointed in you. I don’t want to talk nonsense anymore, I’ll give you three choices, you can choose. First, disband on the spot, you take a few obedient core members to continue following me, and I will give you other arrangements. Second, we immediately sever all ties, and you continue to be your Brother Jun, and your life and death have nothing to do with me. Third, disband the domestic part, transfer all industries to Qiu Tian to be responsible for, you continue to manage the Southeast Asian mercenary business, and only operate abroad in the future, expand the scale of mercenaries, and aim to be like Wagner and Blackwater Group [private military companies]. I will take care of your family, and I will be fully responsible for their birth, old age, sickness, and death. Choose for yourself.”

Zhang Lijun: “I… I choose the third one!”

Yang Chen: “Qiu Tian, I’ll leave the next things to you.”

Qiu Tian: “Understood, I will operate it well and legally take over the industries managed by Brother Jun.”

The industries managed by Zhang Lijun are basically nightclubs, bars, KTVs [karaoke television], entertainment cities, game halls, etc. Although these industries are not very “high-end” if you really investigate them, they are indeed very profitable.

It’s not necessary to give them up directly, because if Yang Chen doesn’t do it, others will.

If Yang Chen does these industries, he can at least ensure that there will be no illegal or criminal activities. Others may not be able to guarantee that other bosses will not engage in gambling, drugs, and prostitution.

Yang Chen stood up and said, “Spend this New Year with your family, and go abroad on the eighth day of the new year.”

Zhang Lijun: “Okay. Thank you, Brother Chen, for giving me the opportunity, I will definitely not disappoint you again.”

Yang Chen nodded and left the secret room.

Tonight is probably destined to be a sleepless night. As soon as Yang Chen left Xingchen Defense Group, Jin Ming, CEO of Xingchen Investment, called.

Jin Ming: “President Yang, Wall Street has made a move. The first company they are shorting is Luckin Coffee. The market in New York is about to close, and they obviously want to take advantage of the closing to launch a sneak attack and catch us off guard.”

Yang Chen: “What is their reason for shorting?”

Jin Ming: “Financial fraud! They have issued a short-selling report of 89 pages, which translates to more than 30,000 words, very detailed.”

Yang Chen: “What is the source of the data?”

Jin Ming: “They spent three months staking out offline stores in more than 600 cities in China, checking and recording customer traffic, customer receipts, etc. Luckin Coffee claims that with 400 items sold per store per day, the net selling price per item is 16 yuan, and the store-level profit margin can be as high as 28.4%. But in reality, each store can only sell 263 items per day, and the net selling price is 9.97 yuan. Then, according to the profit model provided by Luckin, the store-level loss is 28.0%. They falsely claim that this part of the inflated profit difference is advertising expenditure, and use advertising expenditure to fill the inflated net profit, so that the accounts are balanced.”

Yang Chen: “Damn it, they deserve it. Can’t they just operate honestly? Why do they have to do this kind of thing?”

Jin Ming: “So what do we do now? Save them or not? They chose Luckin Coffee as the first target, so they must be 100% sure.”

Yang Chen: “Although they deserve it, we must save them! This is related to the next battle, and we must not lose the first battle. Okay, you call the person in charge of Luckin Coffee and tell them to fly over to see me first thing tomorrow morning.”

Jin Ming: “Okay, I’ll call him right away.”

Yang Chen especially hates companies that engage in fraud, deceiving consumers, shareholders, franchisees, employees, the government, etc.

Such companies should be discovered and dealt with one by one, and the person in charge should be arrested and sentenced.

Unfortunately, the A-share market’s [stock market in mainland China] handling of financial fraud, embezzlement of public funds, illegal reduction of holdings, and other behaviors is not painful or itchy, so those people don’t care at all.

It is because the executives and shareholders of listed companies can do whatever they want that the A-share market will be at 3,000 points for ten thousand years, and it will fall so badly that you won’t even recognize your own mother at the slightest disturbance.

However, this is Yang Chen’s first battle with Wall Street, and even if Luckin Coffee deserves it, Yang Chen has to protect it.

Early in the morning, the news that Wall Street was shorting Luckin Coffee spread all over the world.

The front pages of major news media and online platforms in China were all related news.

Seeing that Wall Street’s short-selling report was so detailed and accurate, Chinese netizens expressed their indignation to Luckin Coffee, especially some China haters and online trolls, who seized the opportunity to spread rumors and insult Luckin Coffee, and even implicated other Chinese companies.

This is why Yang Chen must save Luckin Coffee. If these people are allowed to spread rumors, innocent Chinese companies will be implicated.

Chen Xi, who is in charge of the Xingchen social media accounts, quickly called Yang Chen.

Chen Xi: “President Yang, it’s not good, netizens are asking us how to respond to Wall Street’s shorting of Luckin Coffee. How should I reply?”

Yang Chen: “Don’t respond for now, I’ll talk to the Luckin Coffee executives before I say anything.”

Chen Xi: “Okay.”

Yang Chen sighed and quickly ate breakfast.

After breakfast, Yang Chen drove out.

However, he didn’t pick up passengers, but went to the nearest Luckin Coffee store to take a look.

Affected by the news, there were not many customers in the store, but there were many passers-by taking pictures and internet celebrities trying to get attention outside.

As usual, Yang Chen ordered a latte and sat by the glass window to drink it.

Before he finished his coffee, the system suddenly issued a reminder.

“Congratulations to the host for receiving a bad review, rewarding 10% equity of Maotai Group [a famous Chinese liquor company], becoming the second largest shareholder of the group, effective immediately.”

Huh?

How could I get a bad review?

Yang Chen logged into his account and took a look, and immediately understood who gave it. That’s right, it was the young lady who sold herself to her boyfriend to buy a house.

Huh?

Doesn’t she have to be detained?

What kind of bad review did she give?

“Garbage driver, you didn’t save her when you saw her in danger. You not only caused her to be detained, but also caused all the money she earned for me to buy a house to be confiscated, and she also has to be fined. You deserve to die. It was just a matter of stepping on the gas, why couldn’t you be a little kinder? As long as you took her away, we could have transferred the money in advance, even if she was detained, I could have gotten the 1.2 million she saved. I endured the great disgust in my heart and waited for so long, but in the end, I got nothing. Don’t you deserve to die? Damn!”

Damn, from this review, you can see that this is the review given by that girl’s boyfriend.

Tsk tsk tsk…

From his review, you can see that he planned to take the girl’s savings and run away, and would not pay her fine, let alone let the police confiscate her illegal income, otherwise, how could he get her 1.2 million savings?

The girl has already paid such a high price in order to let him buy a house and get married sooner, but he is thinking of running away with the money at a critical moment, leaving the young lady alone to be detained and have her illegal income confiscated.

It’s an understatement to describe him as a “scumbag”, this kind of person doesn’t deserve to live.

At this time, Maotai’s stock price soared, almost in a straight line, and the price broke through 1,800/share, and the market value also broke through ten trillion.

Affected by this, the liquor sector surged, and the stocks of other liquor companies all rose. Under the leadership of the liquor sector, the A-share market came alive.

Originally, the A-share market opened more than 30 points lower due to the impact of Wall Street’s shorting of Luckin Coffee, and fell by 120 points at the lowest point.

In less than five minutes, the market miraculously turned red.

At this time, major stock commentators released their personal views.

Famous stock commentator Li Daxiao: “A mysterious force swept the liquor sector and drove the market to turn red. Is it the national team [government investment funds] that has taken action?”

Fu Xijin, who just joined the stock market: “The A-share market opened sharply lower due to the impact of Wall Street’s shorting of Luckin Coffee, but I told everyone not to worry, and to believe in the ability of the A-share market, and it will definitely come back after digesting this negative news. I don’t know how many people cut their losses at the opening, are you regretting it now? Lao Fu resolutely does not cut losses, and is temporarily losing 9,000 yuan.”

Financial V [verified account] Xu Zeping: “I heard that the surge in Maotai was not caused by the national team, but by a mysterious rich man. It is expected that an announcement will be issued after the midday close, and everyone can guess who it is. I can reveal that this rich man directly took 10% of Maotai’s shares, which means he used 1 trillion yuan to buy goods.”

Originally, stockholders and netizens didn’t know who was buying goods, but as soon as Xu Zeping’s statement of 1 trillion came out, everyone immediately understood who it was.

There is only one person in China who can take out so much money on his own, and that is Yang, the boss of the Xingchen Group.

Even the richest man on the rich list who sells mineral water has a total assets of only more than 500 billion, and it is impossible to have 1 trillion in cash to buy Maotai.

At this time, the Maotai stock review area.

“Boss Yang is here!”

“Damn! I really envy the brothers who have tickets [shares], you are going to get rich. Holding 100 shares at random, you will earn tens of thousands in this wave.”

“I don’t quite understand. If it is really Boss Yang who is buying goods, shouldn’t he keep the funds to protect the Chinese concept stocks at this time? Why turn around and buy Maotai?”

“Wall Street released the short-selling report on Luckin Coffee at 3:30 local time last night, leaving Boss Yang half an hour to resist. However, Boss Yang did not take action and allowed Luckin Coffee’s stock price to fall 40% at the close. Now he is buying Maotai in the A-share market? I don’t believe he would operate like this.”

“I think it must not be Boss Yang, it is likely that the national team has taken action. Xu Zeping is also hearsay, and he doesn’t know what’s going on. Let’s wait for the midday close and see the announcement issued by Maotai.”

…

At 11:30, Lu Yaodong, chairman of Luckin Coffee, walked out of Haicheng Airport with executives and a small number of shareholder representatives.

Jin Ming called Yang Chen, and then the three parties went to Tang Court for lunch.

At the same time, Maotai issued an announcement.

The simple summary is “Yang Chen acquired the equity held by many shareholders of Maotai Liquor through personal and Xingchen Investment, and bought a lot of goods in the secondary market. Currently, the total shareholding accounts for 10%, becoming the second largest shareholder of the group”.

As soon as this report came out, it quickly detonated the A-share market.

Stockholders flocked to the Maotai stock review area to leave comments.

“Damn! It’s really Boss Yang! What kind of operation is this?”

“Haha… I said that only Boss Yang has such a big hand, right? Some people also said that this is not logical, Boss Yang should go to protect the Chinese concept stocks, and should not waste it on buying Maotai. It can only be said that you know nothing about Boss Yang’s wealth. Why can’t you buy Maotai and protect the Chinese concept stocks at the same time?”

“I really want to die, I bought it at a high price of more than 2,000 before, and it fell to more than 1,500 at the lowest point, and I sold it yesterday. It will definitely open at the daily limit tomorrow, there is no doubt about it, precise stepping into the air [selling right before a stock increases].”

“What is Boss Yang’s operation? Why can’t I understand it at all? Wall Street is shorting Luckin Coffee, what does he mean by buying Maotai?”

…

Famous stock commentator Li Daxiao: “The result is out, it is Boss Yang of the Xingchen Group who is buying goods. Many people don’t understand why he is operating like this. I guess he wants to ‘secure the home front before resisting foreign aggression’, stabilize the A-share market first, and then deal with Wall Street. The 1 trillion he smashed down is enough to ensure that the A-share market will only rise and not fall in the next few days.”

Financial V Xu Zeping: “Haha… As expected, I thought of Boss Yang when I heard that a mysterious rich man spent trillions to buy Maotai. It’s just that my idea is the same as many netizens, he should concentrate his funds to deal with Wall Street at this time, and should not waste it on buying Maotai. Now it seems that we may have underestimated Boss Yang’s wealth, adults don’t make choices, they want both!”

Stockholders and netizens who were watching the excitement flocked to the Weibo [Chinese Twitter] and other platform accounts of Xingchen Investment to leave comments.

“Boss Yang is awesome!”

“Boss Yang, what are you planning? Is it really as Li Daxiao said, secure the home front before resisting foreign aggression?”

“Boss Yang: You know nothing about my wealth. Adults don’t make choices, they want both. They want to take down Maotai and fight back against Wall Street.”

“Boss Yang is my only idol since I was so old. I’ll kowtow to you, I hope you can successfully protect the market and defeat the Wall Street financial predators.”

…

At this time, Maotai Group.

The secretary of the board is reporting the public opinion situation on the secondary market and the Internet to Chairman Ding Dajun.

After listening to the report, Ding Dajun said very suspiciously: “Why did Boss Yang take action so suddenly? Is there any response from the Xingchen Group?”

Secretary of the Board: “No. Netizens are leaving messages to inquire, but the Xingchen Group has not given any response for the time being. Do you want to contact Boss Yang?”

Ding Dajun: “Yes, you go check his phone number, I’ll call him and chat to understand his intentions first.”

The secretary of the board nodded and quickly went to check Yang Chen’s contact information.

At this time, Yang Chen came to Tang Court.

Lu Yaodong led the executives and shareholders to greet Yang Chen.

Yang Chen nodded with a smile and motioned for them to sit down.

Yang Chen: “Everyone has worked hard, let’s talk about business first, and then eat after we finish talking.”

Lu Yaodong and others looked surprised, shouldn’t we eat first and then talk after we finish eating?

Why is it that Boss Yang here talks first and then eats?

Maybe this is why Boss Yang was able to create such a big industry.

Jin Ming first analyzed the current situation, and the summary is one word, that is “death”.

Wall Street’s short-selling report was made with great effort. The result of the field investigation by more than a dozen investment institutions for three months, how could it not hold Luckin down?

Lu Yaodong said with an embarrassed expression: “I admit that in order to attract franchisees, we did make some moves in the finances. However, this is a common method used by all companies. Many companies listed in the A-share market dare to do this, and even more boldly and seriously than us. It’s just that we didn’t expect to be taken advantage of by Wall Street and get into this situation.”

He is not ashamed; he is really embarrassed to find excuses for himself.

However, Yang Chen is too lazy to talk nonsense, it is important to do business now.

Yang Chen: “In response to the current situation, does Chairman Lu have any ideas?”