Lin Zhou and Lin Wan were siblings after all, so many things didn’t need to be said.
Lin Wan knew that with Lin Zhou’s personality, if this proposal wasn’t feasible, he definitely wouldn’t agree to it.
Lin Zhou had always kept business and personal matters separate.
Now that Lin Zhou had nodded in agreement and said he would make this a key project for Shenhua Real Estate in the next phase, it meant he was very optimistic about this proposal and believed it aligned with the transformation he had been promoting for Shenhua Real Estate.
Given this, there was no need for more empty talk; it was time to focus on the details of the cooperation.
After all, this kind of public opinion environment was rare—this was the heat that Mr. Pei had seized through his strategic planning, using a series of arrangements including Sloth Apartments, “Real Estate Agent Simulator,” and sophisticated promotional tactics.
The heat on the internet had a time limit. Although everyone was currently cursing Zhujia Group online, and other competing companies were also adding fuel to the fire, causing Zhujia Group’s stock price to plummet, if nothing was done, this heat could quickly subside without causing much of a splash.
Once Zhujia Group weathered this storm, things would go back to how they were.
If they waited until the heat died down and then launched this business, the attention and enthusiasm would be severely lacking.
Therefore, they had to seize this critical moment to let everyone see that change was possible in this industry, and that companies with strength and reputation like Shenhua Group and Tenda Group were taking action.
This way, it would be like adding oil to a blazing fire, allowing this heat to truly demonstrate its value!
Although it’s often said that the people are the creators of history and that the times make heroes, one must also admit that sometimes heroic figures can play a leading role in historical trends.
And in peacetime, large companies should shoulder some responsibility in leading social progress.
However, many companies that developed with good environments and support didn’t consider their social responsibilities at all. Instead, driven by constantly expanding desires, they only wanted to continue expanding, monopolizing, and making money effortlessly, completely going down the wrong path.
Zhujia Group was a typical representative of such large companies, and Lin Wan had always despised such companies.
She even felt that Shenhua Group showed this trend and tendency.
So Lin Wan’s resistance to “succeeding at Shenhua” was partly because it conflicted with her career ideals, and partly because she felt that although Shenhua Group did better than other companies, the improvement was limited. She didn’t think she could fundamentally change everything.
But after working at Tenda for so long, Lin Wan’s ideas were also changing.
She felt she could cooperate more with Shenhua Group while adhering to the Tenda spirit.
On one hand, she could leverage Shenhua Group’s resources to better achieve her goals; on the other hand, as the two sides cooperated more deeply, the Tenda spirit might gradually influence Shenhua Group, curing its big company disease.
The interests of Chi Xing Studio, Shenhua Real Estate, and Sloth Apartments aligned, and each controlled certain resources. They quickly finalized a preliminary cooperation plan.
Some details hadn’t been completely finalized, but these minor issues didn’t affect the announcement from the three parties.
Lin Zhou decided to hold an emergency meeting with the senior management after returning to Shenhua Real Estate. After all, for such a major matter, they needed to be informed.
If they really encountered problems, the matter might be slightly delayed, but the possibility of encountering problems was almost zero.
Chi Xing Studio and Sloth Apartments didn’t need to do this, because their structures were different from Shenhua Real Estate—small boats turn more easily.
In the end, the three parties decided to issue a joint statement on Monday afternoon, officially announcing this cooperation plan to the public.
A series of promotional activities would follow this plan, but those were for later discussion.
…
In the evening, Meng Chang finished a day’s work and happily returned home.
This month’s work had been perfectly completed.
He looked at the date—tomorrow, Saturday, was December 1st. By Monday, he would be busy with the promotion plan for the new month.
Although he had worked hard for a month and only earned a commission of over 30,000 yuan, Meng Chang felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
The knowledge he had learned from Mr. Pei was incomparable to a mere few tens of thousands of yuan.
But not long after he arrived home, his phone rang.
It was Fan Xiaodong.
“Brother, your information was incredibly accurate! So impressive!”
“The public opinion storm has continued to ferment these past few days, and Zhujia Group’s stock has already plunged by more than 13%. Unfortunately, I didn’t dare to short too much initially, so I’ve only made 200,000 dollars so far.”
“These 200,000 dollars, let’s split them half and half!”
Meng Chang’s first reaction was surprise: “Made 200,000 dollars? Did you invest that much? Or did you use leverage?”
Fan Xiaodong chuckled: “Hey, isn’t this how our line of work is? The brave get fed, the timid starve. There’s no point in making those petty profits. If you’re going to play, play big.”
Meng Chang felt a bit touched. Although they had made money this time, Fan Xiaodong had taken a significant risk.
Thinking about this, he shook his head: “We definitely can’t split it in half. You took the risk, you put up the money. I just gave you some information, it’s not worth that much. Just treat me to a meal and we’re good.”
Fan Xiaodong immediately said: “How can that be?”
“What kind of brotherly relationship would that be, talking like strangers?”
“We make money together. As long as there are similar opportunities to get rich in the future, what’s a mere 100,000 dollars?”
“What, are you thinking of ditching me and eating alone?”
Meng Chang was speechless: “How could that be? Even if I wanted to eat alone, I simply don’t have the capital.”
Fan Xiaodong laughed: “Then it’s settled! You provide the information, I put up the money and execute, we split the profits in half. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not petty—don’t look down on me.”
Clearly, Fan Xiaodong was being so generous partly because of his original relationship with Meng Chang, and partly because he was truly shocked by Meng Chang.
When Meng Chang had spoken with such certainty, saying that it would happen between the end of this month and the beginning of next month, no later than the 15th, Fan Xiaodong had been a bit skeptical.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Meng Chang’s information; the key was that the timing seemed too precise.
But unexpectedly, in less than a week, it had taken effect, and the effect had come so fiercely!
If Fan Xiaodong hadn’t trusted Meng Chang and arranged the short position immediately after meeting him—if he had hesitated even slightly or delayed for a few days—he probably wouldn’t have made this money.
This also made Fan Xiaodong see Meng Chang in a new light.
Although Meng Chang now had a pile of debt, he could actually influence the stock price of a listed company with a gesture. That was terrifying!
For someone like that, did it matter whether he had debts?
So Fan Xiaodong directly offered to split the money in half, hoping to avoid any estrangement with Meng Chang.
If he didn’t share the money this time, Meng Chang might not say anything, but next time there was information, Meng Chang might go find someone else.
Fan Xiaodong wasn’t stupid enough to offend a friend and cut off his own financial channel just for this amount of money.
Now that Meng Chang had accepted this money, it meant their alliance had been established, unbreakable.
Fan Xiaodong was very pleased: “Alright, then after I close my position in the next couple of days, I’ll find an opportunity to transfer the money to you.”
There was no time limit for closing a short position, but generally, securities clearing companies calculated clearing fees on a daily basis. The longer the stock was borrowed, the higher the borrowing cost, and relatively, the profit margin would also decrease.
Obviously, Fan Xiaodong felt that closing the position in the near future was the perfect timing.
He had shorted at the peak of Zhujia Group’s stock, and now the stock had plummeted by more than 13%. For a public opinion storm, this was already a significant drop.
Next, Zhujia Group would likely not sit idle and might make some PR moves. Also, some retail investors or institutions in the financial market might feel that Zhujia Group’s stock had bottomed out and decide to buy some, causing the stock price to rise.
If they continued to wait, even if Zhujia Group’s stock price remained stable, considering the borrowing costs, they might not make much more.
If an unexpected situation occurred and Zhujia Group’s stock rose a bit, the 200,000 dollars might shrink.
Meng Chang was silent for a moment, then said: “There’s no rush, let’s wait a bit longer.”
Fan Xiaodong was stunned: “What? Do you have another move? Can you make Zhujia Group’s stock fall further?”
Meng Chang shook his head: “I don’t have any more moves, but Mr. Pei… might.”
“Based on my understanding of Mr. Pei, this isn’t the first time he’s targeted Zhujia Group. I feel this time won’t end so easily.”
“A 13% drop in stock price is still too light, it doesn’t match Mr. Pei’s style.”
Fan Xiaodong was puzzled: “Mr. Pei’s style?”
Meng Chang explained: “Mr. Pei’s style is to absolutely not go easy on companies like this. He’s as cold and merciless as winter, bound to eradicate them completely.”
“The last time the ‘Peace of Mind Housing’ incident occurred, Mr. Pei didn’t have enough leverage, so the damage to Zhujia Group wasn’t devastating.”
“But this time, Tenda Group has developed rapidly, and the balance of power has shifted. I think Mr. Pei won’t let this incident end so simply.”
“So… I suggest we wait a bit longer, about two weeks, or at least one week.”
“If Mr. Pei has planned another move, he’ll definitely take advantage of the current heat to deliver a fatal blow to Zhujia Group. These follow-up moves will likely appear within two weeks; otherwise, the heat will dissipate, and it will be too late.”
“Waiting might incur a small loss, but if we bet correctly, we could make even more.”
On the other end of the phone, Fan Xiaodong fell silent for a moment.
Last time, Meng Chang’s decision was at least based on a real plan and strategy.
But this time’s decision was directly based on his “understanding of Mr. Pei.”
Using this as a basis seemed a bit too unreliable.
But on second thought, Fan Xiaodong realized that this money was earned based on Meng Chang’s information in the first place. So why not trust him one more time?
Moreover, it was just a matter of waiting one more week, which didn’t pose too much risk.
“Alright, I’ll listen to you. I’ll observe for another week and see!” Fan Xiaodong agreed readily.