After divorce, I can hear the voice of the future

Chapter 813 Weakness is the original sin
In mid-to-late November, Lu Liang concluded his four-day trip to Beijing and was about to embark on his return journey to Hong Kong.

Before leaving, Zhang Yiming rushed to the airport and, taking advantage of the free time before boarding, inquired about TK's future development.

Just as Lu Liang had predicted, as time went on, criticizing TK had become the politically correct stance for both parties.

Moreover, TK controls Western media and is not controlled by either party, which is something they cannot tolerate.

"There's no solution, we can only argue about it." Lu Liang thought for a long time, and finally showed a helpless expression.

In the past, he might have advised Zhang Yiming to invest in this person together, betting on his re-election.

But ever since he learned about the flu, Lu Liang has never had such naive thoughts again.

This is a clash of civilizations, a struggle to the death, which cannot be changed by human effort or the opinions of one party.

TK is related to their next plan, just like how the pandemic is prefixed with "Spanish".

They will not allow unregulated public opinion platforms to develop unchecked in the fertile ground of capital.

This seriously undermines their strategy of keeping the people ignorant.

"Is there no way?"

Zhang Yiming frowned and tentatively asked, "How about we follow YouTube's example?"

YouTube is the world's most hypocritical platform. If a blogger uploads a video praising the University of Tokyo, it will be deliberately throttled, while if they do not, they will receive hidden traffic promotion.

If kneeling can lead to success in Europe and America, then kneeling isn't necessarily a bad thing; after all, it's business, and it's not shameful.

Lu Liang's expression grew cold, but his tone remained calm: "You're welcome to try."

Zhang Yiming's heart skipped a beat, and he forced a laugh, "I was just saying, how could I actually do that?"

He understood the implication: if TK dared to kneel, Lu Liang would definitely break his legs first.

Although Lu Liang has recently stopped paying attention to Douyin, he is still the publicly acknowledged co-founder of Douyin.

Lu Liang had mentored Yang Zhenyuan, and Tianxing Financial had plenty of money. After two years of development, Douyin and ByteDance were already inseparable and had mastered the core technology.

If Lu Liang has any ideas, he can support Yang Zhenyuan and allow Douyin to break away from ByteDance.

Lu Liang pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "I'm not kidding, can we give it a try?"

Zhang Yiming was taken aback: "President Lu, you're not being sarcastic, are you?"

"Since I can't be a fence-sitter, I might as well completely side with one side," Lu Liang said.

Zhang Yiming asked, "Which side?"

"Which side could it be?" Lu Liang said irritably.

"Why bother trying something else? Just contact them directly and risk getting more criticism?" Zhang Yiming didn't understand.

He could imagine that if TK tried to kneel, he would probably follow in the footsteps of the Liu family and bear a rare reputation.

Lu Liang laughed and said, "Is it the same if you look for her and she looks for you? TK being targeted is not a normal business practice. Although this harm is insignificant to TikTok, since its core market is not in Europe and America, how can the authorities sit idly by?"

TK was targeted, but this is different from the Huawei incident.

The former simply loses market share and earns less money.

The latter is being targeted, so the attitudes of the two companies towards being targeted are completely different.

ByteDance has been targeted for so long, but the government hasn't taken any action. Making Zhang Yiming kneel down a little is a way to force the higher authorities to intervene.

Lu Liang also wanted to express his dissatisfaction in this way, after all, he had been troubled by this for a long time before finally deciding to report the news to the country.

As a result, even though they knew exactly what the other side's plan was, the people above still chose to passively take the beating.

A correct choice does not necessarily mean the right choice, especially from a rational perspective.

“That makes sense, but is there no other way?” Zhang Yiming asked reluctantly.

Although being scolded won't hurt you, being called a traitor is something no one can accept.

"Then let Old Yang do it?" Lu Liang smiled knowingly.

“I’ll do it. Old Yang is already busy enough dealing with Douyin all day.”

Zhang Yiming's eyes were filled with resentment; this was no longer an implication, but a blatant threat.

Furthermore, Yang Zhenyuan's head is too small to fit the hat, and in the end, it will probably still be his doing.

"Just do it!"

Lu Liang clapped his hands, a satisfied smile on his face, and glanced at the airport manager. The plane had been waiting for him for a while.

Zhang Yiming gritted his teeth, forcing a smile, and practically spat out the words: "Goodbye, President Lu!"

"Goodbye."

Just as Lu Liang was on his way to Hong Kong, news broke that ByteDance was reportedly considering divesting its stake in TK.

What does "bytes" mean?

"The Americans were just talking, they hadn't even started targeting us yet, and they already slid to their knees at lightning speed?"

"When Zhang Yiming's mother gave birth to him, did she forget to bring her testicles along with her?"

"Can't we learn from Hua Wei? Even after Meng Wanqiu was arrested, she still fought to the end and refused to give in."

The news caused a huge uproar on various internet platforms in China, sparking countless discussions among netizens.

Even if you put up a little resistance, if you can't win in the end, you can still back down. You have to go through the proper procedures even if you have to kneel down, right?
Especially with Hua Wei's outstanding achievements preceding them, ByteDance's swift and reckless actions seem particularly despicable.

After several hours of fermentation, the news has become the hottest topic on the Chinese internet.

Once the pride of Fujian and the richest man in Fujian, he is now also known as the shame of Fujian.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, Mr. Zhang."

On the way to Central after the plane landed, Xu Jiawei reported on the online public opinion and suddenly felt a little sympathy for Zhang Yiming.

Although Zhang Yiming also has capital, Lu Liang's capital strength is clearly stronger than his, which is why he was able to force Zhang Yiming to make this decision.

Lu Liang said calmly, "What's there to sympathize with him for? Since he's in that position, he has to bear some responsibilities. Otherwise, it would be better to replace him with Lao Yang."

"President Lu is right." Xu Jiawei chuckled and quickly admitted his mistake, but his eyes suddenly glanced at the tablet and he was taken aback.

He quickly said, "President Lu, the one in the White House has updated his Twitter again."

"What did you say?" Lu Liang asked.

Xu Jiawei looked puzzled: "He declared that the government would not allow any American company to acquire TK."

Lu Liang was taken aback, then laughed in anger: "This old bastard is even more shameless than I imagined."

The meaning is clear: they were originally planning to acquire TK's business and give ByteDance a sum of money to get rid of them.

As soon as they made their statement, ByteDance backed down, saying, "Sorry, we're not going to pay you now."

"I'm sorry to trouble you, Mr. Zhang."

One second Lu Liang was criticizing Xu Jiawei, the next he couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.

It is foreseeable that when this news reaches China, it will cause an uproar, no less than a manure truck exploding in a busy city center.

After all, it's one thing to slide to the ground at lightning speed, but the other party doesn't appreciate it and wants to get it for free.

This illustrates what it means to cede five cities today, ten cities tomorrow, and then get a night's rest.

The key issue is that I didn't get a good night's sleep, and I don't know if that old man didn't sleep at all or just woke up.

At 3 a.m. American time, he was still surfing the internet intensely and responding quickly.

After much deliberation, Lu Liang decided to send Zhang Yiming a WeChat message to express his remorse.

He said, "Mr. Zhang, how are you?"

The chat interface showed Zhang Yiming typing continuously, seemingly having a lot to say. However, he ultimately replied with a Jacky Cheung emoji: "Eat shit!"

Lu Liang was both amused and exasperated, seeing his helplessness: "Next time I go to the capital, I'll treat you to a meal and apologize properly."

He's done it, so he won't regret it. If he could do it all over again, he would still do it, but he'd just feel a little embarrassed.

However, as soon as the message was sent, a red exclamation mark appeared! Lu Liang had been blocked by Zhang Yiming.

Lu Liang chuckled: "Alright, at least it's a way to vent, so at least I won't get sick from holding it in."

Soon, the White House official's remarks reached the country.

After all, compared to the previous one, this one still has many fans on the Chinese internet, and many netizens treat him like an electronic pet, constantly following his news.

Once the news spread, Zhang Yiming's already poor reputation became as black and foul as a rock in a latrine.

Meanwhile, Lu Liang returned to the trading room of Tianxing Financial Building, putting the ByteDance matter out of his sight.

After all, it wasn't a big deal; it was purely an expression of dissatisfaction, forcing those above to step in and provide support.

The most urgent task is to focus on shorting the Japanese yen, since the currency settlement date is in four days.

"How is it?" Lu Liang called over Sun Yutao.

He was on the plane just now, observing the stock and foreign exchange markets. The $50 billion short-selling funds deployed yesterday seemed to be the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Yesterday, the USD/JPY exchange rate closed at 128 yen, and the Nikkei 225 index fell below the 19000-point mark.

But today, at the opening of the market, I don't know where the funds came from, they directly pulled up a big positive line in both markets.

This means that the additional $50 billion they invested yesterday was essentially wasted.

The original profit of $161 billion has now dwindled to only about $120 billion.

"Mr. Lu, the situation is not very optimistic."

Sun Yutao frowned. Just now, news came from Japan explaining the reason for the sharp rise in the market at the opening today.

Kenichi played the populist card, declaring that this battle to protect the nation would involve issuing 50 trillion yen in national debt.

He personally led the subscription of 5 million yen, making a do-or-die gesture. He also stated that if the defense failed, he would resign as acting prime minister and allow a more capable person to take over.

Although he is acting prime minister, he is still prime minister.

He adopted an unwavering stance as soon as he took office, leading millions of people to believe that they had finally found a wise ruler and that Japan's great prosperity was just around the corner.

So, before dawn, long lines formed in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange as people rushed to open accounts and enter the stock market like madmen.

The stock market is surging, recovering the losses from the 19500-point level, and another 50 trillion yen in bailout funds are being prepared.

As a result, the foreign exchange market also surged.

"These people are so easily fooled, they believed it so easily?" Lu Liang looked puzzled. An San was clearly using this person as a scapegoat.

50 trillion yen and 4000 billion US dollars—it's not that the public can't afford it, but rather that Kenichi lacks the appeal to mobilize the people.

Moreover, local institutions will not choose to subscribe, because they only want to appear as harvesters like Lu Liang.

Moreover, with Lu Liang's presence, Tokyo University, which has historically been a major buyer of Japanese bonds, is unlikely to get involved.

Taking all factors into account, this issue of government bonds,
It was destined to end in failure to raise funds.

"Perhaps it's not that they're easy to fool, but that they have no other choice."

Sun Yutao seemed thoughtful, holding a different view: "When the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken."

Wealthy individuals can also entrust financial institutions to hedge their funds and even reap the benefits afterward.

But ordinary people have no choice; they can only hope that the country gets better and better and that the currency becomes more and more valuable.

So even if they know it's just empty promises, they have no choice but to accept them in order to maintain economic stability.

"Perhaps." Lu Liang smiled calmly; sympathy was not a reason for them to show mercy.

Big fish are born to eat small fish, and small fish are born to be eaten by big fish; weakness is the original sin.

　I drank too much last night.

　　I came back at 3 o'clock and wanted to write.

　　As soon as things quieted down, I started to doze off.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)