Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 176 False Report
At the entrance of the Pudong Airport terminal.

A striking young and beautiful couple, deeply in love.

“I didn’t know he would ask you to do something for him, otherwise I wouldn’t have given him your phone number. You don’t need to worry about what he says. If he really makes things difficult for me because of this, I’ll call my grandfather and tell him to withdraw his investment and invest in your fund instead.”

Xin Mengzhen held Chen Xuebing's hand, her expression resolute.

Chen Xuebing smiled and touched her cheek with his other hand, saying:

"Don't worry, let me find out first. What if it really is beneficial? The financial industry doesn't care about age, it only cares about performance and seniority. There will be many fund managers in their twenties in the future. If there is an opportunity, I must try to seize it. If my girlfriend is one of the youngest fund managers in the country, I will be proud of her."

"Oh, oh, oh, so having Mengzhen as your girlfriend isn't enough of a source of pride?" Lin Huixiang rolled her eyes. "Alright, we've been holding hands for half an hour and you still won't let go. The traffic cops are chasing me away! Hurry up and go, don't be late!"

Chen Xuebing smiled at Lin Huixiang and said, "Remember what you promised me."

After saying that, he hugged Xin Mengzhen, kissed her on the forehead, let go of her hand, and walked into the bustling hall.

There was no one at the security checkpoint in the first-class area. After going in, it was time to board. He was given priority boarding, and in less than 15 minutes, Chen Xuebing arrived just in time to be among the first to board.

I had just logged on when the phone rang.

Xu Jin glanced at it, then answered the call.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Chairman, why can't I get through to you on the phone?"

"Oh, I was on my way, my phone is in my bag."

"You're famous now, Chairman." Laughter came from the other end of the line.

Chen Xuebing frowned: "What?"

"You're famous! NetEase News even reported on you this morning. We checked and found out you've been trending on major forums like Baidu Tieba, Tianya, and Mop for days! Lots of people are sharing photos of you with a pretty girl!"

Chen Xuebing's mind went blank for a moment: "Me and a pretty girl? Who?"

"I don't know, that black suit looks really good! Is she your girlfriend?"

Chen Xuebing touched his forehead and confirmed that it was Xin Mengzhen.

"What's going on? Tell me clearly!"

"Hmph, I'm not entirely sure either. Anyway, NetEase is making fun of a TV station's blunder in reporting a news story. That station called you 'a young person who finally bought a house after tireless efforts,' and netizens are laughing at you. Now, all the major forums are full of screenshots of your news. You're a role model for netizens now, a true winner in life. Chairman, should we get someone to investigate this story further? It's good that private equity firms can't advertise, so if we can increase your personal visibility, it will benefit our subsequent fundraising for Fund 2."

"Damn, is that girl's face even clear in the photo?"

Chen Xuebing's expression was not good. His first thought was about the impact this matter would have on Xin Mengzhen.

She's still a student, she has to go to school and work. Shanghai has a developed economy and is at the forefront of internet penetration. Being constantly pointed at and talked about will definitely affect her life.

"It's quite clear, and there's even a close-up shot. If the girl hadn't been so pretty, I doubt this would have gotten this much attention."

Chen Xuebing sighed deeply: "Don't mess around, don't get involved. I'll be in Chongqing tonight."

He hung up the phone immediately after speaking, only to find several missed calls on his phone, mostly from his colleagues and Ren Ying.

He didn't reply. Before the plane took off, he quickly called Li Xueling and asked him to contact his old colleagues at NetEase News to see if they could take the report down.

Li Xueling, who worked as the editor-in-chief of NetEase News for several years, said there shouldn't be any problem.

He was relieved. NetEase is one of the three major portals, and its news influence is too great. If it's just a forum discussion, the hype should die down quickly.

I then made several phone calls to Xin Mengzhen, but they were all busy.

It seems that winter has arrived early in Chongqing this year. It was only a little past seven o'clock, but it was already late, and the lights in the entire terminal building were unusually bright.

Even though I was going home, a gust of cold wind blew as I stepped outside, and I felt a little lonely.

Jiao Gui was waiting for him at the airport entrance in his car.

Jiao Gui grinned mischievously, wanting to ask Chen Xuebing something, but seeing that his boss's expression wasn't good, he held back.

As soon as he got in the car, Chen Xuebing called Xin Mengzhen.

This time it was connected.

"Hello." The tone on the other end was normal.

"Have you seen the news online?"

"I know, I just found out too."

Hearing this unusual calm, Chen Xuebing frowned: "Are you alright? Has anyone asked you?"

"Dating isn't illegal, what's there to ask? What, are you scared?" Xin Mengzhen asked with a light laugh.

Chen Xuebing raised an eyebrow, thinking that Yang Qingyue would probably know, and sighed inwardly. He then composed himself and asked with some concern, "Didn't your family ask?"

"Don't worry, they don't use the internet."

"That's good. I'll come to Shanghai when I have time..."

As Chen Xuebing was speaking, Xin Mengzhen suddenly said hurriedly, "The school dormitory supervisor is looking for me, I have to hang up now!"

The phone hangs up.

Chen Xuebing was stunned.

He seemed to hear something before the call ended.

At Pudong Airport, another plane is waiting to take off.

After the soft music played, the flight attendant announced in a gentle voice.

"Welcome aboard Spring Airlines, flying from Shanghai Pudong to Guangzhou Baiyun. The flight time is 2 hours and 10 minutes. The entire crew of this flight extends our sincerest greetings to you."

Xin Mengzhen, who was sitting by the window, let out a long sigh of relief, still covering the microphone of her phone with her hand.

The aunt next to her looked at her strangely. How could such a pretty young girl deceive people so smoothly?

One minute she tells her boss she has an emergency at home and needs to take leave, the next minute she tells her boyfriend she's at school.

The Shanghai auntie was watching the little girl next to her gossip, clicking her tongue inwardly.

But this fascinating story doesn't seem to be over yet. The little girl's phone vibrates, and she answers it with a frown and an unhappy expression. The Shanghai auntie listens intently.

"Hey, stop rushing me! I'm already on the plane! The company only gave me three days off, and I also have classes at school. I have to be back before Monday!"

The girl's voice was impatient, and the voice on the other end of the phone was even colder.

“Go to class? You still have the mind to go to class? Why am I pretending to work so hard when you're in such a hurry to get married? You're wasting your grandfather's and your brother's resources! Since you're going to get married, fine, this time you don't need to go back to Shanghai. Your dad will arrange a good husband for you.”

"It's not up to you!" The girl was triggered by these words and suddenly roared.

The person on the other end scoffed, "You're right, it's not up to you to decide."

The call was disconnected, and the girl turned to look out the window, her voice choked with emotion.

The Shanghai auntie, seeing this scene, felt a pang of pity and took out a pack of tissues from her bag, handing one to the woman.

"Sweetie, come here, don't cry. Your parents are only doing this for your own good."

Xin Mengzhen tilted her head, saw the tissue handed to her, took it, wiped her eyes, and turned back to smile.

"Thank you auntie."

The Shanghai aunt tried to comfort her, but found that her expression had calmed down; she had only sniffled, and it seemed she hadn't cried. Xin Mengzhen indeed hadn't cried.

She had known this would happen, and aside from momentary anger, she was already used to it.

She knew who was in charge in this family.

It only took her half a minute to calm herself down. She realized that it was time to fight back against her parents, picked up her phone again, and dialed her grandfather's number.

"Hey, Grandpa."

“The friend I told you about last time said he hopes we can create the Chinese educational electronics brand [Mengzhen]. If it goes well, he will provide ideas for the next generation of products and cooperate with us to produce them. The product prospects are even better than those of the e-reader.”

"Yes, he rarely praises a product like that, saying that it will only be valuable after the national 3G project is launched."

"It should be a mobile product."

"Grandpa, I...I want to be with him, but my mom doesn't agree. Can you help me?"

"Okay, are you in Hong Kong?"

"Shenzhen."

"Then I won't go home first. I'll wait for you to come back at Villa No. 3."

The aunt next to me swallowed hard.

Goodness, an electronics brand, Villa No. 3.
What exactly am I pitying about them for?

In New York 45, Chen Xuebing had just entered the office when Wu Zisheng rushed over with a stack of documents, looking anxious.

"Chairman, you're finally back!"

"Things are bad! Tencent QQ has popped up a news article! It says our company used illegal means to poach their president, and it even published an internal letter from Ma Huateng to his employees!"

"NetEase suddenly withdrew the article again, and now the discussion is even more intense! The top posts on Li Yi's Baidu Tieba forum are all about you!"

Chen Xuebing hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand and asked first:
How were the stock market returns this week?

Today is Friday, time for the weekend summary.

Since Xin Mengzhen is alright, making money is the most important thing.

"Yes, it fluctuated repeatedly, but the range wasn't very large. However, it didn't fall below the 1080-point 'ironclad bottom' you mentioned. We seized the opportunity to do some T+0 trading at the low point. In addition, the real estate sector has performed quite well these past few days. This trading week's profit was 212 million, mostly from beta (passive) income."

"Next time, state the result first."

Chen Xuebing gave a lecture before walking over to the computer area and sitting down, still grumbling.

"Open it for me and let me see what's wrong."

Xu Jin appeared in the corridor and waved: "Chairman, come over here. All the collected data is on my computer."

After Xu Jin's managerial position was confirmed, he got his own office, which was the same one that Chen Xuebing had previously had.

Chen Xuebing's chairman's office has been moved to the 46th floor, the top floor, and is currently under renovation.

New York 45 is now home to Long March Capital, while the headquarters on the 46th floor is basically still operating at a loss because the chairman hasn't returned to work. The dozen or so people working there are just doing nothing, and they're all working like geezers every day.

Chen Xuebing got up and sat down in Xu Jin's office. Xu Jin then used the mouse to open a video.

"The internet is full of screenshots, and the dissemination and reporting also use images. This is the original video that we finally found. Please take a look."

On the screen, a host is speaking.

"In March of this year, the Shanghai Municipal Local Finance and Taxation Bureau issued the 'Notice on the Collection of Business Tax on the Sale of Ordinary Housing by Individuals in this City,' which stipulates that a 5% differential business tax and surcharges will be levied on the transfer of commercial housing within one year. On the 17th of the same month, the People's Bank of China decided to raise the mortgage interest rate to 5.51% effective immediately, and at the same time, raise the minimum down payment ratio to 30% for cities where housing prices have risen too fast."

"After the policy was released, investors began to sell more properties in the secondary housing market in some areas of Shanghai. Shanghai Greentown's prices fell by 42%, and the prices of high-priced properties such as Hanheyuan, Jinxiu Mantang, and Jinxiu Huacheng also dropped."

"The market is undergoing a deep adjustment, but the sales scene for new homes is very lively. Let's connect with the sales site of Phase II of Renheng Riverside City."

The scene shifts to a group of hundreds of people gathered around a sales model of a real estate development, with a dozen salespeople enthusiastically explaining its features.

Xu Jin moved the progress bar and cut to a scene where Chen Xuebing was holding Xin Mengzhen and the people around them were clapping.

It's fucking weird to see myself on TV.

Chen Xuebing always felt that he was more handsome in person than on camera.

In addition, he realized he had been ripped off. Since Renheng is a high-end residential community, it should also be affected by Shanghai's purchase restriction policy. The fact that he was paid such a high premium for that first-phase ready-built house was surprising.

But it doesn't matter anyway, it'll rise to over 100,000 per square meter sooner or later.

"It is understood that Xiao Chen is a financial professional from Chongqing, and Xiao Xin is a college student. After unremitting efforts and with the support of their families, the two young people finally owned their first house in Shanghai, a place where land is extremely valuable. They were overjoyed and embraced each other warmly."

"Damn it." Chen Xuebing's face twitched. "These reporters hired by real estate companies for publicity are really good at making up stories."

If they could make something up, they even knew their names were Xiao Chen and Xiao Xin, which clearly means they had asked the sales staff about their names and identities.

However, without any verification, they fabricated a story about "parents supporting the purchase of a house" for them.

This is a damn stab in the back for the parents of young people waiting to buy a house.

Xu Jin laughed: "This isn't outrageous enough. Chairman, please continue watching. The next report will be broadcast on the same day, on CBN TV, almost simultaneously with this report. The forum said that many Shanghai locals saw the same couple when they were changing channels. Luckily, it's a local program, or it would have become a national laughing stock."

As he spoke, the scene quickly ended, and everything suddenly became starkly contrasting.

The luncheon venue in the bright and magnificent Shanghai Hall.

The first shot was a rotating video that captured Chen Xuebing standing next to Kan Zhidong, shaking hands warmly with Guo Guangchang.

Then came an interview. The scene began with Xin Mengzhen's strikingly beautiful face facing the camera, while Chen Xuebing's fairly handsome appearance appeared somewhat ordinary.

But the smile on his face was very confident.

He looks every bit like a successful businessman.

He knew perfectly well what he had said to the camera; it was practically an expert's pontificate.

"No wonder." The stark contrast made Chen Xuebing click his tongue.
"That TV station made a fool of itself, and dragged me down with them."

"That's right. NetEase's report was very sharp, criticizing the TV station for its irresponsibility in providing information. It was even featured on the homepage of the website, but I don't know why it suddenly disappeared just now."

"I told them to take it down. What about the forum? What's the situation now?"

Xu Jin pondered for a moment, then opened a webpage, logged into Baidu Tieba, and searched for "Li Yi Bar".

The top post reads: "I hereby formally declare that I am unworthy to be a young person striving to buy a house."

The following titles are full of creative twists and turns.

"I'm Xiao Chen, is there anyone here who's like my Xiao Xin?"

If I Could Be General Manager Chen for Three Days

Brothers, big news! CEO Chen has made a move, NetEase...

Xu Jin wasn't exaggerating at all; the entire Li Yi forum was filled with posts about this incident.

Chen Xuebing felt a chill run down his spine.

"Damn, even Diba has been taken over?"

(End of this chapter)