Reborn as a landlord in Shanghai

Chapter 117 Zhang Lei's Arrival

"Achoo, achoo."

Of course, Zhang Lei had no idea that those two sneezes were Mao Xiaoyu's way of thinking of him from afar!

"Boss, do you want me to go buy some cold medicine with you?" The secretary sitting next to Zhang Lei asked with concern after seeing him sneeze twice.

"It's okay, it's just a couple of sneezes, I don't have a cold. Besides, the plane is taking off in a little while. If we miss this flight because of buying medicine, we won't be able to take the next one until tomorrow, which will cause problems with our schedule."

Zhang Lei waved his hand, declining his secretary's offer, then closed his eyes and began to think.

In June of this year, I returned to China and established an investment firm called Hillhouse Capital. The name comes from the idiom "gaowu jianling" (高屋建陵), which means to have a comprehensive, thorough and long-term understanding of things.

The company's English name, "Hillhouse," is inspired by a street at Yale University called "Hillhouse Avenue."

However, since its establishment in June, Hillhouse Capital has not gained much recognition in the investment world. Despite approaching more than a dozen investment funds, it has not yet attracted investors.

It was also in July that he received a $20 million investment from the Yale University Endowment Fund from his teacher, David Swensen.

After receiving the money, Zhang Lei knew that it was a very hot potato.

Based on my investment experience, I shouldn't have been able to get this money. This money was specially approved for me because my teacher trusted me and made repeated guarantees at the board meeting.

Otherwise, why should I be qualified to receive this $20 million investment?

Thinking that if my investment failed, it would be a huge problem not only for my teacher but also for myself, I actually wanted to refuse the funds.

However, David Swensen eventually talked to Zhang Lei for a full two hours, and the final two hours of instruction had a significant effect. After all, Zhang Lei needed someone to help him gain recognition, and teachers are supposed to be a source of support for students, so it was understandable that he would lend a hand.

If you are truly grateful to your teacher, then use this money where it is needed and make your investment recognized by the investment community. This is the best way to repay your teacher.

After all, Zhang Lei and David Swensen belong to the academic school of investment, which is a niche group in the investment world. David Swensen also hopes that more academic investors can achieve success.

Therefore, when Zhang Lei received the money, he decided that he had to find a good investment project, make a big profit, and build a reputation for his Hillhouse Capital.

Only in this way can those who look down on you and target your teacher shut up, thus living up to your teacher's trust and expectations.

Because of this idea, Zhang Lei was very cautious about investing this money.

So after receiving the money, Zhang Lei spent more than a month traveling around China.

The purpose of researching various companies worth investing in is to find the best and most worthwhile companies to invest in.

Although I saw many companies during this period, I felt that these companies all had good development prospects.

But it's still quite a distance from what I envisioned.

Until one day, when I was at the Wuyi Small Commodities Market, I received a business card from one of the shop owners and saw the QQ number on it.

Zhang Lei then discovered that not only did these business owners have QQ accounts, but people ranging from teenagers to people in their seventies and eighties also had QQ accounts.

This forced Zhang Lei to investigate, and only after investigating did he realize how deeply QQ chat software had been saturated in the market.

This finally brought Zhang Lei to the forefront two words: monopoly. After all, what business could be more profitable than a monopoly?

Although QQ is not profitable now and cannot find its most effective profit-generating point.

However, in Zhang Lei's view, QQ's monopoly has already allowed it to enjoy some of the highest profits in the domestic industry.

Once QQ finds its profit point, it will soar to new heights.

To this end, Zhang Lei found Tencent's information, studied it, and finally decided to acquire Tencent's shares on the secondary market and become a shareholder of Tencent.

When I become a shareholder of Tencent, I'll talk to Ma Huateng and share my thoughts on the development of QQ.

It was because of this decision that Zhang Lei, accompanied by his secretary, prepared to fly to Hong Kong to begin arranging for the acquisition of Tencent's shares.

If things had followed the trajectory of his previous life, Zhang Lei would have started acquiring large amounts of Tencent's stock on the Hong Kong secondary market in September, which would have made September 2005 the period when Tencent's stock price reached its highest point that year.

Then in October, after Zhang Lei acquired Tencent's shares, he finally met with Ma Huateng of Tencent and had a long talk with him about the development of Tencent QQ.

This negotiation made Ma Huateng pay more attention to QQ, realize the prospects of his company's development and in which direction his company should develop, and realize that his company was underestimated.

To this end, Ma Huateng directly ordered the company to repurchase nearly ten million Tencent A shares from the secondary market from November 2005 to April 2006, a period of six months.

This series of actions made Tencent more favored by the market, leading to a gradual increase in Tencent's stock price starting in 2006. This allowed Tencent to enter a long period of growth until the emergence of WeChat, at which point Tencent finally underwent a transformation and began to explode.

Of course, Zhang Lei is unaware of Tencent's future prospects. Right now, he's thinking about how many Tencent shares he can acquire with just $20 million after arriving in Hong Kong.

And after acquiring Tencent's shares, how should I discuss the development prospects of QQ with Ma Huateng so that he can focus on developing QQ's peripheral products and make QQ a golden goose that hatches golden eggs?

"Dear passengers, good morning/afternoon/evening. Flight 64 from Qiantang to Xiangjiang is about to depart. Please proceed with your boarding process and board the train as soon as possible."

"7

An announcement came over the loudspeaker at the airport terminal, and a sweet, melodious female voice began to announce that the flight from Qiantang to Hong Kong was about to board and board.

"Boss, our plane has arrived. Do we need to have our tickets checked and proceed to the station?"

Seeing that Zhang Lei was lying motionless with his eyes closed, as if he hadn't heard the announcement, Zhang Lei's secretary, worried that he might fall asleep and miss his flight, nudged him and asked in a low voice.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Lei was pushed, and his eyes snapped open as he looked directly at the secretary beside him.

"Boss, it's our turn to have our tickets checked and enter the station," the secretary quickly reminded him.

-

"Oh. Let's go into the station then."

Upon hearing the secretary's words, Zhang Lei stood up, began dragging his suitcase, and prepared to follow the crowd toward the airport check-in gate.

The secretary, like Zhang Lei, dragged her own luggage and followed behind him.

And so, Zhang Lei, whom Mao Xiaoyu had been longing for, finally began his journey to Hong Kong.

After finishing her meal with Du Yue and Peng Yu, Mao Xiaoyu didn't chat much before returning to her room and starting to pack her luggage.

Because tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday, these two days are the registration days for VTC. Mao Xiaoyu must rush to Wan Chai Performing Arts School to register and settle her accommodation within these two days. Then Monday is the official start of school.

Mao Xiaoyu had already made arrangements for tomorrow's itinerary. Lawyer Zhang would come over tomorrow morning and take Mao Xiaoyu to the school to arrange various things. In the next day or two, Mao Xiaoyu would rent her own house in the Wan Chai area.

Since she didn't have too much luggage, Mao Xiaoyu quickly packed it up. Then she turned on her computer and started reading the emails Li Mingyue had sent her this week.

The email was as usual: it started with greetings, then talked about what had happened in the A-share market recently, and finally included the closing price of the stock that Mao Xiaoyu had bought.

The stock prices remained roughly the same, with each stock price rising slightly, but the changes were not significant. For Mao Xiaoyu, the fluctuation was only around 300,000 to 500,000 RMB.

Mao Xiaoyu was already used to such fluctuations. After all, following the operations of the genius traders Du Yue and Peng Yu over the past month, Mao Xiaoyu was no stranger to stock trading.

Therefore, Mao Xiaoyu didn't think much of the fluctuations of several hundred thousand RMB, so she spent some time looking at it and replied to Li Mingyue with an email.

After replying to Li Mingyue's email, Mao Xiaoyu took out her phone and called her parents.

Mao Xiaoyu has been very busy with stock matters this month, and only calls home once a week. She has decided that after making this call, she will go back to Shanghai for a week in mid-September.

As for going to school, there are still about ten days until mid-September. I should be able to go for about ten days. The main problem is that I won't be able to sit still for any longer. After all, I haven't been to school for a long time. I'll go for a while to get used to it.

"Hey, Xiaoyu? It's already September. Didn't you say you were coming back? When are you coming back?"

After the call connected, Mao Jun's voice came through. It seemed that Mao Jun still didn't believe that Mao Xiaoyu would go to school in September, otherwise he wouldn't have asked Mao Xiaoyu when she would come back as soon as the call connected.

"Okay, I'm going to school tomorrow. I'll go for half a month, and then I'll come back. Otherwise, I won't attend any classes. It's like I'm running away from school as soon as it starts. What kind of talk is that!" Mao Xiaoyu hurriedly coaxed her father on the phone.

"Who knows if what you're saying is true or false, but I know you've been gone for over a month. It's time to come back. Your mom and your sister miss you. Besides, you're not doing business at the hospital anymore, are you?" Mao Jun complained on the phone.

"Alright, I know. I'm busy here too. If I could leave, I would have. I finally managed to set a time, what more do you want from me? I promise you, I'll definitely be back by mid-September, or at the latest by the end of the month." Hearing her father's complaints, Mao Xiaoyu was practically swearing an oath on the phone.

"I don't care about you, just know what's going on in your heart." Although Mao Jun was also concerned about his son, after all, his son had been away for more than a month, he still said this with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"I know, I know, I know. I'll let Mom and my sister answer the phone and I'll say a few words to them. Phone calls are expensive here. After they've finished talking, I'll have a proper talk with them when I get back," Mao Xiaoyu quickly changed the subject.

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll call you Mom and your sister." Mao Jun said speechlessly.

What followed was simple. Mao Jun called his wife and daughter over, and the two of them talked to Mao Xiaoyu on the phone, saying things like "gifts," "eat more," and "come home soon." After chatting with his mother and sister for about five or six minutes, Mao Xiaoyu finally hung up the phone.

Looking at the phone that had just ended, Mao Xiaoyu wiped the sweat from her brow and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

One woman has 500 ducks, one small and one big, so two women have 1000 ducks. They chatter incessantly on the phone. Oh dear, Mao Xiaoyu had no choice but to endure it for so long. After being bombarded with messages, she finally had a headache.

However, Mao Xiaoyu could also sense that her mother still cared about her, constantly asking if she was staying well, eating well, and when she would come back soon. It seemed that this time when she went back, she would have to tell her parents some things to put their minds at ease.

After all, some things can't be hidden forever; they should be revealed little by little. Otherwise, if one's parents find out about the situation from outsiders, the joke will be too much.

Why don't you first report on your businesses in China, and leave the stock market stuff alone? After all, that's money borrowed from loans. If I tell anyone, my parents might worry. So I'll just reveal the things I usually keep hidden.

After all, besides the stocks in the stock market, he also owns houses, a real estate agency, and other investment companies, all of which he can talk about. The most profitable sector going forward is still stocks; as for the houses, they're just waiting to be demolished and redeveloped.

Moreover, with these houses, my parents know that I have a lot of assets, and they won't treat me like an ordinary child anymore. This will give them more peace of mind about me.

Thinking about this, Mao Xiaoyu felt even more that she needed to tell her parents about these things. It seemed that she would have to go back and have a proper talk with them.

Because it was getting late, after Mao Xiaoyu finished calling her parents, she didn't make any more calls. Instead, she watched TV for a while before going to sleep.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.