Super Rich: Starting the game by going back ten years to buy Bitcoin

Li Yichen stepped onto the stage steps.

The custom-made leather shoes echoed dully with metallic sound as they stepped on the makeshift steel steps.

All the cameras in the audience were focused on the young man walking onto the stage. Flashes went off everywhere. A cacophony of camera clicks filled the air.

The man in the gray jacket was still standing there, a lit cigarette lying at his feet. The photographer next to him was pushing forward with his equipment, the camera stabilization motor whirring.

"Excuse me, excuse me—"

"Who is this person?"

"I don't know him, but General Manager Liu just called him General Manager Li—"

"So young? 1.5 billion?"

Li Yichen walked to the center of the stage. Liu Xue stepped aside to make way for the microphone and took a half step back.

The audience gradually quieted down.

Li Yichen gripped the microphone stand with one hand, his gaze sweeping across the densely packed crowd below the stage.

"Hello everyone."

He spoke steadily.

"I am Li Yichen."

A sparse ovation rippled through the audience. More frequent were whispers and murmurs. Several pharmaceutical industry representatives in the front row removed their glasses to wipe the lenses, while reporters in the back row craned their necks forward, holding recording pens.

"President Liu has already given a very clear introduction to 'Nirvana No. 1'," Li Yichen said, one hand in his suit pocket. "This drug will be officially launched in five days. At that time, people suffering from illness will be able to buy this effective medicine on the market."

He paused for a moment.

"Of course—"

The audience fell silent.

"Personally, I still don't want ordinary people to buy it."

Boom! The audience erupted in cheers.

A reporter in a white shirt stood up abruptly. "What do you mean? You don't want ordinary people to buy it? Then why did you develop this drug?"

Several pharmaceutical representatives nearby exchanged bewildered glances. "Isn't this a contradiction?"

Someone in the back row muttered quietly, "Is he crazy? Saying something like that in such a big setting?"

The man in the gray jacket finally recovered from his shock. He bent down to pick up the cigarette from the ground, put it in his mouth, and let out a cold snort through his nose.

"After all that, he's just a clueless greenhorn who can't speak properly."

On stage, Li Yichen raised his right hand and made a pressing motion in mid-air.

"I said I don't want ordinary people to buy it because—" he enunciated very clearly, "not buying it means they are healthy."

The audience fell silent instantly.

The reporter in the white shirt who had stood up slowly sat back down.

Li Yichen continued, "President Liu just said that the annual treatment cost for this medicine will be kept below 100,000 yuan."

He turned his head and glanced around the audience.

"But I myself—"

"I still think this pricing is a bit unreasonable."

The crowd below the stage stirred again.

Whispers spread like waves from front to back.

"unreasonable?"

"What do you mean? You think the price is too low?"

"Businessmen are all about profit. With 100,000 yuan a year, the profit he actually makes is definitely not enough."

"Indeed, all crows are black."

The man in the gray jacket, a cigarette dangling from his lips, uttered two words through clenched teeth: "Routine."

A female reporter next to him, wearing a badge that read "Pharmaceutical Economics News," quickly added timestamps to her recorder. She lowered her voice and said to her colleague, "I noticed this Mr. Li when he was standing in the audience. His suit was bespoke, and his watch didn't look cheap either. I've seen plenty of young investors like this—they act like saviors when they're throwing money around, but when it comes to profits, they're shrewder than anyone else."

"100,000 is still not enough? 100,000 for annual treatment is already an astronomical sum for an ordinary family."

"Shh—listen to what he has to say."

On the stage.

Behind Li Yichen, Liu Xue frowned.

Her fingers tightened their grip on the microphone cord by half an inch.

The pricing was a consensus reached within the company. The marketing department conducted two full weeks of research, comparing the prices of all similar targeted drugs on the market. The annual treatment cost is 100,000 yuan, which is almost half that of similar products. With medical insurance reimbursement, the patient's out-of-pocket expense is approximately 40,000 to 50,000 yuan. This is the minimum profit margin the company can afford.

But now Li Yichen is saying in front of all the media that this pricing is unreasonable?

He wants to raise the price on the spot?

Liu Xue's heart sank. If Li Yichen were to overturn the previous pricing plan on the spot, Liu's Pharmaceutical's credibility would collapse completely within five minutes. Those reporters who were just clapping would instantly point their cameras at her, waiting to see how Liu's Pharmaceutical would slap itself in the face right there.

She took half a step forward.

He lowered his voice. "Mr. Li—"

Li Yichen didn't turn around. He raised his left hand and made a downward gesture to Liu Xue behind him.

Then I gripped the microphone again.

"I think you've misunderstood."

His voice was amplified through the loudspeakers and resounded throughout the square.

"The reason I say this drug's pricing is unreasonable is—"

"It's not that I want to raise the price."

All the commotion in the audience came to an abrupt halt.

"But I feel that an annual treatment cost of 100,000 yuan is still a bit high."

Quiet. Utterly quiet.

The pharmaceutical representative in the front row, who had just taken off his glasses to clean the lenses, had his hand raised in mid-air, unable to put his glasses back on no matter what he did.

Li Yichen looked at the group of people below the stage who were frozen in place.

"in the country, how many families have an annual income of 100,000 yuan?"

He held up one finger. "Those families simply cannot afford the annual treatment cost of 100,000."

He then raised a second finger. "Even if this drug is included in medical insurance, ordinary people will still have to pay 40,000 to 50,000 yuan out of pocket. This amount already accounts for more than half of an ordinary person's annual income."

Some people in the audience lowered their heads.

"Even—" Li Yichen paused for a moment, "is the entire annual income of an ordinary person."

He took half a step forward, his shoe tip touching the edge of the stage.

"Therefore, the emergence of our drug is not only to solve the physical problems of patients, but also to solve the economic problems of ordinary people."

offstage.

The reporter in the white shirt put the recorder down from his mouth. He looked down at the four words "profit-driven" that he had just typed on his phone, his thumb hovering over the delete button, hesitating to press it.

The man in the gray jacket still had a cigarette in his mouth. The cigarette holder was flattened by his teeth.

The female reporter next to him quietly deleted the timestamp that had just been marked "shrewder than anyone else".

On the stage.

Liu Xue stood frozen in place.

She stared at Li Yichen's upright back, her mind churning.

It's not a price increase.

It's a price reduction.

But the problem remained—the pricing was a consensus reached within the company. At 100,000, the profit margin was already at its limit. If Li Yichen wanted to lower the price below 100,000, what would happen to the company's profits?

She was about to speak.

Li Yichen turned around.

Facing her.

"Mr. Liu, don't worry." He spoke softly, "I won't make things difficult for you."

Liu Xue was stunned.

Li Yichen turned back around and raised the microphone with one hand.

"As you all know, I invested 1.5 billion in this project."

Everyone in the audience perked up their ears.

"I'm not afraid to tell you—" Li Yichen looked at the crowd below the stage, "I personally take 60% of the profits from this drug."

Boom! The audience erupted in cheers once again.

"Sixty percent?!"

"1.5 billion yuan accounts for 60%? That means Liu's Pharmaceuticals only accounts for 40%?"

"No wonder he's the one in charge..."

"Then why is he saying he wants to lower the price? If he lowers the price, won't his own profit be reduced the most?"

Li Yichen raised his right hand, suppressing the voices from the audience once again.

"In order not to put Mr. Liu in a difficult position, and also to avoid increasing the economic burden on ordinary people."

He stopped.

The entire audience held their breath.

"So I decided—"

"I'll take out 50% of my personal 60% profit."

There was a deathly silence in the audience.

"I only want 10% of the profit. Liu's Pharmaceutical Company's 40% profit remains unchanged."

Li Yichen's fingers holding the microphone were clearly defined.

"I think that would significantly reduce the annual cost of this medication."

After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Liu Xue.

offstage.

The cigarette in the man's mouth fell out.

This time it really happened. The cigarette butt landed on the concrete, bounced twice, and rolled to the heel of a colleague in front of him. He didn't bother to pick it up. All the logic in his mind about business models, profit maximization, and shareholder rights primacy was shattered by Li Yichen's casual remark.

Sixty percent of the profit. Take out fifty percent.

This is not about doing business.

This is for charity.

No. Even charities need to set aside management fees.

This person only keeps 10% of the profit. What does 10% mean? It's not even enough to cover the cost of capital.

He's not making money.

He is squandering his money.

The man in the gray jacket swallowed hard. He remembered how he had been standing on the outer edge of the crowd, patting Li Yichen on the shoulder, spitting as he lectured him on how to make money in the stock market. His face stung.

The reporter in the white shirt next to him finally pressed the delete button. The four words "profit-driven" disappeared from the screen. He put his phone in his pocket, stood up, and led the applause towards the young man on stage.

Several pharmaceutical representatives in the front row stood up. The applause gradually grew from sparse to frequent.

On the stage.

Liu Xue looked at Li Yichen. Her heart pounded against her ribs. She had just quickly done some mental calculations. If Li Yichen only took 10% of the original 60% profit, then, in other words, the drug could be reduced in price by another 40,000 without affecting the company's revenue.

forty thousand.

The annual treatment cost has dropped from 100,000 to 60,000.

With medical insurance reimbursement, the patient's out-of-pocket expense is only 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. That's a little over 2,000 yuan a month. For an average family, this isn't an astronomical figure; it's an affordable burden.

Liu Xue took the microphone.

Her fingers tightened and loosened on the microphone cord, then tightened and loosened again.

Li Yichen stood to the side, one hand in his trouser pocket.

"Mr. Liu," Li Yichen turned his head, "you heard what I just said. If I only take 10% of the profit—how much lower can the price of this drug be?"

Liu Xue raised the microphone. She looked at Li Yichen, then at the reporters and other people waiting for her answer.

All the cameras in the audience were pointed at her.

"If Mr. Li is willing to offer 50% of his own profit as a price reduction—"

Liu Xue's voice resounded throughout the entire square through the speakers.

"Then the annual treatment cost for this drug will be kept below 60,000 yuan."

boom.

The audience erupted in cheers.

This wasn't the previous commotion, nor the previous whispers. This was a genuine explosion.

Several reporters in the back row jumped up from their chairs. Some grabbed their phones to make calls, while others pushed forward with recorders. The stock forum's pop-up notifications went wild—"Liu's Pharmaceuticals Chairman Announces 'Nirvana No. 1' Annual Treatment Cost Reduced to Below 60,000! Mysterious Investor Cuts 50% of Profits!"

The man in the gray jacket pushed his way through the crowd. He picked up the flattened cigarette from the ground and held it in his hand.

Sixty thousand.

Not 100,000.

The young man who had just been on stage saying he "made money a little easier than you guys" threw away 50% of the profits the moment he stepped on stage. Not to the company, not to the shareholders. He threw it away to those ordinary people he'd never met, lying in hospital beds, people whose names he didn't even know.

The man in the gray jacket put the cigarette back into his mouth.

The pharmaceutical industry representative in the front row took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes vigorously.

"They just gave up 50% of their profits without a second thought."

"Is he here to invest, or to do charity?"

"I've been in this industry for twenty years, and this is the first time I've seen an investor like this."

On the stage.

Li Yichen took the microphone from Liu Xue.

Thousands of eyes in the audience were fixed on him.

The flashes were still going off. A continuous series of clicks filled the air.

The female reporter next to the man in the gray jacket held her recorder above her head. She shouted something at the top of her lungs amidst the noise of the crowd.

"Mr. Li! Why did you do this?"

Li Yichen held the microphone. His gaze passed over the layers of heads below the stage and landed on the row of white steel structures in the distance.

Liu Xue stood half a step behind him. She looked at his tall, straight back, and slowly loosened her grip on the microphone cord.