After returning to Beijing from Hungary, the fierce rivalry between Fanhai and Qinghui raged on.

Regarding a certain group-buying product, Jing Hong suddenly shifted his strategy: Fanhai announced it would abandon the traditional, ubiquitous “Spend X, Get Y Off” model in favor of a cash-back approach. For instance, a coupon that previously offered “¥20 off on orders over ¥200” became “Spend ¥200, Get ¥20 Cash Back” on the new platform. Merchants could process it with a single click, and a portion of the cash would be returned directly to the consumer’s payment account. For consumers, the discount remained identical; for merchants, the tax obligation was unchanged as well. However, through this mechanism, the merchants’ reported revenue turned out higher. The moment this change debuted, several of China’s major chain brands immediately migrated their major group-buying promotions from Qinghui’s platform over to Fanhai’s—especially those brands whose franchise locations were constantly swarmed with endless lines. Franchise brands typically collected 5% to 10% of their franchisees’ revenue as royalty fees; in truth, those brands had long felt they were getting the short end of the stick.

Zhou Chang sent Jing Hong another message: 【President Jing is playing tricks again.】

Raising an eyebrow, Jing Hong replied: 【Thanks, but President Zhou has played quite a few tricks himself.】

Zhou Chang sent back a voice message: “This move of yours was quite sudden, President Jing. Rather intimidating.”

Curving his lips slightly, Jing Hong replied: “Disappointed?”

“No,” Zhou Chang answered, still using voice messages, his tone rich with intrigue: “I’m utterly fascinated.”

Jing Hong let out a soft chuckle, set his phone aside, and refrained from replying further.

Shortly thereafter, however, Qinghui struck back.

On another product front, Qinghui successfully blocked Fanhai.

An emerging IT startup counted two major shareholders: Qinghui as the first, and a company invested in by Fanhai as the second. Because the company backed by Fanhai was perpetually favoring and looking out for Fanhai, Qinghui found the situation intolerable and directly devised a scheme to oust them. Zhou Chang suddenly poured in massive funding to increase his stake, teaming up with the startup’s founder to purge every executive from the “Fanhai faction” in a single day. The founder had no choice but to comply.

After being driven out, the CEO of that company called Jing Hong, his voice trembling on the verge of tears: “We’ve all been kicked out by Zhou Chang.”

“…” Jing Hong could only offer comfort: “Let it go. If you kept pushing, it wouldn’t have ended well for you anyway.”

At the same time, Jing Hong lost another round to Zhou Chang on a different strategic decision. Regarding a newly emerging sector, Zhou Chang had invested in a promising startup, whereas Jing Hong deemed that unnecessary and chose instead to back a restructured, veteran state-owned enterprise (SOE). According to Jing Hong’s plan, with just a few adjustments, a certain product from this veteran SOE could easily be transformed into a trending new hit for far less money. Furthermore, the SOE possessed mature product expertise, an established market presence, and deep government relations, making it a much more cost-effective choice.

Yet to everyone’s surprise, a year later, that veteran SOE suddenly decided to go public and submitted its IPO application! In its prospectus, the SOE explicitly stated that it had halted the project, as spending money blindly without generating profit was a major taboo for a publicly traded company.

Consequently, Fanhai was instantly left behind, while the startup backed by Qinghui had already hit its stride.

Looking back, Jing Hong realized Zhou Chang had likely foreseen this exact possibility and risk regarding the veteran SOE early on, which was why Qinghui had never made a move on it in the first place.

Even so, Jing Hong took all of this in stride.

In fact, judging from these recent clashes, Jing Hong felt he was largely prepared psychologically for certain outcomes.

He was simply cautious by nature.

By April, Fanhai Group released its first-quarter financial report.

In an instant, major financial media outlets and finance bloggers were floored by the figures on the report:

【Fanhai Releases Q1 Financial Report! One-line summary: Absolutely printing money!!!】

【Fanhai Releases Q1 Financial Report! Insanely wealthy!!!】

【Fanhai Releases Q1 Financial Report: Feast your eyes on pure financial power!!!】

The main text of the coverage offered a detailed breakdown of the earnings:

【Financial results reveal that Fanhai Group’s total Q1 revenue surpassed 100 billion yuan ($15 billion USD), representing a year-over-year increase of 25.5%, while net profit crossed 20 billion yuan, up 19.5% year-over-year.】

【Among these sectors, Fanhai Financial achieved a year-over-year growth rate of 20%, accounting for 32% of total revenue. The “AI Loans” feature introduced by Fanhai last year played a pivotal role in this success. Following its launch, application volume for Fanhai Group’s micro-loans surged dramatically while the non-performing loan ratio dropped significantly. At the same time, AI Loans partnered with major banks to further devour market share.

Fanhai CEO Jing Hong stated: “AI Loans has enriched Fanhai’s suite of financial products.”

He further noted: “AI technology will be applied even deeper into this product. Over 90% of crop losses stem from weather events, and Fanhai AI can accurately predict at least 25% of them.”】

【Additionally, Fanhai Gaming achieved a 29% growth rate, contributing 29% to total revenue. Despite the freeze on domestic gaming licenses, Fanhai’s overseas M&A strategy yielded substantial results. Expedition, developed by Fanhai’s wholly-owned subsidiary Saint Games, took the world by storm, generating over 10 billion yuan in a single quarter, while two other titles, [xxxx] and [xxxx], also demonstrated robust momentum. Consequently, even with a 10% decline in domestic market revenue, international market revenue surged…

Jing Hong stated: “Moving forward, two other companies acquired by Fanhai Group will release new titles, and Fanhai remains bullish on this market. Furthermore, Fanhai’s self-developed title [xxx] will make its global debut this year.”

It is reported that the international edition of [xxx] involves the Saint Games team, and development is currently progressing smoothly.】

【Regarding online advertising operations…】

【Meanwhile, Fanhai Entertainment delivered an equally stellar performance. After Zhang Li took charge of Fanhai Entertainment, Fanhai Group’s video platform achieved dual growth in both subscriber count and ad revenue. Demonstrating sharp market intuition, Zhang Li launched two hit national variety shows, [xxxx] and [xxx], which made a massive cultural impact, while the drama series [xx] and [xxxx] surpassed 4 billion views. A few months ago, when Weilai announced it would switch its copyright cost accounting from linear amortization to accelerated amortization, several companies promptly followed suit, causing Fanhai’s stock price to plummet at the time. According to the Q1 report, however, Fanhai Entertainment remained profitable this quarter even after adopting accelerated amortization. Though Fanhai Entertainment represents a smaller share of overall revenue, turning a profit carries immense significance.】

【Fanhai Group’s Cloud Computing division also demonstrated strong momentum. While not yet profitable, revenue surpassed 5 billion yuan, representing a 100% year-over-year increase, while its loss margin improved dramatically, narrowing from 10% down to 5%.

Over the past two to three years, China’s cloud computing market has grown at a breakneck pace, with the market size exceeding 200 billion yuan. Last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Implementation Guidelines for Enterprise Cloud Adoption…

Following the leadership transition at Fanhai Group, the company attempted to transition cloud computing from basic IaaS to PaaS and even SaaS, coordinating with various corporate clients to develop and deliver diverse products, forging a differentiated edge in the cloud space. Among these, many corporate cloud products belonged to star companies within its investment portfolio.

Jing Hong initially leveraged his foundation in the gaming industry as a breakthrough point to win over numerous gaming companies before expanding upstream and downstream. Concurrently, Fanhai is set to officially launch its self-developed X-chip…

Jing Hong stated that in the next phase, “Cloud Office” and “Cloud Education” will serve as two major key focus areas.】

【On the Artificial Intelligence front, multiple drugs co-developed by AI drug discovery firm MindMedicine and various pharmaceutical partners have entered Phase II clinical trials, making it the second AI company worldwide to announce entry into Phase II trials. Concurrently, the next generation of autonomous driving…

Jing Hong stated: “Following Professor Hong Xu’s joining, multiple projects within Fanhai Group’s AI Business Group have achieved major breakthroughs.”】

【Fanhai Group’s investment portfolio likewise yielded fruitful results. Feichi Motor has entered mass production, delivering 75,000 new vehicles in the first quarter. Upon entering mass production, Feichi Motor’s quarterly sales immediately vaulted into the top three globally among new energy vehicle brands. Growing aggressively, Feichi Motor is poised to expand into overseas markets, including Asia and Europe.

Jing Hong stated that investment scale will not slow down over the coming year, and Fanhai will continue to develop and grow alongside its partners.】

【Finally, monthly active users for core operations surpassed… representing a year-over-year increase of 10%.

Regarding new product launches…】

The moment the financial report dropped, Fanhai’s stock price skyrocketed overnight, pushing Fanhai’s market capitalization to an all-time peak.

Investment banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch once again issued “Strong Buy” ratings.

The short sellers who had previously bet against Fanhai were forced to cut their losses and cover their positions, suffering astronomical losses across the board. Hedge funds that had placed massive bets shorting Fanhai absorbed devastating hits.

Financial blogger “Finance Little Wang” even posted a photo on both Weibo and Twitter featuring a pair of bright red briefs, mocking: “Those who shorted Fanhai lost even the shorts off their backs again.”

It was dripping with sarcasm.

When a prominent Wall Street short seller who had repeatedly shorted Fanhai was pressed on air by a talk show host about his current thoughts, he remained silent for a long moment before finally uttering a single sentence: “Let’s just put the Fanhai matter behind us.”

He seemed to have finally admitted defeat.

Implicitly signaling that he no longer intended to short Fanhai.

As hedge funds gradually exited the stage, Fanhai Group’s short interest returned to a normal level—not necessarily low, but at least within a reasonable range.

The assertions made just a month or two ago—claiming that “China’s economy can’t possibly keep growing forever” and “Fanhai and Qinghui have now been abandoned by Wall Street”—seemed as though they had never existed at all.

This quarterly report demonstrated that after Jing Hong took the helm at Fanhai, he had not merely “maintained” the business; through a series of sweeping reforms, he had elevated Fanhai Group’s operations to an entirely new tier—Fanhai Group hadn’t posted growth rates like these in years.

And that was precisely why investors were eagerly buying in.

Once upon a time, Jing Haiping had been consumed with intense anxiety because he couldn’t find new growth drivers. He couldn’t bring himself to copy everything left and right like Li Zhiyong did; Jing Hong and Jiang Mei actually believed that Jing Haiping’s illness was somewhat tied to that relentless anxiety.

In the past, netizens used to mock Weilai and the others: “Stop rushing us, stop rushing us, we’re already copying as fast as we can.”

Yet Jing Hong, by leveraging AI to refine products, investing in select startup teams, acquiring overseas gaming studios, restructuring Fanhai Cloud Computing, and rolling out new product features, had successfully ignited another wave of explosive growth.

Thank goodness his father still had him.

Naturally, onslaughts from all sides continued unabated—not only from Qinghui, but also from Xingyuan and Weilai, while even fiercer challenges came from current unicorns, startup teams, and emerging ventures.

The internet had been boiling for 20 years; no one could say for certain where the next big trend would emerge.

After all, as long as one believed in the internet, it was never too late to enter the game.

Still, regardless of what lay ahead, Jing Hong could finally feel a sense of satisfaction for now.

This short-selling crisis had officially passed.

He had won a complete and decisive victory.

Unsurprisingly, that very afternoon, Jing Hong received another message from Zhou Chang:

【Congratulations on Fanhai’s stock price hitting an all-time high.】

【Thanks,】 Jing Hong replied, 【Looks like Qinghui is sitting at an all-time high as well?】

Zhou Chang didn’t reply immediately.

A few seconds later, another sentence popped up on Jing Hong’s screen:

【I’ve got a few good bottles of wine at home. Want to celebrate?】

Jing Hong: “…”

With the stock price reaching unprecedented heights, Jing Hong felt more confident in himself than ever before. At the same time, knowing he had navigated the recent rounds of battles between Fanhai and Qinghui without a hitch, he felt fully capable of handling far more complex situations now. Pausing for a moment, Jing Hong finally typed back to Zhou Chang: 【Sure. What time?】