Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled-Chapter 847 - 646: It’s a Curse, Not a Blessing

Day in and day out, December came in the blink of an eye.

The kids’ school still hadn’t resumed normal operations, so they were lounging around at home every day.

Things were getting worse outside, to the point that even Er Piya didn’t dare to go out.

She spent her days fishing on the rooftop while occasionally hosting a small live-stream.

The situation was no different for her sister, Chen An’an.

But An’an spent more time on her studies.

Even his wife, Song Yanxi, barely went to the company anymore, which showed just how severe the outbreak had become.

As for Chen Pingsheng himself, he still showed up at headquarters on time every day, though many of his team members had opted for remote work.

At least half of them were missing.

Tang Jing came over to inform him that two important individuals were scheduled to meet him today for some discussions.

Chen Pingsheng glanced at the list, and both names belonged to well-known figures in the business world.

One was a bona fide real estate tycoon; the other, a leader in the Internet sector.

Nowadays, real estate tycoons calling on him was unusual unless they were familiar faces—normally, he wouldn’t bother meeting them.

These people projected an image of endless success, but in reality, their foundations were riddled with issues.

Take Xu Pidai, for example; he’s merely one of many. Among the top ten companies, aside from Vanke, the rest were all drowning in debt. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Chances are, in the near future, the major investors in the real estate sector will predominantly be state-owned enterprises.

Pre-sale houses don’t sell well anymore, so cash flow in the real estate industry has become increasingly difficult to manage.

Chen Pingsheng instructed Tang Jing to arrange the meeting. His first appointment in the morning was with a father-daughter duo.

The Yang Family—a major player in the real estate market, ranking in the top three domestically.

This time, they were looking to sell some of their core assets or secure a $10 billion loan from him.

The proposed interest rate was extremely high—around 7%.

That meant borrowing $10 billion would accrue $700 million in interest annually.

Lending money to real estate companies during this period was a clear example of throwing good money after bad.

Other than state-owned banks, which couldn’t stand idly by and watch these companies go bankrupt due to policies, who else would lend them money?

Of course, Chen Pingsheng refused. The Yang Family then tried to negotiate in other ways to collaborate with him, leveraging their substantial commercial assets—certainly no less than his.

But they also owed far more.

Since lending money was off the table, they proposed selling off commercial assets.

Chen Pingsheng made up an excuse to decline.

Other than being interested in Wanda Plaza, he wasn’t interested in most other commercial assets.

Let alone hotels or land in county towns—those are outright money pits, guaranteed to lose money.

The second meeting was with the Internet giant, who invited him to attend a well-known financial conference in Magic City.

The executive also hoped to establish some strategic collaborations with his company, Tengying Media.

No problem; such discussions could be handled by his secretary, Zhang Wanyi.

Magic City was hosting an important financial summit this month, one he definitely couldn’t miss. At least half of the city’s prominent business figures would be there.

Skipping it would be out of the question.

Mid-December arrived, and Magic City’s financial summit officially kicked off.

The opening speeches featured several officials, but the star was Mr. Ma.

His reputation as an eloquent speaker preceded him.

What followed his speech was an unexpected turn of events.

Chen Pingsheng had to admit, Mr. Ma really dared to speak his mind.

"If the banks don’t change, I’ll change the banks." This kind of declaration seems light, but to state it from such a position is exceedingly rare.

Such words directly criticized the entire domestic financial system.

At least, Chen Pingsheng himself wouldn’t dare to make such a statement. Mr. Ma spoke passionately, as if he truly believed he could single-handedly reform the country’s financial system.

It must be said—to publicly deliver such remarks requires immense courage.

The applause from the audience was deafening. However, with rhetoric like this, discontent was inevitable from certain quarters.

After the conference concluded, countless attendees toasted with Mr. Ma and deliberately tried to curry favor.

At that point, Mr. Ma’s commercial standing was unquestionably at its peak.

A peak from which no progress within the country seemed likely.

Online, everyone was proclaiming it to be the era of Mr. Ma.

The grandeur embedded in that phrase alone spoke volumes about his influence.

Originally, Chen Pingsheng had considered chatting with him, but seeing the fervor surrounding him, decided against it.

What unfolded next came as a surprise.

Ant Financial, the country’s largest lending company, with a claimed $300 billion valuation—Alipay’s parent company—was halted just before its much-awaited IPO.

The primary reason was its excessive leverage.

With only billions in principal, it had leveraged bank loans to lend out trillions. It was glaringly unsustainable. If it were to implode, the fallout would be even worse than Xu Pidai’s problems.

And that wasn’t all—the era of Mr. Ma turned into the era affecting Mr. Ma.

An era-defining business legend was now on track to decline.

It’s hard to say if this downfall was solely triggered by his speech, but there’s no denying that it acted as a spark.

This made Chen Pingsheng even more wary and low-key. After reaching their level, it’s unwise to act too high-profile.

Unless you have official backing, attracting attention is almost always detrimental.

When the announcement broke, Big Ali’s stock price plummeted precipitously—from a market cap of $800 billion, it couldn’t stop bleeding as it crashed further.

This reinforced Chen Pingsheng’s reluctance to buy domestic stocks, given their heavy dependence on external factors.

By his estimation, if Alibaba managed to stabilize at $500 billion, it’d already be considered fortunate.

The likely drop was around $300 billion.

Compared to Big Ali, Big Penguin was the stronger performer.

In some ways, this was because the former had expanded too aggressively.

Chen Pingsheng kept reminding himself never to get overconfident; otherwise, blows could come from anywhere.

This time, Mr. Ma might even decide to settle overseas. As for what happens next, it’s hard to predict.

While Chen Pingsheng took notice, he didn’t pay too much attention since people in his circle were already discussing it endlessly.

Even Chang Fu, when visiting him, showed a significant shift in his attitude.

He now felt that being a carefree billionaire was good enough.

No longer obsessed with becoming a trillion-dollar tycoon, especially when someone as powerful as Mr. Ma could collapse overnight.

In comparison to ordinary people, Mr. Ma would undoubtedly remain at the top of the heap.

But in their circle, everyone knew his peak days were over; simply landing safely would be considered fortunate.

It was truly shocking.

This incident caused a stir both online and in wealthy circles.

Countless people were following it closely.

Even Chang Fu, who had dreamed of building a vast empire, now fully resigned himself to a more subdued stance.

To be blunt, after leaving Tengying Group, he lacked the ability to maintain the vast relationships required to sustain such ambitions.

Starting a major private enterprise was fraught with nearly insurmountable challenges.

But bringing such a company down? That’s incredibly easy.

If you lack the capacity to manage these dynamics properly, it’s a curse, not a blessing.