Chapter 2288: Something Big Has Happened!

Zhao Fusheng's behavior, though quite frustrating,

Zheng Yao and Dong Chenxi both understood why he had made this decision.

This guy had been like this for many years.

Sometimes he was so shrewd it was frightening, but other times he was easily swayed by emotion.

Yet it was precisely this habit that had brought friend after friend to his side.

Because everyone knew that Zhao Fusheng was not the kind of person to abandon his companions easily.

"You, this guy."

Zheng Yao sighed helplessly and couldn't be bothered to say anything more.

Since Zhao Fusheng had already made his decision, as his friend and subordinate, the only thing she could do was support him in continuing.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and patted her on the shoulder: "Alright, stop lecturing me. You're not a teacher anymore, don't bring your school habits into the present."

Zheng Yao looked resigned, nodded, and said nothing more.

She naturally understood what Zhao Fusheng meant; now their identities were no longer student and teacher, but chairman and CEO.

Under these circumstances, it was impossible for things to be like before, with Zhao Fusheng sitting obediently and listening to her impart some great life lesson.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng's current status had surpassed the point where he needed others to guide his direction.

As the saying goes, "A man's actions in life need no explanation to others," that was the principle.

When a person reaches a certain status and age, they often gain the right to speak.

And now, Zhao Fusheng precisely possessed that right to speak.

……

……

The group left the hospital. When Zhao Fusheng returned home, his face no longer held the ease it had at the hospital.

Zheng Yao's health had taken a turn; what about the others?

Had Dong Chenxi's health always been good?

Although he didn't believe in so-called fate, Zhao Fusheng had always felt that many things required preventive measures.

In other words, make plans in advance before things happen.

That way, at least when something uncontrollable occurs, the most effective response can be made.

With this in mind, he took out his phone and dialed Zhang Qian's number.

"Come to my place."

Zhao Fusheng said to Zhang Qian.

Though a bit puzzled, Zhang Qian agreed.

Soon, he appeared at Zhao Fusheng's home.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Zhang Qian asked Zhao Fusheng in confusion.

Zhao Fusheng explained Zheng Yao's situation and finally said helplessly, "What do you think should be done about this?"

"That serious!"

Zhang Qian clearly hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

"What are you planning?"

After a moment's thought, he asked Zhao Fusheng.

In this matter, Zhao Fusheng's attitude was undoubtedly the most important.

"Here's what I'm thinking..."

Zhao Fusheng then laid out his own thoughts and finally said to Zhang Qian, "I want to hear your opinion."

Among the people around him, if one were to talk about the smartest, it was undoubtedly Zhang Qian.

Although his personality might be taciturn and he usually came across as serious, everyone knew that Zhang Qian was the one with the most ideas.

After all, he had been the first to follow Zhao Fusheng back in the day.

"My thoughts."

Zhang Qian was silent for a moment, then said to Zhao Fusheng, "Actually, your idea is right on the mark."

"Ha, you think so too?"

Zhao Fusheng raised an eyebrow, glanced at Zhang Qian, and asked.

Zhang Qian nodded: "We really should make some adjustments. And I think, if you don't mind, you could bring in external investment."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback: "Bring in external investment?"

"Yes."

Zhang Qian nodded: "Apart from Future Investment, I think the other companies can be opened to investors based on their valuations. If Zheng Yao and Dong Chenxi are still willing to manage the companies, let them stay on as management. If not, then bring in professional managers."

"I'll think about it."

Hearing Zhang Qian's words, Zhao Fusheng was silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

Regardless, since Zhang Qian thought the same way, it meant their ideas coincided.

"You, don't overthink it."

Zhang Qian laughed, seeing Zhao Fusheng like that made him want to laugh.

"What's up?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at him strangely.

"Think about it, not all of our companies need restructuring."

Zhang Qian explained with a smile: "Subsidiaries like Future Investment and Future Security definitely don't need restructuring. As for other companies, Future Advertising can be left to Zheng Yao. Future Real Estate—Wang Kai is doing a good job, you could consider partnering with Xue Yuanfang. After all, a real estate company needs connections, and he can certainly provide them."

"And Future Technology?"

Zhao Fusheng raised an eyebrow and asked.

"That's hard to say."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Qian didn't answer immediately.

"Why?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at him in surprise.

Zhang Qian shrugged: "You know yourself. Think about it, you've always valued Future Technology highly. So, you'd better decide this one yourself."

Zhao Fusheng was amused and couldn't speak for a long time.

Zhang Qian wasn't wrong; for Zhao Fusheng, Future Technology was a subsidiary he valued greatly.

Or rather, within the next ten years, none of his other companies might be as important as Future Technology.

After all, only he knew that the future was the era of the internet.

"See, you've already thought of it, haven't you?"

Looking at Zhao Fusheng, Zhang Qian said.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and sighed: "I understand."

……

……

Zhang Qian stayed a while longer, didn't stay for dinner, and left directly.

As for Zhao Fusheng, he went to bed early.

But the next morning, he was woken up by a phone call.

"Something's happened!"

On the other end of the line, Dong Chenxi said to Zhao Fusheng.

Her voice was full of shock, clearly frightened.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Fusheng was a bit puzzled; he rarely saw Dong Chenxi like this.

"Yahoo and Sequoia Capital have sold their Alibaba shares to Standard Bank of South Africa."

Dong Chenxi said bitterly: "The problem now is, if Sun Zhengyi joins forces with them, we'll be in a passive position!"

Zhao Fusheng's face immediately darkened.

He naturally understood what Dong Chenxi meant.

In fact, he really hadn't expected something like this to happen!

"Investigate Standard Bank of South Africa immediately!"

After about ten seconds of silence, Su Xinghe said in a deep voice.

"Okay."

Dong Chenxi naturally understood his meaning, nodded, and hung up.

Putting down the phone, Zhao Fusheng's expression was serious. He called Liu Yiming.

"Look into this matter."

After telling Liu Yiming about Standard Bank of South Africa, Zhao Fusheng said, "See if Ma Xiaoyun is behind this."

"Yes, Chairman." Liu Yiming quickly nodded.

Meanwhile, Zhao Fusheng packed up and drove to Future Investment's headquarters.

"Take a look, this is the information on Standard Bank of South Africa."

As soon as he entered, Dong Chenxi handed him a file.

Standard Bank of South Africa has a long history and is the largest commercial bank in South Africa and even Africa. More importantly, two years ago, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China acquired 20% of Standard Bank's shares for nearly six billion US dollars, becoming its largest shareholder.

Now, this bank has become Alibaba's largest shareholder.

"Hmph."

Looking at the file, Zhao Fusheng's face turned ugly.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng's expression, Dong Chenxi asked cautiously.

Clearly, she could tell that Zhao Fusheng was in a bad mood.

Or rather, Zhao Fusheng was on the verge of exploding.

After all, this matter was truly infuriating.

"Hmph, Boss Ma is really something!"

Zhao Fusheng sighed and said with a wry smile.

He had been on guard against this for a long time.

Or rather, he had always felt that Ma Xiaoyun was not to be underestimated.

But he really hadn't expected Ma Xiaoyun to still pull one over on him.

"Do you think Ma Xiaoyun orchestrated the Standard Bank of South Africa thing?"

Dong Chenxi looked at Zhao Fusheng and asked carefully.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "It's most likely him."

Although he had no direct evidence, he could already guess pretty well.

"Then we..."

Dong Chenxi's face turned ugly, and she gritted her teeth: "I'll arrange for people to start shorting Alibaba's stock right now."

"Are you crazy?"

Zhao Fusheng laughed instead, waved his hand, and said to Dong Chenxi, "There's no need for that; we'd only lose money ourselves."

This was his honest opinion. If Alibaba's stock fell, he would end up losing money.

That was probably Ma Xiaoyun's confidence.

That guy was probably sure that Zhao Fusheng wouldn't touch him, so he pulled this stunt.

And in fact, Zhao Fusheng knew that Ma Xiaoyun's background was truly not simple.

His old man had connections at the top back in the day.

With that in mind, Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi, "Contact Ma Xiaoyun."

"Contact him?"

A bit surprised, Dong Chenxi hesitated for less than a minute, then finally nodded: "Are you planning to join forces with him?"

Clearly, she thought Zhao Fusheng intended to team up with Ma Xiaoyun to drive out SoftBank.

"No."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "I just want to meet him and have a chat."

As he said this, he leaned back leisurely in his chair and said to Dong Chenxi, "Trust me, he'll be more eager to see me than you think."

Dong Chenxi rolled her eyes; she really couldn't figure out why Ma Xiaoyun would want to meet Zhao Fusheng.

He was in a position of advantage now!

Under these circumstances, why would he take the initiative to meet Zhao Fusheng?

Dong Chenxi went to make the call, while Zhao Fusheng thought about Ma Xiaoyun.

Describing what a person is really like is like asking you what your parents are like—you have your perspective, and passersby have theirs.

Moreover, everyone is a mirror; what you see in others is actually your own reflection. For example, a robber tries to rob you, but that ignites your fighting spirit, and you subdue him. A reporter interviews the robber: 'What do you think of the person you tried to rob?' The robber: 'Too fierce, never seen anyone so tough. He beat me even when I had a knife, wouldn't stop even when I begged for mercy. Just lock me up; Earth is too dangerous!'

In reality, you're a very gentle person, just trained in kickboxing and never had a chance to use it until you met a robber. So what the other person is like doesn't matter; what matters is what you're like. The mirror reflects back.

Ma Xiaoyun, in Zhao Fusheng's view, was no simple person.

He was very persistent. After graduation, he taught at school for five years because his teacher told him: 'You must work there for five years before leaving. If you don't complete five years, future graduates from our school won't be able to become university teachers, only high school teachers.'

Of course, whether this story is true or not is unknown, but it shows that the guy is very persistent.

Moreover, it was because he was a teacher that he got to know the school's foreign teacher, who later introduced him to the internet. Otherwise, how would Ma Xiaoyun have gotten into the internet business?

He wasn't like Boss Ma, a tech geek and a proper programmer.

To have come this far, Ma Xiaoyun's connections and eloquence must have played a huge role.

For instance, in that documentary on CCTV back then, many people didn't know that the director was the wife of the later famous bearded director Zhang Jizhong.

Yeah, the one whose godson was trapped at home with him.

As for how he got to know her, that detail isn't really important.

Is it?

Heh.

Just as Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi, Ma Xiaoyun was very smart.

So he understood who his biggest enemy was.

That was why he had gone independent, breaking away from SoftBank Asia to create Alipay.

And now, that payment company had developed very well, but its shareholders were only Future Investment and himself.

In a sense, this was Ma Xiaoyun's true confidence.

And all along, Zhao Fusheng had perfectly exemplified what a qualified investor looks like.

He only invested money and never involved himself in the company's management or operations.

Therefore, compared to Sun Zhengyi, Zhao Fusheng believed Ma Xiaoyun knew who to choose as his partner.

But Zhao Fusheng also knew that cooperating with Boss Ma was like sleeping with a tiger.

However, the problem was, if he knew the other party was no pushover, did Ma Xiaoyun not know that Zhao Fusheng was also a ruthless character who devoured people without spitting out bones?

Everyone knew what the other was like, yet they still cooperated to make money.

That was the essence of business!