Early the next morning, a photo appeared on the Internet.
The shooting angle of the photo was obviously a candid shot - through the half-rolled bamboo curtain of Huaiyang Restaurant, the camera passed through the shadow of the Wutong tree, and happened to capture the profile of Zhao Chen and Elon Musk sitting and talking to each other.
Most of the Braised Lion's Head with Crab Meat on the table had been eaten, and the last trace of steam was rising from the spout of the Longjing tea.
Elon Musk is wearing a dark gray turtleneck sweater, leaning forward slightly and talking about something;
Zhao Chen was holding the tea cup, with a faint smile on his lips, and his eyes fell on the person opposite.
The composition of the photo is not clear, and the shadow of the bamboo curtain blocks part of the picture, but the outlines of the two people are recognizable enough.
The profile of Zhao Chen is no stranger to the domestic Financial Media--
Chairman of Henglong Capital has recently made waves in Hong Kong Stocks due to the financing case of Green Energy Technology.
The face of the person sitting across from him belongs to one of the most recognizable entrepreneurs on the planet.
Elon·Elon Musk.
Silicon Valley Iron Man.
Tesla and founder of SpaceX.
The photo first appeared on Weibo, a financial blogger, with only one sentence:
"Elon Musk was at Magic City last night. He didn't accompany Tesla executives or government leaders. The one who had dinner with him was Zhao Chen from Henglong."
Twenty minutes later, the number of retweets of Weibo exceeded 50,000.
An hour later, all domestic mainstream Financial Media followed suit.
Alerts popped up on the terminals of Bloomberg and Reuters almost at the same time--
"Elon Musk met privately with Henglong Capital Chairman Zhao Chen during his visit to China".
Before Tesla Magic City Factory Elon Musk's press release about the appearance was taken down from the homepages of major media, this candid photo taken behind a bamboo curtain was squeezed into the sidebar.
The media circle exploded.
It's not that "Elon Musk's visit to China" blew up - Elon Musk's visit to China was planned long ago, and the press release was sent to the mailboxes of major media two days in advance.
What was shocking was that after he got off the plane, during the time that was not included in the official itinerary between the Magic City factory and his meeting with government leaders, he chose to eat alone.
That person is not General Manager Zhu of Tesla Greater China, or any leader of Lingang Administrative Committee,
He is not a representative of any Suppliers company, but a young man who has just emerged in the domestic capital circle for less than three years.
Chairman, Zhao Chen of Henglong Capital.
Zhao Chen The number of unread messages on the phone has been increasing since early morning.
First there was the screenshot sent by Chen Xi, then Zhang Qingxue, then Su Wantang, then Henglong, the secretary to the board of directors, Liu Mingyu.
The message from Liu Mingyu carries a kind of restraint that is unique to the secretary-general and has been trained to do so--
"Zhao Zong, the media's call went to Secretariat. I have received more than 30 calls from 7 o'clock in the morning to now. How do I reply?"
Restraint is restraint, but Zhao Chen can read his pressure from that "more than thirty".
The stock price of Henglong Group just exceeded 40 Hong Kong Dollar yesterday due to the financing announcement of Green Energy Technology, and the market value stood at more than 22.4 billion Hong Kong Dollar. Today, Chairman was photographed having a private meal with Elon Musk.
Putting these two things together, how the market will interpret them does not need Liu Mingyu to explain.
Zhao Chen sent a message back to Liu Mingyu.
"No reply."
He turned the phone over and placed it on the table.
Su Wantang walked out of Suite's room, holding the freshly brewed Pu'er in his hand. When he placed the tea cup in front of him, his fingers paused on the edge of the cup.
"Do you want to process the photos from the media?"
"No need." Zhao Chen picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
"I took pictures, but if I withdraw, I feel guilty."
Su Wantang didn't ask again.
She knew that when Zhao Chen said "no", she had already gone through the matter from beginning to end in her heart.
The photo was taken secretly, which shows that someone had already been following the news about Elon Musk to Magic City before it landed.
The person being targeted may be Financial Media, it may be a self-media blogger, or it may be someone at Industrial Capital who spread the word--
But no matter which one it is, since the photo has appeared on the Internet, it cannot be removed.
If it is withdrawn, public opinion will change from "Why did Elon Musk eat with him?" to "Why did Zhao Chen feel so guilty that he deleted the photo?"
The latter is much more destructive than the former.
When Elon Musk's private plane took off from Pudong Airport, Zhao Chen was sitting on the seat next to him.
Su Wantang, Chen Xi and Zhang Qingxue are sitting in the rear cabin.
This is the temporary adjustment arrangement of Zhao Chen - all the originally booked transoceanic flights are cancelled, and everyone will fly to United States with Gulfstream G650ER of Elon Musk.
When Elon Musk heard on the phone that Zhao Chen was going to New York to deal with Nvidia's matter, he only said "I still have room on the plane", and Zhao Chen said two words "Thank you".
When Lin Shicheng received the notification from New York, the landing point of the flight was changed from Kennedy Airport to Teterboro Airport--Gulfstream's exclusive landing point, which is closer to Manhattan.
"Zhao, that photo."
Zhao Chen raised his eyes.
"Magic City Candid photos of that restaurant. You were right not to deal with it."
Elon Musk's voice was not high-pitched, and the low roar of the engine in the cabin made his voice deeper.
"Once you delete the photos, everyone will think there is something shameful between us."
Zhao Chen did not answer the call.
Elon Musk closed the computer, took out a bottle of water from the pocket next to the seat, unscrewed the cap and took a sip.
"But have you ever thought about why you?"
Zhao Chen's fingers stopped on the armrest.
"The whole world knows that I hate socializing. I don't eat with investors, government officials, or any 'capital people.'
In all these years, no one has ever taken a photo of me eating alone with any investor."
He put down the water bottle and looked at Zhao Chen, "They couldn't take a picture because there really wasn't one. You were the first."
Zhao Chen was silent for a few seconds, then took a sip from the Pu'er that Su Wantang had just handed over to him.
"Because you don't regard me as an investor."
"Yes." Elon Musk leaned back in his chair and looked through the porthole to the dark blue sky above the clouds.
"You talk to me about Energy Storage Materials's Degradation Curve, talk about Moravec's Paradox, and talk about Optimus' hand.
You translated the Pilot Line data of Green Energy Technology into English and put it in front of me, not because you knew that I needed Energy Storage Materials,
It's because you understand how much the things burned in that Pilot Line are worth.
You have never asked me, 'How much will the stock price of Tesla be in the next quarter?'"
He turned his head and his eyes fell on Zhao Chen's face again.
"So what the media photographed was me having dinner with you. They thought this photo meant there was some kind of deal between Henglong and Tesla.
They were wrong. This photo means something much deeper than the transaction."
The cabin was quiet for a while.
The low hum of the engine filled the silence, like a distant river.
Su Wantang opened the laptop in the back cabin, and the light from the screen reflected on her face.
Chen Xi is sorting out the position documents of Nvidia, and Zhang Qingxue is reviewing the legal wording of the 13D declaration.
The three of them were doing their own thing, and no one looked up at the front cabin.
"Zhao, how long do you plan to keep the Era Vanguard matter a secret?" Elon Musk suddenly asked.
Zhao Chen's hand holding the teacup paused for a moment.
It's not because this question is sharp, it's because asking it from Elon Musk's mouth shows that he has been thinking about this matter for a long time.
The background of Era Vanguard, Elon Musk is the clearest.
But Wall Street is not a fool. They saw the names of Era Vanguard and Henglong side by side on the signing announcement of Green Energy Technology.
Put these things together and don't need any explanation.