Public Outcry

At 2:45 PM, Zhifei Biological's stock price surged directly from two points underwater to the limit up. It's a ChiNext stock, and the limit up condition is 20%.

"Holy crap, this market maker is too sneaky, spreading such fake news," Lin Jia couldn't help but complain while scrolling through Weibo.

Chen Yuanguang hadn't been on Weibo for a long time, so he asked, "What do you mean?"

Lin Jia briefly explained to him, "In just a few minutes, Zhifei Biological was violently pulled up by 22 points. Its previous stock price was around 220 billion, which is equivalent to a surge of about 50 billion.

The 'little essays' in China's stock market are really something."

Chen Yuanguang's first reaction was, "Could it be that Zhifei Biological is directing and acting this themselves?"

Lin Jia shook her head, "Not likely. They can't just sell whenever they want, and they can't directly enjoy the benefits of the market value increase.

It's probably the market maker behind it.

See if you want to issue a statement. A salary of only seven million RMB? Who are they looking down on?"

Chen Yuanguang said, "Do you think it's better for me to post it or not?"

Lin Jia said, "Post it. It'll be a good deed if it prevents fewer retail investors from taking over.

If you don't step forward and respond directly, and Zhifei Biological continues to rise for a few more days tomorrow, the market maker will slowly offload to the retail investors, and the losses will be unstoppable."

A-shares have the most naive group of shareholders in the world; they'll believe all sorts of 'little essays' flying around. As long as your stock can rise, I'll believe the boasts you make.

Chen Yuanguang picked up his phone, thought for a moment, and then edited a Weibo post:

"The 'little essay' circulating online is obviously fake. An institution in America offered me an annual salary of five million US dollars. Seven million is a bit of an underestimate."

After Chen Yuanguang posted it, it immediately caused a huge stir. He was already a focal point, and now he was at the center of the storm.

The 'little essay' related to Chen Yuanguang causing Zhifei Biological to surge by 50 billion was already topical enough. Now that Chen Yuanguang jumped out to refute it and said that a company in America offered a salary of five million US dollars, the topic was like adding fuel to the fire, completely full.

Suddenly, "Chen Yuanguang Refutes Rumors" topped the Weibo hot search list.

Lin Jia didn't think there was anything wrong with Chen Yuanguang's Weibo post. It's normal for geniuses to have personality, but she was curious why Chen Yuanguang suddenly became so high-profile.

Directly revealing his salary was a very high-profile act. She pulled Chen Yuanguang over with her slender arm: "Hey, Yuanguang, why did you suddenly talk about your salary?"

Chen Yuanguang explained, "Nothing much, I realized that fame can sometimes be armor to protect myself.

So I thought it's quite good to be a bit flamboyant. Besides, if I have the strength, then this isn't flamboyant, it's a display of confidence."

Lin Jia said, "It seems you've matured in this regard too.

Indeed, sometimes, fame can help you avoid a lot of unnecessary troubles.

As long as you have enough fame and start a business in mature market economies like the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, you generally won't have many troubles.

Of course, if the cake is too big, you still have to share some of it. Sharing the cake is also an art."

Chen Yuanguang said, "I understand."

Lin Jia looked at Chen Yuanguang and scoffed, "No, you don't understand.

Sharing the cake with State-owned Assets is more cost-effective than sharing it with private individuals. Private individuals' social resources can have accidents at any time. If you share with them and then something goes wrong, the investment fails.

Sharing with State-owned Assets enterprises means choosing partners with political potential when selecting collaborators. This way, even if they lose their potential, the State-owned Assets behind you will still support you by replacing the person."

And if he can rise, then this investment is considered successful, and you get a win-win situation, with support from predecessors and strong backing from successors."

Chen Yuanguang felt that the twists and turns involved were too complicated; doing scientific research was simpler.

He didn't respond further but opened Weibo to check the replies. He found that the comments below were all questioning him.

"What kind of bragging is this? Five million US dollars? I could also say Bill Gates is paying me fifty million US dollars to be his driver."

"God of Light, why are you starting to be so exaggerated? Even the top offers from top pharmaceutical companies in America are only five or six hundred thousand US dollars. Five million US dollars is too much of an exaggeration."

"Posted a few papers and now doesn't know his own worth."

"Too arrogant."

"Why are Chinese people like this? They get a little achievement and immediately become arrogant."

Chen Yuanguang was surprised. "Uh, why is everyone questioning me? And the harsher the questioning, the more likes it gets. Even comments cursing me are getting pushed to the top."

"This is different from before when I posted on Weibo and everyone called me God of Light. Before, it was all praise."

Chen Yuanguang scratched his head. Lin Jia leaned over to take a look and then said calmly, "It's normal.

Think about how many people's interests your Weibo post offended. Will the retail investors of Zhifei Biological, who were hoping for another limit up tomorrow, curse you?

Why come out so early to debunk the rumors?

Will those behind the manipulation of the 'small essays' hire internet trolls to curse you? Debunking the rumors so quickly ruined my chance to earn hundreds of millions or even over a billion; now I can only earn a few tens of millions at most.

Will the group of people who have been having a hard time since the virus outbreak curse you? Everyone's lives have been difficult because of the virus, many can't find jobs, and you're here talking about your five million US dollar annual salary.

It would be strange if you weren't cursed." Lin Jia smiled happily as she finished speaking. "Even when I was at Jiang University, because I lived off-campus and drove to and from school, rarely taking the school bus, wasn't I criticized?

Just get used to it. There were people cursing you before too, you just didn't see those comments."

Chen Yuanguang sighed, "It seems I'm not suited to be an internet celebrity. Just this alone requires facing such great pressure. If I had agreed to Goose Factory back then and built myself into a personal IP, how much greater would the public opinion pressure be?"

Lin Jia had a different opinion. "Compared to ordinary workers who face work pressure and don't earn much, the greater the public opinion pressure an internet celebrity faces, the higher their income. Isn't that already very fortunate?

In the past two years, the income of top internet celebrities has far surpassed that of most listed companies. I actually think internet celebrities have it too easy."

Chen Yuanguang said, "That's true."

Then Chen Yuanguang replied to the comment that questioned him, the one that said Bill Gates paid him fifty million US dollars to be his driver. He replied:

"You guessed right, Bill Gates' company did offer me an annual salary of five million US dollars. I haven't decided whether to go yet."

After replying, he put down his phone to rest.

Chen Yuanguang's reply was like adding another can of gasoline to the fire. From night to morning, this matter remained at the top of the hot search list without coming down.

Large numbers of Chinese netizens on Twitter launched an "expedition," posting screenshots of Chen Yuanguang's reply under Bill Gates' latest Weibo post and translating them into English, hoping to get a response from Bill Gates.