Public Outcry

At 2:45 p.m., Zhifei Biological's stock price shot straight up from 2 percent below the line to the daily limit. It was a ChiNext stock, where the daily limit was 20%.

"Damn, this market maker is way too sneaky, spreading fake news like this." Lin Jia couldn't help complaining as she scrolled through Weibo.

Chen Yuanguang had not used Weibo in a long time. He asked, "What do you mean?"

Lin Jia gave him a brief explanation. "In just a few minutes, Zhifei Biological was violently pushed up by 22 points. Its market cap had been around 220 billion, which meant it suddenly gained roughly 50 billion.

The rumor posts in China's stock market are seriously powerful."

Chen Yuanguang's first reaction was, "Could Zhifei Biological have staged this themselves?"

Lin Jia shook her head. "Not likely. They can't just sell whenever they want, so they can't directly benefit from the increase in market cap.

It was probably the market maker behind it.

Do you want to issue a statement? An annual salary of just 7 million RMB—who are they looking down on?"

Chen Yuanguang said, "Do you think I should post one or not?"

Lin Jia said, "You should. If it keeps a few fewer retail investors from becoming bagholders, consider it a good deed.

If you don't come out and respond directly, and Zhifei Biological keeps rising for a few more days, the market maker will slowly dump their shares on the retail investors. Once they start losing money, it won't stop."

A-shares had the most innocent investors in the world. They believed every rumor post flying around online. As long as your stock went up, they would believe whatever bullshit you told them.

Chen Yuanguang picked up his phone, thought for a moment, and posted on Weibo:

"The rumor post going around online is obviously fake. An institution in America offered me an annual salary of 5 million dollars. Seven million is underestimating me a little."

The moment Chen Yuanguang posted it, it caused a huge stir. He was already a figure in the spotlight, and now he had been pushed right into the eye of the storm.

The rumor post related to Chen Yuanguang had already been enough of a talking point after sending Zhifei Biological's market cap soaring by 50 billion. Now Chen Yuanguang had come out to deny it and claimed that an American company had offered him 5 million dollars a year. It was like pouring fuel onto a blazing fire.

"Chen Yuanguang Denies Rumors" immediately climbed to the top of Weibo's trending list.

Lin Jia did not think there was anything wrong with Chen Yuanguang's post. It was normal for geniuses to have personality, but she was curious why he had suddenly become so high-profile.

Openly revealing his salary was an extremely high-profile move. She used her slender arm to pull Chen Yuanguang closer. "Hey, Yuanguang, why did you suddenly mention your salary?"

Chen Yuanguang explained, "Nothing much. I realized that fame could sometimes be armor that protected you.

So I thought being a little flamboyant was fine. Besides, if I had the ability, then it wasn't flamboyance. It was confidence."

Lin Jia said, "Looks like you've matured in that regard too.

Sometimes, fame really can shield you from a lot of unnecessary trouble.

As long as you have enough fame and start a business somewhere with a mature market economy, like the Yangtze River Delta or Pearl River Delta, you generally won't have much trouble.

Of course, if the cake gets too big, you still need to give some away. Dividing the cake is an art too."

Chen Yuanguang said, "I understand."

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

Giving the cake to state-owned capital is more cost-effective than giving it to private individuals. A private individual's social connections can run into trouble at any time. You give them a share, then something happens, and the investment fails.

If you give it to a state-owned enterprise, you simply choose a partner with political potential. Even if that person loses their potential, someone else from the state-owned capital behind them can still support you.

And if they rise further, then the investment succeeds. It becomes a win-win situation for you—you receive support from those before them and backing from those after them."

Chen Yuanguang felt that the twists and turns involved were far too complicated. Research was still much simpler.

He did not respond. Instead, he opened Weibo to look at the replies, only to discover that the comments below were filled with doubt.

"What bullshit are you bragging about? Five million dollars? I could also say Bill Gates offered me 50 million dollars to be his driver."

"God of Light, why are you getting so flamboyant too? Even the best offers from top American pharmaceutical companies are only five or six hundred thousand dollars. Your five million dollars is way too exaggerated."

"You published a few papers and now you don't know your own worth."

"Way too full of yourself."

"Why are Chinese people all like this? They get a tiny bit of success and immediately become arrogant."

Chen Yuanguang was surprised. "Uh, why is everyone doubting me? And the harsher the doubt, the more likes it gets. Even the comments insulting me have been liked to the top."

"This is different from before, when everyone under my posts called me God of Light. Back then, there was nothing but praise."

Chen Yuanguang scratched his head. Lin Jia leaned over for a look, then said calmly, "That's normal.

Think about how many people's interests your post offended. Wouldn't the Zhifei Biological retail investors, who had been hoping for another limit-up tomorrow, curse you?

Why did you have to come out and deny it so early?

Wouldn't the people manipulating the rumor post behind the scenes hire online trolls to curse you? You denied it so quickly that what could have earned me several hundred million, maybe even more than a billion, would now earn me at most a few tens of millions.

Wouldn't the people whose lives had been difficult since the virus began spreading curse you? Everyone was already having a hard time because of the virus, many people couldn't find work, and here you were talking about making 5 million dollars a year.

Of course you'd get cursed." Lin Jia laughed happily toward the end. "Back when we were at Jiang University, I lived off campus and drove to and from school, so I rarely took the school bus. Didn't people criticize me for that too?

You'll get used to it. People cursed you before too; you just never saw those comments."

Chen Yuanguang sighed. "Looks like I'm still not suited to being an internet celebrity. Just this much already comes with so much pressure. If I'd agreed to Goose Factory's proposal to build myself into a personal brand, I can't imagine how much public pressure there would have been."

Lin Jia disagreed. "Ordinary workers face pressure at work and still barely make any money. For internet celebrities, greater public pressure means higher income. That already sounds pretty fortunate, doesn't it?

Over the past two years, the top internet celebrities have made far more than most listed companies. I think internet celebrities have it way too comfortable."

Chen Yuanguang said, "True."

Then Chen Yuanguang replied beneath the comment doubting him—the one saying that Bill Gates had offered 50 million dollars to hire him as a driver:

"Your guess is spot-on. It was Bill Gates's company that offered me an annual salary of 5 million dollars. I still haven't decided whether to go."

After replying, he put down his phone and rested.

Chen Yuanguang's reply was like throwing another bucket of gasoline onto the matter. From that night until the next morning, it remained firmly at the top of the trending list.

Large numbers of Chinese netizens flooded Twitter, posting screenshots of Chen Yuanguang's reply beneath Bill Gates's latest post along with English translations, hoping to get a response from Bill Gates.