76: Chapter 76 Deviation from the Path of Realization

Shen Che, the head of the state-owned enterprise overseeing China's economic lifeline and concurrently the Governor of the Central Bank, sat before a large mahogany desk, reviewing classified documents.

Suddenly, the secure, dedicated phone at his side rang with a sharp, urgent burst.

Shen Che's fountain pen paused slightly, and a ripple of emotion flickered in his eyes—eyes that had weathered many storms and were as deep as still pools.

At his level, this dedicated line, which connected directly to the heads of every core region, was almost always completely silent.

And his own younger brother, Secretary Shen Hai, who governed from afar in Shanghai, rarely ever called him on this line.

Ordinarily, unless they were facing an emergency of such magnitude that it could shake the heavens or trigger local economic turmoil, these two giants of the Shen Family, who guarded the north and south respectively, would never communicate so lightly.

Since Secretary Shen Hai had called at this critical juncture, it meant the situation in Shanghai had become complex to the point of being thorny.

Shen Che put down his pen and picked up the receiver. Without even waiting for Secretary Shen Hai to exchange pleasantries, he cut straight to the point with the tone of a superior who saw through everything:

"Second brother, I know everything about the current situation in Shanghai."

On the other end of the line, Secretary Shen Hai, who had been prepared with a belly full of words, found them forcefully stifled by his older brother's opening statement.

Shen Che's tone remained steady, without a hint of fluctuation, as if the one hundred billion dollars flooding in were nothing more than a series of ordinary numbers in his eyes:

"Isn't it just that the Beijing Circle crowd is desperate, using the guise of investment attraction to put on a new mask? Are they using a hundred billion in foreign capital to start a siege on your local enterprises in Shanghai?"

"The countermeasure is simple. As the head of Shanghai, why don't you just take the lead in issuing 'government subsidies' to hedge against it right now?"

Shen Che's speaking pace was slow, but every word exuded an overbearing and composed air of foresight:

"Aren't those foreign investors using favorable policies like the 'three-year tax exemption' post-WTO to aggressively smash the market?"

"Then you can use official means to convert those tax-exemption benefits into other forms of compensation and issue them directly to the local enterprises. Land, credit, or special support—open up those channels."

"This way, the core local enterprises won't have their development dragged down by the unreasonable tax-exemption subsidies of foreign capital."

Standing at the very pinnacle of national macroeconomic regulation, after fully understanding the situation of the hundred-billion-dollar foreign capital market smash in Shanghai, Shen Che was indeed prepared to have Secretary Shen Hai execute this. It was the most orthodox, legitimate, and irrefutable official strategy.

However, faced with his older brother's textbook-perfect top-level strategy to break the deadlock, Secretary Shen Hai on the other end of the line only let out a faint, bitter laugh.

"Brother, your strategy to break the deadlock is indeed the safest and most legitimate one."

On the other end of the line, Secretary Shen Hai's voice sounded indescribably complex:

"After understanding the trump cards of the Beijing Circle crowd, I was indeed planning to do exactly that. After all, the big cake that is Shanghai involves the distribution of a tangled web of interests across the entire region. Those local family conglomerates and capital giants would absolutely not sit idly by and watch foreign capital come to snatch their food."

"But the problem is..." Secretary Shen Hai took a deep breath, his tone pausing for a moment:

"Now, there's no need for me, as the head of the city, to lead the charge. Someone has already beaten the authorities to the punch and thought of a much more aggressive countermeasure for me, and... he has already begun to take action."

Shen Che's hand tightened slightly on the phone, and a trace of surprise flashed in the depths of his eyes.

Under the current desperate situation where a hundred billion in foreign capital was pressing down like Mount Tai, the entire Shanghai business community was already jittery and scattered. Who had such immense power to be able to force those independent local conglomerates to unite before the official government subsidies were even introduced?

"Who?" Shen Che asked in a deep voice. He had originally thought it was Young Master Jie, Zhou Wennan, or those other Shanghai young masters with deep backgrounds who had joined forces.

"Shen Du." Secretary Shen Hai slowly spat out the name, then, as if afraid his older brother wouldn't react in time, added heavily: "Third sister's son, our own nephew... Shen Du."

These few short words were like a depth charge, directly exploding into a turbulent storm in the depths of Shen Che's usually calm heart.

But before Shen Che could even open his mouth to ask, Secretary Shen Hai spilled everything that had happened recently like beans from a jar.

"Brother, you have no idea what earth-shattering things this kid has done in Shanghai recently!"

Secretary Shen Hai's tone carried a tremor and shock that even he hadn't noticed: "I don't know what methods he used, but he forcibly acquired the biggest cash cow in the current local delivery sector—a full thirty percent stake in Meituan!"

"And that's not all. He then donned the tiger skin of us 'Young Master Shen' and started a company in Shanghai called Jiyuan Technology. Relying solely on his own strength, he created the social software Xinghuo, which is now popular across the country and is even rubbing Tencent's face in the dirt!"

"Also, a while ago, when the capital chain of Fu Enterprises broke and it was almost swallowed up by the Beijing Circle, it was he who acted from the shadows, pulling Fu Enterprises back from the edge of the cliff!"

Secretary Shen Hai's voice grew heavier as he spoke: "Now, facing this siege by a hundred billion in foreign capital, he is using the name 'Young Master Shen' to send out invitations far and wide. I estimate that in a few days, a massive financial defensive barrier, jointly established by the various major families of Shanghai, will be forcefully erected by him!"

As Secretary Shen Hai's detailed fifteen-minute report concluded, the dedicated line fell into a long, suffocating silence.

Shen Che, this person in charge of state-owned assets overseeing the flow of trillions in national assets, the Central Bank Governor known for remaining composed even if Mount Tai were to collapse before him, was now holding the receiver, completely dumbfounded.

His brain, which could be called a supercomputer, actually experienced a brief system crash at this moment.

After taking a long while to recover, Shen Che's voice, filled with deep disbelief and even some loss of composure, came from the other end of the line:

"Second brother, are... are you joking with me?"

"How old is that kid this year? Nineteen! He's only nineteen!"

Shen Che's voice rose a few notches, a rarity, and his tone was filled with a strong sense of dissonance and absurdity:

"How many years has it been since the man our third sister married died? Don't you and I know what kind of life they, a widow and orphan, have been living?"

"Third sister's family was dirt poor; two years ago, they couldn't even scrape together the tuition for Shen Du's university!"

"If the old man hadn't put aside his pride back then, violating his own principles to personally call the school, and begrudgingly managed to pay the overdue tuition, this kid wouldn't have even been able to enter the university gates!"

The more Shen Che spoke, the more agitated he became. This top-tier giant who had seen all the ups and downs of the business world felt his worldview being crazily assaulted at this moment:

"But what are you telling me now? You're telling me that this poor kid who couldn't even afford a few thousand yuan in tuition suddenly turned around and threw out an astronomical price to buy a thirty percent stake in Meituan?"

"And he casually pulled out ninety million in cash flow to start a tech company that has even beaten Tencent into retreat?!"

"Second brother, are you sure you aren't drunk today and telling me a fairy tale?!"

Listening to his older brother's nearly out-of-control questioning on the other end of the line, Secretary Shen Hai not only didn't find it funny, but instead sighed with empathy.

"Brother, let alone you. Even I, who sit in the center of Shanghai every day and witnessed him pulling off this series of major moves with my own eyes—if I hadn't seen that irrefutable asset statement, I would absolutely have thought this was an absurd joke."

Secretary Shen Hai shook his head with a bitter smile: "I even suspected that there was a problem, or that someone was using him as a white glove. But it just so happens... I used all the power at my disposal to investigate, and the results told me that all of this is a bloody, undeniable fact!"

Faced with Shen Che's nearly out-of-control questioning, Secretary Shen Hai on this end of the line took a deep breath, his voice becoming exceptionally heavy and serious:

"Brother, we've known each other for most of our lives. When have I ever joked with you about such major matters involving the family's lifeline? Do I look like I can laugh right now?"

Hearing his younger brother's resolute tone, Shen Che fell silent again. It wasn't that he didn't believe Secretary Shen Hai's judgment; it was that he didn't dare to believe it. As the person in charge of the national purse, he knew too well what kind of terrifying foundation or heaven-defying luck was required to amass such massive capital in such a short time.

"Since you've investigated it," Shen Che said, suppressing the shock surging wildly in his heart, his voice low: "Where exactly did this kid's startup capital come from?"

"This is also the part that makes my hair stand on end the most." Secretary Shen Hai opened the thick, top-secret report at his side, his eyes fixed on the capital chain marked in red:

"The huge sum he used to acquire the thirty percent stake in Meituan went through secret overseas capital channels. It was cleaned through multiple layers of offshore accounts. Current methods simply cannot trace the specific origin; it is a complete blind spot."

"But I did clearly trace the capital trajectory of his rise in China. And precisely because it was traced clearly, it makes one feel that this kid is simply a monster!"

Secretary Shen Hai paused, and in a tone like he was telling a myth, slowly unveiled the magical history of Shen Du's primitive capital accumulation:

"Just a few months ago, this kid only had two hundred thousand in principal that he had scraped together. He dived headfirst into the most chaotic underground stock trading venue in Shanghai."

"As if he had opened his third eye, he went all-in with 400x leverage on an overseas 'metal stock'. In the blink of an eye, he used those 230,000 to gamble and win over ten million in cash!"

Shen Che on the other end of the line stopped breathing for a moment. Underground stock market? Two hundred thousand turned into ten million? This was literally gambling with his life!

But it wasn't over yet; Secretary Shen Hai's trembling voice continued:

"Immediately after, he took that ten-plus million and precisely ambushed a 'monster stock' called 'Zhenmian Stock'. He crazily carved out profits right under the nose of the market makers, and his funds multiplied a full nine times in one month!"

"During this period, he also met a woman in Shanghai involved in the gray industry. Not only did he make money himself, but he also casually helped that woman set up a scheme in Zhenmian Stock, forcefully helping her earn a full four hundred million from the stock market. And while he was at it, he cleaned those illicit funds until they were spotless!"

Secretary Shen Hai closed the report and spat out the final, earth-shattering conclusion:

"Finally, this kid took the ninety million he rolled out of the stock market, plus the two hundred million that woman willingly invested in him, and directly smashed out a Jiyuan Technology. It was relying on this initial capital of less than three hundred million that he, like a fierce dragon crossing the river, forcefully turned the entire domestic social platform market upside down!"

As Secretary Shen Hai's thundering voice completely faded, the other end of the line once again fell into a deathly silence.

This was the second time Shen Che had fallen into a long silence while listening to this call. It was also the first time in the past dozen years of his official career that this giant who controlled the national economic lifeline had been so rarely and completely speechless.

Even when facing the Asian financial crisis of 1998, or the crazy sniper attacks by international short-sellers on the domestic exchange rate, Shen Che had never felt such a sense of powerlessness and shock, with his mind going completely blank, as he did today.

Two hundred thousand in principal, raking in over ten million in the underground stock market; switching to monster stocks and multiplying nine times; casually helping a gray-industry tycoon launder four hundred million; and finally, using this capital pool of less than three hundred million to forcefully shatter the absolute throne of the Penguin Empire in the social sphere...

Every single one of these things, if picked out individually, would be enough to make those traders on Wall Street who pride themselves on being geniuses feel ashamed.

And all of this actually came from the hands of a mere nineteen-year-old kid who once couldn't even afford his university tuition! Shen Che had never seen anyone else in his entire life accomplish what his nephew had done.

Time froze. A full three minutes passed before Shen Che finally let out a heavy, turbid breath on the other end of the line.

"The commotion recently caused by those old-fashioned families in the Beijing Circle is not small; there are even signs that they have overstepped their boundaries."

When Shen Che spoke again, the shock in his voice had been forcefully suppressed. Replacing it was a deep, ominous tone as if a storm were about to break:

"Since they have stretched their hands so far, I might as well use this as a pretext to return to Shanghai in person."

"Second brother, don't make any rash moves these next few days; let him toss and turn. Everything... we will talk slowly once I arrive in Shanghai."

After saying this, Shen Che didn't give any further instructions and hung up the phone directly.

Listening to the "beep-beep" busy signal from the receiver, Secretary Shen Hai slowly put down the phone and turned to look at the night scene outside the floor-to-ceiling windows—Shanghai, still brightly lit, but with undercurrents surging.

He knew his older brother's temper very well. The reason Shen Che said "we will talk slowly" was not because he wanted to delay, but because at this moment... facing the almost monstrous rise of Shen Du, even this Central Bank Governor, who had seen all kinds of great storms and waves, was so shocked that he didn't know what else to say on the phone.