After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

"I told you from the start, she's a natural traffic magnet."

Lu Liang watched with a smile as Wang Chuting interacted with her fans in the comments section on Douyin.

After more than a year of development, Kuai Shou still couldn't shake off its earthy vibes, whereas Douyin had only grown stronger.

By the end of last quarter, they had surpassed 450 million users, with a stable daily active user count of 122 million, and their valuation had skyrocketed to 8 billion US dollars.

They seemed invincible, not only sweeping away all competitors in the industry but also challenging the status of Shuangma Group.

Ever since the Saudi tycoons invested, Lu Liang's ownership stake had decreased from 9.25% to 8.325%, now valued at 666 million US dollars.

He had only made two investments, one of 2 million yuan and one of 10 million US dollars, which had already brought him more than a 66-fold increase.

Lu Liang couldn't help but recall the Douyin shareholders' meeting in Beijing at the end of January when Yang Zhenyuan said that this year Douyin would develop concurrently at home and abroad, head-to-head.

Domestically, in addition to expanding the market, they would slightly brush against Meituan. If they could outperform them, the next step would be to venture into the e-commerce sector and wage a full-scale war against Taobao and Pinduoduo.

The international task for this year was to acquire Musical.ly and facilitate its merger with TT, which was Douyin's international version.

"The best card, of course, is saved for last."

Wang Chuting was beaming, draping her arms around Lu Liang's neck.

One video had amassed a total fan base of more than 1.2 million across the whole network.

Next, she planned to set up her own studio and then continue to establish deep roots in this field.

Doing some product endorsements on the side should sustain the studio, and then she could slowly explore the path she would want to develop further.

Wang Chuting looked up, eyes full of hope: "Mr. Lu, there's a project here — would you consider making a small investment in me?"

Over the years, she had spent all of her savings on her appearance, and her card balance had never exceeded a hundred thousand.

Setting up her own new media studio required some capital; she needed to hire at least three employees, buy some filming equipment, and rent office space, among other expenses.

Moreover, she wanted Lu Liang to take a stake in it, making their relationship even closer.

"How much do you need?" Lu Liang asked with a smile.

"400,000 should be enough; I'll give you 40% of the shares."

Wang Chuting had thought it through. Considering the current state of her account and her personal value, it should be worth 600,000.

Lu Liang couldn't help but chuckle, stroking her hair: "Let me give you 2 million for now, just consider it a loan from me."

"That works too. But if I can't pay you back, can I repay you with my body?" Wang Chuting asked playfully.

"You make it sound as if you'd only offer yourself as payback if you couldn't return the money," Lu Liang teased with a laugh.

"It's different. If I can pay the money back, I can be more proactive and assertive in the future."

"What would you be so assertive for?"

"Remove the 'what.'"

"Such fire."

"Don't you like it?"

"I like that energy."

...

The next day, Lu Liang's prediction of a trillion market value continued to ferment.

IPO underwriters like Bank of China and CICC decisively raised the stock offering price at the next roadshow.

From 25 yuan to 26 yuan — after all, with 52 million shares, an increase of just one yuan per share would mean an additional 52 million yuan of capital raised, and they would make even more from the price difference.

Additionally, with a total capital stock of 1.744 billion shares, an increase of one yuan would also increase the post-IPO market value by 17.44 billion yuan.

Even with a last-minute price increase, Ningde Era's third and fourth roadshows still froze funds over 51 times and 59 times, respectively.

Out of the 208 million shares made available across the four roadshows, the capital frozen amounted to 286.52 billion yuan, averaging a subscription rate of 44.5 times.

Although it did not reach Xiaomi's extreme P/E ratio of 68 times, Mr. Lei dealt in IT and bore some internet flair.

Unlike Ningde and Zeng Minqun, who hailed purely from manufacturing and technical backgrounds, 44.5 times already made history.

After 18 days and four roadshows, Ningde Era settled on an offering price of 26 yuan per share and a market value of 453.44 billion yuan.

He received the code 300733 issued by the Securities and Futures Commission and confirmed April 18 as the listing date.

Only 29 days remained, and the internet was abuzz with discussions about the potential of Ningde Era after its listing and whether it could immediately challenge the top three ranks of the Growth Enterprise Market.

Previously, the brightest star of the Growth Enterprise Market was LeEco, but LeEco had fizzled out, with its CFO being publicly taken away, the entire finance department under investigation, and its stock being mandatorily suspended from trading.

In the five trading days before the suspension, the share price hit the limit down four times, with the remaining day seeing a fall exceeding -7.8%.

Ten days ago, it had a market value of 620 billion US Dollars, now it had nearly halved to just 362 billion.

Currently, the number one of the Growth Enterprise Market was Wen's Shares, with a market value of 118.3 billion, specializing in grain and edible oil.

And the second place was Lansi Technology, with a market capitalization of 83.2 billion, focusing on electronic communications. The third spot was held by Sanju Environmental Protection, with a market value of 72.4 billion, engaged in chemical materials.

Ningde Era landed on the Growth Enterprise Market with a market valuation of 45.344 billion, at least securing a top three position and contending for the second.

Moreover, as long as there was a 44% increase in share price on the first day, followed by a limit up the next day, it was basically set to secure the third chair in the Growth Enterprise Market.

As for the title of the leader, no one dared to think about it.

Even though Lu Liang predicted that Ningde could reach a trillion market value, whether it could achieve that or not, it was a matter five years later.

Ningde Era wasn't some junk stock; a normal company with a valuation of 2 billion would wish to go public immediately to raise money as long as the conditions were right.

But Ningde Era had obtained the approval for listing long ago, yet it held back year after year until it decided to go public this year with a size of 45 billion.

At this size, achieving a 100% increase was very difficult, but a 44% rise on the first day, and a break on the second or third day was not unheard of.

However, to challenge the throne of Wen's Shares as the leader, it would require at least a 44% increase on the first day, followed by seven consecutive limit-up days.

This would propel the market value to 127 billion.

"44% on the first day, and seven consecutive limit-ups after that, is it possible?"

Lu Liang questioned himself too,

and he concluded it was possible, but difficult.

The key was whether his fans were strong enough and determined enough.

Since LeEco was confined to the "little dark room," the entire new energy sector had become much more harmonious, with market trends being steady and improving.

The Tianxing Mixed Fund updated its net value every weeknight at 8 p.m. sharp and had risen to 1.332.

With a scale of 300 billion, it had arrived at 399.6 billion.

The increase in the past few days was a bit small, only around 0.08%.

But the period when LeEco exploded proved it was not for nothing that it was known as the pressure-resistant king in the industry.

It resulted in any redemptions being released promptly at 8 a.m. the next day, and they wouldn't last more than two seconds.

Heads of the Industrial and Commercial Alipay department even complained to Lu Liang that during those times, their servers were like being hit by a DDOS attack.

Instantly, the number of user visits would often reach hundreds of thousands, if not tens of thousands.

Hackers wouldn't have the guts to do that nor use a botnet to attack just for the sake of subscribing to a fund.

After investigation, they were all veritably living people, eager to enter this warm and harmonious home. The outside world was too frightening, with manipulators and shadow warehouses everywhere.

At this moment, Lu Liang made an audacious prediction that Ningde Era's market capitalization would reach a trillion in five years.

Those who hadn't managed to buy the fund or had redeemed it might, as a second choice, opt to buy shares in Ningde Era.

Therefore, their determination was critical; if they held on for the long term, they were sure to profit, possibly even more than they would from the fund.

Even without winning a lot in the initial public offering, even waiting to buy Ningde after the shares broke the limit, even buying in at a market capitalization of one hundred billion.

It wouldn't take five years because according to predictions, Ningde Era would break through a trillion market value by the end of May 2021.

Four years and two months, a tenfold increase—that was the real wealth code, far better than speculating in real estate or buying funds.

After all, Tianxing Mixed Fund was purely Lu Liang's personal judgment based on the future market values of Tesla and Ningde.

If this fund could achieve a 100% increase in four years, that would be a blessing. A tenfold increase was beyond imagination.

In his view, buying Ningde's stock rather than a fund offered more protection in terms of returns and a higher rate of return.

"The question is, how many people will be able to seize this wealth code and how many will be able to hold on after four years?"

Lu Liang couldn't help but smile, as it suddenly occurred to him that he had played the role of a financial commentator in a tycoon's cameo appearance, where he said the protagonist of the movie was the conscience of the capital market.

He was mockingly said to be talking about himself at that time.

Lu Liang muttered to himself, "Looking back after four years, if I am not the conscience of the capital market, who is, who deserves to be?"