Counterattack starts with controlling probability

The policy storm after Te Youpu came to power directly affected the lives of Li Hao and Liu Xia.

The new censorship policy is like an airtight net that tightly covers every international student from Daxia.

"Brother Hao, look at this post." Liu Xia sat on the sofa and handed the phone to Li Hao. There was a video of complaints on the screen.

A Daxia international student said indignantly, "This review is ridiculous! They ask me if I have pets at home and even check how many interest classes I attended in elementary school?!"

The screen was filled with comments of support: "This is outrageous!", "What did we international students do to offend anyone?", "This is such a targeted move."

Liu Xia threw her phone away and collapsed on the sofa, hugging her pillow. "I just want to go home. What the hell is going on?"

Li Hao glanced up at her and calmly sipped his coffee: "That's easy. You can go back anytime. I'll book a plane ticket for you."

"You make it sound so easy!" Liu Xia glared at him, then lowered her head to scroll through social media. "But the problem is, my dad will definitely let me join the company when I get back."

"You are also studying the capital market, so this is a good opportunity for you to make use of it," Li Hao joked.

"Capital market? Capital squeeze is more like capital exploitation." Liu Xia curled her lips, then suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Li Hao. "By the way, how was your interview?"

Li Hao put down his cup, his eyes slightly cold. "Not bad, they asked a lot of 'high-sounding' questions, like 'You study AI and capital markets, are you planning to return to China to do technology transfer?' Isn't that a clear accusation?"

"Then what?" Liu Xia looked nervous.

"I'll just tell them the truth," Li Hao said calmly. "I told them my research is open and transparent, and all the results will be published in journals. If it's a legal collaboration, why not?"

Liu Xia gasped: "You are so brave! What if they find fault with you?"

Li Hao shrugged. "As long as there's no problem, let them investigate as they please. Besides, isn't their goal to scare us? The more scared you are, the more aggressive they'll be."

Liu Xia stood in front of the gray government building, holding a file bag, took a deep breath, and tried to calm her nervous mood.

"Miss, please show your ID." The security guard at the door glanced at her coldly.

"This is my appointment letter." Liu Xia handed over the document and entered the interview room.

The interviewer sitting opposite me, with a typical civil servant-like face, flipped through a thick document and asked, "Are your research areas business management and cross-border investment?"

"Yes." Liu Xia smiled and nodded.

"What's your family background like? Your father, Liu Fei, is the chairman of Feiyue Media. Does your company have any cooperation with the Daxia government?"

When Liu Xia heard this, her smile faltered slightly, but she tried to remain calm in her heart:

"Feiyue Media mainly engages in cultural media business, and its cooperation with the government is mainly on cultural exchange projects."

The interviewer lowered his head to take notes and then launched into a series of questions: "Have you ever participated in research in sensitive areas? Is your funding source related to Daxia's capital projects?"

Liu Xia answered the questions one by one, appearing calm on the surface, but her heart was already in turmoil.

She didn't understand whether this in-depth investigation was for the purpose of protecting safety or simply looking for trouble.

After returning to the dormitory, Liu Xia slammed the file bag onto the sofa and slumped down. "These people are experts at driving people crazy."

Li Hao raised his head and smiled slightly: "Are you still not used to it? This is just the beginning."

Liu Xia glared at him angrily: "Why aren't you angry at all?"

Li Hao shook his head: "Because getting angry is useless and only wastes energy. Let's just follow the rules. If they can't find any fault, they can't do anything to us."

Late at night, Liu Xia was browsing her phone and saw many complaining posts.

"It's really strange that they're investigating international students as spies!"

"With censorship at this level, how can we talk about fairness?"

"Why bother studying? Just go back home!"

She felt very annoyed and turned to look at Li Hao at the table.

Under the dim light, he was staring at the screen intently, as if he didn't notice anything around him.

"Don't you feel tired?" Liu Xia couldn't help asking.

Li Hao turned his head and said with a smile: "Of course I'm tired, but if I don't persevere, there's no point."

"They are targeting us so harshly, what chance do we have?" Liu Xia sighed.

Li Hao's eyes were firm, and his tone was steady but powerful: "Opportunities are not given by others, but we fight for them ourselves."

A few days later, early in the morning, Li Hao received a call.

"Hello, is this Mr. Li Hao?" A polite but cold voice came from the other end of the phone.

"It's me. May I ask who you are?" Li Hao put down the coffee cup in his hand and spoke in a neither humble nor arrogant tone.

"I'm a representative from the Secretary of State's office. We'd like to schedule an interview with you regarding the staff structure of your quantitative fund company. The specific time has been sent to your email, so please keep an eye out."

After hanging up the phone, Li Hao opened his mailbox and saw an email with an extremely formal title: "Further discussion on the employee structure of quantitative funds."

The next day, Li Hao arrived at the Secretary of State's office on time.

As soon as he entered the door, he felt an invisible pressure.

In the neat conference room, three officials sat upright, with the table piled high with documents.

"Mr. Li, please take a seat." The middle-aged man in the lead gestured for him to sit opposite.

"Thank you." Li Hao sat down calmly, his eyes scanning the folders on the other person's desk. He knew that the conversation that followed would not be easy.

"Mr. Li, your quantitative fund in the United States has performed very well, but we have also noticed that the proportion of Daxia employees in your employee structure is too high." The other party's tone was calm, but with a hint of unquestionable meaning.

"Really?" Li Hao smiled slightly and leaned back in his chair. "Our team members are selected based on their abilities and experience, without deliberately distinguishing between nationalities."

Another official took over the conversation: "Mr. Li, according to our policy, in order to promote local employment, we require companies like yours to employ at least 50% local employees. Otherwise, your business license will be affected."

"50%?" Li Hao raised an eyebrow. "That seems like a very high threshold. Especially in a high-tech field like quantitative funds, the integration of global talent is the key, isn't it?"

"We understand your position," the leading official said, adjusting his glasses. "But this is policy. If you cannot meet this requirement, we're afraid we can no longer support your company's operations."

Li Hao pondered for a moment, then spoke: "I understand the original intention of your policy, but I must remind you that our fund is an international enterprise and has always strictly abided by the laws of the United States."

"Secondly, many people in my team have work visas or even green cards from the United States. They are technically irreplaceable."

The official sneered, "Mr. Li, we are not questioning your compliance, but we hope you can understand that we have the right to set higher standards, especially in this policy environment."

"A higher standard?" Li Hao asked rhetorically. "Then may I ask, is this standard equally applicable to other quantitative funds, or is it only for foreign-backed companies like us?"

The conference room fell into a brief silence for a moment.

The leading official dodged the question and changed the subject: "Mr. Li, we'll give you one month to adjust your staff structure. If you don't meet the requirements by then, we'll take necessary measures, including suspending your business license."

After the interview, Li Hao walked out of the office, looked back at the majestic building, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"It seems that they want to force me to give up." Li Hao muttered to himself.

After returning to the office, he immediately called a meeting with the core members of the team.

Xu Lei frowned and said, "A 50% local employee ratio? This is simply a targeted policy! How could it be achieved so quickly?"

"They just want to create problems for us," Ji Shuqiang snorted, "but we do have solutions."

Liu Xia nodded in agreement: "How about we temporarily outsource and hire some local employees to deal with this policy?"

Li Hao shook his head. "Outsourcing can only solve short-term problems, but it can't fundamentally address this kind of pressure. We need to find another way."

He turned his gaze to Xu Lei and Ji Shuqiang: "This time we must not only meet their requirements, but also do better than they expected, and leave them speechless."

"How to do it?" Xu Lei wondered.

"I'll meet them again and then communicate with everyone to finalize it." Li Hao replied.

Sure enough, after seeing that Li Hao had not made any movement for two weeks, he was "called in for a talk" again.

Li Hao sat in the conference room of the Secretary of State's office, and the other party's attitude seemed tougher than before.

A middle-aged official pushed his glasses and said in an unquestionable tone:

“According to the latest regulations, your company’s employee structure in the United States must meet diversity requirements, especially the proportion of local employees cannot be less than 50%. Otherwise, we may revoke your quantitative fund license.”

Li Hao had a smile on his face, but his mind was racing.

The other party's intention was very clear: they wanted his team to weaken its competitiveness in the US market. And this request seemed reasonable, but it directly targeted his core team.

"Excuse me, does this policy have any specific implementation details, such as how to define the employment form of local employees?" Li Hao's tone was calm, but his eyes were full of scrutiny.

The other party paused, flipped open the document, and said, "Employees must sign a formal labor contract and participate in the company's daily operations."

"Participate in daily operations?" Li Hao seemed to have grasped the key point and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

After returning to the office, Li Hao immediately called together the core members of the team and raised this difficult issue again.

Xu Lei was the first to speak up: "They're deliberately looking for trouble! But if they really lay off our people and replace them with local employees, the company will definitely not be able to bear it."

Ji Shuqiang frowned. "Especially the technical department. Training alone would take up a lot of time. There's simply not enough time."

Liu Xia pondered for a moment and looked at Li Hao: "Brother Hao, so what are you thinking now?"