I am not Ximen Qing.

Chapter 155 Men Are Inferior to Dogs

Meng Liang is trapped in time and space. He calls Zhang Sheng and asks what Zhang Sheng is doing. Meng Liang is very angry and furious with Song Yu because he gave his soul to Song Yu for free for many years. He finds that Meng Liang's soul has no value. How can the value of a soul be assessed?

Meng Liang was in great pain. Song Yu had denied the value of his soul, so Meng Liang told Zhang Sheng that Song Yu had insulted his dignity and personality. Zhang Sheng inadvertently let slip that Song Yu had now become wealthy. Meng Liang, who had previously ignored this, was now furious to learn that Song Yu had become rich after using his soul for nothing, and that Song Yu now despised his precious soul. Zhang Sheng could only comfort Meng Liang, urging him not to misunderstand their years of friendship. Zhang Sheng added that setbacks and disappointments in life were inevitable, and suggested reflecting on the story of Goujian and Fuchai in the Zuo Zhuan (a historical text). He said that to achieve great things, one must learn from Goujian's perseverance and hardship. Zhang Sheng's words only fueled Meng Liang's anger. How could a soul used for several years not depreciate and suffer wear and tear?

Zhang Sheng was stumped. How could the value of a soul be assessed? He recalled a profound saying from the Analects: the difference between those with and without property. Meng Liang, like a bird enjoying the benefits of love in Beijing, was like a bird in winter. When you're young, youth is everything; thinking about love makes you happy, melting away the ice of pain. Crucially, Meng Liang also had a new girlfriend. He worked tirelessly to save money to satisfy her every whim, borrowing from every online lending platform to maintain their love. He felt it was worth it; at least he had a naked, honest love with his girlfriend, and he experienced the beauty of love. At least his girlfriend's youthful, full, and firm body allowed him about an hour of deep sleep. For a long-time insomniac, the world consisted only of the oppressive darkness of his youth and his girlfriend's voluptuous body.

Meng Liang began to lose the banks' trust. His credit card started acting up; not only did it cut off his credit limit, but he was also required to repay immediately, even qualifying for minimum payments. Everything had been normal until now, with credit cards and online loans bombarding him. He'd faced countless personal financial crises before, but this one seemed different. Like the Fannie Mae subprime crisis, besides global investors footing the bill, it wasn't enough to sustain the company's continued operation. Large companies could legitimately go bankrupt. Meng Liang used every trick in the book to endure, making up different excuses each day, hoping, like before, to wait for a miracle in his torment.

In the past, he always overcame difficulties through miracles. During Meng Liang's crisis, Song Yu became wealthy. Meng Liang staked his future on developing an e-commerce platform app and WeChat official account. His friends outwardly expressed confidence in the platform's future, and Zhang Sheng comforted him, saying...

"Patience may be the only way out,"

Meng Liang finally learned a harsh lesson from reality. One person can't turn a WeChat public account into Amazon or Alibaba, nor JD.com or Tmall. Even Kelihua's e-commerce website is miles away. None of his friends told him the truth; he was out of his mind. And seriously so. How could he possibly succeed? He didn't even consider that this so-called public account platform was inferior to online lending apps. At least a top-tier internet finance company needs over 100 programmers to create a flawless online financial app. Meng Liang was now utterly desperate!

"But patience and waiting also require funding and money, otherwise we cannot continue the next stage of development. If we do continue, we will have to continue hiring programmers, which requires a large sum of money."

How much capital do you need to invest?

"It's around 200 million. You're quite familiar with those internet finance companies, why don't you ask if they're interested?"

Zhang Sheng almost burst out laughing. Meng Liang was dreaming of over two million in venture capital. He had absolutely no understanding or concept of two million. A large villa near Beijing cost less than two million. He treated venture capital firms like fools. Two million could fund an internet finance microloan company serving at least two thousand clients with virtually no risk. Meng Liang's shell project might get ten or twenty thousand, but the venture capitalists wouldn't even look at it before rejecting it! Any more than that would be considered fraud. And that was overestimating the value of Meng Liang's public account. Any ordinary person with two million could buy a villa near Beijing and retire there. Meng Liang's real intentions weren't what they seemed, understood? Now he'd gone mad. He couldn't help but go mad for love. Everything was to fool his young girlfriend. Ah, the girl was too naive. The so-called WeChat public account app was a complete waste of time, generating no value whatsoever. The girl herself was the prey. Meng Liang knew he couldn't fill this bubble of love. Zhang Sheng was practically shouting, "Don't invest! It's completely useless! Even wasting your time is fine!" Don't let all the money go down the drain, I can only say

"Nobody's interested in these kinds of projects anymore; everyone's only interested in money."

"What's the point of saying all this? What I want is an investment of 200 million."

Honestly, Zhang Sheng wanted to laugh. Meng Liang was definitely either mentally ill, insane, or just daydreaming. Nobody had invested a single penny in him. Rather than saying the 200 million investment was just a self-amusing slogan, it was more accurate to say it was all a deception. His girlfriend, who was eavesdropping in a room, continued to offer the love and affection the old man craved. Meng Liang was more mature than Lao Gou; the girl hadn't realized she was being emotionally manipulated by a penniless, boastful old man. It was a game of taking advantage of the situation. Everyone in this world wants something for nothing. In the past, the stock market could create miracles, the internet could create miracles, and countless other industries could create miracles.

While everyone was enthusiastically discussing making money, the crucial point was that Meng Liang hadn't realized that all the opportunities and profit-making opportunities were over. All that awaited him was a harsh winter—an economic winter, to exaggerate a bit. He was like Xiang Yu, boasting to a beautiful woman to secure a few more months of free love and romance. Love used to cost a fortune; now it was free, just empty words and boasting. Money was becoming increasingly difficult to earn, increasingly difficult to manage, and love was becoming increasingly difficult to find. He had exhausted all his deception skills to win over a naked lamb. Like a drowning person crying for help, Zhang Sheng understood Meng Liang's danger, but she had to maintain a dangerous distance. However, Meng Liang's eyes shone brightly. Despite the combined pressure from bank credit card collectors and online loan collectors, he didn't collapse! He happened to meet Zhang Sheng, and Meng Liang remembered the gift his cousin from the Paris Chinese restaurant—two bottles of Port wine and a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes—and presented them to Zhang Sheng with deep affection.

"Why is this so embarrassing?"

Meng Liang said that the items in the duty-free shop were cheaper than in China, but not expensive either. A bottle of wine was only one or two hundred yuan, and Zhonghua cigarettes were also inexpensive, around one or two hundred yuan.

"That's great, Meng Liang,"

"Please see if any other companies are interested."

Then he started criticizing Song Yu for being heartless and helpless, using Da D's micro-movie for free, and using his supreme soul for free. In the end, Song Yu became a rich man. Zhang Sheng could only say that Song Yu was forced to join the Liangshan bandits, and that he had to pledge his allegiance. Who would have thought that he would be able to enter the world as if it were his own territory, and that the Internet finance business would not be affected in any way. What is more effective than anything else? Major five-star hotels held press conferences and invited many business leaders to speak, which was much more effective and cost almost nothing. There are too many unemployed people in China's rural areas, towns, and villages. When people are poor, they have to be extremely hardworking, so the execution efficiency and results are top-notch. Actually, it's not good for Meng Liang to always wait for a windfall. But Zhang Sheng also found out that Song Yu was traveling like a nouveau riche in Jakarta, Indonesia; Pattaya, Thailand; Seoul, South Korea; Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan; and even Papua New Guinea. He also took his girlfriend's parents and his nephew. The father was quite wise; if he didn't participate, they could make a movie about a family trip. When they weren't satisfied, they suggested going to Iwo Jima, Saipan, and Hawaii. They originally wanted to go, but then they thought it best to go back to China. His sister and brother-in-law were also angry with Song Yu. His sister and brother-in-law, who worked in their hometown, were not doing well financially and hoped that Song Yu would sponsor their nephew. Song Yu refused. He was fine with eating, drinking, and having fun, but not with money, because buying a house in Beijing and paying off the mortgage would be a huge sum of money, something Zhang Sheng didn't know.

Friendship is worth less than a feather compared to a girlfriend. This was true of Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, King Zhou of Shang, and King You of Zhou. The Zuo Zhuan and the Spring and Autumn Annals record how many kings and generals weren't like this. Zhu Yuanzhang was even worse. The Tang and Song emperors were slightly less so; even Emperor Taizong of Tang had Wu Zetian. Let alone the Qing emperors, they were all infatuated with love. This is what Confucius finally understood—using rites to regulate the family. A trip to the Forbidden City reveals the strict rules of the front and back courtyards. The Qing dynasty strictly prevented women from interfering in politics, yet in the end, there was still Consort Lan, who lost her way to Emperor Xianfeng. Men are naturally inclined to value women over friendship. Bai Juyi saw through Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, a romantic and pleasure-seeking emperor who valued women over parting. The man who truly understood friendship was Yuan Zhen. Even Bai Juyi's playful encounters with courtesans like Fan Susu and Cui Yingying couldn't sever his brotherly bond.

Now, thinking back on Meng Liang's free "soul," it's not even worth a hair on his girlfriend's head. We have to believe his instincts and the root of his anger; friendship is as light as a feather. Zhang Sheng hopes Meng Liang will come out of his daydreams and explain the logic of money to him step by step. No matter what economic crisis or recession occurs, those close to money are always the easiest to make money. Back when Zhongguancun's chip and semiconductor industry was monopolized, as long as you rented a counter and worked hard, you were guaranteed to make money. Counting money every day, you were bound to profit. The rule-makers in the banking game—bankers never lose their principal, it's just a matter of how much they earn. Banks with high risks don't actively manage the market. Various financial securities investment companies, no matter what, follow the same patterns as Wall Street. Stock market bubbles—why can money in the stock market evaporate without a trace? It doesn't follow the law of conservation of energy; that's the beauty of the stock market. Zhang Sheng hoped he would wake up. He absurdly thought that if venture capitalists invested 2 million yuan in him, then venture capital would cease to exist. This was a problem of his personal perception, a problem even more serious than money evaporating in the stock market. Everything he did was merely a way to find a few people to die with him before falling into hell. Zhang Sheng understood that he was beyond redemption. There were people making money through underground banks, people making money by building underground printing presses like the drug addicts, people making money by developing apps to cash out, people making money by issuing false invoices, people making money through illegal fundraising, people making money through pyramid schemes—all of these were illegal black and gray industry chains. There were also people making money through contract fraud and service extortion. Which of these was a thousand times more technologically advanced and valuable than his immature little platform? What face did the black and gray industry chain have left? It wasn't even as valuable as a public account. Meng Liang was merely in sync with Gandhi's spirit of irresistible movement. Not contacting Song Yu and rejecting all of Song Yu's advances filled Zhang Sheng with regret, yet he feared losing this old friend. Zhang Sheng could truly see that Meng Liang's obsession with Song Yu ran deep; Song Yu wouldn't easily abandon him. He also mentioned that Song Yu hadn't given him a single penny—understand? Having used his soul for so many years, Zhang Sheng understood. Even friendships were still intertwined with self-interest; this was an unsolvable stagnation. The stock market bubble was a philosophical problem, a continuous expansion of market capitalization like the universe itself, an infinite expansion that would eventually lead to its collapse. Like Japan's real estate bubble, the stock market bubble would eventually burst, causing an economic crisis. In fact, friendship, like a bubble, would eventually burst. A bubble has a dual meaning: it represents the irrational prosperity of the financial economy, and the ephemeral nature of all things.

"Doesn't a bubble still represent money?"

"The scary thing about bubbles is that if you invest 3000 million in the stock market, 2000 million will evaporate. Where did the money go?"

"Someone else took it."

"No one is making money; that's the real stock market bubble. A truly impressive display of wealth—money disappears without a trace. Creating nothing from nothing, whether it's gone or evaporated, whether it's there or not, it's a matter of change. Companies are always focused on making profits, and those who prioritize profits will soon go bankrupt. What about strategic innovation?"