Chapter 1 The Launch

Yanwenzi Group was listed on the stock market.

Even on the U.S. Securities Exchange, it attracted a lot of attention, not to mention in Hong Kong.

On the morning of the listing day, U.S. time, *The Wall Street Journal* featured Yanwenzi Group's listing on the front page, accompanied by the image "?o(*≧▽≦)ツ".

This was also the Group's newly announced corporate logo, featuring a rectangular red background with white lettering.

The headline of the article read, "Welcome to Another Internet Social Stock Option Besides America Online."

Although this title made the roadshow team collectively curse, not understanding why America Online was benefiting from Yanwenzi Group's listing, considering America Online's current market value had exceeded $68 billion, it could barely be considered a shot in the arm for potential investors, providing a point of reference.

America Online's main business isn't just AoL chat rooms, but recently the internet has been so hot that its communications services business has been overlooked.

On this morning, Hong Kong time, NASDAQ had already closed. Numerous morning newspapers in Hong Kong, mainland China, Casino, and other places prominently published the good news of Yanwenzi Group's soaring stock price on its first day of trading, either on the front page or in the financial section.

Most of the accompanying photos were of Su Yehao.

Even some second-rate gossip tabloids used eye-catching headlines, such as "Hong Kong's Richest Man Candidate No. 1! A Thorough Expose of Su Yehao's rags to riches Black History!!" and "Shocking! Young Master Hao's Net Worth Reaches 80 Billion Hong Kong Dollars Overnight!?"

Despite the exaggerated headlines, this trick had been used for many years and was still very effective. Many newsstands saw a surge in sales today.

With Yanwenzi Group's initial market value nearly $6 billion, Su Yehao, as the major shareholder, held a staggering 78.6% stake, according to publicly disclosed data.

This news was like a depth charge, spreading like wildfire to thousands of households. Even those who hadn't known much about Su Yehao before today couldn't help but marvel at Su Yehao's… wealth.

The president of Hong Kong University was now planning to invite Su Yehao back to give a speech. Even though he was technically still a student and frequently skipped classes, with his net worth skyrocketing like this, who cared about those trivial matters?

Leaving aside other considerations, a group of professors and deans had been hired by Su Yehao as consultants. Who would dare say they were qualified to teach him how to manage a company?

In a small building near Hong Kong University, Baoya Jun shook He Shaofan and Zhugan awake. The three of them almost knelt down to read the newspaper, muttering things like "good brothers for life" and "blood is thicker than water."

In the Mid-Levels' Shangfeng Shangshui community, Master Jiang was eating breakfast, shaking his newspaper. He had already carefully read the news about Yanwenzi Group's listing two or three times, occasionally glancing sideways at Jiang Yu… the more he looked, the more he felt she was priceless.

The thought of Su Yehao's total net worth possibly reaching the twelve-figure threshold, turning his daughter into a "trillion-dollar daughter-in-law," made Master Jiang feel particularly good about himself, and he began planning to take time to look at new cars.

Su Yehao was usually quite low-key, the kind of person who was famous but rarely spoke out in public.

Today's news was like blowing this big fish out of the water, making many people suddenly realize that no wonder he was named one of Hong Kong's Top Ten Wealthiest People last year.

Across the river from Hong Kong, in mainland China, they also dug up Su Yehao's participation in celebratory choruses, donations to schools, and disaster relief funds. Using Yanwenzi Group, they wrote articles around companies represented by tAt, tot, and Yinhai Network Group, elaborating on the necessity of vigorously developing the internet.

Compared to Hong Kong and mainland China, Casino, as the Su family's base, was even more exaggerated.

After obtaining Su Laodie's (Old Su) consent, a vice president of Four Seas International didn't hesitate to make many banners and hang them in the Four Seas International Hotel, Golf Club, Central Plaza, and headquarters building, among other places.

And in order to celebrate, they quickly formulated a promotional plan, giving off an atmosphere of universal celebration.

Wealth and glory should be shared with one's hometown, otherwise, it's like wearing brocade at night.

Su Laodie did legitimate business and loved to show off all his life. Of course, he didn't want to miss the opportunity to make a high-profile appearance when he encountered such a great event.

Therefore, without even asking Su Yehao's opinion, he had already helped arrange it.

Yin Liuli, who had recently started helping out with the family's charitable trust fund, had of course already received the news. She had sent Su Yehao a message at night, and received a reply saying to wait for him to come back for a celebratory dinner.

The fund's headquarters was in an office building under Four Seas International. The directors in charge of managing these assets had long investigated Yin Liuli's background. After hearing some rumors, they treated her with great respect on weekdays.

Naturally, Yin Liuli's new job was particularly easy, and she was even equipped with a secretary and an assistant...

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This was only 1999.

Compared to the top internet moguls, Su Yehao's net worth of seven or eight billion U.S. dollars still had a certain gap.

However, converted into Hong Kong dollars, it seemed very scary in Hong Kong, not to mention in mainland China.

It was only natural that it caused a sensation.

On the contrary, Su Yehao himself, sitting on the plane back to Hong Kong, holding Nong Qingying's small hand and listening to music, was steady as an old dog inside.

Perhaps because he had already guessed the outcome of the listing, the first-day increase of 29.5% was only considered satisfactory and did not exceed the expectations of the four market makers, so Su Yehao was not so surprised.

The listing process was also not exciting enough, just hammering a gong and then standing there awkwardly making a thumbs-up gesture, letting the media reporters take pictures.

Others worked hard to start a business, went through all kinds of hardships, and exhausted countless brain cells, while Su Yehao, as a hands-off shopkeeper, put in extraordinarily little effort, so naturally it was difficult to have too much satisfaction in return.

Moreover, he had known for a long time that almost two-thirds of the $6 billion market value was water in a sponge, and it was estimated that it would be squeezed out in a year or so, and it would be lucky if $2 billion could be saved.

As a result, sensibility told Su Yehao that he was already very rich, but reason was frantically saying that he could only enjoy it for a while, so the sense of joy was reduced.

The only thing really worth being happy about was probably the fact that the company had more than one billion U.S. dollars on its books, successfully reaping a fortune from others. If he was careful, he estimated that plus the company's revenue, it could last for a few years without having to continue personally injecting funds.

Overall, it could be considered that he hadn't wasted his time and made a fortune.

As the plane gradually descended, Nong Qingying could now see Lantau Island under the cover of night. Only then did she remember something and complained, "It's all your fault for being so eager to come back. I originally wanted to study the New York market and see if I could get SK2 to open a store there."

"Did you not have enough fun playing in France for a few days? Let's take the Asian market first, and I'll take you there next time when I have time."

After dozing off, Su Yehao stretched and yawned after speaking. Long-distance flights were the most tiring, and he was finally about to land.

Nong Qingying continued, "I'm going straight home to see my parents later. If you have time, how about having a meal with them? When I called, I told them that you caught a great yellow-lipped fish."

After thinking about it, Su Yehao didn't dare to promise, only answering, "I should be very busy this time. Some interviews can't be turned down. I'll try to make time, okay? Don't tell them I'm going first, lest I can't make it. Remember to buy some gifts to give them for me."

"Okay, you go ahead and be busy. They also know you've been very busy lately, and just told me to ask..."

...