That day, he made a killing.

The excitement hadn't even subsided when, the next day, the investment enthusiasm of stockholders and institutions was ignited, and the NASDAQ market continued to rise sharply, a sea of green.

American stocks rose green and fell red. At first, Su Yehao wasn't used to it, but he gradually accepted it.

He officially started contacting iCQ's shareholders.

For three days straight.

Su Yehao met with the people from iCQ twice. They couldn't agree on some price details. The iCQ shareholders not only wanted to get $330 million, but also wanted to keep 20% of the shares, which meant it would be more than $60 million more expensive all at once.

Of course, such an excessive request wouldn't be agreed to.

So, during the second negotiation, Su Yehao offered to add another $5 million, but it had to be a complete acquisition.

iCQ had many shareholders: three co-founders, plus a group of financing shareholders, and even some company executives fanning the flames. It wasn't easy to make a decision.

After the second negotiation, they didn't say yes, nor did they say no. Their ambiguous attitude made Su Yehao very unhappy.

This barely qualified as bad news.

There was good news too.

The original stock holdings, plus the multiple long positions set up to make quick money, earned Su Yehao a paper fortune of more than $120 million in just four days.

The American stock market was large, with many investors. The daily turnover on the NASDAQ was gradually increasing, and there were many speculators who liked to play with options.

Options were a zero-sum game, and the American stock market never lacked counterparties. A group of speculators who viewed Internet companies with traditional value investment concepts always liked to short and badmouth Internet companies on the NASDAQ market. In Su Yehao's opinion, this was clearly going against the trend.

Watching others jump into the fire pit, Su Yehao, who had made a lot of money these past few days, felt... very good about it.

The decisive move of increasing the price to $335 million also carried a bit of a "not short on cash" vibe. Although he could already see some signs of a bubble in the NASDAQ market, it was only just beginning and was still very stable.

So Su Yehao temporarily decided to continue holding for a while, and wasn't in a hurry to cash out and leave.

...

On the fifth day back in Silicon Valley.

Su Yehao received a call from Zhao Yimeng. Her tone was depressed as she told him, "I regret it. You haven't transferred the money to me yet. Can I go back on my word now?"

"Of course... not. But even if I allowed you to go back on your word, can you guarantee that you would continue to trust me? The NASDAQ index has risen sharply for four consecutive days. Aren't you afraid that it will suddenly plummet after the market opens today, and you'll lose everything, including the principal and interest?"

After Su Yehao asked his soul-searching question, he asserted, "Change your mindset. If a businessman isn't ruthless and bold, how can he have the opportunity to make a fortune? What's even more uncomfortable than losing money is actually grabbing an opportunity, but then letting it go because of timidity."

After being lectured by him, Zhao Yimeng replied angrily, "It's none of your business! I hope you lose everything! Also, where's my money?"

"Lend it to me for a few days. How can a dignified young lady of the Zhao family be so petty? I'm in America negotiating a business deal, planning to acquire iCQ. I've already contacted them a few times, but I don't know if it will succeed."

The fact that Su Yehao was negotiating with iCQ had already been released by iCQ.

It was probably to take advantage of this opportunity to reveal the message that "their company is very popular" to the outside world, and try to find other buyers who would offer a higher price.

Zhao Yimeng wasn't afraid that he would default on the debt, but she felt even more depressed after hearing it.

Comparing people was infuriating. Su Yehao used to have bad grades, was ignorant, and was busy playing all day long. But less than a year after leaving high school, his business was thriving and he had become an "excellent entrepreneur" in the eyes of others.

Meanwhile, her old Zhao family was still struggling in the quagmire, affected by the Donghuang Group. The stock price had fallen by about 40% from its high point, and there was no sign of a rebound.

Even the new headquarters that was originally being built was bought by Su's Sihai International Group at a low price.

Every time she met Su Yehao, Zhao Yimeng's pride would shatter into pieces. It was no wonder that she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, wanting to punch him.

Her voice continued to come through, "You can borrow it, but you have to pay interest. I contacted you today because I wanted to ask if your family is interested in hotels. The Donghuang Garden Hotel in Sheung Wan is selling for HK$1 billion."

After listening, Su Yehao was surprised and said, "If I remember correctly, it only opened last August, right? The investment seems to be more than HK$1 billion? It's also one of your family's core assets. After the bank gave your family a loan, you shouldn't be that short of money, right? Why are you selling it?"

"We barely got through the crisis, but the cash flow is still very short. The total cost was HK$1.9 billion, and it's being sold for almost half price."

Zhao Yimeng sighed and continued, "My parents want to transform the business. They talked to your dad once last month and are preparing to continue reducing the debt ratio and start anew with a lighter load. They're likely to try their luck in the mainland. The decision to sell the Donghuang Garden Hotel was only passed in the board of directors today. This hotel is better than the Peninsula Hotel. The Peninsula is too old. My parents originally wanted to use it as my dowry, but I didn't expect it to depreciate so much all of a sudden."

"......Then why would I spend money to buy it? You can just bring it to me when the time comes, right?"

With the little girl not by his side, Su Yehao continued to run wild, letting himself go.

On the other end of the phone.

Zhao Yimeng was too lazy to respond, feeling like salt had been rubbed into her wounds. She said impatiently, "Anyway, please help me ask. The price definitely can't be lower."

The Donghuang Garden Hotel in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, is currently being used by the Donghuang Group as collateral for loans.

With the continued decline in property prices in Hong Kong, the bank has recently proposed additional collateral, otherwise it may withdraw the loan.

The Donghuang Group's partner is HSBC. The British executives at HSBC Bank don't plan to share the fate of Hong Kong companies. If they say they'll withdraw the loan, they really will. That would be another heavy blow to the Donghuang Group, plus the interest isn't small, so it's better to cut their losses themselves.

The Southeast Asian financial crisis hasn't passed yet.

International hot money occasionally makes a comeback, or pretends to scare people, and the stock market and property market both plunge again and again.

The Hong Kong dollar is still strong, but speculators have already obtained the returns they wanted from the Hang Seng Index and bottom-fishing for oversold assets. The Zhao family is also raising funds and constantly increasing its holdings of Donghuang Group shares, for which they have invested HK$700 to 800 million.

Su Yehao went to the Peninsula Hotel for a wedding last time, and he also thought about owning a hotel of his own one day in the future.

With the opportunity suddenly in front of him, Su Yehao thought that if he paid HK$300 to 400 million out of his own pocket and borrowed the rest of the funds from the bank, it seemed pretty good. It would be suitable as a core asset, serving as a backup plan.

Compared to the high point last year, property prices in Hong Kong have almost halved. After the bubble evaporated, asset prices have not only become reasonable, but also show signs of being oversold.

Unlike acquiring iCQ, the bank is very willing to provide funds for transactions like buying a hotel, so getting a loan shouldn't be a problem.

After a brief struggle, Su Yehao found that he really wanted it. He knew rationally that the appreciation potential wasn't that great, but his intuition was telling him that owning a super-luxury five-star hotel would be very cool.

He hadn't made up his mind yet when Adrian from McKinsey came to him again.

Somewhat surprisingly, America Online was quiet and didn't seem to be following up, still insisting on a price of $320 million.

After a brief analysis, Su Yehao guessed the problem.

It was likely that those guys didn't have a positive outlook on his development after acquiring iCQ. Now that the trouble had been "settled," there was no need to spend more money to acquire a peer company that was of no use at all...