Time flew by, and February was gone in the blink of an eye, ushering in March.
During this period, Qin Chuan had been shuttling between the capital city and Dragon City. Whenever he was in the capital, he would visit Teacher Yang at her workplace. After she got off work, they would hold hands and explore the streets, parks, and scenic spots of the capital.
In this atmosphere, their once almost shattered relationship gradually mended, becoming more harmonious, as if returning to the past.
Besides this, Qin Chuan had been closely monitoring international news. If he remembered correctly, the dot-com bubble was about to burst this March.
He couldn't recall the exact date, but it would arrive soon.
To prepare for this, Qin Chuan specially opened an international account. With his current connections and status, a simple account was not a problem at all.
In addition, Qin Chuan, in his personal capacity, borrowed sixty million yuan from several banks.
Yes, sixty million, you read that right!
Adding his own capital, it amounted to a staggering one hundred million yuan!
Originally, Qin Chuan had planned to use his earned forty million yuan to profit from this internet bubble. However, one event made him change his mind.
That event was the repair of his relationship with Yang Zimo!
Although he knew Yang Zimo was not someone who valued money, it couldn't be denied that the sudden emergence of the Xiaomi factory played a significant role.
With the explosive growth of the Xiaomi factory, Qin Chuan's fame soared, and his status and influence underwent a qualitative transformation.
As a senior figure surnamed Huang in later generations once said, "When you achieve success, everyone around you is a good person."
Qin Chuan deeply understood this sentiment.
Before the Xiaomi factory's success, if people had known he had a girlfriend as exceptional as Yang Zimo and yet still pursued other women, he would have been thoroughly condemned.
His achievements at the time were insignificant in the circles of the truly powerful and influential.
But ever since the Xiaomi factory's success, everything changed.
An Nuo and Fang Rumei spoke favorably of him, many second-generation rich individuals began to actively associate with him, and even his proud mother-in-law's attitude towards him underwent a significant change.
The reason behind all this could be summarized in one word: money!
Indeed, the charm of wealth was all-encompassing, capable of changing things that ordinary people couldn't imagine.
Now, Qin Chuan had only one goal – to make money!
He wanted to earn a lot of money, and perhaps only then could he achieve his objectives.
And this time, the internet bubble was the most convenient and fastest way to accumulate wealth.
Simultaneously, to enhance his reputation and future influence, Qin Chuan even boldly declared his next moneymaking plan in a public press conference: the internet.
However, he wouldn't be starting a company or investing in any existing ones. Instead, he planned to short the market.
He believed that the current development of the internet was too frenzied, far exceeding its intrinsic P/E ratio, and the bubble was immensely inflated. He advised everyone planning to enter the internet industry to stop immediately, or they would suffer a terrible fate.
As soon as the news broke, Qin Chuan's words caused an uproar online.
After all, from the latter half of 1997 to the present, not only China but the entire world's internet was developing at an astonishing pace. Countless people had sold all their possessions to enter this field, just to get a piece of the pie.
IT programmers saw their net worth skyrocket, their annual salaries more than quadrupling, making them sought-after assets. Those with even minor recognition could command salaries of hundreds of thousands or even millions.
Everyone believed that the internet was the next industrial revolution, the future direction of development. How could it possibly have a bubble after only seven or eight years of development? It was preposterous.
Some internet tycoons even publicly called Qin Chuan a sensationalist. They argued that as someone involved in new media and electronics, what did he know about the internet? He should just go back to making his electronic products.
Others believed this was merely a marketing ploy by Qin Chuan, a way to attract attention and promote his own products.
As a result, even the Xiaomi factory suffered significant backlash. Many people online began to criticize it, and some even formed groups vowing never to buy any Xiaomi products again.
The "Mi Fan Home" forum, recently created under Qin Chuan's instruction, was subjected to malicious hacker attacks, causing the forum to crash and erupting in abuse.
Even people who knew Qin Chuan found his statements perplexing.
Could it be that Qin Chuan was truly preparing to use a large sum of capital to short the internet?
After all, the stock market and futures trading were incredibly deep waters. Even with immense wealth, a single misstep could lead to financial ruin.
Yang Zimo even rushed to persuade Qin Chuan not to enter the stock market, deeming it too perilous.
His elder brother Qin Yang, second brother Qin Gang, Fang Rumei, An Nuo, Ye Meiyun, and many others also came to dissuade him.
Only his elder brother-in-law, Yang Conglong, and Huang Qi, stood firmly by Qin Chuan's side.
They were prepared to join Qin Chuan in shorting the internet.
In light of this, the incident of Qin Chuan shorting the Hang Seng Index in '97 and making a substantial profit of thirty million yuan was revealed.
Qin Chuan had strongly requested Yang Conglong to keep this matter confidential. Huang Qi was the only other person privy to it, and he was immensely envious afterward. When the news broke, it caused quite a stir within their small circle.
Thirty million yuan was no small sum; many people had never even seen such an amount in their lifetime.
Although twenty million of it belonged to Yang Conglong, and Qin Chuan only earned ten million, according to Yang Conglong, all the operations were directed by Qin Chuan, with minimal involvement from himself.
After the incident was exposed, many people looked at Qin Chuan with newfound respect.
"It's impressive enough that he's good at business, but is he also a reincarnation of a stock market guru? Is he even human?"
Yang Conglong also became a target of criticism. How could he keep such a significant event a secret until now, essentially excluding his friends?
Later, somehow, the news reached the ears of his future father-in-law and mother-in-law. Yang Jingye and Chu Xiuying learned that Qin Chuan had made their son a fortune of twenty million back in '97. They personally sought out Qin Chuan for a discussion.
No one knew the specifics of their conversation, but by the time they parted ways, Yang Jingye and Chu Xiuying treated Qin Chuan with remarkable warmth, as if they had already accepted him as their son-in-law.
Amidst the great excitement both online and offline, the Federal Reserve released a crucial announcement: an interest rate hike!
As is widely known, the biggest bearish indicator for the stock market is an interest rate hike; it can deliver a devastating blow.
This time, the Federal Reserve declared its intention to raise interest rates to the level of 19995, employing a swift and decisive approach.
Concurrently, the renowned financial magazine "Barron's" published an article exposing the current state of the internet industry.
Over seventy percent of internet companies were operating at a loss, existing as mere shells with impressive exteriors but rotten interiors.
Even the most famous internet giant, Amazon, had a cash flow that could only sustain it for approximately ten months. The exposure of these two pieces of news dealt a severe blow to the stock market.
At this time, the Nasdaq index reached its peak of 5048 on March 10th.
In a large trading room of a securities company in the capital city, many people were gathered.
Qin Chuan, Yang Conglong, and Huang Qi were present. In addition, Ye Huai'an, Zhong Dongyao, and a group of second-generation rich individuals from Dragon City were there. Teacher Yang, Yang Zimo, had also come.
Ever since they learned that Qin Chuan was going to start trading stocks, all these individuals had come to join the excitement.
"Starting from today, our funds will be gradually deployed to begin shorting the Nasdaq!"
Looking at the Nasdaq at its highest point, Qin Chuan issued the command.
His handsome and heroic face was calm and wise, and a fierce ambition blazed in his dark eyes.