Chapter 1 The Start

It was a little past six in the evening, and still light out.

Su Yehao arrived at a Sichuan restaurant in Mong Kok in his bulletproof Rolls-Royce. He had barely settled into the private room when Miss Zhao arrived.

Even though Zhao Yimeng was the host, Su Yehao casually crossed his legs, picked up the menu, and asked, "Can you handle spicy food? I've been to this restaurant once before, and it was pretty good."

"It's alright, order me a sauerkraut fish. You can order whatever else you want."

As she spoke, Zhao Yimeng handed her black Hermès crocodile skin bag to the waiter to be put away.

She was wearing a pink shirt paired with a short skirt today, and her newly cut short hair made her look refreshed and elegant.

Su Yehao sized her up and clicked his tongue, asking, "Why did you cut your hair short again?"

"What, don't you think it looks good? Do you know how much trouble it is to take care of long hair? Cutting it like this saves me fifteen minutes every day. Besides, long hair is heavy, it makes my neck tired, and it's uncomfortable to sleep with."

"Tsk... short hair suits you quite well. I already ordered the sauerkraut fish. I also got stir-fried pork kidney, shredded beef with chili peppers, jelly noodles, dry-fried green beans, and fuqi feipian (Sichuan dish of sliced beef and offal). Judging by the portions on the other tables, the two of us probably won't be able to finish it."

After Su Yehao finished speaking, Zhao Yimeng said with a smile, "Really? After adding it all up, it's only four or five hundred dollars at most. Would you really be so kind as to tell me the secret to your investments?"

"Expensive or not isn't important, the key is that it tastes good. Let's add a bottle of Coke, a large one, iced."

Su Yehao finished ordering.

After the waiter left, he continued, "My 5s Asset Management company ran into a bit of a problem today. A major client who invested one billion RMB wants to withdraw their funds. After thinking about it, I used investing in casinos as a selling point to stabilize them. How about you join me and try to get a gambling license? It's best to find someone capable to cooperate with, and then diversify the business, not just relying on casinos to make money."

After hearing this, Zhao Yimeng was stunned, unsure whether to laugh or cry. She asked, "Isn't this my own idea? And you keep saying that many projects in the mainland will be very profitable. In the end, you're actually using casinos as a selling point to attract investors?"

"Times have changed. The mainland stock market has plummeted, and I'm worried that the client's withdrawal will be too big of a deal, potentially leading to a run. The investors who were easiest to shake have already left. Those who remain now are worth trying to win over. This concerns the reputation of 5s Asset Management, so it's worth putting some effort into."

Su Yehao shook his head and said, "Also, when did I say that business in the mainland is bad? It's just that a distant water source can't quench an immediate thirst. Short selling isn't allowed in the mainland stock market, and many aspects are still not perfect. Recently, there's a lack of opportunities for investors to make quick money. When it comes to investing, confidence is key. Since the performance of the mainland market can't attract major clients in the short term, I'll just choose an industry they understand. Everyone knows that opening a casino is very profitable. This can help me stabilize billions of RMB in funds and even attract other investors."

After all, 5s Asset Management was still in its early stages and lacked sufficient outstanding performance to support it, so it was no wonder that investors couldn't feel at ease.

Su Yehao still felt that the casino business was just so-so.

However, compared to the internet, mobile terminal devices, semiconductors, and other industries, running a casino was a visible benefit for investors. Using this kind of pie to attract major clients was simple, direct, and effective.

Zhao Yimeng understood what he meant and blinked, asking him, "So, this is actually a second-best choice, and doesn't align with your original ideas? As expected, you treat people differently. You put in so much effort when helping Jiang Yu and the others invest, but you're just perfunctory with me."

"..."

Feeling like something sounded strange, Su Yehao was speechless. He said, "They are my women, and we are together all day long, so naturally there are more opportunities. You only called me this morning. Opportunities can't always be waiting for you, right? Besides, put your hand on your own heart, how many times did I give you advice in the past, and you didn't believe me, yet you're blaming me?"

Knowing that she was in the wrong, Zhao Yimeng acted as if nothing had happened and calmly said, "If you were to choose, what would you advise me to invest in?"

Without even thinking, Su Yehao decisively said, "Internet companies. Buy Apple, Yanwenzi (Emoji), and Amazon stock, and then pretend you never bought them. Take them out again in twenty years. This is the easiest way to invest. My Google isn't bad either, and the same goes for the internet business in the mainland. Unfortunately, I'm not willing to release it for the time being and have no plans to raise funds in the short term."

"...No longer recommending Yahoo?"

"My Google is better than it. Yahoo has already lost its advantage, and if it doesn't transform in the right direction, it will collapse in a few years."

His tone was matter-of-fact.

Among the new internet users added in the past year, about 70% of them chose to become users of the Google search engine. The market share has steadily increased, and advertisers have also started to cooperate with Google. This is the confidence to surpass Yahoo.

It is worth mentioning that Google just launched the "Google Encyclopedia" service in February this year, allowing users to edit it themselves. As of now, it already has more than 30,000 entries.

Su Yehao was used to using Baidu, so how could he not know how important this function was?

Zhao Yimeng nodded and replied, "I understand. So, what about the casino project? What do you think of the prospects?"

"It should be very good... I guess. Based on the size of the gambling industry in the next few years, building a gaming tourism company with a market value of one or two hundred billion shouldn't be a problem. However, acquiring land and building a hotel on the Cotai Strip is also relatively expensive. I heard that the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas plans to invest 20 billion Hong Kong dollars to build a hotel with 3,000 rooms, and they are basically certain to get a gambling license."

After Su Yehao finished speaking, he shrugged and added, "Even elementary school students can calculate that it has a maximum profit of ten times or more, and the annual dividends are still quite high, suitable for collecting rent."

After hearing this sentence, Zhao Yimeng was completely numb.

An industry predicted to have a chance of earning more than ten times the profit was actually disliked by Su Yehao, which made her a little confused. She asked blankly, "What are your expectations for the Yanwenzi Group? One hundred billion US dollars? Two hundred billion US dollars?"

With a cheerful smile, Su Yehao said to her, "I can only say that the current technological development limits your imagination. You might as well guess a little higher. If it maintains its growth trend, five hundred billion US dollars is a guaranteed minimum, and one trillion isn't completely impossible."

Zhao Yimeng didn't believe it. She said, "Wouldn't that be a few dozen or hundreds of times the original? Do you think it's a small company with a market value of ten million? You must be bragging."

Shaking his head, Su Yehao smiled, "I told you, but you don't believe me. This is the difference between you and Jiang Yu and the others. You have too much independent judgment. Sometimes this is indeed your advantage, but perhaps, fools have foolish luck?"

The sentence "fools have foolish luck" made Zhao Yimeng feel heartbroken that she had missed many investment opportunities in previous years.

She hadn't expected that Su Yehao could earn tens of billions of US dollars by spending tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars to buy a program. After deducting the apparent costs, such as the acquisition of iCQ and operating and development costs, there was still a profit of dozens of times. Why not believe that it could rise dozens of times more? Isn't Microsoft, with a market value of hundreds of billions of US dollars, a ready-made example?

Thinking of this, she took a deep breath and smiled, "Then I'll listen to you, buy two hundred million in stock, and use the rest of the money to open a casino with you?"

"How much is left? If I make a move, I'll invest at least one billion US dollars and open the largest shopping mall in the entire casino. Don't blame me for bullying you if you have too little equity then."

Su Yehao's tone was light. He probably only needed to take out two or three hundred million US dollars himself, and the rest could be directly borrowed from the bank. Or, he could directly use Kai Tak Digital Port as collateral through Green Diamond Group and jointly invest with interested Hong Kong real estate developers.

Zhao Yimeng replied, "If I invest in a casino, my dad should lend me some money. It shouldn't be a problem to raise 500 million Hong Kong dollars. I'll just treat it as buying a deposit and wait to eat dividends to support myself..."