Chapter 20: Expanding Revenue Streams, Capital Surpasses Three Hundred Million

A few seconds later, Yan Fei gradually regained his composure, his panicked state of mind settling. He reviewed the various indicators once more and spent half an hour calculating with pen and paper. He ultimately determined that the rebar futures market was certain to fall, reaching at least the 3900 level.

Looking at this conclusion on the paper, Yan Fei let out a heavy sigh of relief. His mood finally calmed completely, and he no longer dwelled on the loss of over ten million. He switched his computer screen to the Shanghai copper futures 0912 contract.

Observing today’s closing price of 47,590 yuan per ton, a low of 46,580 yuan per ton, and a daily trading volume of 199.76 billion yuan, Yan Fei suddenly realized that his floor price set at 46,700 yuan per ton had been breached. All 4,820 of his long positions had been filled, and he was actually sitting on a floating profit of 21.449 million yuan—a completely unexpected joy.

This result made Yan Fei even more certain that Shanghai copper futures would continue to rise tomorrow. He closed the copper futures market and switched the page to the CSI 300 Index. Seeing today’s closing at 3144.39, an increase of 4.31% for the day, he noted it was a significant surge—beyond his expectations, but a positive development.

After studying the data for over an hour, he noted that from a capital perspective, the total daily trading volume was 107.6 billion yuan, slightly higher than yesterday’s 104.3 billion despite the sharp decline. However, the rise was not as large as yesterday’s drop, indicating that pressure from the bears remained heavy but was relatively limited. Tomorrow, it would certainly rise significantly, by at least two percentage points.

Having reached a rough judgment, Yan Fei turned off the computer. Seeing that it was already dark and feeling hungry, he went downstairs to grab a meal. Returning to his rented room, he prepared to continue reading financial books to expand his knowledge.

His phone, which he had left to the side, began to ring. After picking it up, he heard the voice of a real estate agent, Xiao Li: "Mr. Yan, a one-bedroom, one-living room apartment has just become available for rent at Xiangmi Lake No. 1. It’s about sixty square meters. The monthly rent is eight thousand. When would you be free for me to take you to see it?"

After a moment of thought, Yan Fei replied in a deep voice, "The day after tomorrow morning—Saturday—around ten o'clock. We’ll meet at Xiangmi Lake No. 1."

Once they had agreed, Yan Fei hung up and went back to his studies. Time slipped by until late at night, when he finally put down his book and went to sleep.

The next day, after finishing breakfast, Yan Fei opened the rebar futures 0912 contract market early to monitor the call auction. Soon, 8:55 AM arrived, and the call auction began.

In an instant, a long order of 5,000 lots surged through, pushing the price to 4235—an 18-yuan increase compared to yesterday’s settlement price of 4217.

This long order was like a trumpet blast, signaling an offensive. Countless long orders rushed in, continuously driving the price higher while volume surged. By 8:59 AM, over ten thousand long lots had appeared on the board, and the price had been pushed to 4245.

The period from 8:59 AM to 9:00 AM was the matching session. Yan Fei estimated that these ten thousand-plus long lots would likely all be filled, with the day's call auction volume expected to be around 500 million.

For rebar futures, this volume was significant. Anticipating that the rebar futures 0912 contract would definitely surge today, Yan Fei wore a bitter smile as he pondered whether he should cut his losses.

As predicted, after the market opened, the rebar futures 0912 contract launched a fierce offensive. Long orders flew out like snowflakes, rapidly driving up the price of rebar futures.

Watching the market, Yan Fei felt there would likely be a small rebound, but it wouldn't be very high, and it would likely only last two or three trading days. With his 10% margin, he wouldn't face a liquidation, but for the sake of safety, he needed to increase his margin ratio.

Dear readers, you read that correctly. After careful thought, Yan Fei did not intend to cut his losses. There were three reasons: first, yesterday’s settlement price of 4217 was no different from his average cost basis of 4220; thanks to the significantly lower settlement price, his paper loss from yesterday had been wiped out. Second, Yan Fei remained firmly convinced that the rebar futures 0912 contract would continue to fall sharply in the long run. Third, the trading volume of rebar futures was too small—with daily volume around ten billion, it would be unrealistic to quickly exit a position worth a billion.

After watching the market for twenty minutes, the price of the rebar futures 0912 contract had climbed to 4350. Yan Fei was now sitting on a floating loss of 30.8 million, yet there was not the slightest change in his expression, and his heart remained completely calm.

With a click of his mouse, Yan Fei switched the page to the Shanghai copper futures 0912 contract. The opening price was 46,890, and the trend was a low opening followed by a rise. After peaking at 47,350, it began to slide, currently resting at 46,860.

This opening gave Yan Fei a heavy blow. In less than half an hour, the trading volume for the Shanghai copper futures 0912 contract had reached over 50 billion, which was a decrease compared to yesterday, providing Yan Fei with some consolation.

Glancing at yesterday’s settlement price of 47,260 and calculating the market data, Yan Fei felt much more at ease. His average long entry price was 46,700, meaning he was still in a state of floating profit. Moreover, the Shanghai copper futures 0912 contract was clearly seeing shrinking volume on the decline today, and the extent of the drop would likely be limited. In other words, even if it closed lower today, his account might still be in profit.

***

With a firm grasp of the situation, Yan Fei switched the page to the CSI 300 Index. It had opened at 3135.37, slightly down from yesterday, but it was immediately pulled up after the opening, currently standing at 3145.56.

Seeing the CSI 300 Index finally in the green, accompanied by rising volume, a smile appeared on Yan Fei’s face. Today was certain to be a day of volume-backed growth, with a rise of at least two percentage points.

The market trend unfolded just as Yan Fei had predicted. Fueled by massive amounts of capital, the bulls went wild on this final delivery day, pulling the CSI 300 Index up aggressively. In less than ten minutes, the index had reached 3180.52, an increase of over 1%.

The rapid trend demonstrated the strength of the bulls. By 10:00 AM, the CSI 300 Index had crossed the 3200-point mark, but Yan Fei noticed that the upward trend was beginning to slow down sharply.

Staring at the screen, Yan Fei quickly calculated the market data in his head, his expression becoming increasingly serious. A few minutes later, looking at the CSI 300 Index standing at 3215.58, he felt a sense that the peak had been reached, and his calculations confirmed this suspicion.

Without any hesitation, Yan Fei closed his five hundred long contracts at the market price. In an instant, all five hundred long contracts were sold, but the CSI 300 Index was also knocked down, stabilizing at 3205.68.

Yan Fei’s order caused the CSI 300 market to go quiet for a second, before a hundred-lot long order surged out, pulling the index back to 3206.48 and halting the downward trend.

After closing his positions, Yan Fei closed the CSI 300 Index page, as today was the delivery day and there was no need to open new positions. Opening his account, he saw that this exit had yielded a profit of 31.18 million. Combined with his initial capital of 67.53 million, his total account balance had reached 98.71 million.

Smiling confidently, Yan Fei opened the page for ST Dongyuan, which he had bought two weeks ago, intending to check on the stock. The reason he hadn't looked at it for so long was that the principal of 100,000 was too small; for Yan Fei, who was now dealing with gains and losses of tens of millions, it wasn't worth his attention.

The ST Dongyuan chart was still showing a locked-limit board, having now hit eleven consecutive limit-up days. Looking at the volume, Yan Fei felt the limit-up trend would continue, likely for at least five more days. He decided to check again next Friday; if it opened, he would clear his position.

Having handled these matters, Yan Fei felt a bit bored. He opened the Tianya Forum, which he hadn't visited for days, and updated his post, immediately attracting a wave of praise from netizens.

After playing around for a while, Yan Fei shut down his computer and went downstairs alone, intending to take a walk along the Qinglan River to think about his future path and explore other good investment directions.

Walking along the Qinglan River, Yan Fei watched the quietly flowing water and thought of the mobile communication and social software that had yet to emerge. An urge to develop such a product began to spread in his heart.

If he held such social software in his hands, he would control a future gateway for traffic, which would be an extremely sharp sword for his business empire—a tool to protect him and ensure his success in everything he did.

He decided to act on the thought. Yan Fei turned back to his rented room, opened his computer, and began searching for headhunter numbers. He made a call, and the voice of a middle-aged man replied: "Hello, I am Zhang Song, a headhunter from Liepin. How can I serve you?"

Yan Fei began, "I am looking for two senior executives in the social networking field. It would be best if you could poach them from Tencent. What kind of price would that require?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Song said in a deep voice, "Sir, the pillar of Tencent’s empire is social communication. Although it is currently in a bottleneck period, the annual salary for senior executives at the QQ business group is basically over ten million, plus corresponding stock options. It is very difficult to poach them, and the cost is very high—the annual salary would likely need to double, and the stock options would certainly be significant."

After chatting for a while, Yan Fei decided to go to the Liepin office to discuss the situation with Zhang Song in person. He hailed a taxi and soon arrived at a building in the Technology Park, where he found the Liepin office.

In the conference room, Zhang Song discussed the situation in the social communication field and earnestly advised, "Mr. Yan, social communication is Tencent’s domain. Any company that dares to enter this field will surely suffer severe blows from Tencent. If you want to do social communication, I suggest you don't poach people from Tencent, so as not to attract their attention."

Yan Fei listened to Zhang Song’s words and felt there was some truth to them. He said in a deep voice, "The talent in the social communication field is basically all at Tencent. If we don't poach from Tencent, where can we find people?"

Zhang Song smiled and said, "Social communication technology is simple, the barrier to entry is very low, the capital requirement is high, and the logic is clear and simple. We don't need so-called 'professionals.' Finding talent with experience in similar service sectors can produce similar results at a lower capital cost."

***

After more than an hour of discussion, Yan Fei agreed with Zhang Song’s suggestion. He signed a consulting agreement, paid a deposit of thirty thousand yuan, and commissioned Liepin to find a qualified project lead.

Back home, Yan Fei thought carefully. There were two directions in the mobile social field: one was acquaintance-based social networking, and the other was stranger-based social networking. Compared to the market, stranger-based social networking was much smaller.

He planned to leave the acquaintance-based social networking to the person he hired, while he would set up his own company to handle the stranger-based side. Having made up his mind, Yan Fei immediately searched online for an industrial and commercial service agency to handle the registration of his company.

The next day, Saturday, Yan Fei got up, ate breakfast, and took a taxi to Xiangmi Lake No. 1. After getting out, he saw a young man in a suit. He waved, and after the young man ran over, he asked, "Are you Xiao Li?"

The young man immediately replied, "Yes, are you Mr. Yan? Please follow me, I’ll take you to see the apartment."

The two soon arrived at the residential complex. Yan Fei looked at the green trees and flower beds and felt the environment was indeed very good. It was no wonder it was a famous high-end residential area in Shen'an City. They took the elevator up, and after viewing the apartment, Yan Fei was very satisfied.

Having finalized the lease, Yan Fei immediately packed his things from his current place, returned the apartment, successfully received his deposit, and moved into Xiangmi Lake No. 1.

The next day, Yan Fei stayed home to tidy up the apartment. In the afternoon, he received a call from the commercial agency saying they had found the office space he needed and asked him to come and take a look.

An hour later, Yan Fei stood in the CEO’s office on the 18th floor of the Galaxy International Building, looking down at the bustling traffic below. A strong sense of ambition surged from the bottom of his heart.

Turning to the property manager and the head of the commercial agency, Yan Fei said with a smile, "This floor. I’ll rent it. Give me the lowest possible price, and if it’s suitable, I can sign the contract today."

The property manager laughed and said, "Mr. Yan, this is the prime floor of our Galaxy International Building. It’s three thousand square meters in total. I can give you a minimum of 160 per square meter, including property management and water fees. You only need to pay the rent and electricity monthly. We only require a three-month deposit."

Before coming, Yan Fei had checked the rental prices for the Galaxy International Building, which were generally in the 120–180 range. 160 for a prime floor was reasonable; the previous tenant was said to have paid 180, but under the current financial crisis, rents had dropped significantly.

After a moment of contemplation, Yan Fei said in a deep voice, "150, a three-year lease, with a two-month deposit. If that works, we sign the contract now. If not, I’ll look elsewhere."

The property manager began to complain, but seeing Yan Fei’s firm expression, he could only lower his voice and say, "Mr. Yan, please wait a moment, I need to consult with the General Manager."

Before long, a pot-bellied middle-aged man walked in, beaming with smiles. He shook Yan Fei’s hand and said, "I am Fang Dazhuang, General Manager of the Galaxy International Building property management. Hello, Mr. Yan. Manager Liu told me about your requirements. In principle, there is no problem. We will give you two months of decoration time. What do you think?"

Looking at the expectant Fang Dazhuang, Yan Fei smiled and said, "It’s a deal. I hope we have a pleasant cooperation."

Everyone present felt their tension instantly vanish. They happily went to the property office and quickly signed the lease contract, agreeing that once the company was established, the payment would be made from the company’s account.