Chapter 633: Don't Don't

At night, inside a luxurious bedroom, since the lights weren't turned on and the curtains were drawn, the room appeared dim.

But it wasn't completely dark; one could still faintly see a pair of beautiful almond eyes on the big bed, gazing up at the ceiling as they shifted, as if pondering something.

It was Liu Tianxian. Seeing a company grow from nothing and about to go public, having even taken part in the preparation process, she felt quite excited inside.

It was like watching a child about to come of age.

This feeling was understandable—many entrepreneurs are excited on the eve of their company's IPO.

Like Lei Bus, who excitedly wrote a long essay before Xiaomi went public.

Like the night Alibaba went public—entrepreneurs all across China, as long as they had ambition and ideas, basically didn't sleep that night.

"Are you asleep?" Liu Tianxian turned her head to glance at the man beside her.

"Asleep," Fang Hong said.

"Liar, if you were asleep how could you still talk?" Liu Tianxian said.

"When I was young, I followed my master to practice martial arts and trained the ability to talk in my sleep. My master said this way I could guard against sneak attacks by petty people," Fang Hong spouted nonsense.

"Who are you calling a petty person?" Liu Tianxian turned on her side, grabbed his face, and faced him.

Although the light was dim, one could still faintly make out the other's outline.

"Whoever answers is the petty person," Fang Hong said with his eyes closed.

"Heh, your skin's itching, isn't it?" Liu Tianxian pinched his cheek, looking coquettish.

Fang Hong took her hand, slipped it under the covers, and was about to guide it downward. Opening his eyes, he said suggestively: "It's itching down there, come help me hold it."

"Pah! How can you be such a rogue." Liu Tianxian pulled her hand back and placed it on his chest.

The skin was smooth—she wasn't wearing anything underneath.

"If this counts as being a rogue, then there'd be no lecherous men left in the world, and you women would be the ones panicking," Fang Hong said.

"What would we women be panicking about?" Liu Tianxian said.

"If men aren't lecherous, what would you women do without men? All those pleasure industries would go bankrupt," Fang Hong said.

"You're talking about other people. I wouldn't be like that. Whether you men exist or not, I can live just fine," Liu Tianxian said disdainfully.

"Then why did I hear you screaming so loud?" Fang Hong said with a smile.

"Who was screaming so loud?" Liu Tianxian patted his chest, refusing to admit it.

"Ah ah. Hubby! Ah ah." Fang Hong mimicked her cries, his voice echoing through the quiet bedroom, somewhat comical.

Yet the two of them didn't actually do anything.

"Aiya," Liu Tianxian's face instantly flushed red, and she covered his mouth.

Although his mouth was covered, Fang Hong just kept chuckling "heh heh."

"You bad egg, you're the worst." Liu Tianxian let out a "hmph," turned her body around, and ignored him.

Fang Hong propped himself up and leaned close to her face, smiling: "Tell me, is it better with a hubby, or without one?"

"Better without a hubby," Liu Tianxian said angrily.

"Really?" Fang Hong's hand reached her belly and began tickling her stomach.

"Ah hahaha!" Liu Tianxian couldn't hold back her laughter, laughing so hard she rocked back and forth, her body twisting wildly, even curling up.

She was most afraid of this man tickling her—extremely sensitive. The moment he tickled her, she'd beg for mercy: "Having a hubby is better, having a hubby is better."

"Call out 'hubby don't' and let me hear it," Fang Hong didn't let her off, continuing to tickle her belly.

Liu Tianxian's body twisted, laughing so hard she was "giggle giggle giggle" and out of breath, but with a hint of stubbornness: "I won't!"

"Will you call out or not." Fang Hong increased the intensity, his fingers dancing like playing the piano across her belly and body, tickling away.

This was one of Liu Tianxian's weak spots.

"I'll call, I'll call." Liu Tianxian really couldn't take it and gave in.

Fang Hong stopped his hand: "Go ahead, call!"

"Let me catch my breath." Liu Tianxian kept exhaling, after all that she was a bit short of breath.

After a while, Fang Hong said: "Good enough now, right!"

"What's the rush." Liu Tianxian said.

"Are you trying to go back on your word?" Fang Hong's hand unconsciously landed on her belly again.

"Fine, fine, I'll call!"

Liu Tianxian was most afraid of this move of his. In a very clingy voice, she said to him: "Hubby don't."

The "hubby" was drawn out with a long tail, her little milk-voice both tingling and numbing, as if it could call a person's soul right out of them.

Fang Hong seemed to enjoy it immensely, feeling as if his bones had lightened a few taels, making him feel like he was floating, on the verge of becoming immortal.

"Does it sound good?" Liu Tianxian asked with a beaming smile, seemingly unaffected by the earlier tickling.

This was originally a form of flirtation. Normally, when she used force to suppress Fang Hong, Fang Hong never fought back, letting her bully him.

The two of them had a good sense of boundaries in their relationship—whatever the other wanted, they'd give it.

"Sounds good, call a few more times," Fang Hong said suggestively.

"Hubby don't don't don't."

"Hubby's coming, time to give you a shot."

Fang Hong couldn't take her clingy, syrupy voice any longer, pounced on her, and pinned her beneath him.

The bedroom was filled with the intoxicating colors of spring.

About half an hour passed—should be half an hour, might be half an hour.

The bedroom lights were turned on. The two drank some water to replenish their energy and fluids, then Liu Tianxian turned the lights off again.

The two cuddled together. Liu Tianxian rested her head on his arm: "You don't seem excited at all."

"I'm plenty excited already, okay? If I got any more excited, aren't you afraid I'd pass out?" Fang Hong took a breath, feeling like he was dead tired—and that wasn't excited?

"I'm talking about TuPiaoPiao's IPO, and you don't seem excited at all," Liu Tianxian glanced at him, wondering what he was thinking.

"Oh, I thought you meant us making love," Fang Hong chuckled, misunderstanding.

"Do I need you to tell me? I already saw it," Liu Tianxian said.

"Aren't your eyes closed? You were sneaking glances at me!" Fang Hong caressed her soft cheek.

"Don't waste words—you haven't answered me yet," Liu Tianxian felt that if she didn't stop his train of thought, he'd start rambling again.

"Actually, TuPiaoPiao's market cap is at most twenty to thirty billion. What's there to get excited about with a company like that? It doesn't even compare to Jade Rabbit."

It's even worse compared to Chang'e Technology.

"So little? I thought the estimate was over thirty billion," Liu Tianxian asked, puzzled.

"The film and television industry is currently bloated; it'll return to normal within the next one or two years."

Fang Hong explained further: "Do you believe that if Chang'e Technology prepares for an IPO, it could surge to a trillion—that's the moment worth getting excited about."

"A trillion?!" Liu Tianxian exclaimed.

"Yes! A trillion."

Fang Hong spoke with certainty, revealing everything: "If Chang'e Technology continues developing, its scale won't be smaller than Alibaba or Tencent. If it lists in Hong Kong, Hong Kong's market can't handle such a massive size."

"Is it that exaggerated? Hong Kong's stock market is worth tens of trillions of Hong Kong dollars at least," Liu Tianxian said, surprised.

"It's not calculated that way. Hong Kong's trading volume is too low—daily turnover is only around a hundred million U. S. dollars. If Chang'e Technology lists, even with a two-hundred-billion-dollar valuation and issuing just ten percent of shares, the fundraising would reach twenty-two billion U. S. dollars. Hong Kong's daily liquidity wouldn't even be enough to absorb it," Fang Hong explained.

"Oh, I see!" Liu Tianxian began to understand.

Consider Alibaba's IPO—it raised twenty-five billion dollars in a single day. To raise that much, every one of Hong Kong's seven million people would need to contribute three thousand three hundred thirty-three dollars each.

Hong Kong doesn't have that many wealthy people. Although wages and consumption are high there, most are still working-class.

Hong Kong's largest IPO to date is Kuaishou, which raised six point two billion U. S. dollars—nothing higher since.

The only way to list is to split it—list separately on U. S. and Hong Kong exchanges. Even Alibaba later did dual listings, but the main trading and pricing still occurred on the U. S. side.

"Besides, Hong Kong has almost no major tech companies—just Tencent. That one only grew big in recent years; it used to be tiny," Fang Hong said.

"Hey, is Chang'e Technology really worth that much?" Liu Tianxian looked at him, serious.

"Extremely valuable. I'm being conservative—if it explodes, a trillion won't hold it back; it's at least that much," Fang Hong held up a peace sign.

"Two trillion?!" Liu Tianxian raised her voice.

"Yes, roughly. This is conservative—three or even four trillion are possible," Fang Hong said.

After all, Chang'e Technology now has TikTok, games and esports, Bilibili for mid-length videos, Xiaohongshu, and Qidian.

It has formed a closed-loop IP content ecosystem—only music is missing.

If development continues unchanged, with TikTok, e-commerce, cloud computing, and AI fully developed, it will completely surpass ByteDance's previous peak.

Liu Tianxian's heart stirred uneasily; she opened her mouth, looking utterly astonished.

"What's wrong? What are you thinking?" Fang Hong asked.

"I'm wondering if I already own a trillion," Liu Tianxian's voice trembled—half the company was in her hands.

Such a sum was hard to imagine.

"Yes, you're the world's richest woman. Happy?" Fang Hong's tone held a teasing edge.

"Happy, but keep it quiet—don't let anyone know," Liu Tianxian grinned mischievously.

Though she hadn't seen a cent of it yet, she was still delighted.

Fang Hong smiled and said, "Let me interview you, Miss Liu—if you had a trillion, what would you do?"

"Donate it. All of it. Not a single cent left," Liu Tianxian waved her hand, acting as if money were trash.

"That's too generous. All that hard-earned money, just given away?" Fang Hong said.

"Why not donate? I can't use it all anyway," Liu Tianxian said as if it were obvious—she hadn't worked hard for it.

"What if it were a hundred billion? Would you donate that too?" Fang Hong asked.

"Of course. I'd donate a trillion—hundred billion? Just pocket change," Liu Tianxian said lightly.

"What about ten billion?" Fang Hong asked again.

"Donate!" Liu Tianxian said one word—without hesitation.

"What about one billion?"

"Then I'd have to think about it," Liu Tianxian hesitated.

"You donate a trillion and a hundred billion, but now you hesitate over one billion?" Fang Hong said.

"But if I actually had one billion, and I donated it, I'd have nothing left," Liu Tianxian looked up at him, smiling faintly.

Over the past one or two years, Fang Hong had given all his earnings to her—especially the money from Zhong's family, which was already hundreds of millions, plus her own savings and the unspent proceeds from her Tesla stock—she was nearly breaking the billion-dollar mark.

She hadn't realized how fast he made money until she accepted his finances—he earned over ten million per month in salary, plus annual dividends from Jade Rabbit.

Plus royalties from Zhong's family and box office revenues.

Mostly, Zhong's family's intellectual property rights kept growing, bringing in money nonstop.

Fang Hong pinched her nose and pulled her close, holding her tenderly.

In the dim bedroom, only the soft murmur of their conversation remained; gradually, the sounds faded into light breathing and snores.

(End of Chapter)