Chapter 678: Wings Are Now Full

The live audience laughed continuously, finding the big shots' verbal battle quite entertaining.

It was more sophisticated than entertainment circle feuds, and more exciting too; they viewed entertainment circle feuds as mere children fighting.

It wasn't that entertainment circle feuds weren't entertaining, but in these people's eyes, those in entertainment held too low a status, so it felt like watching kids fight.

Just like watching two children quarrel on the street.

But netizens found entertainment circle feuds highly entertaining—because of their different status, their perception differed.

The production team and Wu Xiaobo whispered among themselves, still satisfied with the show's effect, but reminded the host to maintain restraint.

Even without the reminder, Fang Hong and the others knew not to go too far, or their reputations would suffer.

Cao Telei had fallen silent, merely listening to them speak.

Xiao Wang, seeing his father humiliated, was deeply annoyed, wishing he could step up and defend his father.

Though he often argued with his father at home, that was between father and son; when others bullied his father, he naturally felt furious.

"You say I'm fabricating charges? You've got endless excuses. Have you ever shown respect? You know in your heart what you're like. Let me tell you—you don't need to defend yourself; everyone knows what you are." Lao Wang Zong waved his hand, appearing utterly exasperated—clearly, Fang Hong had shaken his composure.

He clearly remembered this man once sent people to confront him, back when he tried to collaborate with the Principal on the Zhong family project; Yu Xian pretended they barely knew each other and put on a show in front of him.

Moreover, the two had exchanged verbal blows multiple times; the most recent time, this man publicly told him: Shut up!

Respect? All just nonsense.

"So you're determined to pin a charge on me, and I'm supposed to endure it because I'm young?" Fang Hong laughed—it was a crack in his armor, too easily rattled.

The audience also chuckled; these two were interesting—quarreling, yet their dialogue was engaging.

"Respecting the elderly and caring for the young are our traditional virtues, passed down for thousands of years; because of this virtue, the Chinese nation developed something called human warmth.

If a person lacks even this most basic human warmth, his words naturally aren't worth believing, because you never know if what he says is true or false.

Most people see only the evil in others but ignore their own evil, always convinced they're right, standing on their self-righteous heights to point fingers, yet failing to realize they themselves are the ones brimming with hostility and moral decay." Jack Ma spoke up at the right moment.

He always spoke with passion, making listeners feel deeply moved, and his body language was rich and expressive.

He was accusing Fang Hong of being hostile and self-righteous, claiming his words weren't trustworthy—essentially dismissing him outright by invoking traditional culture.

Of course, he didn't defend Lao Wang Zong; his sole target was Fang Hong.

Seeing Jack Ma speak, the audience perked up, eager for the show—these two were old rivals.

Even those unfamiliar had heard whispers of their feud, aware of their rivalry; among people of certain standing, this wasn't a secret.

"I think no matter how bad a person or company is, they're still better than loan sharks—designing entire consumption traps to amplify people's desires, exhausting their future and burdening them with debt.

If you're already eyeing money from people's future, it's like a marriage obsessed with bride price—once the money's gone, so is the affection." Fang Hong was referring to Ant Group's consumer loans.

These designed consumer loans affected an entire generation of young people, leaving most of them mired in debt with no way out.

Especially students and small-town youths with poor self-control; their unstable incomes naturally made repayment difficult, worsening their economic hardship.

In fact, Pinduoduo's rise stemmed partly from Alibaba's own flaws—pushing people into borrowing for consumption; many couldn't repay, so they uninstalled Alipay and turned to other platforms for shopping.

It also placed enormous pressure on society and severely distorted values.

"Loan sharks? You're wrong—we never lend money. We solve the issue of fairness in financial services, enabling every ordinary person and small merchant to enjoy convenient financial services.

Anyone who's run a business knows: without technology, money, capital, or connections, success is nearly impossible—you can't even get started.

Alibaba merely invented a tool; we do technological empowerment, helping financial institutions better serve users and helping them get started.

I know many P2P online lenders have emerged; indeed, 99% of them are garbage, riddled with serious financial problems—that's due to inadequate regulation.

But these P2P lenders raise funds and flood the market with ads; companies like Chang'e Technology bear great responsibility, as do traffic hubs like Bilibili and Toutiao, which provide advertising channels for these lenders.

If anyone is making people spend their future, it's you—you gave them the convenience, not us; we're simply offering convenience to users."

Jack Ma refuted Fang Hong's claims in a few sentences, positioning himself as noble and counterattacking by accusing Chang'e Technology's platforms of hosting many such P2P ads.

P2P ads are everywhere now; Chang'e Technology's platforms also carry such Information Flow Advertising.

"I dare to remove all these P2P ads from Chang'e Technology's platforms—I'll give up that revenue. Moreover, if any loan ad ever appears on Chang'e Technology's platforms again, and a user clicks through and takes out a loan, I'll pay off their debt for them.

Do you dare ensure no form of consumer lending appears on any Ant Group platform?" Fang Hong spoke with certainty—this was a direct knockout blow.

Everyone in the audience turned to Jack Ma, waiting to see if he'd accept the bet.

If Ant Group truly did as Fang Hong demanded, it would deal a massive blow to Alibaba's entire ecosystem.

Remember, 40% of Ant Group's revenue comes from service fees and interest; without this core profit, the company's survival would be in jeopardy, let alone the entire profit chain behind it—absolute hatred would follow.

The payment and wealth management ecosystem would vanish, and Alibaba's e-commerce would suffer—users would flee en masse.

Because Alipay is tightly bound to Taobao, Tmall, Ele. me, and other platforms.

Ant Group would cease to be a competitive enterprise, becoming merely an ordinary payment service.

Just like WeChat Pay—useful only as a transfer and payment tool.

So Fang Hong's move was brutal; Jack Ma couldn't possibly accept it. Chang'e could simply cut off this ad revenue and replace it with other sources, but Alibaba Group would lose a vital arm.

Below the stage, Liu Tianxian was worried—fearing her man couldn't out-debate Jack Ma, who was a master con artist.

"Lending money and providing financial convenience are two different things—you can't conflate them. We do inclusive finance, technological innovation in service.

The financial system needs reform; we didn't create demand—demand found us. If we didn't do it, wouldn't someone else? At least we're more regulated, with technology and innovation, bringing inclusive finance to more people.

Using technology, we make finance safer; our non-performing loan rate is even lower than traditional banks'.

Before market regulation was complete, we made those P2P lenders uncomfortable—I believe that was one of our best actions."

Jack Ma dodged the core issue, speaking casually.

He turned lending into something virtuous—truly impressive.

He knew perfectly well he couldn't accept the Principal's bet—it would be a losing move from the start.

But it was true that Ant was more legitimate than those shady P2P lenders—this couldn't be denied—yet Ant's influence was simply too vast.

"In fact, most people in China lack financial literacy—they treat credit limits as 'extra income,' leading to overconsumption and falling into a vicious cycle of 'borrowing to repay loans.' We constantly talk about social responsibility, but it's also our duty to educate ordinary people with clear financial knowledge.

The logic of consumer lending is: using the poor's money to profit from the poor, cloaked in the name of 'innovation,' shifting social responsibility onto individuals.

So I urge young people once again: manage your finances well, and avoid debt."

Fang Hong didn't want to discuss it with him — that topic could go on forever, and there were even more serious ones.

Things like asset securitization, shifting credit risk onto the financial markets, privatizing the profits while socializing the risks.

In any case, loans had caused a great many social tragedies.

Jack Ma also shut his mouth at the right moment — if this issue were discussed, he was at a disadvantage from the start; the other party wasn't even lending money.

"I just heard that Lao Wang Zong and the Principal should be old acquaintances. What do you think is the biggest change in the Principal over the years?" Li Nan tactfully skipped that topic.

That topic just now was a bit too big; they had to steer the conversation back on track — they were talking about the enterprise.

"He's become even more formidable." Lao Wang Zong admitted the Principal was quite formidable.

"Formidable in what way?" Li Nan continued to ask.

"His film and television business has grown even bigger. Last year, out of ten films on the box office chart, eight belonged to Jade Rabbit. The traffic on the content platform has also grown more, and Rabbit Ticket Ticket has already formed a scale. The Principal is the one who best combines the internet with traditional film and television, and he's squeezing the entire film and television industry."

Even if Lao Wang Zong was fed up with the Principal, he still felt that his layout was almost forming a closed loop for the entire ecological chain, which put pressure on all of them.

He also admitted the Principal now had a full set of wings, and had already formed an overwhelming advantage over them in content.

"Has he squeezed you too?" Li Nan asked.

"Squeezed us a little, but we have our own advantages too. Our advantages are something they can't compare to. No matter how strong he is, he still has to land in the end — the audience still has to go into the cinema to watch a movie." Lao Wang Zong said.

"Cinemas can't constrain me. Cinemas are just one link in monetizing the entire content system. Copyright, merchandise — none of that has anything to do with cinemas. You could say it's important, and you could say it's not important. It's already a backward product." Fang Hong said it very casually.

(End of this chapter)