Chapter 27: Unreliable

Xu Chaobo's service attitude was very good; he received Di Ye's call at 10:30 and rushed to the ShangriLa lobby lounge by 10:48. After meeting, he greeted him enthusiastically: "Mr. Di, hello, hello, I am Xu Chaobo."

"Hello, Manager Xu, please sit. Would you like to drink something?"

"Coffee, please."

Xu Chaobo had a very standard square face and wore the classic combination of a black suit, white shirt, and gold-rimmed glasses, giving people a feeling of being both steady and professional.

However, Di Ye knew very well that this person was neither steady nor professional, because he was his own maternal uncle before he transmigrated.

Xu Chaobo had originally been an accountant at a construction company in Yuncheng. When the stock market went crazy in the first half of 1992, he made a lot of money through luck, so he got hot-headed, quit his job, and ran to Pengcheng to speculate on stocks full-time. As a result, the stock market plummeted in the second half of the year, and he lost so much he didn't even have his underwear left.

Fortunately, this guy was slick and glib. In the process of stock speculation, he got to know the General Manager of a subsidiary of Guangdong Investment, and then, with a sudden change in status, he became a financial broker, specializing in helping domestic clients conduct overseas speculative transactions.

The full name of Guangdong Investment was Guangdong Province International Trust Investment Company. It possessed the state-designated "window company" qualification at the local level, capable of borrowing money and issuing bonds overseas. It was infinitely glorious in the eighties and nineties and developed very rapidly. From 1983 to 1993, in a short 10 years, it expanded its assets from over a billion to tens of billions, with business covering many fields such as finance, securities, telecommunications, medical care, transportation, and real estate, and was known as a financial aircraft carrier.

However, good times did not last long. After 1995, the state adjusted its policies and canceled the special preferential treatment for "window companies." In 1997, it encountered the Asian financial crisis, and Guangdong Investment declined rapidly. It was shut down in 1998 and declared bankruptcy in 1999, with the remaining problems not being resolved until 2017.

Besides external factors, internal factors were also critical to the bankruptcy of Guangdong Investment. The management not only sought personal gain through power and engaged in corruption, but they didn't even know how many subsidiaries they actually had under them. The annual report said there were 36, but there were actually 240, most of which were parasites that deceived their superiors and concealed the truth to undermine the foundation. The company where Xu Chaobo currently worked was one of these parasites.

"Mr. Di wants to short the Nikkei Index, right?"

"Yes. My travel permit hasn't been processed yet, so I can't go to Hong Kong to open an account, so I wanted to ask Manager Xu for some help."

"No problem. We at Guangdong Investment have an investment company in Hong Kong that engages in this type of business, and we can provide an account for Mr. Di to operate."

"Tell me about the specific operating process."

"It's like this..."

Xu Chaobo took several printed flyers out of the briefcase he carried with him and explained how to operate with a glib tongue. Di Ye understood after listening for just a moment—they used the funds and accounts of a Hong Kong subsidiary under Guangdong Investment to operate remotely on behalf of clients, earning high commissions from it.

"I deposit money into your company's account in Pengcheng, and your colleague follows my instructions to trade in Hong Kong using Guangdong Investment's funds. If I make a profit, you return my money with interest, and if I lose, you take my money to cover the deficit in Hong Kong, is that it?"

"That is roughly it."

"If I make a profit, how long will it take to withdraw the principal and the earnings?"

"If the earnings are within 500,000, they can be withdrawn on the spot after the transaction ends; if it's over 500,000, it will take 24 hours."

Hearing this, Di Ye called the waiter over to refill Xu Chaobo's coffee, then began to inquire about commissions, leverage, and other such issues. While inquiring, he observed him, and relying on his years of experience getting along with his own uncle, he quickly discovered that his mindset was very anxious and he was desperate to secure this deal.

"Manager Xu, does your company provide financing services? I only have 300,000 on hand right now, and I want to borrow another 200,000 to make it a round number."

"How long does Mr. Di want to borrow it for?"

"Only for 1 day, just until next Monday. If you can help me borrow it, I'll give you 10% interest."

Xu Chaobo was greatly surprised and subconsciously asked in return: "Only borrow for 1 day?"

Di Ye nodded and emphasized: "Only for 1 day, I'll give you 20,000 in interest."

When Xu Chaobo heard about the 20,000 in interest, his eyes clearly became dull. He picked up his coffee, took a big gulp, and asked: "Our company can provide financing services, but I don't know if Mr. Di has any collateral?"

Di Ye spread his hands and said with a smile: "Do I count as collateral myself? I will stay at your company as a hostage all day next Monday."

Xu Chaobo had been knocking about in Pengcheng for many years and had heard of, seen, and even experienced many scams. Although he coveted the 20,000 yuan in interest, he still maintained his guard and demurred: "Mr. Di is joking. Being a hostage is something kidnappers do. We are a legally operating company and have no power to restrict your personal freedom."

"Then how about I find someone to guarantee it?"

"Who?"

"The son of Ma Chengshu, the General Manager of Yantian Port Group. Is that qualification enough?"

Yantian Port was one of the main container ports in Pengcheng, and the group's General Manager was a division-level cadre. Xu Chaobo was overjoyed upon hearing this and hurriedly nodded: "With someone like that helping to guarantee, let alone 200,000, even 400,000 is no problem."

"I don't need 400,000, 200,000 will do."

Di Ye raised his hand to look at his Electronic Watch and found it was already 11 o'clock. In order to stall for time, he chatted with Xu Chaobo, saying: "Listening to Manager Xu's accent, you seem to be from Yuncheng?"

"Yes, could it be that Mr. Di is too?"

"What a coincidence, I am also from Yuncheng. Which residential compound does Manager Xu live in?"

After the two of them spent over ten minutes building rapport as fellow townsmen, Di Ye saw Ma Huateng walking over with two friends of similar age, so he stood up and said: "Manager Xu, Young Master Ma is here, let me introduce you."

During the introductions, Di Ye only said that Xu Chaobo was a fellow townsman and didn't mention his profession. Xu Chaobo was misled by Ma Huateng's family background and felt somewhat flattered. He didn't detect the problem, said a few polite pleasantries, and then took his leave.

The two friends Ma Huateng brought were Zhang Zhidong, who was studying for a master's degree in computer science at South China University of Technology, and Xu Chenye, who was studying for a master's degree in computer science at Jinling University. Both were top-tier technical talents in the country in the 90s.

During lunch, in order to reinforce his image as a genius, Di Ye summoned Xiao Honghua to act as an advisor, sticking labels like "quick-witted," "photographic memory," and "unconventional" on his forehead, which quickly made the two graduate students feel admiration.

Xu Chenye was very happy to hear that Di Ye had applied for a Graduate Student position at Jinling University and introduced all the well-known professors in the Computer College, focusing on two of them: one was Xu Jiafu, and the other was Lv Jian.

"The State Key Laboratory for Novel Software Technology was built under the direction of Elder Xu. Although he is old now, his insight is extraordinary, and he is especially good at guiding students' development. Professor Lv Jian is his direct disciple, has won the first prize of the State Education Commission's Science and Technology Progress Award twice, and will definitely be an Academician in the future."

Di Ye had heard of the great names of these two professors before he transmigrated; one was a pioneer and authority in the domestic computer industry, and the other was a future Academician and University President of Jinling University. However, he hadn't decided where to go for graduate school yet, so he could only vaguely say: "I will try my best."

Zhang Zhidong was not tall and had an honest appearance, with the nickname "Winter Melon," but his computer level was the best. He was full of praise for the articles Di Ye had written, especially one titled "C/C++ Concise Programming Specifications," believing that if all programmers followed such specifications, software development would become much easier.

Because it was not realistic to engage in Open Source hardware in 1995, Di Ye focused on Open Source software and concocted a total of 4 articles, with the content being theoretical definition, development implementation, commercial benefits, and application scenarios, respectively.

The article Zhang Zhidong mentioned was one Di Ye had Xiao Honghua concoct based on the actual situation in 1995, using the "Google C++ Style Guide" and "Huawei C&C++ Language Secure Programming Specifications" as a blueprint. It belonged to the content of development implementation because the code for Open Source software came from all over the world and needed a unified programming style to strengthen consistency, so as not to cause trouble for code readers and other code submitters.

In 1995, China's software industry had just started, and programmers mainly worked alone; there were very few cases of team collaboration, and there were no code specifications available for reference. Therefore, Di Ye's article was extremely pioneering and instructive. For Zhang Zhidong, this future Chief Technology Officer of Penguin, it was an existence comparable to the "Nine Yang Divine Art," so it was only natural that it caused amazement.

Because the few of them had similar interests and many topics to discuss, the lunch lasted for more than two hours before they broke up. After seeing Ma Huateng and the others off, Di Ye called Xu Chaobo again and bluffed: "Manager Xu, Young Master Ma said there's no need for any guarantee. He'll take me to borrow 200,000 from his father tomorrow, so I won't trouble you."

Xu Chaobo was terrified that his 20,000 yuan in interest would be lost, so he hurriedly persuaded him: "Mr. Di, if you get financing from us, you only need to pay back the money. If you borrow money from Young Master Ma's family, not only do you have to pay back the money, but you also have to pay back a favor debt, and favor debts are not easy to pay back."

"If I get financing from you, I have to ask him to be a guarantor, isn't that the same as owing a favor debt?"

Xu Chaobo hesitated for a few seconds, then said: "If Mr. Di really only wants to borrow for 1 day, it's not impossible to do without a guarantor."

"Are you sure? If that's really the case, I'll get financing from you. The interest will be as we said this morning, 20,000 for 1 day."

"Sure! If our boss doesn't agree, I'll be your guarantor."

Hearing him say this, Di Ye couldn't help but shake his head, lamenting his uncle's unreliability, but he said: "Manager Xu is loyal enough. I've decided to make you a friend. Let's find a place tonight to have a good chat and properly arrange the shorting of the Nikkei Index on Monday."

"Okay."