Chapter 1898: Contraction

People, after all, always have their own thoughts.

It's the same for men and women.

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng actually cared a lot about the people around him, but matters of the heart aren't something you can solve just by showing concern.

A man liking a woman, or a woman liking a man—it all takes a process. You can't achieve it overnight.

Love at first sight only works for picking up girls or flirting with guys. In real life, everyone has to face reality.

As for Wu Sijie, Zhao Fusheng was quite satisfied with him. Both in ability and character, he was among the best. As for what Dong Chenxi thought, Zhao Fusheng didn't know and couldn't judge, given her special circumstances.

But regardless, he was very pleased with their relationship.

Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud; he just silently observed.

"Has Shengda Technology's stock price been dropping lately?"

Zhao Fusheng asked Wu Sijie.

Although he had previously exchanged all his shares in Shengda Technology with Huayi, he still held one percent of Shengda Technology's shares as a keepsake.

"Yes, it's been falling recently. It seems the US stock market doesn't have a high regard for large online game companies like Shengda Technology," Wu Sijie explained to Zhao Fusheng. "Plus, the current situation isn't good. Tech stocks on the US market are also undergoing some fine-tuning."

After all, with the global financial crisis, Wall Street had been claiming that this crisis wouldn't have much impact, but facts proved that Americans were best at lying.

Especially American politicians—they never speak a word of truth. Every word they say is for their own benefit.

Even the seemingly ridiculous classmate Chuan Jianguo from later generations was actually a brilliant guy; otherwise, he wouldn't have done those seemingly laughable things that, in fact, didn't harm his own interests in the slightest.

"Fine-tuning, huh..."

Zhao Fusheng sneered. The downturn of the US economy was far from just fine-tuning.

From now on, Americans would start playing dirty, making the whole world pay for their economic crisis.

The changes in the international situation began from this year.

Of course, this had little to do with Zhao Fusheng. His only remaining foothold in the US was Facebook; he had sold his Twitter shares to Li Jianxi long ago. What Zhao Fusheng needed to do now was wait quietly for Facebook to go public, and then use this super-giant internet company to gain greater benefits.

"What's the company's plan?"

Zhao Fusheng asked Wu Sijie.

By 'the company's plan,' he naturally meant the future direction of investments.

Wu Sijie looked at the materials in his hand: "They were originally planning to buy the dip."

After all, although tech stocks were currently in a slump, it wasn't a problem with the tech companies themselves but with the overall environment. Overall, there was still potential for development.

"No need."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head directly: "That's too troublesome. Contact Shengda and sell the shares directly to them."

"Huh?"

Wu Sijie looked at Zhao Fusheng in surprise, wondering if he had heard correctly.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "That's right. Contact Shengda Technology and tell them it's my idea. Sell our small stake to Boss Chen at market price, understand?"

"Ah, okay."

Wu Sijie quickly nodded in agreement. Although he was a bit bewildered inside, he carried out Zhao Fusheng's orders without hesitation.

"Also, this dating website."

Zhao Fusheng saw in the materials that the shares of Jiayuan.com were all in his hands and remembered that he still owned this company.

Thinking about it, he said to Wu Sijie: "Contact them and see if any company is interested. Sell it."

"Sell it?"

Wu Sijie was surprised. He really hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to have such an idea. He had read the materials on this website; it was actually developing quite well. Why sell it?

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "If someone is willing to take it, and we don't lose money, we can sell."

Then he said seriously: "Our future development should focus on quality over quantity. We should give up on these miscellaneous websites."

Hearing this, Wu Sijie was stunned. It was the first time he had heard such a view.

But on second thought, this was exactly the kind of thing his boss would do.

In Wu Sijie's impression, Zhao Fusheng treated projects that had lost value or, in his view, had no development potential, exactly this way.

Even with Twitter back then, when he felt it had no future potential, he sold it without hesitation to the Li Jianxi family.

Of course, Wu Sijie also knew that what Zhao Fusheng considered 'no potential' was different from what most people thought.

In his mind, probably a company with a market value of less than ten billion US dollars wasn't even considered a successful enterprise.

If the market value couldn't reach a hundred billion, there was no need to invest.

There was no way around it; the facts were clear. Zhao Fusheng had the capital to be arrogant.

The core companies he currently held were all evaluated by external investors as high-quality unicorn companies.

Those were unicorns, not cabbages on the street.

Being valued at one billion US dollars before going public—anyone who understood financial investment knew what that meant.

"Chairman, does this mean Future Investment needs to adjust its future investment strategy?"

Wu Sijie keenly realized a very important issue and asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and finally nodded: "Yes, discuss this with Miss Dong. Even though she's not in the capital, we need to start implementing it."

"I understand."

Wu Sijie quickly nodded.

He naturally understood Zhao Fusheng's meaning. In this situation, since a decision had been made, it had to be implemented quickly. Dragging it out would be pointless.

They might even miss the best opportunity.

"Alright, you can go out now. I'll look over things a bit more."

After giving his instructions, Zhao Fusheng let Wu Sijie leave the office.

After Wu Sijie left, Zhao Fusheng sat there, silent for a long time.

Actually, there was something he hadn't said to Wu Sijie.

All along, Future Group had been developing smoothly. Future Investment, relying on his foresight, had invested in many companies. But in fact, apart from the few investments Zhao Fusheng had made based on his foreknowledge, most of the other investments had lost money.

What did that mean?

It meant that without the advantage of foresight, Future Investment held no edge over other established investment companies.

Therefore, Zhao Fusheng had to be cautious.

In short, he had already made enough money; why take risks?

Maybe this sounded irresponsible, but Zhao Fusheng knew very well that neither he nor Dong Chenxi truly had the ability to run an investment company.

So, playing it safe was the most appropriate approach.

Of course, Zhao Fusheng couldn't announce this publicly; he could only solve the problem this way.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng felt that venture capital as an industry no longer held much significance for him now, since he was past the stage of needing primitive accumulation.

Seeking victory through stability was what he needed to consider now.

Any risky moves were meaningless.

Zhao Fusheng saw this more clearly than anyone.

The plan to retire at forty wasn't just because he would have enough wealth by then, but also because he knew that after that point, he would be no different from most ordinary people in the world.

So, before that, Zhao Fusheng had many preparations to make.