Chapter 846: Chapter 825: The Tide Has Turned! marks not only a new month, but also a new week. The news of Tianxing Finance shorting Neon and profiting over thirty billion US dollars, after two days of fermentation, had financial moguls criticizing Lu Liang, becoming well-known by all. The title ‘Lord Lu Liang’ has almost vanished from the Neon internet, and anyone daring to utter it would be labeled a traitor by extremist right-wingers. Even among the thirteen companies that were flagged, several took this opportunity to announce their firm defense of local enterprise’s dominance, refusing any foreign capital interference in daily operations. Previously negotiated shares or financing by Xingheng Investment have been temporarily shelved for various reasons. For the moment, Tianxing is struggling in Neon, and various projects underway or planned are difficult to continue. At Tokyo Time, 8:30 in the morning, before the Neon Stock Market opened, Anshan, who had disappeared from public view for twenty-five days due to health issues, reappeared. He appeared at the entrance of the Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Building, where someone spotted and took high-definition photos. Anshan and Ota Ling had a pleasant conversation, and when parting, both still held each other’s hands tightly, their faces showing reluctance to part. Not long after, Anshan, recovered from a serious illness, was supported back into Nagatacho by Jian Yiwei and held a cabinet press conference. At the press conference, Anshan directly denied that Neon’s economy was being shorted, stating that everything was normal market behavior. “Does this bastard even know what he’s saying?” “Baka yarou, has he been bought off by Tianxing?” These words caused global uproar. Especially among Neon’s extremist right-wing citizens, whose anger peaked at this moment. They were eager to rush into the Prime Minister’s residence in Nagatacho with homemade shotguns and give him two bursts. Because Anshan’s remarks ignored the facts, blatantly whitewashing Tianxing. “What exactly has Mr. Lu done to make Anshan willingly back him up?” Compared to the angry Neon populace, onlookers from East Country and Korean netizens were shocked speechless. It is known that since the end of the Showa era, in other words, since 1989, Neon has had 18 prime ministers. Anshan, serving three times among the 18, governed for over 7 years, undoubtedly the longest in office, demonstrating his capabilities and political acumen far surpassing his predecessors. Yet, such an impressive politician could not possibly be unaware that siding with Tianxing Finance at this time means going against the nation. He knew it, yet still did it. What’s more terrifying to ponder is Lu Liang’s influence; he never showed up or responded. Instead, Anshan appeared, giving the impression that Lu Liang stood on a higher plane, overlooking the masses, smiling at the shifting winds. The world’s third-largest economy and his so-called counterpart in the nation was merely a pawn on his board. “The tide has turned!” People like Ma Yun, Liu Zhichuan, Daqiangzi who befriended or harbored animosity towards Lu Liang, fell silent at this moment. Once they moved forward side by side with Lu Liang or competed on the same stage, yet now could only see his back as time went on. To judge if someone is capable, look at the aftermath of events. Doing it oneself isn’t capability, having someone else speak up is true capability, especially when it’s an entire country’s leader. Today, Lu Liang had grown into a figure that can arm-wrestle with Wall Street’s backstage capital. “Are you watching Neon’s cabinet press conference?” Liu Zhichuan called Liu Qing. Liu Qing acknowledged with a sound, neither happy nor sad. Father and daughter fell silent, and Liu Zhichuan broke the heavy atmosphere: “Let’s stop, Lotus’s development isn’t too bad, at least some people still buy for sentiment’s sake.” He was getting old, and Lenovo’s reputation and strength couldn’t match Huawei’s; if another conflict arises with Lu Liang one day, he might be powerless. Liu Qing smiled wryly: “You overestimate me, after the DiDi incident, do you think he would look at me again?” Their call again fell into silence. the cabinet press conference continued. Anshan stood on a high platform, surveying the scene, expressionless, continuing to announce the cabinet’s three major decisions. First, promoting the development of financial technology. To respond to authorities, the PayPal Group under Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group will set an example, committing to invest no less than 50 billion US dollars over the next five years. Second, perfecting the financial market’s regulations, third, promoting and stimulating Neon’s market consumption. Coinciding with the yen’s sharp decline facilitating products going abroad, the authorities will spare no effort to provide convenience for some enterprises. “50 billion US dollars?” “Damn, Liangzi is really rich.” “No wonder, money can make the devil turn the mill.” “Isn’t it Mitsui Sumitomo’s PayPal Group? How is Lu Liang involved?” When Anshan’s first decision was announced, reporters and netizens from various countries following the event all had a look of realization on their faces. Although PayPal still belongs to Mitsui Sumitomo Group, everyone knows that Lu Liang stirred up a wave of short-selling the Neon economy because of the PayPal Group’s equity dispute. After all, in this operation, Lu Liang returned victoriously, with Tianxing Finance reaping over 30 billion US dollars, clearly indicating that his initial intention was certainly achieved. Although PayPal still visibly belongs to Mitsui Sumitomo, internally, it is probably already shaped by Lu Liang. So the decision of PayPal Group equals the decision of Lu Liang or Tianxing Finance, and this assumption is valid. The press conference was nearing its end, and simultaneously, Alipay under PayPal Group began to gain momentum. To differentiate from the domestic version, although the name Alipay remains unchanged, the logo has changed, from blue background with white letters to black background with gold letters. At 10 a.m. Tokyo Time, buses, subways, Time screens, and taxi rooftop signs all advertised the billion-yen subsidy plan everywhere in sight. As long as it is used, there will be savings, with a chance to get a free order. Even if you are not a new user, the minimum reduction is 100 yen, approximately equivalent to 5 RMB. The overwhelming publicity campaign covered Tokyo, Osaka, and other major cities, even second-tier cities like Yokohama and Nagoya were not spared. As noon approached at 12 o’clock, two hours after the subsidy went live, the number of new users surged by 3.2 million, generating 28.5 million transactions. With a minimum subsidy of 100 yen per transaction, PayPal Group spent 2.85 billion yen in just two hours, equivalent to around 142 million RMB. Meanwhile, on Neon’s largest forum 2ch, many posts appeared about exploiting loopholes, including but not limited to free water bills, electricity bills, communication fees, and housing costs, etc. Some netizens who were resentful of Lu Liang, thus resisting PayPal and Alipay, also began to waver internally. Until they saw someone comment: “To be honest, we’re exploiting Lu Liang’s loopholes; how can this be considered supporting him?” So, this group of people decisively put aside national grievances and downloaded Alipay. Following the instructions, they made an online payment of a 30,000-yen electricity bill. Suddenly, a burst of red light flashed across the screen, the electricity bill payment was successful, but showed the deducted amount as 0 yen. He was shocked: “What?!” more and more people discovered this phenomenon. Unlike other companies’ promotional free-order subsidies, Alipay’s free-order subsidies have an unbelievably high probability, and even tens of thousands of yen’s rental orders have a chance to win. At the same time, a game blogger with few followers posted his free-order screenshot on social media. And captioned: “I don’t play stocks; Mr. Lu’s short-selling of the Neon stock market doesn’t affect me, but getting the free-order qualification from Alipay is very important for me. The small blogger has no followers nor traffic, you could say he is generating content for the love of it, just hoping more people see his work. If this reduction of more than 20,000 yen had not happened, I might have had to survive on salted rice balls for the next month. I don’t know what harm Lu Liang has brought, maybe he’s just making those high on the mountain uneasy. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅✦𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾✦𝗇𝖾𝗍 But the welfare he gives us is tangible; I support him, welcome him, and hope he brings some changes to Neon. Alright, you can scold me now, I don’t care.” With this statement, the blogger’s live stream suddenly surged with viewers. “Garbage, a disgrace to the Neon people. Just because of a small favor, you forget the pain Lu Liang caused us.” “I just downloaded Alipay as well and used it to pay the water bill. Although it wasn’t as much reduction as the streamer, it was still several thousand yen. Mr. Lu’s behavior is clearly robbing the rich to give to the poor; why shouldn’t we support it?” There were insults, there were supporters, back and forth, causing the previously obscure small streamer to become a top streamer with millions of viewers. In this public spat, more and more people were using Alipay to check things out, and the public opinion of Lu Liang and Tianxing Finance was quietly shifting. Meanwhile, at Xiangjiang Tianxing Financial Building. Lu Liang was in the office, video calling Xu Jiawei, with a smile on his lips: “Tell me your thoughts.” Any trending event or person at the forefront can be manufactured through human efforts; however, the conditions for a breakout hit are quite stringent. This game blogger took only four hours from posting to becoming popular. Although his remarks, current backdrop, and persona indeed had the potential for a viral hit, it wouldn’t have fermented so quickly without someone stirring the pot. Xu Jiawei accompanied with a smile, discreetly flattering: “As expected, nothing escapes Mr. Lu’s eyes.” “Initially, we wanted to find several major bloggers to help promote and reverse the public opinion of Tianxing Finance in Neon, but after reconsidering, we decided against it.” “Major bloggers have no worries about daily needs, it’s hard to elicit empathy from the grassroots, and the matter is difficult to further ferment.” Lu Liang chuckled: “So you found a grassroots streamer, used him to quickly ferment the event?” Xu Jiawei said: “There are many downtrodden young people in Neon, who, though are marginal figures of society, are also its backbone.” Lu Liang smiled, did not dwell long on this topic, and began to talk about Wen Chao’s upcoming return to Xiangjiang.