Chapter 290: Iron Rice Bowl Broken

Words : 1866 Updated : Oct 1st, 2025

"Where’s Old Jia? Hurry up and save him." Seeing others make money is even more painful than losing your own; this statement couldn’t be more appropriate to describe LeEco’s individual investors. The entire new energy sector was on the rise, only LeEco showed an independent trend, a sight that individual investors with holdings watched anxiously. With the sky-high trends of the market, if missed, there might have never been another chance. However, in the past six months, Old Jia, who had always been active on Weibo, had been offline for 8 hours. No one from the company side had come forward to respond. Just when everyone thought Old Jia and LeEco were playing dead to avoid the issue, Suddenly, there was a rumor that someone saw Old Jia on a flight from Xiangjiang to Los Angeles last night. "Damn it, Old Jia chooses to leave the country at this time? What does he mean? Is he trying to pull a Dai Wei?" "Ofo refund, the 15,200,00th person passing by~ Probably never in this lifetime series." "How can that be possible, didn’t LeEco just receive 15 billion from Rongchuang at the end of last year? How can he do a Dai Wei." For a time, the internet was filled with various speculations until someone stood up and leaked that the 15 billion invested by Rongchuang, originally meant to save LeEco, had been cashed out as 7 billion by Old Jia for personal gain. The rumors grew more rampant, and a supposed former LeEco financial controller stepped forward with revelations that the finance department had long been sidestepped by Old Jia. Since last March, all of LeEco’s financial auditing and cash management involving monetary operations had been personally handled by Old Jia and his team. The subtext being, for the past year, or perhaps even longer, all financial projects associated with LeEco, including the quarterly financial reports of the listed company, could all be fake. Old Jia’s departure, the company’s silence, and the supposed former financial controller’s leaks pushed LeEco to the forefront of public debate. Originally just a stock lying on the floor taking a brief rest, occasionally managing a few jumps, now completely plummeted to a trading halt. Institutions, major players, and hundreds of thousands of individual investors were locked in. "No way, he ran away so fast?" Lu Liang was shocked and immediately called Zhu Hu. There were too many true and false messages on the internet, including those about the supposed former financial controller, I couldn’t be sure if they were authentic. After all, it was a message circulating from Zhihu, and those in the know understand, "Zhihu, where you share the story you just made up." "The situation in the Beijing Circle is now in complete chaos, I can’t say I know the specifics, but one thing is certain, Old Jia has indeed left Xiangjiang to go abroad." Zhu Hu was deeply concerned; Old Jia was not like Dai Wei. LeEco’s scale was at least fifty times that of ofo. LeTV Group was established in 2004, and after 13 years of development, it became a super large enterprise, even holding the title of the top player in the Growth Enterprise Market just last year. If Old Jia had really fled, I believed the entire business world would be rocked by an earthquake, and various industries would also be affected by the aftershocks. "Lu, do you know something?" Zhu Hu suddenly asked. Over the past two years, Lu Liang had met Old Jia several times and had even shared the stage a few times. Old Jia had always been promoting PPT car manufacturing, and Lu Liang had always been optimistic about the new energy industry; logically, they should have intersected. It was strange though, Miha You, Little Red Potato, Mogu Street, and others who Lu Liang had only seen once at an awards ceremony, he symbolically invested tens of millions in them. But when it came to Old Jia, to LeEco, he avoided them like the plague. Even in September last year, when the new energy index surged, Lu Liang only made a quick in-and-out trade then promptly cashed out and left the market. It was said that Old Jia had looked for Lu several times, sometimes for LeTV Car, and other times for Faraday Future. You don’t look at the monk’s face, you look at the Buddha’s face; everyone was in business and must deal with each other sooner or later, but Lu stubbornly didn’t invest a penny. "You guys said before that there was something off about LeEco’s finances," Lu Liang said without hesitation, promptly shifting the blame onto Zhu Hu and Shen Peng. "Since you all felt something was off, and I don’t mix with the Beijing Circle, and have no dealings with him, I didn’t want to take the risk." Lu Liang squinted his eyes and chuckled: "Tsk, tsk, now it seems I’ve had a stroke of luck from this misfortune." [July 21, 2020, LeEco share price closes at 0.18 yuan, delisted from the Growth Enterprise Market.] The A-share system is problematic; once listed, it’s like holding an iron rice bowl, and you’ll never have to worry about food and clothing again. However, LeEco managed to smash even the iron rice bowl. Eventually leaving the market with the disgraceful stock price of 0.18 yuan per share. Today’s trading halt, LeEco’s share price was still at 48.12 yuan. If one were to buy in now with 100 shares, spending 4812 yuan, then in three years, only 18 yuan would remain. This kind of plummeting makes the phrase losing all one’s capital tangibly realized. Lu Liang’s head hadn’t been squeezed by a door; even with all his wealth, he wouldn’t treat tens of millions of yuan like nothing. Moreover, tens of millions of yuan were nothing to Old Jia, so it was better not to invest at all. "You’re the smart one," Zhu Hu sighed ruefully. When you’re in worldly society, you’re not always in control. He, too, had invested a few hundred million. They could only pin their hopes on Old Jia, hoping he just went out to clear his mind and would soon come back to deal with the mess at LeTV. "Will he come back?" Lu Liang asked with a smile. Zhu Hu was silent for a long time, then suddenly let down his guard, cursing, "Motherfucker, come back my ass, the news about the 7 billion he embezzled is true." Living in the United States, with a grip on several billion US Dollars. Would one swagger around overseas, or return home to handle LeTV’s mess that no one knew could be fixed? Any sane person knew what to choose. The likelihood of Old Jia not coming back was very high. Because he had exited from Xiangjiang. If there really was no issue, why didn’t he leave openly from Beijing? It gave people the impression of protesting too much. Lu Liang couldn’t help but chuckle, then asked again, "Hu, does LeTV still have any quality assets?" After a whale falls, all manner of life thrives; LeTV Group was once the top of the Growth Enterprise Market, surely there had to be some assets left. "Forget about it, what’s left is all trash, the quality assets have all been mortgaged for 15 billion in funding." As a member of the Beijing Circle and a veteran venture capitalist, Zhu Hu had access to much more information than Lu Liang. Rongchuang wasn’t stupid either; they were sharpening their knives, eager for the kill when LeTV was in such trouble. If LeTV really ended up filing for bankruptcy, Rongchuang might even make a fortune because the actual value of the assets they accepted as collateral far exceeded 15 billion. Sёarᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "Seems like it," Lu Liang sighed. Just as he was about to hang up the phone, Zhu Hu suddenly asked, "By the way, how’s your Public Fund doing, still smooth?" "Pretty smooth." "How long are you planning to stay?" Zhu Hu was beating around the bush, implying that he saw through it; the Public Fund was not Lu Liang’s ultimate destination. He was now like a mercenary, dabbling here and there, with no one knowing what he was truly scheming. Lu Liang’s mouth curved into a smile, openly admitting, "A year or two, probably not much more than that." Zhu Hu’s description was apt; previously, he had been able to withdraw from a private equity fund, and naturally, he could exit from a public fund in the future. When the new energy industrial park project was finalized, that would be the time for him to leave the Public Fund. At 8:30 in the evening, after being offline for 15 hours, Old Jia logged back onto Weibo. "Rumors, rumors, all rumors! The internet is not beyond the law, ladies and gentlemen, be careful with your words." Old Jia immediately issued a clarification announcement, stating there were two reasons for his trip to the United States. One was to advance the business of LeTV Car, and the other was to discuss financing issues with Faraday Future. Having already secured one billion dollars in funding from an institution, once the project negotiations were finished, he would return to the country to deal with LeTV affairs. He spoke with deep emotion, LeTV was his child; could any parent abandon their own child? He was convincing, rational, and forceful, Much more so than Dai Wei last year. "Believe in LeTV, believe in Mr. Jia." "After all, Mr. Jia has weathered so many ups and downs in the business world; what storm has he not seen?" "Believe!" A large number of stars and directors came out in support, such as Yimou, Xiao Si, Sun Li, Deng Chao, Hong Lei, and others. Nineteen prominent directors and stars collectively halted the rumors of LeTV’s bankruptcy and Old Jia’s flight. "Prostitutes without affection, actors without loyalty, alas, the public investors are the ones who suffer." Lu Liang, visibly annoyed, decisively logged onto Weibo: "First clarify the whereabouts of the 7 billion before anything else." They were simply trying to use the stars’ clout to make the public investors believe that Old Jia would return and LeTV wouldn’t go bankrupt. That way, they would have enough time to pull out, leaving hundreds of thousands of uninformed retail investors to pick up the tab. Lu Liang was disgusted by these bastards—instead of going down together, they’re using the public to cover their retreat. What kind of behavior is that? "Mr. Lu? Are you saying Old Jia won’t come back?" As soon as the message was posted, a large number of onlookers and LeTV shareholders flocked to Lu Liang’s Weibo to inquire. They didn’t know jack about celebrity artists; this guy was the real big shot, not having invested a single penny in LeTV. If Lu Liang said Old Jia wouldn’t come back, then he definitely wouldn’t return, and LeTV would be truly finished. "Not clear, don’t understand, don’t know," Lu Liang replied promptly for the first time.

Chapter 290: Iron Rice Bowl Broken

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