Last night, during the discussion in the comments section, we talked about me writing a public account by myself and working with a company team. Some new readers were curious, so I gave a brief explanation.
I started a private equity firm with a partner; I'm a shareholder, and we launched several products, which I'm still maintaining. However, I haven't worked there since 2016, and I've been staying at home for the past 10 years. So, when I mention the company in certain contexts, I'm referring to this firm. Incidentally, the performance of the products I've been managing has been average, but not as bad as some online smears claim. Their cumulative net asset value has doubled, and they've outperformed the market annually. The reason I haven't responded to the rumors over the years is because I don't plan to expand the product portfolio; I just want to provide excellent service to my existing clients.
This public account isn't a company product; it's something I started writing for fun, and it still is—just a personal toy. I've hired two good friends to help me out part-time: one helps me organize the day's information, and the other handles business collaborations that come my way. This allows me to save energy and focus on writing my articles every night.
In addition, they also help with the execution of simple activities such as giving away red envelopes and contacting readers to take their parents on trips. So you could say I have a small support team, but I do the writing of the nightly report by myself. This is a very subjective task, and it's not easy to find someone to collaborate with.
There was another blogger with a lot of traffic whose account was banned for six months. He told me he was under immense pressure, and I said since it wasn't a permanent ban, he could take a six-month break and go on vacation. He told me he couldn't take a break; his team had nearly 100 people, and every day he woke up to tens of thousands of yuan in salary costs. He couldn't handle a six-month hiatus, so he could only write on alternate accounts to tide him over.
I admired him back then; he managed to leverage his online presence to build a medium-sized company and provide employment for 100 people. I also considered going back to my hometown of Taizhou to do something similar, so I could help many people I wanted to help. But ultimately, it was just a thought. I was afraid that once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop, and it would turn me from a lazy freeloader into a hardworking, entrepreneurial boss. I was afraid of the trouble and the hard work; I couldn't handle that kind of hardship. So, I decided against it. 
I'll just chat for a bit, and also let new readers get to know me.
I actually wrote about some of the major events that happened this weekend a couple of days ago, but I'll summarize them again:
On Friday night, Israel and the Lebanese government reached a 10-day temporary ceasefire agreement. The core clause of the agreement is the disarmament of Hezbollah. However, objectively speaking, Hezbollah may not heed the words of the Lebanese central government. The latter has only recently been crippled by Israel and is in dire straits, forcing it to agree to a gradual disarmament on the premise of an Israeli ceasefire and withdrawal. I think it may just be a delaying tactic to buy themselves some breathing room.
Iran was pleased to learn of the ceasefire, as Hezbollah is their most important foreign ally, and announced its intention to fully open the Strait of Hormuz. This was seen as a significant sign of progress toward peace on Friday night, with Brent crude oil prices plummeting from 99 to 86, as many anticipated an imminent end to the war.
But the situation soon changed again. Iran accused the United States of breaking its promise by continuing to block Iranian oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz. Therefore, Iran overturned its previous decision and continued to block the Strait of Hormuz.
I don't know what Iran and the US discussed in private, but Trump has consistently said that the blockade would only be lifted once a ceasefire agreement was reached. So the situation has rolled back to Friday's state, or perhaps it's slightly better than Friday, since Israel has also ceased hostilities.
Although both sides made some tough statements today, I think neither side really wants to fight anymore. The tough talk is just to try to gain more benefits in the final stage of negotiations, since the two sides are close to reaching a consensus on the core issue of enriched uranium.
Oh, and one more thing to add: the US blockade of Iran is not limited to the Strait of Hormuz exits. They are targeting all merchant ships related to Iran in all sea areas around the world. For example, if you are a Chinese ship that has bought oil from Iran, and you are intercepted by the US military in the Indian Ocean, your ship will be seized, your oil will be confiscated, and your company will be added to the US sanctions blacklist. You will then be unable to conduct international trade because most ports will not dare to provide services to you.
This is a pretty ruthless move. Iran can't sell a single drop of oil in its maritime trade now, losing $400-500 million in revenue every day. The pain of war is increasing, and an early ceasefire is in the interests of both sides.
1. US media revealed a $20 billion plan in exchange for enriched uranium. The core of the plan is that the White House is considering unfreezing $20 billion of frozen Iranian assets in exchange for concessions from Iran on the issue of enriched uranium. This news came on Friday.
2. On the evening of the 18th, following the ceasefire agreement, Israel struck a group of militants in southern Lebanon, claiming that such actions were not bound by the agreement. Hezbollah then threatened retaliation. Israel, this troublemaker, seems to want the fighting to continue for another year.
3. On Friday, the largest fine in the history of food safety was issued, totaling 3.6 billion yuan, of which 1.5 billion yuan was levied on Pinduoduo. However, Pinduoduo's stock price rose on Friday night, probably because the market felt that the fine was not bad news.
4. Dongfang Securities plans to acquire 100% of Shanghai Securities. Trading will be suspended starting tomorrow. Brokerage mergers have always been a recurring theme in the securities sector. Let's see if there's any reaction.
5. Wanda Cinema changed its name to Ruyi Cinema on April 20th. Previously, Wang Jianlin, short of funds, had already sold off control of the company.
6. CATL's fourth-largest shareholder is offering to transfer 1.27% of the company's shares, which is worth 25.7 billion yuan based on the latest closing price. The transfer conditions are: minimum purchase of 180,000 shares, minimum transfer price of 405 yuan, and a limit of 6 shares to be sold. This represents a discount of slightly more than 8% compared to Friday's price.
7. Goldman Sachs raised its target price for InnoLight Technology from 791 yuan to 1187 yuan. This is only for reference; their previous target price increase for Cambricon ultimately failed to materialize.
That's about it. Time to launch.
Original Article: View Chinese Version
