Then, just as "Chairman" Qiao hesitated about which auspicious day to announce his comeback, the world-shattering Twin Towers incident occurred, plunging America into panic.
Chairman Qiao certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity. He immediately announced that to soothe the wounded souls of the fans and heal the trauma caused by the attacks, and to quickly escape the nightmare, he had decided to return to the court and bring exciting games that would make fans forget all their troubles.
At the same time, Chairman Qiao also announced that all his salary from his comeback would be donated to related organizations to help the fans injured in the attack.
It must be admitted that Chairman Qiao was not only otherworldly in his basketball skills but also top-notch in seizing opportunities and leveraging trends!
Chairman Qiao's announcement immediately ignited the NBA ticket sales, which might have otherwise cooled down. While mourning the lives lost in the attack with sorrow, people also bought tickets with a sense of pilgrimage to witness the grace of the basketball god.
If not for the Wizards' own abysmal performance, Chairman Qiao's comeback this time could have been another classic marketing case for the NBA!
After the incident, He Xi Meng also bid farewell to Chairman Qiao and flew back to Los Angeles to comfort a panicked Keira.
All movie promotional activities were halted. He Xi Meng initially thought that the box office for Pirates of the Caribbean 1 would be significantly affected. Unexpectedly, fear led more people to choose to watch movies in theaters to forget the cruelty of reality. They hoped that when they emerged from the dark cinema, someone would tell them, "What you thought was an attack was just a nightmare..."
People were escaping, but reality was cruel.
Another manifestation of the unrest and instability in the real world was the frantic plunge of the financial markets. All stock, bond, and futures exchanges in America were forced to close for a week. But after a week, when trading resumed, all markets, without exception, immediately fell by 20%. And this was just the beginning.
This was a nightmare for the whole world!
But for He Xi Meng, who already knew about this impending tragedy, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his net worth to skyrocket!
The Nasdaq index, after falling from 5000 points to over 3600 points, and showing a slight trend of stopping its decline, due to this attack, directly plunged from 3600 points to 1100 points in October 2002.
Below a halving, there was a thigh-chopping, below the thigh-chopping, a knee-chopping, and below the knee-chopping, an even more tragic foot-surface-chopping.
From its peak in March 2000 to October 2002, the Nasdaq fell from 5048 points to 1108 points, a decline of a staggering 78%.
This unprecedented combination of the internet crisis and the terrorist crisis plunged the market into despair! Countless people went bankrupt and committed suicide, and tragedies of families being torn apart happened daily on Wall Street. He Xi Meng could no longer bear it, so he quit watching television and reading newspapers, focusing all his attention solely on basketball.
This was because He Xi Meng had reaped enormous financial benefits from this immense tragedy!
In early 2000, He Xi Meng was just a budding millionaire with a net worth just reaching ten million US dollars. Two years later, by the end of 2002, through leveraged amplification of 10-20 times, coupled with the Nasdaq's foot-surface-chopping, He Xi Meng had achieved nearly a thousandfold return! In other words, in these two years, He Xi Meng's net worth had skyrocketed from the ten-million-dollar level to the billion-dollar level! Robbing a bank wouldn't bring in money this fast, but the capital market could!
This was because the capital market itself was a brutal and ruthless form of plunder.
In the process, He Xi Meng also accidentally brought down several small banks. Having taken on the short positions that He Xi Meng dumped, they couldn't repay their debts and had to sell themselves to pay off their obligations.
He Xi Meng had absolutely no interest in operating real businesses, so he merely directed Mickey to temporarily control these high-quality assets through equity control, without participating in their management. They would be dealt with slowly after the crisis passed, for a good price.
Of course, all the original members who invested in and became shareholders of Simon Brothers Fund also got rich together: Duncan, John, Mickey, Gil, Cui Tianci, Ginobili, Da Zhi, Yao Ming... including Old Hu, who had just arrived in America, He Xi Meng also let him invest a little, whatever he felt like.
Unknowingly, He Xi Meng's net worth was already soaring. By the end of 2002, it would exceed that of the owners of at least half of the NBA teams. However, this did not affect He Xi Meng's passion for playing basketball.
On the Spurs, he was still the third-in-command, wearing jersey number 4, standing beside Duncan (number 21) and David Robinson (number 50)!
Although called the third-in-command, no one truly believed that He Xi Meng was merely the third-in-command of the Spurs.
Since Duncan was injured and sidelined in last season's playoffs, and David was in a slump, He Xi Meng, serving as both point guard and scorer, carried the Spurs to defeat the Mavericks and challenge the Lakers. He Xi Meng could no longer return to his former status as third-in-command.
Within the Spurs organization, He Xi Meng was not the absolute leader, but he held more sway than one.
In the eyes of other teams, He Xi Meng's status on the Spurs was at least second-in-command, ranking above David and slightly below Duncan.
He Xi Meng himself was not interested in so-called team status. Just like within the Spurs, they didn't really care about player rankings. Everyone just played basketball well and didn't get caught up in unnecessary matters.
Those with strong abilities played more and contributed more to the team; those with less ability played less, contributing to the team to the best of their ability.
There was no distinction of superiority or inferiority between starters and reserves, centers and guards; their roles were different, and there was no inherent hierarchy.
In the preseason, He Xi Meng was not supposed to play. However, unable to resist his desire to see Yao Ming's performance in a real game, he volunteered to play.
It was fortunate that He Xi Meng joined the team, as he managed to temper Arenas' unruly personality!
The Spurs played a dual-point guard strategy in the preseason, aiming to assess whether Parker or Arenas would be He Xi Meng's primary backup in the new season.
As a result, Arenas played more like a shooting guard than a point guard in the preseason. Once the ball was in his hands, it was difficult for it to be passed out. Because Arenas scored so much, when Yao Ming played alongside him, he could only be relegated to being a rebound machine in the paint and couldn't fully utilize his offensive threat.
Fortunately, He Xi Meng played 20 minutes in each game. During these 20 minutes, He Xi Meng allowed Yao Ming to fully display his offensive prowess, without too much showboating, but rather to maximize Yao Ming's shooting advantage, utilize his height advantage in the paint, catch the ball, and showcase his close-range shooting skills with both hands.
Yao Ming's height, coupled with his accurate post-up shooting, made him a nightmare for all opponents in the preseason.