Ding Lei holds 45.5% of NetEase’s equity, undiluted for over twenty years. How many bosses have you seen holding hundreds of billions in cash, zero debt, collecting 5.9 billion yuan in annual dividends—and still raising pigs and sipping tea? This isn’t just wealth; this is freedom. But after seeing these numbers, the first question that came to my mind was: Is he incredibly smart—or incredibly lazy? Countless others have chased the latest trends: real estate tycoons, smartphone makers, car manufacturers—everyone leveraged up, scaled rapidly, and kept raising capital until they became debt-laden. What about Ding Lei? He holds 163.5 billion yuan in net cash—with not a single IOU. His annual net profit of 33.8 billion yuan? All sitting in his pocket. What is he refusing? Not opportunities for success—but the things that look glamorous but will ultimately consume you. He skips the capital networking dinners, resists the temptation to expand, while others chase scale, he’s raising pigs and sipping tea. You think he’s zen—but he’s sharper than anyone. Isn’t this the hardest thing in human nature? Not how to grab, but how to resist grabbing. You always think you need more to feel secure—but have you ever truly calculated whether your anxiety stems from lacking something… or from being too afraid to hit the brakes? For over twenty years, countless capital magnates came knocking, urging him to issue bonds, raise funds, expand—yet he never budged. In short, he doesn’t believe in scale—he believes in the real gold and silver in his hands. Ding Lei sits in his office sipping tea, his phone silent with no stock price alerts, no one pressuring him to meet quarterly targets. That calmness isn’t given by money—it’s given by refusal. You think you want more—but what you truly lack is the courage to say “no” to certain things. Hold onto the one thing you refuse to let go of—it’s the anchor of all your strength.