Investigative report: Profiles of Moutai Speculators. The factory price of 53-degree Feitian Moutai was raised from 819 yuan to 969 yuan per bottle, the retail price ceiling from 1,299 yuan to 1,499 yuan, and the previous out-of-plan price of 999 yuan per bottle was abolished. Having entered the baijiu industry reporting nearly two years ago, the turmoil over Feitian Moutai prices has never subsided and is still intensifying. One cause of the dispute is the inability to align real market prices with the manufacturer's set prices. The gap between the former and the latter has created more and more myths of "overnight wealth." Whether early or late, legitimate or operating outside the rules, they enter the industry chain and make a fortune. In terms of the "regular army" of Moutai sales, before the price adjustment, first-tier dealers could earn 480 yuan per bottle within the plan and 300 yuan outside the plan; after the adjustment, first-tier dealers' profit is 530 yuan per bottle. One ton of Moutai equals 350 boxes of half-kilo bottles. Before the price increase, a first-tier dealer's profit was close to 170,000 yuan per ton; after the increase, it exceeds 185,000 yuan. For a large dealer with an annual volume of 50 tons, if he sells all according to the contract, annual profits of 8 to 9 million yuan are evident. Yet some are still not satisfied with such profits. Even within the "regular army," there are black sheep who hoard and wait for prices to rise before cashing in. As a result, attitudes like "lying flat is earning" and "the emperor's daughter doesn't worry about marriage" are common among them. At the dealer conference on December 28 last year, Moutai announced the cancellation of the push for dealer group-buying customers, which caused dissatisfaction among the "regular army." The distillery hoped to curb improper hoarding by the regular army, but this also created significant obstacles for genuine group-buying customers in purchasing wine and compressed dealers' profit margins. At a business dinner, consuming three to four bottles is common, but Moutai's decision not only blocked improper hoarding but also blocked large orders from group buying. If corporate consumer demand must also be met through the online platform that Moutai has been promoting since September last year, with a limit of two bottles per purchase, companies would need to stock up in advance for banquets. Moreover, can real consumers compete with "irregular forces" who use software to grab wine? Where should genuine consumers buy wine? A purchaser from a listed company in Henan told me at the end of last year that to buy Moutai for the company's year-end banquet, everyone from the boss to her had to go out of their way to use connections. The aforementioned Moutai Cloud Platform is considered a stronghold where prices have not yet collapsed, attracting many "irregular" speculators who use every means to play the game there. The logic is that they can grab Feitian Moutai online at the ceiling price, which is lower than the market price, and then sell it at a higher price or hoard it for profit. The speculators' "professional equipment is armed to the teeth," allowing them to monitor the irregular online releases of Feitian Moutai and know exactly when dealers receive stock and when they go online. During the investigation, I was quite surprised to find that some dealers and even personnel from Moutai's internal subsidiaries are also participants in grabbing online Moutai, usually using their employees, relatives, or even scalpers as agents to achieve left-hand-to-right-hand deals. "Blinded by immediate interests" is a phrase I have felt deeply during my follow-up reporting. Speculators, including some dealers and even internal Moutai subsidiary personnel, reap benefits in the gray area. They are pleased that Moutai sells so well, but also anxious that out-of-control prices will attract regulatory attention; they are addicted to the business of making money with no capital, but also worry about the downturn when real consumers are lost... The Moutai frenzy will continue, and I will keep following whether Moutai can rein in prices, striving to reveal more of the true picture behind the noise. -END-