Chapter 154: Old Horse's Olive Branch, Pinbei's First Settled Merchant

The next morning.

Song Yuncheng poked her head out from under the blanket and saw Chen Yansen's figure, sitting upright at the desk in the living room.

Song Yuncheng was a little curious; she had noticed that Chen Yansen was exceptionally self-disciplined — every time they went on a business trip together, no matter how late they had been at it the night before, he still managed to wake up early.

She picked up the white camisole beside her, slipped it on casually, and padded over in her slippers.

Chen Yansen heard the movement behind him, didn't look up, and kept flipping through "The Character of Physical Law."

Ever since his sleep duration had shortened, his way of passing the time had become reading these obscure and difficult physics and math books.

But in Chen Yansen's eyes, the content was as simple as elementary-school addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Natural laws, material structures, mathematical models — like bricks, they piled up in his mind, gradually building a knowledge system with rigorous logic and complex structure.

"Up so early? Reading a novel?" Song Yuncheng rested her hand on Chen Yansen's shoulder and asked curiously.

"Sort of," Chen Yansen said, putting the book down without further explanation.

He pulled Song Yuncheng onto his lap, leaned in and sniffed: "You smell amazing, senior."

Song Yuncheng's cheeks flushed slightly, and she reminded him softly: "We have an appointment with Mr. Min at nine-thirty this morning, and it takes half an hour to get there from here."

The implication: business comes first.

"Won't delay morning exercise."

Chen Yansen grinned wickedly, carried Song Yuncheng into the bathroom.

By the time the two had finished getting ready and arrived at the headquarters building of Meters/bonwe, it was already 9:20.

Min Jie, the general manager of Bang Gou Wu (Banggo), was chatting with a man in his forties on the first floor, accompanied by five members of Meters/bonwe's management.

Chen Yansen got out of the car and walked forward with Song Yuncheng.

"Mr. Chen, welcome to Meters/bonwe for a visit! Let me introduce — this is my boss, the founder of Meters/bonwe, Mr. Zhou Jiancheng."

The moment Min Jie saw Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng, he immediately came up with a smile and introduced Zhou Jiancheng to him.

"Mr. Zhou, pleasure to meet you!" Chen Yansen extended his hand and clasped Zhou Jiancheng's.

With his current wealth and industry influence, there was no need for flattery.

Zhou Jiancheng wore a blue pinstriped shirt under an indigo business suit — clearly taking today's meeting very seriously.

From 2010 to 2011, Meters/bonwe's business had taken a sharp turn for the worse; its market cap had slid from last year's peak of 39 billion all the way down to 23 billion.

Although Zhou Jiancheng had entered the business early, he didn't dare put on airs in front of Chen Yansen, and politely said: "I've long admired your reputation, Mr. Chen. Since you've come to Shanghai, you must let me arrange things properly."

A business bigshot like Zhou Jiancheng, who had fought his way up from the offline world, had no way to entertain guests other than the usual set of fine wine, fine food, and beautiful women — he couldn't think of any new tricks.

"You're too kind, Mr. Zhou. You're the senior here — being able to visit Meters/bonwe and learn is my honor."

Chen Yansen replied with a smile, unhurried.

The other man was giving him face, so he didn't put on airs either, and his reply carried a measure of respect as well.

Zhou Jiancheng nodded inwardly, thinking to himself: No wonder this kid made ten billion before he was even twenty — just look at that steady composure. At his age, I was nowhere near this level.

Thinking this, Zhou Jiancheng led Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng into the headquarters building.

Unlike a typical e-commerce company, Meters/bonwe's headquarters, besides Bang Gou Wu's e-commerce division, also had knitting, wool weaving, shuttle weaving, fabric and accessories procurement, and quality inspection departments.

Zhou Jiancheng introduced each one in turn, and carefully explained to Chen Yansen the differences in texture, cost, and manufacturing process of the various fabrics.

Chen Yansen nodded slightly, sighing inwardly: Although Meters/bonwe in 2011 had an inventory crisis, it could still barely hold on, and was still a coveted employer for many design and e-commerce graduates.

Unlike more than a decade later, when its market cap would drop by ninety percent, not even half of Feiyu Technology's.

Seeing that the introductions were about enough, Zhou Jiancheng took Chen Yansen into his own office, and the group chatted casually over tea.

Zhou Jiancheng had heard from Min Jie that after Chen Yansen sold Li Tao to Ali, Lotte, and Augusta, he immediately set up a new company, whose main business was still merchandise sales and marketing promotion.

This set Zhou Jiancheng thinking — he understood that Chen Yansen planned to start fresh.

Moreover, after Mama Ali assembled the new Li Tao, he had no idea whether the brand-team cooperation between Meters/bonwe and the new Li Tao could maintain its previous effectiveness.

He knew the temper of those little two-ers at Mama Ali all too well.

So he wanted to take this opportunity to strengthen the cooperation with Chen Yansen.

Seeing that Chen Yansen only sipped his tea and seemed to have no intention of discussing cooperation, Zhou Jiancheng grew anxious.

Although Li Tao and Bang Gou Wu had helped the group clear part of its inventory, they had only barely digested 30%.

To be honest, the value of goods piled up in the warehouse was still at least 2 billion.

Last year he could still tough it out, but this year he had resigned himself to fate — as long as he could sell them off, recover costs, and get the cash flow moving, he didn't care anymore.

Min Jie, watching his boss's expression from the side, quickly asked with a smile: "Mr. Chen, I heard that besides Sister Chengzi Technology, you also have a new project?"

"Interested, Mr. Min?" Chen Yansen took a sip of tea and asked with a smile.

His coming to Shanghai on this business trip was just a casual pretext.

Whether or not he met Zhou Jiancheng and Min Jie, he didn't really care.

The new project did need a supply of industrial belt resources, and Meters/bonwe was one of them, but for this kind of cooperation, sending Song Yuncheng or Zhang Yifeng would have been enough — there was no need for him to make the trip personally.

"Mr. Chen, if it's convenient, could you give us a hint of the business model? If there's a suitable opportunity, Meters/bonwe will definitely support your new venture," Min Jie probed cautiously.

"No harm in saying — it's similar to the Li Tao model, both are brand flash-sale websites, but this time we're not doing导购, we're doing a platform."

Chen Yansen glanced up at Min Jie and said lightly.

Since Min Jie had brought it up, he wasn't planning to hide it anyway — once National Day was over, everyone in the industry would know.

A platform?

This kid just sold Li Tao, and now he's turning around to start fresh, wanting to compete with Taobao and JD. com?

Even Zhou Jiancheng couldn't help but admire Chen Yansen's nerve.

After all, at this point the e-commerce market share had almost been carved up entirely by Taobao, JD. com, Suning, and Amazon — snatching food from the mouths of these giants was easier said than done.

Bang Gou Wu had been online for a whole year; without Li Tao's traffic diversion, its annual sales probably wouldn't have even reached a few tens of millions.

"Mr. Chen, if there's anything Meters/bonwe can help with, just say the word," Zhou Jiancheng declared.

The implication was that Meters was willing to be among the first merchants to move in.

"Thank you, General Manager Zhou, for your support. However, the project is still in preparation and the products are still under development. If there is a need later, I will have Director Song contact General Manager Min."

Chen Yansen pushed Song Yuncheng forward and replied with a smile.

Song Yuncheng had outstanding performance in the Key Account Group. Chen Yansen planned to have her continue maintaining KA merchants in the new project, which would both hone her negotiation skills and expand her resources and connections.

"Alright." Hearing Chen Yansen speak this way, Zhou Jiancheng did not press further, knowing that rushing would be useless, so he changed the subject and spoke of the difficulties in the clothing industry over the past two years.

Listening, Chen Yansen secretly complained: "The clothing industry's gross profit of 60%-80% is only slightly worse than cosmetics. It's not too greedy. They think consumers are easy to fool and want to dominate the market with inferior designs. Where in this world is there such a cheap deal?"

Meters was a typical example; they made money too easily before, blindly expanded production capacity, neglected design, and became disconnected from their target customers' aesthetics, which is why they went downhill.

Take Hodo, which has been hugely popular in the past two years; it has 300 product teams, launches new styles quickly, and develops rapidly.

Moreover, it focuses on online channels, receives feedback quickly, and if new product sales are poor, it switches immediately.

Of course, more than ten years later, due to issues like single channels, fierce competition, and product quality, Hodo gradually fell silent.

But in 2011, Hodo completely crushed Meters in sales and business, making it the undisputed hegemon of online apparel.

Mentioning this competitor, Zhou Jiancheng's eyes were full of both hatred and envy. He also said Meters' design department planned to follow Hodo's product team model to increase the volume of new style launches.

The group chatted until noon, when Zhou Jiancheng had the administration department arrange a car, and they all went to the Roosevelt Mansion at No. 27 The Bund.

The seat Zhou Jiancheng had reserved offered a view of the Huangpu River and the Oriental Pearl Tower on the opposite side.

"It's a pity it's noon right now; if it were night, the night view would be even more beautiful," Zhou Jiancheng said with a smile.

This meal wasn't expensive; excluding alcohol, the per-person cost was just over 1,000, but the environment was indeed excellent.

Song Yuncheng seemed to like the environment here very much.

Chen Yansen, however, felt nothing special; he had been to this table with different women before.

Compared to more than ten years later, the dishes hadn't changed much.

After the meal, Chen Yansen declined Zhou Jiancheng's invitation to stay, stood up to take his leave, and walked with Song Yuncheng along the Bund promenade.

In the greenery nearby, pink, cloud-like plants were planted, attracting many tourists to stop and take photos.

Song Yuncheng stopped, looking somewhat tempted.

"Go ahead, I'll take the picture for you," Chen Yansen said with a smile, seeing through her thoughts.

"Thank you," Song Yuncheng said with a grin.

She wore a simple, clean-cut blazer, her hair strands fluttering lightly in the wind, her gaze soft as she looked at Chen Yansen.

Chen Yansen raised his phone but suddenly froze.

In Song Yuncheng's eyes, he saw only his own reflection; was he really going to scum over a girl who liked him so much?

Chen Yansen hesitated somewhat; Song Yuncheng was different from Zhou Keyuan and Ye Qiuping. She loved making money and also seemed to like him.

"Is it done?" Song Yuncheng asked with a smile, revealing a row of fine, pearly teeth. A ray of sunlight fell, making her seem as if she were glowing all over.

"Mm, come take a look," Chen Yansen said, pressing the shutter twice to capture Song Yuncheng at her most beautiful.

When it came to photographing girls, he still had some skill.

Of course, the photography venues Mr. Chen specialized in were often in hotels, villas, and private clubs; only with the environmental buff could he unleash his strongest photography skills.

After strolling around the Bund, the two headed to the International Expo Center, where the National Day auto show was happening.

Chen Yansen had grown tired of his BMW 750 long ago; taking this opportunity, he naturally wanted to treat himself to a few more cars.

The two got out of the car and walked into the auto show center, looking along the booths of various brands.

Song Yuncheng, following beside, only then realized that her savings were only enough to buy mid-to-low-end models.

As for the cars Chen Yansen inquired about, even the cheapest ones she could only afford half of.

Chen Yansen bought cars as if buying groceries; at the Bentley and Aston Martin booths, he paid deposits and signed contracts, ordering one Bentley Mulsanne and one Aston Martin Rapide respectively.

The total price of the two cars was nearly 10 million; the subsequent procedures would be handled by Gao Weilin.

The entire car-buying process took less than an hour.

Seeing that it was still early, Chen Yansen took Song Yuncheng to a shooting range.

Watching a beauty shoot a pistol was also a kind of pleasure. Chen Yansen stood aside, watching Song Yuncheng, wearing noise-canceling headphones, adjust her posture continuously under the coach's guidance while holding a Walther pistol.

"Bang!"

"Bang bang bang!"

Song Yuncheng's face was full of excitement. Hearing the electronic prompt, she ran happily to Chen Yansen and said, "33 points out of 10 shots; not a single miss."

This level couldn't be called talented; it could only be said to be a bit better than average.

After all, the target was only 10 meters away.

"Was it fun?" Chen Yansen asked.

"It's my first time shooting a gun; it's quite thrilling," Song Yuncheng said, her face flushed, radiating the excitement of a surge in adrenaline.

"Next time, I'll take you to the Northern Ice Country. For 10,000 yuan, you can play with tanks and heavy machine guns freely, and the bullets are unlimited."

Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

Perhaps it was the unique quality he sensed in Song Yuncheng, different from other girls, that made Chen Yansen bring her to the shooting range.

"No need, one experience is enough," Song Yunching said softly, sitting down next to Chen Yansen.

At the same time.

Upon learning that Chen Yansen had established another new company and that its main business was still e-commerce, Ma Liyun couldn't help but ponder the other party's intentions.

After a long while, he decided to have Zhang Yong sound out Chen Yansen; if possible, Mama Ali would invest early.

Yuri, in the capital of the Northern Ice Country, upon learning that Chen Yansen had rejected DST's valuation offer, pondered briefly and decided to go to Huaguo in person.

He wanted to see with his own eyes how this young man, not yet twenty, had created two companies with valuations exceeding ten billion within a year.

(End of this chapter)