Chapter 155: Following Ali Is Like Starving Nine Times in Three Days! Little Ma

The next morning.

Chen Yan and Song Yuncheng drove to Star Helicopter Company, paid 18, 00, and signed the contract.

Then, under the pilot's guidance, they went to the outdoor helipad.

A white-painted sightseeing helicopter was parked there; the pilot was a local named Zhao Yi, with over a decade of flying experience.

He treated Chen Yan and Song Yuncheng with extreme courtesy.

After all, there weren't many fools willing to spend 18, 00 just for an hour's flight over Husheng.

Star Helicopter Company had opened a civilian experience program, but its main profits came from commercial rescue operations; customers like Chen Yan numbered no more than a few per week.

"Mr. Chen, after takeoff, we'll circle Pudong first, then fly toward the Bund. Two years ago, residents complained about noise pollution, so after entering the city center, we'll increase altitude—this may slightly affect the view. Please understand."

Zhao Yi gave this standard reminder before takeoff.

"No problem," Chen Yan nodded, not caring much.

Song Yuncheng was nervous but followed Chen Yan into the back seat.

The bubble-style cabin was small, seating only four.

"Mr. Chen, shall we take off?" Zhao Yi confirmed once more.

Chen Yan fastened his seatbelt and replied.

The ten-meter rotor, driven by the engine, roared loudly, then the helicopter slowly rose into the air and flew off into the distance.

The helicopter circled Pudong for over ten minutes, skimmed over the East Sea past Chongming Island, passed the Bund, and finally returned to Star Helicopter Company's helipad.

This low-altitude flight felt nothing like riding a commercial airliner.

After landing, Song Yuncheng's face was flushed, her arm linked tightly with Chen Yan's, her legs weak, yet her eyes sparkled with the excitement of a young girl.

"Mr. Chen, here's my business card—thank you for supporting Star Helicopter," Zhao Yi politely handed it over.

Chen Yan took it without speaking and walked out with Song Yuncheng.

"Where are we going this afternoon?" Song Yuncheng asked curiously.

These past two days with Chen Yan, she'd experienced things she'd never touched before, and her playful nature had been fully awakened.

Since her brother's accident, Song Yuncheng had been emotionally suppressed, spending her time only on studying and part-time work.

But in truth, she was just a twenty-year-old girl, and under Chen Yan's guidance, she was clearly much happier.

"This afternoon, we're looking at apartments," Chen Yan said casually.

"You're buying a house?" Song Yuncheng looked astonished.

"It's just buying a house—you can afford it too," Chen Yan shrugged, his tone light.

At this time, housing prices outside Husheng's outer ring didn't exceed 10, 00 for small neighborhoods; with Song Yuncheng's bank balance, paying in full for one wasn't difficult.

"To buy a house in Husheng, you need to be married," Song Yuncheng said softly, looking at Chen Yan.

"You know quite a bit," Chen Yan smiled—he wasn't bound by that restriction.

Because Senlian Capital was registered in Husheng, he could buy property under the company's name, no hassle.

After lunch, they rested briefly, then drove to a villa complex in Pudong.

Chen Yan stepped out, glanced at it, and thought: I paid for this same house twice.

The villa at No. 116, Yunjin Villa District, was precisely his residence in Husheng during his past life.

It was a three-story detached villa, 760 square meters in construction area, with a basement and over 200 square meters of garden included.

In his past life, he'd paid over 40 million to acquire it.

This time, it was cheap—only half the price.

Chen Yan planned to relocate Orange Tech to Husheng; when traveling or on business trips, he couldn't keep staying in hotels forever.

After some thought, he bought the villa again.

After signing the purchase contract, Chen Yan messaged Gao De on WeChat to handle the rest of the process.

"An extra key—want it?"

Chen Yan extended his hand and smiled.

Song Yuncheng didn't hesitate; she took the key from his palm and carefully tucked it into her pocket.

"Tomorrow we go to Qin Island, the day after to Shuangqing. Next time you return to Lujang, remember to get your passport—I'll take you farther."

Chen Yan placed his hand on Song Yuncheng's head and gently ruffled her hair, smiling.

"Oh, okay," Song Yuncheng obediently replied.

Throughout the National Day holiday, Chen Yan visited three cities, playing until late on the 6th, when they finally returned to Xu Yuan by car.

The dormitory gate had long been closed; both silently returned to Room 0418.

The next morning, Song Yuncheng pushed her suitcase toward the girls' dormitory.

After six full days of rest, Chen Yan sat on the sofa and finally remembered the launch plan for his new project.

Unlike when he built Fox Taobao, this time he had his own insights and programming skills for front-end, back-end, and mobile development.

He spread his laptop on his lap and typed rapidly, starting from scratch to organize the product requirements for "Pinbei."

Before Ali took over Fox Taobao, Chen Yan had copied all the merchant CRM data.

Of course, from a business standpoint, Chen Yan's actions weren't honorable—but he'd never claimed to be honorable.

Although most merchants here were distributors and agents, with few true manufacturers, they were still sufficient as initial merchant resources for Pinbei.

He didn't intend to fully replicate Pinduoduo's business model; instead, he'd combine strategies from e-commerce practices fifteen years in the future to create a mature model ahead of time.

He aimed to achieve daily orders of 10, 00—or even 100, 00 or 1 million—in an extremely short time.

On one hand, he needed Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, Li Hui, and others to help him connect with industrial belt factories for direct sourcing and the best prices; on the other, he needed Tencent's traffic entry points.

Neither could be missing!

He had to grasp both the traffic side and the supply side—firmly, decisively!

In the afternoon, students gradually returned to campus; Chen Yan stopped by the bus station to pick up Meng Jie.

"Sorry—I had to attend my cousin's wedding. Next holiday, I'll definitely go out with you."

Meng Jie felt guilty; every holiday, either her father pressured her to go home or relatives got married, and she couldn't refuse.

"Alright," Chen Yan smiled in agreement.

In life, you always need backup plans—otherwise, wouldn't Boss Chen have spent this National Day holiday alone in Room 0418 like all the single dogs?

…

…

A thousand miles away, in Shencheng, Tencent Headquarters.

Ma Wenteng, Liu Zhiping, and several senior executives sat in Little Ma's office, chatting in small groups.

"Tap-tap-tap"—Ma Wenteng knocked on the table; seeing them talk endlessly without reaching a conclusion, he immediately reminded them.

"Martin, you speak first," Ma Wenteng said, seeing they still wouldn't speak, and directly called on him.

"I have no objections—if Chen Yan is willing to give up equity, giving him a Tier-1 traffic entry is fine, as long as he can make Tencent's e-commerce module work."

Liu Zhiping spread his hands, indifferent.

Gao Peng and QQ Group Buying had received massive funding and resources from the group, but now one was nearly dead, the other barely alive.

Chen Yan's remark that "Tencent lacks the gene for e-commerce" seemed painfully accurate—none of them could even figure out local life services.

Better to hand the money and traffic over to someone more reliable.

"Mr. Ma, I disagree! WeChat is just starting—I don't want to overload it with commercial elements; it'll ruin the product," Zhang Xiaolong raised his head, showing no respect to Liu Zhiping, leading the opposition.

"I think we can give it—if the other side brings Tencent enough profit."

Zhang Zhidong, head of QQ Business, spoke calmly.

"I heard Alibaba plans to join Pinbei's angel round," Liu Zhiping added.

He advocated that Tencent abandon its own e-commerce strategy and instead deepen its influence in the industry through investment.

Chen Yan was a young man he highly regarded; after several interactions, he believed Chen Yan had the ability to claim a place in the e-commerce arena.

After all, the man had stormed into the smartphone industry without hesitation—why couldn't he succeed in e-commerce?

Ma Wenteng was torn; Pinbei Technology wasn't a Tencent subsidiary—why should it get a Tier-1 entry?

What would the heads of QQ Hard Drive, QQ Notes, and QQ Weibo think?

Was the biological son less favored than the adopted one?

If Chen Yan were willing to let Tencent take controlling equity, Ma Wenteng wouldn't hesitate—he'd give it immediately.

But he knew Chen Yan's nature—if he'd been willing, he'd have joined Tencent directly and taken over Paipai instead of starting his own company.

"Martin, have Chenfeng feel him out—if he's willing to give up 30% equity, I'll approve the Tier-1 entry."

After a moment's thought, Ma Wenteng made his decision.

"OK," Liu Zhiping nodded, understanding.

On the other side.

After hanging up from Ali, Chen Yan couldn't help but laugh.

He built Pinbei to compete with Taobao and JD. om, yet Old Ma was the second person to express investment interest.

Zhang Yong opened with a $500 million valuation; Ali was willing to invest 100 million for a 20% stake.

Know that today, Pinbei is nothing but a shell—worthless, with no value beyond its company name.

Old Ma truly believed in him!

But Chen Yan wasn't interested—Ali and Pinbei were both traffic-consuming platforms that needed to buy traffic themselves.

Following Ali is like starving nine times in three days!

Has any company acquired by Ali ever grown bigger?

Some have shut down; others are barely clinging on!

Chen Yansen simply wanted to say: Sorry, please don't get involved!

After rejecting A Li, IDG, Thinking, and Sequoia Capital all called in succession, with valuations ranging from one to two billion Huayuan each.

Everyone wants a bargain—how could something so good exist?

Chen Yansen turned them all down, citing the reason that the project hadn't yet launched.

Based on his forecast of the e-commerce industry's trajectory, making Pinbei succeed was only expected—he wouldn't sell equity at a fire sale price.

But Tencent was different; if they truly agreed, the advertising costs alone could save him billions annually.

October 8th, the first workday after the holiday.

Building 6, Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park.

Chen Yansen sat in the first-floor conference room, watching each person walk in.

Meng Yaqin, Zhu Xiaopeng, Wang Zihao, Song Yuncheng, Xu Xingxing, Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, Hu Yun, Zhuang Rui, Li Hui, Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, Chen Xu, and Hu Li—only fourteen people in total.

"How was your break?" Chen Yansen asked with a smile once everyone had arrived.

"Boss Chen, let's get started! I'm ready!" Xiang Pengfei said eagerly.

"Don't you want to hear about your position's salary and benefits?" Chen Yansen teased.

Xu Dan didn't come along; Pinbei didn't even have a human resources manager—now, Orange Tech's HR department was handling all recruitment.

"Boss Chen, let's talk about the project first," Zhang Yifeng suggested.

"Yeah, Boss Chen, no matter how much you offer, we're all sticking with you," Xiang Pengfei grinned.

They'd all given up million-yuan salaries—what did a little delay matter?

"Group leader compensation matches A Li's P7 level. Additionally, Pinbei Tech adopts all of Fox Taobao's benefit policies. Xu Xingxing and Orange Tech's HR department will sign contracts with everyone this afternoon; monthly salary will be as stated in the contract."

Chen Yansen understood the principle of paying dearly to attract talent.

Moreover, these kids had turned down million-yuan salaries—if he haggled over every penny, wouldn't that make them feel undervalued?

"Holy shit! Boss Chen, you're not joking, right?" Wang Zihao blinked, immediately pressing.

Including the 20% monthly housing allowance, if their base salary was thirty thousand, they gained an extra six thousand per month.

But housing prices in Xucheng were only three thousand yuan per square meter—this wasn't a housing allowance; it was a home-buying subsidy.

"Additionally, 100, 00 stock options per person, with 25% vesting every six months, at an exercise price of 0. 1 yuan."

Chen Yansen intended to make up for all their losses.

"Boss Chen, how about I stay with you one more night? Otherwise, I can't feel right about taking this money," Zhuang Rui grinned.

"Get out!" Chen Yansen snapped.

Everyone burst into laughter.

In this empty office building, they seemed to have regained the passion of Fox Taobao's early days.

All morning, they discussed product development, gameplay, supply chain management, and more—only leaving the conference room at 12: 0.

(End of Chapter)