Chapter 238: Is a Goal of One Trillion Too Much to Ask?

In mid-March, the Thousand Group War was gradually drawing to a close.

Over two years, nearly 6,000 group-buying websites had shrunk by more than 5,000, burning through 7 billion yuan of venture capital along the way.

Leading companies had begun to dictate the market's direction; small and mid-sized sites had already been abandoned by investors—unable to secure funding or grab users, they could only slowly wait to die.

The founder of Dida Group even shouted out a cabbage price of 20% equity in exchange for a 5 million yuan investment, just to get funded.

Unfortunately, investors weren't fools. In this industry, it had always been more about adding flowers to brocade than delivering charcoal in the snow—they would rather stuff money into LaShou, Meituan, Dianping, WoWo Group, and Nuomi than waste a single cent on Dida Group.

Chen Yansen flipped open an investigative report. When he saw Meituan's market share had reached as high as 21%, second only to LaShou's 27%, his brow furrowed slightly.

Wang Xin had still pushed Meituan to number two in the industry!

The remaining culling would be quick: five into four, four into three, three into two—in the end, only two or three companies would survive on the final track.

Dianping's rise was astonishing; in just half a year, it surpassed WoWo Group and Nuomi in market scale, leaping from outside the top ten to third place.

Although LaShou still firmly held the industry's top seat, under the pincer attack of Meituan and Dianping it gradually felt the strain, its market share plummeting from over 40% to 27%.

Who would ultimately win was still unknown!

At the same time, *Legend of Zhen Huan* began broadcasting on satellite channels, Weibo users broke through the 300 million mark, *Titanic 3D* announced a re-release, and Liu Qiangdong pressed the start button on JD's IPO preparations.

On the eve of the mobile internet explosion, capital was flooding in madly, and all sorts of bizarre projects were growing wildly on the coattails of the trend.

From "24-hour errand-running to buy sanitary pads," to "shared boyfriends," "office pet rentals," and even absurd projects like "Bitcoin mining training" could all secure angel investment, leaving netizens wide-eyed.

"Knock knock knock—!"

Just then, the sound of knocking came from outside the door.

"Come in!" Chen Yansen set down the report and replied softly.

HR Director Wang Xueting pushed the door open and walked in. After standing still, she explained: "Boss, Huang Zong has arrived. He's in meeting room B6 on the first floor."

"Bring him up." Chen Yansen's eyebrow rose, and he gave the order directly.

"Please wait a moment." Wang Xueting turned and left, carefully closing the door behind her.

Three minutes later, an HR specialist from Sister Chengzi's company led Huang Zheng to the office door.

"President Huang, welcome!" Chen Yansen rose to greet him, smiling.

"President Chen, pardon the sudden visit! I've brought you some fresh tea from my hometown—a small token of my regard, please accept it."

Huang Zheng lifted up the gift bag and displayed it openly.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Please, sit! What kind of tea does President Huang like?"

Chen Yansen took the gift, placed it in the tea cabinet, then turned his head and asked.

"President Chen, I'm not picky about tea leaves—you decide. Also, you can call me Colin." Huang Zheng was slightly ill at ease and waved his hand as he spoke.

"Alright, Lao Huang, then we'll drink Huangya tea—let you have a taste of my hometown's specialty too."

Chen Yansen took the tea leaves and returned to the tea table.

Boil water, brew tea, pour tea—his movements flowed like clouds and water, completed in one breath.

Huang Zheng observed Chen Yansen on the sly. Even though he had mentally prepared himself before setting out, upon meeting the man he couldn't help but feel hesitant.

Chen Yansen was far too young. Would following a boss like him really be better than starting his own business?

He had asked Duan Yongping's opinion, but the man only said: "That decision can only be made by you. Other people's views are bound to be mixed with subjective emotions."

After receiving Gao Weilin's phone call, Huang Zheng deliberated for five or six days, during which he studied Chen Yansen's entrepreneurial journey once more.

In August 2010, Senhai Technology was established; in September, the Fox Taobao project was incubated, and half a year later it became the leader of the shopping-guide e-commerce industry;

In March 2011, Sister Chengzi's company was established, assembling the R&D team for the AuroraOS operating system;

In August 2011, the Sister Chengzi C1 phone went on sale; on launch day, 200,000 units were sold in 14 hours;

In September 2011, Fox Taobao was sold to Mama Ali Baba, successfully cashing out 12 billion yuan;

In October 2011, PinBei Technology was established, securing a top-tier traffic portal from Penguin and 300 million USD in funding;

In November 2011, Sister Chengzi's company received a strategic investment of 1.35 billion USD from DST Capital, and took the opportunity to optimize its own supply chain system.

Across all of Asia, it would be hard to find a business genius who could run shoulder-to-shoulder with Chen Yansen.

Every step the man took was steady and sure. Whether it was promotion, sales, or finance and supplier management—no matter how thorny the matter, Chen Yansen had never stumbled on any of them.

"Lao Huang, drink your tea!"

Chen Yansen pushed a cup of hot tea in front of Huang Zheng and studied him with great interest.

A decade or so from now, there weren't many entrepreneurs who would be shouted down and beaten, but Huang Zheng was the most famous of them all.

"Thank you, President Chen." Huang Zheng took the teacup and replied politely.

"The position of PinBei CEO has been vacant. I can hand it to you, but I have one requirement: within two years, you must push PinBei's annual sales to one trillion."

Chen Yansen picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and said unhurriedly.

One trillion—it looked like he was making things difficult!

But given PinBei's current growth trajectory, annual sales could break through 260 billion by year's end.

In his previous life, Pinduoduo had taken four years to achieve this goal.

Chen Yansen believed that, with the traffic boost from Penguin and Sister Chengzi phones, if Huang Zheng couldn't pull it off, then he didn't deserve to sit in PinBei's CEO seat.

Huang Zheng was stunned by the words and subconsciously swallowed.

His LeQi operations company had only done a total of 300 million in business last year.

What did one trillion even mean?

It would require cultivating at least ten thousand merchants with annual sales over 100 million!

Mama Ali's total sales for 2011 were only a little over 600 billion!

Huang Zheng stared fixedly at Chen Yansen. From the look in the man's eyes, it wasn't hard to tell the target was serious—he wasn't joking around.

He opened his mouth, about to say a few words of rebuttal, when he heard Chen Yansen add: "This requirement is a bit high for an ordinary person, but I believe in your ability."

Believe in what the hell!

I don't even believe it myself!

Huang Zheng was at a loss between laughter and tears, unable to help but curse inwardly, but since the future boss had spoken, he couldn't let those words fall to the ground, so he forced a smile and said, "Thank you for the boss's trust; I will do my best."

There was no choice; Chen Yansen was giving too much, with a generous base salary and stock option rewards, more than he could earn starting his own business.

Besides, he would never again have to beg people everywhere to secure brand operation contracts, spending all day pretending to be a grandson to others.

Once he took the position of Pinbei CEO, apart from a small handful of top-tier S and A-level brands, which brand owner would dare not treat him like a biological father?

Chen Yansen smiled faintly; seeing Huang Zheng change his address, he knew the other party had agreed to join.

To put it plainly, Huang Zheng had not yet made a name for himself in the industry at this moment; suddenly receiving an olive branch from an e-commerce tycoon, how could he not be tempted?

This was comparable to the owner of a small operation company with an annual net profit of less than ten million meeting Ma Liyun on the street, with the other party inviting him to serve as Mama Ali CEO, which was equally shocking.

The only reason Huang Zheng could still keep his composure was that, under Duan Yongping's cultivation, he had seen many big shots, allowing his mindset to remain steady.

"Finish wrapping up Leqi's work as soon as possible; the Pinbei 618 big promotion is approaching; if you do well, it will be your battle to make a name for yourself!"

Chen Yuncheng stood up and patted Huang Zheng on the shoulder.

Subduing a Huang Zheng brought him little sense of satisfaction; the person before him was not an e-commerce tycoon worth hundreds of billions, but merely a former Google project manager who had started two businesses and still hadn't found the right direction.

If Lei Yijun ran over to be his little brother, perhaps it would stir up a bit of conquest desire in him.

"Boss, I sold Leqi to Lamington Global; subsequent handover doesn't require my participation; I can join at any time."

Huang Zheng said immediately.

Although the goal of ten trillion was high, the annual salary and equity value matched to the Pinbei CEO position, along with its industry influence, made his blood boil.

Of course, he needed to join early to push Pinbei into a faster development lane.

"Alright, I'll take you to Building 8 to meet the heads of each department at Pinbei."

Chen Yansen raised his hand to check the time; there was still an hour and a half until lunch, so it was indeed enough time.

"Okay, thank you, boss." Huang Zheng followed behind Chen Yansen and walked into the elevator together.

On the other side.

Upon receiving the news, Xiong Li and Zhang Junjie immediately sent meeting notifications to all department directors; in five minutes, go to the boss's office.

"Brother Li, what's going on? Didn't we just finish the morning meeting?"

Cai Qiming, the Design Department Director, leaned over and asked Xiong Li curiously.

Xiong Li's work style was capable and decisive, and his personality was aggressive, earning him the nickname 'Brother Li'.

"We are getting a new boss." Xiong Li rolled his eyes at Cai Qiming; this Taiwanese sissy, he had told him countless times, but this guy insisted on calling him 'Brother Li'.

"Is your wife pregnant?" Zhang Wenbo, passing by the two of them, stopped in his tracks with a look of utter surprise on his face.

"Wenbo, what are you thinking? It must be that Brother Sen has confirmed the CEO candidate." Xiang Pengfei covered his mouth and laughed loudly, amused by Zhang Wenbo's train of thought.

"Ah!? Oh, oh." Zhang Wenbo rubbed his nose and smiled awkwardly.

Wang Zihao, Song Yuncheng, Zhang Yifeng, Chen Peng from Internal Control, Yang Pinglun from Marketing, Fei Qiwen from Customer Service, Finance and Legal, and others successively rushed to the office where Chen Yansen was located.

Wang Zihao poked his head in for a glance and saw Chen Yansen leaning against the conference table, chatting with a man in his early thirties wearing a suit.

"Come in! What are you doing standing outside? Old Huang, let me introduce you; this is Wang Zihao, the head of the Advertising Department at Pinbei."

Chen Yansen caught a glimpse of Wang Zihao out of the corner of his eye and waved him over.

"Section Chief Wang, please look after us in the future; we need to cooperate well to achieve the ten trillion sales target as soon as possible."

Huang Zheng stepped forward and proactively showed goodwill.

Before deciding to join Pinbei, he had asked someone to investigate the backgrounds of Pinbei's core personnel to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Although Wang Zihao's position as Section Chief was low, the other party was the big boss's childhood friend and close comrade, and also one of Pinbei's top ten employees.

Therefore, Huang Zheng behaved exceptionally affably.

Afterwards, the heads of each department greeted Huang Zheng in turn, and only then did everyone take their seats.

"Effective immediately, Huang Zong Zheng will serve as the CEO of Pinbei; weekly reports from all departments and daily reports from the Data Department will henceforth be sent directly to Director Huang, with a copy sent to me."

Chen Yansen announced.

"Alright, boss!" Everyone in the room responded in unison.

"As for the ten trillion target mentioned just now by Director Huang, it is indeed true; I hope everyone can get it done within two years! After 618, I will distribute equity incentives to all staff based on sales performance; let's go!"

Chen Yansen spoke briefly.

Up to now, the number of people holding equity in Pinbei did not exceed 30; excluding Song Yuncheng, Xiang Pengfei, Zhang Yifeng, and Xu Xingxing, the rest were all department directors.

Cai Qiming's eyes lit up, and the smile on his lips was impossible to suppress; he had traveled thousands of miles to the mainland for nothing other than achieving financial freedom!

Nowadays, the value of each Pinbei stock option was around 5 US dollars; he originally held 100,000 shares; if the big boss was generous, he could at least increase his income by several million more.

In an instant, the office was bustling with noise, with constant flattery.

Chen Yansen smiled and shook his head.

Huang Zheng took over the operational power of Pinbei from his hands.

On his second day in office, he reorganized the pricing systems with brand owners of major home appliances such as Haier, Gree, Midea, Fotile, and Shuaikang; utilizing differences in models, specifications, and batches, he made slight adjustments to selling prices on products with identical functions to compete with JD. com and Suning for home appliance users.

Liu Qiangdong soon noticed sensitively that the output of the home appliance category had declined recently; he originally thought it was because the Suning 418 big promotion was about to launch, suppressing user demand.

However, after some investigation, he was surprised to find that not only had sales on the main JD. com site decreased, but even the JD. com self-operated products on Pinbei showed a shrinking trend.

"He, Chen Yansen, is not being honorable!"

Liu Qiangdong cursed loudly in anger.

The first strike Huang Zheng made after taking office was aimed at Liu Qiangdong.

In the e-commerce war, there is no early or late; only a fight to the death!

Pinbei, having utilized the home appliance resources of JD. com, Suning, and Gome, and after completing the accumulation of users and merchants, finally revealed its hand and stopped pretending, entering the arena to directly compete with Taobao and JD. com for the major home appliance market.

This made Zhang Jindong of Suning extremely angry as well, because before the Pinbei 618 big promotion, they had also prepared a 418 Home Appliance Category Day; wasn't this launching a ultimate attack right in their face?

By then, a portion of Suning's home appliance orders would inevitably be snatched away by Pinbei.

At the same time.

On the streets and alleys of Jin Ling, one could frequently see street-promotion staff carrying laptops fitted with wireless network cards, stopping young men and women to ask: "Buddy, want a free ride-hailing?"

After securing 600 million Hua Yuan in funding, Cheng Weixing immediately replicated the Hangcheng free ride-hailing model in the Jin Ling market.

Offline there were street promoters, online there was Sister Chengzi's app store and Penguin's traffic push — on the day of launch, it set the entire city of Jin Ling ablaze.

"Who the hell still stands at intersections to hail cabs? Everyone books their ride on a phone app and strolls over to the pickup point nice and easy."

The young people of Jin Ling regarded it as a fashion.

In the past, when scolded by taxi drivers, passengers mostly had to take it. Now, if they got cursed at, they'd turn around and give the driver a bad review, and the platform would deduct a fine from the driver's earnings and convert it into compensation vouchers for the user.

Just as Kuaidi Ride-Hailing was conquering territory in Hangcheng and Jin Ling, Cheng Wei, who had resigned over half a month ago, had also assembled a team in Yanjing and was going all-out developing the Didi Ride-Hailing app.

(End of chapter)