Chapter 266: 4 Hours, 10.6 Billion! Li Yanhong: Keep Fighting!

"Hundred-kilometer orders completed in one minute! Ride-hailing platform loses tens of millions to fraudsters!"

"Didi Chuxing exploited: drivers use fake ride software to scam over 20 million in subsidies!"

"Didi Chuxing exposed for security vulnerabilities: can users' phone numbers, home addresses, and other private data be protected?"

The three most-clicked reports: the first two mocked Didi Chuxing's risk control flaws; the third struck at the core, reasonably questioning whether user privacy was safeguarded on the Didi platform.

Instantly, Didi Chuxing's downloads plummeted, and its reputation suffered severely.

But to gray-market operators, Didi Chuxing was a golden goose.

They hadn't noticed before, but now they knew: in May and June, someone had siphoned off millions from Didi Chuxing—this money was too easy to make; no one could resist.

Cheng Wei believed that reporting the fraudsters to the police would deter the wool parties.

But he hadn't expected more and more people to set their sights on Didi Chuxing's subsidy pie.

On the other side, Hui Ge and his group, having fled all the way to Shencheng, found their technology couldn't breach Didi Chuxing's security defenses, so they secretly hired local programmers to continue searching for technical loopholes.

After making quick money, who still wants to work a regular job?

Kuai Di Chuxing suffered the same fate: countless hackers tried bypassing authorization access, SQL injection, and other paths; countless drivers used fake location software.

But these users often received account bans the moment they started a ride.

Kuai Di Chuxing's anti-fraud system was far stronger than outsiders had assumed.

Thus, Didi Chuxing became the prime target.

Behind the scenes, over 10% of Didi Chuxing's daily subsidy funds still ended up in the hands of gray-market operators.

On June 16, Kuai Di Chuxing entered Changshan City in Beihé Province.

Cheng Weixing's move was effectively a public declaration: Kuai Di Chuxing had officially launched its battle for the northern ride-hailing market.

The next day, Cheng Wei dispatched a team of Didi's core staff to Changshan.

The conflict between the two companies instantly spread from Yancheng to Beihé.

"We've been waiting day and night—and finally, free ride-hailing apps have arrived!"

"Is this what it's like to live next to the capital?"

"I've downloaded both Kuai Di and Didi Chuxing—waiting for free rides to work. I don't even care about buses anymore, hahaha!"

Netizens in Changshan flooded the comment sections.

Some even posted detailed illustrated guides on local forums, showing step-by-step how to download Kuai Di or Didi Chuxing, link Orange Pay or Alipay, enter pickup and drop-off locations, request a ride, and complete payment.

Changshan's taxi drivers didn't even need promotional steps: on Kuai Di Chuxing's first day in town, driver app downloads hit 1, 00; Didi Chuxing reached 1, 00.

Everyone was waiting to make money!

With the 618 e-commerce mega-sale approaching, the ride-hailing war would grow even more intense.

Kuai Di Chuxing burned over 6 million daily on promotion; Didi Chuxing burned over 3 million—totaling 10 million per day.

Crucially, the two platforms overlapped in only two cities.

When they expanded to twenty, two hundred cities, wouldn't they burn hundreds of millions per day?

Kuai Di Chuxing's investors—including Tencent, Ali, DST, Huake, and Jinsha Capital—could no longer sit still. They had money, yes, but even they couldn't sustain this model.

One month was fine, two months tolerable—but keep burning like this, no one could hold out!

Liu Zhiping was the first to call: "Chen Zong, I think we should pause. Over 300 million in promotion costs per month—how can Tencent dare to invest more?"

"Liu Zong, I know unprofitable businesses shouldn't be pursued—but the ride-hailing market is too small. Without pouring money in to cultivate user habits, the pie won't grow. You should be grateful we have Baidu, Hillhouse, and Sequoia helping us burn cash."

Chen Yan sat in his office on Building 8, smiling faintly.

Grateful?

Liu Zhiping swallowed his urge to curse and patiently urged: "Why not have Zhang Lei reach out to Li Yanhong and Cheng Wei for a meeting?"

Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital had invested in both Kuai Di and Didi Chuxing—he was the perfect mediator.

"Fine, I don't mind." Chen Yan agreed readily.

In May and June, Baidu had invested 130 million Huayuan total; Cheng Wei hadn't even spent half, and daily orders still hovered below 300, 00.

Chen Yan didn't believe Baidu, at its peak, would surrender so easily.

Sure enough, when Zhang Lei approached Li Yanhong, he was rejected instantly—just one phrase: "Keep fighting!"

To Li Yanhong, only when holding at least half the market share could negotiations begin.

Baidu refused to negotiate; Sequoia and Today Capital were also hardliners, believing the ride-hailing market was still in its early stage—no one knew who would ultimately win.

Kuai Di Chuxing had merely gained temporary advantage.

To compromise under pressure now would mean abandoning the chance to dominate the market and seize massive profits.

Fortune favors the bold!

Cheng Wei, Baidu, Sequoia, and Today Capital—all refused to yield.

China had twenty-eight first- and second-tier cities, and seventy to eighty third- and fourth-tier cities.

Didi and Kuai Di hadn't even cracked one-tenth of the market—negotiating now was premature.

Liu Zhiping, Zhang Lei, and others had no choice but to keep fighting alongside Chen Yan.

From an investor's rational perspective, merging the two companies to reduce internal waste was the best solution for everyone's interests.

But who would get the bigger slice of this pie?

Chen Yan wanted it. Tencent wanted it. Baidu wanted it. Cheng Wei wanted it too.

Thus, Zhang Lei's suggestion was naturally ignored.

…

…

Xucheng, Zhuxianzhuang Tech Park, Building 8.

Night was deep, yet the building glowed brightly, buzzing with voices.

The 618 mega-sale launch time was set for June 17 at 8 PM.

"Who's handling the Shao Bei rice vendor? Get operations to restock immediately! No stock? Put it on pre-sale!"

"Mi2 is sold out! Use the 360 G800 Pro as a replacement!"

"Midea air circulator fan sells for 269 yuan on Jingdong—27 yuan cheaper than us. Take it offline! If price isn't dropped to 268 yuan within ten minutes, kick it out of the mega-sale pool."

"Miss Song, Huaijiang Tongyue RS is out of stock across North China—can you check if more stock is available? Otherwise, we'll have to block it in those delivery zones!"

The merchant operations and major client acquisition offices sat side by side, filled with constant shouting.

In just two hours, over a hundred products with billion-yuan subsidies sold out.

Orange C1's price dropped to 1, 99 yuan for the first time—eleven months since its initial launch.

The Snapdragon MSM8260 dual-core processor, 1GB+8GB RAM, and 8-megapixel rear camera still held their own in the smartphone market.

Sold 117, 00 units in two hours!

Orange D1, priced at 799 yuan, completely sold out in the low-end smartphone market—total online sales reached 549, 00 units.

As the flagship model, Orange C2 also saw astonishing sales: after a 100-yuan price cut, total online sales hit 164, 00 units.

"2012 is truly the year of smartphone sales explosion."

Chen Yan remarked calmly.

Compared to 2011, domestic smartphone shipments had more than doubled.

"Boss, the buses and hotels are arranged. Estimated departure times across departments are between 12: 0 and 1: 0 AM..."

Xu Xingxing walked over, reporting methodically on the admin department's arrangements.

About 40% of Pindai Mall employees lived in Xucheng city proper; getting home after midnight posed a transport problem.

The company arranged for everyone to stay in city hotels, then transported them back to the tech park by bus the next day.

Employees who didn't want to stay in hotels could take taxis home—the company would reimburse them.

"1: 0 AM? Too late! No need to force everyone to stay. Tell department heads: at 12: 5 AM, anyone still at their desk—entire department's Q2 bonus gets a 10% cut."

Chen Yan smiled.

In reality, Pindai's risk-alert, auto-replenishment, and algorithm-ranking features—backed by big data—didn't require everyone to work overtime.

Each department only needed two or three staff on duty.

But Wang Zihao, Zhang Yifeng, Zhang Wenbo, Zhuang Rui, and others insisted that mega-sale overtime was an old "FoxTao" tradition that couldn't be abandoned.

For frontline staff, each Double Eleven, Double Twelve, or 618 wasn't exhausting—the hardest part was the prep work.

The day before and the day of the sale, everyone ate and drank freely; the real grinders were the admin staff, running nonstop.

They had to arrange barbecue meals for the canteen, pre-order hotpot, beer, fried chicken, and snacks, and solve transportation and lodging after work.

"Got it, Boss!"

Xu Xingxing grinned and rushed off to deliver the message.

*Pssst!

Chen Yan popped open a beer, sipping as he walked, inspecting from the first floor upward.

In less than a year, Pindai had grown from a dozen people to over 1, 00.

Building 8 had been half-empty; now, every floor held over 200 employees.

"Boss!"

"Boss!"

"Chief!"

Chen Yan strolled calmly into the client department; Meng Xibo, Zhu Xiaopeng, and Fei Qiwén stood up immediately to greet him.

"There's barbecue downstairs—help yourself." Chen Yan smiled casually.

"I'll go down soon," Fei Qiwén replied with a smile.

After more than a decade of work, Pinbei was the most comfortable company he had ever been with—inter-departmental rivalries were minimal, and though the boss was young, he had none of the arrogance or self-importance common among young entrepreneurs.

The base salary was generous, and benefits included five insurances and one housing fund, housing subsidies, meal allowances, transportation subsidies, quarterly bonuses, and overtime pay—all present and accounted for.

Though the work was demanding, it left people energized and motivated.

"Are customer complaints frequent?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"Customer service call volume has increased sixfold, but complaints are widely dispersed and within normal thresholds," Meng Xibo replied.

"Good." Chen Yansen smiled and didn't linger, heading upstairs to the Major Client Acquisition Department.

At this hour, the business and operations teams were gathered together, eating grilled skewers and drinking beer; whenever they encountered out-of-stock items, they called merchants to urge them to increase inventory.

"Boss!" everyone greeted in unison.

"Sen-ge! Let me buy you a drink!" Chi Kai, an operations staff member from the Food Group, boldly stepped forward.

"I heard from Yifeng that your performance is strong—keep it up," Chen Yansen said, clapping him on the shoulder.

Privately, Zhang Yifeng had indeed mentioned to him that Chi Kai's business skills were solid and that he deserved a promotion evaluation.

Chen Yansen had checked with the risk control department—during his time at Pinbei, Chi Kai had never extorted or taken bribes from merchants.

Perhaps the earlier rumors were inaccurate; Chi Kai's shady past at Store No. 1 might truly have been taking the blame for his boss.

"Thank you, Sen-ge, for the praise—but compared to Brother Feng, General Yuan, and Brother Hui, I still have a long way to go," Chi Kai replied humbly, making Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, and Li Hui beside him feel pleasantly satisfied.

Chen Yansen sat in the Merchant Operations Department, chatting casually with Zhang Yifeng and others.

The large screen scrolled through Pinbei's total site sales data.

By dawn, the final sales figure settled at 1. 6 billion.

(End of Chapter)