Chapter 302: Yanjing Food Delivery Storm! A Million-Delivery Order, A Thief

The next morning, the sky over Yanjing was just beginning to lighten.

Qindu Waimai officially launched, adding channel entry points across Qindu Search, Tieba, News, and Maps to provide massive exposure for the project's rollout.

Riders clad in red short-sleeve work uniforms rode uniformly on yellow electric scooters, each with a large food delivery box strapped to the back, dashing through the streets and alleyways of the HD district.

Right upon launch, the morning rush exploded with orders!

New users get 15 yuan off immediately—customers can eat breakfast for free; why not grab free wool when it's handed to you?

Orders for KuaiPao and Meituan inevitably took a hit.

In just a few days, Jiang Hao had switched to an orange KuaiPao rider uniform; from seven to ten a. ., he delivered 19 orders, earning 137. yuan—at this pace, he could easily clear three or four hundred a day.

"Oh! I knew you looked familiar—you're Xiao Jiang!" A Meituan rider pulled out a pack of Ligong cigarettes and ambled over with a grin.

Jiang Hao, resting against his scooter, turned his head—it was his former colleague, Big Lao Wang.

"Smoke one?" Big Lao Wang offered a cigarette, then rummaged through his pockets.

"Thanks, Lao Wang, I've got a lighter—let me light yours first!" Jiang Hao took the cigarette, fished out a lighter from his pocket, lit Big Lao Wang's, then his own.

Leaning together, they stared at the bustling capital streets, puffing smoke.

"Damn! Life's getting harder—Qindu's even getting into food delivery now. Meituan orders are pathetic—I only did seven this morning. Should've just stayed home and slept."

Big Lao Wang exhaled a perfect smoke ring, muttering curses under his breath.

"Seven? That's not bad—don't be greedy," Jiang Hao chuckled.

"How many did you do?" Big Lao Wang, sensing something off in his tone, couldn't help asking.

"Not much—just nineteen." Jiang Hao smirked faintly.

"Damn it! Are you showing off?" Big Lao Wang snapped angrily.

"Lao Wang, Meituan has no minimum online hours, so it's free—but you don't earn much. KuaiPao's strict, but the pay's higher," Jiang Hao pleaded earnestly, motivated by the 150-yuan referral bonus.

"Don't give me that—you just want to earn referral fees off me!" Big Lao Wang sneered, well aware of the scheme.

"I'll give you fifty," Jiang Hao backed down.

"So you're selling me out and still want the bigger cut? Fifty-fifty," Big Lao Wang leaned in, offering another cigarette and chatting casually—though inwardly, he'd already decided to switch to KuaiPao.

A few days ago, a Meituan rider on Xiaoyun Road's Food Street rode the wrong way and hit a car. The traffic police originally assigned primary fault to the rider and secondary to the car, but the car owner appealed—and suddenly, the rider was fully at fault, the car completely blameless.

In short, this guy had to pay for his own medical bills and also fix the other person's car.

After all the hassle, he lost two or three thousand yuan.

Only then did Big Lao Wang understand why KuaiPao provided riders with social insurance, commercial medical insurance, and third-party liability coverage.

Before an accident, everything seemed fine—but once one happened, no insurance meant disaster.

"Lao Wang, you're really quitting?" Jiang Hao, surprised by his quick agreement, pressed curiously.

"Sigh, let me tell you the truth—I'm scared. Remember that kid Xiao Xijiang from our station?"

Big Lao Wang sighed, wearing the expression of someone who'd lost his mother young and had a long story to tell.

"Of course—I'm the one he insulted for being bad at math. What happened to him?" Jiang Hao asked.

"He rode the wrong way and scratched two paint panels on an Audi. Broke his own leg too. Just the repair bill was two grand—and Meituan refused to pay his medical expenses."

Though unrelated to him, Big Lao Wang felt the chill of a rabbit mourning its dead companion.

"He got scammed? Paint repair doesn't cost much," Jiang Hao said dismissively, but didn't add anything harsher.

They were all poor workers—his quarrel with Xiao Xijiang was just banter, something a shared cigarette could easily settle.

"He's going to a 4S shop—who'd go to some roadside repair stall?" Big Lao Wang replied with a bitter smile.

"That's rough," Jiang Hao swallowed hard, not knowing what else to say.

"Tell me—do I still dare to work my ass off for Meituan? I heard when a KuaiPao rider gets hit by a car, the company pays and helps out. Meituan copies their business model, but only learns the bad habits, not the good ones."

Big Lao Wang spread his hands, utterly exasperated.

"Alright, let's go sign up right now—I'm telling you, KuaiPao's hiring slots are tight, and our station just happens to have one."

Jiang Hao urged urgently, afraid Big Lao Wang would delay his lunch rush orders.

"Really? Then what are we waiting for!"

Big Lao Wang crushed his cigarette butt underfoot, jumped on his scooter, and followed Jiang Hao straight to the KuaiPao service station.

The story of Xiao Xijiang spread quickly through Meituan's rider circles in Yanjing.

On one side: KuaiPao, with high pay and full benefits. On the other: Meituan, with freedom and high per-order rates—but no safety net.

Who to choose?

Anyone with half a brain made the wisest choice.

Suddenly, the most experienced Meituan riders defected to KuaiPao—and those KuaiPao rejected went to Qindu.

The riders left at Meituan mostly focused on learning routes and delivery paths, treating Meituan as a stepping stone and KuaiPao as their true destination.

But no matter how many jumped ship, there were too many others.

Meituan's registered rider count didn't drop—it rose by over a thousand.

Wang Huiwen didn't care. Wang Xin didn't mind.

Compared to order volume, Meituan had more than enough delivery capacity—its fulfillment capability was solid.

As for fulfillment quality, after raising penalty fees, Meituan rider satisfaction ratings rose rapidly.

"Qindu Waimai launched?"

At Meituan headquarters, Wang Xin looked across at Wang Huiwen.

"Yes. Currently focused only on Haidian and Chaoyang districts," Wang Huiwen replied.

"One east, one west—with such distance between them? Li Yanhong's deliberately setting up shop right under our noses—trying to annoy who?" Wang Xin saw right through it, sneering coldly.

"The Southern China market expansion plan is complete. We can pull staff from group-buying operations to handle market, operations, and business development—hire riders locally."

Wang Huiwen continued her report without pause.

"Make sure it doesn't hurt group-buying," Wang Xin warned.

"Understood," Wang Huiwen nodded.

As Wang Xin's right-hand woman, Wang Huiwen knew the pressure on her boss—company management, financing, market share battles—each task weighed like a mountain on his shoulders.

Starting a business is never easy. Entrepreneurs lacking stamina or intelligence are crushed on the beach by fierce market competition before they even get started.

After Wang Huiwen left, Wang Xin sighed faintly, shoulders slumping, revealing his most exhausted self.

Lately, Meituan had teetered on the edge of life and death.

Fortunately, they'd secured investment from Sequoia and General Atlantic—once the funds arrived, Meituan could survive.

A niche business sector typically goes through phases of chaos, then five-to-four, four-to-three, and even three-to-two.

As long as Meituan doesn't fall behind, it's guaranteed a top-three market position. What's the greatest fear in competition?

Complacency within!

Thinking of this, Wang Xin straightened his spine, and a spark of battle-lust reignited in his chest.

Senlian and Qindu were powerful—but wasn't Gaopeng, backed by Tencent and Groupon, powerful too?

He'd still cut it down, turning it into Meituan's stepping stone!

For Yanjing's citizens, this day was a happy one—Qindu Waimai's launch brought another wave of free lunches.

"Oh my god! Who said pies don't fall from the sky?"

Netizens in Yanjing joked on Weibo, their smug grins making those in East and South China seethe with envy.

Meanwhile,

Xiang Hailong, newly appointed CEO of Didi Chuxing, finally understood Cheng Wei's hardships.

KuaiDi Chuxing had superior positioning tech, order dispatch, and route planning—and with two daily first-order subsidies, he found zero opening to counterattack.

Moreover, thanks to the successful "One Thousand People, One Hundred Cities" plan, KuaiDi Chuxing's coverage had expanded from North and East China to the entire Central China market.

Daily orders reached four million!

Didi Chuxing barely hit eight hundred thousand.

Its operating area was still limited to North China—it hadn't even entered East China yet.

Even after pulling staff from Qindu's departments, manpower still lagged, forcing them to rush hiring.

"Boss, our anti-fraud team found a software called Little Calf—a full suite including code-receiving, virtual location spoofing, and route simulation. Data department traced Q3 orders—about 20% of subsidies ended up in gray-market studios' pockets."

At that moment, a technical director from Didi's anti-fraud team entered Xiang Hailong's office, face grim.

"Twenty percent?"

Xiang Hailong shot up, incredulous.

The anti-fraud team was his own creation—so this disaster became an opportunity.

Compared to this, Cheng Wei's competence looked even weaker.

"Don't alert them. Have the group coordinate with Police Inspectors to sweep them all up."

Xiang Hailong added.

Blocking accounts, IPs, or devices was only a temporary fix. To eradicate it completely, you had to cut the entire supply chain at its roots.

Meanwhile, far away in Shencheng, Hui Ge and his crew had sold five more Little Calf packages last week.

"Hui Ge, let's rename the product? 'Little Calf'? It should be 'Big Golden Ox'!"

"Hahaha, Yaozi's right! How about 'Big Golden Rooster'? We make millions a month—this isn't a chicken laying golden eggs?" Liu Zi grinned.

Hui Ge and A Zhen exchanged glances, both wearing satisfied smiles.

Over the past two months, they'd made over ten million selling this software.

Almost all gray-market studios in North China were their clients.

Over seventy Little Calf packages sold—inflicting massive losses on Didi Chuxing.

A group of wool merchants clung to Didi like barnacles, desperately sucking its blood; the marketing funds siphoned off may have exceeded eighty million.

"It's unsafe to stay in the country," Hui Ge said slowly. "After discussing with A Zhen, we're moving the company to Annan."

In his view, after Baidu took over Didi, with BAT's massive technical strength, they would inevitably discover Xiao Nai Niu's existence.

If caught, given the amount involved, they'd face at least seven years.

Last time in Yancheng, they barely escaped. The closer Hui Ge stayed in Shencheng, the more anxious he became.

"Annan? That backwater? Nothing compares to Shencheng." Liu Liu frowned instinctively—he didn't want to go.

"The girls in Annan are young and beautiful, and they're so clingy," A Zhen said with a smirk.

Hearing this, Liu Liu's eyes lit up instantly—he was intrigued.

After reaching an agreement, they bought tickets that same night for a flight to Senai International Airport.

Meanwhile.

Upon receiving reports from Baidu and Didi, the Yancheng Police Inspectorate took it extremely seriously and immediately launched an investigation.

Yet the gray-market workshops across North China remained completely unaware, still frantically registering new accounts, bypassing Didi's anti-fraud system by using randomly generated device IDs and IP addresses to massively siphon platform subsidies.

Even moderately sized workshops could harvest over a hundred thousand a day, easily netting three million a month.

…

…

Digital Valley.

Cheng Wei waved his arms and announced to all members of Didi Bike: "We've raised money!"

Li Fu from Innovation Works invested fifty million Hua Yuan, securing Didi Bike's angel round with a post-investment valuation of five hundred million Hua Yuan.

Could Didi Bike, which didn't even have an app yet, be worth five hundred million?

Didn't Li Fu understand this?

Cheng Wei knew well—it was just a game of musical chairs; as long as someone eventually took the baton, it worked.

As long as the business model was novel enough, bold enough to hype, and skilled at packaging, even a pile of shit could go public.

Especially on the eve of the mobile internet boom, European and American venture capital firms nearly closed their eyes and handed over cash to Chinese internet projects.

"Boss Cheng, awesome!"

"We've got money now!"

"Didi Bike, rise up!"

Employees stopped what they were doing and cheered ecstatically.

When the boss secured funding, it meant the project could survive—and their jobs were safe.

"Within this week, I'll draft an equity incentive plan—everyone gets a share."

Cheng Wei shouted.

He had studied Kuai's Taxi, Kuai Pao, Pinbei, and Orange Tech, treating Chen Yan's operational strategy as his business bible. As a seasoned "Chen Studies" enthusiast, Cheng Wei naturally wouldn't miss such a powerful incentive tool as equity rewards.

Watching his subordinates' reactions, Cheng Wei knew he had made the right move.

That afternoon, Cheng Wei led a team of business personnel to Jinmen.

Here, over three hundred vehicle manufacturing plants were clustered, forming a complete mid-to-low-end industrial supply chain with an annual output approaching forty million vehicles.

"One million vehicles?"

After hearing Cheng Wei's request, the bosses of Fei Ge, Fushida, Kelin, and Jie Ma all stared in shock.

Once they fully understood Didi Bike's business model, they were dumbfounded, silently cursing: What an idiot!

Leave bikes on the street and invite thieves to a buffet?

(End of Chapter)