Chapter 303: Scan to Pay, Seize the Offline Payment Entry!

September 3rd, 2:00 PM.

On the open ground in front of the Xu Academy library, a twenty-square-meter small stage had been erected, with a giant poster standing behind it.

"Xu City Academy 2012 Freshman Meet-and-Greet and Enrollment Education Conference."

A sea of black-clad freshmen stretched from the teaching buildings and laboratories all the way to the library; though no one was shouting loudly, thousands gathered together whispering still produced a massive din.

Tang Qingshan sat in the front row and whispered to Chen Yansen beside him: "Wait until I finish speaking, then you go up."

Chen Yansen glanced around at the dozen or so deans from various departments, thinking that by the time this bunch finished rambling, it would already be dark.

He did not oppose Tang Qingshan's arrangement.

The freshman speech offered him no benefit whatsoever; Tang Qingshan had brought it up several times, and he had refused several times, only reluctantly agreeing after being worn down.

After Tang Qingshan finished speaking, he stepped up onto the stage.

"New students of the 2012 cohort, hello! I am Tang Qingshan, president of Xu City Academy!"

Once Tang Qingshan took his stance, facing the more than three thousand freshmen, he smiled and delivered his opening remarks.

The murmuring from the audience vanished completely in an instant.

On one hand, they were awed by Tang Qingshan's status; on the other, the counselors were standing right there, keeping watch.

No one wanted to be criticized by the president or a counselor on their very first day of enrollment.

"In the golden autumn of September, we have gathered on the campus of Xu City Academy to jointly witness one of the most important moments in your lives.

On behalf of all teachers, students, and staff of the entire school, I extend the warmest welcome to the 3,491 new students from all corners of the country!

Congratulations on opening the doors of Xu City Academy with your wisdom and sweat after ten years of hard study!

The motto of Xu City Academy is: Friendliness, Erudition, Pragmatism, and Striving Forward. As president, I have three expectations I wish to share with you: First, establish yourself through learning, and become a truth-seeking light-chaser..."

Tang Qingshan took out his script and began to read with great emotion and expression.

Perhaps due to having gained over a decade more of life experience, Chen Yansen actually found himself listening with great interest.

Although Tang Qingshan's words were mostly empty, hollow clichés, the core idea was extremely clear: to urge learning.

University is the end point of the college entrance exam, and the starting point of life.

If one wastes time and drifts aimlessly through four years, one will mostly feel regret in the middle of the night years later.

But in the eyes of young people, if you don't play around in university, is it still university?

Tang Qingshan's speaking pace was steady and unhurried, calm and powerful, with strong infectiousness; after all, he often went out to attend meetings, and his public speaking skills had long been honed.

Ten minutes later, Tang Qingshan briefly concluded: "I hope that on some future day, you will be the new pride of Xu City Academy! Next, let Chen Yansen, an outstanding student of Xu Academy, president of the Huian Province College Student Entrepreneurship Alliance, and founder of Senlian Capital, share his learning and entrepreneurial experiences with everyone."

The moment his words fell, thunderous applause erupted from the audience.

Among this cohort of freshmen, regardless of gender, at least one-third used Mama Ali phones, one-third had shopped on Pinba, and one-third had experienced Kuaipao food delivery, Kuaidi ride-hailing, and Yunsu express delivery services.

Most people have a psychology of admiring strength, and Chen Yansen, who was only twenty years old this year and had become a billionaire after just two years of entrepreneurship, was clearly one of the outstanding figures among them.

"Wow! I heard this is the first time Senior Chen Yansen has spoken at a freshman conference."

"The 2011 freshmen didn't get this treatment!"

"I enrolled in the E-commerce major; after graduation, I'll go to Pinba to interview for an operations position."

"I'm studying Software Engineering; I heard Sister Chengzi Technology's pay and benefits are even better than Mama Ali, Penguin, or Qian Du. In the future, I must get into Senior's company."

Immediately, a rustling of discussion rose from the audience.

Chen Yansen walked calmly to the center of the podium.

"Good afternoon, students! I am Chen Yansen. Like all of you, I am an ordinary Xu Academy student. I like the hand-pulled noodles in Canteen Three, I like the pork chop rice in Canteen Two, I like strolling by the Willow Creek when the autumn air grows slightly thick, and I also like sitting by Pearl Lake with my beloved Miss, enjoying the evening breeze."

Chen Yansen smiled faintly, his tone gentle and calm, as if he were a familiar friend chatting with himself.

An ordinary Xu Academy student?

Which Xu Academy student dares to skip classes every single day?

Tang Qingshan's forehead was covered in black lines; he smiled helplessly.

The dozen or so deans also showed smiles; especially the person in charge of the Literature and Communication College. Others might not know, but how could he not?

This 'ordinary' Xu Academy student, Chen Yansen, had an attendance rate of zero for every semester and every professional course.

If it were anyone else, they would have been expelled eight hundred years ago!

A group of freshmen, upon hearing Chen Yansen say "sitting by Pearl Lake with my beloved Miss enjoying the evening breeze," smiled knowingly, a hint of expectation flashing in their eyes.

Upon hearing this, the girls felt a wave of disappointment; it turned out Chen Yansen already had someone he liked, so naturally, they had no chance.

"Next, I will share three points of personal learning and entrepreneurial experience. First, learning is not the ultimate goal; mastering the methodology of learning is more important..."

Chen Yansen paused briefly, then continued speaking.

Having lived two lives and started businesses multiple times, he had far more insight than his peers in establishing life direction.

Five minutes later, Chen Yansen finished speaking in a rush; it looked somewhat perfunctory, but it did contain some solid content, such as: pay attention to recruitment apps, and figure out your major's employment environment, direction, and required skills in advance.

Regarding entrepreneurship, the advice he gave was: it is worth supporting and encouraging, but one must combine one's own abilities, resources, and actual circumstances to choose the most suitable industry and start from the most familiar business model.

Stick to what you know, not what you don't; for business forms you don't understand, absolutely do not touch them. As for whether the people below listen or not, what does it matter to him!

"Teacher Tang, there is still a weekly meeting at the company; I must take my leave first." Chen Yansen returned to his seat and said in a low voice.

"Go ahead, thanks for your hard work." Tang Qingshan nodded in response.

Chen Yansen stood up, walked around the stage, followed the small path north of the library, crossed Yixing Bridge, and walked straight to the Entrepreneurship Park.

He had parked his car here for easy departure.

Afterwards, he got into the driver's seat and sped off in the direction of Zhuxianzhuang Technology Park.

He hadn't been bluffing Tang Qingshan; every Monday afternoon, he held a brief weekly meeting with the senior management of Sister Chengzi Technology, Pinba, Jinri Technology, and Mama Ali Pay to further understand the recent progress of various projects.

The distance between Xu Academy and the Technology Park was less than ten kilometers; before long, Chen Yansen drove the car into the Technology Park.

He raised his hand to check the time; it was not yet 3:00 PM.

He stepped into Building Nine, took the elevator to the office, and before the weekly meeting began, Chen Yansen specifically called Zhang Yinjia over.

This former general manager of Zhifubao's Commercial Intelligence Division, after joining Sister Chengzi Pay, on the basis of barcode payment and combined with QR code technology, under Chen Yansen's guidance, had also developed the QR code collection and payment function, preparing to release it in Sister Chengzi Pay version 2.1.

In addition, half a month ago, Sister Chengzi Pay, relying on Huake, Huaxin, and China Merchants' connections in the financial circle, easily obtained the "Securities and Futures Business Operating License" and the "Consumer Finance License."

In other words, Sister Chengzi Pay is no longer a simple electronic payment tool; from now on, it is also a financial management tool.

For Sister Chengzi Pay, this is of great significance, as it can freely expand through channels such as Pinbei, Sister Chengzi Mall, Cloud Speed Express, Kuaidi Dache, and Kuaipao to earn substantial returns via fund distribution spreads.

"Knock, knock, knock—!" A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Come in!" Chen Yansen called out in a raised voice.

Zhang Yinjia pushed the door open and walked in, pulled over a chair, sat down opposite Chen Yansen, looking every bit like an employee waiting for his boss to speak.

"Is the internal testing of Sister Chengzi Pay 2.1 finished?" Chen Yansen asked casually.

"It still needs one more week. Director Huang has already helped me coordinate the work. When users make payments on the PC end of Pinbei Mall, they will be able to add a scan-to-pay method."

Zhang Yinjia hurriedly replied.

"There aren't many online use cases for QR codes. Its biggest function should be connecting offline scenarios. For example, in Kuaipao's group-buying voucher verification process, merchants need to manually input the voucher codes, which is time-consuming and laborious. I'll set up a docking group later, you and Kang Guodong come up with a plan to embed QR code technology into the voucher verification module."

Chen Yansen leaned back and said unhurriedly.

This problem may be small, but it greatly affects the user experience. Otherwise, once a merchant encounters a burst of orders, voucher verification becomes a troublesome matter.

Verifying one by one, users get impatient waiting.

If merchants adopt the method of photographing first and verifying later, it creates a time lag in redemption, allowing users seeking to take advantage of small perks to secretly request a refund after consuming.

"No difficulty on the technical level." Zhang Yinjia answered confidently.

"The offline promotion work can be handed over to Kuaipao's ground-push personnel. I've already spoken with Pei Yi." Chen Yansen added.

"Thank you, boss." Zhang Yinjia quickly replied.

Doing QR code offline payment in 2012 may seem ahead of its time, but in fact, both the technology and equipment were already mature.

Moreover, Sister Chengzi Pay is not the pioneer either.

Two years ago, Zhifubao launched the barcode payment function, and one year ago, it launched the QR code payment function.

The only question is whether the Banking Regulatory Association recognizes its legality.

The authorities haven't prohibited it, nor have they explicitly supported it.

To put it bluntly, both Sister Chengzi Pay and Zhifubao are crossing the river by feeling the stones!

It's just that Chen Yansen's approach is more aggressive than Ma Liyun's. When Mama Ali was still pushing scan-to-pay on the PC end, he had already set his sights on the offline payment market.

At this time, WeChat Pay and WeChat Red Packet had not yet launched.

Although Ma Wenteng saw the development potential of mobile internet, he had not yet realized that "scan" would become a magical weapon connecting online and offline.

And scan-to-pay would become one of the important measures of Senlian Capital's O2O strategic layout.

"Sister Chengzi Pay should move. Building 7 and Building 5 both have good layouts. Pick one yourself."

Chen Yansen said with a smile.

Nowadays, Sister Chengzi Pay's employee count has reached over 600, and together with Sister Chengzi Tech, they are squeezed into Building 9, making the office environment somewhat cramped.

"Then Building 7 it is." Zhang Yinjia said after thinking for a moment.

Chen Yansen nodded slightly, indicating that the Administration Department and the Finance Department would step in to help him coordinate.

It wasn't until exactly three o'clock that the two walked out of the office and headed together to the meeting room on the eighth floor.

(End of this chapter)