Chapter 349: Overseas Sensation! Orange Bike Goes Live! 80 Billion in One Year! Cheng Wei

On December 13th morning, the three major e-commerce platforms successively released their Double Twelve promotional sales reports.

Mama Ali: 10.37 billion!

Pinbei: 4.06 billion!

Jingdong: 1.69 billion!

Combined, they exceeded 16 billion; adding the 30 billion from Double Eleven, the total sales for Q4's two major promotions reached 46 billion Huayuan.

Subsequently, the Postal Association released data showing a national daily average of 26 million parcels in December, with projected annual parcel collection volume surpassing 8 billion.

Coupled with Ma Liyun's announcement that Mama Ali's GMV had reached one trillion, this marked e-commerce's official entry into the peak of its golden decade.

Internet users then recalled Ma Liyun's bet with Wanda's CEO Wang Jianlin—perhaps in ten years, e-commerce would truly become the backbone of retail, occupying half the market.

Meanwhile, under survival pressure, Dazhong Dianping and Meituan reluctantly embraced Mama Ali, openly joining Juhuasuan to secure traffic support and extend their project's lifespan.

Chen Yansen's password red packet campaign continues.

The founder, using this simple, brute-force marketing method of giving away money on social platforms to attract user attention and boost product downloads, registrations, and activity, was unprecedented domestically.

Leveraging over 60 million followers across the internet, Chen Yansen brought Mama Ali 7 million new users, brought Today's Headlines over 10 million downloads, and also drove clear growth trends in Pinbei Shangcheng's sales.

For Ma Wenteng, the addition of contact list and chat box features to Sister Chengzi Pay was likely a sign of Senlian Capital's entry into the social software sector.

He wanted to call Chen Yansen to probe his true intentions, but every time he pictured that half-smiling face, his heart tightened involuntarily.

This kid is too slippery—he won't give you anything useful.

Ma Wenteng muttered inwardly.

Privately, he instructed Zhang Xiaolong to copy Sister Chengzi Pay and Yuerenbao, but Chen Yansen responded in kind, stepping firmly into the social software industry himself.

Thus, after a moment's thought, Little Ma paused his hand from reaching for his phone.

Otherwise, when WeChat Pay and Lingqianbao launched, if Chen Yansen called to demand an explanation, would he answer or not?

Far away in Hangcheng, Ma Liyun, upon learning of Sister Chengzi Pay's wildly successful red packet feature, couldn't help but hatch a cunning plan.

Copy it!

Copy it hard!

Soon after, the Zhi Fu Bao R&D team received a new task: emulate Sister Chengzi Pay's product logic and UI design to add social features to Zhi Fu Bao.

In 2012's internet, there was no such thing as copyright awareness—today you copy me, tomorrow I copy you; only the survivors become big winners.

…

…

Five million downloads in the first week?

In Zhuxianzhuang Tech Park, Chen Yansen sat beside the office sofa, dragging his mouse to open Mao Chaorong's weekly report.

Mimo's launch went even smoother than he imagined.

With five million downloads per week and daily active users hovering around two million, user stickiness and retention were clearly exceptional.

Videos such as covers of "Skyfall" and "Live While We're Young," Harry Potter magic broom rides, gesture dances, expression dances, funny skits, cooking tutorials, and makeup guides all became popular on Mimo.

Chen Yansen picked up his phone, opened Mimo, and the startup screen displayed the characters "momentin, momentout," symbolizing the product's fast-in, fast-out nature—delivering users instant, efficient joy in a short time.

The first video showed a user using editing techniques to create the illusion of hovering flight: dressed in a Gryffindor robe, holding a wand, and straddling a broomstick like Harry Potter.

1.38 million likes, 100,000 comments, 370,000 shares.

The user who posted this video gained 157,000 new followers in just three days.

The comment section was flooded with netizens demanding to know how it was done!

In truth, it was merely clever camera positioning and image stitching—by today's standards, a thoroughly exhausted editing trick—but in 2012, it instantly shattered Mimo's traffic pool.

User engagement data led by a wide margin, even several times more popular than the "Skyfall" and "Live While We're Young" cover videos.

Remember, "Skyfall" was the theme song of "Skyfall," sung by North American pop diva Adele, inherently carrying massive heat and buzz.

"Live While We're Young" was the lead single from One Direction's second album; within 24 hours of release, it topped music charts in over fifty countries worldwide.

Its influence equaled ten, even twenty TFBOYS!

Yet in traffic, it lost to the magic broom flight video. Chen Yansen reasoned: first, the poster was an ordinary user; second, Harry Potter had immense popularity in North America; third, the content was genuinely novel.

One must admit, Mao Chaorong's operational strategy was outstanding—under his guidance, Mimo quickly found its direction.

First retain ordinary users, then gradually expand outward.

Based on the U. S. mobile data pricing and internet penetration rate, five million users were far from Mimo's limit—if current download growth continued, it might reach a hundred million registrations within a year.

Of course, it still lagged far behind Facebook, which at the time had one billion monthly active users across Asia, South America, Europe, and America—otherwise it couldn't sustain a valuation of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Mimo's explosive popularity quickly spread to China; despite high data fees and the need for a VPN, over ten to twenty thousand domestic users secretly bypassed the firewall to log in, driven by a desire to "see the world."

Yet they had no idea this app was developed domestically.

Time flew by, and it was already noon.

Chen Yansen stood by the window, glanced down, and saw employees walking in small groups toward the cafeteria.

He thought for a moment, then pushed open the door and stepped out.

On the other side.

After failing to negotiate with Cheng Wei, Xiang Hailong of Didi Chuxing sued Didi Dancar for unfair competition, accusing it of malicious trademark squatting.

Cheng Wei had prepared for this, instructing his lawyers to argue: first, the logos differed—"Didi" evoked the sound of dripping water, while "Didi" resembled a car horn; they were clearly distinct visually, auditorily, and semantically; second, the services differed—one was ride-hailing, the other was shared bicycles.

The two sides were now completely at war!

Although Cheng Wei's actions were controversial, Li Yanhong's were even more extreme—he first kicked Didi Chuxing's founder out of the management team under the guise of investment, then immediately sued him.

Suddenly, entrepreneurs negotiating with Baidu's investment division either abandoned cooperation or became highly cautious, fearing they'd suffer the same fate.

"Baidu is too tyrannical—when someone invites you to dinner, it doesn't just take the pot, it beats up the chef and runs him off."

"Don't you remember the fake medicine scandal two years ago? Baidu hasn't been good since day one!"

"I remember now—the copyright infringement case with Baidu Wenku last year also vanished without resolution. So Mr. Li only allows officials to set fires but forbids commoners to light lamps."

Netizens debated fiercely, reviving old grievances and pushing Baidu to the center of the storm.

To ordinary people, Cheng Wei had become the dragon-slaying hero rebelling against the "internet giants."

Leveraging this wave of traffic, Cheng Wei immediately decided to launch Didi Bike services simultaneously in Jin Ling, Tang Cheng, and An Ci.

But he hadn't been happy for ten minutes when he received feedback from the marketing department: large numbers of yellow bikes had appeared near Xizhimen, Dongzhimen, Guomao, and Wang Fujing.

"Yellow bikes?" Cheng Wei's expression froze; he instantly realized a new competitor had emerged.

"Yes, the bicycles are entirely painted yellow, and the product name is 'Yellow Bike.' Preliminary estimates put the total deployment at 5,000 units."

Market Director Song Tianlu replied.

"Mechanical lock or smart lock?" Cheng Wei paused for several seconds, then asked Song Tianlu.

"Same as our first-generation product—mechanical lock," Song Tianlu chuckled, as if understanding his boss's intent.

"This isn't idiotic? Didi Bike already walked through those pits—he doesn't want to miss a single one. Send a few people to help him along."

Cheng Wei ordered, squinting.

Though unspoken, Song Tianlu understood perfectly and nodded cheerfully.

At the same moment.

Chang Wei and the senior team of Yellow Bike were stationed at the Xidan subway entrance, watching the flow of commuters.

Given his family background, since announcing his startup, every process—from company setup to supplier negotiations—had gone smoothly.

In less than ten days, Yanjing Keloke Technology Company was founded; soon after, Chang Wei recruited a group of top students from Peking University's Computer Science and Software Engineering College to form the product R&D team.

In just over a month, Yellow Bike went from nothing to successfully deploying its first batch of 5,000 shared bicycles in Yanjing.

For him, entrepreneurship was as easy as drinking water and eating meals.

"How many shared bikes does Didi Bike have in Yanjing?"

Chang Wei asked casually.

"When Cheng Wei last gave an interview, he publicly claimed 16,000. Recently, I observed Didi Bike deployed two more batches—about 26,000 total."

Yellow Bike's market manager thought carefully, then responded.

"Still short by 21,000! Instruct the bicycle factory in Jin Ling to deliver 100,000 finished units by month's end."

Chang Wei frowned slightly and murmured the instruction.

Before Yellow Bike even launched, it had secured 30 million yuan in investment from Weilie Capital and Jin Sha Venture, and with user deposits, this funding was sufficient to support a deployment scale of up to 500,000 units.

"Yes, boss," the market manager replied promptly.

Chang Wei was completely unaware that Didi Bike's operations staff were holding phones, inputting Yellow Bike serial numbers and recording each bike's fixed password.

After half a day of hard work, an Excel spreadsheet containing 2,700 Yellow Bike unlock passwords quietly spread across Tieba, Renren, BBS, and QQ Space.

And as enthusiastic netizens contributed, the number of passwords in the table grew, eventually reaching over 3,900.

At this point, a tech enthusiast turned the data into a lookup software: enter the bike's serial number, and you instantly get its unlock password, saving massive lookup time.

The software launched and received widespread praise.

Because it was a mechanical lock, these people didn't even need to download Yellow Bike's app.

As for deposits? Of course, no need to pay.

For the first few days, Chang Wei noticed nothing amiss—only that Yellow Bike's daily usage frequency was too low, just 1.4 times per bike, with daily revenue between 4,000 and 5,000 yuan, nothing like his expectations.

Only when browsing forums did he accidentally stumble upon a pinned post: 【Essential】 Yellow Bike Passwords (Real-Time Updated, Currently 5,684 Bikes).

Chang Wei froze, his face instantly turning ashen!

Fuck, Yellow Bike only had 8,000 bikes total—and these bastards had compiled unlock passwords for 5,684 of them?

He quickly downloaded the spreadsheet and sent it to operations for verification.

Ten minutes later, operations replied: "Boss, password accuracy is 98.7%."

In other words, Yellow Bike's mechanical locks were a joke in the eyes of the free-riders.

"Looks like I overestimated the public's integrity."

Chang Wei sighed. He couldn't understand why these users wouldn't even spend one yuan—but would exploit system loopholes.

Unlike Didi Bike, Cheng Wei used mechanical locks to cut costs—he was stupid, with no backup smart lock option; finding a new supplier and replacing locks would take at least a week.

Chang Wei had no choice but to watch helplessly as Yellow Bike was ruthlessly exploited.

Zhu Xiaohu of Jin Sha Venture learned of this and couldn't help but laugh and cry inwardly: With a brain like this, he wants to start a company? This is a joke!

The first round of funding had already been paid; whether Yellow Bike lived or died didn't matter much to him.

He invested not because he saw potential in the project—in this world, fighting matters, but understanding human relationships matters more.

Seeing Chang Wei being toyed with, Cheng Wei sneered and turned his attention to market expansion.

December 21, Winter Solstice, also the Mayan prophecy's end of the world.

After streamlining its operations and business model, ofo Bike deployed 75,000 shared bikes across six cities—Jin Ling, Luzhou, Hu Cheng—and expanded at an astonishing pace.

Hearing this, Cheng Wei exhaled in relief; the opponent seemed to have no immediate plans to move north.

After inquiring, he learned that ofo Bike's project lead was the CEO of an automotive magazine—some business experience, but no background in shared bikes.

Yet ofo Bike's market expansion still put him on guard; he immediately convened a meeting with mid- and senior management, planning to fully seize the North China market before Q2, then head south to confront ofo Bike.

And the immature Yellow Bike, he didn't take seriously at all.

That afternoon, Pei Yi gave an interview with Hu Cheng Television, revealing for the first time the development status of Kuai Pao Waimai.

After capturing the East China, Central China, North China, South China, and Northeast markets, Kuai Pao's daily order volume in December surged like a wild horse, with a month-over-month growth rate of 21.4%, officially surpassing 6 million orders, with 70,000 full-time riders and 30,000 part-time riders.

The platform's daily transaction volume exceeded 200 million yuan, projected to reach 80 billion Huayuan annually.

Two years ago, the food delivery industry was shunned by investors—it had instantly become a hot commodity.

Besides Taobao Waimai, Minzhou's "123 Waimai Website" still had 7,000 daily orders; even under Kuai Pao's monopoly, numerous small food delivery sites survived in the cracks.

(End of Chapter)