Chapter 381: A Slight Move, and the Opponent Is Already Trembling in Fear

As for whether Didi Bike misappropriated the deposit?

The answer, of course, was without a doubt.

The money is in my own account; what harm is there in using it?

Cheng Wei did not think there was any problem with doing so.

"Hu Weiyi, or Li Yanhong." Hearing the boss's inquiry, Song Tianlu immediately listed two names.

"Why not Changshan?" Cheng Wei frowned deeply and immediately asked.

He and Changshan had fought from Yanjing to Tianjin, then to Tang Cheng, An Ci, Changshan, and other places; Little Yellow Bike suffered huge losses, yet he had not gained a single bit of advantage.

In the nearly three months that followed, Didi Bike lost over a hundred million yuan in potential earnings, and Little Yellow Bike's situation was roughly the same.

Among those who hated Cheng Wei the most, aside from Changshan, it would be hard to find a third person in Yanjing.

The other is Li Yanhong, because Qiandu Network sued Didi Bike for trademark infringement; the result came out last week, and the court rejected Qiandu Network's litigation request.

In short, Cheng Wei actually won the lawsuit.

Upon learning this news, Li Yanhong was so angry his face turned iron-green.

Now Qiandu had not only lost the lawsuit but also lost face, and its reputation in the venture capital circle had become somewhat unpleasant.

"Little Yellow Bike is under Didi Bike's trending search." Song Tianlu let out a dry laugh and said.

Cheng Wei's expression froze; after pondering for a moment, he was certain it was Hu Weiyi's doing.

After all, Li Yanhong had no reason to target Little Yellow Bike as well; setting aside Changshan's family background, moreover, the two had no conflict of interest.

"How much funding is left on the account?" Cheng Wei called for the finance officer and asked.

"270 million." The Finance Director replied.

"The total amount of user deposits is 230 million yuan; there is no need to worry about the risk of a bank run." Cheng Wei breathed a sigh of relief, looking completely composed.

"Boss, next week we still need to pay a shipment of 40 million yuan." The Finance Director reminded.

"No problem; at worst, we'll raise another round of funding." Cheng Wei said carelessly.

As the concept of the sharing economy grew increasingly popular, products like shared bikes, shared cars, and shared kitchens were extremely favored by investors.

Does Didi Bike lack investors?

As long as he went to the Wang Jing business district and shouted, he could attract more than a dozen venture capital firms.

Lacking money?

Impossible!

"Has the 'deposit refund upon immediate use' function gone live in the Shanghai market? What percentage of users applied for a deposit refund yesterday?"

Cheng Wei looked at Song Tianlu and asked.

"28.3%; most users still have a good level of trust in Didi Bike. Once they refund a few times and realize there is no need to worry about fund safety, the amount in the deposit pool will continue to grow." Song Tianlu replied with a smile.

Currently, Didi Bike has launched the "deposit refund upon immediate use" function only for the Huadong market, including Shanghai.

Before riding, users need to pay a 199 yuan deposit; after the ride ends, they can choose to refund the deposit immediately, thereby eliminating users' concerns about usage.

If Didi Bike did not do this, it would have no way to compete with ofo Bike, because the latter implemented a no-deposit policy: users only needed to deposit 199 yuan into Yu'e Bao, which not only waived the deposit but also earned extra returns.

"First, have Operations post an announcement in the app to soothe user emotions as soon as possible, then go communicate with Old Hu and Zhang Haibo; ensure the refund channel remains unobstructed."

Cheng Wei immediately made arrangements and instructed Song Tianlu.

"Yes, President Cheng; I will handle it immediately." Song Tianlu dared not delay, turned, and walked out.

At this moment, both Didi Bike and Little Yellow Bike had climbed the Weibo trending searches.

"Brothers, hurry to Little Yellow Bike to refund your deposits; slow hands get nothing! I heard this company is about to go bankrupt!"

"Before, I was puzzled, thinking these shared bikes were issuing coupons all day long and not making any money! Good heavens, it turns out they were eyeing my deposit!"

"Three minutes ago, my Didi Bike deposit arrived; I got off safely. Brothers behind me, good luck to you."

"What Little Yellow Bike, what Didi Bike; I have always only used ofo Bike. Deposit 199 yuan in Yu'e Bao, and in a month I can earn eight or nine jiao."

"Isn't ofo Bike the founder of shared bikes? They are backed by Senlian Capital, with immense strength; they are completely different from those fly-by-night shared bike brands!"

Most of the netizens in the comment section were from the North China and Huadong regions.

Netizens from Northeast China looked utterly confused; in fact, many were hearing about shared bikes for the very first time.

"I applied for a Little Yellow Bike deposit refund an hour ago; why hasn't it arrived yet?"

"Customer service said the bank payment channel is busy; actually, the payment has been made; they told me to wait a bit longer."

"Could they have run away with the money?"

"Damn it, give my money back! @LittleYellowBike @LittleYellowBikeCEOChangshan"

"Damn it, refund the money! It's been three hours; I called the bank; Little Yellow Bike hasn't paid!"

Not long after, the heat around Didi Bike quickly faded, while Little Yellow Bike surged to the number one spot on the trending list.

Although Cheng Wei had misappropriated part of the deposits, he had secured two rounds of financing, and the funds in his hands were still ample.

But Changshan was different; the company account had only over eight million yuan left, unable to withstand even the refund applications of 40,000 users, and it quickly hit rock bottom.

According to his original plan, he would first use the deposits to build up the scale of Little Yellow Bike, then negotiate financing with investment firms, thereby obtaining a higher valuation quote.

But he never expected that Wang Zihao, by merely finding a few self-media outlets, had sent Little Yellow Bike to the guillotine.

Lacking money!

In an instant, Changshan was so anxious he lost all sense of direction.

The funding gap reached 140 million yuan; this sum had already been paid to suppliers for purchasing shared bikes to deploy in the Huadong market.

Where could he find money now?

"Who the hell is this? Their actions are truly despicable!" Changshan cursed repeatedly.

But he knew in his heart that if he could not resolve the users' bank run crisis within 24 hours, Little Yellow Bike would truly go bankrupt.

After clearing his thoughts, Changshan took several deep breaths, forcibly kept himself calm, then took out his phone and called Little Yellow Bike's investors one by one.

"Mr. Zhu, hello, I'm Chang Wei from Klock." Chang Wei forced a smile and greeted.

"You really misappropriated user deposits?" Zhu Xiaohu's eyebrows knotted tightly together.

He had read all the online news, so he knew exactly why Chang Wei had come.

"... Yes." Chang Wei fell silent for several seconds, then answered honestly.

"How much did you misappropriate?" Zhu Xiaohu asked again.

"..." Chang Wei said nothing.

"All of it?" Zhu Xiaohu nearly laughed in anger, then asked.

"I kept ten million." Chang Wei lied, overstating by two million.

Zhu Xiaohu suppressed his urge to curse, thought of Chang Wei's status, and let out a bitter laugh: "In business, it's taboo to leave no room. A full-force strike may feel satisfying, but the consequences are unpredictable."

Jin Sha Venture had invested in Chang Wei twice in a row; if Xiaohuang Bikes collapsed, his losses would be substantial too.

"Mr. Zhu, I urgently need cash right now." Chang Wei spoke bluntly.

Need money?

I'm not your father, owe you something?

Zhu Xiaohu frowned, muttering two curses into the air, but he couldn't just stand by—he said grimly: "Fifty million, for 5% equity."

"Mr. Zhu, Xiaohuang Bikes' reasonable valuation is between two and a half and three billion." Chang Wei countered. "Then go ask other investors." Zhu Xiaohu grew tired of arguing and hung up the call.

Profit-seeking is a merchant's nature!

He had already given Chang Wei plenty of face by investing in Xiaohuang Bikes; if Chang Wei couldn't grasp the stakes, then he deserved to die.

Chang Wei listened to the dial tone buzzing through the receiver, his face turning alternately pale and flushed.

But the finance team was pressing hard—he had no time to rage, only to call the contacts at Weilie Capital, Zhen Ge Fund, and several other venture firms.

Without exception, they would give money—but only at a ten-billion valuation.

Taking advantage of desperation!

Chang Wei cursed under his breath.

As he hesitated, seconds slipped away, and before he knew it, it was three in the afternoon.

It had been seven or eight hours since the first users applied for deposit refunds.

The phone lines of market supervision associations in Yanjing, Tianmen, and Tang Cheng were flooded with calls; complaints skyrocketed, totaling over a hundred thousand.

Weibo was filled with posts condemning Chang Wei and Xiaohuang Bikes!

The comment sections of Xiaohuang Bikes' official account and Chang Wei's personal account were flooded with abuse; customer service kept stalling, while Chang Wei remained completely silent.

"Guys, give up any illusions—Xiaohuang Bikes is probably dead. This name's unlucky. Who in their right mind names a product 'Xiaohuang'? It's been less than three months and it's already yellowed!"

"Enough talking—I'm going out to grab a bike and recover some losses."

"You're only thinking of that now? I already took two home."

"One hundred and ninety-nine yuan—just treat it like you bought a bike!"

"Hey, guy upstairs, why's your Xiaohuang Bike green? Where'd the smart lock go?"

Encouraged by netizens, many actually went out to take shared bikes.

Xiaohuang Bikes' staff couldn't stop them.

It was Saturday too, so everyone had plenty of time.

Chang Wei won't return deposits, right?

Then I'll carry a few bikes home—no point getting cheated. Consider it collateral.

On the other side.

The mastermind behind this incident, Wang Zihao, merely glanced at Weibo's trending list, then took his Shanghai branch's management team to experience ofo's shared e-assist bikes at Caohexing.

Compact in design, painted in bright orange, fully charged they could travel up to fifty kilometers.

Just buy a 299-yuan Yu'E Bao balance to enjoy the no-deposit benefit; new users received three two-yuan ride vouchers and four fifty-percent-off ride vouchers upon signup.

Pricing: two yuan per half-hour, plus one yuan for every additional ten minutes, capped at thirty yuan per day.

Compared to shared bikes, e-assist bikes were far more comfortable to ride.

The product was an instant hit in Shanghai.

For the vast majority of office workers, there was a commuting gap of seven or eight hundred meters, even two or three kilometers, between subway stations and residential areas, or bus stops and homes.

Taking a taxi? Too expensive!

Walking? Too tiring!

Riding a shared bike? Still exhausting!

But switching to an e-assist bike was different—it saved both time and energy.

In less than a day, users of the e-assist service exceeded six thousand; the first batch of one thousand bikes couldn't possibly meet Shanghai's massive demand.

"The business model works! Even smoother than expected!"

Wang Zihao clenched his fist, a look of triumph crossing his face.

With this breakthrough in Shanghai, he had already made a name for himself in the industry.

On the first day of ofo's e-assist bike launch, Cheng Wei and Chang Wei endured a nerve-wracking day.

Only at 3:00 a. m. on March 3rd, after receiving the first round of funding, did Chang Wei finally restart refund processing.

"Holy shit! My Xiaohuang Bikes deposit just cleared!"

"I'll never use Xiaohuang Bikes again. I just wanted to ride for free—it wanted my deposit instead."

"Recommend using ofo bikes and e-assist bikes—they're reliable and don't require deposits."

Xiaohuang Bikes users waited a full day before finally receiving their deposit refunds.

The heavy stone in Chang Wei's chest lifted—he was just about to leave when the head of the data department rushed in to report: over seven thousand shared bikes had gone missing in the Huadong and North China regions.

Although many users talk big online, those who actually take action are scattered across dozens of cities, with just over a hundred people in each city.

Chang Wei's face instantly turned green, but it was already 3:30 in the morning, so he weakly instructed, "Have the car-finders retrieve it tomorrow."

These bastards!

Isn't it just a refund delayed by a few hours?

Five hours later, at dawn.

Several heads of the Beijing Municipal Supervision Association, the Traffic Association, and the General Banking Association held talks regarding yesterday's deposit-refund turmoil involving Xiao Huang Bikes and Didi Bikes.

Didi Bikes collected deposits but caused no negative impact.

Xiao Huang Bikes blew up the Municipal Supervision Association's phone lines, with over a hundred thousand complaints; the impact was too terrible.

During the process of users carrying bikes home, more than a dozen conflicts occurred with shared-bike staff.

We can't just let it go!

Although the authorities above are vigorously promoting the sharing economy, they do not wish to see such chaos.

ofo Bikes' no-deposit policy is quite good!

commented a person from the Traffic Association.

In his view, they should simply cut through everything and order all shared-bike companies to stop collecting deposits from users.

But the people from the Municipal Supervision Association said that without the constraint of deposits, the companies' maintenance and repair costs would rise sharply.

Then set up a supervisory account and keep the money in the bank.

The person from the General Banking Association said with narrowed eyes, obviously eyeing this deposit fund from the shared-bike companies.

Meanwhile.

Taobao users were surprised to discover that a Kuaipao entry had appeared in the icon area of the Taobao app's homepage; clicking in, they found it was indeed Kuaipao's food delivery and group-buying channels.

In addition, Kuaipao's group-buying products also appeared in the Juhuasuan channel.

Zhibao and Sister Chengzi Payment were fiercely competing one moment, and the next were playing out a sweet, affectionate drama.

Mama Ali and Senlian Capital have both cooperation and competition; this is the norm among internet companies.

At 10 a. m., the 360n2 was released, priced at 1699 yuan, with specifications compared to the Xiaomi Mi2.

Clearly, Zhou Hongyi was aiming at Xiaomi.

Lei Yi was helpless and signaled Li Wanqiang to launch a subsidy campaign immediately: anyone purchasing the Xiaomi Mi2 would receive a 200-yuan accessory coupon, usable for products like data cables, chargers, and phone cases.

It was also a measure of indirect price reduction!

One hour later, the initial sales of the 360n2 exceeded 24,000 units.

Zhou Hongyi sarcastically mocked, "Some coarse-grain brand has high prices, low specs, and a trash system; even when cutting prices, they think of playing tricks."

Li Wanqiang quickly responded, "Idiot!"

(End of this chapter)