What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 274 Lobbying (6k)

Liu Jiankai made up his mind to change his work and lifestyle, so he bid farewell to Today Capital very quickly, and no matter how Xu Xin tried to persuade him to stay, he would not change his mind.

When he woke up with a hangover on his first day of unemployment, the world had not changed at all, neither for better nor for worse.

This made Liu Jiankai's mood even worse.

He was in a daze for a long time before he simply browsed the relevant information. He saw that people were not only discussing Tudou.com, but also Today Capital, which had already discovered the embarrassing three-hit marriage and love story behind it.

Someone has already joked anonymously: "If you want a divorce, find Xu Xin."

The changes in the three projects of Ganji.com, Zhen Gongfu and Tudou.com in the past two years are really jaw-dropping, and Today Capital is a special existence that has won all three.

Xu Xin obviously cares about the public opinion and potential impact of this incident. She spoke out through the media at the fastest speed, saying in a self-deprecating manner: "From now on, those of us who are married will interview our wives, those who are divorced will interview our ex-wives, and those who are not married will interview their parents."

Liu Jiankai looked at his former boss on the screen and knew that her mood was not as good as it seemed.

He thought about the last document he saw before leaving the office, which was a Penguin Micro Chat Promotion Analysis forwarded by IDG, and the content above came from the WeChat team. He couldn't help but think about the competition in this field for a while.

After a while, Liu Jiankai relaxed his brows and felt that he still needed to consider his future.

That night, he rejected the opportunity from the state-owned enterprise that had made him hesitate before, and decided to see if there was any direction that could make his life more interesting or more fulfilling.

It turns out that Capital Today’s resume is quite good and attractive.

The next morning, Liu Jiankai was dragged by his friends who had heard the news to meet more friends. They had a good drink at noon, and without waiting for a rest in the afternoon, they went to a drinking party in the evening.

This one is a returnee, that one is a rich young man, the one on the left has resources from a certain company, and the one on the right has connections with so-and-so’s big boss.

Liu Jiankai was very interested at first, but as he listened he couldn't help frowning.

"Brother Liu, I have a project. Come over here and let's run it together. We can find a group of old men and women with nothing to do to register and build a 'mobile Internet smart elderly care' project, and then apply for support and subsidies."

"I have news. At the beginning of next year at the latest, the higher-ups will start a demonstration project. As long as we get a group of people on the list, the value of the company will go up immediately!"

Liu Jiankai listened to the words of the young man who had moved to his side, and he endured it again and again, but still said: "Isn't this just a subsidy fraud? It's easy to get into trouble, right?"

Young Master said disdainfully: "Brother Liu, this is not called cheating, this is making full use of the policy. We can measure blood pressure regularly, and get some professional heart rate or something, oh yes, and pedometers, how can this not be technology caring for the elderly?"

Liu Jiankai forced himself to keep smiling. He had just finished dealing with the young master, but then he heard the old hand coming to recruit him.

"Mr. Liu, the current domestic policy is leaning towards agriculture. If you are interested, I have a project with very good prospects for green energy biomass conversion."

Liu Jiankai didn't understand the word and asked, "What transformation?"

The old hand opened his mouth and said: "Green energy quality of life transformation is a project of industry-university-research system. Several provinces can do it. We can also find leaders to endorse it. When the time comes, we will cooperate with the government to list it. We will definitely make money. It just depends on how much we make."

Liu Jiankai thought for a while and asked, "What exactly are you doing?"

"We sign a contract with the local grain station to purchase straw, and then we refine biodiesel!" The old man described, "First, we dry and crush the straw to destroy its structure, then use dilute acid to hydrolyze it into sugar, and then find microorganisms to transform it to produce hydrocarbons. Finally, we use a catalyst to exchange waste oil and methanol to produce fatty acid methyl esters."

Liu Jiankai listened to this process, touched the wine glass handed over by the other party, and asked directly: "Can the cost and benefit be balanced if we do this?"

The old man laughed and gave a thumbs up: "Mr. Liu, it's all in the wine, it's all in the wine. We have room for policy manipulation here."

The technology sounds feasible, but don’t ask whether it is profitable or not.

Liu Jiankai could probably guess what was going on, and tactfully said that he had just resigned and needed to calm down, and did not have the energy to devote himself to work immediately.

As they drank and chatted over the table, their relationships grew closer and their topics became more diverse.

However, the more Liu Jiankai drank, the more irritated he became. In recent years, when it comes to investment, subsidies, policies, manufacturing flow, and official cooperation are not uncommon. He felt it was not so bad before, but now he feels like there is a thorn in his heart.

He suddenly had an idea. He wished he was Yu Xing. If that guy heard something unhappy, he might stand up, slam the table and leave!

After a moment, Liu Jiankai became angry again. Why did Yu Xing just slam the table and leave? He was not a big shot. He should just lower his head and take the money honestly, then accept the assignment and make money with everyone else!
Liu Jiankai was drunk and almost accepted the invitation from one of his friends, but with the last bit of rationality he said, "I'll think about it."

In the early hours of the morning, Liu Jiankai, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly woke up from a nightmare in a sweat.

He dreamed that he was running a "Green Energy Life Quality Transformation" project, had it registered, received subsidies, and was growing rapidly, but suddenly the scam was exposed on the Internet by the Bai Xiaosheng Forum.

Then, he went to Bai Xiaosheng's office in fear to ask Yu Xing for mercy, but Yu Xing refused with a cold face and scolded him.

Finally, seeing that there was no hope of solving the problem, he could only hang himself in despair at the door of Yu Xing's office.

Liu Jiankai sat on the bed, swallowed several times, wiped the sweat off his face, and suddenly felt a little indignant: "Shit! I was the one being scolded in the dream! Why wasn't I the one scolding Yu Xing?!"

He tossed and turned for a long time before he fell asleep.

On the third day, Liu Jiankai declined his friend's invitation to dinner and drove around Shanghai. He wanted to visit Today Capital but then remembered that he had resigned, and unknowingly drove to the downstairs of WeChat company.

He got out of the car, hesitating whether to go up and take a look. He stood there for ten minutes. Just when he was about to turn around and get in the car, he saw Mr. Yu's secretary.

"Hey, Lingling." Liu Jiankai's address was the same as Yu Xing's for Lin Lingling.

Lin Lingling didn't find it strange to see Liu Jiankai, as he had often come over before. She greeted him, "Boss Liu, are you here to see Boss Yu? He's not here."

Liu Jiankai breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Well, I'll just take a look. Forget it. I won't go up if Mr. Yu is not here. Um, where is he?"

Lin Lingling smiled faintly: "Boss Yu has taken people to Beijing to look for money."

Liu Jiankai hesitated for two seconds and then asked, "Did you go to IDG?"

Lin Lingling shook her head and didn't give an answer.

"Okay, I'll go have a drink with Mr. Yu when he comes back." Liu Jiankai was about to get in the car.

Lin Lingling stopped the man and asked, "Boss Liu, I don't understand why you guys are making such a fuss?"

Liu Jiankai knew she was referring to the incident a few days ago when Mr. Xu came over and had another falling out, so he frowned and said, "It wasn't us, it was Mr. Yu."

"Then Mr. Yu, the ex-wife of Tudou.com also posted on Sina Weibo. Are you going to Sina Weibo to curse her too?" Lin Lingling said, "She went to court to sue. Are you going to withdraw the case too?"

Liu Jiankai sighed and said, "Things are complicated..."

Lin Lingling insisted: "Mr. Liu, there is one thing I don't understand. If it is because of Bai Xiaosheng's problem, then why did you interrupt WeChat's financing?"

Liu Jiankai replied: "This is accumulated..."

"Then I can only understand that you are not professional enough." Lin Lingling spoke impassionedly, "WeChat has been established from scratch for less than a year, and it has become the third largest IM tool in the country. Mr. Yu led us to build a technical development team, plan market competition methods, seize the opportunity of public opinion from competitors, and get more than 1200 million users in just eight months. You and Mr. Xu decided to stop financing because of someone else's problem. Is this your professionalism?"

Liu Jiankai sighed and said, "The problem is very complicated. This... Well, just follow your boss, you are sharp-tongued."

Lin Lingling said calmly: "Is there anything I said that is not true?"

Liu Jiankai was silent for a while. "It's already like this. Mr. Yu has gone to Beijing to look for money. What else is there to say? I have already resigned from Capital Today. I hope WeChat will develop well."

Lin Lingling widened her eyes and asked in surprise: "Ah? You resigned? This..."

Her train of thought was completely disrupted, and after a moment she said a little embarrassedly: "I'll come down to buy a cup of milk tea, Mr. Liu, bye."

Liu Jiankai did not leave immediately this time. Instead, he followed Mr. Yu's secretary to the milk tea shop and asked again, "Speaking of which, what do you think of Mr. Yu's stubbornness? Or, what do you think of Mr. Yu?"

"Boss Yu? Anyway, I think you are being dishonest. Boss Yu never promised you to help cover up the problem, right?" Lin Lingling thought for a moment, "I think, based on Boss Yu's personality, if you can get him to agree to this kind of thing, he will do it as long as he agrees, but he didn't agree, which means there was no tacit agreement in advance. Besides, this isn't the first time, you should get used to it."

Liu Jiankai laughed and said, "Just because it's not the first time, there are such serious consequences. This is also what Mr. Yu asked for."

"Okay, Mr. Yu asked for it, and he was willing to do it. He has taken the consequences. He is taking people to Beijing to look for money." Lin Lingling was a little angry, but then she thought of the person in front of her and shook her head, "Forget it, let's not talk about it. You asked for it by yourself to leave."

"..." Liu Jiankai was a little speechless, "Is Mr. Yu usually very stubborn?"

"Who said that? Are you talking about Mr. Yu's stubbornness in giving out options, bonuses, overtime pay, or his stubbornness in talking to us about the future of mobile Internet?" Lin Lingling said sincerely, "Mr. Yu doesn't eat or drink lavishly, nor does he spend money recklessly. He spends his days thinking about the market while eating boxed lunches. Everyone sees this. A large part of my job is to provide him with technical explanations and analysis, but Mr. Yu respects the opinions of professionals."

She ordered two cups of milk tea and reserved milk tea on the fourth floor. She said, "Look, the money for the milk tea was paid by President Yu in Beijing via WeChat. I don't know what the conflict between you and President Yu is. Anyway, he is very good to us and is usually very kind. Bai Xiaosheng heard that the listing is not far away. He is so young, but he doesn't seem proud. He usually talks about everything, houses, stocks, industry trends. We privately think that what President Yu says makes sense."

Liu Jiankai was a little surprised: "Really? I didn't expect him to be usually... easy-going?"

Lin Lingling handed over a cup of milk tea: "Boss Liu, I'm treating you on behalf of Boss Yu. Let me tell you, maybe you want to use this as an excuse to withdraw your investment because you think you can't beat Penguin. But when you first invested, did you require a startup to absolutely win the competition with Penguin?"

Liu Jiankai sipped his milk tea and thought it tasted better than wine. He pondered and said, "What if we can't win?"

"Many of us don't think we can win. WeChat can't win. Either the company will be dissolved or sold. Anyway, many people think that no matter what happens, they will continue to work with Mr. Yu." Lin Lingling touched Liu Jiankai's milk tea cup with her milk tea, "Mr. Liu, if you don't have a place to go, you can come. I'm going upstairs. Bye."

Liu Jiankai watched Lin Lingling leave, and when she was about to disappear, he asked, "Hey, Lingling, where did Mr. Yu go to find the money?"

Lin Lingling waved her hand without turning back and did not reveal her whereabouts.

Liu Jiankai looked up at the fourth floor of WeChat where Mr. Yu was not, and sighed deeply, feeling that his life was particularly confusing.

The capital at the same time.

In the chairman's office of 360 Company, Yu Xing pointed to the PPT and introduced the competitive situation between WeChat and Weichat. He also talked about the efficiency of Penguin's omni-channel promotion and the expected user growth.

At the same time, he also mentioned the current problem of smartphone inventory.

The existing stock of smartphones is bad news for WeChat, as it means that the growth rate will slow down and that Symbian models will find it difficult to keep up with version iterations.

However, Penguin is also limited by this basic situation. As for...smartphones will advance rapidly in a few months, and it is very likely that obstacles will be reduced when Penguin catches up with or is about to catch up with WeChat. That is another judgment.

At the very least, Zhou Hongyi obviously had not considered how to alleviate this factor.

Yu Xing felt that this was not Mr. Zhou's fault. No one had expected the explosion of smartphones to be so rapid. However, it was Mr. Zhou's fault that he kept interrupting him and not paying attention.

"Yu Xing, did Liu Chih-Ping really say that?" Zhou Hongyi interrupted again.

Yu Xing helplessly picked up the cup and drank water: "Liu Chih-ping also added me on WeChat, why don't I ask him again."

Zhou Hongyi smiled but didn't really smile, and actually nodded and said, "Then ask."

Yu Xing was thinking, put down his teacup, and pointed to the data analysis on the PPT: "This is very important, Mr. Zhou, please take note of it."

Then, he picked up his phone, thought about it, and sent a message to Liu Chih-ping: "Mr. Liu, I'm confused. Why did you invite me to Penguin's strategic seminar but not Mr. Zhou from 360?"

Yu Xing sent the message generously, intending to prove himself in this way. Just as he put down his phone and wanted to continue explaining, he heard the reply sound from WeChat.

Liu Chih-Ping is an in-depth user of WeChat. He actually replied to the message, and it was a voice message.

Yu Xing turned on the external audio so that everyone in the office could hear the reply from the Penguin president.

"Haha, Zhou Hongyi is so mean." Liu Chih-Ping quoted Pony's direct evaluation at the time.

Yu Xing knew that Liu Chih-ping would not have any kind response, but he did not expect him to be so blunt. The moment he heard the voice, he looked at Zhou Hongyi who had pricked up his ears, and then saw that his face had visibly darkened.

Two seconds later, Liu Chih-ping sent another message back.

Yu Xing still pressed it.

Liu Chih-Ping: “This is what Pony said.”

Yu Xing put down his phone and spread his hands to Zhou Hongyi, whose face changed. "If you insist on asking me, and if I really ask you, you'll be unhappy again."

Zhou Hongyi raised her head and imitated Liu Chih-ping's tone, saying "Hehe".

Seeing that he had no other comment, Yu Xing continued to talk about the competition between WeChat and Weichat.

He has drawn up many visiting plans during his visit to Beijing, and different targets have different focuses. Today at 360, he will describe the threat posed by the rise of WeChat to Penguin's overall strategy.

When the PPT presentation was almost finished, Tian Yaozong, the vice president of 360, expressed his objection.

"Boss Yu, you're really calculating. Not only do you not want to pay us, you also want to get something for nothing and continue to make us pay for traffic." Tian Yaozong said bluntly, "To be honest with you, we are also going to launch a competing product with yours!"

Not only will the traffic not be provided, but this traffic will also be used by new competitors.

It was the first time Yu Xing heard that 360 also had plans to test the waters of instant messaging. He did not panic. He noticed that Zhou Hongyi was obviously watching his reaction. After a little thought, he asked: "Mr. Tian, ​​do you think WeChat can beat Penguin?"

Tian Yaozong said disdainfully: "It's impossible to win!"

Yu Xing nodded and said, "Okay, since you think WeChat, which now has more than 1200 million users, can't beat Penguin, how can you be confident that you can beat Penguin with a product that currently has 0 users?"

Tian Yaozong was speechless: "This..."

Yu Xing asked again: "Don't talk about the products that haven't entered the market yet. Renren.com also has a high traffic. And unlike 360 ​​and other tools, it is a sticky social platform. However, it has been more than half a month since its launch. Do you know how the market response is now?"

Tian Yaozong frowned and did not answer.

Seeing this, Yu Xing said bluntly: "You don't consider the strategic timing, nor do you know the market situation. Why are you talking to me about instant messaging? If you want to talk, let's talk to the person in charge of this product at 360."

No one answered.

However, the vague sight has already proved who is in charge.

It was Tian Yaozong.

Yu Xing noticed the unconscious gaze and expression of the people around him, and pretended to be a little slow to react and said, "Could it be... Mr. Tian?"

Tian Yaozong had a cold face.

Yu Xing shook his head and sighed: "Forget it, since 360 ​​wants to make products like this, just pretend I was never here."

Tian Yaozong interrupted at this time: "Pay the debt when you come!"

Zhou Hongyi frowned and said, "Okay, stop talking."

Yu Xing was relieved when he heard this and became calmer: "Mr. Zhou, I don't have any objection to 360's competing products. In fact, in the field of mobile instant messaging, perhaps because of our WeChat's small achievements, many people do want to try it. But as I said, Renrenchat's market response is very poor. It has a similar page to WeChat, has the same functions, and is free. Why can't it succeed?"

He said seriously: "This is because users are only attracted to leading products, and currently the leading mobile instant messaging products are only WeChat and Weilian. All others are considered 'others' that are bound to fail."

"Even Fetion falls into this 'other' category. I don't have specific data for Fetion, but it will definitely see a big drop next year."

"WeChat is clearly ahead of Weichat. The reason why Weichat is considered the leader is that Penguin is behind it."

"My purpose of this trip is to find the support behind WeChat."

"From PCs to mobile communications, without the monopoly of IM tools, Penguin's overall strategy is in a fatal crisis."

Yu Xing pointed to his phone and used his opponent to prove the point: "If it weren't for this, Liu Chih-ping wouldn't have come to persuade me to surrender, Lu Shan wouldn't have taken over the instant messaging business so quickly, and Pony wouldn't have held meetings at midnight every day. They have already realized the danger."

He finally said: "For this kind of competition, perhaps all it needs is a boost in traffic from 360. Mr. Zhou, you can decide whether to add the last straw that breaks the camel's back."

Zhou Hongyi showed no expression. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked, "You came to Beijing in a hurry because you had a falling out with Today Capital, right? Is there a problem with WeChat's funds?"

Yu Xing said frankly: "Yes, there are doubts about the next step of funding, but I am not here for funds today, just for traffic."

Zhou Hongyi stared at the young man in front of her who didn't avoid her gaze, and mentioned something extra: "360 can provide traffic and do a debt-to-equity swap, but if there is any negative news related to the Bai Xiaosheng Forum in the future, can you suppress it?"

Yu Xing did not hesitate and shook his head: "Bai Xiaosheng is Bai Xiaosheng, 360 just needs to stop doing negative things, I can't make such a promise."

A hint of joy appeared on Tian Yaozong's face. That's enough!

Zhou Hongyi nodded: "Okay, you are very honest. Even a shareholder like Today Capital who has always supported you refused to suppress the news and broke up with you. I don't think you can do anything to 360. You didn't lie just to get traffic."

Tian Yaozong opened his mouth slightly. Is this possible? What's the difference between this and being admitted because of picking up a ball of paper during the interview? !

Yu Xing said with a serious expression: "I think we should keep things separate and not confuse things. WeChat is WeChat. What we are talking about is the competition with Penguin and the resistance to monopoly."

"Three months of traffic, each month is calculated as 1500 million, plus the 1000 million owed from the previous month." Zhou Hongyi made a decision.

It is very difficult to develop one's own products under such circumstances, and using traffic as an investment is not free, and there is also price increase. The equity of WeChat company also has a certain value.

Yu Xing nodded and stretched out his right hand: "Mr. Zhou, this is very wise."

Zhou Hongyi smiled when she heard this tone: "Penguin also invited you to the seminar, I want to see how you go about it."

Yu Xing didn't answer the question and packed up his notebook and documents.

Zhou Hongyi tried to persuade him to stay: "Let's have lunch together. I want to hear how you and Xu Xin fell out."

"No, Mr. Zhou, my schedule is very full. I have to go to Sohu." Yu Xing refused. "Besides, Ms. Xu and I had a falling out, but there is nothing worth talking about behind her back. She is still a shareholder of WeChat."

Zhou Hongyi was a little surprised, but still shook hands with Yu Xing and saw him out.

Tian Yaozong only felt that this was a slutty bitch from outside who had bewitched her boss...

Unexpectedly, Zhou Hongyi made a new decision after returning: "Tian Yaozong, stop what you are doing."

Tian Yaozong was caught off guard: "Ah?"

"Do you think you can beat Penguin? Can you beat WeChat? It will be launched in two months, and the opportunity will be gone. What's the point of fighting?" Zhou Hongyi said coldly, "It's settled. Go and continue to fight with the browser."

Tian Yaozong wanted to explain himself, but he only got a stern look from his boss. He finally accepted the result weakly.

A group of people from Shanghai went straight from 360 to Sohu without stopping.

"Mr. Yu, 360 is going better than expected." Li Shanyou said on the way, "I hope Sohu will be just as successful."

"It's hard to say about Sohu, but if Sohu has no intention, we can still go to Sogou." Yu Xing adjusted his thinking, "It's easier to get traffic than to get money. Traffic has a premium, so this kind of conversion into shares is more cost-effective."

Li Shanyou was a little surprised: "Sogou came out of Sohu."

Yu Xing nodded and said, "Yes, but Wang Xiaochuan of Sogou is very independent and may have different opinions from Sohu."

Near noon, the group met Zhang Chaoyang of Sohu.

Yu Xing slightly adjusted his strategy for the second goal and rolled the chips.

"Mr. Zhang, everyone can see the prospects of WeChat. 360 took the initiative to provide us with traffic support. We are not short of money now, but we are short of traffic."

Yu Xing did not mention the money, and slightly changed the active and passive positions.

Zhang Chaoyang smiled without any surprise and said, "He must support you. He almost didn't come out!"

Yu Xing said seriously: "This is just one factor. On the way here, I talked to Mr. Zhou on the phone. In order to support me, he took the initiative to disband the 360 ​​instant messaging team. He was very sincere."

Zhang Chaoyang was a little surprised this time.

Li Shanyou, who was standing next to him, looked at the expression on the face of the Sohu CEO and suddenly understood Mr. Yu’s lobbying strategy. Was the list of “active” supporters getting longer and longer?

(End of this chapter)