King of Capital

Chapter 40 Informal Meeting

Late night, Nanshan.

The Shenzhen University subway station was crowded with people, and the towering Tencent Building not far away was emitting bright lights.

This street is home to a large number of high-tech enterprises and dozens of listed companies. Some say this is the essence of Shenzhen, so most people who work here live in Bao'an. Every day, they move through the city's underground like mice, throwing their essence into the furnace to make it more brilliant, and the remaining ashes drift back to the narrow rental house, without seeing the sun from morning to night.

"This place is even more outrageous than Lujiazui. I should have taken a taxi earlier."

Shen Xin gasped and said apologetically, it was bad enough that there was a traffic jam in the middle of the night, but the subway station was actually crowded, which was really outrageous.

Xie Jingxing was carrying two ladies' suitcases, his own bag on his shoulders, and a large Dior tote bag around his neck. The bag itself weighed five or six kilograms, and with the laptop inside, it felt like a dumbbell hanging around his neck.

He tilted his head with difficulty to look at Su He who was limping and being supported by Shen Xin: "How are you? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No need, just put an ice pack on it when we get to the hotel." Su He said firmly that it was no problem, like a tough guy.

Xie Jingxing thought that a woman who usually carried a commuter bag weighing more than ten kilograms and wore high heels should not be that fragile. Spraining her ankle was not a common occurrence, but she was used to it.

He asked Shen Xin to help Su He sit on the steps outside the subway station to rest for a while, put down the luggage on his shoulder, took out a cigarette box from his pocket and walked to the electric bike parking area. With a few words, he randomly captured a college couple who were returning to the dormitory at night.

Shen Xin asked doubtfully: "What are you going to do?"

"Some kind people are willing to lend us their cars. I will take President Su to the hotel to check in first. You stay here to look after the luggage and I will pick you up later." Xie Jingxing arranged.

The straight-line distance from the subway station to the booked hotel is two or three kilometers. I don’t know how long it will take to get there by taxi because of the traffic jam. Riding an electric scooter is the most convenient way.

Su He showed a friendly smile and nodded, saying, "Sorry to bother you."

"It's okay. There are a lot of cars around here. Please be careful on the road. It's okay to ride slowly." The male college student was very helpful.

Xie Jing Xing smiled and assured his girlfriend: "Don't worry, it won't affect your return to the dormitory."

"…We are not freshmen, so we don’t have to go back to the dormitory under special circumstances." The girl said shyly.

The male college student's blood immediately boiled, and he was full of energy and returned the favor by suggesting: "You have nothing to do anyway, why don't you ride over first, and I'll help your colleague carry the luggage over, so you don't have to make another trip."

"Thank you so much!" Shen Xin agreed shamelessly.

It is extremely hot and stuffy in Pengcheng at night in summer, and there are even more mosquitoes than in Shanghai. She really doesn't want to be an orphan left behind here.

There was a suitcase in front of the electric bike. Su He was carrying a backpack and a "dumbbell" in hand. She sat on the back seat tremblingly and grabbed the hem of Xie Jingxing's clothes. She asked very worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"should be no problem."

Xie Jingxing didn't dare to guarantee it. He didn't ride a motorcycle. In his past and present lives combined, he had never been on a two-wheeled vehicle. Fortunately, his legs were long and he could use his feet as brakes if he couldn't ride slowly.

The sultry evening breeze blew through the thick car exhaust and took the opportunity to penetrate into my nose, and bursts of honking horns rang in my ears.

Xie Jingxing's forehead was sweating as he barely controlled the handlebars and complained, "Don't grab my clothes and hold my waist. These drivers are so impatient to reincarnate that they have no manners."

"Do you also say this about electric bikes when you are driving?" Su He asked in a strange and gloomy tone.

"..." Xie Jingxing was speechless.

A collision between an ordinary family car and an electric bike is a traffic accident, but a collision between his car and an electric bike is social news. Of course, he is annoyed by the electric bike running around. It can only be said that the head is determined by the butt.

Su He couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth and silently hugged Xie Jingxing's waist. This was the first time in more than ten days of being together that the other party looked like a "human".

The electric car was finally moved successfully to the hotel entrance. I asked the security guard for a wheelchair, checked in, and went upstairs to put my luggage.

After all the hard work, Xie Jingxing finally breathed a sigh of relief, only to notice that there were two large lumps of sweat on the back of his shirt around his shoulders. He subconsciously glanced at the slightly messy and wrinkled fabric on Su He's chest, and quickly coughed and turned his head to hide his embarrassment.

"I'm fine, you go and help Shen Xin." Su He said as if he was completely unaware.

Xie Jingxing said yes, picked up his backpack and quickly left to his room to change his shirt, then went downstairs to pick up Shen Xin.

I paid for a room for the kind couple out of my own pocket as a token of my gratitude, and ordered some midnight snacks at the front desk. I was so busy that before I knew it, it was already twelve o'clock in the morning.

Xie Jingxing and the other two had only eaten airplane meals since the afternoon. They were extremely hungry and exhausted, so they had no appetite. Food such as shrimp dumplings and porridge were placed on the table but no one touched them. However, wine glasses were raised frequently.

"Thank you, Mr. Xie. The amount of wine exceeds the limit and cannot be reimbursed." Shen Xin completely found his own position and joked to liven up the atmosphere.

Usually, during business trips, trivial tasks such as booking hotels and air tickets are assigned to the person with the lowest qualifications. But in the current situation, there must be someone to do the hard work in a team. Su He is definitely not suitable. Let’s not talk about the ability level shown by Xie Jingxing...

If you say too much, she will be hit hard, feeling frustrated and starting to doubt her life.

Xie Jing Xing smiled and shook his head, blaming: "It's fine for you to thank me, but what position do you put Mr. Su in? Young people don't know much, whether you can get reimbursed depends on what the boss says."

"You are a typical example of someone who has been corrupted by the extravagant capital culture of his peers on Wall Street." Su He commented in a serious tone.

Xie Jingxing said with a mouthful of fallacies and heresies: "We are always talking about a multi-billion dollar project. We can't just eat a bowl of pork trotter rice and complain about the increase in pork prices. If customers hear this, it will be hard for them to have confidence in cooperation."

"The emperor has no need for hungry soldiers. As long as you work hard, the company will pay for as many bowls of pork trotter rice as you eat." Su He said generously.

Xie Jing Xing quickly raised his glass to salute: "Thank you, Mr. Su, I'll drink it, you can do as you please."

Su He looked at the wine glass with only the bottom left in his hand, rolled her eyes in disgust, and sipped the red wine.

Xie Jingxing didn't care and turned to clink glasses with Shen Xin. The latter cooperated and raised his glass to thank President Su for the treat. The haze of the unfavorable start was easily dispelled, and the morale of the small team was boosted.

"I have made a temporary appointment with Dan Brody, who is in charge of overseas investment and mergers and acquisitions at Tencent, to meet tomorrow morning. It would be best if I could meet with another relevant person in charge in the afternoon. I will return to Shanghai in the evening. No matter how the progress is here, I cannot fall behind in the filming of the show."

After a simple midnight snack, Su He tactfully arranged the itinerary.

Xie Jingxing's focus shifted: "Foreigners?"

"Yes, he's white. He studied undergraduate at Georgetown University and did his graduate studies at my Nanjing University. He has worked at Google and Spotify and has a deep understanding of the Internet industry. He has a Chinese name, Yang Daning," Su He introduced.

Xie Jingxing thought for a moment and said, "Then our conversation tomorrow can focus on the international market potential of WhatsApp. Spotify is a good example. I will try to ask a friend to make an appointment with Liu Chih-ping, and when we communicate with him, we should still emphasize WeChat's overseas strategy."

"It would be best if we could get an appointment with Mr. Liu. If that doesn't work, we can also get an appointment with Zhan Weibiao. He has a lot of experience and is said to be in charge of a financial business project that is being prepared within Tencent, which can be matched with WeChat mobile payment." Su He checked for deficiencies and designed alternative plans. Tencent Strategic Investment has always been the most mysterious department within Tencent. The entire department has only a few dozen people. It follows the standard venture capital institution route but also has the complex management structure of a traditional Internet company.

Usually a small boss has several titles, and there are overlapping parts in the horizontal business, so anyone can be in charge of some of them.

This is a common problem among many giant companies. The media and the public like to anthropomorphize companies with powerful leaders like Tencent. In fact, this is a very unreliable fantasy. The true portrayal is that there are many mountains and the butt determines the head.

This is also the main reason why Xiao Ma Ge did not give a clear response, but Su He did not give up easily.

There is no need to mention Mr. Liu, who is often jokingly said to be the man standing behind Pony Ma, representing the highest will of Tencent's strategic investment department; if Zhan Weibiao were put in a securities company, he would be the big MD in charge of an industry, and middle-level managers like Yang Daning who are in charge of front-line business also have a say.

Xie Jingxing suddenly thought of something and asked, "You and Zhan Weibiao are from the same class, right?"

"There's a generation difference between us," Su He emphasized.

Xie Jingxing awkwardly made excuses: “I mean, don’t you know him?”

"He didn't originally work in finance, and Tencent's strategic investment team was only established a few years ago. I have limited connections." Su He sounded sarcastic and like a nagging woman.

Xie Jingxing was speechless and raised his wine glass to hide his embarrassment. This woman was 35 years old at the latest, born in the s, and Zhan Weibiao seemed to be born in the s. How could there be a generation difference between them?

Even if the two parties are not from the same period, their work experience will not differ by more than a few years.

Ten years later, Zhan Weibiao became Tencent's strategic investment partner. He had dealt with him several times. Logically, it was impossible for Su He to have made no progress in ten years.

Then why had he never heard of this woman's name in his previous life? Could it be that she found a good man to marry?

"After reviewing the answer you wrote, the more I think about it, the more I feel that WeChat may really be able to do mobile payments." Su He adjusted his mood and returned to the topic.

In fact, she has completely believed that Xie Jingxing has unspeakable information channels, which can effectively help her in lobbying Tencent in the future. At least it solves the problem of why Tencent should hand over WhatsApp to Juntai if it decides to acquire it.

If you don’t let Juntai do it, no one can play.

Shen Xin opened Su He's computer and placed the Zhihu answer in front of her, then picked up her own computer to record it.

"There's nothing to record. Just listen to me."

Xie Jingxing waved his hand: "Actually, what I wrote in my Zhihu answer was very simple. The core is just one point, the competition of mobile payment ports."

"For example, products like e-commerce platforms and game recharges have a large user base, so both Alipay and WeChat can attract a large number of users. Conversely, the massive number of users of WeChat and WhatsApp can also output a large amount of user traffic through the mobile payment port."

Su He nodded slightly and followed his thoughts: "So even though Alipay has seized most of the mobile payment market share, as long as Tencent is willing, hundreds of millions of WeChat users can be converted into mobile payment users in an instant."

"Yes, in fact, mobile payment is just a tool. Its significance in the financial field is even greater. The flow of funds among millions of businesses and hundreds of millions of users can easily launch basic financial services such as loans, insurance, and wealth management. This is the most powerful key point." Xie Jingxing concluded.

It is related to people's livelihood and is integrated into every corner of the society like water. This is more terrifying than the mountains and clouds engaged in agriculture.

——Su He couldn't help but stand at a higher level and consider how such a financial model should be regulated.

The two of them asked and answered each other as the conversation got deeper and deeper, while Shen Xin tapped away on the keyboard to record key information.

"Regulation can be achieved from both technical and regulatory aspects. You should invite professors from the computer science, finance and law schools of universities to come to Juntai for training. I don't understand this."

At 2:30 in the morning, a slightly tipsy Xie Jingxing yawned and announced the end of the informal meeting.

Su He said from the bottom of his heart: "I think it would be more effective to ask you to train me."

"In fact, I don't know much about Internet finance." Xie Jingxing really didn't understand this.

Working in agriculture at Yunshan is exhausting enough, and if it is closely linked to traditional financial business, Old Xie might have to live ten years less.

As of now, in addition to Taihe, Yunshan has only one regional microfinance enterprise that provides seed and fertilizer loans to farmers, which can be regarded as a response to the call for inclusive financial policies.

Su He's face was full of disbelief: "Now it seems that the Yu'ebao launched by Alipay a few days ago is the direction of the mobile payment prospect you analyzed."

"So Tencent has to be more anxious, time is running out." Xie Jingxing sighed.

Su He looked out the window at the still brightly lit Tencent Building not far away: "Ali will never give up the market easily."

"Tencent has already stuck a foot in. Maybe we should let them fight earlier so that Mr. Ma will pay attention to WhatsApp." Xie Jingxing hesitated.

Will the advance of the online car-hailing war and the early exposure of the essence of the battle for mobile payment ports lead Tencent to completely abandon WhatsApp and focus on the domestic battlefield, or will it be more eager for a traffic pool with hundreds of millions of international users?
He couldn't make up his mind.

Su He's heart tightened. She wanted to ask how Tencent quietly entered the mobile payment market, but her instinct told her that it was not important.

What’s important is that once a major war breaks out, based on her understanding of Tencent, it will definitely shrink back and act like a turtle. It is unrealistic to divide most of its energy to acquire WhatsApp and fight on two fronts.

"You've painted a big enough pie for Mr. Ma. Too much is as bad as too little." She endured it again and again, but finally did not ask and just advised.

Mobile users + traffic pool of hundreds of millions of users, and going global, these two pieces of pie are already excellent lobbying directions.

Next, it depends on whether the person standing in the tall building opposite and looking down is really willing to be a captive monkey, or is willing to climb over the wall to fight and compete with the beasts in the jungle.

Su He looked at the person who asked this question beside him: "Do you really want to go out?"

"...More or less."

Xie Jing Xing was silent for a moment, then drank the wine in the glass: "Standing high up and being able to see people outside the wall, you all want to go out for a walk, right?"

Su He opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

In recent years, all the companies that have gone abroad in the financial industry have suffered heavy losses. The international market follows the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest, and treats domestic financial companies like fat sheep. Who wants this to happen? No one wants this to happen.

Protection is actually a shackle. As a highly specialized industry, is it really necessary to fall to the level of comparing professional ethics?
She also wants to go out for a walk.

　On shelves tomorrow

　　
　
(End of this chapter)