King of Capital

Chapter 84: Only a few million left

August 8th, light rain, suitable for burning incense and worshiping Buddha.

In an old and deserted temple in Yuhang, Hangzhou, the thin soul of Alibaba Group is bowing with his hands clasped together in the main hall.

"I often advise my grandmother not to go to a big temple with a lot of incense to worship Buddha on weekends, because there are too many people petitioning and the Bodhisattva cannot keep up. She should come to a small temple on windy, snowy and rainy days to care about the Bodhisattva's safety. If the Bodhisattva is warm-hearted, everyone will be fine." He twirled the Buddhist beads and closed his eyes.

The plain words echoed in the empty hall. Cai Chongxin, who was elegant and dressed in formal attire, was silent for a while, then nodded slightly to indicate that he was listening.

The day before yesterday, Didi publicly announced that it was the number one in Shanghai’s online ride-hailing market; yesterday, Bumblebee announced that it was the number one in Shanghai’s online ride-hailing market; today, Kuaidi announced that it was the number one in Shanghai’s online ride-hailing market.

Tomorrow, Shanghai authorities will issue a document announcing detailed rules of conduct for online ride-hailing platforms, strictly controlling the proportion of orders that taxi drivers accept on online platforms.

In the ten days from the middle of the month to now, the three online ride-hailing platforms have burned a total of 30 million in the Shanghai market, an average of 3 million per day.

Kuaidi’s cash on hand is running out, and the B round of financing led by Alibaba is already in place, so it can join in at any time.

However, the online car-hailing industry is in a precarious situation and its future prospects are bleak. Can it really shoulder the heavy responsibility of being a "mobile payment port"? The group argued for two days over the weekend, and now there is a result.

Cai Chongxin breathed hard, the slightly moist air clearing his mind: "I just received news that Bumblebee has turned to Baidu."

Bumblebee was pushed into a corner. According to the original plan, it would have been ideal to slow down the price war while discussing mergers and acquisitions. However, the young man who was traveling thousands of miles away with his celebrity girlfriend was too crazy. Everyone was led by him, even Baidu.

Alibaba has Alipay, Tencent has WeChat, and Baidu is deeply anxious and running around trying to find a ticket to the mobile Internet era. In the past two months, it placed its hopes on the online car-hailing sector and tried to invest in Bumblebee.

As a result, Cheng Wei took the initiative to come to the door and shouted, "Why don't you invest in the market leader or the third one? Give me the money and kill Bumblebee in three months." On the other hand, Alibaba took the lead in getting Baidu Maps to reach a strategic cooperation with the second fastest in the industry.

The industry structure has been determined, and with the pulling of both sides, Baidu gave up investing in Bumblebee and turned to developing the Baidu Maps online taxi-hailing function.

However, this month Didi stepped up its efforts to reignite the war, and Alibaba issued a "hunt order" to encircle Didi. The first and second in the industry were preparing for a decisive battle at the same time amid unclear policy directions, making Robin Li feel like he was being cheated.

So he urgently turned around and contacted Bumblebee again to discuss investment. Although he has not yet figured out why Alibaba and Tencent are going all in on online ride-hailing, he cannot let things go too smoothly for the two companies.

In the past few days, Didi and Kuaidi have secretly tried their best to fight several times for the acquisition of Bumblebee, but in the end they were no match for Baidu's determination to attack them like a nouveau riche with money.

In the face of absolute strength, all strategies are insignificant, and this also applies to Alibaba and Tencent.

They have to fight for the "mobile payment port" and can only see each other. No matter why Baidu joins the game, they will just crush it.

"Thank you... Jingxing didn't come back?"

Teacher Ma finally opened his eyes. He was somewhat curious about why this young man was so hostile towards Alibaba. As for the Bumblebee acquisition and Didi's next round of financing, it can be said that everything that has happened so far was caused by this person personally taking charge.

Cai Chongxin was also rather helpless. Now, investors of Didi and Kuaidi other than Alibaba and Tencent remained neutral on the upcoming battle. Zhu Xiaohu even called him personally to say that he would not help either side and would only make money.

Taihe Capital has a clear position, and after this guy did a lot of things, he went to Yunnan for a high-profile trip. His celebrity girlfriend frequently updated her Weibo to show off their love, saying that he would invest in movies and be a screenwriter, and that he would drink milk tea instead of alcohol...

"It's not easy."

Tsai Chongxin responded simply that this guy was a trouble and that he couldn't put pressure on investors like he did on others.

He had made the phone call personally to test the waters before, which was actually a gesture of goodwill to some extent - Alibaba only punished the chief evildoer Tencent and did not harm the rest. The previous overseas WhatsApp acquisition was a misunderstanding.

Teacher Ma hoped to meet with Xie Jingxing before the final battle so that they could make money in harmony. If he really wanted to exchange shares and stand on Kuaidi's side, it was not completely impossible to talk about it. Unfortunately, he couldn't even catch a glimpse of him.

"Forget it then. Starting tomorrow, we'll get rid of Baidu first." Teacher Ma raised his head and looked into the eyes of the tall and solemn Buddha statue sitting in the middle of the main hall.

In 1997, in a temple ruined by heavy rain, a nun said that he would "travel far away like Zhang Qian". In December of the same year, he received an invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation to lead the Yellow Pages team on a journey to Beijing.

The rain today is not heavy enough and the temple is not dilapidated enough, but I still hope that the Bodhisattva can warm our hearts. If the Bodhisattva is well, everyone will be well.

The raindrops hitting the quaint eaves created white noise and a peaceful atmosphere. Cai Chongxin straightened his formal attire, closed the door, turned around and disappeared into the rain and mist, bringing with him gusts of cool breeze and mist to ignite the gunpowder.

…………

The sun was so hot every day. After a few days of laziness and leisure by the Erhai Lake in Dali, Xie Jingxing's skin became darker. He lay on the sea view terrace reading a book.

Princess Pei, wearing a straw hat and a blue-white printed halter dress, sat under a parasol and typed on her computer. She thought about it carefully and said, "Honey, do you really want to use Liu'er's name as the heroine's name?"

"It's up to you guys." Xie Jingxing didn't care.

"Go Where the Wind Is" is a TV series about urban rural life that depicts returning to hometown to start a business more than ten years later. He has not watched it but has only seen a few clips on short videos. It is said that the popularity and ratings are good.

So he planned to let Pei Fei finish filming "Heart Flower Road" before filming this TV series. He invited several screenwriters to communicate with him in the past few days. He only left a script outline of "the grandfather of the highly educated heroine died, and she returned to her hometown to start a business after being hit." Then he let the screenwriters write the assigned topic, and he reluctantly gave some revision directions according to his memory and the original script.

With the help of their wealth, the screenwriters were full of inspiration and submitted an outline of 20,000 to 30,000 words in just a few days. Today, they showed it to Concubine Pei and Cui Aliu, who was quite satisfied with the character based on her.

There is just one thing: I don’t really want to use my real name.

"Then let's change it. It feels weird for me to act under Liu'er's real name."

After spending a few days together, Concubine Pei and Cui A-liu became much closer, and they called each other Liu'er.

However, her plan to acquire shares through endorsement failed, and was rejected by both her mother and Cui Aliu. Her mother saw the risks, and believed that using fame to attract franchisees was too damaging. If the 'Yinshan Tea Language' business failed, Concubine Pei would be hit hard as the spokesperson.

Cui A Liu thinks that there will be no substantial benefits for milk tea brands to find spokespersons, other than making it easier to attract franchisees. Instead, the milk tea brands will be labeled by the celebrity spokespersons, and excessive marketing may not necessarily be a good thing.

And at the equity structure level, she has no reason to bring in a star.

In general, Bu Du is a good project, but it is not a good project for Concubine Pei. Sun Tao is not holding back at all.

That night at the tea mountain, Xie Jingxing did not give Concubine Pei a direct answer. He just wanted her to do it herself. If she could succeed, he would not stop her. If she couldn't, they could make a joint venture TV series to back her up. Either way, she would not lose out.

"Is the filming of your drama in Hengdian almost finished?" he asked, suddenly remembering something.

Concubine Pei pursed her lips and let out a sigh: "I don't really want to go back to shoot. If it doesn't work, use a stand-in. I'll go back and make up for the front shot."

"Have I really spoiled you?" Xie Jingxing's face turned cold.

He didn't care about filming a bad drama, but he simply felt that it was embarrassing for him to just do it perfunctorily, so he made a decision in his heart to find an opportunity to make their breakup public by the end of the year.

During this period of time, Concubine Pei knew that he was soft-hearted and did not respond to hardship. She quickly put down her computer and hugged him affectionately, saying, "I just want to make the movie you invested in me. This is my first time as the heroine of a movie..."

Ning Hao came to Dali a few days ago. He signed the investment agreement in person and took the opportunity to view the scenery. The shooting period has been confirmed to be in October.

Calculating the time, Concubine Pei will be busy in the future, and Xie Jingxing will soon return to the Magic City. She doesn't know when the two of them will be able to relax and cultivate their relationship like they do now. She is really unwilling to accept this.

"Hubby, why don't we buy this inn as a souvenir?" Concubine Pei put her hands on Xie Jingxing's chest and suggested condescendingly.

The wind suddenly blew, the strands of hair around her ears fluttered, and a faint orange scent penetrated her nose. Xie Jingxing could see every pore on her cool and bright face.

"It's very hot, don't feel sick."

"..."

"Don't bother me."

"So love disappears, right?"

"Buy it." Xie Jingxing turned over and sat up with numbness all over his body. It was too disgusting. He really couldn't stand it.

Concubine Pei said without hesitation: "We will each pay half of the money and write our two names on it."

"Okay, I'll transfer the money to you right away." Xie Jingxing put on his slippers and ran back to his room, looking through his wallet for the U-Shield and logged into online banking to transfer the money.

He currently has invested all of his personal wealth in Grapefruit Capital, including 8% of Didi and 10% of Mihoyo. He has invested 2 million in the stock market and has 1 million in cash as an emergency and venture capital reserve.

In addition, there is a 7% stake in Forsan, and a pledged loan of US$ billion in cash is arriving... This amount of funds is too large and needs to be paid in batches, and it will probably all be in place by the end of the month.

The 20 million in cash transferred to the "Crying" studio and the 80 million for investment in the film were all paid through Grapefruit Capital, and daily expenses during this period were also paid through the company's account.

Xie Jingxing hadn't used his personal bank account for a long time. When he opened it, he found that there were only a few million left in it. Fortunately, housing prices were not expensive now.

After transferring the money, he thought for a while and asked, "Have you ever thought about what to do if someone else doesn't sell this inn? What are your subsequent plans after you buy it?"

"It will eventually sell if you pay more. This is personal consumption, not a business investment. When I have time to go on vacation in the future, I will open it for ten days or half a month, and leave it empty the rest of the time." Concubine Pei was already prepared and said as a matter of course.

She knows that many celebrities in the circle like to do catering business, but opening a restaurant is very troublesome and most of them lose money, so it is better to leave it empty.

Xie Jingxing was speechless. Buying a homestay for personal consumption was like Old Xie buying an airbus and modifying it into a private jet. It took some skill.

Very good, his collection has grown again, and all the hard work these days in training it has not been in vain.

(End of this chapter)