Chapter 650: Chen Yansen + E-commerce Ma VS Little Ma! You Dare Come to My Turf? The Great Ban Hammer

Chapter 650: Chapter 464: Chen Yansen + E-commerce Ma VS Little Ma! You Dare Come to My Turf? The Great Ban Hammer

The height of summer in Yanjing was like an overturned furnace, immersing the entire city in a sweltering heatwave.

The International Conference Center had its air conditioning blasting, so there was no need to worry about the scorching heat. But there were so many attendees that the Wi-Fi had completely crashed.

The organizers, looking grim, hurriedly called over the IT staff to get the network back up as quickly as possible.

Handsome Dong was absent from this year’s Hua Country Internet Conference.

The speaker on stage at the moment was Ding Lei. He first announced the good news that NetEase Youdao Dictionary’s user base had surpassed 300 million, then went on to talk at length about his experiences raising pigs.

How bizarre!

Many of the entrepreneurs in the audience silently scoffed.

During the afternoon breakout session, Lei Yijun took the stage to share Xiaomi’s founding story.

Although Zhou Hongyi was in the same conference hall, the two never interacted from beginning to end. Seeing this, the media immediately came up with a headline: The Most Familiar Strangers!

Pei Yi, Zhou Shouzhi, Liao Wei, Zhang Yiming, Liang Bo, and others all spoke eloquently at their respective breakout sessions, working to expand the industry influence of the products they were responsible for.

Time flew, and the day was soon over.

That evening, Ding Lei played host, inviting Chen Yansen, Ma Wenteng, and Zhang Chaoyang to dinner. He even brought some of NetEase’s black pork and had the chef prepare a few small dishes for them to taste.

After dinner, Zhang Chaoyang suggested going out to sea for some fishing. Ding Lei and Ma Wenteng readily agreed, and Chen Yansen didn’t refuse either.

The group took Old Zhang’s private jet straight to the nearest airport by Bohai Bay, then took a car to the docks.

The moment they boarded the yacht, eight beautiful women in bikinis swarmed them. Two of them immediately started greeting them with “Konichiwa,” their faces plastered with ingratiating smiles.

Chen Yansen stared for a moment before recognizing them. They were both JAV actresses from next door. They were wearing so many clothes he hadn’t recognized them at first.

The other six also looked familiar, mostly up-and-coming starlets from the entertainment industry.

There were all types—slender, plump, A-cups, D-cups—each one different.

Zhang Chaoyang pulled the three of them down to sit, opened a bottle of whiskey, and personally poured their drinks over ice.

Chen Yansen held his glass and took a small sip.

Ding Lei held a fishing rod, sitting on the starboard side of the yacht, leisurely fishing.

Ma Wenteng lit a Zhenlong cigarette and puffed away. After finishing half of it, he turned to Chen Yansen and asked, “Have you found the brokerage firms yet?”

“We’ve made a preliminary selection of five partners, led by Goldman Sachs. They’ll first organize Pinbei’s financial and accounting data to ensure it meets the New York Stock Exchange’s listing requirements and procedures.”

Chen Yansen put down his glass, leaned back in his chair, and answered slowly.

Ever since he announced Pinbei’s IPO plan, Ma Wenteng had also been busy helping out.

After all, Penguin had participated in Pinbei’s Series A and B funding rounds, investing a total of 1.18 billion US Dollars and holding 17.5% of the equity, making them the second-largest shareholder.

“You need to move fast. Capital has been flowing back in the last six months, and the market is heating up. Overseas investors are showing more interest and willingness to invest in Hua Country’s e-commerce sector, which makes it easier to get a high valuation.”

Ma Wenteng reminded him.

He paused, then added, “Ali has already submitted their IPO plan, and Jingdong is also preparing. Whoever lists first will attract more market attention and capital. If Ali Baba lists first, it could affect Pinbei’s fundraising amount and valuation.”

To put it bluntly, Pinbei, Ali, and Jingdong were not just competitors in business; their fight to list on the stock market was even more perilous.

One wrong move could mean losses of hundreds of millions, or even billions, of US Dollars.

“Don’t worry, I understand the stakes.”

Chen Yansen nodded confidently in response.

He had hired five underwriters in total: Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley were responsible for drafting the prospectus; Citibank was responsible for training all underwriting sales personnel; JPMorgan Chase was handling valuation and issuance; and Goldman Sachs was responsible for setting the floor price.

Every one of them a powerhouse!

After listening to Chen Yansen, a flash of surprise couldn’t help but cross Ma Wenteng’s eyes.

He hadn’t expected that Chen Yansen was not only strong in operations but also had a deep understanding of and was skilled in capital-raising principles.

Seeing the two of them discussing the details of Pinbei’s IPO, Zhang Chaoyang didn’t want to disturb them, so he wrapped his arms around two girls with incredible figures and ducked into the cabin.

‘Can Old Zhang handle that?’

Chen Yansen looked skeptical.

Before long, a rustling sound drifted out. Listening closely, it turned out to be Zhang Chaoyang’s singing.

“♫You said holding hands was a promise

♫But my dear, that wasn’t love

♫Just like a shooting star you can’t wish on in time

♫No matter how beautiful, it can only be a memory…♫”

Chen Yansen chuckled, shaking his head. It seemed that once a man hit fifty, he was pretty much at the age where it was all talk and no action.

They partied until one in the morning before he returned to his hotel in Yanjing.

He pushed open the door to his room and entered the bedroom. Ye Qiuping was lying on her side on the bed, her makeup exquisite.

She was wearing a nurse’s uniform, and a pair of white stockings enveloped her legs from her toes to above her knees, offering a faint glimpse of her fair, rosy skin.

Her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady. She had evidently fallen asleep while waiting for President Chen to return.

Chen Yansen unbuttoned his shirt as he walked.

He was fast at taking off other people’s clothes, and no slower with his own. Before he even reached the bed, he was down to his boxer shorts.

Ye Qiuping was sleeping soundly. In a daze, she felt someone press against her, pinning her underneath.

…

…

For the next two days, President Chen had meetings during the day, attended social engagements in the evening, and “read books” at night.

On the morning of August 16th, Chen Yansen, full of Spirit, got into the Maybach 62S. Ye Qiuping, in contrast, looked like she hadn’t slept well.

Zhou Shouzhi hadn’t returned to Xucheng; he had flown to Europe for a business trip last night.

With no one else around on the way back, Chen Yansen pulled Master Ye aside for a fierce “sparring session” thousands of meters up in the air.

As a result, the moment they landed, Ye Qiuping was so exhausted she kept dozing off.

Seeing this, Chen Yansen had Xiaoli drive back to the Delta Villa, then tossed Ye Qiuping onto the two-meter-wide bed.

“Boss, slow… slow down, it’s too fast,” Ye Qiuping mumbled into the pillow, seemingly talking in her sleep.

Chen Yansen, who had been about to leave the room, stopped in his tracks. A flame of anger ignited within him. ‘Make yourself clear, who’s too fast?’

So he turned back and gave Ye Qiuping another two-hour “long lecture.”

The sky outside darkened from day to night. It wasn’t until ten-thirty, after having not eaten for half a day, that Master Ye slowly woke up. She saw Chen Yansen lying on the terrace sofa, gazing at the pitch-black night sky and dim stars, lost in thought.

She slid open the glass door, walked over slowly, and sat down close to Chen Yansen, asking, “Have you eaten dinner?”

“No,” Chen Yansen lied with a straight face.

“Then I’ll cook you a bowl of noodles?” Ye Qiuping offered.

“And make a few side dishes. Not too many, four dishes and a soup will be fine,” Chen Yansen replied.

‘Not too many, four dishes and a soup?’

Ye Qiuping smiled sweetly, then ground out a “mm-hmm” through clenched teeth.

‘That bastard Chen Yansen doesn’t see me as a person at all! Once he’s had his fun, he just tosses me aside.’

How had she woken up?

She had starved awake!

“Well, get going!” Seeing her not moving, Chen Yansen frowned and urged her in a deep voice.

“Okay, Boss, I’ll go make the noodles now.” Ye Qiuping forced a smile, staring pitifully at Chen Yansen.

Seeing him unmoved, she had no choice but to obediently go downstairs and into the kitchen.

Just as she was about to open the fridge to pick out ingredients, she saw an unopened takeout container from Chuanweiju—spicy chicken and twice-cooked pork. Next to it in the trash can was an empty takeout box.

It was obvious Chen Yansen had already eaten dinner and had even ordered a portion for her.

The corners of Ye Qiuping’s mouth curled up, and a brilliant smile blossomed on her face.

‘The guy isn’t so bad after all!’

A warmth spread through Master Ye’s heart. She quickly heated up the food and replenished her energy. Feeling guilty for misjudging Chen Yansen, she decided to compensate President Chen properly.

The next morning, the Laiwang App went live.

Ali Baba, after holding back for half a year, finally revealed its trump card.

As Ali Baba’s big bet in the social media space, Laiwang had been highly anticipated since its inception. The entire team was fired up, determined to tear an opening in the market dominated by WeChat.

And Lao Ma’s marketing strategy was simple and crude: download the app for 2GB of data usable on Ali-affiliated services, log in for a Tmall red envelope worth anywhere from 5 to 88 yuan, and invite friends to register for an additional random red envelope of 5 to 88 yuan.

In short, it was all about throwing money around.

Less than an hour after the product went live, downloads had already exceeded 300,000, with 247,000 registrations.

WeChat, QQ, Qzone, Renren Network, and Weibo were all flooded with invitation links.

After Ma Wenteng received the news, he showed E-commerce Ma no mercy and immediately blocked Laiwang’s promotional invitation links.

‘Trying to plaster my territory with digital garbage?’

‘Don’t even think about it!’

When Ma Liyun found out, he cursed and grumbled, but there was nothing he could do.

At the same time, the homepages of Ali Baba’s core apps like Taobao, Tmall, and Wealth Treasure all featured round-the-clock banner ads promoting Laiwang.

Download for data, log in for shopping red envelopes.

It looked extravagant, but it mostly attracted “wool-pullers”—users only interested in freebies. There weren’t many users genuinely interested in the Laiwang social app itself.

Furthermore, executives like Ma Liyun, Lu Zhaoxi, and Zhang Yong also posted QR code screenshots on Weibo to attract new user registrations.

This move leveraged the celebrity effect, and in a short time, hundreds of thousands of people downloaded Laiwang, hoping to add Ma Liyun as a friend.

“Mr. Ma, I’m a college student. Can you give me a free Orange Mobile Phone?”

“Mr. Ma, I’ve run out of living expenses. Can you send me a red envelope?”

“Mr. Ma, I look a lot like you. Do you think it’s possible I’m your long-lost brother?”

Ma Liyun approved several hundred friend requests in one go, but when he saw the chat messages, his vision went black.

They were either trying to claim kinship or asking him for money.

Meanwhile, every Ali Baba employee was given a company mandate: by October 1st, they had to have over 100 external friends on Laiwang, or they wouldn’t receive their year-end bonus.

Of course, if they had enough friends, they could also share a 1 million yuan cash prize.

Throwing money at the public, forcing quotas on employees!

On its first day, Laiwang’s promotional activities alone cost a hundred million yuan!

Registrations easily broke 5 million!

Faced with Ali Baba’s provocation, Ma Wenteng went all-in on blocking, first banning Laiwang’s promotional links, then Taobao’s links as well.

Within Penguin’s software ecosystem, any and all products from the Ali Baba family were completely blocked.

Following their e-commerce war, Ali Baba and Penguin were at it again!

The next day, Liang Bo publicly announced that Cloud Ship, an enterprise office software that had been in development for a year, was now available for download from the official website, the Orange Application Mall, and the Aurora Future Application Mall.

This software was aimed primarily at enterprise users and was available in PC and mobile versions.

It was in direct competition with Enterprise QQ and IMO!

Cloud Ship integrated chat, voice, red envelope, and video functions, as well as mini-apps for group chat, meeting scheduling, corporate meal ordering, and taxi-hailing.

In short, Senlian Capital and Ali Baba had coincidentally launched attacks on Penguin’s home turf—one grabbing enterprise users, the other grabbing regular users.

Ma Wenteng instantly became frantic. He was about to call Chen Yansen to question him, but then he had a second thought. ‘I copied Senlian Capital’s Yu’e Bao, Douyin, and other products. What right do I have to question him?’

In the end, he let out a long sigh, turned his guns around, and focused his energy on dealing with Ali Baba.

To retain wavering users, WeChat upgraded its “Shake” feature. Shaking three times a day gave users a chance to win cash red envelopes, Ofo bike-sharing coupons, Fast Taxi coupons, and more.

It also accused Laiwang’s “300 Million Red Envelope” promotion of being a form of viral marketing that would ruin the user experience and atmosphere of WeChat Moments. The attitude was clear: ‘I’m going to block the hell out of you!’