Chapter 276: Sell Pintuan to Me

“Junior, long time no see. Do you still remember me?”

Hearing the voice, Jiang Qin looked towards the door with a slightly surprised expression. “Senior Ye? It’s been a while. Are you here to see Professor Yan? He went to walk Fugui out of boredom. Why don’t you wait here for a bit?”

Ye Ziqing quietly looked at him. “I’m not here for Professor Yan. This time I came specifically for you.”

“For me?”

“I saw the news and know you’re working on a group-buying website, so… I wanted to come take a look.”

Jiang Qin nodded thoughtfully. “Then Senior Ye, feel free to look around.”

“Alright.”

Ye Ziqing glanced at Feng Nanshu and froze slightly. After a long while, she withdrew her gaze and couldn’t help but look at the display board hanging on the opposite wall.

To be honest, the only thing familiar to Ye Ziqing about this office was this display board. It was what she had left behind when she departed from 208. Jiang Qin didn’t take it down but continued using it.

However, the reports of Jiuhui Group-Buy Network had vanished in the long river of time. Now what was posted on it were the new user growth curve and merchant entry curve of Pintuan’s second quarter.

Seeing this, Ye Ziqing was even more dazed.

She still remembered the first time she met Jiang Qin. It was a rainy day. She came to 208 to reminisce about her entrepreneurial days, but unexpectedly, this place had changed to a new owner.

At that time, Jiang Qin came out from the adjacent 207 and told her that her group-buying direction was wrong. If she changed her thinking, it wouldn’t fail.

What did she say back then?

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing…

The second meeting was at Juxian Building in the city center. She had just taken over part of her family’s business and needed to get closer to partners through socializing. At that time, Jiang Qin came out from the adjacent private room. The two chatted a bit.

What did she say at that time?

She praised that his website was well-made and educated him not to be impatient to monetize. Seize the time to continue promoting and expand the user base first.

And Jiang Qin’s answer was no money.

She was quite disappointed in him at the time, feeling he only cared about short-term petty profits and didn’t understand that true business strategy required seizing opportunities. So she turned and left, forgetting about this junior she met by chance.

Then in the blink of an eye, half a year passed. Ye Ziqing came back from a drinking event and happened to see the news on TV. She was shocked to find that the junior had spread his group-buying site, which she had riddled with bad debts, across the entire city.

It was just a casual remark back then, but it turned into deafening thunder today. Ye Ziqing realized that she had never walked out of the shadow of failure.

From that day on, she cancelled all social engagements and began investigating the emergence and promotion of Pintuan.

Campus beauty contest, Xitian milk tea, forum traffic, mall bundling, half-price sitewide, regional ground promotion, Swords marketing.

Ye Ziqing discovered that the junior, who seemed unreliable, had only fiercely nailed seven nails in Linchuan but accomplished in the shortest time what she couldn’t do even risking her life.

At that moment, her feelings were very complex.

On one hand, Pintuan’s success proved her original idea was right, just that she didn’t use the right method. On other hand, it also proved her skills were inferior.

Then she realized, in the face of talent, hard work was hardly worth mentioning.

But what made Ye Ziqing feel even more unacceptable was that Jiang Qin had clearly spent a year planning out a set of both fast and effective promotional methods, but he announced he would stop promoting and instead turn to forums.

This person, he easily achieved the goal she had struggled with all her might to reach, but let go. He quit playing, carefree like a wanderer, saying he would withdraw and doing so.

Doesn’t he know, if social interaction can’t be monetized, the final outcome will definitely be a total collapse?

“Junior, can I chat with you?” Ye Ziqing turned to look at him.

“Senior, speak your mind. There are no outsiders here.”

Feng Nanshu found it a bit amusing after hearing that, but still appeared cold and detached on the surface, like an emotionless rich woman.

Ye Ziqing took a deep breath. “Pintuan’s momentum is very good now. You should continue expanding outward, not trapping it in Linchuan. Because if limited to one city, there will come a day when it becomes worthless!”

“Senior, if instant payment can’t be realized, Pintuan can only be a regional monetization tool. But Zhihu is the best outlet for the internet.”

“Instant payment can be achieved. The four major banks all upgraded their online banking systems recently, which is preparing in this direction.”

Jiang Qin poured her a cup of tea and passed it over. “Is that so? Then let’s talk after the payment license comes out.”

Ye Ziqing didn’t take it but stared intently at him. “If the financial license for instant payment takes effect, this track will be completely opened up. All the capital watching from the sidelines will enter. We will miss the most advanced opportunity!”

“We?”

“Sorry, slip of the tongue. You.”

Ye Ziqing pursed the corner of her lips. “Junior, you must understand, copying this project is not difficult. And you’re not the only one entering this field. The reason they haven’t made a splash is because they are also waiting for the outlet. But waiting for the wind is ultimately not as good as chasing the wind.”

Jiang Qin picked up the cup and fed Feng Nanshu a mouthful of water. “I understand Senior’s meaning. But how can you be so sure I will definitely win? Just because of this face of mine? But Senior, looks really don’t represent justice. You can’t have such blind faith.”

“…”

“Alright, I admit it.”

Jiang Qin widened his eyes, thinking inwardly that although Senior’s ability was just passable, her vision was indeed not bad.

“I admit this is the funniest joke I’ve heard this year.”

Ye Ziqing said expressionlessly, “I’ll be frank. The reason I believe in you is because I investigated Pintuan’s history of founding and development. Your marketing techniques are very impressive and you understand consumer and merchant psychology very well. This is the most important condition for doing O2O.”

Jiang Qin shrugged. “But I still feel Zhihu is better. My team has already started shifting focus back too.”

“Then sell it to me. I’ll do it.”

“?”

“Junior, you can name the price. As long as it’s not too outrageous, I can accept it. I will definitely build Pintuan into the biggest O2O platform domestically.”

Hearing this, Jiang Qin felt his scalp go a bit numb. He thought inwardly that besides Feng Nanshu this little devil, this was probably the most generous woman he had ever met. When she sees something good, she really dares to buy.

But he found it strange. After multiple interactions, Jiang Qin felt Ye Ziqing’s personality should be very cold and detached. But as long as she heard the two words “group-buy”, it was as if she couldn’t control herself and would instantly become extremely fanatical.

Is this the power of an obsession?

Feeling discontent because of failing once? This mentality is a bit similar to his own.

“Senior, before discussing whether to sell or not, I really want to know, if you were me, what would you do?”

“Continue expanding to other places. Target Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen.”

Jiang Qin sighed. “That will cost a lot of money. When the time comes, forget waiting for an outlet. Pintuan will directly die before the wind arrives.”

Ye Ziqing didn’t care at all. “We can choose to raise funds.”

“No, it’s still too early now. This is not Pintuan’s best opportunity.”

“But you should at least let it go out and see how far it can go. If it doesn’t venture out, no matter how beautiful the scenery, you won’t have a chance to see it.”

Jiang Qin shook his head. “Expansion is temporarily on hold, but I definitely won’t sell either. Thanks for your kindness.”

Ye Ziqing was a bit disappointed but still wouldn’t give up. “I can join you to help with promotions. My uncle is the vice president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. If the two of us join hands, we can at least spread to the first-tier cities first.”

“Who is the vice president of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce?”

“…”

Ye Ziqing took out a business card and handed it to him. “No one will sell the fruits of their labor. I understand this. But I hope you don’t constrain Pintuan. As long as you have the willingness to expand outward, I can lend you all my connections and channels.”

Jiang Qin took the business card, glanced at it, and turned it toward the little rich girl. “Look, this logo is the same as the one on our Xitian check-in wall.”

“Junior, we’re talking about serious matters!” Ye Ziqing was a bit angry.

She found that Jiang Qin was a pure lovestruck fool, and a severe one at that. Because in the past ten plus minutes of conversation, he was either holding that girl’s little hand or feeding her water.

Yes, she admits, this girl is the most beautiful one she has ever seen in her life. Even she couldn’t help wanting to look. Let alone Jiang Qin, a strapping young man in his prime.

But the business card she just gave was invaluable for Pintuan. Yet he only cared about the logo on it.

Ye Ziqing found it very hard to understand. How did someone like Jiang Qin do business to this extent? Could it be that the team he recruited was better than hers?!

Jiang Qin returned the business card, puffing out his chest to the point it could be placed on the table. “Senior, I will carefully consider your opinion. But I don’t want to rely on outside help too early. I, Jiang Qin, also have my own pride.”

“Then think it over. I will come again after summer vacation. Junior, doing business is a very serious matter. I hope you won’t be so flippant.”

Ye Ziqing picked up her bag and left the office in anger, her high heels clacking.

“Senior, take it slow. 208 welcomes you anytime.”

Jiang Qin chased after to send her off, only to see Ye Ziqing suddenly turn her head. “Even if you pay, you can’t buy my uncle’s private contact information. You’ve really missed out on a lot.”

Jiang Qin waved goodbye with breezy nonchalance, then leisurely strolled to Feng Nanshu. “I bet you already memorized the phone number on that business card just now.”

Feng Nanshu was dazed for a moment. “I… seems I really did memorize it.”

“As expected of the genius girl Feng Nanshu. With you, this big treasure, I can freeload all the information I can see!”

The little rich girl puffed her cheeks, holding back a smile, her face aloof as she took the pen he handed over and swiftly wrote down a string of numbers on paper. After some thought, she also wrote down an address below, the small text from the business card.

Jiang Qin picked up the phone number to look it over, then folded it and locked it in the drawer.

Although Pintuan’s expansion was temporarily on hold, this connection may not be useful now but will definitely play a key role in the future. Save it for now.

Borrow connections? Who knows what you have to pay back. Business people all know, the most expensive things are the free ones.

Jiang Qin felt his dictionary never had the word “borrow”, only “steal” or “snatch”.