Chapter 387: The Poor Man’s Strategy

The next morning marked the first day of Labor Day.

Ding Xue successfully passed her exams and got into the graduate school of Linchuan University. To celebrate, young master Cao splurged on a lavish meal for eight people from two dormitories. Later that evening, he was excitedly researching local attractions, planning to take Ding Xue on a trip.

Just before they set off, he sneakily went to a vending machine off campus and bought a pack of “Guardian Spirits,” only to be caught red-handed by Jiang Qin.

“Playing with balloons, huh?”

“Come on, we’re all grown men here. Don’t play dumb. Do you want one?”

Jiang Qin glanced at him, silently took one, and tucked it into his wallet, leaving with a feverish sense on his mind, wondering what had just triggered that memory.

“Keeping a ‘Guardian Spirit’ in the wallet is supposed to protect your wealth,” Jiang Qin kept stressing.

But he thought to himself, better keep one as a backup. I’m feeling more youthful and spirited than ever.

Zhou Chao has been getting rounder lately. His chin used to be a bit pointy, but gaining weight actually made him look better, and his other chin looks good too.

He spent most of his three-day holiday lying in bed, reading novels. Occasionally, he would look out at the big tree outside the window and sigh, “Two years have gone by in a flash. It feels like I’ve gained nothing, yet here I am, visibly plumper.”

This piece of pork belly, that big pork elbow, are all filled with the love from his roommates.

“I think college students are no different from pigs in aspects other than studying.”

Jiang Qin was stunned for a moment: “Dude, where are your manners? Are you beating around the bush again?”

Zhou Chao sat up from the bed, looked back at Jiang Qin, “Bro Jiang, I wasn’t talking about you.”

“You said college students are no different from pigs, except they study. But I damn well don’t study.”

“…”

Ren Ziqiang and Wang Linlin were passionately in love, reminiscent of the past young master Cao, stewing in love talks till late at night every day.

To him, Pan Xiu had become a very faint shadow, barely leaving any trace.

But lately, Pan Xiu started reaching out to old Ren for chats out of the blue, with no clear focus in their conversations yet persisting daily. It was unclear what she intended.

During these three days, Jiang Qin spent most of his time in room 208, keeping an eye on the combo of Zhihu and group-buying strategies.

The content team on the forums was busy curating high-quality selections, attracting a bunch of bloggers to review restaurants, hotels, and services in first-person narratives. Essentially, it was the kind of sponsored content with a documentary flair commonly seen in future.

As soon as the short posts went live on Zhihu, corresponding coupons would appear on the group-buying online channels, hugely appealing to college students with this double-strategy, causing a sharp rise in user numbers.

The most impressive was the “Zhi-You Group,” who wearing badges and uniforms, began distributing flyers for group-buying on their own initiative.

When asked why, they’d say they had seen Boss Jiang’s news, claiming that group-buying nurtured our Zhihu.

Students understand students best. With their help, even the group-buying’s street team felt they were underpaid for their efforts, so they trained even harder in grappling and fighting skills.

But no promotion beats solid cash payouts, leading to group-buying launching massive deals like an 80% storewide discount at Linfu Supermarket, buy-one-get-one-free at River Hotpot, and a crazy Thursday half-price specials at Burger King and Xitian.

Just these three events set the college town’s market ablaze.

Meanwhile, they re-launched free meal coupons and, focusing on Xihan Heqing’s targeted marketing, gradually built an independent living circle, linking necessities like clothing, food, shelter, and transportation into a closed loop.

Honestly, the college student circle is quite small, mostly confined within the city, with eighty percent of their time spent on campus.

To capture this market, we only need to control nearby business districts. This avoids direct confrontation with major group-buying websites and requires minimal investment, keeping customer attrition at its lowest.

“It’s strange. We’ve taken the major university towns in top tier cities, like planting a huge nail in the enemy’s territory, yet why is nobody bothering us?”

In the school cafeteria, while eating noodles, Dong Wenhao showed a puzzled expression.

He had been following the news, knowing that many group-buying enterprises were fiercely competing, not wasting a single minute. Yet here they were, living comfortably like spectators, not competitors.

Jiang Qin glanced at him: “In internet business, the rule is that the winner takes all. Only after the big players have fought it out will they clean up the smaller players and sweep the battlefield.”

“So, can we continue laying low?”

“We can’t lay low forever, but as long as we can, we should.”

Dong Wenhao took another bite of his noodles. “Boss, actually Lashou Network has a considerable advantage now.”

Jiang Qin smiled slightly: “That’s not for us to worry about. Bigger capital is watching, and no one will allow Lashou Network to dominate alone.”

As expected, just as Boss Jiang predicted, right after they finished their meal, they received a message from Tan Qing.

Suixin Group received a $5 million investment from a finance firm in Shanghai.

Ye Ziqing had returned to Linchuan a few days ago seeking funding and faced rejection, anxiously losing hair each day. But just after getting back to Shanghai, she found an investment firm throwing an olive branch her way, suddenly finding herself back in a promising situation.

However, in Jiang Qin’s eyes, this was a signal for the third round’s beginning, indicating that the closely watched, smaller capitals were starting to make their moves.

These behind-the-scenes influencers might not necessarily be impressed by Suixin Group’s capabilities, but they all had the same thought now: since the market was this hot, why not add more fuel to the fire?

Because group-buying involves many industries, only by expanding the market’s influence indefinitely could they reap more benefits.

After a simple lunch, on their way back to the entrepreneurship base, Jiang Qin noted the pleasant weather and decided to take Dong Wenhao for a walk on the sports field, enjoying the bright sunlight while still discussing the matter.

“Five million dollars, over thirty million yuan — just like that, handed over for them to burn through?” Dong Wenhao found the figure unimaginable.

Jiang Qin stretched lazily: “Five million isn’t much, and it’s a very interesting amount.”

“What’s so interesting about it?”

“This money enables Suixin Group to quickly gain a foothold, but it’s not enough to let them easily overtake Lashou Network. It just keeps them in a competitive stance. Capitalists are really bad, but I quite like it.”

“So, is this round just a wasteful one? In the end, everything remains the same?”

Jiang Qin shook his head: “Capital’s involvement to speed up competition is meant to heat up the market. Then, it will sift through to find the leading players. When this round finishes, someone will definitely be out, and with the market plate getting bigger, those who remain will get even crazier.”

Though it was May, Dong Wenhao felt a chill all over, his pores tightening and his hairs standing on end.

When he was a student, he never thought this deeply, just concerned about what to eat and drink each day, casually marveling at new products on the market as signs of our country’s progress.

But now that he was in the thick of things, seeing the birth of new ventures up close, he understood how these so-called new things emerged through brutal competition.

Without a visionary leader like Boss Jiang, relying solely on youthful enthusiasm, they’d probably burn through money without even leaving bones behind.

“So, were the first three rounds of competition meaningless?”

“To the competing group-buying businesses, yes, they were meaningless. But the energy gathered in the first three rounds will definitely benefit the ultimate winner. The market share is mine, the consumer habits are mine, the customer base is mine — that’s what it means to truly win it all.”

Dong Wenhao suddenly realized: “So we’ve been like outsiders, staying on the periphery, refusing to waste resources in the early stages?”

Jiang Qin paused momentarily: “That’s the idea, but not entirely. Because by the time the market gets too big, we won’t have the appetite to take a bite, so I’ve been training the team in second- and third-tier cities, making sure we have enough capacity, and staying away from the center to minimize burn.”

“Group-buying wars are about burning cash, but throwing money away isn’t the ultimate win. Being poor also has its own way of fighting.”

Just then, the two noticed a soccer ball stopped right in front of them, and behind it stood a young man in a football jersey, staring at them as if they were insane.

As Jiang Qin and Dong Wenhao noticed him, he picked up the ball and turned to leave.

“Hey, just heard two nutcases talking. All about tens of millions, yet claiming they’re broke. Does Linchuan University have a major in acting tough?”

“Who are they?”

“Just those two behind us.”

As the football player spoke, everyone turned to look and saw Jiang Qin giving a wry smile; they quickly realized it was nothing serious.

Tens of millions is indeed a huge amount. Most families will never see that in a lifetime, but for Jiang Qin, it’s quite normal given his news is always playing in the Linchuan University cafeteria.

The ballpicker was from another school, taking advantage of the Labor Day holiday to visit his childhood buddy, unfamiliar with the tough Linchuan University culture. It’s quite normal he didn’t understand.

His buddy decided to take him to the cafeteria for a meal at noon, to let him experience what it means to reach the peak of acting tough, as soon as they saw Jiang Qin, it was like he disappeared into thin air.

Subsequently, the third round of group-buying battles officially kicked off.

While Lashou Network focused on stabilizing the Shanghai market, Suixin Group made a significant decision— collaborating directly with Manager Cai in Kyoto, they used the newly acquired funds to breach Lashou Network’s territory.

After all these actions, Ye Ziqing sent Jiang Qin a message thanking him for the dinner the other day, promising to return the favor when she’s back in Linchuan next month.

Jiang Qin thought to himself, scared me there. I thought you found out I had already conquered eight university towns in your hometown.