Chapter 481: It’s My Turn to Strike Back

On April 20th, after the Grain Rain, the user numbers of the group-buy platform peaked in the Shanghai market as the daily discounts gradually found their way into countless households. It was just that the public had canceled the flash discounts, causing their event costs to rise significantly.

Jiang Qin spent these days burning incense and praying fervently for others to hold on a bit longer, but he didn’t expect them to be more fragile than he anticipated.

So frustrated, he felt an urge to rush over and offer some motivational advice, urging them not to give up too easily as perseverance brings rewards.

But at this stage, the other three competitors already knew there was no more to be done, even the exit date was nearly upon them, merely awaiting the head office’s directive.

Robin, Chang Jian Song, and Yang Xueyu had enough of these nerve-wracking days and couldn’t wait to leave.

But Chen Jiaxin’s heart was still filled with reluctance.

In just half a month, they rapidly entered the market, quickly strategized, but faced a swift failure and an abrupt end.

Honestly, Chen Jiaxin felt a sense of suffocation as if he’d been thoroughly bested before even clearly seeing who his opponent was.

Especially when the group-buys snatched their coupons and goods to run their own promotions, something that gave the iron lady nightmares for three nights straight and left her unsettled.

“President Chen, a message from headquarters.”

“Yes?”

“The boss decided to temporarily give up on the Shanghai plan and have us withdraw by the end of the month.”

“…”

By evening, Shanghai was clad in dense clouds with drizzle gently falling, thin as threads.

Managers from LaShou Network and Dianping happened to meet in a restaurant and thus invited each other to join at a table where they ate and talked.

All these people were staying at this hotel. They even met at the beginning of the month but didn’t interact much due to being from opposing camps.

But this time, since there’s no more competition, they could finally sit together for a meal and freely express their thoughts.

“The group of field promoters we laid off in Kyoto has been taken in by the group-buy platform, as with those in Shanghai,” said Robin while cutting his steak, a sense of deep helplessness in his voice.

Chen Jiaxin pursed his lips, “It’s similar here at Dianping. It took a year to nurture those field promoters, and now they’re all aiding the group-buy’s community shopping. The bosses panicked once that kicked off.”

“Exactly, after the Spring Festival, all companies were pouring money into poaching senior managers and talents, thinking field promoters were useless. Turns out the talent they poached isn’t panning out, but the not-so-favoured field promoters taught us all a lesson.”

Hearing this, Yang Xueyu and Cui Yiting paused, their expressions a bit awkward.

Robin suddenly realized his mistake and hurriedly waved his hands, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not targeting you. You truly are talented.”

“No need to explain, Mr. Luo, that makes it sound even more like you’re targeting us…”

“I didn’t mean it. I just wanted to say we’ve always been following the market, but Jiang Qin has been playing it like a fiddle.”

As he spoke, Robin couldn’t help but sigh deeply, “What are college students learning these days? Sun Tzu’s Art of War?”

Song Yaqian swallowed dryly, “Please don’t misunderstand, Mr. Luo. We students are all foolish; it’s just him that’s different.”

“Is that so?”

Robin still couldn’t wrap his head around it. Here’s a college student commuting not to make his mother proud with a certificate at the term’s end but doing business, and damn well at that!

But Robin also knew that dwelling on this no longer mattered.

Success or failure was already determined.

“Let’s change the topic, President Chen. I heard Dianping is sparing no expense to find a GIS service provider?”

Chen Jiaxin smiled and nodded, “We’re quite fortunate; we’ve already found one.”

Robin looked at him, “It’s Baidu, right?”

“You… how did you know?”

“We were also in talks with Baidu. They agreed to provide us technical support on the condition that we deploy our own field promoters to mark locations, and the database built will belong to them. Your terms must be the same.”

Chen Jiaxin neither confirmed nor denied, “Baidu wants to take advantage of our urgency to pull a fast one on us.”

Robin sighed, “Getting the better deal is not a big deal, but Nuomi, being a Baidu-funded darling, once it kicks off, we might just have dressed another bride in vain.”

As the words fell, everyone fell into silence.

They were not silent about Baidu’s appetite, after all, in business terms, they’d want to keep a database with all merchants’ info too.

They were simply sighing that they shouldn’t have crossed Jiang Qin, as he genuinely had the capability to wear down all competitors.

They even felt an illusion—if Dianping hadn’t made a sudden move in Shanghai, the group-buy might not have raised the bar so high, and perhaps they could’ve coexisted peacefully a bit longer.

Of course, this was just a thought of escapism, a bit of psychological comfort.

Just then, Cui Yiting set down her cutlery and gazed towards the buffet entrance, Song Yaqian’s expression also vaguely stunned.

Then Robin, Yang Xueyu, Wu Peng…

Half of the people present subconsciously straightened their backs, seeming to portray a calm as firm as a mountain and as serene as drifting clouds, but their faces were clearly tense.

Chen Jiaxin followed their gazes and saw a young man in a black hoodie walk in, expressionless. He went straight to the bar, took a bun in his mouth, and grabbed a steak with his left hand and a juice with his right.

To the iron lady, this person seemed ordinary, but for some reason, he made the people around her instantly serious, as if they had encountered something daunting.

“Good afternoon, President Jiang.”

“Good afternoon, President Jiang.”

“Long time no see, President Jiang.”

“President Jiang, care to join us?”

Hearing everyone speak in unison, Chen Jiaxin was momentarily stunned before realizing this person was the boss of the group-buy, the one who had devastated their team.

But this face was too young. Even after seeing his photos, the iron lady still felt a disbelief hard to accept.

Jiang Qin also paused, showing no ill will and sat down beside Robin facing Yang Xueyu and diagonally across from Dianping’s Chen Jiaxin.

At the table, there were nine people, and the youngest was Jiang Qin, followed by Song Yaqian, Zhang Li, and Cui Yiting, but as Jiang sat down, even Robin couldn’t help but shift aside.

“Steak with a bun?”

“Hmm? Oh, you meant this? Let me show you.”

Jiang Qin bit off a piece of the bun, pulled out his phone and took a selfie, “Group-buy boss Jiang Qin. My early days of entrepreneurship were tough, in the bustling metropolis of Shanghai I starved but swore to conquer this city one day.”

Robin: “…”

Yang Xueyu: “…”

Everyone: “…”

Jiang Qin smiled slightly, “Even a person’s glory can be forgotten, but motivational talks can last forever, might even make it into textbooks.”

At this moment, Chen Jiaxin was dumbfounded, having never encountered someone so brazen in her career.

But speaking of brazen, she immediately recalled the matter of group-buy snatching Dianping’s half-price coupons for stock, and her expression turned grim, “President Jiang, are our public half-price coupons useful?”

“Quite useful. There’s just too few of them, but every time I use one, I give you five-star reviews, truly, I’m a real fan of Dianping.”

The folks from LaShou Network paused, not quite understanding what this meant. Why would Dianping’s head ask the boss of group-buy how good Dianping’s discount coupons were?

“What did President Chen mean just now?” Robin couldn’t help but ask.

With a blank expression, Chen Jiaxin spoke, “The eggs and fruits at those group-buy stalls were bought with our stolen half-price coupons, even some items in their daily specials were bought with our subsidies.”

The people from LaShou Network were stunned, feeling electrified.

“Business is like this. You come to snatch my market and then blame me for being underhanded? Don’t you also dig into other teams everywhere?”

Chen Jiaxin was momentarily speechless.

Jiang Qin flashed a small smile, “You, Dianping, came storming in, almost had me beaten, but I managed to scrape through. Now you can’t wait to morally condemn me? Well, how about this, when I burst into your market, I’ll also allow you to group my coupons. But…”

“But if you can’t win, then you can’t blame me.”

Upon hearing this, everyone at the table went pale, their hearts skipping a beat.

They were still sorting out the map service issue, even thinking of doing community group shopping without a mature squad of field promoters. If group-buy really attacked hard, they would definitely suffer massive losses.

This was a threat, a declaration of war.

You came attacking, and I held firm. Now, when I go on the offensive, can you hold?

At this moment, Chen Jiaxin finally reconciled the young man before her with the group-buy boss who shifted the situation dramatically, feeling an overwhelming pressure.

Jiang Qin saw their silence, quickly waved his hand, “Don’t be nervous, I was just joking. Actually, I’m going back in a couple of days.”

“Going back?”

“Yeah, I’m still an undergrad, you know, and a ‘Star of Study’. Studying is my main job; group-buy is just a toy I play with in my spare time.”

“?????”

After a while, Jiang Qin finished his steak and bun, bid everyone farewell and returned to his room.

After a hot shower to ease the fatigue, he logged into the internal management system on his computer.

Half an hour later, the managers of major city branches all received a file—it was the detailed step-by-step guide and experience summary of this operation in Shanghai.

At the same time, a team of technicians from Gaode’s headquarters boarded a plane heading to a designated city.