Chapter 505: Is It Prescience or Fortune-Telling?

Lu Zhichuan didn’t return to his office but followed Pang Rui to the Alipay business group building.

Pang Rui asked her secretary to pour him a cup of tea and told him to have a seat.

Up to this moment, Lu Zhichuan was unclear about his purpose there, nor did he understand the meaning of Mr. Pang’s earlier remarks. However, everything became clear when Pang Rui brought over a document.

“What is this?”

“It’s the cooperation agreement between Alipay and Pintuan.”

“?”

Lu Zhichuan was stunned for a long time before realizing, and he immediately began to examine the contract intently, eventually showing an incredulous expression: “October 2009?”

Pang Rui sat down in her chair and nodded indifferently: “During the National Day holidays of 2009, Alipay had already signed a cooperation agreement with Pintuan. We provided them with payment services, and they helped us with business promotion.”

“How is this possible…?”

Lu Zhichuan’s first reaction was to doubt the authenticity of the agreement.

Alipay in 2009 was really nothing, merely acting as a bridge program during online shopping. Its best feature was merely facilitating online payments for phone bills, electricity and gas charges.

At that time, most residential complexes did not support online payment for utilities.

As for that phone bill payment feature, it required the use of a U-shield for connection, and the recharge process took twenty-four hours. By that time, you could have walked down and bought a recharge card.

Why would this happen?

Because the goal of Alipay to become a third-party platform was equivalent to slicing into the banks’ share of the cake, breaching their walls. How could they allow something like this to happen?

Otherwise, why would Boss Ma get so upset and declare, if banks don’t change, then we will change the banks?

Back then, no one believed a payment platform could succeed; even their employees were skeptical.

But if this contract was indeed signed in ’09, it was like the Monkey King venturing out before Buddha even preached, with a demon already waiting on the way, ready to stir the pot and “fry up Monk Tang.”

Lu Zhichuan is willing to believe that some people have foresight, having seen many such people during his years at Alibaba. Yet, he didn’t believe in such extreme foresight.

“At that time, Alipay couldn’t even get a license, the future was utterly bleak, how could he sign a cooperation agreement with Alipay so far in advance?”

“He said he wanted to bet with me.”

“?”

“I was on vacation at that time, and he managed to find one of my employees and handed over a development plan to me. After reading it, I found it interesting and decided to meet him.”

“He was very young, just a university student. At that time, he was running a campus forum, which is Zhihu. He said within a year, he would operate nationwide and hoped that Alipay would sign a cooperation agreement with Pintuan for a strong alliance.”

Pang Rui lifted her teacup and leaned back in her chair: “I told him then that without a payment license, Alipay had no meaning, but he bet that Alipay could obtain the license, and he asked me to bet that he could cover the whole country within a year. So, we both bet on something that neither of us had at the time.”

Lu Zhichuan: “…”

Pang Rui looked at him: “If we win the bet, Alipay can quickly become popular among college students through Zhihu. If we lose, the agreement is voided with no loss. Would you bet?”

“Could he be a fortune-teller?” Lu Zhichuan suddenly understood what was terrifying about what she had mentioned earlier.

“I thought the same at that time, but he said the torrent of the era is unstoppable. Not that he had confidence in Alibaba, but in this era.”

Lu Zhichuan was stunned for a long time, his gaze fixed on the contract cover with the words “Pintuan.”

He no longer cared about the possibility of having such foresight; after all, the cooperation agreement was clearly laid out here in black and white.

Now, he was pondering the fate of LaShou.

LaShou’s business capabilities were already not as good as Pintuan’s, and now they were even considering fleeing the major cities. Honestly, who thinks of running if they can fight?

He thought the integration of a payment platform would be a turning point, a chance for LaShou to revive, but now it seems, it would only hasten the fall of LaShou, and by then, Pintuan would become the market’s unicorn.

[I am in my final exams]

Lu Zhichuan couldn’t help but show an expression of utter dumbfound, finally realizing the terrifying aspect Pang Rui was referring to.

A twenty-year-old university student had meticulously planned and calculated every move in market development.

He gambled on what others didn’t have, made moves two years in advance, and at the crucial moment, this strategy became his biggest trump card, which initially could have been a lethal weapon against him.

Some things are impossible to understand unless experienced firsthand. At the moment, he finally understood why LaShou, Nuomi, and Dianping lost so terribly in the group-buying market.

“So, LaShou is finished.”

Pang Rui held her teacup in silence for a while: “Now it’s not just about pulling each other’s legs; it’s that Pintuan’s value far exceeds expectations. Even if Alibaba doesn’t invest, we must become strategic partners with Pintuan.”

Lu Zhichuan looked at her: “Does Mr. Pang think Pintuan will be the ultimate winner?”

“If you had seen someone, at the age of twenty, plan everything two years in advance and have each step come to fruition, you would think so too…”

At this moment, Jiang Qin was unaware of the happenings at Alibaba. He was chasing a fifty-cent coin as it rolled out of the building’s door, swiftly rushing over to press it down just as it was about to fall into a drain.

Then, he used the fifty-cent coin to buy an old-fashioned popsicle at the store by the door and started slurping it.

Final exams are real; he had just finished one, though it was indeed just an excuse to stall Manager Lu.

Since he is not short of money, he isn’t keen on getting entangled with a group like Alibaba.

Compared to these internet giants, Pintuan is much smaller. Sometimes being small is a sin itself; better not to engage, or if you do, unforeseen things might happen.

Jiang Qin slurped his popsicle so smoothly and roundly, thinking, who would have thought that a hotshot in internet commerce would enjoy such a plain and simple old popsicle?

At this time, Cao Guangyu also came out of the building, seeing the expressionless Jiang Qin, and couldn’t help but smile: “What’s wrong? Couldn’t answer any questions in the exam?”

“It’s not about the exam. Alibaba wants to give me money, but I don’t want it. Just wondering how to refuse without offending them. What do you think, young master?”

“…”

Jiang Qin flashed a brilliant smile, completely ignoring young master Cao’s plight, then saw Feng Nanshu coming out of the lobby and quickly waved her over.

Feng Nanshu ran over, stuffing her hand in his and whispering, “Brother.”

Following her were Gao Wenhui and Wang Haini, who immediately suggested going to Room 207 to enjoy the air conditioning, taking advantage of her closeness to Feng Nanshu without any reservations.

Then they went to the cafeteria, got their meals, and headed to the entrepreneurship base.

The sweltering summer temperatures stayed above thirty degrees; it was too hot to sleep during siesta. Ever since they visited Room 207, who would want to go back to the dormitory?

The three girls sat cross-legged on the new carpet, intently watching the drama “Palace” on TV, claiming they brought study materials to review but pushed them aside.

“This theme song is really nice. What’s it called?”

“Seems to be ‘Love’s Suicide, Further Ask for Alimony.'”

“…”

“So who does Qingchuan really like?”

“It must be Prince Ba Xian.”

Gao Wenhui turned back lifelessly, looking at Jiang Qin: “I say, President Jiang, where is Prince Ba Xian in this drama?”

Jiang Qin tilted his head, thinking, ‘As someone reborn, how could I not know? Unless I watched it wrong.’ But just then, his phone began to vibrate. The incoming call was from an unknown number, showing the caller was from Deep City.

He guessed maybe it was Tencent, so he pressed the answer button.

Sure enough, the caller claimed to be the manager from Tencent’s investment department, named Peng Sheng, almost sounding similar to what Alipay’s Lu Zhichuan had said.

Jiang Qin, adhering to the principle of avoiding trouble and not offending the big shots, spun his words in circles but omitted some key questions. Only when the other side mentioned “opportunities to cooperate,” he showed a positive attitude.

“Pintuan currently has sufficient funds, thank you for your concern, Mr. Peng. But we might have other opportunities for collaboration.”

“Oh? What does President Jiang mean?”

Jiang Qin coughed slightly: “Our Zhihu is the largest campus forum in the nation, with tens of millions of student users. I heard you guys have a messaging service application called WeChat. It could totally come to Zhihu for promotion.”

Peng Sheng pondered for a moment: “When can President Jiang visit Deep City? We could discuss in detail.”

“I might have a chance to go in the next two months.”

“Good, I will be ready to welcome you then.”

Jiang Qin thought for a moment, then spoke again: “Mr. Peng, I have one more question.”

Peng Sheng’s voice came through the handset: “Please go ahead, President Jiang.”

“Does Mr. Mahuateng have a daughter?”

“Uh? Yes, he does have a daughter.”

“Oh, is her birthday on June 22?”

“This… I don’t think so.”

Jiang Qin nodded, ended the call, then glanced at a QQ message from a high school classmate: Today is Mr. Mahuateng’s daughter’s birthday. Share this message in ten groups to get a free one-month membership.

“Stop spreading lies. I just asked; today is not his daughter’s birthday!”

Boss Jiang clattered a reply back, his demeanor as arrogant as ever.

Tencent and Alibaba have always been in fierce competition, whether in e-commerce platforms or the group-buying industry. The two companies have wrestled fiercely.

Especially with the subsequent appearance of WeChat Pay, which can be said to have truly shaken the foundation of Alibaba, directly invading Alibaba’s ecosystem.

Jiang Qin does not like to get involved in battles that charge for others, but now that he’s been targeted, he might as well play both sides and see if there’s any opportunity to profit.