Chapter 535: Tricked!

After the signing ceremony, Jiang Qin stepped into the venue and many people instinctively kept their eyes on him, watching his stable stride and calm expression, until he reached the photo area where he was wildly photographed.

Meanwhile, Chen Jiaxin and Yang Xueyu had already confirmed the process and walked onto the red carpet, following Jiang Qin.

“Have all the businesses attending the signing ceremony been notified?”

“Yes, all the well-known national chains have been notified.”

Chen Jiaxin looked at Jiang Qin’s retreating figure: “Once the signing ceremony is reported, there should be no further problems…”

Yang Xueyu nodded: “Pintuan has been continuously appealing to consumers online but hasn’t yet settled things with his merchants. Once our signing ceremony is reported, they’ll be left with just an empty shell.”

“What did Tencent say?”

“They still want me to talk to Jiang Qin one more time to convince him to accept the suggestion. Also, Lu Zhichuan is here.”

Chen Jiaxin paused: “You mean Alibaba’s investment manager?”

Yang Xueyu hummed: “Probably here on a mission like Peng Sheng.”

“Let’s not let others beat us to it. After we walk the red carpet, we should talk to him first.”

“Okay.”

Chen Jiaxin pursed his lips, watching Jiang Qin’s tall figure, she couldn’t help but slightly open her mouth: “If I could have my youth back, just a breeze or two of spring, just a gold or two…”

As her words fell, a figure hurried over from the elevator to the right of the red carpet, it was Zhang Li, who had been busy in the next banquet hall. He quickly approached Chen Jiaxin and Yang Xueyu and waved at them.

Seeing this, they quickly crossed the red carpet and came in front of Zhang Li.

“What’s wrong?”

“Xitian, Xianhui, and River Hotpot, the managers of these three national chain brands said they can’t make it.”

“Why?”

“They said there are other arrangements by the head office, but it’s just three of them, should not be a big issue. I’ll find someone else to fill in the front row.”

Chen Jiaxin frowned, thinking it was fine for some businesses not to come, but it was a pity it was those three most popular and booming ones.

They had actually prepared trophies for these three chain brands to enhance the impact of the signing ceremony: “Dianping’s Most Loved by Consumers Award,” “Dianping’s Sales King,” “Dianping’s Integrity Merchant.”

Now with these three absent last minute, the award ceremony was going to be tricky.

With such pressing time, inviting someone else at the last minute wasn’t feasible, Chen Jiaxin just nodded letting Zhang Li go ahead with the arrangements.

“I’ll go find Mr. Jiang first,” Yang Xueyu suddenly said.

“Go ahead.”

Chen Jiaxin responded and then added: “Just remember, don’t be too forceful or try to pressure him. Jiang Qin doesn’t follow the rules; he responds better to gentleness than to harshness.”

Yang Xueyu nodded: “I’ll take a humble approach.”

Jiang Qin had entered but did not sit down; instead, he stood by a pillar, looking at a WeChat message from ‘little rich girl.’

Ever since the advertisement came out, she had been sending him pictures of her adorned feet – some in black stockings stepping towards the screen, some flexed in mid-air, some with the tips stretching to the forefront, her small leather shoes halfway off…

Remembering her cold beauty’s expression and that unapproachable rich girl’s aura combined with those enticing little feet, the contrast was almost deadly.

No need to ask, Feng Nanshu must 본 be longing for him to return. But who taught her these tricks?

Jiang Qin couldn’t take it anymore, forcibly closed those enticing foot photos, planning to seriously critique them later that evening in the hotel.

He really couldn’t look at them now; his suit trousers were too tight, and if a camera caught him, it might make young women across the country swoon.

Just then, Jiang Qin heard footsteps and discreetly pocketed his phone, looking up to see Yang Xueyu.

“Good evening, Mr. Jiang.”

“Good evening, Mr. Yang, busy night?”

Yang Xueyu smiled slightly: “Not too bad, do you have time Mr. Jiang? Let’s talk in that little room across.”

Jiang Qin looked at him for a moment and then shook his head: “No need.”

“…”

Yang Xueyu was silent for a moment: “Your refund marketing and advertising persona are very powerful, consumers are already empathizing with Pintuan, but merchants are not so easy to appease. Without seeing real money, they won’t reopen.”

“Online users actually have very short memories. In a while, the consumer effect will disappear, and the impact of the ads will decline. Remaining merchants will continue to leave.”

“If Pintuan had money, it wouldn’t need to take such roundabout measures. Just settle the payments directly.”

“Mr. Jiang, you’re a great businessman, you see things more clearly than us. But from the merchants’ perspective, the risk of Pintuan’s funds breaking is not yet gone.”

Actually, Yang Xueyu was right, the impact wasn’t gone.

Refunding consumers temporarily suppressed the media storm, and releasing the ad reset their persona and gained consumer empathy, but this didn’t prove Pintuan’s financial strength or give merchants confidence.

The merchants were even more worried.

Why?

You’ve mobilized so many consumers, I’d have overflowing sales the moment I open, leading to more of my money stuck with you.

If you really run away, my losses would be severe, especially for those funds that are due in a month or two. They’re even more hesitant to take the risk.

But anyone in group buying knows Pintuan won’t settle early with merchants unless it’s the last step.

Because group buying itself is about the platform setting the rules. If they opened that breach, nobody would trust Pintuan’s rules in the future.

Even if they manage enough funds to get through this, other problems will surely arise later, like chaotic settlement periods or merchant dissatisfaction with fees.

Everyone knows, with enough numbers, you can force Pintuan to comply. That will lead to more such occurrences in the future.

This was the source of Yang Xueyu’s confidence and why everyone thought Jiang Qin couldn’t handle it, so he watched Jiang Qin, waiting for a response.

“Actually, when I started my business, I always taught my employees to see through appearances to the essence. So, when the fires of Tuanbao Net reached me, I never thought of solving it with money.”

“What’s the core issue? It’s conflict.”

Jiang Qin pursed his lips: “Since it’s about conflict, I’ve turned the fire of conflict on you. And it has proved very effective, hasn’t it?”

Yang Xueyu neither agreed nor disagreed, but he did agree inwardly.

Ever since Jiang Qin raised the conflict of whether to refund or not, a large group of consumers had chased refunds for expired coupons, causing their business volume to also decline.

“And then there’s the ad campaign. I knew you’d try to draw attention again and shift public opinion, so I completely pulled you to the opposite side of consumers.”

“The more you attack me, the more consumers suspect there’s an issue here.”

“Also, I’ve hired a group of experts, ready to spread rumors that you have financial issues.”

“…”

Jiang Qin looked at him: “You thought I only had two options at the start: tighten up financially and settle with everyone, or merge with the public to offset negative opinions. But I’ve taken a third path, haven’t I?”

Yang Xueyu involuntarily nodded.

If Jiang Qin merely refunded, other websites wouldn’t be affected.

The strategy of refunding expired consumer coupons indeed caught several websites off-guard, directly changing the core of the conflict and casting them as the villains.

“So, Mr. Yang, do you think I have a third option for dealing with merchants?”

“?”

Jiang Qin took out his phone, opened the camera, and handed it to Yang Xueyu: “I’m going to look a bit handsome later, can you take a picture for me? I want to send it to a good friend, okay?”

Yang Xueyu took his phone, thumb hovering over the camera button.

“I know the banquet hall next door is also rented by you. You want to have a public signing, relying on some big-name group effects to attract all merchants to you. But unfortunately, some people might not be able to make it.”

Jiang Qin said as he looked at him: “Like Xitian, Xianhui, River Hotpot, and many other well-known national brands…”

Yang Xueyu’s mind buzzed, he quickly returned the phone and sprinted to the next banquet hall.

According to Dianping’s arrangement, as soon as the seminar here ends, the signing ceremony next door would immediately start.

This is also a tactic they learned from Pintuan, using one event’s hype to boost another, achieving a result where one plus one is greater than two.

So the invited brand CEOs and store owners had already come early.

But when Yang Xueyu arrived next door, he found that the entire first three rows were empty.

The seating at the conference was based on status; those with high assets or brand influence were generally placed at the front.

In other words, the most important brands they invited hadn’t shown up!

Damn it, it’s not just three, it’s those three polite ones, they called to inform us they couldn’t make it!

Yang Xueyu felt dizzy, thinking, if this gets captured by the media, it’s going to be a huge embarrassment!

“What happened, what’s going on?”

After receiving the call, Chen Jiaxin and Zhang Tao immediately rushed over and saw Yang Xueyu standing dazed at the left side of the venue, staring at the first three rows motionless.

Chen Jiaxin was also stunned: “What happened? Where are the people from the first three rows?”

“None of them came. We’ve been tricked by Pintuan…”

“What do you mean?”

Yang Xueyu turned to him: “I just spoke with Jiang Qin, reasoned with him, appealed to his emotions, told him even if he has set up a good persona, without merchants, it’s all in vain. Then he said he still had a third path.”

Zhang Tao frowned: “What third path?”

“He knew we were going to have a merchant signing ceremony here, but he said some people wouldn’t come.”

“Are you kidding me? You mean the brand representatives from the first three rows didn’t come because of Jiang Qin?!”