Chapter 635: Cloud Flash Pay

The first negotiation with QuickPay didn’t go smoothly, mainly because of differences in the acquisition price.

The sellers wanted more, the buyers wanted less. This involved billions in acquisition funds, so making a deal in one go was nearly impossible.

Lu Zhichuan was prepared for a long battle and wasn’t in a hurry. After leaving QuickPay, he returned to the hotel and called Jiang Qin to report the negotiation situation.

“Boss, Xiaomi Tech is also here for the acquisition, and it looks like QuickPay is jacking up the price.”

“How much?”

“They want twelve.”

“Twelve? Why don’t they just plug the payment license into the socket and rob people on the highway!”

“They say twelve is out of respect for you. Xiaomi is asking for fifteen.”

“Is my face worth only three? Who are they looking down on? We should cut it in half to be fair to me. Keep negotiating.”

“Alright, boss.”

Lu Zhichuan ended the call, grabbed his phone, and joyfully rushed into the shower.

By informing the boss of QuickPay’s initial asking price, any reduction negotiated would be credited as his achievement.

That’s a smart office trick.

Being a high-level worker isn’t about fearing mistakes, it’s about ensuring your contributions are seen by your superiors.

Yet recalling his old employer, Alibaba, Lu Zhichuan couldn’t help feeling sentimental.

Alipay was Alibaba’s ace project and a top priority for development. In recent years, many of Alibaba’s investments and structural adjustments were aimed at paving the way for Alipay.

Alibaba had been secretly operating even before the Alipay license was issued, thus gaining an early advantage and now dominates the third-party payment market.

But now WeChat was also entering the fray, adding more competition.

The combination of social networks and mobile payments, group buying, and takeaway services all meant a fierce battle was coming.

Most troubling was the boss still had a supply chain, or rather, a logistics network. If mobile payments took off, Alibaba’s position in the internet marketplace might actually be shaken.

The key point is, despite the boss repeatedly saying he’s not interested in e-commerce, who would believe that?

“Jiang, up for cards?”

“What’s the stake?”

“One dollar.”

Jiang Qin had just returned from the headquarters to the university and upon pushing the door saw room 302 gathering for a card game. Zhang Guangfa and others were there.

As defenses had just wrapped up and graduation was in two days, those who needed to secure jobs had done so, and others had ‘secured influential connections’. Besides playing cards and dating, there wasn’t much left to do, especially for singles like Zhang Guangfa and his friends.

Jiang Qin approached and glanced at the group, “How about one billion per game? I’ve got some big expenses coming up and need to win some back.”

“A billion? I’d need to be dead to play that. Wait for me.”

Hearing this, Jiang Qin laughed and playfully added, “Don’t spit sunflower seed shells on the ground, or I’ll have to clean up tonight.”

Young master Cao was upset, having already lost ten dollars, and this comment stung more than the monetary loss. “Today, it’s your turn on duty.”

“?”

Jiang Qin checked the duty roster behind the door then grabbed a broom from the balcony. He started sweeping, still pondering over acquisition funds.

Truthfully, if it were Alipay, Jiang Qin would go all in to buy it, but QuickPay wasn’t at the same level.

For a payment app, trust is more crucial than technology.

In this era, convincing users to link their bank cards to a third-party app and deposit money represents a significant industry barrier.

Many companies jumping on the mobile payment bandwagon failed because consumers were unsure if these companies could handle potential monetary losses.

Without the backing of a major corporation or an established payment ecosystem, mobile payments are meaningless.

In other words, the most valuable asset within QuickPay was actually its license. Trust, backed by group buying as a credit guarantee, wasn’t something easily achieved from launch to market acceptance. Demanding twelve was a sky-high initial ask.

Jiang Qin had already estimated during their dispatch that seven was the upper limit. Anything more would be impolite.

After finishing sweeping, he gave Lu Zhichuan a ‘5’ and then took out his phone to call his mother.

Linchuan University’s graduation ceremony was the day after tomorrow. He wanted to know if his parents were interested in joining. If so, they needed to set off soon.

Yuan Youqin immediately agreed because it wasn’t just their son’s graduation ceremony; it was also their beloved daughter-in-law’s. She couldn’t miss it.

“Your father and I will take a bus there tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll have my secretary buy your tickets. I’ll arrange for you to go to the hotel once you arrive.”

“Okay, but I can’t believe how quickly four years have passed. It feels like just yesterday you were the naughty kid in elementary school.”

“Mom, I’m graduating, not getting married.”

“Not getting married after graduation?”

“Who would I marry? I don’t even have a girlfriend. Despite your son being handsome and wealthy, I’ve been romance-less all these four years!”

“Jiang Qin, if you’re sick again, don’t come home for the summer break. Stay wherever you fall in love with.”

As the roar came through the phone, Jiang Qin quickly moved it away from his ear, pursed his lips, then went to the restroom to wash up, hearing young master Cao’s voice from the bathroom inviting his parents to the graduation ceremony and begging them to take the Lincoln.

By the time the young master emerged from the bathroom, the card game in room 302 had dispersed.

Ren Ziqiang was munching on cicada pupae while talking with Wang Linlin on the phone. Chao continued immersing himself in a sea of web novels, his mind filled with fights and battles.

After washing up, Jiang Qin also got into bed and closed his eyes to nurture sleepiness.

He forgot to kiss the little rich girl last night and didn’t sleep well, but today he was in career mode and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, dawn broke in the east, and the three guys in the dorm hadn’t gotten up yet.

Jiang Qin climbed out of bed, did some ab exercises, and while washing up, noticed the gentle breeze outside and the continuous chirping of birds.

Then he went to check on the sick Professor Yan, who seemed worse, lacking any energy.

“Professor, you should get an injection if it’s this bad.”

“No injections. I’ll take medicine, but absolutely no shots.”

“My little rich girl loves getting injections…”

Jiang Qin poured him water, watched him take his medicine, then read him a newspaper. Once the professor fell asleep, he drove to Group-Buy and called for a meeting.

“Boss, if there’s nothing concerning me at today’s meeting, I’ll skip it. I need to catch up on some sleep.”

Su Nai’s eyes were still dark. The stress of mobile payment planning had worn her out, though she hardly noticed it, revived by the activity.

“How can there be nothing about you? It’s all about you.”

“Ah?”

Jiang Qin tapped the table, “We need to do mobile payments but there’s another trend to catch. Times are changing too fast, a nap might leave you behind.”

Su Nai rested her head on the table, “Looks like I need to build a trustworthy team. Can’t handle everything alone.”

“Learn to lead properly. Let your team handle the tasks while you steer the overall direction.”

“Seems I’m not cut out for management…”

“Wipe up that drool and let’s start the meeting.”

“Okay…”

Since the official announcement of 4G commercial use at the Internet Conference, several trends have begun to emerge.

On the device front, various smartphone manufacturers started developing 4G phones, with HTC announcing it would launch its first model by year’s end.

The three major operators were discussing charging plans for 4G data and upgrading their signal stations.

The 3G era was dominated by text and images, with forums and web pages prevalent. But with the outset of 4G, the convenience of mobile internet would become even more pronounced.

Crucially, once the costs of 4G were reduced, video content would gradually replace text and images as the mainstream media form.

Past trends required waiting, but for 4G, just being prepared for the wind was enough.

During this period, Weibo upgraded its video functions and even launched a support program.

WeChat Moments started supporting video uploads.

Meanwhile, a niche GIF community called Kuaishou began transitioning to short videos, though it was still relatively unknown.

Thus, Jiang Qin planned to delve deeper into this direction.

“Zhihu had tried a video feature before, but it was too expensive and not very effective. Now, we can bring this segment to the forefront and introduce a video blogger incentive program.”

“Additionally, Tonight’s Headlines is setting up a video section to guide users in making edits and other such videos. We’ll increase the creative fund and give it more exposure to drive content creation.”

“In terms of technology, Nanako will oversee, and Lu Feiyu will take the lead on the project. With the traffic from these two platforms, we aim to incubate this venture.”

Jiang Qin initially used Zhihu’s traffic to incubate Group-Buy and Tonight’s Headlines, then leveraged Group-Buy’s popularity to expand into community group buying, supply chains, and delivery services.

Now, he planned to use Tonight’s Headlines and Zhihu’s influence to cultivate short-form video content.

The spread of 4G would likely take a year or two, long enough to develop a fresh batch of content and a group of creative creators.

By that time, Jiang Qin planned to spin off the video sections of Zhihu and Tonight’s Headlines as new ventures under their brand.

“I am utterly exhausted.”

Hearing this, Su Nai looked pale.

“I am about to make a fortune.”

Jiang Qin spoke with a gleam in his eye, seeing dollar signs.