The next day, when Wen Ying saw Xie Qian again, he showed no trace of the weakness from his stomach pain the previous night.
Xie Qian still had rehabilitation in the morning and insisted that Wen Ying focus on her writing at school.
As for Xie Qian’s rehabilitation training, Wen Ying did not need to worry about him lacking company. There were two people eager to act as his “devoted sons”, assisting him more deftly than the carers.
With Peng Guoqing and Wang Shuang accompanying him, Xie Qian’s training was far from dull. Once the two started bickering, it was like a live crosstalk performance.
However, both academic underachievers shared the same flaw: poor spoken English.
This made communication with Dr Joseph rather difficult for them.
Wen Ying had no such problem.
Xie Qian frowned at that moment.
The two underachievers were so frightened they hardly dared to breathe. Their walking changed from brisk and energetic to tiptoeing cautiously. Originally, the two “devoted sons” had been vying to treat Xie Qian to a meal, but when the training ended, they tacitly claimed to have other commitments.
Wang Shuang said he needed to go back and update his blog.
Peng Guoqing said he had to rewrite his filming proposal.
The two great devoted sons exchanged glances and scattered, abandoning their “Xie Daddy”.
In the afternoon, when Xie Qian met Wen Ying, he even sighed, “I was truly too lenient with them before. I should have been stricter.”
Wen Ying: …
Was that not strict enough already?
Whether it was Wang Shuang or Peng Guoqing, getting into their current university had cost them layers of skin through sheer hard work.
Yet their foundations were indeed too weak. To get them into a 211 university, both Xie Qian and Teacher Liang had targeted improvements in their exam scores. A person’s energy is limited, after all. The two underachievers’ written scores had improved, but their spoken English was far inferior even to Li Mengjiao’s.
“So what you mean is…”
“Where they are weak, target and improve that specifically. That is exactly what I mean.”
Xie Qian’s reply was matter-of-fact. Wen Ying almost wanted to shudder on behalf of the two underachievers.
The college entrance exam is a watershed.
But the end of the exam does not mean underachievers can escape the clutches of exam papers.
Wen Ying asked cautiously, “What do those two think about it?”
Xie Qian countered strangely, “What do you think they could possibly think?”
Fair enough. How could underachievers be entitled to their own opinions!
Wen Ying shut her mouth and said nothing, fearing the fire might spread to her. She quickly changed the subject. “Why hasn’t Yan Yuchuan’s company arrived yet?”
Today there was a driver, and Gong Sheng sat in the front passenger seat.
The boss and the future lady boss started chatting as soon as they met. Gong Sheng tactfully became invisible.
It was only when he heard the future lady boss ask a question that Gong Sheng emerged from invisibility.
“Start-ups, you know. To save costs, the office location is a bit out of the way.”
In truth, Yan Yuchuan and his team were already very fortunate to secure 10 million in investment from Xie Qian.
Poor office conditions were nothing. Plenty of start-ups could not even pay salaries and disbanded midway.
By the time Wen Ying and the other two arrived, Yan Yuchuan had long been waiting at the door with several key team members.
With the major investor coming, Yan Yuchuan and the others had held an all-night meeting the previous evening, anticipating every possible question from the investor.
They all knew today’s meeting could decide the project’s fate. None of them slept soundly.
“In a moment when we meet Mr Gong, everyone perk up!”
The one rallying morale was not Yan Yuchuan but the friend who had gone with him to the cocktail party to seek investment. Yan Yuchuan leaned towards technical work. His friend had an outgoing personality and was better suited for external relations and hosting.
Yan Yuchuan even had dark circles under his eyes.
Working for a company, overtime benefits the boss.
Starting your own business, overtime benefits yourself.
People say overworked employees suffer, but bosses in the early stages of entrepreneurship suffer even more.
If an employee’s company goes bankrupt, they can just find another job. If bosses kill their early-stage start-up, they may not get another chance to start over.
To leave Gong Sheng with an impression of vitality, Yan Yuchuan and the others had all drunk a large cup of strong coffee.
“They’re here!”
Yan Yuchuan perked up. “That’s Mr Gong’s car.”
Sure enough, a car pulled up. The driver and Gong Sheng got out almost simultaneously. Yan Yuchuan was about to step forward to shake hands with Gong Sheng when Gong Sheng turned and ran to open the rear door.
Wen Ying got out first.
Yan Yuchuan and the others: ???
What was going on? They could not make sense of it.
Xie Qian borrowed some assistance to get out. The driver helped unload the wheelchair, and Xie Qian sat in it.
Seeing Xie Qian, Yan Yuchuan’s friend let out an “ah”.
“…It’s him!”
The friend glanced at Yan Yuchuan and firmly sealed his lips.
That night at the cocktail party, Yan Yuchuan had said the young man who gave them his card was his ex-girlfriend’s younger brother.
Later, Yan Yuchuan called the contact on the card. After hearing about their start-up project, Gong Sheng on the other end invested 5 million.
It was said Mr Gong had considerable influence in Shanghai.
He invested quite readily.
Most importantly, Gong Sheng’s willingness to invest 5 million boosted the entire team’s confidence, making them feel they had chosen the right direction.
Today Gong Sheng had come again, not only come, but brought Yan Yuchuan’s ex-girlfriend’s younger brother and even opened the car door for him.
Gong Sheng was being so deferential. Just what was this “younger brother’s” background?
The friend was speechless.
No wonder Ah Chuan’s love life was so difficult!
Yan Yuchuan did not think as much as his friend. His attention was drawn to Xie Qian being in a wheelchair.
“Xie Qian, your leg?”
Xie Qian brushed it off lightly. “A minor injury. I need the wheelchair temporarily. You have not been waiting long, have you? We can go up first and talk as we go.”
“Oh, good to hear it is nothing serious.”
Yan Yuchuan set aside his worry.
He had feared Xie Qian might be confined to a wheelchair permanently.
It was clear Xie Tang and Xie Qian had a close sibling bond. If Xie Qian ended up disabled, how upset Xie Tang would be. Even setting aside Xie Tang, seeing a healthy young man suffer such a misfortune would upset anyone.
Xie Qian formally introduced Wen Ying. “My friend, the bestselling author Wen Ying.”
“Oh, welcome, welcome!”
Yan Yuchuan was very polite to Wen Ying.
But it was merely politeness.
How could Yan Yuchuan imagine Wen Ying might be a potential investor in their company?
Wen Ying did not mind.
What she wanted was precisely for them to be unprepared psychologically.
If they did not treat her as an investor, she could observe things more clearly. Thus she replied politely, “I heard from Xie Qian that you are working on internet group buying. I find it very interesting, so I came with him to visit. I hope we are not disturbing you?”
“Of course not. I very much welcome you and Xie Qian to visit. You are both university students in Shanghai, so you are exactly our project’s target customer group. I would like to ask you for plenty of feedback!”
Yan Yuchuan’s attitude was sincere.
Seeing Xie Qian appear unexpectedly had surprised him a little.
When Wen Ying said she was coming to gain some insight, Yan Yuchuan immediately set aside his doubts. Mr Gong was originally a connection introduced by Xie Qian. It was normal for Xie Qian to be interested in the project and come to take a look with Mr Gong.
Wen Ying perked up.
What is the greatest fear in internet entrepreneurship?
The greatest fear is missing the right positioning.
This was not the era more than a decade later when everyone had a smartphone. Those who could accept internet group buying were indeed young people who used the internet.
Wen Ying and Xie Qian no longer needed to use group buying deals to save money. The effort spent finding discounts saved less than the value of the time they spent.
They did not need it, but other university students did!
Wen Ying pushed Xie Qian’s wheelchair forward. Only then did Yan Yuchuan remember he had nearly neglected Mr Gong and turned back to speak with him.
His friend nearly slipped on the spot.
Ah Chuan, you idiot. Cannot you tell who the real Buddha is?
The friend had already sensed something amiss. He had wanted to quietly hint to Yan Yuchuan, but then thought better of it. The willingness to invest was already giving Yan Yuchuan an opportunity.
If the “ex-girlfriend’s younger brother” wanted Yan Yuchuan to feel grateful, he would have revealed the connection long ago. Since he had not mentioned it, perhaps he simply did not care?
Or perhaps the “ex-girlfriend’s younger brother” was willing to invest in Yan Yuchuan precisely because he valued his straightforward nature?
Yan Yuchuan thought too little. His friend thought too much.
Xie Qian truly had not considered all that.
At the time, he had money on hand, and Yan Yuchuan’s project was good. Investing a few million was just that.
Later when Gong Sheng added more investment, Xie Qian still did not come to see.
This time, Gong Sheng wanted Xie Qian to see for himself, and Wen Ying had suddenly become interested in this type of project, so Xie Qian came in person.
Whether Yan Yuchuan knew or not, what difference did it make?
From the moment Yan Yuchuan called Gong Sheng, the nature of his relationship with Xie Qian had changed.
The friend approached Xie Qian’s wheelchair. Xie Qian looked up. The friend smiled warmly. “Which aspects are you mainly interested in?”
Wen Ying also smiled. “Interested in all aspects. I find this model quite novel.”
The friend glanced at Xie Qian and said seriously, “If we are talking absolute novelty, it is not entirely new. Distributing electronic coupons via the internet has already been done, just never on a large scale.”
This person was quite honest.
The earliest electronic coupons were abroad.
In China, consumers’ first exposure to electronic coupons came from companies like KFC and McDonald’s. They distributed them on their own websites to attract customers with coupons to spend.
Then some domestic entrepreneurs saw the opportunity and set up companies specialising in distributing electronic coupons.
Some relied on their own websites, others operated via forum models.
Even as a reincarnator, this was still a blind spot in Wen Ying’s knowledge.
To invest in related fields, Wen Ying would naturally cram the relevant knowledge. She would not throw her money in carelessly.
Before coming here today, Wen Ying had not only heard detailed explanations from Xie Qian but also researched herself. Now that Yan Yuchuan’s friend wanted to perform, Wen Ying did not mind hearing it again.
She was going to invest money. She had to know what the team was like.
It was normal for products to have similar competitors.
Who reaches the end depends on luck and, even more, on the capabilities of the team leader.
Thus Wen Ying pretended to be ignorant. “Ah, there are already some?”
The friend nodded. “There are, and more than one.”
There was a domestic electronic coupon website that received 5 million USD from a foreign investment institution in June last year. Another company mainly using a forum model for electronic coupons had launched its forum in 2004, started earning ad revenue in 2005, and became profitable last year.
“The forum-based one mainly has users in Beijing. When it was just founded in 2004, there were rumours someone offered 200,000 USD to acquire it. By the end of 2005, the acquisition offer rose to 3 million RMB. They had not even turned profitable then. If sold now… it could probably fetch 30 million.”
30 million!
For young people from ordinary families, building a project through entrepreneurship in two or three years and selling it for that much was why so many ambitious youths wanted to start businesses in the internet sector.
Even robbing a bank would not be that fast. Most banks do not have that much cash on hand!
