Chapter 60: A Bloodless Battle

Dai Wei began explaining their financial arrangements, stating that they planned to invest one million to build a manufacturing plant.

That way, the production cost of a single bicycle could be compressed to under three hundred yuan.

They planned to step out of the campus within the next month, and scale the market size to ten thousand bikes within two months.

After all, to meet the requirement of eighty thousand daily usage times, a market inventory of ten thousand was the absolute minimum limit.

Each bike needed to be ridden eight times a day—optimally fifteen thousand bikes—to ensure absolute success.

As long as they built their own factory, two million in funds could be leveraged as six million, or even more.

Payment for goods could be delayed, and user deposits could be temporarily borrowed.

In short, the goal was to expand the scale as much as possible.

"I am looking forward to your performance."

Lu Liang wore a smile, the horn of war seemingly blowing in his ears.

Whether the little yellow bike could become the protagonist of the battlefield, however, remained an unknown variable.

Near noon, both parties signed the contract.

Lu Liang walked to the elevator foyer and watched Dai Wei depart.

Just then, he bumped into Meng Changkun coming downstairs. Lu Liang greeted him with a smile, "Brother Kun, when did you get back?"

"Just arrived this morning."

Meng Changkun looked at Dai Wei, a trace of surprise flashing across his face.

"Hello, President Meng."

Dai Wei also looked surprised, but he did not linger. After greeting Lu Liang, he took his companions downstairs and left.

Lu Liang watched them leave, turned his head, and asked, "Brother Kun, do you know Dai Wei?"

"We met once in Yanjing before."

Meng Changkun nodded, looking at Lu Liang with a slightly peculiar expression. "You didn't invest in ofo, did you?"

"You've heard of ofo too?" Lu Liang openly admitted.

Meng Changkun nodded, wearing a knowing expression, his tone slightly complex. "Care to come upstairs for a cup of tea and a chat?"

Lu Liang nodded with a smile.

The two of them arrived at the office upstairs.

Meng Changkun's office was very spacious, nearly one hundred square meters, with wide, bright floor-to-ceiling windows offering a prime view of the cityscape and a broad horizon.

In the corner stood two thriving money trees with lush foliage, adding a touch of vitality and life to the interior.

Unlike the leather luxury sofas favored by bosses from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the solid wood furniture instantly betrayed the aesthetic of a Teochew native.

Meng Changkun brewed Kung Fu tea and began recounting a personal experience from a few years ago.

"Groupon, also known as a group-buying website, was founded in 2009 with a registered capital of only five hundred thousand US dollars. It achieved profitability in just seven months, and its Series A valuation reached 1.4 billion US dollars."

"When the news reached the domestic market, investment institutions went crazy. A two-hundred-and-eighty-fold increase in seven months—what difference did this have from robbing a bank?"

"They were like a pack of sharks that smelled blood. At the time, as long as it was a group-buying website, you didn't even need a PowerPoint presentation; all you needed was a business plan to win the favor of capital."

"The entire industry was waiting for the high-profit myth created by Groupon to be replicated domestically."

"In April of the following year, the first group-buying website was born. In the subsequent ten months alone, five thousand new group-buying websites emerged nationwide."

"Platform-level internet giants such as Sinuo, Penguin, Piggy, and Ali successively entered the group-buying sector. Group buying almost became a standard feature for internet companies."

"To fight for the group-buying market, those well-known group-buying websites started round after round of financing wars. Advertising wars, war of attrition, positional warfare—overwhelming advertisements flooded into the daily lives of the general public."

"It was a smokeless battle, and by the end, everyone was battered and bruised, with none spared."

"The situation at the time was that stepping back was impossible. No one was willing to see their funds go down the drain, so they could only grit their teeth and push forward."

"Until the end, when they truly couldn't hold on anymore..."

Meng Changkun smoked a cigar, his fingers involuntarily trembling, seemingly recalling the tragic circumstances of that time, still harboring lingering fear.

That year, he had also invested in several group-buying websites. After persisting for fifteen months and losing two hundred and thirty million, he had no choice but to cut off his arm to save his life.

In three years, the entire industry burned through hundreds of billions, and to this day, it has only come to a temporary halt without a decisive victor.

One could say that up to now, the entire group-buying industry has had no winners—only losers.

If one insisted on finding winners, they might be the consumers who benefited and the growth of the national GDP.

Meng Changkun had read ofo's business plan, but after just one glance, he threw it straight into the trash.

Shared bicycles and group-buying websites—

The similarity was too high, chillingly so.

Those who had survived the Battle of a Thousand Groups probably lacked the courage to touch it again before their vitality was restored.

This was precisely why, despite Beijing having so many venture capital firms, ofo had come to the magic city to participate in the entrepreneurship exhibition.

Meng Changkun did not want Lu Liang to walk into a pit while thinking he had scored a bargain.

It would be fine if this industry failed to take off; at worst, it would just mean losing the initial investment.

What was most terrifying was seeing hope.

In that case, no amount of money would ever be enough.

Just like the Battle of a Thousand Groups a few years ago.

"What if they manage to hold out until the end?"

Lu Liang lit a cigarette, slightly calming his mind. What a magnificent spectacle that era had been; unfortunately, he had not been qualified to participate.

Meng Changkun smiled bitterly and stopped trying to persuade him.

Investors were all cut from the same cloth: they wouldn't turn back until they hit a southern wall, and even when they hit it, they would figure out a way to smash through it.

Until their heads were bloodied and they still couldn't break it.

"It's getting late. Let's go get some lunch together."

"Let's go."

During lunch, Lu Liang mentioned that he wanted to visit the MCN agency invested in by Meng Changkun.

Meng Changkun was very generous. After lunch, he personally led Lu Liang to visit his company on the 15th floor.

Currently, they all operated on a guild-like model, mainly divided into three major categories: gaming, beauties, and bizarre stunts.

The stunt-performing bloggers completely overturned Lu Liang's worldview.

As long as viewers sent virtual gifts, they would slap themselves in the face, drip candle wax on their arms, or bite live chickens to death.

There was nothing they wouldn't do, only things people couldn't imagine. They proudly called it 'Limitless.'

"Aside from audience tips and platform signing bonuses, we don't have many good monetization channels yet," Meng Changkun said with a smile. "Anyway, the investment isn't high. Let them develop on their own for now—what if they suddenly blow up one day?"

Lu Liang understood. Upon returning to the company, he instructed Tang Caidie to establish a new media subsidiary, with the studio registered under its name.

He allocated three hundred thousand to the studio, dedicated exclusively to serving Li Manli, helping her manage multi-platform accounts and improve content quality.

Old Meng's investment behavior was worth learning from. After all, they had money and a sufficiently high trial-and-error cost.

Even if they invested in ten companies, as long as one of them took off, the deal wouldn't be at a loss.

This also proved that the rich only grow richer.

For an ordinary person, a single business failure might be an unbearable weight in life, requiring half a lifetime to pay off the consequences.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the stock market opened. The turnover rate and trading volume of Teli A were getting higher and higher, and the market trend seemed ready to explode at any moment.

Lu Liang maintained a wait-and-see attitude. He was not sure how influential Zhongxin Fuying and the other institutional backers were.

Let them be the first birds to stick their necks out. At least before the national policy was officially announced, he would not make any new moves.

At three-thirty in the afternoon,

Su Wanyu had the habit of arriving half an hour early.

Lu Liang hadn't made any trades during the entire afternoon session, so there was naturally nothing to review.

Thus, he called her into the office ahead of time to begin today's English tutoring lesson.

There was an indelible sorrow between Su Wanyu's brows, and a trace of melancholy in her eyes, as if she had many heavy thoughts that were hard to express.

She made mistakes in teaching a couple of times, requiring Lu Liang to correct her.

He asked with confusion, "Teacher Su, why do you seem so out of it today? Is something the matter?"

"I'm sorry, President Lu. A little personal matter distracted me. I'll adjust as soon as possible."

Su Wanyu showed a look of guilt, regained her composure, and focused back on the lesson.

Since she didn't want to talk about it, Lu Liang didn't press further.

They continued with English listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

They studied for another two sessions totaling one hundred and twenty minutes.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Wednesday, June 10th, ten o'clock in the morning.

The Information Office held a press conference to discuss the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Reform of State-Owned Enterprises," also known as the New Five Articles.

Stripping away the fluff, the most crucial point among them was changing the authorized state-owned capital management system and further clarifying the division of responsibilities between state-owned asset ownership and enterprise management rights.

In layman's terms, the state was decentralizing power, giving management teams of state-owned enterprises greater authority and lifting some of the constraints previously placed upon them.

The relentlessly declining Big A stock market stood up once again. A massive wave of state-owned enterprise stocks hit their daily upper limits, driving the entire market upward.