Chapter 542: Don’t you answer the phone?
Zhang Xuhao now feels like Benboerba in "Journey to the West".
Cheng Zhu is the Nine-headed Monster, and right away he said to him, "Go and get rid of Tang Seng and his disciples!"
Indeed, the demons and monsters that appear in Journey to the West are nothing compared to the monkey. Even the unremarkable little Zuanfeng is worthy of being called "Zhuanfeng King" among all living creatures.
In modern society, you have to call him Mr. Feng no matter what.
With Zhang Xuhao's current worth and status, he will definitely not play a role of the same level as Benboerba and Xiaozuanfeng.
But, that’s Baidu!
Although at this stage, among the BAT Big Three, Baidu's decline is already extremely obvious.
But for Zhang Xuhao, this is still a huge thing!
"Cheng Zhu, stop joking. Have you forgotten what Baidu's CEO Li said, that we should first take out 20 billion to develop O2O?"
"And we ourselves are clear about the data. Baidu Takeout is now putting in its full effort and focusing on the white-collar group. It has now achieved the largest share of the white-collar market." Zhang Xuhao sighed.
Because from the perspective of development path, white-collar workers are also a consumer group that Hungry pays great attention to.
"The situation will change." Cheng Zhu crossed his legs, holding a piece of ice cola between three fingers, and shook it slightly in the air a few times.
Once MiTuan and Dianping merge, Baidu will fight them head-on! ?
It does not have any natural advantages in itself.
It’s just that Mr. Li’s external statements are too domineering and arrogant now. He said that he would spend 20 billion yuan if he made a small move, giving people the illusion that he is going to fight to the death.
What's even more ridiculous is that if things had continued along the same trajectory as in the previous life, Baidu would have decided long ago not to get involved in this messy water and would have decided to "sell itself" long ago.
But it has been waiting for a price, no, it should be said that it has been asking for a higher price.
One moment it was going to merge with Miduan, the next moment it was rumored to merge with SF Express. But in the end neither of them reached an agreement.
The time is dragged out longer and longer, making you less and less worthless.
The final result is - selling at a low price!
In the office, Cheng Zhu smiled and said to Zhang Xuhao a famous line from his brother-in-law Shen Minglang: "Don't underestimate yourself!"
Zhang Xuhao: “.”
Is this a question of self-deprecation?
Cheng Zhu knew very well that they could not convince each other now because there was an information gap between them.
He is well aware that Baidu is very eager to get involved in O2O and is extremely jealous.
But it won’t be long before internal disagreements arise and group buying and takeout are no longer considered the most important projects at the moment.
The reason is simple—Baidu has set its sights on artificial intelligence!
Yes, artificial intelligence has been in full swing after many years. From the beginning when no one took it seriously, to now when everyone in all walks of life is in danger, fearing that they will be replaced by artificial intelligence.
Baidu will bet heavily on this field in the near future.
But Cheng Zhu couldn't say these things openly.
Because given his current situation, he has neither the qualifications nor the channels to learn about these inside stories.
It’s definitely not because he wants to show off or plant a hook at this moment!
——You’re forcing me to show off, right?
Okay, okay, there's really no other way.
Zhang Xuhao didn’t take Cheng Zhu’s words too seriously now, because he thought it was too outrageous.
So, Ah Hao said, "Let's talk about this next time. After all, the merger of Mi Tuan and Dianping has not yet come to a conclusion."
"Okay, it's almost time, shall we go to the dinner place now?" Cheng Zhu asked.
"Okay, I'll send a WeChat message to Brother Tao." Zhang Xuhao smiled.
Cheng Zhu looked at him and asked, "Who is paying for dinner tonight? Is it you or Brother Tao?"
"Eh? That's not clear!" Zhang Xuhao blinked: "I think it should be Brother Tao, what do you think?"
"I think so too. After all, he is more anxious." Cheng Zhu laughed.
Zhang Xuhao looked at the young man in front of him and felt it was amazing.
He never thought that he just wanted to strive for one of the best merchants in the national catering industry at the beginning, but somehow everyone became people in the same boat.
Moreover, he entered the market with only 20 million US dollars, which should have put him at the last seat, but no one could ignore him!
This phenomenon actually reflects a little:
He only invested 20 million US dollars, but his value as a person is immeasurable!
The place where the three of them had dinner was chosen by Zhang Tao, a hidden private banquet venue.
He himself started out as a food reviewer and is naturally an expert among gourmets.
But in fact, Cheng Zhu's taste is more "down-to-earth". He personally doesn't like many overly high-end restaurants, especially foreign cuisine.
You said the dish has a special taste. It is indeed special.
But it just doesn't taste damn good.
So, at times like this, you will be asked to savor it carefully.
It's something really delicious. It tastes so good the moment you put it in your mouth. Why would you need to savor it in detail?
Zhang Tao knew that Cheng Zhu liked Chinese food more, so he made proper arrangements this time.
Since he was having Chinese food, he wouldn't pair it with red wine, so he brought two bottles of Moutai 50 years and two bottles of premium Moutai from home in the morning.
Personally, he prefers to mix the 50-year-old and the fine product together. He feels that the taste is more comfortable this way, but he doesn't know which way Cheng Zhu and Zhang Xuhao would prefer, so he prepares them in advance.
After receiving the WeChat message from Zhang Xuhao, Zhang Tao stood up immediately.
Long Wei had already returned to the company and was sitting opposite him chatting with him.
"We'll talk about this matter tomorrow." Taozi immediately raised his hand and interrupted the spell.
"Huh? Is there something urgent?" Long Wei was slightly stunned.
"Cheng Zhu has already left for the dinner place. I have to hurry over there. I can't let him get there first."
Long Wei: “.”
He really wanted to follow along, have a free meal, and see if this young man was really that evil.
After all, during the meeting of Are You Hungry, Cheng Zhu was like a mute and he couldn't see anything.
But Zhang Tao moved too quickly. He picked up his phone and walked out quickly, almost jogging.
Long Wei was left alone in the huge office, and was ignored by him.
"I hope this kid doesn't become the biggest variable!" Long Wei thought.
But when he thought about it carefully, what kind of trouble could a person selling milk tea and underwear cause?
No matter how good a talker he is, or how evil his point of view is, it is still more like armchair talk.
There are so many benefits to the merger of Dianping and Mituan, but there are also too many invisible hands behind the scenes who want to push all of this forward!
What's more, I also have the killer trick of user overlap rate!
After obtaining Zhang Tao's consent, Long Wei went to Mi Tuan to connect with the data.
Wang Xin was naturally willing to cooperate with this.
Now we just have to wait for the results.
This number is very important. If it is good enough, it will undoubtedly strengthen the capital market's confidence in the new company after the merger.
For Yu Longwei, even if he wants to take the money and leave in the future, he can get more this way, right?
With this thought in mind, he called Wang Xin again.
The two have known each other for many years and have always had a good personal relationship.
"Hey, Zhang Tao has already set off." Long Wei was like a traitor, actively reporting all the details.
"What does he think?" Wang Xin asked.
"He looked very anxious. When I heard that they had set off, he didn't even talk to me about anything and left in a hurry." Long Wei smiled.
"Really?" Wang Xin also laughed.
"By the way, please hurry up with the data. Can it be out tonight?"
"I can give it tonight, too." Wang Xin said, "Oh! I understand what you mean!"
He understood that Long Wei wanted Zhang Tao to see the data when he was halfway through chatting with Cheng Zhu at the dinner!
It shook his heart right there and then!
The two of them discussed it and both thought it was a good idea.
So what if this evil Cheng Zhu is eloquent?
The real data is thrown right in your face!
The Magic City is too big, so it took Cheng Zhu and others a lot of time to get to the dining place.
In the end, Zhang Tao was the first to arrive, ten minutes earlier than Cheng Zhu and Zhang Xuhao.
As soon as the two of them entered the box, Brother Tao stood up to greet them, and was so enthusiastic.
"I was originally planning to come here today, but something urgent happened at the company, so I asked Long Wei to come." Zhang Tao said with a smile.
"Long Wei has been curious about you for a long time." He looked at Cheng Zhu.
"Oh? Why?" Cheng Zhu pretended to be stupid.
"You are very famous now. Who among those born after 1995 is more famous than you? You are a big celebrity!" Zhang Tao's smile became even wider.
"Brother Tao, if you are talking about those born after 1995, then I won't be modest anymore! It's true that I'm very popular now. No, I'm not popular, I'm just hot!" Cheng Zhu replied with a smile.
Zhang Xuhao was amused by what he heard, as Cheng Zhu was quite the type of person this passionate and heroic man liked.
The middle-aged Taozi said: "Young people are just humorous!"
He continued the previous topic and said, "I rarely hear Long Wei praise people. He came back and said that he felt you were very calm."
After he finished speaking, he exchanged a glance with Zhang Xuhao, both of them smiling, and asked, "You must be feeling depressed because you didn't speak in the meeting, right?"
They are both familiar with Cheng Zhu, there is nothing they can do.
It would be strange if a young and promising person didn't have some edge.
"A little bit." Cheng Zhu said frankly.
Everyone sat at the table, eating and chatting, and the topic did not lead to rice balls and reviews.
Instead, they were talking more about the current situation of Ele.me and discussing new breakthroughs.
But Cheng Zhu and Zhang Xuhao tacitly did not mention the acquisition of Baidu Takeout.
Taozi thought that the three of us brothers were close to each other, but he didn't know that the "second and third brothers" were playing tricks on him.
Of course, all this actually happened under Cheng Zhu's guidance.
Otherwise, Zhang Xuhao and Zhang Tao would not have any disagreements at this stage.
"The prospects for the takeaway market are still good!" Taozi sighed, "Unlike our group purchase."
"Group buying has always had a market, and I personally think it may be even better in a few years," Cheng Zhu said his analysis.
He really has nothing to hide in this regard.
In recent years, it can be said that [consumption has been upgrading] year by year.
However, with the arrival of [consumption downgrade], group buying can actually become popular again.
"I hope so." Zhang Tao did not comment.
Now that the capital winter has arrived, no one is willing to spend more money on group buying. Takeout has become the main battlefield, and the three giants BAT are expected to refuse to give in.
But when it comes to this, Zhang Xuhao gets angry.
"No one was so optimistic about the takeout industry before." He took a sip of Moutai and curled his lips.
Is Ele.me established many years ago? During the period of the Thousands of Groups War, it has been quietly doing food delivery.
At the beginning, Ele.me was so inconspicuous that all the major investors rushed into the group buying market. Anyway, whatever was popular abroad, the domestic venture capital would follow.
But what about takeout?
Is there anyone abroad who does better than me?
This is Zhang Xuhao’s greatest pride now!
But as he expanded the market size, people began to eye this popular commodity and began to realize the country's unique conditions for takeout.
The big foodie empire, there are too many foodies!
And the labor cost is not high.
There are also many practitioners who are willing to endure hardships.
This made Ah Hao feel unbalanced.
I felt that I was the one who propped up this industry that was not favored by others, but now it has become so cruel!
Zhang Tao sat aside and said, "Actually, Are You Hungry also benefited from the Thousand Groups War."
"I have discussed this topic with Long Wei. The biggest impact left by the Thousand Group War is that it has made the Internet more closely connected with large, medium and small businesses, making businesses begin to realize that online business is profitable and are willing to adopt this model."
Zhang Xuhao did not deny this. He nodded and said, "Indeed, in the past few years, more and more businesses are willing to do takeout. Even some old men and women who run breakfast shops have begun to accept new things and try them out."
Cheng Zhu listened to their conversation and nodded slightly.
In fact, every money-burning war on the Internet brings ordinary people closer to the Internet.
Many Chinese people are very conservative.
But if there is wool to be fleeced, that’s another matter.
After everyone chatted for a while and got a little tipsy, Zhang Tao pretended to be unhurried and said, "I heard from Xu Hao that you told him that a middleman would appear to guide Dianping to merge with Mi Tuan?"
Hearing this, the dog man put his hand on the wine glass, turned his head to look at Zhang Xuhao, and deliberately asked: "Did I say that?"
"Yes, and you told me that very seriously!" Zhang Xuhao acted with him and cooperated with him.
"Hey! You!" Cheng Zhu looked speechless, and then he started to pour more wine for him: "I just made a random guess in private, how can you bring it up? You have to drink a glass!"
He also started to persuade people to drink.
Zhang Tao was listening at the side and raised his hands to stop them, saying, "No need to punish me, no need to punish me!"
Cheng Zhu smiled in his heart, knowing: "Here it comes!"
As expected, Zhang Tao immediately said, "Because a middleman really came to see me."
Then, he said the oppressive name.
The atmosphere in the box became gloomy just by the mention of the name.
"Bao Fan!"
After more than ten seconds, Cheng Zhu lowered his eyes and stared at his Maotai wine glass, saying, "There really is a middleman?"
"You should know Bao Fan, right?" Zhang Tao asked.
"That's for sure. I have dealt with a lot of capital this year. It's no exaggeration to say that he is a top figure in the investment circle and is well-known." Cheng Zhu smiled.
"If you don't know Bao Fan yet, it means your business is not big enough!" He also said this well-known sentence to enhance his status.
Brother Tao nodded and said, "Although this is a pretentious statement, it is indeed the same in the Internet-related industry!"
Bao Fan has a huge influence on domestic Internet companies!
No matter what his future outcome will be, at this stage, he is definitely a big shot, and 2015 and 2016 are the years when he was at the peak of his popularity!
"Sometimes when we have dinner with him privately, we also follow the example of the people in his company and directly call him boss." Zhang Tao glanced at Zhang Xuhao.
Even though Brother Hao is usually very tough and even asked the sales staff of Ele.me to learn fighting, he nodded and acknowledged the matter at this moment.
What’s more, you know what, Boss Bao Fan is actually a boxer!
"By the way, I'm really curious. What do you think? Why do you think there is a middleman who is in charge of this matter?"
"Also, you have guessed all of Wang Xin's actions before." Zhang Tao said directly.
Cheng Zhu heard this and said, "Because for these things, I always follow a train of thought and then make my guesses in a coherent line."
"What idea?"
Zhang Xuhao on the side began to become curious, as he had never heard Cheng Zhu talk about these things.
"The premise I identified at the beginning was that I felt Wang Xin couldn't continue working at Alibaba!"
"Hmm?" Zhang Tao and Zhang Xuhao looked at each other in confusion.
"If he doesn't follow Alibaba, who else can he follow..." Taozi was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly got stuck.
He suddenly remembered Wang Xin's previous backstab on Ali.
Lao Wang flew directly to Shenzhen, and then met with Xiao Ma Ge, and finally introduced WeChat Pay to Mi Tuan! And he moved Alipay to the second-level menu!
If he hadn't spent money like a mad dog and looked very confident, Zhang Tao would have thought that the relationship between Wang Xin and Alibaba was broken.
"Huh? Wait!" Taozi realized belatedly that something was wrong.
It’s no wonder that he reacted a little slowly. No one would think in this way. No one would think that someone is bold enough to completely break off relations with Ali!
In front of Alibaba, do you, Wang Xin, the "Little Jack Ma", really think you are a big shot?
Little Jack Ma is still Little Jack Ma after all!
However, according to Cheng Zhu, all his movements are indeed coherent.
If Wang had wanted to break up with Alibaba from the beginning, why would he do this now?
——Oh no! This bastard is coming for me!
At this moment, Zhang Tao suddenly felt a cold current surge up from the soles of his feet, and then rushed straight to the top of his head, giving him a creepy feeling.
He was eager to have a deeper chat with Cheng Zhu.
Both arms under his shirt were covered with goose bumps!
On the other hand, Cheng Zhu was slowly pouring wine into his small cup, looking calm and relaxed.
At this moment, Zhang Tao's cell phone on the table started ringing. It was Long Wei calling, and he was in a hurry to report the data at the exact time.
As a result, Taozi just raised his hand and hung up the phone without even answering it!
(ps: asking for monthly ticket~)
(End of this chapter)
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