At this time, at Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhang Yong was actively preparing for the first Taobao Double Eleven event.
The secretary came in: "Mr. Zhang, there are still a few big brands that are unwilling to participate in the Double Eleven event. They feel that offering a 50% discount would damage their brand image."
Zhang Yong thought for a moment and said, "I'll go talk to them myself. Where is their headquarters?"
"Most of them are in Shanghai, and a few are in Shenzhen."
“Okay, then you make the contact, and we’ll go to Shanghai first and visit them one by one.”
That afternoon, Zhang Yong set off for Shanghai and visited four companies in a row, talking until he was exhausted.
It was already dark when Zhang Yong walked out of the fourth company's door and rubbed his temples.
The secretary reminded him, "Mr. Zhang, you haven't eaten anything since you came out at noon. Why don't we go get some dinner first?"
"Okay, let's go have dinner first." Zhang Yong looked around and laughed, "I didn't expect to end up near Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. That's my alma mater, haha. Come on, I'll take you to my favorite restaurant back then."
As Zhang Yong walked, he noticed that all the bus stops nearby were covered with advertisements for a company called Huasuan.com.
Have you heard of this website called "Huasuan.com"?
"Mr. Zhang, I haven't heard of it either. It's probably a new company that just appeared recently."
The two went to a restaurant near the entrance of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and ordered two set meals.
At that moment, two college students next door were talking about Huasuan.com, and Zhang Yong listened in.
"Can I still use the Eleme coupon that you got from the last deal on Huashuan.com?"
"It works, and there are no barriers to entry. It can be used directly to offset money, which is a great deal. I plan to continue my efforts and get a few more new users to register."
"That's great! There's no minimum spend required. I heard that you get a 500 yuan coupon for referring 100 people, which is almost my monthly food expenses."
Zhang Yong couldn't help but ask, "Hi classmate, I'd like to ask, what kind of website is this 'Huasuan.com'?"
The two college students glanced at Zhang Yong, initially uninterested in answering, but upon seeing Zhang Yong's secretary, they cleared their throats and replied, "Huasuan.com is a relatively new website, but it's really useful. Whenever I want to buy something online, I can search for it and compare prices across the entire internet. It also teaches me how to get coupons, and it compares prices across different food delivery platforms. Since I started using this website, I've been able to save several hundred yuan a month compared to before."
After listening to what the two college students said, Zhang Yong couldn't help but take out his laptop, open his browser, and enter the domain name of Huasuan.com that he had just seen at the bus stop. Actually, the domain name of Huasuan.com is easy to remember; it's just the full Chinese pinyin for "Huasuan".
Zhang Yong casually entered the keyword "iPhone" into a search, and soon, Huasuan.com displayed the prices of iPhones on Taobao, JD.com, eBay, and other online marketplaces, as well as the coupons available. There was even an option for 12-month interest-free installments with China Merchants Bank credit cards.
After looking at it, the secretary was clearly very interested in the website: "Boss, this website has great features, I want to go back and try it out."
As a bigwig in the internet industry, Zhang Yong saw not only the functions of Huasuan.com, but also how strong the website's ability to guide consumers was. Just like Baidu, the result of the same keyword search results, the first and the last ranking are completely determined by Baidu's subjective ranking. Huasuan.com is the same, and it can even directly not display search results for a certain shopping platform.
"Contact this great deal website right away, and we'll go visit them."
"Okay, Mr. Zhang."
The secretary wrote an email to the email address listed at the bottom of the website's homepage.
In 1901, Lin Chen, who was playing rock-paper-scissors with An Rou to decide who would wash the dishes, was cheating.
"This round doesn't count. You were too slow. It must have been you who was too slow."
"Boss, you've already cheated three times."
"I don't care, you were too slow. Rock-paper-scissors is supposed to be fair and just, you know? If either side is a little faster or slower, it could lead to an inaccurate result."
"Ding-dong, you have a new email, please check it." At this moment, An Rou's phone rang.
Yes, the email address Lin Chen left on the Huasuan.com homepage belonged to An Rou. An Rou picked up her phone, opened the email, and immediately exclaimed excitedly, "Boss, there's an email from someone claiming to be a senior executive at Alibaba who wants to visit our Huasuan.com!"
"An Alibaba executive? What's his name? He's not surnamed Ma, is he?"
"No, his name is Zhang Yong."
"Pfft~"
Lin Chen snatched An Rou's phone and saw that it was indeed Zhang Yong, just as he had imagined. He immediately replied, "I'll be waiting for you anytime," and attached his company address.
"Boss, is this Zhang Yong very capable?"
"It's more than just impressive. You know Taobao Mall, right? It was built by Zhang Yong. Let me put it this way: without Zhang Yong, Taobao would be a castle in the air. With him, Taobao was able to truly grow and become strong in a down-to-earth manner."
Lin Chen stood up: "Senior, I feel like we're going to make money again. Do you want a bonus?"
"I think and think, of course I want to."
"Then go wash the dishes."
"You dog of a boss, all you do is try to take advantage of me, humph."
Meanwhile, the secretary said to Zhang Yong, "Mr. Zhang, the other party replied to the email, and the address is actually at the Entrepreneurship Center of Jiaotong University."
"Oh? It's a startup company run by college students?"
"Star Technology? I think I've heard of this company. Let me look it up."
"It turns out to be the company that developed Fruit Ninja before. It was later sold to Tencent and made 500 million yuan."
Zhang Yong thought about it for a moment. Although 500 million yuan was a lot for a college student startup, Alibaba considered it a very small company. Was this company really worth his time? Oh well, it's all in Shanghai anyway, not far away. I'll go check it out tomorrow. It won't waste much time.
The next day, Zhang Yong arrived at Xingchen Technology's office on the second floor of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Entrepreneurship Center.
The moment Zhang Yong stepped inside, he regretted it a little. He saw six people in the office, three of whom were watching anime for otaku, while the other three were playing cards.
"Three against three."
"Two against two."
"Hey, An Rou, do you even know how to play? I have three cards and you only have two, and Xia Xue is the landlord, why are you beating me?"
"Tch, watch closely, Boss Dog, this is what a God of Gamblers is: a straight, 3 to Ace, and only one card left."
"Wow, as expected of you, senior! You're amazing!"
"A royal flush".
"Um, boss, don't you have any kings or queens?"
"No, I thought your last card was the Joker or the King."
Anrou turned over the last card, a 3.
Lin Chen said angrily, "I'm not playing anymore, An Rou, you played your cards terribly."
Zhang Yong's secretary couldn't help but knock on the door: "Excuse me, is Mr. Lin Chen here?"
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