2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 499 Memories of the Past

PS: More slice-of-life style
"Did you see that? Sun Yuming, that sixth brother, is the smartest. He actually got into President Tan's car."

Surrounded in the middle, Zhang Xupeng was also very observant and quickly spotted Tan Jincheng and his two companions walking towards them.

He was the only one who dared to tease Sun Yuming like that.

The term "Lao Liu" isn't exactly a popular internet slang term. It's a way of teasing someone in the Yicheng dialect, and it can be understood as someone who's very clever and shrewd. It's not really a derogatory term.

"What are you saying, Mr. Zhang? I was just going to deliver a small Christmas gift to Jin Yue, how did I become the sixth one?" Sun Yuming said with a grin, extending his hand.

"What are you all doing standing here? Aren't you cold?"

The continuous drizzle made the temperature in the underground parking lot quite low. These people, who were used to being pampered, were dressed in very thin clothes, which contrasted sharply with the ordinary employees who were wearing down jackets and watching from the side.

When Tan Jincheng appeared, the crowd automatically moved toward him, and some of the ordinary employees watching even unconsciously took out their phones to take pictures, especially the programmers at Orange Technology who were working the night shift.

In the internet industry, Jack Ma, the founder of Ali, is undoubtedly number one in popularity. As programmers, they know his status better than anyone else.

Boss Tan dared to stand up to him head-on and even managed to gain an advantage, which made him an idol in their eyes. Cases of the weak defeating the strong are common in every industry.

"It's been a long time since we've seen each other, so let's chat for a bit," Zhang Xupeng explained on behalf of everyone.

In reality, everyone, including Zhang Xupeng, knew what was going on. They were just waiting for Boss Tan. If they wanted to chat, they could go anywhere else; why freeze in this underground parking lot?

"Let's go, it really has been a long time. Brother Qin, the last time we met was in August."

Among this group of people, Qin Junchao joined a little later and worked at Jinyi Industrial, which was not highly regarded. The others had been with him from the very beginning.

Sun Yuming, in particular, helped him with everything. He would drive Gu Qingqing and the others back to school on the nights they took photos for the Taobao store. He was practically like Tan Jincheng's little brother. He was also very familiar with Tan Lihua and his wife, as well as Gu Qingqing.

There was a reason why he dared to go to Tan Jincheng's house. If Zhang Xupeng was Tan Jincheng's staunch supporter, then Sun Yuming was the most loyal of his cronies.

Zhang Xupeng said that Sun Yuming's behavior was something that others envied. Only Zhang Xupeng and Sun Yuming dared to go to the boss's house so casually. Even Zhang Xuhui didn't dare to go there easily.

On the way here, Gu Qingqing had already notified Cheng Hao and Gu Yanning, and the two of them began to prepare the materials after receiving the notification.

The image of a group of people surrounding Tan Jincheng was captured by some employees, and some even shared it on their social media accounts. In less than a morning, the image of all the senior executives of Flash Group appearing in the underground parking lot of Flash Group's headquarters building was noticed by the media.

Beicang reacted quickly; Xie Junhong from Beicang City Investment called Tan Jincheng. Missing out on Orange Technology was probably the most regrettable thing in his investment career.

In just two or three years, Tan Jincheng's initial asking price of 100 million yuan for the overall valuation was considered an exorbitant demand, but now 100 million yuan in cash can't even buy three percent of the assets, and there's no opportunity to even invest money anymore.

"Nothing much, just a normal company annual meeting, and a chance to discuss next year's plans."

"Really? Mr. Tan, you've got quite a reputation for stirring things up these days. By the way, can I attend as an observer? I am, after all, a shareholder of Flash Group." Xie Junhong was a little skeptical.

As one of the shareholders of Shanchi Group, Beicang City Investment has provided tremendous support to Tan Jincheng. Apart from routine financial supervision, it has never interfered with Shanchi's daily operations and has been generous in helping him whenever needed.

The fact that Tan Jincheng is considered the "favored son" of the Beicang government can be seen from the attitude of Beicang City Investment Group.

Currently, Flashlink has taken root, but for the Beicang government, Orange Technology is still an unstable factor. After all, a company valued at over 30 billion yuan is currently still located in another company's office building.

"Oh? Are you coming? If you are, come on over, we'll wait for you."

Tan Jincheng was somewhat surprised, but he couldn't refuse such a special shareholder's request to attend the hearing, even though the arrangements that would be made later seemed a bit strange to outsiders.

I wonder what Xie Junhong will think when he hears that Qin Junchao, the general manager of Shenzhen Dexian Electronics, is preparing snow disaster prevention supplies.

"Okay, I'm coming right away, Mr. Tan, wait for me."

Boss Tan is too good at stirring things up. In addition, the impression left by Orange Technology is too deep. He summoned all the senior executives back. Xie Junhong just couldn't believe that it was necessary to bring everyone back just for an annual plan.

Grabbing his coat, Xie Junhong didn't even bother to call a driver. He hung up the phone and ran out, not giving Tan Jincheng a chance to back out. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't be so extravagant with his business, and he wouldn't bother with routine meetings like the one Tan Jincheng mentioned.

At this moment, in the top-floor office of the Flash Motors headquarters building, Tan Jincheng, Gu Qingqing, Zhang Xupeng, Zhang Xuhui, Sun Yuming, Lin Yumin, Wu Zhenping and others were gathered in the conference room hall. This was the largest number of people ever in this conference room.

The group really did mainly reminisce, starting with that small office from 04.

"You guys don't know, the two of them were the ones who received me when I went for the job interview. The boss was away on a business trip, and General Manager Zhang was at the factory. I was so shocked, I thought I had been scammed."

Sun Yuming spoke fluently, saying that at first, in order to distinguish themselves from Li Yanning and Li Jinglan, Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng addressed each other as "Big Li" and "Little Li," but later, after becoming more familiar, they changed to calling each other by their given names.

Even now, there are many shell companies like this, with just a storefront, a very short lease term, no real business, and all they do is interview and recruit employees.

They charge certain fees during the recruitment process, such as for trial experiences or other pretexts, to deceive workers who lack social experience. Jinpeng Trading was indeed a decent company back then.

"Even if you get scammed, you'll only lose a few dollars at most. To be honest, Uncle Lin and Uncle Wu took the biggest risks back then. They gave up their jobs at state-owned enterprises and gave me tremendous support."

Tan Jincheng laughed and retorted, while Lin Yumin and Wu Zhenping said it didn't have to be like that. They hadn't heard "Uncle Lin" and "Uncle Wu" addressed as such for a long time, so they were a little unaccustomed to it.

Zhang Xupeng also laughed as he described the scene when the two of them first took the bus to Xiapu Hexi Industrial Zone. After being kicked out a few times, he felt quite embarrassed.

The two who joined the group the latest were Huang Ming and Cheng Linfeng. These two were involved in capital markets and didn't really understand the hardships of running a real business, but it sounded quite novel to them. President Tan had never told them any of this before.

He reminisced about the past one by one, and apart from Zhang Xupeng's account of their initial entrepreneurial journey, he was a firsthand witness to all the others.

Speaking of which, she had a similar experience to Sun Yuming. Although she was introduced by her senior, she was always nervous when they met. She had a great sense of accomplishment from participating in or watching Tan Jincheng's early entrepreneurial period.

Each executive, including Zhang Xupeng, has their own unique memories of the collaboration. For Flash, it's more about reminiscing about the past hardships, while for Cheng Hao of Orange Technology, it's more like a dream.

Although he didn't achieve the same level of success as Sun Tongyu, he was still one of the founders of the pig farm. In terms of the actual situation at the time, he was like a weaker version of Sun Tongyu. His choice to start a business with Tan Jincheng was more out of a sense of unwillingness to give up.

"To be honest, what impressed me most about you, Mr. Tan, was your willingness to invest 1000 million yuan from the very beginning," Cheng Hao said with a hint of sarcasm when it was his turn.

However, to be honest, Tan Jincheng's initial investment of ten million yuan did indeed leave him somewhat bewildered.

I've never heard of any startup internet company that sets up 10 million yuan in seed funding just to create a social networking site and a small game. With 10 million yuan to do internet business? There are so many other things they could do.

Cheng Hao didn't think of Tan Jincheng as a sucker. How could an entrepreneur who could turn a small workshop-style electric vehicle brand into a nationally renowned brand and invest ten million yuan at once be a simple sucker?

The boss knew nothing about internet technology but was willing to invest a large amount of start-up capital, which was indeed a great temptation for Cheng Hao, who wanted to make a big splash.

It was a joke, but it really reflected what I was thinking at the time.

Today, Cheng Hao, who owns 2.4% of Orange Technology's shares, has a net worth of over 8000 million yuan, truly achieving financial freedom and proving his abilities.

To be honest, he was very glad he made that decision. In life, you make many decisions, and some decisions can change your life.

After the Series C funding round, several institutions approached him, offering 100 million yuan to acquire his 2% stake. Even Beicang City Investment had designs on his shares and inquired whether he had any intention of reselling them.

Before the IPO, Orange Technology did not have many restrictions on Cheng Hao's shareholding. He could transfer it, but the company would have to give priority to internal repurchase. In addition, if he wanted to transfer it to other institutions, he would have to give priority to Tan Cheng and several investment institutions.

Just as they were having a pleasant conversation, Xie Hongjun rushed over. Seeing the lively atmosphere in the conference room, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

"So happy? What are you talking about? Mr. Tan, have you finished talking?"

He knew Tan Jincheng's meeting style; in internet parlance, it was all about making the most of the shortest timeframe.

"No, I'm just waiting for you."

(End of this chapter)