I'm reborn and I'm an international student again?

"Alright, I have to meet someone later. I'll handle this." Chen Xi stood up in the office.

"Handle it? How do you intend to handle it?" Lin Xi shook his head, feeling that the other party was just trying to brush it off.

“If I say I can handle it, I can handle it, but you might not be satisfied with the way I handle it.”

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's nothing, I'll be going now."

Chen Xi chuckled mischievously and waved his hand.

Half an hour later, at the Aba Aba Huajing branch.

"The idea of ​​battery-powered lockers is great. It has significantly increased the number of orders our Ele.me riders can receive every day," Feng Yun said, taking a sip of tea.

“But I don’t see much joy on your face,” Chen Xi blinked.

"Many residential communities and shopping malls now prohibit delivery drivers from entering, and most people look down on them, calling them the lowest of the low. This has led to a large number of riders leaving the platforms..."

Feng Yun sighed.

In Chen Xi's memory, Ele.me's overall operation was very poor in his previous life. Although it was said to share the market with Meituan, its market share was actually not as large as the others.

Feng Yun's words reminded him of some comments he often saw online before.

Some people say that people from lower classes like to make things difficult for other people from lower classes.

Some say that people in the upper class like to flatter each other, while ordinary people like to tear each other apart.

This statement is not without merit.

Security guards and other workers discriminate against delivery drivers, who in turn discriminate against customers who order shared meals.

Some delivery drivers become extremely rude after picking up customers who have ordered shared meals, because the platform reduces the money that merchants and riders receive in order to save costs.

The negative content circulating online, such as saying that shared meals are dirty and bad, and even dogs wouldn't eat them, is basically voluntary on the part of the delivery riders, because they earn less money.

In fact, most group-buying meals are similar to regular takeout. Chain stores make them almost the same as individual orders, while other merchants will make smaller portions.

If you're going to say something like "unhygienic," it just means that the restaurant itself is unhygienic, and it's still not clean even if you don't order the combo meal.

"Pinhaofan" (group-buying meals) is similar to a factory; it's a collectively produced, single-product service with limited choices. It's not about leftovers or leftover rice; the high sales volume of Pinhaofan means that leftovers simply can't meet the demand.

"There's no other way but to raise riders' wages and make people in other industries envious of them," Chen Xi said, shrugging.

"Raising salaries will increase the platform's costs, making customer orders more expensive, which will put us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors. You have a lot of clever ideas, do you have any other solutions?"

"There are only two major food delivery platforms now. Try to figure out why you lost to them," Chen Xi said with a smile, passing the buck back to the other side.

"What else could it be? It's just because that group is burning money like crazy. This year, Tencent and other institutions invested over 3 billion yuan in them, while we only had 600 million yuan. It's not that I, Alibaba, can't afford that money, but I just don't think burning money like this is necessary!" Feng Yun explained, blushing.

"Aside from burning money, are there any other reasons?"

"Our software isn't as good as others; their systems automatically assign orders, while ours is semi-manual. However, these will be gradually optimized later, including the navigation..."

"anything else?"

"Since WeChat Pay came out, it has driven traffic to many merchants, and our Alipay's advantage has become smaller and smaller. Tencent is now driving three million orders a day to Meituan."

"anything else?"

"That's all. Now it's your turn to speak."

Feng Yun's eyes widened.

"What you just said is all correct, but from a market analysis perspective, Ele.me has always considered first-tier cities and white-collar workers as its key customer groups. These people tend to order from large, expensive restaurants. There are so many restaurants across the country, what percentage of them are your merchants? Meanwhile, Meituan and Huahetong follow a similar strategy, using a strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside. They focus on second- and third-tier markets, even targeting small family-run shops in small counties. Although they started later, they have more and more franchisees, meaning they have more choices than you."

From the riders' perspective, Ele.me's riders operate on a loose franchise system. Meituan, on the other hand, employs military-style management, complete with team leaders and performance-based bonuses. How can a group of unorganized people possibly compete with them? You've said so much, but haven't addressed the crucial point. Ele.me's management has major problems. Because it was acquired, the founding members are engaged in serious infighting over stock options. Many are just sitting there drawing salaries without doing any work, essentially waiting to die.

Chen Xi lit a cigarette.

"Um... then what do you suggest we do?" Feng Yun asked somewhat awkwardly.

"As I just said, Ele.me's riders are like unorganized soldiers, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Take advantage of this shift in business model to first build a dedicated rider team, then open a part-time rider program, allowing those who want to earn extra money after work or freelancers to participate. These riders will be your reserve force... Think about it, Ele.me belongs to Alibaba, and Alibaba has Taobao. Give them a little support and traffic..."

"Ha, you're so resourceful. But my idea is different from yours. Labor laws are getting stricter these days, and employees are required to pay social insurance and housing fund contributions. But if we register the riders as self-employed individuals, we can avoid the social insurance payment obligation. Then we can tell the government that Ele.me can create tens of millions of jobs a year, and we can get subsidies! I've roughly calculated that we can save tens of billions a year!" Feng Yun laughed heartily, pleased with his clever idea.

"Hmm, not a bad idea. But if a certain group adopts this model, you're doomed," Chen Xi warned.

"You're right, so I need to act quickly!"

"I've done you such a big favor, shouldn't you do me a favor in return?"

"Hmm? What do you want to do?"

“So many people across the country use Alipay, and countless people transfer money every day, with varying amounts. The government has strict controls over funds now, and Alipay’s system currently has risk management capabilities. Freezing someone’s account is a matter of minutes.” Chen Xi suddenly grinned mischievously.

Feng Yun sensed something was wrong and said nervously, "What are you trying to do? We won't arbitrarily freeze user accounts. Alipay is a legitimate company. If we operate illegally, it will make users feel uneasy. So many people across the country deposit money here. Do you think we're a bank, arbitrarily taking depositors' money? We wouldn't do something that's purely an employee's personal action!"

When the bosses talked about the bank, they basically complained about everything. Feng Yun couldn't resist making a sarcastic remark at this moment.

"I didn't ask you to freeze anyone's accounts. I just wanted you to keep an eye on certain accounts for me. If they trigger risk control measures, immediately notify me."

"Oh~ you used a good word, 'pay attention' instead of 'monitor.' This is a bit difficult, but since you brought it up, I'll do my best." Feng Yun leaned back in his chair, pretending to be serious.

"..."

Ten p.m.

The parking lot near the headquarters of the Dahua Guoxin Overseas Returnees Association.

"I thought you weren't coming. Aren't you afraid I'll beat you up for coming so late?" Yang Xiao said as he got out of the car to a woman wearing a hoodie.

"What are you afraid of? This is China. So what if you come out at dawn? Beat me up? You don't seem like the kind of guy who would hit a woman." The woman said casually.

"All those ridiculous schemes of yours were completely useless. Tell me, what other ideas do you have now?"

"Of course there is a way. Chen Xi has an enemy named Yang Dan. I have worked with him before. If the three of us join forces, we can definitely bring down Chen Xi."

"I'm going to take down the Youth Returnees Association!"

“There’s no conflict. All the money-making projects of the Youth Returnees Association were his ideas. If the funding chain breaks, they won’t even be able to afford the operating costs.”

Tell me the specifics.

"This is the plan I wrote. Just follow it." The woman handed her a folder.

"Damn, isn't that the same as before?" Yang Xiao took the things.

"What else do you want? Do you want me to teach you step by step?"

"Let me teach you step by step!" Suddenly, a person emerged from the darkness.

"Chen Xi? You two set me up!" The woman was first terrified, then turned to anger.

"So what if I set you up? Zhang Yi, you've been hiding in the shadows plotting against people all day long, and today you're reaping what you sowed." Chen Xi slammed his fists together.

"Wasn't it all because of you that I broke up with Ming? You... what do you want to do? How can a man hit a woman?" Zhang Yi trembled as she backed away.

Chen Xi now understood: after breaking up with Xiao Ming, Zhang Yi had been plotting revenge against him. She had previously conspired with Yang Dan to sabotage him, and now she was seeking cooperation with Yang Xiao. Little did she know that Yang Xiao wasn't falling for her tricks at all, and instead told him the truth.

Having Yu Guoqiang invite Chen Xi to join the group was just an act for others to see. "Ha, men can't hit women? Then let us do it!" Zhao Lingshan and Qian Jiajia emerged from the darkness, laughing loudly.

Zhao Lingshan dashed forward in one stride; her athletic prowess since childhood had made her incredibly fast. Without a word, she landed a punch on Zhang Yi's stomach.

Zhang Yi bent over and vomited like a shrimp.

Before she could catch her breath, Qian Jiajia elbowed her in the back, knocking Zhang Yi down.

"You filthy woman, how dare you scheme against my idol!" Qian Jiajia continued to kick the person lying on the ground.

"This..." Chen Xi was about to step forward to stop Qian Jiajia when she was about to fight, but Zhao Lingshan stopped her.

"It's alright, she won't die. We'll take care of her, hehe."

"Uh... okay." Chen Xi wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to look at Yang Xiao.

"How about that? I'm pretty good to you, aren't I? I'm much better to you than that Lin Xi. How about considering joining us?" Yang Xiao stepped forward and put his arm around his shoulder.

"We'll talk about it when I can't make it there anymore. You helped me this time, so I'll return the favor." Chen Xi didn't like owing people favors.

"Oh? What is that?"

"Take it back and look at it yourself." He imitated Zhang Yi's actions and handed her a document. He also took Zhang Yi's project proposal with him.

Zhang Yi's screams and pleas for mercy could still be heard outside.

Yang Xiao took the item in his hand and examined it under the car's interior light, his expression immediately becoming quite interesting.

"Ha, I'm increasingly eager to recruit you into the association."

"..."

Three hours later, inside a street food stall.

"It's been so long since I hit someone, it really hurts," Zhao Lingshan said, rubbing her reddened little hands.

"Let me see, you've worked so hard." Chen Xi took her hand and blew on it.

This scene naturally fell into the eyes of Qian Jiajia, who was standing nearby.

Are they really just childhood sweethearts?
I have a feeling they're a couple.

It seems that not all the gossip circulating in QQ groups was false.

Oh my, the vice president is so gentle.

Being his girlfriend must be incredibly blissful.

Qian Jiajia thought to herself.

"Don't worry, Zhang Yi will definitely not lay a finger on you again. I've investigated her entire family history, and if she tries to set you up again, I'll make sure her dad goes bankrupt," Zhao Lingshan said grumbling.

"What did you just do to her?" Chen Xi asked curiously.

"It's a secret!" both women said at the same time.

"Boss, boss, is order number 23 ready yet? Don't delay my food preparation. If it's late, the platform will deduct money. Otherwise, I'll have worked for nothing all day. I have elderly parents and young children to support..." At this moment, a delivery rider rushed into the store.

"What's the rush? Can't you see how many people are sitting outside? Do you think I don't want to hurry? I can't even fit all the food on my grill! Rushing, rushing, all you delivery guys ever do is rush. Do you know how hard it is for me to run a business? I have to give a huge chunk of every order to the platform. Everyone has elderly parents and young children to support, so why are you the only one who matters?" The owner was sweating profusely as he grilled the skewers.

"I just want you to hurry up, why are you saying so much? When is it my turn to get a job?"

"Just wait, I'll call you when it's ready."

"Damn it, how long are you going to keep grilling all these skewers? Can't you hire another guy? I'm definitely going to be overtime, what am I going to do, what am I going to do!"

"What are you yelling about? It's so noisy."

The people at the food stall were all drinking, and the farce seemed to have excited them quite a bit.

"Bro, can I request a song?"

"no, I'm fine."

"Brother, what do you want to hear?"

"no need."

A middle-aged man carrying a guitar and a horn went from table to table asking for song lists, but was ruthlessly rejected by everyone.

Making money isn't easy these days, who would spend tens of dollars to request a song?
"Hey bro, let's play a song to liven things up!" Chen Xi was drinking beer at the moment. He looked at the man in front of him and said, "Okay, let's play a song to liven things up."

"Brother, what would you like to eat?"

"Let's play a song that shows how detached we are from worldly affairs." Chen Xi didn't look at the playlist.

"Okay, let me think about it!" the man readily agreed.

Suddenly, the melodious sound of a guitar rang out, and a poignant song drifted from his lips: "You and I are all mortals, born into this world."

As soon as he left, people around him couldn't help but turn around and look.

That voice is indeed quite good.

"Toiling away all day long, never a moment's rest!"

“Since you’re not an immortal, it’s inevitable that you’ll have impure thoughts. Put morality aside.” Chen Xi, who was a little tipsy, also took the microphone and said.

"Put profit in the middle!"

Those around them were also infected, raising their glasses and joining in.

"Come on, let's have a toast!" Chen Xi raised his glass.

"How many heroes have fought for the sake of a beautiful woman? How many birds of a feather have been separated and flown away!" Everyone sang.

Life is so short, why suffer so much?
My lover has disappeared; to whom can I appeal for justice?

How should I put it? This song feels different to listeners of all ages.

Images of the confusion he felt during his low point in his previous life began to surface in Chen Xi's mind.

Business failure, worries and struggles for money. Mountains of bills piled up in his hands, moments of being knocked down by reality and then getting back up again.

He argued with his girlfriend because of their relationship.

Unbeknownst to them, the dull atmosphere in the food stall suddenly changed.

Some men, as they drank, unconsciously began to shed tears.

This is the bitterness and helplessness of middle-aged people.

Both women found their behavior somewhat baffling.

The deliveryman and the owner, who were originally at odds, are now helping each other flip the skewers and handing each other chilled mineral water.

Everyone is simply striving for their own life, ordinary yet passionate.

We are all just ordinary people, and who isn't stumbling forward under the heavy pressure of life?
Sometimes, a little more understanding and tolerance can make things easier for everyone. (End of Chapter)