Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 523 Mr. Ma is very angry
"Lin'an Xiaoshan Airport?" Huang Wenrong looked at the plane ticket in his hand and asked in astonishment, "President Cheng, what's this?"

“Go and get our funds.” Cheng Yi said with a smile, “A ready-made, well-developed third-party payment tool.”

Lakeside Garden, Lin'an City.

Around 4 p.m., Cheng Yi and Huang Wenrong stood at the entrance of the Lakeside Garden residential complex, their eyes shining brightly.

In its previous life, this place was considered a blessed land for Alibaba Group, incubating many projects worth hundreds of billions.

1688 in 1999, Taobao in 2003, Alipay in 2004, and DingTalk in 2014.

They all came from this neighborhood.

At this moment, in a slightly cramped apartment in Lakeside Garden, Ma Yun was standing in front of a simple whiteboard, waving his arms and passionately addressing a dozen core members: "Comrades, the successful launch of Alipay is the fulcrum for us to leverage the future!"

"Starting today, we no longer need to be beholden to Momo Group, nor do we need to pay that damned 30% platform fee. We have our own payment method! It's like having our own wallet. With it, we finally have the chips to take off!"

"Over the past two years, you have built something from scratch here, turning our ideals into reality. Ali will remember you! History will remember you! From today onwards, you are heroes!"

As soon as Ma Yun finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted, and a group of unkempt technicians beamed with boundless anticipation for the future.

More than two years ago, they were lured here by Ma Yun, and it felt like they had joined a pyramid scheme.

Every time they were about to give up, this person would come out and give them a bowl of rich chicken soup, urging them to keep going.

Now it's finally harvest time.

At this moment, Ma Yun also felt that her two years of hard work had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

He seemed to already see a vast e-commerce empire built on Alipay rising up.

Just then, the receptionist's slightly nervous voice broke the lively atmosphere: "Mr. Ma, the security guard at the gate said that a guest is looking for you, saying that he was sent by Momo Group."

"Momo Group?" The atmosphere in the room froze instantly, and Ma Yun's smile also froze.

Why would Momo Group send someone over?

Why did they come here directly?
Their Alibaba Group headquarters isn't here, is it?

Moreover, their Alipay team has always been a secret within the group and has never been leaked.

The appearance of people from Momo Group at this moment carried an ominous premonition.

Ma Yun took a deep breath, straightened her signature shirt, and said with feigned composure, "Okay, I'll be there in a bit."

"Yes."

"Meeting adjourned, everyone go about your business." Ma Yun waved her hand dismissively and headed straight for the elevator.

He still wanted to personally greet the people sent by Momo Group.

As Ma Yun stepped out of the building, she hadn't even taken two steps when she saw three familiar faces.

Upon seeing these three faces, he couldn't help but shudder.

He wondered if he was seeing things, so he looked at it more closely.

That's right.

It was indeed Cheng Yi, president of Momo Group, and Huang Wenrong, vice president.

Following behind Cheng Yi and Huang Wenrong was Cheng Yi's bodyguard. Ma Yun vaguely remembered his name; it seemed to be Lin Yongxing.

Ma Yun has always had a very good memory.

Although we only met two or three times.

After a brief moment of surprise, Ma Yun immediately put on a professional smile. He quickly stepped forward and said with a smile, "President Cheng, President Huang, it's an honor to have you here. I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner."

"Mr. Ma, you're too kind." Cheng Yi shook hands with Ma Yun and smiled, "We're old acquaintances."

"An old acquaintance? Heh." Ma Yun sneered inwardly.

Cheng Yi and Huang Wenrong came in person, so they must have something big on their minds.

Ma Yun immediately said, "Oh dear, President Cheng, you should have notified me in advance. I was supposed to be at the airport, but you didn't even pick me up. You're really being too negligent."

"I'll send a car over right away. How about we take a tour of our group first?" Ma Yun asked tentatively.

“Forget about the tour,” Cheng Yi said bluntly. “I’m not beating around the bush. The reason I’m here is actually for your upcoming Alipay.”

Ma Yun's heart skipped a beat, but his smile remained unchanged as he said, "Oh? Alipay? Mr. Cheng, this Alipay is just a small tool we tailored for Taobao to solve the trust issue between buyers and sellers. It's still in the testing phase and can't be used yet."

“I can handle the rest.” Cheng Yi chuckled and said, “Mr. Ma, let’s be frank. I really need this tool right now. Momo Group’s Momo Virtual Item Trading Website, TV Shopping Platform, and the overseas server of ‘Honghuang Chronicles’ that we are currently launching globally all need such a safe and efficient payment tool. After thinking about it carefully, it seems that you are the only one in China working on this, so I can only ask Mr. Ma for help.”

He leaned forward slightly and smiled, "Mr. Ma, name your price. Momo Group will acquire the core team and technology patents in full."

"Acquisition?" Ma Yun's smile vanished instantly, replaced by an expression of annoyance.

Alipay is the cornerstone of his envisioned future business empire, the core lifeline of Taobao and even the entire Alibaba system. How could he possibly sell it?

He almost subconsciously raised his voice and shouted, "President Cheng, Alipay is a very important part of Alibaba, and we cannot sell it."

"Impossible to sell?" Cheng Yi frowned slightly and said, "Mr. Ma, in principle, if we were to acquire your Alipay, Mr. Huang and I wouldn't need to come here in person. We came here in person to express the sincerity of Momo Group."

Cheng Yi's words were almost exactly what he meant by, "Don't be ungrateful."

Ma Yun said with a grim expression, "President Cheng, your Momo Group is very powerful, but you can't bully honest people, can you? Are you planning to force a sale?"

Cheng Yi smiled and said, "I just want to cooperate with you. Alipay is just an infant in its swaddling clothes. It needs a massive user base, strong credit backing, and substantial financial support to survive. Momo Group can provide these instantly."

He paused, then said, "Can you handle it with your current size? eBay is eyeing it covetously, the domestic payment environment is not yet mature, and policy risks are ever-present. How long do you think Alipay can weather this storm on its own?"

Ma Yun's face was ashen, and her fists were clenched tightly.

If Cheng Yi weren't so much taller than him, he really wanted to jump up and punch Cheng Yi twice.

Cheng Yi wasn't lying; he hadn't yet figured out how Alipay would proceed.

But his inherent stubbornness prevailed, and he said in a deep voice, "I appreciate Mr. Cheng's good intentions, but Alipay is the future of Alibaba, and we will nurture it ourselves!"

Ma Yun glanced at Cheng Yi and said, "Mr. Cheng, if you'd like some tea, I'll send a car over now. If not, I'll get back to work."

Huang Wenrong hadn't expected Ma Yun to be so fierce. He glanced at Ma Yun with some surprise, then his gaze fell on Cheng Yi's face.

Despite being turned away, Cheng Yi showed no embarrassment or annoyance. He smiled and said, "Alright, Mr. Ma, please consider it carefully. We'll come back to visit in a couple of days."

"This doesn't need to be considered," Ma Yun said in a deep voice. Alipay had consumed too much of his energy, and even if Momo Group had absolute power, he wouldn't sell it.

At worst, we can just give up Momo Group's massive traffic platform and focus solely on orders from home users.

Anyway, they are an e-commerce platform, and most of their users are families.

Cheng Yi was not surprised to see Ma Yun become angry and embarrassed.

That's Ma Yun's personality.

Be tactful when you need to be tactful, and be assertive when you need to be assertive.

On the way back to the hotel, Huang Wenrong asked worriedly, "President Cheng, Ma Yun's attitude is very firm. It seems that this path is not feasible. Let's think of other financing channels."

"Can't get through?" Cheng Yi leaned back in the back seat, closed his eyes, and laughed. "Old Huang, in the business world, there is no road that is truly impassable. It just depends on whether the price is high enough and whether the methods are ruthless enough."

He laughed and said, "To deal with someone like Ma Yun, you have to learn to train a hawk. First, throw him a condition that he definitely cannot accept, then slowly pull him along until you find out where his bottom line is."

“Call all the banks and tell them that third-party payment is too risky, and ask them to be cautious,” Cheng Yi said.

“Okay.” Huang Wenrong maintained good relationships with the heads of several major banks in China. He immediately took out his phone and started dialing their numbers one by one.

"Mr. Ma, several large commercial banks just called, saying that our Alipay is currently too risky and they cannot provide the interface for the time being." In the evening, Lu Zhaoxi, the person in charge of Alipay, called Ma Yun.

Ma Yun is currently immersed in fear and depression.

He publicly rejected Cheng Yi, and the argument even ended badly. He had no idea how much of a blow he would suffer from the Momo Group.

After hearing Lu Zhaoxi's words, Ma Yun knew that the crackdown on Momo Group had begun.

Momo Group is so large that probably only Lianxiang Group in the industry can rival it.

"Mr. Ma, what should we do?" Lu Zhaoxi pressed. "If no bank provides the interface, we're afraid our press conference the day after tomorrow will have to be postponed."

Ma Yun said in a deep voice, "Let's find a few local banks to cooperate with first, and the press conference will proceed as scheduled. Once we have gradually built up our scale, we will find a way to connect with the banks."

"Okay." Lu Zhaoxi hung up the phone with a worried expression.

The next day, Cheng Yi did nothing but take Lin Yongxing for a stroll in Lin'an City and buy a lot of things for Lin Qingyin.

Lin Qingyin is becoming more and more perceptive. She knows how to act cute and how to get angry. That dull-witted girl isn't so easy to fool anymore.

These changes are largely due to Lin Qingyin's increasing contact with society, and secondly, they are also related to Jiang Yuxi.

Lin Qingyin, who had just graduated from a boarding girls' high school, was truly like a blank sheet of paper.

But now.

Tsk.

I need to find a chance to beat Jiang Yuxi up later.

After shopping, Cheng Yi and Lin Yongxing went to the National E-commerce Industrial Park in Lin'an City.

Once Alipay is fully developed and launched, China will have entered the e-commerce era.

Cheng Yi is very resistant to the e-commerce era.

Cheng Yi prefers JD.com's model to Taobao's.

At the very least, JD.com has consistently adhered to a combined online and offline approach, preventing the company from dying in the fierce competition.

The Taobao model, on the other hand, is one where individuals profit at the expense of others, ultimately leading to the downfall of businesses that profit at the expense of individuals.

Everyone was rolling around, and in the end, they didn't even know who they were competing with. They just kept their heads down and kept rolling.

In the end, only a few businesses in each category will emerge victorious, while the rest will barely survive.

Taobao Express, bidding, Taobao Affiliate, Data Cube, review management, logistics services...

The essence of business should be to form a virtuous cycle.

It shouldn't be such a mix.

Just like JD.com's model, companies only need to ensure quality and put the quality-assured products into JD.com's warehousing centers.

Enterprises should simply focus on production.

If all businesses start offering dropshipping, will small business owners still have a chance to survive?

"I'll be the one to end this e-commerce farce." Cheng Yi looked at the huge e-commerce industrial park, a ruthless glint in his eyes.

After leaving the e-commerce industrial park, Li Weiwei called and said, "President Cheng, Alibaba plans to hold a product launch conference tomorrow to officially announce the launch of Alipay. Should we proceed with the plan?"

“Execute it,” Cheng Yi replied. “But don’t go too far. Just scratch the surface. After all, this is our property. If we really make things awkward, we’ll have to put in a lot of effort to clean up the mess.”

"Yes."

At 10 a.m. the next day, a unique product launch event officially began in the e-commerce industrial park in Lin'an City.

The first third-party payment platform in China was unveiled and launched in the presence of leaders and media from Lin'an City.

On the stage, Ma Yun appeared very excited. Holding a laser pointer, he pointed at the content of the slides and began to enthusiastically introduce Alipay.

“The Americas have PayPal, Europe has Skrill, and now we in Asia have Alipay!” Ma Yun shouted. “This is the trend of the future! It is also a blessing for all the people of Asia! With it, we can completely say goodbye to traditional offline top-ups and online banking payments. Alipay makes payment no longer complicated.”

Ma Yun's words immediately drew applause from the audience.

After Ma Yun finished speaking, she waved to Lu Zhaoxi and began to demonstrate Alipay's functions to the media.

Alipay's current functions are very limited; it simply simplifies the online banking payment process. Users can bind their bank savings cards with the enabled interface, select the payment amount, and transfer money to Alipay.

The money will be held in Alipay for 14 days, and will only be transferred to the seller's account after the buyer confirms receipt of the goods.

In addition, there is a recharge function, with a maximum recharge of 10,000 yuan.

And that's it, there are no other functions.

What they've done over the past year has been to continuously learn from PayPal and Skrill, and then hire a large number of cybersecurity personnel to conduct security checks.

"Alipay is very easy to use. Let me demonstrate it for you." Lu Zhaoxi quickly started the demonstration on the slides. He first opened the Alipay webpage, then linked his Linyi Commercial Bank savings card, and then began topping up his account.

(End of this chapter)