This director is vindictive.

Chapter 286 Double Happiness: Chen Mo Wins "Discount" and "Free Shipping" vs. Big Shot's Downfall
"#If you can't learn sincerity, don't try# Ahri's actions are truly baffling. Users want the joy of 'getting freebies,' not the math of 'calculating discounts'! Chen Mo directly gave away products—simple and straightforward. You give away a coupon without free shipping and then make the merchant take the blame? Do you really think netizens are easy targets?"

"Hilarious! A giant with a market value of trillions can't even spare 50 billion in cash? They advertise it as 'welfare for all,' but in reality, they're making small and medium-sized businesses cut their losses to fill the hole—this is 'robbing the poor to enrich the rich'!"

"I suggest renaming Ali the Fox to 'Ali's Scheming Shopping Spree'! Coupons can't be stacked + shipping not included = a disguised price increase. What a waste of this benefit! #LearningChenMoOnlyTheSurface#"

"Merchants are furious that the platform is taking advantage of them for free, and users are complaining about the reduced benefits—so who exactly did Alibaba's 20 billion yuan subsidy subsidize? Oh, it probably subsidized the public relations department's KPI!"

"Chen Mo's live stream is like handing out wedding favors, everyone gets a share; Ali's live stream is like a shopping mall lottery, everyone wins 'Thank you for your patronage.' Different genes, don't force them together!"

Ahri's re-release flopped in a way that many people didn't expect.

Before this, everyone thought that Chen Mo's super-generous live stream was just about throwing money around, and that anyone willing to spend money could easily replicate it.

However, Ahri's attempt backfired this time. You might say that Ahri didn't spend any money, but she really did. So why did the result turn out so disastrous?

The money was spent, but not only did it not achieve the desired effect, it also resulted in netizens criticizing it and trending on social media? Even the stock price has dropped significantly, so it's hard to say what to say about this situation.

This also led to the resignation of the executives who led the project.

For a moment, the companies and wealthy individuals who had originally planned to strike while the iron was hot began to hesitate and waver.

The main issue isn't the money; the problem is, I can't bear the embarrassment!

However, some people still gave it a try.

After all, Chen Mo's live streams are so captivating, who wouldn't want to replicate that?
Thus, Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, a company with a market value of trillions of dollars, is a well-known figure worldwide.

After Chen Mo's live stream became a hit, many people made fun of Lao Ma.

He was quite generous, buying 10,000 new Tesla Model 3 cars, worth over 2 billion yuan.

This round of giveaway pre-event promotion was equally explosive, touted as a "global carnival," attempting to replicate Chen Mo's legendary success in providing benefits.

Moreover, the platforms that Lao Ma chose to cooperate with are the international version of TikTok and the domestic version of Douyin.

It claims to be truly globally synchronized and treats everyone equally.

To be honest, this was something Chen Mo hadn't done before. After all, he had mainly targeted domestic netizens. While he had also given out some perks to overseas netizens, the value of those perks was vastly different.

Many of these are temporary new benefits, which has drawn considerable criticism from overseas netizens.

This time, Lao Ma held a global live-streamed giveaway, open to all countries and regions.

Netizens immediately praised, "No wonder he's a trillionaire, his vision is truly impressive!"

"No problem, Chen Mo's live stream perks are indeed attractive, but he's mostly using other people's money, while Lao Ma is genuinely spending his own money!"

"To be fair, this wave has indeed shown a lot about the big picture."

This wave of public opinion is definitely orchestrated by Tesla itself, using Chen Mo to generate buzz, those who know, know.

Moreover, he grasped the key point: Chen Mo relied on sponsors, while Lao Ma directly spent his own money.

However, the public is not stupid. As the reservation channel for this "global carnival" opened, the number of reservations quickly exceeded 100 million.

But once the number of people reached a certain point, many netizens suddenly realized what was going on.

"Wait a minute! Ten thousand Model 3s? That sounds incredible, but the odds of winning are comparable to the lottery jackpot!"

"Yeah, there are over 100 million people who have made reservations. If we calculate based on 100 million people, the odds of winning are one in ten thousand?"

"I heard they also have Tesla merchandise!"

"90% of the participants only get a 'Tesla keychain', right? Is this 'global frenzy' just Tesla clearing out its inventory?"

While spending 200 to 300 billion yuan is indeed a grand gesture, the online reaction has suddenly changed.

After all, for most netizens, only the deals they can actually get are real deals. If they can't, what's the difference between that and those live-streaming sales hosts on Douyin (TikTok) who have tens of thousands of people vying for a few items?
They shout big slogans about welfare, but the odds of winning are practically the same as winning the lottery jackpot.

As public opinion continues to escalate, Tesla's "global celebration" event is gradually falling into an awkward situation. Despite the official emphasis on this being an "unprecedented benefit," netizens' complaints are intensifying.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the free cars worth 20 billion yuan offered in this live stream are indeed very attractive, especially since there are no barriers to participation.

So when the live stream started, although the number of online viewers worldwide was far less than that of Chen Mo's stream, it was still over 100 million.

However, what was incredibly awkward was that Chen Mo's live stream lasted for several hours, giving away millions of freebies every few minutes, while Tesla's Elon Musk's live stream was just a series of awkward chatter about his entrepreneurial journey and Tesla's corporate culture.

The screen was constantly filled with comments:
When will the giveaway be held?

"I've been waiting so long, the flowers are practically withered!"

"Who wants to listen to your ramblings? Hurry up and draw the prize!"

"What the heck? Am I supposed to listen to you ramble on for two hours straight?"

The organizers of this event had obviously taken this into account, so the 10,000 Teslas were drawn out in batches of 1,000 at a time.

Then, various Tesla-related merchandise is interspersed throughout.

However, the number of viewers in the live stream quickly began to decline. After all, even with 10,000 cars, the odds were already incredibly low given the large number of netizens, let alone giving away 1,000 cars at once.

If Chen Mo's super-generous live stream was a true example of a show that started strong but ended badly, like "The Silent Truth," then Tesla's live stream featuring Old Ma was a classic case of starting strong but ending weakly.

Because from its peak of over 100 million online users at the beginning, it eventually dwindled to less than 10 million.

Although the number of online viewers is still very high, it's worth noting that this live stream gave away 10,000 cars with a total value of over 2 billion!
This result was clearly beyond people's expectations.

However, this is actually quite normal, because as the saying goes, the prize money is high, but if you don't win, it's all for nothing!
So many people buy lottery tickets, but only a handful win the grand prize. If someone else wins a big prize while you don't even get a penny, how can the sense of participation be the same?

"I felt completely uninvolved. Chen Mo's livestream was full of surprises, while Lao Ma's livestream almost put me to sleep!"

"The key point is that the odds of winning are already low, and they only draw a thousand at a time. The odds of winning are even lower than the lottery jackpot, okay?"

"I watched for half an hour and participated in several rounds of prize draws. I really couldn't take it anymore. This is just a scam to fool idiots."

"I used to think Chen Mo's super-generous live streams would be easy to replicate, but now I realize, damn it, Chen Mo is the one who's just making empty promises!"

In an instant, this live stream of Tesla's amazing perks, a global celebration, turned into #themostawfullstream#.
Many people even felt that it wasn't as good as Ahri's live stream.

Although Ahri's live streams have been criticized as a disguised version of shopping festivals, at least netizens can still get some freebies.

However, for the vast majority of netizens, Tesla's event this time was just something to watch for the excitement, and they left disappointed!

However, the drama didn't end there, because this time, the live stream was giving away 10,000 cars.

Furthermore, since the winners are located all over the world, the winning vehicles need to be picked up by the winners themselves, and the shipping cost is not included!
Many people didn't pay much attention to this condition at first, since self-pickup is normal and you can just pick it up at the dealership.

However, when the live stream ended, the winners were dumbfounded.

Firstly, some areas do not have Tesla dealerships. This means that if you want to redeem your prize, you either have to go to a city with a Tesla dealership or pay for the shipping yourself.

The problem is that in some countries, you have to go abroad to claim the prize. The key point is that the prize is directly linked to the user after winning, which means that even if you want to resell it, you have to take delivery of the car first.

For a moment, netizens in small overseas countries who won the lottery were completely dumbfounded.

After the incident escalated, memes about "winning the lottery is equivalent to losing money" went viral.

Of course, this is only a small part.

Then something even more awkward happened.

The kind of situation where you're carrying a pig's head but can't find the temple gate, or holding a lottery ticket but can't find where to redeem it, is relatively rare in China. Tesla has quite a few dealerships in China, so domestic winners are quite happy.

A Douyin (TikTok) influencer was lucky enough to win a Tesla Model 3 in a raffle, and the next day he went live to show the process of claiming his prize and taking delivery of the car.

The buzz is pretty high. After all, this streamer won a prize, and a car is worth at least 200,000 yuan. Of course, getting something for free is appealing.

Therefore, I kept saying good things about this live stream in the live stream room.

However, when it came time to pick up the car, it was discovered that purchasing expensive insurance and optional packages was mandatory, with the actual cost far exceeding the market price.

The streamer was stunned.

The viewers in the live stream were absolutely stunned.

"I've never seen anything like this before. Is this all you call vision?"

"The richest man with a net worth of 300 billion US dollars, is that all?"

"No way, this is really damaging to their reputation! Could it be that the fourth dealership acted on its own initiative? The richest man in China isn't that petty, is he?"

"Whether it's true or not, the problem is, if you want to take delivery of the car, you have to pay extra!"

"To be honest, it's a bit tough!"

At first, everyone thought this was just an isolated case, but soon more winners shared their car delivery process, revealing that it was not an isolated case but almost all of them were like this.

Social media exploded instantly, and #TeslaWelfareTrap# became a trending topic.

After the news broke, Tesla's stock price plummeted by 5%, and Elon Musk defended himself on Twitter, claiming that the "promotional activities were misunderstood" and shifting the blame to the "4S store acting on its own initiative!"
However, the absurd things didn't end there. Now that you know about these drawbacks, shouldn't you take steps to fix them?

But after a day or two, the winner discovered that nothing had changed at all!

Perhaps Old Ma really wouldn't do something so flashy, but his reaction speed is too slow and his problem-solving efficiency is too low.

This led to a further decline in public opinion.

Furthermore, some netizens revealed that the so-called "Tesla merchandise" was mostly surplus inventory: keychains cost less than 5 yuan each, and canvas bags with the logo were ridiculed as "not even as good as supermarket freebies".

On Twitter, a sarcastic tweet with the hashtag #FakeGift, "Thanks to Jack Ma for saving me 3 seconds of clicking to book," received a million likes.

It was another mess! And it was even more bizarre and outrageous than Ahri's live stream.

Following two consecutive "replication failures," several consulting firms released a report titled "The Welfare Economics of the 'Post-Chen Mo Era': Why is Brutal Cash Giving the Most Cost-Effective?"

Analysts point out: "What users want is a sense of certainty, not a sense of gambling-like participation."

It even included a comparison chart of Chen Mo's super welfare live stream and Tesla's global carnival.

Chen Mo's super-generous live stream had over 3600 million winners.

This data analysis shows a winning rate as high as 7.2%! And this is based on a massive user base of 5 million online users.

In contrast, Lao Ma's live stream offered 1 cars x 20 each = 20 billion, with a winning rate of less than one in ten thousand. It's safe to say that 99.99% of people would get nothing – who was more sincere? It's obvious.

Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, eventually issued a public apology, stating that insufficient preparation had led to the numerous problems during the promotional livestream, and that Tesla would "listen to user feedback and optimize the promotional mechanism" in the future.

Two consecutive livestream mishaps by industry leaders have completely silenced the giants who were watching from the sidelines. It turns out that behind Chen Mo's "simple and direct approach to giving out benefits" lies precise user insight and sincerity in offering discounts, which is precisely what is most difficult to replicate.

It's safe to say that there's no harm without comparison; Chen Mo's performance has once again made him a favorite among netizens.

On Douyin and Weibo, the platform was once again flooded with countless netizens asking, "When will you start the next live stream?"

What is Chen Mo doing right now? He's with the mother during childbirth!

Because Zhao Liying and Yang Mi's due dates are approaching.

Although this wasn't his first time being a father, he wasn't nervous at all, but he definitely had to be there for him!
Outside the hospital's VIP delivery room.

Chen Mo held his phone, the screen constantly popping up news pushes of #TeslaWelfareTrap# and messages from fans urging him to update the live stream, but he only glanced at them briefly before locking the screen.

From the end of the corridor came the sound of Yang Mi's assistant running: "Brother Mo, Sister Mi's cervix has dilated, and the doctor says she needs to go into the delivery room!"

He immediately stood up, only to see Zhao Liying's assistant peek out from the other side at the same time: "Sister Ying's water broke, two hours earlier than expected!" Chen Mo was stunned for a second, then chuckled—these two girls even competed with each other during childbirth.

Inside the delivery room, as Yang Mi clutched his hand, tears streaming down her face from the pain, Chen Mo suddenly pulled out his phone and opened the calculator: "How about I calculate the odds of winning a Tesla for you? To distract you?"

Yang Mi was so angry that she grabbed a pillow and threw it at him: "Shut up! Who wants to hear this!"

The midwife standing nearby was shaking from trying not to laugh.

Around 3 a.m., the cries of the two children rang out one after the other. Chen Mo looked at the two wrinkled little bundles in the nursery, turned to the weak Zhao Liying and Yang Mi, raised an eyebrow and joked, "How about we name the kids 'Discount' and 'Free Shipping'? To commemorate a math problem from a certain platform?"

The result, naturally, was four eye rolls.

Chen, the tool, was quickly driven away by the two women.

The main one is Zhao Liying. She has already given birth to her child, so she naturally starts to look forward to the "flying immortal on a sword" wedding ceremony that Chen Mo promised to arrange for her.

As for Yang Mi, since she was next, she naturally couldn't wait for him to finish Zhao Liying's wedding.

What can Chen Mo do?
Having become a shareholder through stock trading, he could only silently endure it all.

Closer to home.

Although he already had an idea, with the theme of "fantasy martial arts," to be honest, Chen Mo was really having a headache about how to create a unique and distinctive fantasy martial arts wedding ceremony.

The previous work, "The Phoenix Brings Auspiciousness," had thousands of years of Chinese historical documents as a reference. However, while the genre of fantasy is also a unique cultural feature of China, there is no systematic work of this kind for Chen Mo to refer to.

He was also extremely troubled.

However, on Huayun's side, the design of the wedding dress had already been put on the agenda. Li Rongrong called to say that the basic design concept needed to be discussed with Chen Mo.

Chen Mo arrived at the headquarters of Huayun Apparel.

Chief designer Li Rongrong had been waiting for a long time.

“Tell me your thoughts!” Chen Mo said.

"For the second phase of wedding dress design, we've decided on a fantasy theme!"
"While the fantasy genre is a unique aspect of Chinese culture, there isn't a very systematic and authoritative source of information available for reference!" Li Rongrong said slowly.

Chen Mo nodded. The lack of precedents to refer to was a challenge. Of course, one could also draw on blank paper, which offered greater freedom.

Li Rongrong said with a smile, "I referenced many film and television works, as well as fantasy novels. First of all, in the 'forming a couple' ceremony in fantasy novels, our wedding dress design not only needs to integrate traditional wedding customs and symbols of cultivation culture, but also needs to take into account visual aesthetics. It must not only reflect a sense of sacredness, but also conform to the identity of the characters, such as sword cultivators, alchemists, and demon cultivators."

"Regarding the attire of the attendees, we can include all of these, but the question now is, Mr. Chen, what identities do you want to portray? For example, what are your professions?"
Furthermore, we need to incorporate sect symbols based on the character's background, such as Tai Chi Bagua, sword patterns, and spiritual herb totems. Mr. Chen, you'll need to set the direction for these.

Chen Mo nodded and said, "The earliest, most well-known, or most iconic theme of the Xianxia genre should be flying on a sword. So let's choose sword cultivators, and let's also choose a sword cultivator sect."

Li Rongrong nodded and said, "That makes things easier. We can choose sword patterns as the element for our sect."

"Regarding the design of the wedding attire, for the men's attire, namely Mr. Chen's wedding attire, my initial idea is to emphasize a sharp and neat look, such as a belted waist and cloud-shaped shoulder armor."

For the women's wedding attire, I think it could emphasize a flowing and graceful movement, incorporating elements such as a silk shawl and a gradient dyeing effect on the skirt.

"Of course, the overall focus is still on the characteristic of 'elegance'."

Li Rongrong had clearly done her homework. She continued, "The design of the fantasy style must be different from traditional Chinese wedding attire, but it cannot deviate from the basic form of traditional Chinese wedding attire, such as the cross-collar, right-fastening, and wide sleeves."

(End of this chapter)