The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

Monday, 9:00 AM.

Beijing, Wangjing SOHO, headquarters of Weiguang Technology.

The largest conference room, number one, was filled with smoke.

"I object."

Brand Director Zhao Pu slammed a marketing plan, which he had rushed out overnight, onto the table.

That was the "Luochuan Apple Direct Sales Promotion Plan" that Shen Nan brought back from Shaanxi.

Zhao Pu stood up, his tie loosened, and his eyes bloodshot.

As a former senior creative director at Ogilvy, he could not tolerate this kind of promotion.

"President Lin, we spent half a year and invested over a billion yuan to make 'Weiguang Video' the trendiest and coolest app in China."

He pointed to the faintly glowing logo on the projection screen, a minimalist, modern, and futuristic design.

"Our users are young people, college students, and white-collar workers in first- and second-tier cities. They are interested in sports cars, cosmetics, and spontaneous trips."

Zhao Pu turned around, his finger almost piercing the cover of the proposal.

"Now, you're going to sell five pounds of rotten apples for 9.9 yuan on a platform like this?"

"And they're using those... those 'cut one more slice' or 'one more person needed to complete the group' copywriting? That's so low-class! It's like cheap street vendor stuff! This is tarnishing the image of the Weiguang brand!"

The conference room was deathly silent.

The other executives didn't say anything, but their eyes clearly showed their agreement.

They are all elites.

Drinking Starbucks, using a MacBook, and wearing a custom-made suit.

Asking them to sell cheap fruit covered in mud and packaged in sacks is itself a form of psychological degradation.

Shen Nan sat to Lin Che's left, head down, his fingers nervously twirling a pen.

Although he was deeply impressed in Luochuan, upon returning to this bright and clean modern office and facing Zhao Pu's professional branding theories, he began to waver again.

"Are you done talking?"

Lin Che sat at the head of the table, holding a glass of warm water in his hand.

His expression was as calm as a still pond, completely unaffected by Zhao Pu's passionate emotions.

"That's all," Zhao Pu said, panting. "President Lin, if you insist on pushing this project forward, I reserve my opinion, but I must remind you that this will lead to a significant loss of high-end users."

Lin Che put down his water glass.

The bottom of the glass struck the table, making a crisp sound.

"Zhao Pu".

Lin Che spoke up.

How many times did you travel abroad last year?

Zhao Pu was taken aback, wondering why his boss was asking this: "Twice, once in Japan and once in Europe."

"You were in first class?"

Business class.

Lin Che nodded, his gaze sweeping over the other executives on either side of the long table.

"What about you? Have you all flown this year?"

The group exchanged glances, and one by one, raised their hands. For the management of this rising star in the internet industry, business trips were commonplace.

"very good."

Lin Che stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass window.

Looking down from here, you see the bustling Wangjing, with its heavy traffic and towering buildings.

"That's the problem."

Lin Che had his back to everyone, and his voice was low.

"We sit in this room with a constant temperature of 24 degrees Celsius, looking at the bustling city outside the window, and assume that all of China is like this."

He turned around abruptly and held up a finger.

"One billion."

"There are one billion people in China who have never been on an airplane."

These words struck like a heavy hammer into the air of the conference room.

Zhao Pu opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but no sound came out.

"You think 9.9 yuan with free shipping is trash, it's low-class."

Lin Che walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote the word "demand" heavily.

"But for these one billion people, 9.9 yuan is a way of life."

"They don't care about how fancy the packaging is, whether it's organic certified, or whether they can show it off on social media. All they care about is whether they can give their children a taste of sweetness for the least amount of money."

Lin Che's gaze was like a knife, scraping across Zhao Pu's face.

"Director Zhao, are you saying we're engaging in 'consumption downgrading'?"

"wrong."

"We are doing a real 'consumption upgrade'."

"For people living within the Fifth Ring Road, switching from Evian water to Nongfu Spring is considered a downgrade, but for those who have never even tasted Luochuan apples, being able to buy five jin of authentic fruit for 9.9 yuan is a huge upgrade."

Lin Che threw the marker back into the pen holder.

"We will create two worlds."

"Weiguang Video, keep being trendy and cool, responsible for killing time and creating dreams."

"Weiguang Group Buying: Roll up your pants, step into the mud, and we'll save you money and take care of your livelihood."

"The 200 million users who participated in the group buying and red envelope giveaways before, especially the elderly, are our core customer base. It's not that they don't want to spend money, it's that the previous e-commerce platforms didn't deserve their money."

The meeting room was completely silent.

Zhao Pu slumped back into his chair.

He realized that Lin Che was no longer talking about business, but about social class.

It is a powerful force that elites deliberately ignore, yet it truly exists.

……

……

"Shen Nan."

Lin Che sat down again, resuming his cold, commanding tone.

"How's the system update I requested coming along?"

Shen Nan immediately sat up straight, opened his notebook, and got into work mode.

"The technical department worked through the night and has already completed the logic refactoring in the background."

"The previous 'Weiguang Store' was a traditional shelf model where users searched for and bought whatever they wanted. Now, the core logic of 'Weiguang Group Buying' has been changed to 'social fission'."

Shen Nan brought up the projector and displayed a rudimentary but logically brute-force interface sketch.

There is no search box.

The homepage features a picture of an apple covered in dirt, with a huge red label on it:

[Single purchase: 19.9 yuan]

[Group purchase for 2 people: 9.9 yuan]

"As long as a user sends the link to one person, forming a two-person group, the price will be halved."

"Furthermore, we have set up a 'group leader free order' mechanism. For certain popular products, if the person who starts the group can bring in 5 people, the group leader can get it for free."

Upon hearing the words "take it for free," the operations managers present gasped in shock.

They understand human nature too well.

For a few dollars' difference, those unemployed middle-aged women can flood their relatives' and friends' WeChat groups with messages.

"not enough."

Lin Che shook his head.

He recalled the suffocating psychological trap that Pinduoduo had set up in later generations.

"Add one more rule."

Lin Che held up two fingers.

"Limited time offer."

"If not enough people are gathered within 24 hours after the group-buying link is posted, a refund will be automatically issued, and the group-buying will fail."

"I want to make everyone who posts a link feel anxious, like 'If I can't get people to join, I'll lose a billion dollars.' This anxiety will force them to harass every contact in their address book."

The people in the conference room felt their scalps tingle.

This is not about selling goods.

This is practically quantifying human greed and fear into code.

"President Lin..." The technical director wiped his sweat, "The system logic isn't difficult; it can be launched this afternoon, but..."

"But what?"

The technical director hesitated for a moment and glanced at Shen Nan.

Shen Nan sighed and picked up the conversation.

"Boss, we've made the product and solved the supply problem, but we're facing a major obstacle."

"WeChat."

The moment those two words were uttered, the atmosphere in the meeting room froze once again.

All of Weiguang's traffic growth relies on WeChat's social relationship chain.

"Last night, WeChat officially released an announcement on further cracking down on inducing sharing behavior." Shen Nan slid across a slide of the PPT.

On the screen was a strongly worded announcement in white text on a blue background.

[All forms of inducement to share, group buying, or price-cutting links are strictly prohibited. Upon discovery, the domain name will be banned, and in some cases, the account will be suspended.]

"It's obvious who this is aimed at."

Shen Nan gave a wry smile.

"As soon as our group-buying link is posted, Tencent's review robot will instantly identify it, and according to the current rules, it will be banned in an instant."

"Without the spread of WeChat, our 'group leader free order' and 'two-person group' promotions would be a joke. Users simply couldn't send them out."

Everyone looked at Lin Che.

This is a dead end.

Although Weiguang has its own app, its social relationship chain is still monopolized by Tencent.

To activate 200 million users through the red envelope feature, it is necessary to go through WeChat.

Now, Ma Huateng has welded the gate shut.

Lin Che leaned back in his chair, looking at the "Crackdown Announcement," his fingers lightly tapping the armrest.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

It has a good rhythm.

There was no anger or anxiety as many had expected.

"Strictest crackdown announcement?"

A playful smile curved Lin Che's lips.

He suddenly remembered Huang Zheng's famous quote from his previous life: "Tencent doesn't not want to block Pinduoduo, it's that Tencent can't block it."

Why can't it be blocked?

Because Pinduoduo is holding a shield that Tencent dares not attack.

"Shen Nan."

Lin Che stopped tapping.

"Get the car ready."

"Where to?" Shen Nan was taken aback.

"I won't go to Tencent, nor will I go to the Cyberspace Administration of China."

Lin Che stood up and straightened his collar.

"Go to the poverty alleviation office."

"I'm going to get a get-out-of-jail-free card."

Lin Che turned around, looking at the room full of puzzled executives with a deep gaze.

"Tencent dares to block those who induce sharing and dares to block commercial marketing."

"But I'll see."

"Does Ma Huateng have the guts to block the 'National-level Poverty-stricken County Agricultural Assistance Project'?"