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

The meeting room door was pushed open again.

The person who came in this time was the finance director.

He wasn't wearing a suit; his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he was holding a thick stack of bills in his hand.

They walked very fast, stirring up a gust of wind.

Snapped.

The bill was slammed onto the mahogany conference table.

The force was so great that a metal paperclip holding a document in place was sent flying, tracing an arc in the air before landing on the back of Li Mo's hand.

"This month, the server costs for the wireless business unit exceeded the budget by 400%."

The CFO skipped the pleasantries and immediately opened the first page.

A number is circled in red on the screen.

The red circle was very irregular, like a wound that had not yet healed.

"Although the benefits section of 'Laiwang' has closed its entrance, the backend is still running, with 3 million active sessions, and the bandwidth cost alone is 180,000 yuan per day."

He pointed to the large monitoring screen on the wall.

The camera switched to the core server room.

Inside several rows of black server racks, red indicator lights were flashing wildly.

That's not an ordinary traffic light.

That's an overheating warning indicating the CPU is fully loaded.

Every flash of the red light burns away the company's cash flow.

"Moreover, these servers aren't running business applications, they're running garbage."

The CFO turned to look at Mr. Zhang, "No conversions, no GMV, all invalid requests. Mr. Zhang, the finance department's advice is simple: cut your losses."

Li Mo sat down next to him and adjusted his glasses.

He had been waiting for this moment.

"There are no problems with the process."

Li Mo spoke, but unlike the CFO, he wasn't impatient. Instead, he slowly and deliberately unscrewed the bottle of mineral water in front of him.

I took a sip to moisten my throat.

"The tumor definitely needs to be removed, but how to remove it requires skillful knife work."

Li Mo pulled out a document he had prepared beforehand from his briefcase—"Termination and Liability Determination of Major Loss Projects".

Snapped.

He gently patted Lin Che's face.

"Manager Lin, although Mr. Ma gave you unlimited firing rights, he didn't give you 'unlimited immunity from liability'."

Li Mo pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, a professional smirk playing on his lips.

"Since the project has failed and the finance department has no budget left, please sign in the responsible person section according to the compliance process. Confirm the project termination and authorize the technical department to delete the database."

He paused, his eyes fixed on a lamb to the slaughter, his voice carrying a sinister chill.

"As for the user complaints and public opinion risks that may arise after the database is deleted... you will bear all of these responsibilities personally, and they have nothing to do with the Wireless Business Unit."

That's the old hunter's method.

I won't kill you with my own hands, for fear of getting splattered with blood.

I'll hand you a knife and force you to pull out the tube yourself.

Mr. Zhang nodded.

His fingers tapped twice on the table.

This is a signal that a decision is about to be made.

"etc."

A voice came from the corner.

Lin Che raised his hand.

He didn't stand up, but just sat in that inconspicuous spot, his voice as calm as if they were discussing what to have for lunch.

"I object."

Li Mo sneered.

"Lin Che, you've been suspended. You have no right to speak here."

"I am not objecting as the project leader."

Lin Che looked at Li Mo with eyes as sincere as a loyal watchdog.

"I am reminding everyone as a user that if the database is deleted now, the company may face a huge public opinion storm."

Public opinion.

These two words were like two needles, piercing the ears of all the executives.

Outside the window, the faint sound of police sirens could be heard.

The sound wasn't loud, but it sounded particularly sharp in the deathly silent conference room.

The public relations director, who was sitting by the window, was secretly scrolling through his phone under the table.

Upon hearing that sound, my hand trembled, and I almost dropped my phone.

He quickly sat up straight and looked at Lin Che.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Zhang frowned.

"Those 300 million users still have unwithdrawn red envelopes."

Lin Che said slowly and deliberately.

"It's not much, just a few dollars per person. But if the database is deleted now, those few dollars will be gone."

"For all of us here, a few dollars is worthless."

"But for those users who would spend an entire day haggling over a mere 50 cents, this is their hard-earned money."

Lin Che paused for a moment.

His toes tapped lightly under the table.

Once. Twice.

"If the database is deleted, where will these 300 million people go? Weibo? Tianya? Or will they directly report Alibaba for fraud to the China Securities Regulatory Commission?"

"Don't forget, the company is preparing to go public in the US. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is most sensitive to these kinds of group complaints."

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became tense.

Li Mo opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but couldn't say anything.

This is a fatal flaw.

Large companies have only two weaknesses: money and reputation.

Li Mo seized the money, while Lin Che seized the fame.

This creates a deadlock.

Keeping it will burn through hundreds of thousands every day, resulting in a loss.

Deleting it would trigger a mass incident and cost lives.

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

The CFO scratched his head in frustration. "Are you going to keep it like a precious ancestor?"

"Of course we can't keep them."

Lin Che pulled a document out of the old, worn-out computer bag.

The paper is very thin.

But when it glided across the smooth tabletop, it made a dull rubbing sound.

That's the weight of profit.

"Find someone to take over."

The document slid down to Mr. Zhang.

The cover has only one line of text: "Agreement on the Transfer of Non-Core Assets and Debts".

"This is a company called 'Weiguang Media'."

Lin Che pointed to the document, "It specializes in low-end traffic cleaning, which is commonly known as 'collecting junk'."

"They are willing to take over this group of users and data."

The CFO was taken aback.

"What are they after?"

"For the fee of the GG (Girl)."

Lin Che shrugged. "Although these users don't buy anything, they're willing to click on GG. Weiguang Media wants to cleanse this group of people and earn some click fees."

"Although the eating manners are unsightly, at least it helps the company clean the toilets."

"Most importantly..."

Lin Che looked at the CFO and gave a standard professional smile.

"This transaction will not cost the company a single penny."

"Weiguang Media promises to bear all server migration costs and to handle all subsequent user complaints and withdrawal requests."

"In other words, we throw our trash at them, they take care of it for us, and we don't have to pay for cleaning."

The CFO's tense shoulders instantly relaxed.

He picked up the agreement and quickly glanced through it.

The terms are simple.

Alibaba transferred ownership of the data. Weiguang assumed operating costs and legal responsibilities.

A perfect divestiture of liabilities.

He even took a pen from the pen holder and handed it to Lin Che.

The gesture was as natural as handing a glass of water to a savior.

"Mr. Zhang, I think it's feasible."

The CFO looked towards the head of the table, "This can immediately wipe out the five million loss every month, and all the risk is transferred out."

Li Mo sat beside him, looking at the agreement.

His intuition told him that something was wrong.

Where in the world is there a free way to clean toilets?

But he couldn't find a loophole.

From a financial perspective, this is a stop-loss measure.

From a public relations perspective, this is risk aversion.

From the perspective of any executive's KPIs at a major company, this is a perfect score.

"Let's do it that way."

Mr. Zhang finally made the decision.

He picked up a pen and signed his name on the agreement.

The pen tip glides across the paper, making a soft, scratching sound.

That was the sound of gold mines being ceded.

"Sign the agreement and complete the transaction this week."

General Manager Zhang closed the document and pushed it back to Lin Che, saying, "I want to see this business completely disappear from next month's financial statements."

"clear."

Lin Che took the document.

His finger landed on the spot where General Manager Zhang had signed.

The ink there was still warm, not yet dry.

He nodded, his expression remaining humble and respectful.

But what I was thinking was:

I'd like to see that too.

I watched as this diamond, worth billions, completely disappeared from Alibaba's ledger and then appeared in my pocket.