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

A 50-meter-long red carpet was laid out in the square of Alibaba's Binjiang Park.

The carpet was airlifted from Italy and is 2.5 centimeters thick.

A huge orange archway stood at the entrance, with the words: "[Alibaba Group Global Offering Launch Ceremony]" written on it.

The heat was intense.

Although it was March, the air here was baked like a steamer by the heat from the exhaust pipes of countless broadcast trucks, the spotlights, and the body heat of thousands of employees.

Lin Che stood by the railing at the entrance.

The red armband on his left arm was a little loose, and the safety pin was rusty, leaving a small circle of yellow rust on the cuff of his shirt.

There was a case of bottled water that had just been brought in at my feet.

The corner of the box was chipped, revealing a bottle inside that was printed with the words "IPO Special Supply".

"Make way! A car is coming!"

The security captain shouted into the walkie-talkie.

A black Maybach slowly came to a stop.

The car door opened.

A handcrafted black Oxford shoe landed on the red carpet. Its gleaming surface reflected the orange archway overhead.

The man who stepped down was a middle-aged man with blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a well-tailored suit and a Goldman Sachs badge on his chest.

Lin Che looked down at his shoes.

They were a pair of faded canvas shoes, with dust on the edges from when they were carrying water.

"Sir, please turn right."

Lin Che stretched out his hand, pointing in the direction.

The accent is standard London, without any of the harshness of a Chinese accent.

The Goldman Sachs executive was taken aback.

He never expected that a "security guard" wearing a red armband and carrying bottled water could speak English with such an accent at the entrance of this Chinese internet company.

He glanced at Lin Che, nodded slightly, and then strode towards the venue.

Lin Che withdrew his hand.

He looked at the Maybach's license plate.

【浙A·88888】

An inconspicuous pass was pasted on the car window: [Underwriter: Category A Priority].

Goldman Sachs has arrived.

Following them are Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank.

Lin Che counted silently in his mind.

The arrival of each luxury car signifies an increase in the underwriting scale of Alibaba's IPO, and also means that the leverage ratio of its newly established short position in US stocks needs to be recalculated.

"Lin Che! What are you spacing out for!"

Li Mo's voice came from behind, "Bring the water in! The reporters in the media area have no water to drink!"

"They're here."

Lin Che bent down and picked up the box of water, which weighed thirty pounds.

The box is very heavy.

But he walked very steadily.

He was as steady as when he signed that all-English account opening agreement last night.

.......

Inside the venue.

On the huge LED screen, the PowerPoint presentation is turning pages.

The CFO stood in the center of the stage, a laser pointer in his hand emitting a beam of red light that focused on a curve on the screen.

It was a red zigzag line pointing upwards.

The horizontal axis represents time: Q1 of 2014.

The vertical axis represents ARPU (Average Revenue Per User).

"As you can see," the CFO's voice resonated throughout the room through top-of-the-line sound equipment, "our mobile monetization rate has achieved a breakthrough growth in the past quarter, reaching an astonishing 15%."

There was thunderous applause.

The investors in the audience nodded frequently, taking notes of this crucial data in their notebooks.

This is the story Wall Street loves to hear: successful mobile transformation and high-quality user growth.

Lin Che stood in the shadows of the back door.

He handed a bottle of water to a sweaty photojournalist, then leaned against the doorframe.

Look at that curve.

He was all too familiar.

That's not the result of any "ecological evolution" at all.

That was a direct result of Li Mo ordering him to implement the "low-end user cleanup plan" last month in order to optimize the financial statements.

They cut out 500 million "poor" users who didn't spend much money, leaving only the wealthy, so the average income naturally increased.

This is called statistical magic.

Lin Che took a mint out of his pocket.

Peel off the candy wrapper.

Throw it into your mouth.

"Click."

The sound of his teeth crushing the candy was very soft, but in his ears, it drowned out the applause from the entire audience.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

He took out his phone.

On the AWS backend monitoring app, a blue curve is also rising.

[WeChat group buying daily active users: 102,400]

Those were the people who were "cleaned out" by Alibaba.

In another parallel world, they are frantically forwarding, group buying, and placing orders for a few cents' worth of savings.

The people on stage were showing off what they considered "poison" as "tonic."

Meanwhile, the "doorman" in the audience held the real antidote.

Intermission.

Li Mo walked over with a radiant face.

He just shook hands with Mr. Ma. Although it was just a brief moment in the group photo when he stood in the third row, it's enough for him to brag about on social media for half a year.

"Lin Che".

Li Mo loosened his tie and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Although you've made mistakes before, I'm still willing to give you a chance."

He pulled a piece of paper out of his briefcase.

Application form for official travel abroad.

"We're going to New York for a roadshow, and the administration department needs someone to manage luggage and supplies. You're fluent in English, right? Come with me."

This is a blessing.

In his view, being able to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, even if it's just to move boxes, is an unparalleled honor.

Lin Che took the form.

My gaze fell on the "Job Title" column:

Support Staff (logistics support).

Job Description: Responsible for team baggage check-in, material distribution, and ad-hoc procurement tasks.

It's basically doing odd jobs.

"Be careful when you get to New York," Li Mo instructed. "The big bosses have a lot of luggage, so don't lose your suitcase. This is your chance to atone for your mistakes."

Lin Che looked at Li Mo.

Looking at this director who thought he had everything under control.

Li Mo probably didn't know that Lin Che was worried about not having a reason to ask for leave to go to the United States.

He needs to register an offshore entity in Delaware and meet with a Jewish lawyer in New York who specializes in dismantling VIE structures.

These are things that require my personal presence.

Now, Alibaba has not only approved the leave, but also chartered a private jet and a five-star hotel.

"Thank you, Mr. Li."

Lin Che picked up the pen and quickly signed his name on the application form.

The handwriting is messy, yet the force is penetrating the paper.

"I'm strong." Lin Che handed the watch back, his tone sincere. "I'll carry the luggage."

Li Mo nodded in satisfaction, then turned and left.

He thought he was using Lin Che.

In reality, Lin Che was using Alibaba's private jet to open an account for himself on Wall Street.

The ceremony is over.

Employees lined up to receive IPO commemorative figurines.

The line was very long, and everyone was bored.

Some people started looking down at their phones.

"Hey, what's this that was posted in the group chat?"

An HR person in the front row was looking at their phone screen.

It's that link for "grab a mango for one cent".

I don't know who forwarded it to the "Alibaba Binjiang Second-hand Items Group".

"Pinduoduo? Never heard of it." The operations manager next to me leaned over. "The interface is quite nice, though."

"One cent, really?"

"Why not give it a try? Anyway, it's WeChat Pay, so I don't need to link a bank card."

The HR person's finger hovered over the red "Pay 0.01 yuan" button.

This is Alibaba's headquarters.

This place brings together a group of people in China who are most knowledgeable about e-commerce.

Logically, they should be able to see through this "low-end traffic generation" tactic at a glance.

But human nature is universal.

Driven by both boredom and the desire for bargains, even an Alibaba P7 couldn't resist the temptation to buy five pounds of mangoes for a penny.

"drop."

Payment successful.

A large sharing prompt popped up on the screen: [Only 2 more people needed to complete the group! Share to the group and we'll ship immediately!]

The HR person casually forwarded the link to the "Weekend Werewolf Game" group.

One person tells ten.

The word spreads from ten to a hundred.

Beneath the giant IPO countdown sign, in the venue where Mr. Ma had just delivered his impassioned speech.

The virus began its first mutation.

Lin Che stood in the corner.

He looked at the rows of bowed heads and the fingers sliding across the screen.

The data in the AWS backend fluctuated slightly.

【New Users from Hangzhou (Alibaba Network): +500】

New users from Alibaba's internal network IPs: 500.

This is an ironic number.

Lin Che removed the red armband from his left arm.

The rusty pin left a small hole in the cuff.

He stuffed the armband into his pocket.

He turned around and walked towards the bus outside that was waiting to load luggage.

"Mr. Ma."

Lin Che glanced back at the huge orange logo.

"I'll gladly accept your employee."