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

Room 202, Unit 1, Building 16, Fenghe Courtyard, Lakeside Garden, West Hangzhou.

This is Ali's sacred land.

Sixteen years ago, the Eighteen Arhats ate instant noodles here and drew up the blueprint for Ali.

Now, this place is rarely open to the public. Mr. Ma only returns here at crucial moments that determine the fate of the company.

The room's furnishings are old, but still retain their original appearance.

The air was filled with a faint musty smell and the aroma of aged Pu'er tea.

Lin Che stood in the center of the living room.

Two people were sitting in front of him.

On the left is Mr. Ma, wearing cloth shoes, sitting cross-legged on the worn sofa, turning a string of Buddhist prayer beads in his hand.

On the right is Joseph Tsai, Alibaba's executive vice chairman, who was also the "God of Wealth" who gave up a million-dollar annual salary to join Alibaba.

He wore gold-rimmed glasses, and an open Macbook sat in front of him, the cold light from the screen reflecting on his serious face.

There was no small talk.

There is no tea.

Only the clock on the wall ticked away, each second like a hammer blow to Lin Che's nerves.

"Smack."

Mr. Ma tossed his phone onto the coffee table.

The phone screen was lit up, displaying the glaring red "Mini Group Buying" interface.

"Explain."

Mr. Ma's voice was very soft, revealing neither his joy nor anger.

"My WeChat Moments, my elementary school classmates, and even my Tai Chi teacher are all sending me this link."

He raised his eyelids, his gaze piercing.

"Lin Che, is this an Alibaba product?"

This is a trick question.

If you say yes, then you are lying, because the shareholding structure is in Weiguang Group.

If not, then it is embezzlement, using company resources to cultivate private property.

Lin Che did not answer immediately.

He glanced at the phone, then at Joseph Tsai, who stood solemnly beside him.

He knew that today's trial was a matter of life and death.

"no."

Lin Che answered crisply and decisively.

"This is a product of Weiguang Media. The legal representative is Wang Defa, and the equity is 100% independent."

"very good."

Joseph Tsai spoke up.

His Chinese has a slight Hong Kong/Taiwan accent, gentle yet deadly.

"They admitted it very quickly."

Joseph Tsai tapped a few times on the keyboard and turned the screen toward Che Lin.

"However, Lin Che, we audited the server logs for the past 24 hours."

"This 'independent product' used a subdomain of Juhuasuan, occupied 40% of Alibaba Cloud's idle bandwidth, and even the user data interface it called had high-level permissions from Taobao."

Tsai Chung-hsin pushed up his glasses, and a cold glint flashed behind the lenses.

"Use Alibaba's resources to cultivate your own land; the profits are yours, and the risks are Alibaba's."

"In financial terms, this is called 'off-balance-sheet' operations."

"Legally..."

Joseph Tsai closed his laptop with a muffled thud.

"This is called embezzlement, and the amount is huge enough to put you in jail for life."

The air froze instantly.

This is the pressure of being a top CFO.

No nonsense, just a direct assessment, a fatal blow.

If it were a regular P7, it would probably be kneeling and begging for mercy by now.

But Lin Che did not.

He didn't even change his posture.

He reached into his suit's inner pocket.

The bodyguard next to him instinctively took a step forward.

But Lin Che simply took out a USB drive and gently placed it on the coffee table, right next to Mr. Ma's phone.

"Mr. Cai is right."

Lin Che's voice was calm, as if he were giving a routine work report.

"From a compliance standpoint, I deserve to die."

"but."

Lin Che turned his head and looked directly into President Ma's eyes.

"Before sentencing me to death, could you two please take a look at this data?"

Mr. Ma did not move.

Joseph Tsai frowned, reached for the USB drive, and plugged it into the computer.

A few seconds later.

Tsai Chung-hsin's pupils contracted slightly.

On the screen is a candlestick chart.

But it's not the stock price, it's the trend of Alibaba's mobile GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) over the past week.

That curve was originally flat, even somewhat weak.

But just yesterday, the curve suddenly pulled out an amazing 90-degree bullish candlestick.

"Yesterday alone, WeChat group buying contributed 1.2 million yuan in GMV."

Lin Che spoke up.

"1200 million new users. Customer acquisition cost..."

He held up one finger.

"zero."

"So what?"

Joseph Tsai coldly retorted, "That doesn't change the fact that you violated the rules. Alibaba doesn't lack this GMV; we value our values ​​more."

"Alibaba has no shortage of resources."

Lin Che smiled.

That smile held a hint of madness, a gambler's resolute determination.

"But Wall Street lacks it."

Lin Che stepped forward, and his suppressed aura erupted at that moment.

"Mr. Ma, Mr. Cai."

"You know better than I do. The reason Goldman Sachs and SoftBank were willing to give us a valuation of $2000 billion during this roadshow is because we promised a 30% compound annual growth rate for mobile devices in our prospectus."

"Now, the story of 'Project W' has been told."

"Investors believed it, and the stock price went up."

Lin Che pointed to the USB drive.

"This USB drive contains not only data from WeGroup, but also the 'lifesaver' for Alibaba's Q3 financial report."

"If we shut down the group buying platform now..."

Lin Che's voice deepened, carrying a seductive magic.

"Cut off traffic, block domains, and clean house."

"All I have to do is press a button."

"Tomorrow, Alibaba's mobile data will plummet by 40%."

"How will we explain this to Wall Street then?"

"Are you saying our previous growth was all fake? That our so-called 'social e-commerce strategy' was just an employee's misconduct?"

Dead silence.

In the living room of the lakeside garden, it was so quiet that you could hear the chirping of insects outside the window.

Mr. Ma stopped turning the prayer beads.

Joseph Tsai's brow furrowed even more.

This is a kidnapping.

A blatant kidnapping.

A P7 employee actually used the company's stock price to threaten the founder.

This is unprecedented in Alibaba's history.

"You're very brave."

Mr. Ma finally spoke.

He picked up the teacup on the coffee table and took a sip.

That was leftover tea that had long since gone cold.

"You're gambling, gambling that I won't dare to touch you."

"No, Mr. Ma."

Lin Che shook his head, his eyes as sincere as a believer's.

"I'm betting that your love for Alibaba outweighs your obsession with the rules."

"This monster has grown up."

Lin Che pointed out the window, as if he could see the whole of China being ignited by that red link.

"It drinks Ali's milk and bleeds Ali's blood."

"If we kill it now, Ali will also bleed."

"Moreover, it would be a fatal hemorrhage."

Mr. Ma put down his teacup.

He stood up and walked to the window.

Outside the window is the night view of Hangzhou, and the lights of the lakeside garden are still warm.

But what he saw was a business landscape that was rapidly expanding.

Tencent's blockade, roadshow promises, mobile-related anxieties...

All the clues intertwined in his mind.

Joseph Tsai looked at President Ma, awaiting the final verdict.

As CFO, he has to uphold the rules.

But as a co-founder, he understands the pros and cons better.

a long time.

Mr. Ma turned around.

At that moment, the scrutinizing expression on his face disappeared.

Instead, there is a kind of extremely dangerous excitement at seeing prey.

"Joe".

Mr. Ma called out Joseph Tsai's English name.

"exist."

"Notify the Anti-Corruption Department that the investigation into Lin Che is suspended."

Mr. Ma looked at Lin Che, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Since it's 'extracorporeal circulation,' let's find a way to turn it into 'extracorporeal blood transfusion.'"

Cai Chongxin was taken aback for a moment, then understood what President Ma meant.

He closed his laptop, and a hint of complexity appeared in his eyes as he looked at Lin Che.

"Understood. I will arrange for the legal department to draft a VIE agreement, listing Weiguang Group as Alibaba's 'strategic ecosystem partner'."

This means—to be granted amnesty.

Moreover, it was a policy of appeasement that included independence.

Lin Che not only didn't die, but he also obtained a legal get-out-of-jail-free card.

"Lin Che".

Mr. Ma walked up to Lin Che and patted him on the shoulder.

He had a lot of strength in his hand, as if he was weighing the knife.

"You've passed this hurdle."

Mr. Ma's voice was deep and carried an imperial air of authority.

"But I want to see greater value."

"Since you say it's a nuclear weapon..."

"Then go and blow a hole in Tencent's walls."

Lin Che lowered his head, concealing the fleeting elation in his eyes.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Ma."

......

Ten minutes later.

Lin Che walked out of the door of room 202.

The motion-sensor lights in the hallway turned on, casting a dim yellow light on his face.

His back was completely soaked.

Those ten minutes were more thrilling than when he was managing hundreds of millions of dollars on Wall Street.

He took out his phone.

On the screen, Fatty Wang sent a message:

[Brother Che, the server expansion is complete. Tencent's blocking seems to have loosened; some links can be opened again!]

Lin Che glanced at the tightly closed security door behind him.

he knows.

It's not that Tencent has given up.

It was Alibaba that made the move.

Since Mr. Ma has decided to use this weapon, he will use Alibaba's resources to pave the way for him.

"The game has been upgraded."

Lin Che looked up at the night sky and exhaled a long breath.

"Starting now."

"I am no longer a thief."

"I am... a feudal lord."