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

Ten minutes later.

The meeting room door was pushed open again.

"Bang!"

A loud bang.

Lin Che walked in with an angry expression, slamming the half-finished mineral water bottle he was holding onto the conference table.

Water splashed everywhere, landing on Jason's expensive custom-made suit.

"Wang Defa! Don't push your luck!"

Lin Che pointed at Fatty Wang behind him, his voice so loud that the entire floor could hear him.

"This is Alibaba! Not your marketplace! You want to go to Tencent? Fine, go now! Let's see if Ma Huateng will offer this uncultured nouveau riche a billion dollars!"

Wang Pangzi followed behind, head hanging low, looking frustrated and resentful, muttering to himself:

"Fine, I'll go... Tencent's food is definitely better than yours..."

This scene stunned everyone present.

Jason, forgetting to dry his clothes, quickly stood up to smooth things over: "President Lin, calm down, calm down. What happened that the talks fell apart?"

What he fears most right now is that the negotiations will fall apart.

"Jason, sir."

Lin Che turned around, took a deep breath, and seemed to be trying to calm himself down.

He straightened his tie, reverting to his rational, company-oriented P7 persona.

"That fat guy is a scoundrel."

Lin Che pointed at Fatty Wang, his face full of disappointment and frustration.

"He insisted on cash, saying he had lost a lot in Macau recently and urgently needed to recover his losses. He also said he had no interest in our options, ecosystem, or future."

"This kind of person is a disgrace to commercial civilization."

Jason nodded repeatedly, expressing his deep agreement.

It is indeed a disgrace.

But this disgrace holds the asset that Alibaba desires most.

"Then...what do we do?" Jason asked tentatively. "He still wants a billion?"

"I woke him up with my scolding."

Lin Che pulled out a chair and sat down, his eyes sharp.

"I told him that if he sold himself to Tencent now, he could make some quick money, but he would offend Alibaba and it would be difficult for him to move an inch on the Chinese Internet in the future."

"Moreover, I also gave him a solution he couldn't refuse."

Lin Che took a piece of white paper, pulled out a pen, and wrote a line of numbers on it.

The stroke was forceful, the pen tip slicing through the paper.

One hundred million US dollars.

Lin Che pushed the paper in front of Jason.

"cash."

Jason was stunned.

"One hundred million? A full acquisition?"

If that's true, then he's done a great job today! Getting it down from one billion to one hundred million—that's textbook negotiation!

"No."

Lin Che shook his head, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"It's a Series A funding round."

"One hundred million US dollars, for a 10% stake."

Jason's smile froze on his face.

He quickly did some mental calculations.

Buying 10% for 100 million US dollars means that the post-investment valuation of Microlight Group has reached... 1 billion US dollars.

Isn't this the exorbitant price that Fatty Wang initially quoted?

After going around in circles, it's still the same number?

"President Lin, this..." Jason frowned, "This valuation is too high, and it's only 10%. We don't have controlling stake. How are we going to explain this to the group?"

"Jason, you're being foolish."

Lin Che leaned forward and lowered his voice, as if he were imparting some workplace secrets.

"What do we want?"

"It's about making the financial reports look good, and it's about proving to Wall Street that Weipintuan is one of our people."

He pointed to Fatty Wang, who was sitting in the corner playing on his phone.

"If we acquire it outright, spending a billion yuan in cash, our cash flow will look terrible on our financial statements. And this fat guy will definitely take the money and run, leaving a mess for us to clean up."

"But if we only invest 10%..."

A glint of light flashed in Lin Che's eyes.

"First, we only spent 100 million to lock in a unicorn."

"Secondly, because it is a minority equity investment, we can include the GMV of the micro-group buying platform into the ecosystem, but the losses will not be consolidated into the financial statements."

"Third, and most importantly."

Lin Che picked up the draft agreement and turned to the last page.

"I added a clause to the agreement: Alibaba has a veto right and a right of first refusal."

"This means that although the unicorn is nominally his, the chain is in our hands."

"We can close the net anytime we want."

Perfect logic.

This saved money, provided data, and controlled risks.

This is a typical "equity disguised as debt" mindset, a financial game favored by investment banking elites.

Jason's eyes lit up.

He looked at Lin Che and couldn't help but give him a thumbs up in his heart.

high.

It's really high.

This Lin Che not only understands products, but also capital. No wonder Mr. Ma values ​​him so much.

"Mr. Wang."

Jason turned to Fatty Wang and resumed his arrogant demeanor.

"This is our bottom line: one hundred million US dollars, in cash. If you agree, sign now. If you don't agree..."

He glanced at the train ticket to Shenzhen.

"Then you should go catch your train."

Fatty Wang sat there, his face full of conflict.

He scratched his greasy, messy hair and looked at the sample check for "one hundred million US dollars".

Greed was written all over his face.

"Oh shit......"

Fatty Wang gritted his teeth and slapped his thigh.

"sign!"

"One hundred million it is! Pay off my gambling debts first!"

"but!"

Fatty Wang suddenly pointed at Jason, then at Lin Che.

"I have a condition."

"Once the money's in the account, how the company manages it is none of your business! I hate it when people tell me what to do!"

"Also, during Singles' Day, Taobao has to give me a special privilege—plenty of traffic!"

Jason smiled.

In his view, this was the last struggle of a short-sighted nouveau riche.

Not interfering in operations? I'd love to. I never wanted to do that dirty, tiring work anyway.

Providing traffic? That's for boosting GMV; it's part of the group's strategy.

"no problem."

Jason waved his hand.

"make a deal."

............

Half an hour later.

The agreement has been signed.

The legal documents, spanning hundreds of pages, bore the official seals of Alibaba's investment department and Weiguang Group.

that moment.

History was frozen in time.

Jason took the contract and left satisfied. He was in a hurry to report this great victory of "achieving big results with small investments" to Boss Ma.

Only Lin Che and Fatty Wang remained in the conference room.

Fatty Wang slumped into the chair, his back soaked with sweat.

"Brother Che..."

He wiped the sweat from his face. "That scared me to death. What if that guy really made me rush to catch the train?"

"He wouldn't dare."

Lin Che walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and watched Jason's departing figure below.

"Because you are not the one who is greedy."

"It's Ali."

He picked up the copy on the table.

My finger traced over the "10%" clause.

In Jason's view, this was Alibaba controlling the big picture with a small amount of money.

But in Lin Che's eyes, this was how he traded 10% of his shares for Alibaba's protection, for the nuclear weapon of Double Eleven, and for a war reserve of a full 100 million US dollars.

more importantly.

Within this complex VIE agreement, Lin Che had planted a hidden clause:

[A/B share structure: The founding team has super voting rights of 1:10]

In other words.

Although Alibaba is a shareholder and has veto power.

But unless Lin Che agrees, Ali doesn't even have the power to change the front desk staff.

This was a perfect "backdoor listing".

It borrowed Alibaba's shell but went public through Lin Che's company.

"The money should arrive in your account tomorrow."

Lin Che turned around, his eyes regaining their composure.

"Fatty, notify Zhao Sihai."

"Take this money and rent all the vacant warehouses around Hangzhou."

"Even if it's used to raise mosquitoes, it's not allowed to be left to the major express delivery companies (STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, and Yunda Express)."

"Double Eleven is almost here."

Lin Che's voice carried a hint of blood.

"I want those courier companies to find out."

"When the margin call came, they didn't even have a place to stay in Hangzhou."

"yes!"

Fatty Wang jumped up excitedly.

With a hundred million US dollars, he felt he could buy the entire city of Hangzhou.

Just then.

"Buzz—"

My phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

It's not Fatty Wang's phone.

It was Lin Che's anonymous Nokia.

Lin Che's pupils contracted slightly.

Only two people know this number.

One is Edward.

One is...

He picked up his phone.

A short message was displayed on the screen.

The sender's name is displayed as garbled characters.

The content consists of only one line of English:

[MUDDY WATERS RESEARCH: REPORT LOADING... 99%]

(Muddy Waters Research: Report loading... 99%)

Muddy water.

That short-selling firm that strikes fear into the hearts of countless Chinese companies listed in the US.

Carson Block, who was known as the "Wolf of Wall Street".

at last.

Still here.

Lin Che looked at the text message.

There was no fear.

Instead, the corners of his mouth slowly curled up, revealing the smile of a hunter seeing his prey fall into his net.

"We've come at just the right time."

He put his phone in his pocket and looked out at the gloomy sky.

A heavy rain is coming.

But this time, he had an umbrella.

Moreover, it was an umbrella made of gold.

"Fatty."

Lin Che picked up his briefcase and strode towards the door.

"Get ready."

"Our old friend Li Mo, though he has passed away."

"But the bomb he left behind is about to explode."