Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Once the general direction was set, the subsequent negotiations went much more smoothly.

Ma Liyun invited Cai Yongjin, Chen Yansen, and the others to an octagonal pavilion downstairs for tea, leaving the contract details to their subordinates.

Just as they left the banquet hall, Liu Zhiping came over and asked, ”When is Pinbei’s Series B financing round going to start?”

”President Liu, you know as well as I do that Pinbei isn’t short on cash,” Chen Yansen replied with a smile.

He knew in his heart that Ma Wenteng was probably getting anxious.

The traffic portal agreement between Pinbei and Penguin had only been signed for one year. With the contract about to expire, Ma Wenteng wanted to continue using traffic resources in exchange for a deeply integrated partnership with Chen Yansen.

”What about a primary traffic portal on WeChat and QQ?” Liu Zhiping pressed, refusing to believe Chen Yansen wasn’t tempted.

”I actually feel a little bad for always mooching free traffic off Penguin,” Chen Yansen said, though his expression showed not a hint of embarrassment.

Liu Zhiping sneered. He didn’t believe Chen Yansen’s nonsense for a second. ’The one being mooched off doesn’t even mind, and you’re the one acting all aggrieved?’

Then he asked, ”All Penguin can offer is capital and traffic. What else do you want?”

”Add Orange Pay to WeChat’s ecosystem portal,” Chen Yansen replied with a smile, stopping in his tracks.

Orange Pay?

Liu Zhiping chuckled and shook his head. ”Pony would never agree to that. Not unless you sell Orange Pay to WeChat, or let Penguin buy a controlling stake in it.”

”Then let’s try another one. Add Fast Taxi and Kuai Pao to the primary traffic portal,” Chen Yansen said, his expression calm.

”...” Liu Zhiping pointed at Chen Yansen, speechless for a moment before breaking into a laugh. He realized the guy was playing a ”broken windows” game with him—making an outrageous demand first to make the next one seem reasonable. He cursed good-naturedly, ”You really are greedy!”

”Penguin is also a shareholder in Fast Taxi and Kuai Pao,” Chen Yansen stated.

”Just one of them, and not even a major shareholder. If you were willing to give Penguin a bit more equity, it would be easier for Pony to justify it to the board.”

After his retort, Liu Zhiping began to seriously consider the proposal.

”How much is ’a bit more’?” Chen Yansen asked.

”That depends on your sincerity,” Liu Zhiping replied.

The two of them, walking behind the main group, reached a preliminary agreement in just a few short minutes.

If Penguin wanted to invest more money, Chen Yansen certainly wasn’t going to stop them.

Whether in the food delivery or ride-hailing sectors, the initial costs for market and user cultivation ran into the billions, or even tens of billions of Hua Yuan. The more sugar daddies, the better.

For the next two days, Chen Yansen was either visiting NetEase or was a guest at Ali Headquarters.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of the last day of July that all the investment firms finally confirmed the contract details with Senlian Capital.

The formal signing, transfer of funds, and other procedures would still take another half a month to a month. Each company’s process was different, some faster, some slower.

However, Chen Yansen wasn’t in a hurry. After all, Fast Taxi’s corporate account still had nearly 20 million US dollars, enough to last until the next payment arrived.

「Meanwhile.」

In Yanjing, Li Yanhong had already received the news. When he learned that Fast Taxi’s Series B financing had reached over 500 million US dollars, his brow furrowed instantly.

Based on the current trend of the subsidy war, the monthly cash burn was 300 million Hua Yuan. Fast Taxi could last for another year.

But what about DiDi?

Would Junlian Capital be willing to continue injecting capital to keep them afloat?

That evening, when Cheng Wei learned of the result, his heart sank. The pressure on him instantly mounted.