Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Where was he supposed to find the money now?

”Who the hell is doing this? What a scumbag!” Chang Wei cursed relentlessly.

But he knew that if he couldn’t resolve this user-deposit run within 24 hours, Little Yellow Bike would truly be finished.

After collecting his thoughts, Chang Wei took several deep breaths, forcing himself to remain calm. He then pulled out his phone and began calling Little Yellow Bike’s investors one by one.

”Hello, President Zhu. This is Chang Wei from Klock.” Chang Wei managed to force a smile as he spoke.

”Did you really embezzle the user deposits?” Zhu Xiaohu’s eyebrows furrowed together.

He had seen the news online, so he knew exactly why Chang Wei was calling.

”...Yes.” Chang Wei fell silent for a few seconds before answering truthfully.

”How much did you embezzle?” Zhu Xiaohu asked again.

”...” Chang Wei didn’t say a word.

”All of it?” Zhu Xiaohu almost laughed in anger as he pressed on.

”I left ten million,” Chang Wei said, over-reporting the actual amount by two million.

Zhu Xiaohu fought back the urge to curse. Remembering who Chang Wei was, he gave a bitter laugh and said, ”The biggest taboo in business is not leaving yourself any room to maneuver. Going all-in for one strike feels great, but the consequences are unpredictable.”

Jinsha Venture Capital had invested in Chang Wei twice in a row. If Little Yellow Bike went under, his losses would be substantial as well.

”President Zhu, I need money urgently,” Chang Wei said, getting straight to the point.

’Short on cash?’

’I’m not your damn father, do I owe you something?’

Zhu Xiaohu’s brow tightened. He cursed under his breath, but he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. He said in a low voice, ”Fifty million, for 5% equity.”

”President Zhu, based on Little Yellow Bike’s scale, a reasonable valuation is between 2.5 and 3 billion,” Chang Wei retorted.

”Then go ask your other investors.” Zhu Xiaohu couldn’t be bothered to waste his breath and simply hung up.

The pursuit of profit is a businessman’s nature!

He had already shown plenty of respect by investing in Little Yellow Bike. If Chang Wei couldn’t grasp the stakes, then he deserved to fail.

Listening to the BEEP BEEP BEEP of the disconnected line, Chang Wei’s face turned pale, then red.

But the finance department was hounding him, so he had no time for anger. He could only call his contacts at other venture capital firms like Wei Lie Capital and Zhen Fund.

The response was unanimous: they could provide the money, but their offer was based on a valuation of only one billion.

’What a bunch of vultures!’

Chang Wei cursed.

While he hesitated, time ticked by, and soon it was three in the afternoon.

Seven or eight hours had already passed since the first batch of users had requested their deposit refunds.

The Market Supervision Association phone lines in places like Yanjing, Jinmen, and Tang City were ringing off the hook. The number of complaints skyrocketed, accumulating to over one hundred thousand.

Weibo was flooded with posts denouncing Chang Wei and Little Yellow Bike!

The comment sections on Little Yellow Bike’s official account and Chang Wei’s personal account were a battlefield of insults. Customer service kept giving users the runaround, while Chang Wei played dead the entire time.

”Brothers, give up hope. Little Yellow Bike is probably done for. The name itself is unlucky. What kind of person names a product ’Little Yellow’? It hasn’t even been three months and it’s already toast!”

”Say no more. I’m heading out to grab a bike to recoup some of my losses.”

”You’re only thinking of that now? I already brought two home.”

”199 yuan. I’ll just consider it buying a bicycle!”

”Huh, bro upstairs, how come your Little Yellow Bike is green? Where’d the smart lock go?”

Spurred on by netizens, quite a few people actually went out to haul away shared bikes.

Little Yellow Bike’s staff couldn’t stop them.

Plus, it was a Saturday, so everyone had plenty of time.

Chang Wei won’t refund the deposits, huh?

Fine, they’d just take a few bikes home. They couldn’t just take the loss, so they considered the bikes collateral for their deposits.

「Elsewhere.」

The man who started it all, Wang Zihao, merely glanced at the trending topics on Weibo before taking the management team from the Hu City Branch to Caohejing to test out the new OFO shared e-bikes.

The bikes were compact and painted a striking orange. On a full charge, they had a range of up to 50 kilometers.