Tao Mu couldn’t bear Li Xiaoheng’s overbearing attitude like he had taken a stimulant, so he couldn’t help but change the subject: “Actually, there are several good online shopping platforms on the market now…..”
For example, Maotao.com, which was very popular in later years, had started Double Eleven activities this year. There was also Gouging.com, which had been competing with Maotao.com, and would also start 618 activities in June next year (TN: mid-year e-commerce shopping festival known as 618/June 18. It’s the second-largest e-commerce shopping day in China—second only to Single’s Day/November 11). This cat and dog war continued even ten years later. The plan that Tao Mu gave to Li Xiaoheng basically covered the various disturbances encountered by the two major online shopping platforms in the next ten years and how to deal with them. In truth, many times, the entrepreneurial team was not short of inspiration, but what was missing was the transformation of inspiration into something practical and maintaining the ability to move forward steadily.
Tao Mu felt he didn’t have that ability, of course, the main reason was that he didn’t have the energy to take care of such a big business. His own FlyNews.com was already taking up too much time, and moreover he also had his acting career. But Li Xiaoheng was different. He had Xiaoheng Capital, and the backing of the Li family. If Li Xiaoheng really intended to start an online shopping platform, at least he didn’t need to worry about the two crucial aspects of capital and logistics. In addition, there was also no need to worry about how to deal with the website needing to communicate and negotiate with all aspects of the problems encountered in the actual operation.
Therefore, cooperating with Li Xiaoheng was the most time-saving and labor-saving way that Tao Mu could think of, and it could ensure the maximum benefit——other than for the troublesome fact that a certain someone who always wanted to eat the grass next to the nest, and harassing his business partner.
But Tao Mu believed that if Li Xiaoheng really intended to do this project, then, with the occupational disease that Li Xiaoheng possessed, being serious and responsible for his work, he would definitely devote all his energy to his work——at least in the early stages of the project.
At that time, Tao Mu could guarantee at least one or two years of respite. As for one or two years later, it was likely that Li Xiaoheng would have forgotten the initial interest he had for him. After all, the various impulses caused by hormones were the most unreliable things.
“If you are interested in doing this project, I can negotiate with major brands about entering the website. Nowadays the world is in an economic crisis, which will definitely affect the sales of major brands. So talking to them about this at this time might be easier than normal.”
As for how to negotiate, Tao Mu would of course not use the normal business negotiation model. Anyway, he also had to discuss with major brands about sponsoring FlyNews.com to film the idol drama. It was better to take this as an opportunity to engage in a large-scale publicity campaign. If the discussion went well, maybe at the beginning of the website’s establishment, they could also collect a publicity and planning fee.
Tao Mu’s abacus was sounding, and he had already begun to think about how to trick——bah, to convince those brand owners. When filming a TV series, how about designing a makeup look or style, or a classic first appearance scene for each brand?
Li Xiaoheng sat next to him, looking at the seriousness of his partner who threw himself into work after just a few words, and he couldn’t help but smile.
He sat closer to Tao Mu and said, “If you want to convince those brands, then do you have to find a chance to visit their headquarters? Since it’s for our website, I’ll go with you. I happen to know the shareholders of some of these brands, maybe I can help out.”
Tao Mu nodded casually and recorded this in his itinerary. In his original thinking, there was no need to go to such efforts. He just needed to communicate with the person in charge of these brands in China. But Li Xiaoheng’s idea was not bad. To solve the problem from the source, maybe the price could even be discussed——although the price of luxury brands was basically unified globally. But there would definitely be more discounts negotiated with the headquarters than with the branch. At that time, the profit margin of the website would be greater. When hosting activities, it could also be larger.
Li Xiaoheng saw through Tao Mu’s little calculations at a glance and couldn’t help twitching the corners of his mouth upwards. However, in his heart, the amount of profit margins that could be negotiated came second, and the most important thing for him was the negotiation schedule, which required him and Tao Mu to act together.
Thinking about it in another perspective, it was basically a globetrotting trip for just the two of them.
It felt pretty good. He was really looking forward to it.
However, no matter what Li Xiaoheng was expecting in his heart. The days had to go by gradually and one at a time. What Tao Mu had to do now was to play the role of Su Dingbang seriously.
During this period, news came from Jinxi that the Boss Huang had done a lot of other illegal things besides opening the black coal kiln without licenses. For example, when the illegal operation of the black coal kiln caused the miner to be injured, not paying the employees’ insurance, not being responsible for the medical expenses of the injured employees, and also injuring the family members of the employees who went to the coal kiln to ask for justice, etc…..
Relevant departments that received the report took it very seriously. An investigation team was immediately established to investigate the black coal kiln. Boss Huang, who originally stayed in H Town and wanted to invest in a different crew and sleep with some female stars on the side, immediately panicked when he heard the news. He had no choice but to hurry back to Jinxi.
However, it was only after Boss Huang returned to Jinxi that he realized that it was the eldest son of the Li family in the capital who reported him. And the one who helped to submit various materials and was in charge of the follow-up process was the Boss Wang who had warned him.
Now, Boss Huang finally knew that he had kicked the iron plate. But he still didn’t understand how he had provoked the Li family? Of course he had heard of the reputation of the Li family and the Fengxing Group in the capital. If he had met such a person, he would definitely rush to ingratiate himself to him. How could he take the initiative to anger him instead? Everyone was thousands of miles apart and never knew each other, and it was not like the eldest son of the Li family suddenly developed a momentary sense of justice and reported him, right?
In the end, after some inquiries, Boss Huang finally knew the relationship between the eldest son of the Li family and Tao Mu, as well as the investment of the eldest son of the Li family in the production of “The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood”——
F**k, didn’t they say that the investor Tao Mu had brought in was just a little shrimp with no background? For just a mere five million yuan, he even ignored the New Year’s holiday and personally flew to H Town to visit the set. How the hell did he know that the eldest son of the Li family was so idle? If he knew earlier then even if he borrowed the courage, he still wouldn’t dare to slap a tiger’s butt!
But it was too late to say anything. At the beginning, Boss Huang relied on his own money and power, and he acted arrogantly and did all kinds of evil. Those who were oppressed by him dare not speak out. But now the relevant departments have received reports and started to investigate the bad guys, and the state now supported the victims. Naturally, these ordinary people would spill everything they knew of their grievances when the investigation team came to investigate. Due to the influence of Boss Huang, some people did not dare to say more, so they hesitantly took the investigation team to the home of the injured employee and let the victim himself speak to them in person…..
Until the day that Boss Huang stumbled into prison, he never dreamed that he would be thrown in for this reason. He didn’t regret the things he had done that hurt the world, violated the law, and violated morality. Instead, he was annoyed that he shouldn’t have offended Tao Mu and the eldest son of the Li family so casually. Even when he was interviewed by the media, he still complained that Tao Mu’s methods were ruthless. He also said that his son and daughter were only in elementary school and junior high school, and they were very pitiful without a father.
Later, a reporter relayed the coal boss’s remarks to Tao Mu. Tao Mu didn’t even bother to evaluate this kind of brain circuit. If it was said that pitiful people sell their miserable stories to make everyone sympathize, then when the bad people sell their miserable stories it would only just make people feel happy and applaud. Tao Mu was not the type to sympathize with others casually. What was more, he didn’t feel that Boss Huang’s actions were worthy of sympathy.
On the contrary, after learning of Boss Huang’s charges, Tao Mu also asked Lawyer Zhou to go to Jinxi, and in the name of Song Huai Foundation, he donated 100,000 yuan to the injured miner who was injured in the mine but did not receive timely treatment. Although for families who have lost their breadwinners, the 100,000 yuan was just a drop in the bucket. But Tao Mu would rather spend his sympathy on these innocent and affected ordinary people than sympathize with a rotten person with blood on his hands.
Although he didn’t comment a word, Tao Mu’s attitude still made a lot of media and melon-eaters talk enthusiastically about it.
But these were all afterwords.
On the second day of discussing new cooperation projects with Li Xiaoheng, the very busy CEO Li flew directly to the US by plane. In terms of action execution, Li Xiaoheng, who was able to create Xiaoheng Capital in his freshman year of college, was definitely no worse than Tao Mu. Since the two decided to start an online shopping platform, apart from the process that Tao Mu must participate in, the rest of the matter must be resolved by Li Xiaoheng within the deadline. There would definitely not be any delays.
This was also an important reason why Tao Mu was sure that he could throw a good project at Li Xiaoheng, and Li Xiaoheng would devote his full attention to his work and would never have time to chase after him.
So Li Xiaoheng flew to the US this time because he wanted to negotiate the acquisition of a certain payment tool——thanks to this economic crisis caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in the US and gradually spreading to the world. All walks of life have been affected by this financial tsunami. Even those world-renowned manufacturers were struggling to survive, let alone some other industries that were heavily dependent on economic conditions. This also brought a lot of convenience to Li Xiaoheng’s acquisition plans.
Directly acquiring a payment tool with mature technology, and then adding various functions on top of it. It was indeed easier than developing the technology yourself from scratch. Li Xiaoheng’s method was especially good at this. By the way, the employees of the investment department who stayed at the headquarters in the US were also asked to focus on other projects worthy of investment and acquisition. Only then did he return to China with a payment tool named “Easy Pay” and a large number of technicians.
At that time, Tao Mu was still in H Town for filming. However, the internet had exploded.
February 14, 2009, the first month of the lunar calendar had not yet passed. Thanks to the concerted efforts of everyone, the highly anticipated registered users of FlyNews.com finally exceeded 100 million.
Immediately, netizens posted screenshots on their FlyNews page, and drummed their bowl with chopsticks as they waited for Tao Mu to dance in women’s clothes. A group of netizens who worked hard to eat melons and watch the fun have commented and forwarded them below. In just one hour, this FlyNews had more than one million comments and hundreds of thousands of retweets, and instantly topped the FlyNews hot search list.
The technical department that had been monitoring FlyNews.com also noticed this comment, and helped to highlight it in hot red and push it up to the top. Meng Qi, who was still in charge of FlyMews Entertainment in Beijing, found that the phone in the office instantly began to ring constantly, all to urge Tao Mu to fulfill his promise.
Meng Qi also joined in the fun, calling Tao Mu’s phone directly. Tao Mu was filming at that time, and Gou Rixin took the call. Hearing this news, Big Dog was also happy, and smiled honestly: “Mr. Meng, don’t worry. I’ll tell him when Tao Mu is free. I’ll definitely have him film the video of him dancing in women’s clothes as soon as possible.”
After a pause, Gou Rixin asked with evil intentions, “Do you want to come and see the dance in person?”
Tao Mu couldn’t bear Li Xiaoheng’s overbearing attitude like he had taken a stimulant, so he couldn’t help but change the subject: “Actually, there are several good online shopping platforms on the market now…..”
For example, Maotao.com, which was very popular in later years, had started Double Eleven activities this year. There was also Gouging.com, which had been competing with Maotao.com, and would also start 618 activities in June next year (TN: mid-year e-commerce shopping festival known as 618/June 18. It’s the second-largest e-commerce shopping day in China—second only to Single’s Day/November 11). This cat and dog war continued even ten years later. The plan that Tao Mu gave to Li Xiaoheng basically covered the various disturbances encountered by the two major online shopping platforms in the next ten years and how to deal with them. In truth, many times, the entrepreneurial team was not short of inspiration, but what was missing was the transformation of inspiration into something practical and maintaining the ability to move forward steadily.
Tao Mu felt he didn’t have that ability, of course, the main reason was that he didn’t have the energy to take care of such a big business. His own FlyNews.com was already taking up too much time, and moreover he also had his acting career. But Li Xiaoheng was different. He had Xiaoheng Capital, and the backing of the Li family. If Li Xiaoheng really intended to start an online shopping platform, at least he didn’t need to worry about the two crucial aspects of capital and logistics. In addition, there was also no need to worry about how to deal with the website needing to communicate and negotiate with all aspects of the problems encountered in the actual operation.
Therefore, cooperating with Li Xiaoheng was the most time-saving and labor-saving way that Tao Mu could think of, and it could ensure the maximum benefit——other than for the troublesome fact that a certain someone who always wanted to eat the grass next to the nest, and harassing his business partner.
But Tao Mu believed that if Li Xiaoheng really intended to do this project, then, with the occupational disease that Li Xiaoheng possessed, being serious and responsible for his work, he would definitely devote all his energy to his work——at least in the early stages of the project.
At that time, Tao Mu could guarantee at least one or two years of respite. As for one or two years later, it was likely that Li Xiaoheng would have forgotten the initial interest he had for him. After all, the various impulses caused by hormones were the most unreliable things.
“If you are interested in doing this project, I can negotiate with major brands about entering the website. Nowadays the world is in an economic crisis, which will definitely affect the sales of major brands. So talking to them about this at this time might be easier than normal.”
As for how to negotiate, Tao Mu would of course not use the normal business negotiation model. Anyway, he also had to discuss with major brands about sponsoring FlyNews.com to film the idol drama. It was better to take this as an opportunity to engage in a large-scale publicity campaign. If the discussion went well, maybe at the beginning of the website’s establishment, they could also collect a publicity and planning fee.
Tao Mu’s abacus was sounding, and he had already begun to think about how to trick——bah, to convince those brand owners. When filming a TV series, how about designing a makeup look or style, or a classic first appearance scene for each brand?
Li Xiaoheng sat next to him, looking at the seriousness of his partner who threw himself into work after just a few words, and he couldn’t help but smile.
He sat closer to Tao Mu and said, “If you want to convince those brands, then do you have to find a chance to visit their headquarters? Since it’s for our website, I’ll go with you. I happen to know the shareholders of some of these brands, maybe I can help out.”
Tao Mu nodded casually and recorded this in his itinerary. In his original thinking, there was no need to go to such efforts. He just needed to communicate with the person in charge of these brands in China. But Li Xiaoheng’s idea was not bad. To solve the problem from the source, maybe the price could even be discussed——although the price of luxury brands was basically unified globally. But there would definitely be more discounts negotiated with the headquarters than with the branch. At that time, the profit margin of the website would be greater. When hosting activities, it could also be larger.
Li Xiaoheng saw through Tao Mu’s little calculations at a glance and couldn’t help twitching the corners of his mouth upwards. However, in his heart, the amount of profit margins that could be negotiated came second, and the most important thing for him was the negotiation schedule, which required him and Tao Mu to act together.
Thinking about it in another perspective, it was basically a globetrotting trip for just the two of them.
It felt pretty good. He was really looking forward to it.
However, no matter what Li Xiaoheng was expecting in his heart. The days had to go by gradually and one at a time. What Tao Mu had to do now was to play the role of Su Dingbang seriously.
During this period, news came from Jinxi that the Boss Huang had done a lot of other illegal things besides opening the black coal kiln without licenses. For example, when the illegal operation of the black coal kiln caused the miner to be injured, not paying the employees’ insurance, not being responsible for the medical expenses of the injured employees, and also injuring the family members of the employees who went to the coal kiln to ask for justice, etc…..
Relevant departments that received the report took it very seriously. An investigation team was immediately established to investigate the black coal kiln. Boss Huang, who originally stayed in H Town and wanted to invest in a different crew and sleep with some female stars on the side, immediately panicked when he heard the news. He had no choice but to hurry back to Jinxi.
However, it was only after Boss Huang returned to Jinxi that he realized that it was the eldest son of the Li family in the capital who reported him. And the one who helped to submit various materials and was in charge of the follow-up process was the Boss Wang who had warned him.
Now, Boss Huang finally knew that he had kicked the iron plate. But he still didn’t understand how he had provoked the Li family? Of course he had heard of the reputation of the Li family and the Fengxing Group in the capital. If he had met such a person, he would definitely rush to ingratiate himself to him. How could he take the initiative to anger him instead? Everyone was thousands of miles apart and never knew each other, and it was not like the eldest son of the Li family suddenly developed a momentary sense of justice and reported him, right?
In the end, after some inquiries, Boss Huang finally knew the relationship between the eldest son of the Li family and Tao Mu, as well as the investment of the eldest son of the Li family in the production of “The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood”——
F**k, didn’t they say that the investor Tao Mu had brought in was just a little shrimp with no background? For just a mere five million yuan, he even ignored the New Year’s holiday and personally flew to H Town to visit the set. How the hell did he know that the eldest son of the Li family was so idle? If he knew earlier then even if he borrowed the courage, he still wouldn’t dare to slap a tiger’s butt!
But it was too late to say anything. At the beginning, Boss Huang relied on his own money and power, and he acted arrogantly and did all kinds of evil. Those who were oppressed by him dare not speak out. But now the relevant departments have received reports and started to investigate the bad guys, and the state now supported the victims. Naturally, these ordinary people would spill everything they knew of their grievances when the investigation team came to investigate. Due to the influence of Boss Huang, some people did not dare to say more, so they hesitantly took the investigation team to the home of the injured employee and let the victim himself speak to them in person…..
Until the day that Boss Huang stumbled into prison, he never dreamed that he would be thrown in for this reason. He didn’t regret the things he had done that hurt the world, violated the law, and violated morality. Instead, he was annoyed that he shouldn’t have offended Tao Mu and the eldest son of the Li family so casually. Even when he was interviewed by the media, he still complained that Tao Mu’s methods were ruthless. He also said that his son and daughter were only in elementary school and junior high school, and they were very pitiful without a father.
Later, a reporter relayed the coal boss’s remarks to Tao Mu. Tao Mu didn’t even bother to evaluate this kind of brain circuit. If it was said that pitiful people sell their miserable stories to make everyone sympathize, then when the bad people sell their miserable stories it would only just make people feel happy and applaud. Tao Mu was not the type to sympathize with others casually. What was more, he didn’t feel that Boss Huang’s actions were worthy of sympathy.
On the contrary, after learning of Boss Huang’s charges, Tao Mu also asked Lawyer Zhou to go to Jinxi, and in the name of Song Huai Foundation, he donated 100,000 yuan to the injured miner who was injured in the mine but did not receive timely treatment. Although for families who have lost their breadwinners, the 100,000 yuan was just a drop in the bucket. But Tao Mu would rather spend his sympathy on these innocent and affected ordinary people than sympathize with a rotten person with blood on his hands.
Although he didn’t comment a word, Tao Mu’s attitude still made a lot of media and melon-eaters talk enthusiastically about it.
But these were all afterwords.
On the second day of discussing new cooperation projects with Li Xiaoheng, the very busy CEO Li flew directly to the US by plane. In terms of action execution, Li Xiaoheng, who was able to create Xiaoheng Capital in his freshman year of college, was definitely no worse than Tao Mu. Since the two decided to start an online shopping platform, apart from the process that Tao Mu must participate in, the rest of the matter must be resolved by Li Xiaoheng within the deadline. There would definitely not be any delays.
This was also an important reason why Tao Mu was sure that he could throw a good project at Li Xiaoheng, and Li Xiaoheng would devote his full attention to his work and would never have time to chase after him.
So Li Xiaoheng flew to the US this time because he wanted to negotiate the acquisition of a certain payment tool——thanks to this economic crisis caused by the subprime mortgage crisis in the US and gradually spreading to the world. All walks of life have been affected by this financial tsunami. Even those world-renowned manufacturers were struggling to survive, let alone some other industries that were heavily dependent on economic conditions. This also brought a lot of convenience to Li Xiaoheng’s acquisition plans.
Directly acquiring a payment tool with mature technology, and then adding various functions on top of it. It was indeed easier than developing the technology yourself from scratch. Li Xiaoheng’s method was especially good at this. By the way, the employees of the investment department who stayed at the headquarters in the US were also asked to focus on other projects worthy of investment and acquisition. Only then did he return to China with a payment tool named “Easy Pay” and a large number of technicians.
At that time, Tao Mu was still in H Town for filming. However, the internet had exploded.
February 14, 2009, the first month of the lunar calendar had not yet passed. Thanks to the concerted efforts of everyone, the highly anticipated registered users of FlyNews.com finally exceeded 100 million.
Immediately, netizens posted screenshots on their FlyNews page, and drummed their bowl with chopsticks as they waited for Tao Mu to dance in women’s clothes. A group of netizens who worked hard to eat melons and watch the fun have commented and forwarded them below. In just one hour, this FlyNews had more than one million comments and hundreds of thousands of retweets, and instantly topped the FlyNews hot search list.
The technical department that had been monitoring FlyNews.com also noticed this comment, and helped to highlight it in hot red and push it up to the top. Meng Qi, who was still in charge of FlyMews Entertainment in Beijing, found that the phone in the office instantly began to ring constantly, all to urge Tao Mu to fulfill his promise.
Meng Qi also joined in the fun, calling Tao Mu’s phone directly. Tao Mu was filming at that time, and Gou Rixin took the call. Hearing this news, Big Dog was also happy, and smiled honestly: “Mr. Meng, don’t worry. I’ll tell him when Tao Mu is free. I’ll definitely have him film the video of him dancing in women’s clothes as soon as possible.”
After a pause, Gou Rixin asked with evil intentions, “Do you want to come and see the dance in person?”
