Starting with a fully invested A-share portfolio to become a capital...

Chapter 271 The Frenzied Double 11 Shopping Festival: Xu Xiang and Shen Jun Hit the Pact

As night deepened and the clock approached midnight, countless netizens began to tense up. In a Taobao product sharing group, messages were being refreshed at a rate of more than a dozen per second.

[Great News at Home]: Oh my god, I've spotted another Bosideng down jacket! It's only 299 yuan, whereas I usually see it for over 600 yuan. It's almost half price! But my shopping cart is about to burst.

[Night is breaking]: With such huge discounts during Double 11, you'd be missing out if you didn't buy!

[Happy Family]: The first 100 people to pay will get a free order. If you miss it, you'll have to wait a year. I happen to need a down jacket. Could you send me the link?
[Family's Great News]: https....cn is the link. Never mind, with such a huge discount, I'm adding everything to my cart!!
[Peony Blossoms]: Even the shampoo is four or five yuan cheaper than usual. Ma Yun is really a good person, saving money for us ordinary people.

As this was the first Double 11 shopping festival, not only did Ma Yun personally oversee the event, but all of Alibaba's senior executives also attached great importance to it, holding talks with almost all the merchants on the platform and demanding that they offer real discounts to consumers.

In 2009, business owners were also very pragmatic. To be precise, they also needed such an opportunity to help their factories clear out various unsold inventory items under the shadow of the economic crisis and recover funds. Therefore, they responded to Alibaba's call for price reductions.

It's no exaggeration to say that the 2009 Double 11 shopping festival had almost everything going for it.

If there hadn't been an economic crisis, businesses might not have been willing to offer discounts.

Take, for example, the merchants of the Double 11 shopping festival in later generations. They seem to be offering huge discounts and crazy price reductions, but in reality, they first raise the price of a 100 yuan item to 200 yuan, and then reluctantly offer a 5% discount. In the end, consumers still have to pay 100 yuan. They are just playing dirty tricks, and this is also the reason why the Double 11 shopping festival has declined.

23 points.

23 points.

23 points.

Time passed slowly, and countless visitors poured into Taobao.

"Manager, the traffic is about to reach our server's peak!" Alibaba's technicians shouted, their voices filled with panic. Clearly, no one had expected that Double 11 would generate such intense competition.

Before the head of the technical department could speak, Ma Yun immediately interjected, "What about the backup server?"

For Double 11, he has temporarily added hundreds of servers. Alibaba's current servers consist of 12 application servers, 230 cache clusters, and 350 Hadoop clusters, which can support millions of people shopping online at the same time.

"We've already activated it, but it's still not enough. Traffic is still pouring in like crazy. If this continues, our servers might crash!"

The technicians answered quickly.

"The bandwidth is about to be exhausted!" someone shouted again, indicating that the server situation was extremely bad.

At this moment, Wang Chenyang, the department head, was sweating profusely. If the server crashed at this time, Alibaba would become a laughing stock in the industry and would never be able to hold its head up again.

However, anyone who can earn a million-dollar annual salary is no pushover.

After a brief moment of thought, Wang Chenyang made a decision: "Kick out all the IP addresses that are accessing the site frequently, temporarily disable their access permissions, and then reopen them when the peak traffic decreases."

"receive."

"clear."

Technicians responded and began to block access for high-frequency users.

Rather than having the server overloaded and everyone unable to shop, it's better to proactively sacrifice a group of users, and those who frequently access the website are the ones who will be sacrificed.

Although Ma Yun was displeased, she still acquiesced to this worst possible solution.

23 points.

23 points.

As the clock hands pointed to the number 12, midnight on November 11th quietly arrived. The massive influx of access requests almost instantly overwhelmed Alibaba's servers, rendering web pages completely unresponsive.

Taobao's website crashed, and many consumers turned to Weibo instead.

Not a moment.

The hashtag "Taobao crashed" topped the trending searches.

However, it didn't end there. Due to the large number of visitors and the fact that Weibo hadn't added more servers in advance, its webpage started lagging, clearly indicating that the traffic had reached its peak.

At 0:03, Weibo's webpage became inaccessible and also crashed.

On the other side, Baidu Tieba's trending topics list has been dominated by the terms "Taobao crashed" and "Weibo crashed".

Countless netizens began to speculate about conspiracy theories, and voices criticizing Ma Yun rose and fell.

[Loves lollipops]: Wow, Taobao is now inaccessible. If Ma Yun can't handle promotions, then don't do them. What kind of nonsense is this?

[Ordinary Person]: I was planning to stay up all night to be among the first 100 to get a free order, but it seems like it was already pre-arranged.

[Xiaohan, a mother of two]: Ma Yun is so stingy. She said she doesn't like money, but she loves money the most. She earns so much but doesn't give us any discounts. No wonder she's ugly.

[BoBo Teacher's Captain]: If you don't have the skills, don't take on the job. Ma Yun's actions have really ruined her character.

As online criticism continued, numerous media outlets also joined in the reporting.

Shocking! At midnight on Singles' Day, Taobao and Alibaba servers crashed, disrupting shopping for millions of users!

The Double 11 shopping festival was so popular that Alibaba's servers crashed. Was this due to a lack of preparation, or was there something else going on?

A shocking joke! Alibaba's servers crashed right at the start of the Double 11 shopping festival. Who will pay for this mishap?

No one expected that Singles' Day would have such a powerful impact.

Witnessing his own server crash, Ma Yun stormed off. He returned to his office and dialed Wang Jian's number.

"Dududu-"

After a brief busy signal, the call was connected.

"Hey Mr. Ma..."

Wang Jian sounded very sleepy on the other end of the phone, as if he had fallen asleep long ago.

Alibaba currently has three core business units: online shopping, online payment, and cloud computing.

Online shopping is divided into Alibaba and Taobao. The former is suitable for wholesalers and targets merchants, while the latter is suitable for ordinary consumers.

Online payment is Alipay, which is Alibaba's most core department.

As for cloud computing, this department was established by Ma Yun against all odds. He believed that cloud computing and cloud servers would definitely have a bright future, and the department's top leader was Wang Jian.

"Did I disturb your rest?" Ma Yun asked knowingly, trying to elicit a response.

Wang Jian dared not say yes, and quickly denied it, saying, "No, no, I was just looking at Taobao, what's wrong, Mr. Ma?"

Looking at Taobao?
Even when you're completely overwhelmed, you still look at Taobao?
Ma Yun knew Wang Jian was lying, and Wang Jian also knew Ma Yun knew he was lying, but both of them were smart and neither of them dared to confront him.

"The progress of cloud computing needs to be accelerated. I hope it can be put into practical use by this time next year. As for funding, you don't need to worry anymore. Alibaba will fully support you."

As soon as Ma Yun finished speaking, Wang Jian suddenly perked up and asked, "Really?"

"It's true."

Ma Yun nodded in confirmation.

The main reason he overruled objections and allowed Wang Jian to establish the cloud computing department was to lay the foundation for the future.

With 13 billion people in China, Ma Yun cannot guarantee that all 13 billion will be online, but he is certain that within the next three years, China will have at least 5 million internet users, and at least 5 million of these 3 million will choose online shopping because online shopping has a crushing price advantage compared to physical stores.

"Thank you, Mr. Ma. Cloud computing will not let Alibaba down; it will definitely make Alibaba the strongest internet company in China."

Wang Jian's voice trembled, clearly not expecting Ma Yun to invest in cloud computing.

It's worth noting that many people at Alibaba are complaining that cloud computing is taking up R&D funds and want to cut the department.

"Okay, let's rest."

"Mr. Ma, you should get some rest too."

After hanging up the phone, Ma Yun casually placed her phone on the table and opened the Taobao website, which was still loading very slowly.

Watching the spinning loading circle, he muttered, "Zhang Yang has so many clever ideas, it's a pity he can't be used by me."

Ma Yun really wanted to set a trap to bring Zhang Yang to her side, and he tried, but ultimately failed.

Why did it fail?

He underestimated the resilience of Caiyan.com.

Who would have thought that, amidst competition from Eastmoney and Tonghuashun, Caiyan.com would come up with the idea of ​​creating the Joker celebrity IP and using his personal brand to drive traffic to the website?

"such a pity."

"pity."

Ma Yun sighed repeatedly.

If Zhang Yang were to come and join us, or even just once, Alibaba would absolutely dedicate all its resources to nurturing him, treating him like the "crown prince of Alibaba" and pouring all its energy into him.

Unfortunately, Ma Yun's idea will not come true, and Ma Yun also knows that Zhang Yang is becoming more and more powerful, and the two can only choose sides for their own interests.

……

And on the other side.

Zhangjiang Talent Apartment.

Wearing a thick khaki fleece pajama set, He Jing sat upright at her computer desk in the room, clicking the mouse incessantly and complaining, "What's wrong with Taobao? Why hasn't the server been fixed yet? It's been almost 5 minutes."

"That's how it is when there are a lot of people."

Zhang Yang lay in bed, holding a Nokia phone and browsing WAP pages on Baidu Tieba.

In 2009, Alibaba had not yet officially launched cloud computing servers, and website crashes were a long-standing tradition during Double 11.

If Zhang Yang remembers correctly, Alibaba broke through the 5K server cluster technology in 2013, becoming the world's first company to provide 5K services, completely replacing foreign hardware and achieving the goal of "de-IOE".

Since 2013, the website has never crashed, whether it's Singles' Day, Double 12, International Women's Day, or the 618 Mid-Year Shopping Festival.

"Oh, it's redirected."

He Jing was overjoyed.

She quickly opened her shopping cart, and the total amount was over 43,000 yuan. In addition to buying brand-name down jackets for Zhang Yang and herself, she also bought a bunch of household items that she might not need.

Of course.

Various cosmetics are indispensable.

As a woman, and a high-income woman at that, she also bought a Chanel bag, which was more than 8000 yuan cheaper than usual.

"All done, I can finally rest."

After paying, He Jing was in a good mood, and the more she looked at the Chanel bag, the more she liked it.

The reason I didn't agree to Bao Xingwei's request to take the postgraduate entrance exam, pursue a doctorate, and then switch to a financial institution was because I didn't want to continue living a low-income lifestyle.

The advantage of the system is stability, but its disadvantage is also stability; you can see the end from the beginning, and it cannot fulfill He Jing's material dreams.

"What did you buy?"

Zhang Yang asked casually.

“There are so many things, like daily necessities such as tissues, toothpaste, and toothbrushes, as well as my cosmetics and bags, and your down jacket. I don’t think you have a long down jacket yet. I think it would look great on you.”

He Jing smiled.

Anyone who is over 1.83 meters tall can charm countless girls even if they have an ordinary appearance, as long as they wear a long down jacket or trench coat.

Why do you say that?

Things are rare and valuable!

It's no exaggeration to say that only one in ten thousand men can pull off a long down jacket and trench coat.

In addition, in many idol dramas and anime, male gods often appear in long down jackets or trench coats, paired with scarves, instantly creating a great atmosphere. Many girls have developed a filter for this, which is basically the same as men seeing women wearing black or white stockings.

"I happen to need a down jacket, but it has to be long. I don't know if I can pull it off."

Zhang Yang said with a faint smile.

He Jing turned her head, looked Zhang Yang up and down carefully, and analyzed, "If you're not tall enough, make up for it with insoles. I'll order another 3cm height-increasing insoles for you."

"..."

Zhang Yang was silent for a moment, then reminded him, "I am 1.8 meters tall."

"Do you know which province sells the most height-increasing insoles?" He Jing asked. Zhang Yang: "Eastern Guangdong, Western Guangdong, and Southern Hainan?"

The climate in the south is hot and humid, so men and women are often shorter than those in the north.

No, guess again.

"Southern Yunnan?"

"Not at all."

"Sichuan and Chongqing?"

"No."

"Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai?"

"No."

Seeing that Zhang Yang couldn't guess, He Jing revealed the answer: "It's Lu Dong!"

“Ludong? That can’t be right. Isn’t the average height there 1.8 meters?” Zhang Yang was somewhat surprised.

"This isn't just something I made up; it's a statistic from a height-increasing insole shop. I guess everyone wants to be taller, after all, it looks cool."

He Jing had just finished speaking when she laughed and said, "Look how conscious the people of Shandong are. Even those with one of the highest average heights in the country have padded their legs. If you don't pad your legs, how are you going to become taller and more handsome?"

"Then give me an order for 10cm ones, I'll walk to the company on stilts."

Zhang Yang joked.

“It doesn’t need to be that high, 3cm is enough. Any higher and it’ll be obvious.” He Jing replied with a smile, and then actually placed an order for height-increasing insoles.

After finishing all this, He Jing looked at the 99+ pending shipments, stretched, and said, "Turn off the computer and get ready to rest."

"I really should go to sleep. I have to go to work tomorrow." Zhang Yang glanced at the time; it was already past midnight. If he stayed up any longer, he wouldn't be able to get enough sleep.

"OK, good night."

"Good night."

A moment later, the room lights went out, and He Jing crawled into bed, resting her head on Zhang Yang's right arm. Zhang Yang naturally hugged her as they slept.

It's worth mentioning that Zhang Yang stayed up all night not only to accompany He Jing shopping, but also because he wanted to witness the phenomenal success of the first Double 11 shopping festival.

The phenomenal success of the 2009 Double 11 shopping festival was of historical significance.

From that day on, China's top leadership recognized the potential of the internet, and the real economy rapidly transitioned to the internet economy.

Imagine you are a brick-and-mortar store owner. Would you rather do business in only one city or across the whole country?

It is clear.

They're definitely doing business nationwide!

Now imagine if you were a high-ranking official in the country, and the sales volume of the Double 11 shopping festival reached tens of millions in just one hour, helping a large number of companies clear their inventory and stimulate consumption, would you be willing to allocate resources to support internet companies?

It's also obvious.

They are definitely willing to allocate resources to them.

The economic crisis has provided a solution to the lack of consumer spending: online shopping.

……

The next day, early in the morning.

After resting in the hospital for several days, Xu Zhirou returned to Caiyan.com. She immediately went to the operations department to inquire about the traffic increase brought about by the Double 11 shopping festival last night.

"Mr. Xu, your strategy of linking it to the Double 11 shopping festival is the greatest strategy I have ever seen in my more than ten years in the industry. It is truly unprecedented and will never be repeated. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"

Department head Wei Hongbin flattered him, his slightly chubby face beaming with smiles.

"Alright, how many users registered last night?" Xu Zhirou wasn't buying it. Besides, the strategy of linking with Double 11 was Zhang Yang's idea; she was just responsible for its implementation.

"A total of 6 people. Currently, our Caiyan.com has over 400 million registered users, and we are expected to reach our annual target of 500 million by the end of the year!" Wei Hongbin excitedly announced.

In just five months, Caiyan.com went from zero to 400 million registered users, which is a very rapid growth rate.

Because Eastmoney, iFinD, Sina Finance, Tencent Finance, and the recently emerging Xueqiu community are all vying for traffic, many stock investors who are used to a financial website are unwilling to switch easily.

It's like getting a haircut. As long as it's a decent cut, few people will deliberately change to another salon unless there's a very attractive discount elsewhere.

Xu Zhirou: "Keep up the good work."

Wei Hongbin: "Okay, Mr. Xu."

After inspecting the area and announcing her return, Xu Zhirou went back to her office and brought in 6 new registrations in one night, which truly exceeded their expectations.

Currently, Caiyan.com has 400 million registered users, with approximately 60 daily active users and 15 paying users, of which 13 have activated website memberships and 2 have paid for market research reports.

With just 13 paid members, Caiyan.com can generate around 2000 million yuan in revenue per month. Xu Zhirou did not skimp on spending; instead, she increased investment in the company, especially in the development and optimization of mobile internet applications, with related investments exceeding 1500 million yuan, nearly equivalent to a month's revenue.

"At the current growth rate, it's possible to reach 5 million registered users by the end of December. We need to make arrangements for year-end bonuses then, so as not to discourage employees," Xu Zhirou muttered to herself.

The success of Caiyan.com today is not only due to the efforts of the management team, but also to the continuous dedication of all employees.

In particular, the data department changed its original three-shift system to two-shift system in order to improve the database of the financial research website as soon as possible.

And at the same time.

the other side.

Oriental Fortune Building.

"Who are you looking for?"

The receptionist saw an unfamiliar face approaching and, as usual, asked her questions.

"We want to see President Shen. We'll say that Xu Xiang from Zexi Private Equity requests a meeting."

Xu Xiang introduced himself.

Today he was wearing a "white coat"—of course, not a real white coat, but a white Armani jacket, which costs over 100,000 Chinese yuan—and standard suit trousers. He looked radiant.

"ask to see…"

Upon hearing those two words, the receptionist immediately realized that these people had no appointments.

"If you don't have an appointment, I'll have to call our manager. Please wait a moment."

Seeing the receptionist dawdling, Sun Guodong, who was standing to the side, became displeased and said, "If she's not a pretty girl, you don't even recognize Xu Xiang? Xu Xiang, the leader of the sect, do you trade stocks?"

"Sorry, I don't trade stocks," the receptionist replied with a smile.

"whats the matter?"

Just then, a portly middle-aged man in a suit walked into the building's reception area.

"Mr. Gao, they said they want to see Mr. Shen, but they haven't made an appointment. I'm about to contact our manager," the receptionist briefly explained.

Gao Mingliang glanced to the side and was immediately startled when he saw Xu Xiang wearing a white coat. He then greeted him with a forced smile, "Manager Xu."

"How have you been, Mr. Gao?"

Xu Xiang greeted him with a smile.

It wasn't that he didn't know anyone from Eastmoney.com, but he left the police station too late last night and felt embarrassed to bother them, so he simply came to visit them this morning.

I thought I could contact Shen Jun directly using the name "Xu Xiang," but to my surprise, the receptionist still had to go through a process.

"Why didn't you call me?" Gao Mingliang had just finished speaking when he changed the subject, "What do you want with our General Manager Shen?"

"Let's talk about something he's interested in. I wonder if Mr. Gao could make an introduction?" Xu Xiang asked.

"no problem."

Gao Mingliang patted his chest and said.

He could ignore Xu Xiang in the past, but now that he's a private equity manager, he can't afford to be indifferent anymore. After all, more connections mean more opportunities, and connections mean more money.

"follow me."

Gao Mingliang led the way.

With the help of an "acquaintance," Xu Xiang, Sun Guodong, and the others arrived at Shen Jun's office without any hindrance.

Trusting Xu Xiang and recognizing his reputation, Gao Mingliang didn't hesitate and knocked on the half-open door frame, saying, "President Shen, Xu Xiang from Zexi Private Equity would like to have a chat with you."

"Xu Xiang?"

Shen Jun looked up from his desk.

Upon seeing Xu Xiang, he immediately greeted him with a smile, "Chief Xu, haha, I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner!"

"I have long admired President Shen's reputation, and meeting him today, I can confirm that he is indeed extraordinary."

Xu Xiang gave a polite response.

"Come, come, this way please." The moment Shen Jun saw Xu Xiang, he had already decided to recruit him to help him bid for the securities license.

"OK."

Xu Xiang, Sun Guodong, and others followed the directions and took their seats on the office sofa.

After everyone was seated, Shen Jun glanced at Gao Mingliang, then looked at Xu Xiang and asked, "I wonder what brings Chief Xu here this time?"

"Extroverted".

"Zhang Yang?"

"That's right, it's flamboyant."

Xu Xiang nodded in confirmation.

Shen Jun and Gao Mingliang exchanged a glance, then looked at Xu Xiang's face, asking in confusion, "What's wrong with Zhang Yang?"

“Zhang Yang is from Fuchun Road. I have enough evidence to prove him wrong.”

When Xu Xiang said this, his eyes were fixed on Shen Jun.

To his disappointment, Shen Jun wasn't surprised at all. Instead, he seemed to have known all along and asked, "Someone told me about this a long time ago. Could that person be Chief Xu, the leader?"

"Has someone ever said that?"

Xu Xiang was puzzled.

“Yes.” Shen Jun nodded and continued, “Someone sent me and senior executives of Eastmoney a text message saying that Zhang Yang is Fuchun Road, and there is some Mr. J. However, we were not sure if it was true or not, so we didn’t pay any attention to it.”

"It's true, Zhang Yang is on Fuchun Road, but I didn't send the message."

Xu Xiang said in a deep voice.

"What evidence do you have?" Shen Jun asked.

“Zhang Yang’s senior brother, Tao Yuang, has confessed everything. I have his recordings, and we also have transaction records as evidence.”

When Xu Xiang said this, Shen Jun was finally moved and quickly thought, "So, Zhang Yang really is Fuchun Road?"

“That’s right.” Xu Xiang nodded in confirmation, then added, “I’m here today to ask President Shen for help in exposing his identity.”

Shen Jun: "Do you have a grudge against him?"

"Deep-seated hatred!"

Xu Xiang responded very decisively.

Having navigated the capital markets for so many years, this was the first time he'd been treated like a dog. He was determined to repay this debt tenfold!
Shen Jun: "No problem, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However, I also have something that I might need the help of Chief Xu."

"whats the matter?"

Xu Xiang pressed for an answer.

Shen Jun scanned everyone present and revealed the answer: "Contribute some funds to help me bid for the securities license."

(End of this chapter)