Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 37: Conquering Xin Mengzhen

A five-minute hug.

……

"Ding."

When the elevator doors opened on the sixth floor, Xin Mengzhen and Chen Xuebing came out one after the other. Xin Mengzhen's pretty face was flushed and she kept her head down, while Chen Xuebing had a big smile on his face and held his head high.

Open the door.

Go inside.

"Please have a seat." Xin Mengzhen hurriedly ran upstairs to check if there was anything in her room that Chen Xuebing shouldn't see.

Chen Xuebing did not sit down, but stood in the living room waiting without moving.

I was too dishonest just now, so now I need to act even more honest than usual, and Xin Mengzhen will feel more at ease.

The hug he just received is enough for him to stand here and savor for a long time.

He has managed to uncover some of the secrets he wanted to know in his past life.

Xin Mengzhen wasn't as cold as she appeared. Her waist was firm and elastic, her breathing was short, and she was very shy. After hiding in his arms for a while, she would gently rub her head against his shoulder to find the most comfortable position, like a kitten, making him feel itchy inside.

"Alright, come up here!"

Xin Mengzhen didn't keep him waiting long; she leaned over the second-floor escalator and called to him.

Her eyebrows were a little damp, as if she had washed her face, and her expression had returned to normal.

Chen Xuebing went upstairs without saying a word.

"Oh, there's only one chair, I'll move a stool."

Xin Mengzhen took him to her room and then ran downstairs.

Chen Xuebing then looked around.

The room is very large, probably 40 square meters. There is a solid wood partition door against the wall near the entrance, which should lead to a walk-in closet.

The interior was surprisingly gray and white. Looking around, there wasn't a single pink or other bright color to be found. The bed was covered with a silver-white silk duvet cover, and there was a long desk that covered an entire wall, with books, papers, a desktop computer, MP3 players, MP4 players, handheld computers, and other electronic products.

There wasn't even a dressing table.

Girls should have a dressing table, which is probably placed in the walk-in closet.

If this room were photographed, you wouldn't be able to find any trace of a girl just by looking at it. But if you were actually there, you could smell a soft fragrance that combined the scents of cream and soap.

That's the scent of Xin Mengzhen.

When Xin Mengzhen returned with a folding wooden chair, she found that Chen Xuebing hadn't sat down. She wondered if he was uncomfortable. She looked around her room, thought for a moment, then went to draw back the curtains and opened the window a crack.

"These windows aren't usually opened, is it because they're not well-ventilated?"

Chen Xuebing felt a chill in the air, quickly closed the window, and laughed:

"Don't open it, it smells nice."

“Ah, you like it.” Xin Mengzhen pointed to a hollowed-out wooden box on the corner of the table: “It’s that, incense.”

Chen Xuebing suddenly realized.

Young girls don't naturally have fragrance; they come to have fragrance because they like it.

He didn't comment too much on the room, lest Xin Mengzhen feel uncomfortable. He took out a USB drive from his pocket, handed it to her, moved the folding chair next to her chair, and got straight to the point.

"You operate it, I'll teach you."

"it is good."

Xin Mengzhen's computer configuration should be quite good, and she probably hasn't logged into any websites containing Trojans, so it boots up very quickly.

There are only a dozen or so system software programs and a QQ account on the desktop.

Chen Xuebing suddenly said, "By the way, what's your QQ number? I'll add you."

"Uh..." Xin Mengzhen hesitated for a while, then simply opened QQ and pointed the mouse at the number.

"I don't use this often. This QQ comes pre-installed on my computer."

I don't use my phone often, and I don't use QQ often.

Chen Xuebing discovered that her style was simple and clean; things she wasn't interested in, no matter how trendy, couldn't enter her life.

"Don't you usually have any entertainment activities or hobbies?"

"I practiced piano when I was little, but my teacher assigned a lot of homework, and I was too busy with my studies, so I neglected it in junior high school," Xin Mengzhen said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Not playing?"

"Have fun, go out, go shopping, eat delicious food."

"Are you at home?"

"Playing with my younger brother."

"You have a younger brother?" Chen Xuebing was surprised.

Xin Mengzhen raised her delicate eyebrows, but the ends of her eyebrows were slightly lowered, and her expression was somewhat sad and helpless: "Fortunately, I only have one younger brother. If I had a younger sister, I would have a younger brother. As long as people in Chaoshan can have children, they will definitely have a son. From when I was a child, my parents have been looking for famous doctors and would go to temples every now and then. They went through all this trouble until they were almost forty years old before they finally had my younger brother."

"Oh, you're from Chaoshan..." Chen Xuebing teased, seeing her bad mood. "I like your Chaoshan beef. I heard you especially love seafood, even people from Fujian eat it. Is that true?"

"I'm going to kill you!"

Xin Mengzhen clenched her fists, but then snorted and let go.

She was driven by her emotions downstairs, but now she couldn't help but think of Yang Qingyue with tears streaming down her face, and she dared not have any more physical contact with Chen Xuebing.

Chen Xuebing keenly noticed her movements and knew that tonight had passed the opportune moment to take things further.

Tsk, why didn't you kiss her just now?

"If you don't use QQ, add me later. First, open Baidu and search for Taobao seller software. You need to download Wangwang."

Xin Mengzhen opened the webpage and casually typed Baidu.com into the address bar, quite skillfully.

She suddenly froze as she was about to press Enter.

"...Can Google do it?"

"why?"

"I don't like Baidu."

"It's best to use Baidu, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to find the webpage, and if I click on them one by one, I might end up with a lot of Trojans."

Xin Mengzhen could only open Baidu, then quickly typed the character "桃" into the search bar.

With the new input, the previous search history flashed by, and Chen Xuebing didn't notice it.

Unfortunately, the word was misspelled.

Xin Mengzhen made a quick retreat, ready to show off her skills again.

"Ok?"

This time, Chen Xuebing's eyes widened: "Don't move! Let me see? What was that just now?"

He had just vaguely seen a message asking, "Can you still drink milk tea that's been frozen for a week?"

When Xin Mengzhen turned her head, she gave an awkward smile, like the one Jamie gave Tom when he was stealing cheese: "Hehe, it's nothing..."

Chen Xuebing reacted quickly, typing a series of undo keystrokes on the keyboard.

Good guy.

The search history, from top to bottom, reveals Xin Mengzhen's recent thoughts and feelings.

Does a darkened traumatic scar require treatment?

Which hospital in Chongqing has a good gastroenterology department?

What to do if you get diarrhea after eating unclean food?

Can you still drink milk tea that's been frozen for a week?

US-China exchange rate trends

"Ahhhh!"

Xin Mengzhen dragged the mouse and typed on the keyboard to try to close the webpage, but Chen Xuebing grabbed her wrist with one hand and took the opportunity to poke her waist with the other, closing the physical distance between them.

"You little brat, you're quite cunning, aren't you? You've done all this to scheme against me, haven't you? Checking the exchange rate, what, you don't believe me?"

Xin Mengzhen's waist seemed particularly sensitive, as she was poked and bent over backward.

"Haha...ha...no...let go of Chen Xuebing! Stop, stop messing around!"

Chen Xuebing released her at the opportune moment, and Xin Mengzhen's face flushed red, but her expression gradually became serious: "You're not allowed to touch me like that again! What if Qingyue sees this?"

"So what if she sees it? Just say we're dating." Chen Xuebing knew this girl was already hesitant, and he absolutely couldn't back down now.

“Talk…” Xin Mengzhen’s throat tightened for a moment, then she stood up:

"We can't be together! I'm not right for you, and Qingyue will be heartbroken too. She likes you, don't you know that? Can you honestly say you don't like her at all?"

These words were too direct, more direct than Chen Xuebing had expected, and even carried a questioning tone.

This question actually contradicts the first sentence's "we are impossible," implying the possibility of a confirmed relationship.

Otherwise, what right do you have to tell me whether I like Yang Qingyue or not?

Chen Xuebing really wanted to say "not at all," but he couldn't help but think about the possible fallout later.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Xuebing could only resort to a rogue attitude.

I know, but I like you.

He didn't directly answer the question of whether he liked Yang Qingyue, but instead adopted a sorrowful posture and said:
"But now I have my answer too, we can't be together, and I'll keep my distance from you from now on." First, seize upon the other person's cold words and take the blame for being the one who's hurt.

"I…"

Xin Mengzhen sat back down in her chair and slumped onto the table.

Chen Xuebing knew that this issue absolutely could not be discussed again tonight, unless he was willing to make some kind of thunderbolt-like guarantee, such as "I will only love you forever."

Although he was in a hurry, he absolutely couldn't rush things now.

If he takes the wrong first step, he'll have to keep a one-meter distance from any other girl he talks to from now on.

half an hour.

Chen Xuebing waved his hand on her back, as if to hug her, until Xin Mengzhen twisted her back slightly, as if she had sensed his movement, then he sighed and let go.

A feint conveyed the author's sorrow.

"It's getting late, shall I register your account first?"

Xin Mengzhen hesitated, but did not get up immediately.

She wanted to avoid the issue.

Chen Xuebing knew perfectly well what was going on, but he took the opportunity to let out another long sigh: "If you don't even want to be friends with me, then forget about the bet on opening the shop. I'll go back and handle it myself."

Tonight, the King of Pulling Things Apart has a lot to do.

No matter how outstanding Xin Mengzhen's conditions were, she was still just a young girl experiencing her first love.

Just as Chen Xuebing was about to get up, a hand grabbed him.

Then they quickly let go.

Xin Mengzhen stood up, her eyes slightly red, and shook her head:
"No, it's a promise, I'll open it for you."

Chen Xuebing hesitated for a moment: "Then... let's still be friends."

“Yes, friend.” Xin Mengzhen met his gaze this time, and her smile was captivating.

Chen Xuebing smiled as well.

He knew that although Xin Mengzhen and Yang Qingyue were not selfish people, they were definitely not saints either. Otherwise, on the first day after their rebirth, when his brothers were teaching the mad dog a lesson, these two girls wouldn't have stood not far away as spectators and watched the whole thing, or even gone up to shout "Stop fighting!"

The current triangular situation is stable, but it seems there are some cracks that can be slowly broken.

No rush, take it slow and steady; this is a protracted battle.

He suddenly had a strong urge to smoke a cigarette.

……

While downloading the software, Xin Mengzhen washed her face again.

Upon returning, she entered the cubicle in the room, where a misting sound came from. Xin Mengzhen gently patted her cheeks as she approached the computer.

Upon noticing Chen Xuebing typing on the keyboard, she glanced at the screen and asked softly, "What's this?"

Chen Xuebing noticed that her voice was two octaves lower than usual, and smiled: "Taobao Forum."

A post was displayed on the computer: "My Views on Taobao's Systematic Upgrade (Part Two)".

"My thoughts on systemic upgrades... Part 2? You're still posting this kind of thing? Is this the second one?"

Chen Xuebing nodded: "Yes, they adopted the first one."

"Oh...really?"

Before Xin Mengzhen could even begin to express her surprise, Chen Xuebing continued:
"Then they deleted the post, and the backend review wouldn't let me list any products."

Xin Mengzhen then noticed that Chen Xuebing was typing a message in the text box.

The Taobao seller backend system still has shortcomings, and the backend should provide data on these shortcomings.

Having typed this far, he grabbed the mouse and clicked send.

"Hey, why did you only send half a sentence?"

"...I wasn't really giving them advice, I was just annoyed and teasing them."

Chen Xuebing's lips curled into a smirk as he began replying to the next message.

[Taobao's advertising budget is vastly different from eBay's. Regarding traffic access, Taobao's current approach of abandoning exorbitant promotional costs and adopting a strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside" is correct. However, I believe merchants should be involved. Here are my thoughts.]

send.

Then he pushed the keyboard away, seemingly not intending to write anymore.

Xin Mengzhen was quite exasperated by this kind of punctuation.

What are your thoughts?

Chen Xuebing chuckled: "It's in my belly, of course I can't tell them."

Xin Mengzhen was both angry and amused: "Tell me!"

“It’s just…” Chen Xuebing hesitated, trying to figure out how to put it: “…the competition between Taobao and eBay, you know?”

"I know, I already told you, I've used both websites."

"Well, last May, when Taobao was just launched, eBay was the top dog. Sensing the danger, it directly signed exclusive advertising agreements with the three major portal websites, cutting off Taobao's traffic. Taobao could only promote itself through forums and small and medium-sized websites, plus a free policy for merchants, and only then did it manage to carve out a path. Now, with new financing, it has started competing with eBay for traffic in offline advertising. The two sides currently each occupy half of the shopping website market, and the battle is fierce."

"Oh…"

"But I think that the sources of online traffic for consumer websites have not been fully developed yet, and it is far from the point where we have to compete offline. There are other ways to do it."

Having grown up surrounded by business ideas, Xin Mengzhen had some business acumen. After thinking for a while, she asked with a question in her clever mind, "You mean there are other places to advertise online?"

"Of course, in a fierce war, both sides are fighting with all their might. Only the entry of a third party can change the situation."

Xin Mengzhen quickly replied, "Financing?"

"No, if they rely solely on financing to expand their gains, they will inevitably be manipulated by institutions. Even if they win, the founders will likely be forced out. Now, they would be better off finding a third party to help them for free."

"Who?"

"Their own merchants."

"Does the business help with promotion?"

"The merchants paid for it."

Xin Mengzhen couldn't possibly have imagined a possible answer to Chen Xuebing's question.

"No one would agree to exploiting businesses, would they?!"

Chen Xuebing smiled and nodded.

indeed.

Taobao started implementing paid advertising for merchants in 06, and even gave it a name called "Bringing in Wealth and Treasure," which caused a collective protest from merchants. This was because the platform's total traffic remained unchanged, but everyone had to spend money to engage in internal competition.

Several attempts to pay were met with strong protests.

Then, they finally came up with a solution.

"It's impossible to get them to spend money for unseen benefits unless the money they invest can get a fixed return, Cost Per Sales, where the advertising cost is calculated based on the actual number of products sold. That would solve their problem."

Chen Xuebing, intending to win over Xin Mengzhen's admiration and enhance his own appeal, began to explain in detail:
There are four ways to charge for customer acquisition through online marketing.

CPS, or Cost Per Sales as mentioned earlier, is a transaction-based billing system.

CPA, Cost Per Action, is a fee structured based on the number of valid responses to a questionnaire or registration.

CPM, Cost Per Mille, is a pricing system that calculates charges based on thousands of exposures.

CPC, Cost Per Click, is a billing system based on the number of clicks.

Currently, most websites adopt CPC or CPM. All major websites need page views and clicks, which are the capital for their financing. However, for these merchants, what they want is not traffic, but simply to make money.

The best approach is CPS.

But people have already opened stores on your platform. It was supposed to be free, so you can't charge an advertising fee for every item they sell, right? Isn't that just a disguised commission?

But what if the customer comes from outside the platform? Taobao has established an independent customer acquisition and promotion platform where merchants post their customer acquisition expectations and indicate the compensation they are willing to pay for each order. Netizens, and even some website owners, take orders and promote the products, obtaining an exclusive link. Customers who come through this exclusive link and make a purchase will earn the promoter corresponding revenue.

Merchants who receive extra orders and generate revenue are certainly willing to pay, but what about the buyers? Having used Taobao once, will they use it a second time?

"Oh..." Xin Mengzhen's eyes suddenly widened.

Are you planning to sell this idea to them?

"They've already used my last idea for free... They're supposed to pay after they've used it, so they should at least pay me back for the last one, right?"

Xin Mengzhen frowned.

"What if they don't pay or contact you? Such a good idea, don't you think it's a waste?"

Chen Xuebing chuckled.

No regrets, I have at least ten thousand more ideas like this.

But looking at the beautiful face in front of him, Chen Xuebing smiled gently and said, "I've already shared it with the girl I like, so there's nothing to regret."

The next three seconds showed a bright face gradually turning red.

The atmosphere is somewhat ambiguous.

"Are you...hungry? I'll go cook you a bowl of noodles."

???

Before Chen Xuebing could answer a single word, Xin Mengzhen had already turned around and hurriedly went downstairs.

(End of this chapter)