From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 178, "One Slash," is now available!

On the last day of the National Day holiday, in Li Mingyuan's living room.

"Dad, I want to watch 'Running Man'!" Eight-year-old Li Hao clutched the remote control, fiercely protecting his right to turn off the TV.

Li Mingyuan asked sternly, "Have you finished your homework?"

"I'm done writing! I finished writing it yesterday!" Xiao Lihao nodded hurriedly.

"Did Mom agree?"

Xiao Lihao immediately turned his head and looked at his mother, Wang Fang, who was cutting fruit in the kitchen, with eager eyes.

Wang Fang suppressed a laugh, deliberately avoiding looking at her son, and continued cutting fruit.

Little Li Hao became anxious: "Dad, please, all my classmates watched it, but I didn't. I can't join in their conversations."

Li Mingyuan actually wanted to see it too.

My colleagues at work have been talking about this new variety show these past few days; apparently, it's incredibly popular.

As a middle-aged man, he was naturally embarrassed to offer to watch variety shows, but he conveniently used his son as an excuse—

He sighed, looking like he was at his wit's end, and took the remote from his son: "Fine, fine, it's settled then, you'll go to sleep after you're done watching."

"Yay!" Little Li Hao cheered.

I turned on the TV, tuned to Hunan TV, and the program had just started.

The first episode has already aired once, but the TV station is rebroadcasting it.

Li Mingyuan sat down on the sofa with a cup of tea, and Wang Fang also brought over a fruit platter. The family of three snuggled up on the sofa and started watching TV.

At the very beginning of the show, Xiao Lihao was laughing so hard he was doubled over.

When Chen He fell into the water, he laughed so hard he slid off the sofa and sat on the floor still laughing: "Hahaha, Dad, look at him! He's totally stunned!"

Li Mingyuan couldn't help but laugh too.

Wang Fang was looking down at her phone when she heard laughter. She looked up and saw the father and son happy, which made her happy too.

"This show is quite interesting," she said softly.

Next, Zheng Kai appeared, and he excitedly waved his arms and legs, saying, "This is the girl in our class's favorite! Several girls in our class say he's handsome!"

Wang Fang laughed and said, "I don't think he's as handsome as your dad."

Li Mingyuan said smugly, "Right?"

Gradually, in the harmonious atmosphere of the family of three, the program ended, and the end credits began to roll.

Just then, a "GG" message came from the TV.

This program is exclusively sponsored by Pinduoduo! Go to Pinduoduo and search for "Running Man" to purchase official merchandise! Phone cases, keychains, and autographed photos of celebrities are available in limited quantities!

Xiao Lihao's eyes lit up instantly.

He rolled over, jumped off the sofa, and threw himself into his mother's arms: "Mom! I want this merchandise! My classmate's parents bought it for him!"

Wang Fang was jolted backward by his bump. After regaining her balance, she helplessly pushed him away, saying, "Go find your dad."

Little Li Hao immediately turned to his father.

Li Mingyuan wanted to refuse, but when he saw his son's bright eyes, he swallowed his words.

He thought for a moment and asked, "What was your score on the last midterm exam?"

"100 points!" Little Li Hao puffed out his little chest.

"Hmm—" Li Mingyuan pondered for a moment, "I originally promised to take you to KFC if you got 100 points on the test. How about this, if you're willing to exchange KFC for merchandise, I'll buy it for you."

Xiao Lihao tilted his head and thought for a moment, then nodded vigorously: "Okay! Deal!"

Li Mingyuan took out his phone, and his son immediately came over, his little head almost touching the screen.

Li Mingyuan uses a Xiaomi phone, which has Pinduoduo pre-installed on it.

After opening the app, he was first surprised by the prices on the homepage.

"Are these things so cheap?"

But without thinking much about it, he directly searched for "Running Man".

The page pops up, showing a row of neatly arranged surrounding products.

Little Li Hao immediately spotted Zheng Kai's keychain: "Dad, I want this! And this too! Zheng Kai's phone case!"

Li Mingyuan clicked into the product details page and was about to place an order when he suddenly noticed a conspicuous red banner at the top of the page.

[Bargain for free, invite friends to cut the price and take it home for free]

He paused for a moment, then clicked on it.

The page redirects, and the price-cutting interface for this keychain appears.

System notification: [Congratulations! You've become the 13847th user to negotiate the price! You've automatically reduced the price by 60%, leaving 40%. Invite a friend to help you reduce the price further, and you can claim the item for free!]

The progress bar shows: 60%, 40% remaining, 24 hours remaining.

"This is... can I take it for free?" Li Mingyuan was somewhat surprised.

Li Mingyuan thought for a moment, and since it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, he said, "Wife, take out your phone and help me cut it open."

Li Mingyuan also bought his wife a Xiaomi phone, which had Yuzhuan Pinduoduo pre-installed, so Wang Fang didn't need to download it; she could simply click the link in WeChat to go directly to the site.

Wang Fang was also curious: could it really be taken for free?

She was redirected via a link sent via WeChat and clicked to ask for help cutting the price.

The progress bar is moving.

"Your friends and family have helped you cut the price by 20%, leaving you with 20%!"

The progress bar has reached 80%.

"Wow! I'm 80!" Xiao Lihao jumped up excitedly.

Li Mingyuan was also somewhat surprised; the progress was much faster than he had imagined.

20% remaining.

He thought for a moment and sent a WeChat message to his good friend Lao Zhang: "Lao Zhang, could you click this link for me to download an app?"

Please help me cut it in half.

Old Zhang quickly replied: "What? A slash?"

"You order first, and I'll explain after you've ordered."

Old Zhang clicked the link, downloaded Pinduoduo, registered and logged in, and helped cut the price.

The progress bar is moving.

"Your friends and family have helped you cut the price by 10%, leaving you with 10%!"

Progress bar: 90%.

10% short.

Li Mingyuan stared at the 90% progress bar, feeling inexplicably a little excited.

Just a little bit closer.

He then contacted his cousin from his hometown.

My cousin was quite quick to accept the WeChat message; she downloaded it, registered, and then made a purchase.

The progress bar jumped again—

"Your friends and family have helped you cut the price by 9%, leaving you with 1%!"

Progress bar: 99%.

Li Mingyuan was stunned.

Still 1% short?

No, is this reasonable?!

First cut 60, second cut 90, third cut 99?

Why are there fewer and fewer pieces as you cut them?

It's just a 1% difference, isn't it?

Wang Fang leaned over to look: "Still a little short? Let's find someone else."

Li Mingyuan flipped through his contacts and then called his colleague Lao Li.

Old Li also helped download it and cut the price.

"bite""

"Congratulations! You've successfully negotiated the price! You've received a brand-name item for free. Please fill in your shipping address!"

Progress bar: 100%.

Hey, it worked!

You can really get it for free.

Li Mingyuan filled in the address and was just about to close the app when his phone rang. It was Lao Zhang calling.

"Hey? Old Li, what was that thing you told me to chop up? It's really free?"

Li Mingyuan laughed: "Sure, I just received it. I just need to fill in the address and wait for delivery."

"Really? I'll try it too! My son wants that merchandise too." Old Zhang was about to hang up when he added, "By the way, your Pinduoduo is a sponsor of Running Man, right? That name sounds familiar."

"Yeah, yeah, that one, you watch Running Man too?"

After the two older men chatted warmly for a while, they hung up the phone and suddenly felt someone tugging at their clothes.

Looking down, I saw little Li Hao tilting his head back, his eyes sparkling: "Daddy, the food is free, so KFC—"

Li Mingyuan was taken aback, exchanged a glance with Wang Fang, and then both of them burst out laughing.

Wang Fang pinched her son's cheek: "You little rascal, you've got a good plan."

Xiao Lihao chuckled.

Li Mingyuan smiled and ruffled his hair: "Alright, alright, you keep your word, I'll take you this weekend."

"Yay!" Little Li Hao cheered again.

A week later, the package arrived.

Little Li Hao couldn't wait to tear open the packaging, stick the name tag on his clothes, and then said to his parents, "Mom and Dad, I went to the park with my friends to play the name tag ripping game today."

"Then be careful not to fall," the mother replied from the bedroom.

"Okay—" Little Li Hao, who had already run far away, said, "I understand."

Meanwhile, in the bedroom...

Wang Fang is completely obsessed.

After helping her husband cut a price that day, she casually downloaded Pinduoduo. She only intended to browse casually, but ended up getting hooked.

She tried the "Get Free Fruit" ad on the homepage.

There was a 9.9 yuan kitchen paper towel deal with free shipping in the "Bargain and Get Free" section. She tried it and got a few friends to help her get it for free.

Then there's a one-yuan trash bag, five-yuan slippers, and a three-yuan-eighth-yuan dishcloth —

Over the course of a week, Wang Fang placed a bunch of orders on Pinduoduo, but the total cost was less than 100 yuan.

She also discovered a pattern: by targeting new users who had never downloaded Pinduoduo, the deals were incredibly fast; almost three people could get a 20-yuan item off the shelves.

As a result, her group of close friends turned into a Pinduoduo price-cutting mutual aid group.

The group receives 99+ messages every day, all of them links to price-cutting deals.

Wang Fang looked at the box of mangoes she had just received and smiled contentedly.

Free things are always great.