Chen Yiran had a very bad impression of Jack Ma, but after all, this was Hangzhou, and they had just met with government leaders together, so she still had to give him some face.

Jack Ma is currently enjoying the peak of his reputation in China, and in two or three years, he may even be elevated to a god-like status.

However, Chen Yiran, who was once a good young man who would step in to help others steal manhole covers, has gradually turned into an arrogant and self-important believer in the power of good fortune.

In fact, among the three tech giants in China at this time, Jack Ma is arguably the most adept at hype.

Even though each project is simply a localization of foreign ideas, he insists on claiming that he changed the world.

Moreover, it is also the company that has benefited the most from national dividends. For one thing, by taking advantage of China's policy of not supporting contractual control, it forcibly bypassed Yahoo, which held 43% of the shares, and SoftBank, which held 30%, and forcibly separated Alipay from Alibaba, turning it into a company owned by Jack Ma and Xie Shihuang.

However, in reality, many companies faced the same problem back then.

Tencent's approach is consistently laid-back and unwaveringly indifferent. They're waiting for instructions from above; if they really have to take action, then we'll see.

After active communication with the central bank, the central bank finally granted the license, but kept a close eye on Tenpay's operations.

JD Finance and Alipay are in very similar situations, but JD Finance has a much more disciplined approach. The board of directors carefully discussed and came up with a very reasonable market price of 143 billion yuan for the split, which can be said to be a very dignified separation.

As for Alipay, Jack Ma orchestrated a staggering price of 3.3 million RMB. Although Yahoo and SoftBank later signed supplementary agreements under pressure to save face, there's no doubt that both Yahoo and SoftBank were badly burned.

This also led to China's subsequent VIE structure becoming a long-term shadow in Western capital markets, a risk factor that founders could use to overturn policies at any time, and also contributed to a crisis of confidence in many Chinese concept stocks.

Jack Ma, however, actively guided public opinion online, appearing to be taking the blame for national policies.

His success in a series of public opinion campaigns made him increasingly arrogant, and in 2019 he made the shocking statement that being able to work 996 is a great blessing.

Of course, the most outrageous was his furious speech in 2020, which targeted the views of a former vice-national level official, the former governor of the central bank, the governor of the central bank, and the vice minister of finance.

Jack Ma made a grand entrance as the finale, opening by saying he was going to throw bombs today, and then detonating them one by one, refuting them from all angles.

You say we shouldn't take the wrong path of speculation and gambling? I'll say the country doesn't have any systemic risk because there isn't one.

You say that young people's excessive spending through debt is not a good thing for the future? I'd say that even national banks still operate with a pawnshop mentality.

You say we should accelerate opening up while preventing risks and building firewalls? I'll say we don't need document experts to formulate rules.

You said you want to prevent fintech from inducing excessive consumption, prevent regulatory arbitrage, and prevent winner-takes-all monopolies.

I said we can't manage airports the same way we manage train stations.

As everyone knows, Alipay's IPO failed. It was subsequently severely punished, and Jack Ma ultimately suffered a backlash from public opinion.

Chen Yiran naturally disliked this kind of person. Cooperation was out of the question; it was enough to maintain appearances.

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Yuhu Bay on Santai Mountain Road in the West Lake Scenic Area was originally the site of the Song Dynasty's Hall of Worthies, which enshrined Hangzhou's historical worthies. The seven small buildings, designed by artist Ai Moumou, are arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper, and the entrance bears the three characters "Jiangnan Hui" inscribed by Jin Yong himself.

The original eight founders were all capable individuals: Wanxiang, Greentown, Fuxing, Yintai, Qingchunbao, as well as NetEase, Shanda, and Alibaba. The combined market value of all these companies was an astronomical figure.

They set an annual membership fee of 20 yuan, and there is also a trial period; you can only become a full member within a year.

They even set up a Jiangnan token with a bit of chivalry. Each of the eight founding members held one token, which could only be used once and would be invalid after use.

Whenever anyone faces a business crisis, the other seven, regardless of their assets or location, will immediately step in to provide assistance.

Jack Ma proudly introduced all this to Chen Yiran and warmly invited Chen Yiran to join the association.

Chen Yiran didn't refuse; it was just a matter of saving face anyway.

This Jiangnan gathering was quite legendary; although he couldn't remember it, Jasmine did.

According to a Douyin marketing account, Greentown's financial chain collapsed in 2012, and Song Weiping himself later admitted in a book that he was preparing to flee to Australia.

At a crucial moment, Wharf Holdings acted as a white knight, buying Greentown shares at a premium. Sun Hongbin's Sunac also entered the fray. Jack Ma, a master of public relations, didn't personally contribute any capital, but instead loudly encouraged employees to buy Greentown properties, generating considerable media coverage.

Although the exterior design of the building is very extravagant, resembling a temple, the actual banquet hall is nothing special.

When Jack Ma and Chen Yiran arrived, there were already several people waiting for them.

Chen Yiran greeted them one by one and exchanged contact information during their conversation.

The most proactive one is Ding Lei of NetEase, a pig farmer whom Chen Yiran hates very much, a bad guy who cheated him out of a lot of money in his past life.

He directly inquired about the possibility of cooperation: "How exactly do you plan to bring your bean bun technology to China? You'll probably still be licensing it to Wanguoyuan for the mainland market, right? You're not going to do it yourself, are you?"

Chen Yiran nodded: "Probably. I never liked working on the consumer side, not to mention that regulatory review is too troublesome."

"Oh, then why don't you actively seek us out to sell? Our NetEase News, Youdao Dictionary, and email can all be linked to Doubao."

Chen Yiran shrugged: "Why don't you come and buy from me? We can negotiate the price. I don't have any plans for the domestic market right now; it's too much trouble."

That's the truth. For people who are used to earning dollars, the current domestic market isn't worth the trouble. They'd rather just relax and earn licensing fees.

Since we have the core technology, we can just let others develop the market and collect the money ourselves.

Jack Ma's face stiffened. He had originally wanted to talk to Chen Yiran about monopolizing the distribution rights of bean buns in the country.

However, he didn't directly disagree. After all, cooperation isn't something that can be achieved overnight, and he planned to talk to Chen Yiran alone later.

We weren't actually that close, but the atmosphere during the meal was quite nice, like a meal with drinking buddies.

When Jack Ma took out his phone, everyone smiled and took a picture.

After a hearty meal and drinks, Chen Yiran pretended to join the group. Everyone dispersed at the entrance, and Chen Yiran was just about to get into his car in the parking lot when someone called out to him from behind.

Chen Yiran turned around and saw Lu Weiding, the heir of Wanxiang Group, with whom he had just had dinner.

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