To some extent, Chen Pingjiang's life had been completely transformed.
In mid-June, when he took time to go to school for his final exams, Chen Pingjiang was almost swarmed by people.
His classmates were too enthusiastic, so enthusiastic that even CEO Chen was a bit dumbfounded.
After much difficulty breaking free from the crowd, Chen Pingjiang entered the exam hall, only to find the invigilator staring intently at him, and lingering around him unnecessarily.
If Chen Pingjiang had been a good student and could answer everything, it would have been fine.
But the truth was, he knew nothing.
He could write something for subjective questions, but faced with calculation problems, he was completely lost.
For multiple-choice questions, he just picked C, damn it, it had to be right!
After leaving the exam hall, Chen Pingjiang quickly slipped away.
Only when this wave passed would life calm down a bit.
When he returned to the dormitory, Chen Pingjiang strangely noticed several workers installing cameras downstairs from the dorm building, and when he reached the 6th-floor corridor, he saw someone else installing cameras.
"What's going on outside?"
Chen Pingjiang, who had just sat down, turned to ask Zhao Shaoyang.
This guy also handed in his paper quite early.
He looked at Chen Pingjiang with a hint of resentment:
"Brother Chen, because of you, I feel like I'm under house arrest."
"Bullshit, I saw surveillance cameras being installed downstairs. It must be for everyone's safety. I'll go check the fifth floor."
With that, Chen Pingjiang ran to the fifth floor and returned shortly after.
His mouth, which was originally harder than a corpus cavernosum, was now limp.
"Damn it, you think I've caused trouble for you, don't you? Tomorrow, I'm going to the city to buy a 500-square-meter large flat. I'm not staying in this crappy dorm anymore."
Zhao Shaoyang had a constipated expression:
"Brother Chen, I suspect you're flaunting it. You must have eaten a lot of sugar lately; your urine must be sweet. Besides, they've already installed them. If you leave now, won't I have suffered for nothing?"
Actually, the school wasn't to blame.
The current Chen Pingjiang was destined not to be ordinary.
With a net worth of over a billion, if anything happened to him, they would truly be in deep trouble.
Who would dare to joke about Chen Pingjiang's personal safety?
And who could guarantee that these restless teenagers wouldn't occasionally lose their temper?
Currently, there was a sentiment hoping Chen Pingjiang could move out of the University of Finance and Economics, to save them from too much pressure.
However, when this suggestion was brought up, it was immediately and ruthlessly suppressed.
Are you kidding me?
We're eager to invite Chen Pingjiang back, and you want me to arrange for him to leave?
Are you sent by another school!?
When a group of people returned from their exams, Chen Pingjiang asked,
"When are you all going home?"
Dong Tinghui replied,
"We're leaving tomorrow. CEO Chen, do you have any plans?"
Rubbing his chin for a while, Chen Pingjiang felt it was time to buy a house in Dongjiang.
His commute was already very long now.
Always running back to the dorm wasn't practical, especially during summer vacation when the school would be empty, and staying in a hotel every day would also be a hassle.
Once everyone was there, Chen Pingjiang took his boys to dinner, which served as their farewell meal for the academic year.
On the way, when they passed Yan Yan's school, Chen Pingjiang picked her up.
"Where are we going?"
Yan Yan asked curiously after getting into the car.
"To look at houses."
Noticing the confusion on Yan Yan's face, Chen Pingjiang smiled and said,
"Summer vacation is starting soon, and I have nowhere to live. I can't stay in a hotel all day. Besides, the school is becoming increasingly inconvenient now."
When he said that, Yan Yan also felt the same way.
It seemed a bit strange for a tycoon with a net worth of over a billion to live in a school dormitory, no matter how one thought about it.
In the first half of 2007, Dongjiang's housing prices were still relatively stable.
They would only skyrocket after 2008.
At this time, the average housing price in Dongjiang was only 5,000-6,000 yuan/sqm.
Buying a house now was almost like making money while lying down.
In fact, many companies were already eager to enter the real estate sector.
However, Chen Pingjiang had no fondness for this industry.
After all, he wasn't really interested in song and dance troupes.
Profits privatized, debts corporatized, and social risks externalized.
Those who know, know.
Watching Chen Pingjiang drive further and further, even reaching what felt like the suburbs, Yan Yan asked curiously,
"Where is this? You're not planning to buy here, are you?"
"Haven't you been to Hexi before?"
Chen Pingjiang asked with a smile.
Future Hexi would see its value skyrocket.
However, at this time, Hexi was remotely located and was jokingly called "Ghost City" by the older generation of Dongjiang residents.
Chen Pingjiang directly chose Vanke's Guangming City among the earliest commercial housing developments in Hexi.
It was truly cheap.
The opening price was only 7,500 yuan/sqm.
Chen Pingjiang didn't even bat an eyelid and bought a three-bedroom apartment.
"I plan to leave this apartment here after buying it. The current Hexi's supporting facilities are not yet complete. It's still a bit far from where I work."
The two then found a second-hand apartment near Huijin Tower.
Fortunately, Dongjiang didn't have purchase restrictions yet, so the procedures were very simple.
Chen Pingjiang bought two apartments for just over two million yuan.
This made Chen Pingjiang sigh with emotion.
Over a decade later, Vanke's Guangming City, with the best dual school district in Hexi, reached 80,000 yuan/sqm at its peak price, a tenfold increase.
......
Chen Yizhou had been extremely stressed lately, especially after seeing the news of Renrenwang's Series A funding; he even developed blisters on the corners of his mouth.
He truly didn't understand how that inconspicuous rival of yesteryear had inexplicably climbed to such a height.
In fact, the current Qianxiang Group had entered a difficult period of development.
Mop.com, under Chen Yizhou, had planned to go public but unfortunately failed.
Afterward, due to tight funds, it even carried out large-scale layoffs last September.
It was precisely for this reason that Chen Yizhou relentlessly pursued Wang Xing and eventually acquired Xiaonei.com.
Currently, the operational focus of the entire Qianxiang Group had largely shifted to Xiaonei.com.
As the former "Facebook of China," Xiaonei.com had a significant amount of Chen Yizhou's effort poured into it.
It deeply cultivated the university student market and further penetrated into the high school market.
Just as Chen Yizhou was full of confidence, Renrenwang appeared out of nowhere.
Ironically, Renrenwang kicked Chen Yizhou where it hurt.
He watched helplessly as Renrenwang continuously captured market share in the white-collar sector and even brought the battle to the university and high school markets.
After all, university and high school students also loved playing Renren's Parking Wars.
Mop.com, having failed its IPO, was clearly out of the picture.
The current Xiaonei.com was practically Chen Yizhou's lifeline.
But encountering another powerful rival, it would be strange if he wasn't stressed.
Since starting his business, Chen Yizhou had always struggled.
ChinaRen, which he initially founded, caught the internet bubble.
It burned through all its cash but couldn't make a profit and was eventually acquired by Sohu.
After subsequently founding Qianxiang Interactive Group, Chen Yizhou's ventures became increasingly diverse.
He started with SP (Service Provider) business.
Just as it started to show promise, the SP business entered a slump.
He then transitioned to communities, but finding low growth in communities, he switched to portals.
When portals faced setbacks, he tried popular concepts like video, classifieds, and network downloads.
All resulted in dismal failures.
He made the accelerator DuDu, acquired WoW China Network, acquired UUme, acquired Mop.com, acquired Donews.
It was all acquisitions.
One could say that the current Xiaonei.com was his last resort.
If it failed again, Chen Yizhou wouldn't know how to continue in the business.
"Damn it, I've started so many businesses and none have succeeded. How did he suddenly rise?"
But one also had to admit Chen Yizhou's vision.
He immediately saw potential in the then-small Xiaonei.com and also paid attention to the short video sharing domain in 2006.
An MIT Master's, a Stanford PhD.
Any one of these degrees could rub Chen Pingjiang's face in the dirt.
Not to mention that the University of Finance and Economics behind Chen Pingjiang was just a lowly second-tier university.
The news of Renrenwang's successful funding brought immense pressure to Chen Yizhou, forcing him to quickly start the next round of funding.
Otherwise, if Renrenwang developed vigorously after getting the money, with one rising and the other falling, Xiaonei.com might really be unseated.
"How did the various VCs/PEs respond?"
Chen Yizhou asked in the meeting room.
He felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
Originally, he planned to wait a bit for this round of funding, to get a better price by waiting for Xiaonei.com's performance to improve further.
Renrenwang's sudden emergence disrupted his funding rhythm.
If he didn't seize this wave to raise some money, by the time Renrenwang increasingly showed signs of becoming a king, the price wouldn't be so attractive.
However, unlike Renrenwang, where Chen Pingjiang was pursued by 80 VCs/PEs, Chen Yizhou's side needed to proactively contact them.
"So far, General Atlantic, DCM, TVC, Legend Capital, and SoftBank have all expressed interest in us."
Chen Pingjiang knew the executive had more to say but was too embarrassed.
These institutions that showed interest in Qianxiang Group were all those who didn't get a ticket to Renrenwang.
They didn't want to miss this wave of social networking and could only turn their attention back to Xiaonei.com.
After all, although Xiaonei.com's current PV and other data couldn't compare to Renrenwang's, it still significantly led Renrenwang in registered users due to its first-mover advantage, even though this advantage was quickly being eroded.
The executive's voice continued:
"But they also expressed concerns about Renrenwang and were unsure if we could seize the social gaming trend. Therefore, I personally suggest that we hold a funding reception to instill confidence in the various VC/PE firms."
Chen Yizhou nodded.
"You arrange it. I will prepare thoroughly for it."
After that, he asked another person,
"How is the development of our game project progressing?"
"It's only about 50% developed. Including testing time, it's expected to launch by the end of July or early August."
Chen Yizhou calculated the time and issued a strict order:
"It must launch by the end of July at the very latest. We can't wait until early August. By early August, the day lilies will be cold."
"Understood, CEO Chen. I will have the game development department work overtime."
"Tell them that if they complete the development within the required timeframe, the company will offer substantial rewards."
After arranging everything, Chen Yizhou stood by the window, gazing at the dense rows of buildings in the distance, as if his gaze reached all the way to his rival, Renrenwang.
(End of chapter)