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Chapter 948: Chapter 831: Pouring Chicken Soup into Each Other (Subscribe Please!)
Tang Qing really wished he could stop thinking about everything every day.
Unfortunately,
when you’re in the Jianghu,
you can’t control your own fate.
Once you’ve embarked on this path,
there’s no stopping.
"Boss Ma is giving me too much credit. I’m just a university student who hopes for a peaceful life and wants to focus on what I love. Everything else is external to me, don’t you think?" Tang Qing sighed.
Upon hearing this, Ma Yun was dumbfounded.
Such words
can only be said by someone who has succeeded—that’s called staying true to your initial goals.
If said by someone who hasn’t succeeded, it’s called lack of ambition.
"That’s true, money is just a number. Doing what you want and deriving joy from it is what’s most important," Ma Yun said like a true university professor, serving up inspiration without needing a script.
However,
Tang Qing liked it.
Whether it was instructive didn’t matter.
It at least sounded cheerful.
After exchanging motivations, their conversation moved onto the main topic.
"Boss Tang, I was truly amazed by the press conference you just held. I’ve had similar ideas myself, but I hadn’t yet initiated a project before you went ahead and developed it.
Moreover, the software’s functionality is quite comprehensive and mature, already up to the market release standard, making me even think about trying it in our company," Ma Yun praised wholeheartedly.
"Thank you, great minds think alike, huh?" Tang Qing smiled.
"Haha, yes, I also feel that way, especially about Xiao Xiao, the small business information exchange platform. It gave me a lot of inspiration. I think there might be an opportunity for us to collaborate in this area," Ma Yun said seriously.
He had just come from the conference hall.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that as this platform grew, it could pose a significant threat to Alibaba’s related business. So, he thought about whether they could collaborate or even if Alibaba could leverage this trend for rapid growth.
"Opportunity for collaboration." Tang Qing narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, I just downloaded your software and tried it briefly. I must say, it’s an extremely excellent piece of enterprise management software, both practical and versatile.
Success is inevitable, and given the overlap between the information platform and Alibaba’s services, I think, in this area, we have a potential for collaboration. We at Alibaba have a huge customer base that could grow this platform..."
Ma Yun took a full five minutes to elaborate his theory.
Tang Qing kept nodding.
Listening to Ma Yun was quite interesting, but as for the collaboration he mentioned, Tang Qing wasn’t interested. Xiao Xiao was merely an icebreaker; features like business information exchange and order matching were unpaid supplementary functionalities.
It wasn’t that Tang Qing didn’t want to charge.
But because he couldn’t solve issues of trust and secure transactions, once involved, if he took money and problems occurred, he couldn’t disentangle himself from such headaches, which Tang Qing would rather not deal with.
He prioritized offering business services and the information advantage that came with them.
Now Ma Yun was discussing collaboration based on these minor features.
Tang Qing couldn’t see any necessity for collaboration, but it also made him realize that the seemingly negligible features, which he didn’t care much about, could push Ma Yun to want collaboration desperately.
It all felt a bit odd.
Having said his piece,
Ma Yun looked at Tang Qing.
"Boss Tang, I wonder what you think?"
Tang Qing shook his head, helplessly saying, "Boss Ma, regarding collaboration, to be honest, the business information exchange platform is merely a minor detail for us, serving as just a small auxiliary function, so I don’t know where to start with this partnership."
"..."
Ma Yun was speechless.
What he cared about, others didn’t take seriously at all. He felt a bit choked up and forced a bitter smile, "Boss Tang, you really did give me quite a shock, but I want to know what your vision for Xiao Xiao is?"
Tang Qing explained, "Well, as our Group’s CEO Dou mentioned at the press conference, the core is Sky Eye’s business services. Xiao Xiao is merely a small app meant to expand our user base and recognition."
Upon hearing this,
Ma Yun nodded.
Although he didn’t entirely believe it,
It seemed that today’s cooperation wouldn’t succeed, as the other party showed neither intention nor need. He could only nod and say, "I understand. Although we can’t cooperate this time, there might be a chance in the future."
Tang Qing smiled and said, "I would also be very willing to work with companies like yours, most importantly with Boss Ma himself. I see potential in you, and should you need financing in the future, I might be able to help out."
After finishing,
Tang Qing handed over his business card. Currently, the majority of Alibaba’s stocks were not in the hands of Ma Yun but with SoftBank and Yahoo. Previously, Tang Qing felt that such a company was not necessary to get involved with.
However,
After personally meeting Ma Yun,
He was quite impressed.
Investing a bit was not a big deal.
"Thank you,"
Ma Yun quickly accepted with both hands.
He also gave Tang Qing a business card.
Ma Yun understood what Tang Qing meant—if short on funds, he could help. It’s well-known that in internet companies, especially the current Alibaba without as many profitable ventures as Tencent, money was constantly being burned.
Tang Qing said this,
Clearly uninterested in their stocks, simply offering help because he thought well of him.
The conversation that followed became much more harmonious.
Ma Yun began to talk about his own rags-to-riches story.
Tang Qing listened with great interest.
He discovered many things were different from what the books said,
And from what the media promoted. Alibaba’s early entrepreneurial days were filled with hardships, fatigue, crises, and confusion, along with deceit—the sort of things the media and average people seldom talk about.
Tang Qing took it all in.
In the simple words,
He slowly witnessed the transformation of a university teacher.
He saw the efforts and perseverance of this generation of internet people.
This was what Tang Qing most admired about Ma Yun. Comparatively, Alibaba’s development path was extremely bumpy, unlike Old Ma’s Tencent, which, after initial difficulties, started on its unstoppable money-making journey.
One Penguin.
It established an unshakable position with various associated paid services that made it enviable, constantly imitating, and ever-expanding—smooth sailing all the way, unstoppable.
But Alibaba,
Took six years to start turning a profit overall.
Always short on funds.
This pressure,
Tang Qing, having been a company boss for so long, could somewhat understand. Although burning investors’ money didn’t come from his own pocket, the urgent desire to turn things around could make a person lose sleep at night.
Next,
Ma Yun would still need to busy himself for six more years to help Alibaba’s financial situation turn from negative to positive, and then he would approach the brilliance that Tang Qing had seen in his previous life.
After chatting for over an hour,
Ma Yun left.
Because he had to catch a plane, he promised to invite Tang Qing for a meal the next time he came to Shanghai.
Beneath the tea house,
Watching Ma Yun’s car drive away,
Tang Qing stood for a long time.
Such entrepreneurs are abundant in China, yet most collapse along the way, unknown and unremarkable, becoming just a statistic in the tally of failed businesses, part of the sad stories in the overwhelming tides.
