A sleepless night.
Both investors, Ji Zhe and Chu Hai, woke up with dark circles under their eyes. The reason was simple: neither had slept well the night before.
Though no one had disturbed them, and they had stayed in luxurious business suites, that hadn’t stopped them from scaring themselves. At one point in the middle of the night, they had even—quite synchronously—drafted their wills.
Better safe than sorry.
They had considered calling the police or reaching out to friends and family for help, but after some thought, they abandoned the idea. After all, the other party had already made it clear yesterday—whether they tried to play dirty or by the book, they’d be dealt with thoroughly.
The next morning.
"Morning, President Ji."
"Morning, President Chu."
They ran into each other at the hotel restaurant and couldn’t help but exchange bitter smiles when they saw the exhaustion on each other’s faces. Clearly, neither had rested well.
After a quick breakfast, they headed to the hotel lobby.
As expected, a group of men in black was already waiting for them.
"President Ji, President Chu, this way, please." The leader of the group remained polite.
When they reached the street, they immediately spotted the expensive Maybach, flanked by several black sedans in a protective formation.
Their moods lifted slightly.
The arrangement suggested that the young woman held them in high regard—though they were well aware that the cars and personnel were largely there to prevent any escape attempts.
At least, that’s what they assumed.
But if they ignored that possibility and simply treated the motorcade as an honor guard, the experience felt entirely different.
Soon, the convoy arrived at their destination: the skyscraper housing Wanlong Hui’s headquarters.
As Ji Zhe and Chu Hai stepped out of the car, their eyes immediately landed on the building’s sign.
"Shunchang Building… ‘Prosper for those who comply,’ huh?"
Almost instinctively, their minds filled in the unspoken second half—"Perish for those who defy."
The name, the style—it all fit Liu Yutong’s domineering aura perfectly. Even the choice of office location carried an air of intimidation.
At the same time, they silently congratulated themselves for resisting the urge to call for help last night. Otherwise, they might have truly met their end.
When Liu Yutong learned that Ji Zhe and Chu Hai had arrived, she didn’t go to greet them personally. Instead, she had department heads show them around first.
Of course, Li Xiaohui was to accompany them the entire time—after all, she was now, nominally at least, the head of the investment department.
Though, at the moment, the department consisted solely of her.
However, once the new semester began, Liu Yutong planned to launch her first campus recruitment drive, bringing in fresh talent to assist Li Xiaohui.
Other departments also needed an infusion of new blood. For rapid growth, relying solely on Wanlong Hui’s old guard wouldn’t be enough—they needed a solid talent pipeline.
Liu Yutong intended to recruit from two schools: her alma mater, the University of Finance, and the Institute of Technology where Xiao Bin studied.
Xiao Bin had already proven that even a second-tier institution could produce exceptional talent, especially in technical R&D and internet operations.
Most crucially, the Institute of Technology was home to many skilled hackers.
These students might not match the academic prowess of top-tier universities, but when it came to niche fields—like developing game hacks—they displayed remarkable aptitude.
Moreover, under Xiao Bin’s leadership, they had built a group-buying website in an impressively short time, showcasing their capabilities.
Currently, Wanlong Hui’s group-buying platform—temporarily named Wanlong Group Buy—was already operational.
The name "Wanlong" didn’t sound particularly appealing for a group-buying service, so a rebranding was likely in the future.
Due to technological limitations, the platform was destined to operate at a loss for a long time.
There were three main reasons:
First, LBS technology was underdeveloped. Simply put, delivery couldn’t pinpoint user locations as precisely as in later years, severely hampering efficiency.
Second, third-party payment adoption remained low. Credit card payments online weren’t widespread, and users were still wary of prepaying.
Third, big data infrastructure was immature. The platform couldn’t yet efficiently or accurately push promotions from nearby stores within a five-kilometer radius.
Beyond these, there was another critical factor.
In this era, most Chinese investors and entrepreneurs preferred replicating business models already proven successful abroad.
Whether e-commerce sites, portals, or other internet products, they were typically imported and localized only after gaining traction overseas.
The group-buying craze truly took off after Groupon’s successful profitability in 2009—the second half of next year.
It was only then that the founder of a certain future group-buying giant, after his previous project was shut down due to regulatory issues, would pivot and start anew.
That period also marked the beginning of a legendary industry showdown later dubbed the "Thousand Group Buy Wars."
This fully illustrates that, to some extent, domestic entrepreneurs and investors tend to follow international trends, preferring to enter the market only after seeing clear results.
Now, however, the situation is different.
The Wanlong Association will become the world's first company to officially operate a group-buying website, nearly a year ahead of GrOUpOn, which is expected to launch in November this year.
But this project is a massive money-burner, which is precisely why she decided to keep those two capitalists—no, investors—around.
Since it’s going to burn cash, why not let others foot the bill in the early stages?
Similarly, this project will eventually be spun off from the Wanlong Association’s system, retaining only the direct operation rights in Bright Pearl City as a benchmark and industry trendsetter.
Liu Yutong pondered for a long time and came up with a plan.
First, cramming all the projects she wanted to participate in under the Wanlong Association’s umbrella wouldn’t be ideal.
For one, the structure would become bloated and chaotic.
For another, it would face too many restrictions. Capital chases profit, and so do people. Since the Wanlong Association couldn’t go public, the only solution was to spin off projects suitable for IPOs and let them make money independently.
Thus, she prepared to make the necessary cuts.
Bright Pearl City, as her absolute stronghold, would require all local projects to be independently operated by the Wanlong Association.
Once operations expanded beyond Bright Pearl City, they would be spun off, with Wanlong retaining only controlling shares.
In short, she wanted Bright Pearl City to serve as a benchmark—not just locally, but as an industry standard and trendsetter for the entire country, even the world.
