February 18th, Day After Lantern Festival
At 10 AM sharp, the flash sale items from Gaopeng.com appeared in FoxTao's Super Cashback pool.
In a Shanghai dorm room, Zhang Peng—now a loyal F2 member after scoring a free iPhone—opened the app as usual. His eyes widened.
"A KFC family bucket... 89 yuan originally, 17.8 yuan cashback, final price 71.2 yuan?"
"Peng-ge, what did you just say?" His roommate spun around. "How much?"
"71.2! 20% off!"
"Holy shit! Send me the link! It's 113 à la carte!"
Zhang Peng immediately shared it to their dorm QQ group.
"The Kung Fu mushroom chicken set is only 12.8 yuan—4 yuan cheaper than group buys!"
"FoxTao's insane! How do they get these prices?"
As they explored, Zhang Peng made another discovery. "They added eLong Travel to the cashback mall. Extra 3–5% off hotels, flights, train tickets..."
"Train tickets too?! This app's gonna bankrupt me!"
Day One Results:
Flash sale items: 93,000 units sold
Regular items: 77,000 units
Total: 170,000 units
Sales: 9.02 million yuan
The numbers shocked everyone—KFC, Kung Fu, Little Sheep, and especially competitors like Meituan and Lashou.
Gaopeng lost over 2 million on the promotions but gained 18,000+ new customers and significant market share—results no search engine or subway ad could match.
Day Two: 7.36 million yuan.
Day Three: 5.17 million yuan.
Three-day total: 21.55 million yuan—surpassing Gaopeng's previous monthly sales and hitting 30% of Lashou's monthly volume.
Cost: 6.7 million yuan. ROI over 3. New customers: 70,000.
Back in Room 206, Chen Yansen's phone started ringing.
First Meituan. Then Lashou. Then Wowo. Even QQ Group Buying.
All wanted to replicate Gaopeng's strategy.
He agreed to all—whoever offered the highest ad budget went first. These VC-backed platforms weren't short on cash. He could easily skim tens of millions.
The downside? Group-buying commissions settled three months after coupon redemption—far slower than Taobao's one month or B2C's two.
Song Yuncheng, managing the Gaopeng project, wouldn't see her commission until June.
Hu Yun sat to Chen Yansen's right, laptop open. "Brother Sen, yesterday's new user growth: 600,000. Daily active users broke 1.5 million for the first time. Zihao says at this rate, we'll hit 2 million before Q1 ends."
"New users are only 40%. We're still too reliant on 0-yuan discounts and external ads." Chen Yansen frowned. "Talk to Zhuang Rui. Reactivate dormant users—those no orders in 7 days, no login in 30 days. We paid real money for them."
"Already discussed. Once Zhuang Rui finishes the 1-yuan new user plan, we'll use a new-user template to launch a subsidy campaign for dormant accounts."
"Good."
Hu Yun left. Chen Yansen opened the "1-yuan purchase" UI—dark gold theme. Existing users could invite new users to get a chance at 1-yuan items. New users just had to register.
The products had 50–100% commissions. Some new cake e-commerce sites even offered free cakes plus 30 yuan per new customer.
Average cost: 20 yuan to acquire a user.
While users waited for cashback, targeted red packet subsidies would guide them to explore Super Cashback, 9.9 Deals, Search Cashback, and Mall Cashback—increasing repurchase rates, lowering acquisition costs.
How does FoxTao grow without spending the 560 million Series A funding?
Chen Yansen never hesitated to spend.
With 0-yuan discounts, referrals, 1-yuan purchases, and ads, he planned to burn 100 million per month to stabilize daily active users at 3 million within six months.
Run out of money? Raise more.
The group-buying war, the future ride-hailing battles—all burned investor cash. Equity diluted, but the pie grew bigger. Equity only mattered when valuation rose.
"Pick someone smart from your team. Train them. Stop staring at ad creatives and data all day. Think strategy. Delegate. Watch the big picture." Chen Yansen lectured Wang Zihao in the car.
"Brother Sen, with tens of millions in monthly ad spend, I can't relax unless I watch it myself."
"If you had 100 million in daily spend, would you stay up 24/7?"
"My heart's not as big as yours. Give me time to adjust."
The BMW headed downtown.
"Zhao Maolin coming to us is good. Fills our phone recharge gap."
"Only 1% commission? Stingy."
"You think I care about that margin? Secure China Telecom, then China Mobile and Unicom become easier."
Zhao Maolin's offer: 1% rebate on phone bills, 2% on data. Acceptable for 2011.
Chen Yansen planned to apply for a payment license—even if unused, it could be sold for a fortune later when licenses became restricted.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the telecom business hall.
Zhao Maolin was waiting at the door with Gu Wenwen, all smiles.
Last time, they'd needed Gu Wenwen's help just to see him. Now, the treatment was reversed.
Zhao Maolin watched Chen Yansen exit the BMW and thought, I was right about him.
In six months, the kid had become a business phenom with a billion-yuan valuation.
"Brother Zhao, it's cold. Wouldn't want you catching a chill." Chen Yansen shook his hand warmly.
"You and Zihao are like brothers. A few minutes is nothing. Come inside."
Zhao Maolin used to call him "little brother" politely. Now Chen Yansen called him "Brother Zhao"—a shift in respect.
Gu Wenwen followed, smiling. Half a year ago, they were selling phone cards at the virtual college. Now he was a business genius worth hundreds of millions.
She remembered how he'd taken advantage of her back then. Her cheeks warmed.
In the office, Zhao Maolin served tea.
"The head office has precedents with Alibaba and Tencent. If this deal goes through, I get promoted. So you're helping your brother out. Tonight at Galaxy Star, my treat."
He had connections but lacked performance. Chen Yansen was his stepping stone.
"This benefits FoxTao too. Mutual support. Keep talking like that, Brother Zhao, and I won't come next time." Chen Yansen feigned offense.
You bastard, after taking the campus card commission, have you even visited once? Zhao Maolin thought but kept smiling.
They discussed details—profit split, settlement cycle.
"I'll have legal review the contract. If it's clean, we'll sign and develop the recharge function fast." Chen Yansen handed the contract to Wang Zihao.
Initially, they'd use a redirect model—users sent to telecom's payment page, FoxTao tracking orders for rebates.
Once Chen Yansen got the payment license, they'd integrate third-party payments—users pay within FoxTao, orders pushed to China Telecom.
With head office precedents, approval was likely, especially with Zhao Maolin's groundwork.
"Brother Zhao, I heard the China Telecom online store has smartphone inventory..." Chen Yansen trailed off.
Zhao Maolin frowned. "The online store is head office direct. I can try, but no guarantees. In our system, there are more powerful people than dogs."
"Your success is their failure. Your failure is their success?" Chen Yansen smiled.
"You get it. I'll try. If it fails this time, wait six months. I'll get it done then."
Chen Yansen understood. Zhao Maolin's position would change in six months. This promotion chance came from that "more powerful person."
Around 5 PM, they tried to leave, but Zhao Maolin insisted on Galaxy Star.
The same luxurious private room.
The head waiter entered with a dozen barely-dressed young women, swaying as they walked in.
The business dance continued—money, power, connections, and the unspoken rules of ascent.
Chen Yansen watched, calculating. This was just another battlefield. And he intended to win.