Originally, it was a peaceful trip to West Lake.

The spring scenery was beautiful, the old willows sprouted new buds, the breeze was gentle and the sun was warm, and the girl beside him was pretty.

Suddenly, more than a dozen strangers appeared on the painted boat. Besides the locals from Lin’an, there were also people from above, whose titles alone made him feel they were quite impressive, so it was no wonder Su Yehao looked so bewildered.

The noise around him made it feel like he was in some kind of opera house, yet he had to patiently greet everyone.

Returning to this old place and appreciating the scenery of Jiangnan, he had finally managed to conjure up a sentimental feeling of small bridges and flowing water, only to have it all overturned by them.

He spent some time shaking hands and introducing himself to everyone.

After roughly guessing the reason, Su Yehao glanced sideways at President Ma, whose face was filled with the word "excitement," and whose neck was even a little red. He guessed that this was his doing.

It had to be said, President Ma was indeed a talent.

He had just gotten his hands on the banner, before the guy had directly unfurled it.

Among the people accompanying Su Yehao on the boat, two were President Ma's key confidants. Seeing their boss inexplicably mingling in this kind of circle, although they didn't quite understand why, they felt honored and busied themselves pouring tea and water.

President Ma caught sight of this and straightened his back a little, wearing his trademark smile that stretched from ear to ear.

Su Yehao usually didn't like to socialize and generally preferred to stay at home.

President Ma, whom he had just brought back, was the opposite; the more people there were, the more lively he became. He was in his element now, navigating the situation with ease, constantly introducing himself as Su Yehao's partner, who was planning to support the development of Lin'an's internet industry, without the slightest hint of stage fright.

Hearing President Ma confidently use the word "support," and mentioning hundreds of millions, even tens of billions.

Su Yehao couldn't help but click his tongue, thinking that just for this one amazing feat of socializing, he should give President Ma another fifty or a hundred thousand US dollars in annual salary.

No wonder he was able to build such a large business in his previous life, he really had some skills.

His tongue was like it had been blessed; it was incredibly powerful...

Time rewinds to more than an hour earlier.

While Su Yehao was taking Yin Liuli to Broken Bridge and Viewing Fish at Flower Harbor, Jack Ma made a few phone calls to old acquaintances.

He felt that these friends weren't qualified to accompany Su Yehao for dinner, so President Ma directly told them that he had brought Su Yehao, one of the top ten richest people in Hong Kong, from the United States to Lin'an, and asked them to find their superiors as soon as possible and come to West Lake to discuss investment promotion.

Even President Ma himself underestimated the impact of this news.

Su Yehao's reputation in the mainland was much greater than in the United States. Su's father had invested in three projects in the mainland, two of which exceeded five billion RMB, and the financing quota for Made Group was as high as two billion RMB.

His father was already very impressive, and Su Yehao, as his son, was even more so. The news that he had become one of the top ten richest people in Hong Kong in just two years of entrepreneurship had already spread, and many internet entrepreneurs in the mainland regarded him as their patriarch, wishing they could enshrine him at home in an attempt to absorb some of his luck.

When the news of his arrival in Lin'an spread rapidly in a small circle, many people came vying for the opportunity.

For a Hong Kong businessman with tens of billions of wealth, the reception standard certainly couldn't be low, and those who weren't qualified were still standing on the shore.

The chef of Lou Wai Lou received a phone call and quickly delivered the food to the painted boat. It was originally prepared for others, but was temporarily changed to be sent here, Beggar's Chicken, West Lake Fish in Vinegar Gravy, Song Sao Fish Broth, Fish Head Soup… the efficiency was quite high, and a table was filled.

President Ma certainly didn't have the clout to bring so many high-ranking officials, but Su Yehao already had the ability.

Finally, he had invited a true Buddha back, and President Ma felt that he had bet on the right horse this time. At this moment, everyone was sitting around the round table, and he was radiant with joy, raising his glass and saying:

"Come on, the food is about to get cold. On behalf of our hospitable people of Lin'an, I welcome President Su to come and inspect investment opportunities. Once our e-commerce develops here, we will have the opportunity to build Lin'an into the largest commodity distribution center in the country, firmly integrating resources from all over the place, and stimulating a huge e-commerce market worth hundreds of billions or even trillions!"

The vast majority of people present didn't actually understand what e-commerce was, but hearing about hundreds of billions or even trillions of trade, they were frightened.

Everyone looked at the unassuming President Ma, and it was hard not to be impressed. Everyone politely took a sip of wine.

A man in a black jacket, looking like a department head and in his fifties, pushed up his glasses and said with a smile, tentatively:

"Young President Su is a talented and promising young man. I heard before that there was a wealthy man in Hong Kong who was only twenty years old, and I thought it was a false rumor, but I didn't expect there to be someone so amazing. Your father strongly supports the economic development of the mainland, and has invested in several large projects in a row, which we envy very much. I wonder how much Young President Su is planning to invest this time? We have a high-tech zone here. Knowing the specific investment content will help us create various preferential policies for you."

He had previously told President Ma that he would invest one or two hundred million RMB.

But now, with these impressive people present, he couldn't say words like investing only one or two hundred million no matter what.

Su Yehao put down his chopsticks, and no one at the table was so tactless as to not notice, and they busied themselves with eating.

He said with a smile, "Actually, I just came here for tourism today, and my partner, President Ma, caught me off guard. This project was originally planned to be located in Pengcheng, after all, it's closer and easier to supervise. But since everyone is so enthusiastic, and Lin'an's location is also suitable, and private enterprises are developing on a large scale, it doesn't hurt to share some news in advance..."

Seeing him being mysterious, the few people who wanted to start eating also obediently put down their chopsticks.

President Ma was about to smooth things over for him.

But Su Yehao took a deep breath and said:

"The internet can connect companies from all over the place into a whole, opening up the exchange of information between upstream and downstream, and then using a nationwide logistics network for trade. The investment in my e-commerce project this time will be around 10 billion RMB in the initial stage. I am trying to create a new platform that serves hundreds of millions of users and tens of millions of businesses, spanning e-commerce, logistics, internet finance, warehousing, and so on, dedicated to making it easier to do business anywhere in the world, opening up the last mile of regional trade and resource integration. In the future, the annual trade volume can indeed reach trillions. It is very beneficial to surrounding businesses, and also conducive to export sales, allowing people to learn about the goods from the mainland through the internet."

As soon as these words came out.

Not to mention the middle-aged and elderly people who didn't understand the internet, even President Ma was stunned.

President Ma had been busy trying to figure out what Su Yehao meant, and of course he knew the prospects of e-commerce, but he didn't expect Su Yehao's ambition to be so great.

Having spent some time together, President Ma believed that he was good at judging people, and he felt that Su Yehao was an honest man, and his style was definitely not one of exaggerating things.

And precisely because of this.

Even though it sounded like bragging, President Ma felt that this was Su Yehao's real grand plan, and besides, this Young Master Su could really come up with an investment of tens of billions.

Su Yehao didn't hide it, because only he could support such an ambition at the moment.

Even if President Ma emptied his pockets, he would only be able to come up with a few hundred thousand RMB. Compared to that, it was an exaggeration to say that it was a drop in the bucket. So what if he knew the plan?

The old man who had asked the question just now was stunned for a moment before he came back to his senses and asked:

"You mean... this is actually a super large investment project worth tens of billions? How many years do you plan to invest it over?"

It was already 1999, and unlike the 70s and 80s, the mainland wasn't that poor now. It cost 5 billion to build just one Jin Mao Tower.

However, large projects worth tens of billions were still quite rare and hard to come by for various places.

The reason why the old man was surprised was mainly because he didn't understand and didn't expect a "ordinary" project to be so expensive.

"Five to eight years, the money burns up quickly. If we encounter competitors, we may continue to add more, with no upper limit. One hundred billion RMB is just a drop in the bucket. It will cost even more in the later stages of development, and even I can't afford it, so I only hope to develop and recover funds at the same time."

"..."

Seeing Su Yehao speaking these heart-pounding words in a calm tone.

President Ma was only left with admiration after hearing it.

He only had great ambitions, and couldn't compare with real super-rich people. His mind echoed with "with no upper limit," "one hundred billion RMB is just a drop in the bucket," "even I can't afford it," and so on.

Instantly.

President Ma was convinced in seconds, truly convinced, and willingly admitted defeat.

Seeing that the people present seemed a little disbelieving, Su Yehao explained with a smile: "Don't think I'm talking big, it really needs a lot of money. My Yanwenzi Group in the United States lost more than 100 million US dollars last year, and this year it's estimated to be heading towards 200 million US dollars, which is a very normal thing."

Hearing this.

President Ma quickly smoothed things over, saying: "The current development model of the internet is like this, constantly burning money to exchange for market share, in order to make money in the future. President Su's Yanwenzi Group will be listed soon, and the valuation will be at least 4 billion US dollars, and it may even become 10 billion US dollars by the end of the year."

"..."

"... I'm old, I'm really not good at this line."

"Who isn't? It sounds particularly amazing, the future really belongs to young people."

...