We always used to say that there's no atmosphere for New Year or holidays anymore, but in reality, the atmosphere simply no longer belongs to us.
This Mid-Autumn Festival, Tanjiacun was very lively. Many parents who worked away from home returned, and the children, who usually only celebrated with their grandparents, were exceptionally excited.
Children's worlds aren't that complicated; they're happy when their parents are around, with food, drinks, and things to play with.
On the morning of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Tan Jincheng arrived at the village chief's house with two bottles of wine. Tan Lihua had already decided to renovate the house, and building a house required the village chief's approval.
After all, their family's household registration was not in the village, and the old house was still under his grandfather's name. If anyone in the village objected, strictly speaking, it could still cause some trouble.
For Yicheng people, or rather, Wan Province people, the standard gift for festivals is two bottles of wine.
The old village chief watched Tan Jincheng, who had been enjoying great prestige these days, with even high-ranking county leaders visiting his home, walk in with two bottles of wine, and still in the morning, his heart blossomed with joy.
"Just come, don't bring any wine. Don't worry about building the house, your grandfather is still alive, no one in the village will say anything about you."
"I should have. It's been so many days since I came back and I haven't visited yet, which was a bit rude."
"Hey, you're a busy man, and you brought your wife back, so you must have a lot of people to see. Don't worry about these things."
These days, village chiefs are usually relatively older, reputable figures in the village. They might not be highly educated, but they are not lacking in shrewdness.
Those who become village chiefs usually have decent family conditions.
For instance, Tanjiacun's village chief's son opened a small shop at the head of the village, handling daily necessities and other businesses, and also set up a pesticide retail point. His life was much more comfortable than working in the city.
Of course, village bullies don't exist here. He usually does business with fellow villagers, and sometimes when families are short on money, he even allows them to buy on credit, letting them pay when they have money.
Although it was a poor county, it wasn't a remote mountainous area, and it was close to the developed regions of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. People here had seen a bit of the world. Tanjiacun's conditions were actually not bad, and truly impoverished households were few.
Except for some families with insufficient labor or chronic illnesses requiring year-round medication.
Farmers, being direct in their speech, the old village chief, rarely catching Tan Jincheng, straightforwardly asked,
"Last time your dad said to raise money to build roads for the village, and that your family would bear the main cost, does that still count?"
Tan Jincheng smiled,
"Of course it counts. Besides, I will also pay to renovate the village elementary school, and the ancestral temple might also be renovated. I'll also build a cultural square for the village; as for the land, Village Chief, you can decide."
Since he decided to locate the third factory in the county town, the village would certainly need some improvements, so that the villagers could benefit from it; otherwise, he would be too embarrassed to return.
The old village chief immediately rejoiced,
"Really?"
"Of course it's true. Also, for villagers aged 70 and above, I will give each person 1,000 yuan in pocket money every year. And for children who get into key universities, I will cover their tuition fees."
"You're not kidding me, are you?"
The old village chief asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
Damn it, how much money would that be? Giving 1,000 yuan to everyone over 70, plus tuition fees, is no small sum.
Conditions are better now, but there are still many families who struggle with tuition, and quite a few even have to borrow money for it.
"Why would I kid you? But let me be clear, it's for key universities. You should know what a key university is; it has to be a first-tier undergraduate program or above, like the 211 or 985 universities such as Wan Province University, which I didn't attend."
When building the factory in Tianjin, Tan Jincheng had a lot of communication with the villagers and understood some rural situations. Telling them anything else was useless; just stating numbers would suffice.
Furthermore, in Wannan, ancestral temples are highly valued. His grandfather often mentioned that the village wanted to renovate the ancestral temple, but upon calculation, it would cost over 1,000 yuan per person, and families with many members would have to pay nearly ten thousand. Who would be willing to spend that much?
So the matter was left unresolved; it was probably a long-standing regret for their generation.
Since he was doing it anyway, he might as well solve all their problems. For Tan Jincheng, it wouldn't cost much money.
He is indeed quite wealthy now.
On October 4th, Chengzi Technology reached an A-round financing agreement with Qiming Venture Partners. Qiming Venture Partners acquired a 15% stake in Chengzi Technology for 4 million US dollars.
This meant that Chengzi Technology's valuation had already exceeded 200 million!
Why so high? Simply put, whether an internet company can solve its profit model or not are two different concepts.
When it couldn't be solved, Tan Jincheng dared to claim 100 million. With Kaixin Farm, doubling that figure wasn't a big problem at all.
Of course, such a high valuation wasn't something Kuang Ping would agree to just because it was casually shouted; his money didn't grow on trees.
Kuang Ping, who believed in investing in people, only agreed to such a high valuation after listening to Tan Jincheng's plans for Kaixinwang and Chengzi Technology's future, as well as his judgment on internet trends.
"Mr. Tan, to be honest, I originally thought you could make Kaixinwang successful simply by luck and your incredibly strong marketing ability. But after today, I realized that you truly understand the internet, Mr. Tan. It's a real shame if you don't work in the internet industry."
No wonder Cheng Hao would say that their boss was an excellent product manager.
Following the boss was much easier and more profitable than starting one's own business, it's just that the boss's focus didn't seem to be entirely on the internet.
"Since you've seen how the internet will impact offline businesses, Mr. Tan, why are you still focusing your energy on physical entities?"
"Someone has to do certain things, right? Besides, not all physical businesses will be affected,"
Tan Jincheng said, not entirely from the heart.
The physical businesses that the internet can significantly impact are mainly those deeply tied to real estate. Some industries are not greatly affected, such as beverage retail stores, electric scooter shops, and automobiles.
No one would place an online order just to buy a bottle of water. Even in 2023, few people buy electric scooters online, let alone cars. You can order a car online, but you still have to pick it up at the dealership.
As for Tan Jincheng's current businesses, his clothing business would also be impacted by the internet in the future, but GXG's pre-set path was a factory + e-commerce model, eliminating the need for distributors to earn profits in between.
Moreover, the offline flagship stores were purchased during periods of lower housing prices, not leased.
Therefore, the impact of housing prices on the GXG brand could be ignored, or even seen as beneficial.
After the A-round financing, Chengzi Technology's equity structure changed: Tan Jincheng held 61%, Gu Qingqing held 22.5%, Qiming Venture Partners held 15%, and Cheng Hao held 1.5%.
Tan Jincheng did not dilute Cheng Hao's shares. If 1.5% of shares were diluted proportionally again, there would be nothing left.
He had to give the CTO some incentive, especially since Cheng Hao's capabilities were sufficient to match this 1.5% equity.
After the financing, the estimated value of Cheng Hao's equity was 400,000 US dollars, which translates to approximately 3.2 million yuan. With this 1.5% equity, Cheng Hao no longer needed to rely on his salary to live.
If there were a next round of financing, the value of Cheng Hao's shares would be even higher. Additionally, he still had 3.5% of unexercised stock options.
If all were accounted for, his equity value would be in the tens of millions. Why would he betray Chengzi Technology and start his own business?
A middle-aged man in his thirties, after having his morale struck and with the burden of family, no longer had much desire to start a business.
Of this 4 million US dollar financing, 1 million US dollars was transferred to Tan Jincheng's and Gu Qingqing's personal accounts. It is perfectly acceptable for company founders to cash out a portion when securing financing.
Since Cheng Hao's shares were not diluted, there was naturally no need for him to cash out.
In addition, Qiming Venture Partners would provide Chengzi Technology with an interest-free loan of 2 million US dollars for Kaixinwang's subsequent promotion and development, with a loan term of one year.
Of course, Kuang Ping also symbolically set a condition: within the loan period, Kaixinwang's user base must exceed 10 million, otherwise, these 2 million yuan would be converted into shares corresponding to the A-round financing.
Besides money, Qiming Venture Partners also possessed the resources Tan Jincheng valued most. For future competition and cooperation with Tencent, Qiming Venture Partners would act as a lubricant.
Kuang Ping was from Yangcheng. Before becoming a partner at Qiming Venture Partners, he had experience as an investment director at a large company, possessing resources and connections. This was what Tan Jincheng valued most.
Network resources are far more important than capital. On the other hand, since Kuang Ping had invested so much money, he couldn't possibly watch Kaixinwang be casually bullied by Tencent.
After the A-round financing, Kaixinwang would receive 5 million US dollars, or 40 million yuan, which was enough for a small social networking site to operate for a long time. At this point, describing Kaixinwang as flush with cash would not be an exaggeration.
After the financing agreement was reached, Tan Jincheng quickly informed Gu Yanning and Cheng Hao. Cheng Hao was very grateful that the boss hadn't diluted his shares; he certainly didn't want to cash out at this time.
When the boss and shareholders get rich, employees naturally get to share in the benefits. The stock options Tan Jincheng had previously promised were all accounted for. The two founders would each take out 5% from their holdings, totaling 10% of shares, for future equity incentives.
Of course, this 10% couldn't be fully distributed now, otherwise, the company would have nothing left for the future. What was being exercised this time was only stock options, commonly known as a "pie in the sky."
"Does this mean that the 3 million my dad gave me has been recouped in just a few months, and I've also earned a large portion of shares?"
The moment the agreement was signed, Gu Qingqing truly felt the wealth-creating power of the internet. On the working day after the National Day holiday, she would receive 500,000 US dollars in cash-out funds, which would be directly deposited into her personal account.
"Yes, isn't it wonderful? Does it feel good and make you more motivated?"
"It's wonderful, but shouldn't the employees get some more bonuses in addition to the stock options? They worked very hard this National Day, without a single day of rest."
She automatically stepped into her role as CEO.
"You can decide this. Bonuses definitely need to be given, and we should give them in cash. Depositing them into cards is far less impactful than giving cash."
Tan Jincheng agreed. Gu Qingqing was very happy,
"How about we each put in 50,000 dollars for bonuses?"
"Haha, you certainly don't feel bad about it. 800,000 in bonuses, and Chengzi Technology only has less than 30 people in total. The average share would be tens of thousands."
"If we're going to give, let's be generous. Anyway, this money came from Mr. Kuang, and neither of us has to pay a single cent."
"Haha, alright, as you wish."
How Gu Qingqing spent her 450,000 dollars was up to her, but Tan Jincheng intended to invest most of his 450,000 US dollars into the development of his hometown. This was also the reason for his generous donations at the village chief's house today.
Qingqing was right, it came from Mr. Kuang. But Mr. Kuang wouldn't lose out either; new investors joining later would help him recoup his costs.
—
"Dad, can we drink one of the bottles of wine Jincheng brought for the Mid-Autumn Festival tonight?"
"Drink what? This is Maotai, are you worthy of drinking it? Save it for when Xuan Ya gets into college."
"Then give me the cigarettes. I'll sell them, make some money, they're worth hundreds."
"Scram, scram, scram."
When the old village chief's son came home for lunch, he saw the two bottles of Maotai and a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes on the table and started to get ideas.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Jincheng is really generous. These two items aren't cheap,"
Tan Zhongfu said, his eyes full of envy.
The old village chief gave his son an annoyed glare and said,
"That's nothing. Go get me two sheets of red paper from your shop."
"What do you need red paper for? It's almost time to eat. Bring it back after dinner."
"Just go when I tell you to. I need it urgently right now. Young Tan has done a lot for the village. I need to write it down on red paper and post it to make the villagers happy."
"What good news is so urgent that it can't even wait for dinner?"
"Renovating the ancestral temple!"
The old village chief said, glaring at his son.
Tan Zhongfu didn't say anything and left immediately. The existing old ancestral temple was dilapidated, and his old father's wish was to renovate it before he died, almost to the point of obsession.
This matter might not be a big deal to Jincheng or others, but to his old father, it was everything.
Tsk, tsk, Jincheng really hit the nail on the head with this gift for his old father. No wonder his career is so successful; this thoughtfulness alone is remarkable.
And when Tan Zhongfu brought back the red paper and saw his old father writing down all the benefits one by one, Tan Zhongfu was stunned.
Road repairs and ancestral temple renovations required each household to contribute a portion, but Tan Jincheng promised to bear 80% of the cost. Funds for renovating the school and building the rural cultural square would be entirely handled by Tan Jincheng.
Covering tuition fees for students who get into first-tier undergraduate programs or above is also an incalculable expense. At the same time, it encourages children in the village to study hard, which is immeasurable merit.
When he saw the last item, Tan Zhongfu slowly said,
"Dad, you really should live a few more years. If you live to be 100, you'll get 30,000 yuan from Jincheng."
"Nonsense, live to 100 to be an old demon?"
"Jincheng is a good kid. He remembers his fellow villagers after getting rich. There aren't many young people like him these days."
The old village chief nodded in agreement,
"Yes, unlike those young people in the village who get a bit arrogant after making a bit of money, Jincheng is very modest."
When something is built in the village, a red announcement is usually posted, and a commemorative stele is often erected.
Tan Jincheng requested that all the money he donated be recorded under his father, Tan Lihua's name. What is that if not modesty?
His vision was limited to this small patch of Tanjiacun. For him, losing face for Tanjiacun was nothing, but he was also prepared to be rejected.
Tan Jincheng, who had only lived here for a few years in his childhood, had little connection with the village itself.
Now that his career was so successful, opportunities to return were even fewer. Perhaps after this visit to introduce his wife, there would be no chance to see him again.
Such a young man, a businessman, donating so much money to the village, it's not just because of his parents and elders.
Calling him a great philanthropist would not be an exaggeration!
(End of chapter)