Chapter 830: A Dinner Party of Big Shots
Besides recognizing the chubby Ding from NetEase, Chen Fan also spotted a familiar face.
Sitting next to the chubby Ding seemed to be the boss of Xicheng, Liang Jianzhang, also a big shot.
Apart from these, there were 5 or 6 unfamiliar faces.
From the banking system, medical equipment industry, and even one from the organic food sector...
After Ma Yun's introductions, Chen Fan finally understood.
Wow, the attendees of this dinner party were typical members of the Suzhou and Hangzhou gang.
All of their businesses were based in the Suzhou and Hangzhou area, no wonder they all came at Ma Yun's invitation.
As if seeing through Chen Fan's thoughts, Ma Yun explained with a smile, "It's not because of my influence. The main reason everyone could come is because of you."
At this point, Liang Jianzhang, sitting opposite, joked, "We've heard so many stories about the founder of Ruofan Group, Mr. Chen. When we heard you were in Suzhou and Hangzhou, we had to come and meet you."
Ding Sanshi chimed in, "I, old Ding, rarely admire someone in this lifetime. Mr. Chen, you're remarkable. To develop to this stage in just 4 or 5 years, I can't help but admire you."
Chen Fan chuckled, "Everyone here is my senior, some even old enough to be my elders. Flattering me as soon as we sit down, it seems tonight is an ambush."
"It looks like you all don't intend to let me leave this room sober."
This comment made everyone laugh.
In fact, many had been secretly observing Chen Fan since earlier.
After all, there were too many reports about him online.
Business genius, worth billions, founded a media company, rumored affairs with female celebrities...
It made Chen Fan seem less like a businessman and more like a big star.
Before coming, many had different thoughts.
But upon meeting, everyone's impression of Chen Fan greatly improved.
Though excessively young, he was neither servile nor overbearing, calm, confident, capable, and extremely emotionally intelligent and articulate.
Even facing a table full of big bosses, he wasn't intimidated at all, handling it with ease.
Such a young man, even if the online reports were exaggerated, they couldn't be far off.
Impressive.
At first sight, everyone gave Chen Fan his first label.
Ma Yun interjected with a smile, "We won't get you drunk, but today is mainly to welcome you, Brother Chen. We should drink to our heart's content."
Ding Sanshi suggested, "Let's start with some baijiu, then we'll drink the few bottles of yellow wine I brought."
"That's my treasured good stuff. Hehe, everyone's in for a treat tonight."
At this moment, the waiter brought in the alcohol, and a young man sitting opposite stood up to take the bottle, gesturing for the waiter to leave, then took on the task of pouring drinks for everyone.
A big shot from a certain banking system next to him explained with a smile, "This is a young brother of mine. He happened to visit today, so I brought him along to broaden his horizons."
"Thank you."
When the young man poured for Chen Fan, Chen Fan politely thanked him.
This made the young man a bit nervous and embarrassed.
Chen Fan then raised his head to get a clear look at him, and couldn't help but think, "Holy shit!"
Isn't this Wang Xing?
There were too many people earlier, so he didn't look closely.
Now looking carefully, it was indeed Wang Xing, who would later found Meituan.
But now it's 2006, Wang Xing had just received his master's degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Delaware in the US, and after returning to China, he co-founded Xiaonei Network with a few classmates.
In its early days, Xiaonei Network attracted over 30,000 users in just 3 months.
But Chen Fan remembered clearly, it was this year that due to insufficient funds to increase servers and bandwidth, Wang Xing had to sell Xiaonei Network to Oak Pacific Interactive.
Later, Wang Xing joined Oak Pacific Interactive, but he only worked there for a year before resigning. After that, he founded Fanfou and Hainei Network, which targeted white-collar workers.
However, both these websites later failed.
Wang Xing's turning point came in 2010 when, after multiple entrepreneurial attempts, he finally founded Meituan, and his career soared from then on.
It was still 4 years before Meituan's establishment, and now Wang Xing was just a rookie entrepreneur who had just graduated from university.
He was only 3 years older than Chen Fan.
Meituan was still far off, what Chen Fan thought about was Xiaonei Network.
After Xiaonei Network was sold to Oak Pacific Interactive, it was renamed Renren Network, and from 2008 to 2011, it truly exploded in popularity for a period.
Especially among college students, it almost became a must-login website every day, like QQ.
During those years, logging into Renren Network to find old classmates was hugely popular for a while.
Of course, the most popular were the two mini-games: grabbing parking spaces and stealing vegetables.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it swept across the country.
From university groups to white-collar workers, to all netizens across the country, everyone was stealing vegetables during that time.
Some people even set alarms for midnight specifically to steal their friends' vegetables.
There were even people punished for stealing their boss's vegetables.
These were all reported in the media.
Unfortunately, Renren Network didn't find the right direction for development at its peak, and ultimately faded from people's view after its rapid decline following its explosive popularity.
Chen Fan wasn't interested in acquiring Xiaonei Network, what interested him were the two mini-games: grabbing parking spaces and stealing vegetables.
If he hadn't met Wang Xing today, he might have forgotten about this.
He could have the company's Starry Sky studio research this later, and then release it ahead of Renren Network, once again leading the internet game wave.
Chen Fan couldn't possibly give up on such a small investment, big profit mini-game.
After a few drinks, the topics of conversation clearly broadened.
From domestic policies to the entrepreneurial environment, from funds to stocks, and finally to the international situation and future entrepreneurial directions.
Chen Fan noticed a characteristic.
That is, these big shots were all very talkative, and showed no airs at all.
Completely different from the images seen online or in the media.
As it was his first time joining such a top-level big shot dinner party, Chen Fan often played the role of a listener.
However, he wouldn't let himself appear too inconspicuous.
No matter who was talking about what topic, he always managed to chime in at the right time.
At first, no one noticed, but soon, everyone present realized something was off.
This kid was interesting.
Whether it was about funds and stocks, international situations, entrepreneurial environments, or the internet, real estate... he always managed to interject at the right moment.
And what he said wasn't nonsense, often a single sentence would hit the nail on the head, making the person discussing the topic feel like they'd found a kindred spirit.
Moreover, whenever a topic cooled down and no one continued, Chen Fan always managed to throw out a sentence at the right time, keeping the conversation going.
At first, no one noticed, but after a few times, many people caught on.
Ma Yun secretly exchanged glances with Liang Jianzhang beside him.
They smiled.
This young man was indeed extraordinary.