Chapter 2068: Intimidation

Future Group Headquarters, Chairman's Office.

"Long time no see, President Ma."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Ma Xiaoyun sitting across from him with a smile on his face.

To be honest, this Boss Ma could hardly be described as handsome. Although he would later be known as Feng Qingyang, in fact, calling him ugly was not an exaggeration.

Because he really was ugly.

But one had to admit, or rather, at any time, you had to say that Boss Ma's aura, or the feeling he gave people, was truly like a spring breeze.

When facing him, you could never see through what he was thinking, but he always gave a sense of warmth, as if he were an old friend of many years.

This was something even Zhao Fusheng could not achieve.

"Chairman Zhao is too polite." Ma Xiaoyun sat opposite Zhao Fusheng with a smile: "I heard Chairman Zhao bought an island?"

"Mm."

Zhao Fusheng was not surprised that Ma Xiaoyun knew this news; it was not a secret, and he had no intention of hiding it.

"Just for convenience for the family." Zhao Fusheng said with a smile: "With both a son and a daughter, I have to give my wife some compensation for her hard work."

Ma Xiaoyun laughed, knowing naturally that Zhao Fusheng was joking.

The relationship between Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao was well known to many, let alone the fact that they were childhood sweethearts, which was not easily swayed or changed.

"President Ma, what do you think of Alibaba's development speed?"

Zhao Fusheng drank a cup of tea and suddenly asked Ma Xiaoyun.

"Ah?"

Ma Xiaoyun was startled, then looked at Zhao Fusheng with some surprise. He didn't understand why Zhao Fusheng suddenly asked him this question.

Could it be that he had some idea?

Thinking this, Ma Xiaoyun restrained his smile and looked at Zhao Fusheng: "Chairman Zhao, do you mean you are dissatisfied with Alibaba's current development speed?"

"No, no, you misunderstand." Zhao Fusheng shook his head and waved his hand with a smile: "I didn't mean that. I have no objection to Alibaba's development strategy."

Then Zhao Fusheng said: "For investment matters, I always just spend the money and then leave it alone."

"Heh..."

Ma Xiaoyun smiled but did not refute Zhao Fusheng's words.

To be honest, he basically agreed with Zhao Fusheng's statement.

Although the outside world had mixed opinions about Future Investment, Ma Xiaoyun had to say that Zhao Fusheng had the bottom line of an investor; he would not easily interfere with the companies he invested in, and he never meddled in operational matters.

In this respect, he was better than many investors.

Many investors' favorite thing to do was to arbitrarily interfere with the company's development.

In their view, since they had invested money, they had the right to do anything, including meddling in the company's operations.

But Zhao Fusheng was not that kind of person.

Even Ma Xiaoyun had to admit that although Zhao Fusheng could do many things for equity, he had indeed never interfered with Alibaba's operations.

"President Ma, you seem optimistic about Ant Financial?"

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and asked Ma Xiaoyun.

Ma Xiaoyun was startled but still nodded: "Yes, I think mobile payment is an important direction for future commercial development."

This was his true feeling.

In Ma Xiaoyun's view, the future development prospects of mobile payment were extremely bright.

With technological progress, mobile phones would increasingly become a necessity in people's lives. With mobile payment, people wouldn't need to carry so much cash when going out; they could just choose to pay.

"Indeed."

Zhao Fusheng nodded, fully agreeing with Ma Xiaoyun's judgment.

As a reborn person, he knew very well that Ma Xiaoyun was right.

In the future, mobile payment would penetrate every corner of people's lives; even vegetable sellers would have a QR code there, which itself signified progress.

Technological development always brings changes to people's lives time and again.

How to seek the greatest benefit in such changes is what a true businessman should do.

"Then what does Chairman Zhao mean?" Ma Xiaoyun looked at Zhao Fusheng suspiciously, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.

"Nothing much. Miss Dong will discuss the Ant Financial matter with you."

Zhao Fusheng smiled, knowing that his previous question had made Ma Xiaoyun a bit worried.

After all, he had created Alipay precisely to break free from the control of investors like SoftBank and others over Alibaba. Now that Zhao Fusheng had hinted at other intentions, he naturally had concerns.

"Rest assured, President Ma. I just think your idea is very innovative, and I am optimistic about the prospects of mobile payment, so I plan to invest some money in it."

Zhao Fusheng patiently explained to Ma Xiaoyun: "President Ma, rest assured. You should trust my credibility, right?"

Ma Xiaoyun smiled somewhat awkwardly.

He also understood Zhao Fusheng's meaning, which was essentially to tell him not to worry too much and not to borrow trouble.

Financing was an inevitable outcome. Ma Xiaoyun knew this well; with his current financial resources, holding shares alone was nothing but a pipe dream.

According to Zhao Fusheng, he was indeed a very good investor.

...

...

Of course, Ma Xiaoyun knew that Zhao Fusheng had not traveled a long distance to invite him just to talk about mobile payment.

That was not Zhao Fusheng's style.

Or rather, although Alibaba was developing well, the person who negotiated with him most of the time was Dong Chenxi, not Zhao Fusheng.

But now Zhao Fusheng was meeting him personally.

Ma Xiaoyun felt there must be something fishy about it.

"What do you think of Tencent, President Ma?"

Zhao Fusheng suddenly asked Ma Xiaoyun.

Tencent?

Ma Xiaoyun was startled. He hadn't thought that much; he was just surprised why Zhao Fusheng would bring up Tencent.

Logically, Alibaba and Tencent were completely unrelated. Although both were internet companies and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in fact, there was no overlap or competition in their business.

"Liu Qiangdong of JD.com has recently been in contact with Tencent."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Ma Xiaoyun and said calmly: "Barring any surprises, JD.com is likely to receive investment from Tencent."

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Fusheng noticed that Ma Xiaoyun's expression changed.

Originally very calm, his face now became extremely serious as he looked at Zhao Fusheng: "Chairman Zhao, is that true?"

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Of course it's true."

Then he picked up the documents that Dong Chenxi had given him earlier and handed them to Ma Xiaoyun: "President Ma, take a look. This is JD.com's recent development situation. Not bad, huh?"

Ma Xiaoyun took the documents from Zhao Fusheng and looked down to read them.

A moment later, he looked up, and the calm expression on Boss Ma's face was gone.

"Chairman Zhao, is this real?"

"Of course."

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "You don't think I'm lying to you, do you?"

"No, no." Ma Xiaoyun quickly shook his head.

He naturally knew that Zhao Fusheng had no reason to deceive him. But the problem was, if it was really as Zhao Fusheng said, didn't that mean he would have a strong competitor in the future?

Thinking this, Ma Xiaoyun's face turned grim.

Intuition told him that this was definitely not good news for him.

Zhao Fusheng watched Ma Xiaoyun as his expression changed back and forth, and chuckled inwardly.

Although it wasn't the first time he had seen this big shot who had dominated the scene in his original memory, the other party's reaction this time was indeed very interesting to him.

Having been reborn for so many years, Zhao Fusheng had long been accustomed to some things.

Whether big shots or important figures, before they succeeded, or even after success, there were times of helplessness. Just like the richest man, wasn't there a time when he sold his hard-built Wanda for tens of billions?

"President Ma, I think you should understand what this means for Alibaba."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Ma Xiaoyun and said slowly.

Ma Xiaoyun nodded, took a deep breath to calm himself: "Chairman Zhao, I think you didn't call me here just to tell me this news, did you?"

Smart as he was, after the initial confusion, he quickly realized that Zhao Fusheng's invitation this time was probably not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

This幕后 boss of Future Investment, China's youngest super-rich man, seemed to have something up his sleeve aimed at Ma Huateng.

In Ma Xiaoyun's view, this was his opportunity.

Regardless, in the e-commerce cake, he would not allow anyone to shake Alibaba's dominant position.