Chapter 2098: An Unexpected Refusal

Receiving Zhao Fusheng's call, Ma Huateng was genuinely surprised.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, he and Zhao Fusheng were not the kind of people who casually called each other for no reason. Among businessmen, friendship was a luxury.

It wasn't that they were hostile to each other, but both knew that their relationship wasn't one where they could be friends.

“Chairman Zhao, is something the matter?”

Ma Huateng asked Zhao Fusheng directly.

He didn't think Zhao Fusheng would call him for no reason.

To ask about the weather in Shenzhen?

Hah, even a ghost wouldn't believe that!

“I heard you've been quite interested in e-commerce lately, President Ma?”

Zhao Fusheng said calmly.

Ma Huateng was taken aback, then furrowed his brow.

He was a smart man and knew very well that Zhao Fusheng wouldn't bring up e-commerce without a reason.

At their level, every word and every sentence carried deep meaning.

Simply put, since he brought it up, there must be another intention.

Moreover, Ma Huateng was indeed feeling a bit guilty now.

“Well, haha, indeed. After discussion, we believe e-commerce still has great potential for development.” Ma Huateng hesitated for only a few seconds before speaking frankly.

Clearly, he had no intention of evading Zhao Fusheng's question.

As a successful businessman, Ma Huateng knew that even if he tried to evade, Zhao Fusheng would find out about Tencent Technology's contact with JD.com.

In other words, since Zhao Fusheng dared to ask him directly, he must already know something.

Even if there was no evidence, just a guess was enough.

After all, at this point, some things didn't require evidence.

“Indeed.”

Zhao Fusheng nodded and said calmly, “E-commerce will develop very rapidly in the future.”

This was only natural. In the eyes of truly visionary leaders, e-commerce would inevitably enter countless households and influence more people.

If one couldn't see that, they wouldn't deserve a place in the future Chinese business world.

“I think JD.com has great potential for development.”

Ma Huateng smiled and said directly.

Ma Huateng was no pushover either. Since Zhao Fusheng dared to ask, he might as well come out and say that he was optimistic about JD.com.

“Haha, perhaps.”

Zhao Fusheng chuckled meaningfully.

Ma Huateng was quite candid, not hiding his optimism for JD.com.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, this was actually normal.

Even if it weren't for Ma Huateng, if he himself didn't know the future development of JD.com, he might also think that JD.com had a chance to catch up with Alibaba, given the current trend.

Although JD.com was currently losing money, everyone knew that once it went public, the company would surely become profitable and its value wouldn't be low.

“Future Investment is the major shareholder of JD.com, right?”

Ma Huateng said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: “That's right.”

“Interested in cooperating?”

Ma Huateng suddenly said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled.

This Ma Huateng was quite interesting. Before he could even propose cooperation, Ma Huateng wanted to cooperate with him. Clearly, he really intended to invest in JD.com.

Thinking this, Zhao Fusheng smiled: “No problem, we can talk.”

“Really?”

Ma Huateng clearly hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to agree so readily. He had thought Zhao Fusheng would veto his idea, but without even hesitating, he agreed.

For a moment, Ma Huateng even had the illusion that he had misheard.

“Of course it's true.”

Zhao Fusheng chuckled and said to Ma Huateng, “Do I look like someone who would lie?”

“No, no.”

Brother Ma shook his head quickly upon hearing this: "That's not what I meant."

Given their positions, Zhao Fusheng and Ma Huateng were both super-billionaires with assets exceeding ten billion. To put it bluntly, at their level, any casual remark would become news if it got out.

Even when talking privately on the phone, everyone knew it was impossible to tell lies.

Ma Huateng just didn't understand why Zhao Fusheng agreed so readily.

"Then it's settled."

After much deliberation, Ma Huateng ultimately felt that this opportunity was good and rare, and he couldn't afford to miss it.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Have someone discuss the details with Dong Chenxi later. I called you for something else."

"Something else?"

Ma Huateng was a bit surprised, realizing he had overlooked that Zhao Fusheng had initiated this call.

In other words, Zhao Fusheng had something to discuss with him, which was why he called.

"Yeah, I have an idea. What do you think about Future Technology and Tencent Technology jointly developing a piece of software?"

Zhao Fusheng said calmly.

"What software?"

Ma Huateng was somewhat suspicious.

In his view, the game "Dungeon & Fighter" that Future Technology and Tencent Technology were working on together was already doing quite well. Did they need to develop another online game?

"A chat software."

Zhao Fusheng said lightly, but didn't go into detail.

The reason was simple: he didn't trust Brother Ma.

No help for it—Tencent Technology's reputation for "copycatting" was known worldwide. In his previous life, he had seen too many such stories.

Although Brother Ma might not necessarily do that, Zhao Fusheng still didn't want his ideas to be seen through at this point.

"Chat software?"

Ma Huateng was puzzled: "Isn't QQ good enough?"

Clearly, he was unimpressed by Zhao Fusheng's proposal.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "What, not interested?"

"To be honest, I don't think there's any chat software now that can replace our product," Ma Huateng said confidently.

Zhao Fusheng was speechless.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "How about this: when we finish developing this software, we'll talk again."

"Alright."

Ma Huateng didn't think much of it and nodded in agreement.

After hanging up, Zhao Fusheng's expression was quite strange.

What was up with this Brother Ma?

He had originally thought that Ma Huateng, even if he didn't agree, would at least consider developing new software together with Future Technology, but Brother Ma wasn't interested.

Could it be that his suggestion wasn't worth paying attention to in Ma's eyes?

Shaking his head, Zhao Fusheng was genuinely puzzled.

In his heart, he had always valued Ma Huateng more than Ma Xiaoyun.

Although both were super-rich, and Ma Xiaoyun's net worth was even higher than Ma Huateng's in later years, Zhao Fusheng always felt that Ma Xiaoyun was too high-profile, always stirring up trouble—whether it was retiring, making movies, acting as a commander, or playing rock music.

As a top-tier businessman, Ma Huateng was much more low-key and didn't generate as much news.

Unlike Ma Xiaoyun, who was constantly linked to some celebrity.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, a good commander hides in the deep, and a good fighter has no great reputation.

Truly capable people don't necessarily have to be so high-profile.

Of course, this was just his own opinion, not representing anyone else.

So Zhao Fusheng's impression of Ma Huateng had always been deep.

For example, if he had to choose a partner between Ma Huateng and Ma Xiaoyun, Zhao Fusheng would most likely pick Ma Xiaoyun, because he was someone who liked to show his emotions.

As for Ma Huateng, he was simply too low-key.

So low-key that many people knew him only through fake news like forwarding a message to a certain number of groups on WeChat or QQ to get Q-coins.

"Regardless, I'll do it first and talk later."

After a long silence, Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself.

Whether Ma Huateng was interested in his proposal or not, in Zhao Fusheng's view, it didn't matter.

What mattered was that since he had already mentioned it to him, he could take advantage of Tencent Technology's temporary unfamiliarity with this market.

After all, apart from Zhao Fusheng, no one knew what changes the development of future smartphones would bring to our lives.