Chapter 0333: I, Pony, Send Money!

After much deliberation, the only solution Zhao Fusheng could think of was to avoid meeting Ma Boss as much as possible.

Or rather, not to meet him until his own power was strong enough, lest the other party see through anything.

With that thought, Zhao Fusheng smiled and decided to give Ma Boss a call.

"Hello, is this Pony?"

The call was quickly connected, and Zhao Fusheng asked directly.

"Speaking. Who is this?" At this time, Ma Boss was just a thirty-year-old internet newcomer starting his business. Although he had a different family background, he had not yet attained the bearing he would later have as a giant.

"I'm Fusheng." Zhao Fusheng's online alias was simply the two characters Fusheng.

"You?" Ma Boss was momentarily stunned. He hadn't expected that this person named Fusheng would actually call him.

In the month or so since they had come to know each other, Fusheng's suggestions had shown Ma Boss a brighter future for Tencent's development. Being a technical person, he understood even better what changes Fusheng's advice would bring to OICQ.

"It's me." Zhao Fusheng chuckled. "I'm in Shanghai on business, not convenient to go online. I just saw your message, so I called you."

"Oh, no problem. I just wanted to ask for some technical advice. For instance, about the chat room you mentioned earlier, do you have any specific suggestions?" Ma Boss seized the opportunity to ask.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and roughly described what he remembered about Tencent's chat room, then said, "I'm just an amateur, speaking off the cuff. Don't mind me."

"You're too modest. If the founder of the largest virtual community in the country is still an amateur, then who counts as a professional?" Ma Boss laughed. He wasn't stupid. Although Zhao Fusheng had never revealed his identity, MyHome's reputation was well known, and he naturally knew about it. With hundreds of thousands of users now, more than his own OICQ registered users, Ma Boss would be lying if he said he wasn't envious.

Zhao Fusheng blinked. He suddenly realized he had forgotten something: compared to Ma Boss, he was actually only lacking a family background. In fact, if family background were excluded, Ma Boss might not be stronger than him.

Despite Ma Boss always claiming to come from an ordinary family, his father was actually a fellow townsman of Li Ka-shing, had worked at Yantian Port, and held a high position. Moreover, in real history, Hong Kong's PCCW was prominently listed among the first venture capital investments Tencent received.

As for whether there was any trickery involved, that was anyone's guess. Apart from those involved, the truth had long been buried in the river of history.

But when Ma Boss's company was just starting, his father often drove a Mercedes to do the accounting for his son. Additionally, Ma Boss's mother served as the company's legal representative for a long time. Ma Boss's explanation for why his mother was the legal representative for so long was that at the time, the legal representative of a newly founded company had to be unemployed or retired, so he had to let his retired mother take the role.

Most crucially, on salary alone, Ma Boss certainly couldn't have come up with the 500,000 yuan startup capital, since his annual income, including year-end bonuses, was less than 20,000 yuan.

Moreover, if Zhao Fusheng remembered correctly, Ma Boss was not the absolute majority shareholder of Tencent at the time. He held 47.5% of the shares, while the remaining 52.5% was jointly owned by his four partners. The advantage of this arrangement was that it prevented him from appearing dominant to his partners. In extreme cases, the other four founders could collectively persuade him to change a decision, and any resolution he proposed required at least two founding shareholders' approval to be implemented. This way, Tencent had a clear collective leadership strategy from the start, while Ma Boss himself did not lose control of the entire company.

Zhao Fusheng didn't think he could easily sway such a person.

"You flatter me. It was just a stroke of inspiration." Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly. He believed Ma Boss surely knew that MyHome had been sold.

"You went to Shanghai on business?" Sure enough, Ma Boss quickly shifted the topic to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and didn't beat around the bush. "MyHome was sold to a network technology company. I came to sign the contract and take a look at their situation. They gave me ten percent of the shares, so I have to come up with something."

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Ma Boss was taken aback, and his expression shifted slightly.

He was actually in dire need of money now. The company had been founded for over a year, and the 500,000 yuan startup capital was almost exhausted. If there were no visible results soon, his partners would lose confidence.

And he himself had already started using family money to support the company's development. After all, the internet industry, in plain terms, was about constantly burning cash.

However, although his father had connections that could help him attract venture capital attention, the problem was that no one would invest money in a company with no apparent prospects for no reason.

With an instant messaging software that barely had 60,000 users, Ma Boss himself knew that even his own parents had little confidence in him, let alone venture capitalists.

"Fusheng, do you have time? How about coming to Shenzhen for a visit?" Ma Boss blinked and extended a sincere invitation to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled bitterly to himself, thinking that if he went, Ma Boss would probably go crazy.

That was certain. After all, if it were him, and he had happily expected to meet a like-minded person with both money and technical knowledge, only to find out through conversation that this person was a dabbler who knew a little but not enough, he would definitely lose his temper too.

"Sorry, Pony, I have things to do here and really can't get away. I just withdrew some funds from the stock market yesterday. I didn't expect internet stocks to rise so sharply. A friend and I invested a bit and made a small profit." Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

The implication was clear in three words: I have money!

"Oh?" Ma Boss was startled. He knew about stocks. Being in Shenzhen, he naturally knew that internet tech stocks and even the entire market were in a surge. He casually asked, "Which stocks did you buy?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and named the two stocks he and Tan Kaixuan had bought. "Just picked randomly. Didn't expect them to rise so much..."

Hearing the stock names, Ma Boss was utterly stunned.

If he remembered correctly, these two stocks had increased in value by 150% recently. That meant Fusheng had made a profit equivalent to ten consecutive daily limit ups.

Thinking this, Ma Boss invited him again, "Since that's the case, why not come to Shenzhen? There are many companies here, and you might find a suitable project. Besides, since you're so optimistic about the internet industry, you could consider investing in an internet company."

At this point, Ma Boss was genuinely anxious.

He urgently needed money because he felt that his OICQ was about to have an opportunity to take off, as long as he could hold on a little longer.

But the problem was that his parents had already helped him a lot. Unless absolutely necessary, Ma Boss didn't want to ask his father for help again.

Zhao Fusheng frowned at his words. Ma Boss was now thirty-one, while Zhao Fusheng's mental age was over forty. In terms of social experience and life wisdom, Zhao Fusheng had the upper hand.

Although the future belonged to Ma Boss, who would truly stand at the forefront of the post-millennium era, he was still somewhat green at this moment.

"Pony, what's your name?" Zhao Fusheng suddenly said to Ma Boss.

Huh?

Ma Boss was startled, gave his name, and then laughed, "What, are you coming?"

Zhao Fusheng shook his head, confirmed he had the right person, and said directly, "Five percent of your company's shares, and you must guarantee that my shares will never be diluted. As for the investment, is one million enough?"

In that instant, Ma Boss was completely dumbfounded. He hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to value his company at twenty million.

Holding the phone, Zhao Fusheng felt Ma Boss's increasingly rapid breathing and a smile crept onto his lips.