After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future
Chapter 442 - 437: Tit for Tat

On October 3, the National Day holiday was still ongoing, and many internet tech giants had taken the day off, leaving only some staff on duty.

At 9:20 in the morning, the streets of Zhongguang Village, which should have been bustling with crowds, seemed a bit desolate.

At the entrance of the Xinhai Building, Cheng Wei, Liu Qing, and other executives, a total of eight people, had arrived at the entrance to wait.

The invitation for Lu Liang to serve as a consultant for DiDi's listing had, after all, been a unanimous decision of the board of directors.

In her heart, Liu Qing might be reluctant, but the respect that was due to Lu Liang had to be given.

Just like that night, when Lu Liang had an unpleasant conversation with Old Liu; it was a talk full of veiled criticism and indirect jabs.

But Lu Liang would still address him respectfully as Mr. Liu; throwing a tantrum and cursing like a fishwife was just common street vulgarity.

They had only been waiting a few minutes and Lu Liang had not yet arrived.

Instead, Xiaomi's Lei Jun, Ali's Old Ma, and 360's Zhou Hongwei arrived.

"Mr. Lei, Mr. Ma, Mr. Zhou, what brings you here?"

Cheng Wei and Liu Qing exchanged glances, both completely perplexed.

Lei Jun said with a smile, "I'm on vacation these past few days, with nothing much to do. I was thinking it's been a long time since I caught up with the situation here, so I came to listen in, that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"

"What a coincidence, I was thinking the same."

Zhou Hongwei grinned, temporarily setting aside any conflicts with Lei Jun and adopting the attitude of a spectator keen on gossip.

Even Old Ma was in good spirits: "Gentlemen, it seems we really are of one mind."

"Of course it's no trouble," Cheng Wei replied with a wry smile.

All three companies had investments in DiDi, and even though their combined shareholdings amounted to less than 1%, they were still investors.

"Mr. Ma, hello."

A hint of resignation flashed in Liu Qing's eyes. She called over her assistant, planning to lead them to the reception room: "Mr. Lu hasn't arrived yet. Mr. Ma, perhaps you'd like to rest in the reception room first?"

As expected, the three of them had come just to observe the excitement.

Holding only non-voting Class A shares, and being of high status dealing with countless matters every day, they normally would not attend meetings as observers.

But the invitation of Lu Liang to join DiDi was an abnormal situation, and curiosity is a common human trait.

If she were not a participant herself, she would also want to find a way to come and see what the situation was all about.

"It's no trouble; we might as well wait together here at the entrance," Zhou Hongwei remarked as soon as he finished speaking, Lei Jun and Old Ma both nodded in agreement.

To date, few people had challenged the Liu family; this was the first clash between old and new powers.

Even if it meant skipping breakfast, they wanted to be the first to find out and thoroughly enjoy this drama.

Moreover, through the proceedings and outcome of this event, they could also gauge the strengths of Lu Liang and the Liu family.

If either side appeared a bit weaker, then in future collaborations, they might be able to negotiate for more.

At 9:30, while the group was still chatting, a black Mercedes slowly drove into the park.

"What's bringing the wind today?"

Lu Liang got out of the car, saw the three men Zhou, Ma, and Lei, and had an expression just like Liu and Cheng.

It was understandable for Old Ma to come and see, but what did Lei Jun and Zhou Hongwei have to do with this?

"It's getting cooler, the north wind is blowing; the skin gets a bit dry, need to remember to hydrate," Zhou Hongwei said cheerily with a smile.

Lei Jun was irritated when Lu Liang had refused his takeover of Tianxing Technology, but businessmen don't hold grudges overnight.

Since assisting Panda with its IPO and helping him make tens of billions of US dollars, he had let go of his resentments against Lu Liang—actually he had come to like him.

During the recent National Day holiday, A-shares suspended trading, but the US stocks did not. As of last night, Panda's stock price reached $7.26 US dollars, giving it a market capitalization of $13.939 billion.

Though it hadn't gained much these past few days, the stock had significant fluctuations at high levels, trapping a lot of retail investors.

The more retail investors trapped, the more advantageous it was for the shareholders holding the original shares.

Unless they were prepared to take losses, they would keep buying more, becoming the foundation of the stock's support.

Once the lock-up period ended, the stock would become very resistant to a price drop, and it might even retain a market value of ten billion dollars.

The current profits or losses were only on paper; only after the lock-up period would they become assets that could be cashed in at any time.

"It's been quite cold recently; let's not just stand around here; let's all go inside and warm up," Cheng Wei suggested in a low voice after informing them about the uninvited guests.

Lu Liang couldn't help but smile, understanding their intentions.

The group moved to the company conference room. They took their seats in order, with Ma, Lei, and Zhou seated off to the side.

Shen Peng, Zhu Hu, and representatives from investors such as Softbank, Goldman Sachs, and IDG also arrived gradually as it neared ten o'clock.

Cheng Wei took the main seat, instructed the secretary to start recording, and after a few opening remarks, he began to introduce Lu Liang.

Though they all knew him, the necessary protocol still had to be followed. He smiled and clapped his hands: "Let's welcome Mr. Lu to join the big family of DiDi."

Liangzi stood up, a smile appearing on his face, "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be working together from now on. If I offend anyone in any way, please forgive me."

Soon after, with the signing of the contract, Tianxing Technology invested one billion dollars to hold a 2% stake in DiDi.

As the representative of Tianxing Technology, Lu Liang entered DiDi's board of directors, becoming one of the seven non-executive directors.

It's worth mentioning that, of the 2% stake, 1.5% are Class B shares, which come with 15% decision-making power.

Thus, Lu Liang held 15% of the decision-making power, Cheng Wei 38%, and Zhu Hu 5%; their combined control reaching 58%.

While they didn't reach the absolute controlling line of 67%, they had surpassed the relative controlling threshold of 51%.

As long as these three agreed, and the board did not have a majority opposition, any decision could be smoothly passed.

Liu Qing was still an outsider after all, while Cheng Wei was the true master of DiDi; it was just that before, he lacked the support of others.

At the same time, Cheng Wei called his assistant and passed a letter of appointment to Lu Liang as well, for the position of IPO advisor with full responsibility for all matters related to DiDi's IPO, with an annual salary of 8 million.

"This is the first time I've seen such a high salary."

Lu Liang couldn't help but smirk, as although he held positions in several companies, his annual salary was merely a symbolic 60,000.

After all, he didn't rely on a salary, lacking money he would simply take dividends; when wanting to purchase something, he would use a company's name to buy it.

Liu Qing smiled radiantly, and while still applauding, she took the initiative to strike, "Mr. Lu, I was the one who proposed this to Mr. Cheng."

"Thank you, President Qing."

Lu Liang smiled and bowed his hands in thanks.

There's no point in refusing what's freely given, even though Liu Qing's subtext was that a year later, if DiDi failed to go public, his shares would be bought back, and he'd be kicked off the board of directors.

But after all, he was the boss of Tianxing, a billionaire tycoon worth tens of billions, so he couldn't just hustle for nothing; thus, the eight million was essentially a courtesy fee.

"Mr. Lu deserves it, I actually think it's too low."

Liu Qing's smile didn't diminish, and suddenly she launched a second attack, "Mr. Lu, you must be prepared by now. Why don't you share your plan with us?"

If one can't have it, destroy it—there needs to be a precursor, when Lu Liang is about to succeed, or has a chance of success.

For now, it's passable; whether or not they can smoothly assist DiDi in going public can be used to apply pressure on Lu Liang.

After Liu Qing finished speaking, representatives from Goldman Sachs Uber spoke up one after another, "Mr. Lu, please let us know if there's anything we can do to help."

Lu Liang smiled faintly, and before he could speak, Cheng Wei said, "Mr. Lu is new here and probably not familiar with the situation yet. President Qing, shouldn't you forward the progress and notes from the last approval session?"

With Lu Liang formally joining, it also represented a complete fallout with Liu Qing, leaving no room for reconciliation.

He must show his stance, fully support Lu Liang, and try to win the support of the neutral parties through Lu Liang's influence.

Cheng Wei was not naïve; despite what was said in last night's hot spring talk with Lu Liang, he knew it could be trusted but not entirely.

It was a great opportunity to show himself, allowing him a chance to shuffle the deck and get genuine support.

"President Qing, why so hasty? Even if you hang, you still need to breathe, right?"

Lu Liang squinted his eyes and beckoned Xu Jiawei to come over and take over the work from Liu Qing.

"You jest, Mr. Lu. I'm worried you won't have enough time,"

Liu Qing, still wearing a full smile, gestured for her assistant to come forward and hand over the work to Xu Jiawei.

It was a standoff, general against general; if it were soldier against general, one would inevitably seem weaker.

Although verbal quickness was useless, if one couldn't even engage in verbal sparring, how could their supporters believe in them?

Lu Liang understood this as well, saying with a grin, "How long did it take for Panda to apply for listing and then go public?"

"Having just seen the employment offer, I even want to suggest to Mr. Cheng that we convert the annual salary to monthly, I'm scared I won't make it the full year."

The scene with both parties locking horns was thrilling for the onlookers on the side.

They hadn't come for nothing.

On the surface, it was a verbal duel between a man and a woman, but in actuality, it symbolized the new power led by Lu Liang challenging the old power headed by Liu Qing, including the stakes of a company valued at fifty billion dollars.

It was a privilege to witness such drama up close.

Soon, the news spread to the outside world.

Tianxing Technology invested in DiDi, and Lu Liang joined the board as a non-executive director.

"Liangzi, 'Liang' as in 'conscience of the capital market,' please raise the average order value."

"Mr. Lu, please offer the option of female drivers; it's too difficult for us girls out there."

"Mr. Lu, can you start a pre-employment training class? Don't let just anybody drive for DiDi; it's treating passenger safety as a joke."

Insiders understand the ins and outs, while outsiders just enjoy the spectacle.

Lu Liang's Weibo and his Douyin account suddenly became a wishing well.

The netizens plainly didn't know, nor did they care, what Lu Liang's real intention was behind his stake in DiDi.

All they knew was that Lu Liang had joined DiDi, so they hoped he could change DiDi's current mode of operation.

After all, DiDi has 6.28 million drivers, representing 6.28 million families behind them. With a daily order volume of 20 million, it concerns the safety of twenty million individuals.

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