Li Shi’s speech left everyone stunned.

An oath-taking before a great battle begins?

How could that not sound completely far-fetched?

But following Li Shi’s logic, it somehow made sense and even seemed quite reasonable.

Something that Mr. Pei considered important enough to keep confidential certainly couldn’t be a small matter.

If the “Chuji Plan” were merely a charitable activity, there would be no need for such elaborate secrecy.

But what if, as Mr. Li suggested, Tenda was officially declaring war against China’s internet giants and companies with monopolistic market positions, and the “Chuji Plan” was just preliminary preparation?

If Tenda were to declare all-out war against these large companies, it would need to guard against these companies uniting.

Or rather, these large companies uniting would be a high-probability event.

In that case, with Tenda facing such powerful enemies alone, even with Mr. Pei’s wisdom and skill, the fight would likely be extremely difficult.

As the saying goes, never fight a battle you’re not confident of winning. Before going to war, you must clearly identify who your enemies are and who your allies are.

Charging ahead recklessly without knowing anything would be foolish, and Mr. Pei obviously wouldn’t make such a basic mistake.

Thinking about it this way…

The “Chuji Plan” was a plan to gather allies!

This plan could effectively screen Tenda’s staunch allies in a very comprehensive way.

First, the Chuji Plan was a charity plan, so participating companies would definitely have a certain sense of social responsibility.

Second, the Chuji Plan offered no clear returns, only a verbal promise from Tenda, so participating companies would need to have high trust in Tenda and be resolute followers.

Finally, due to the confidentiality of the Chuji Plan, the order in which these companies joined could roughly indicate their close relationship with Tenda.

The closer the relationship, the more likely they would receive the news early and join early.

Considering these three points, any company that joined the Chuji Plan could be viewed as Tenda’s ally, and based on the order of joining and the amount contributed, the tiers of these allies could be roughly distinguished.

One investor raised a question: “But, Mr. Li, if it’s just about seeking allies, couldn’t Mr. Pei simply make a public call with his reputation?”

Li Shi shook his head: “Of course not!”

“With a public call, how would you know whether those who respond are genuinely loyal allies or just pretenders? Or even… moles?”

“Once this matter spreads, those big corporations would definitely take action and try every means to interfere.”

“Conversely, the current approach is both discreet and efficient.”

“Only companies with close relationships to Tenda would receive the news; even if others got the news, they would only think it’s an ordinary charity activity; even if they heard my analysis, they wouldn’t believe it.”

“Because only companies with absolute faith in Tenda and Mr. Pei would respond to this.”

The more everyone listened, the more sense it made.

This was a perfect screening mechanism!

Undetectable by anyone, and the companies it filtered out were all trustworthy.

Of course, there was still a possibility that Mr. Li was just speculating wildly and there was nothing to it.

But even if he was wrong, what harm would come of it? It was just donating to charity, no loss there!

And if he was right, the benefits would be substantial!

Tenda declaring war on those large companies would ultimately result in seizing vast markets and resources from them. Tenda couldn’t possibly consume all of these resources alone.

Even if they could, given Mr. Pei’s generous nature, he wouldn’t mind sharing some of the spoils.

When had anyone lost out by following Tenda?

So for the business owners present, the choice was clear.

Only a fool would refuse a high-return, low-risk opportunity!

Zhou Muyan was the first to express his position: “Tianfire Studio will join the ‘Chuji Plan’!”

Other investors also chimed in: “We’ll join too!”

Soon, agreements were signed one after another.

The agreement didn’t specify any requirement for the amount of charitable donations—it could be much or little. But for these business owners, was it about the money?

It was about face, about the impression they would make on Mr. Pei!

Of course, some had donated before, hundreds of thousands or millions. When donating to Mr. Pei’s cause, they would naturally want to show even more sincerity.

Otherwise, it would be awkward—donating less to Mr. Pei than they usually donated elsewhere. How would that look?

After signing the agreements and making the donations, Li Shi took out his phone, opened the Chuji Plan app, and said to everyone: “You can scan this code to download the app. The Chuji Plan cannot be found online, and there’s no official website to download the app. It can only be downloaded through sharing or scanning a code, and you must donate first to get a registration code.”

“On this app, you can see real-time updates of company or individual donation amounts, and also track where your donations go.”

“A fixed portion of all donations will be allocated for platform operation expenses, but this percentage is very low, and detailed breakdowns of various operational expenses can also be queried.”

“However, this app is still in its initial version, and many functions are continuously being improved.”

Everyone took out their phones and scanned the code to download the app.

Zhou Muyan remarked: “This app has quite something to it! Every transaction is recorded clearly, and you can freely query the flow of personal funds. Mr. Pei really pays attention to details.”

According to Li Shi’s introduction, the app took a proportional cut for operational expenses. Since the destination of all funds could be viewed, if someone found that all their donated money was being used for operational expenses, it might seem a bit off.

Emotionally, it would be hard to accept.

Now, a proportion was taken from each donation as a service fee, effectively spreading the cost.

Platform operational expenses were visible, and the portion of donations actually used for charity was also visible, which was undoubtedly a very thoughtful design for donors.

Zhou Muyan curiously asked: “Oh? There’s also a channel for individual donations? What’s the highest individual donation?”

“Hmm? Who exactly is this ‘Mr. Pei’s Disciple’? Just as an individual, they donated two million yuan in a single contribution?”

The Chuji Plan app had a donation ranking list, which could display either real information or anonymous information.

On the company ranking list, companies donating millions were quite common. After all, owners of large companies like Li Shi and Zhou Muyan had high net worth, so donating a few million to support Mr. Pei’s charitable cause wasn’t surprising.

But on the individual ranking list, both the number of donors and the donation amounts were much smaller.

After all, donating to the Chuji Plan had certain barriers.

First, one had to have a close relationship with Tenda to learn about this initiative; second, one would need to be a wealthy company that could afford to donate significant amounts.

These factors greatly increased the difficulty for individuals to participate in the Chuji Plan.

Even rich second-generation individuals like Xue Zhebin, who owned several companies, would likely prefer to donate in their company’s name to Tenda, as donating companies could receive Tenda’s verbal promises and priority cooperation!

Individual donations would certainly seem less significant.

Those who could access insider information and afford large donations were mostly company owners. Working people, no matter how hard they tried, would find it difficult to have so much money to donate.

Therefore, the number of individual donations was very small, and they were generally just a few hundred or thousand yuan to show support. Zhou Muyan had reason to suspect that these might be internal employees of the Chuji Plan or people associated with it, physically supporting the charitable activity and donating to show their sincerity.

Yet there was an anonymous person called “Mr. Pei’s Disciple” who had donated two million yuan as an individual, standing head and shoulders above others on the individual donation list!

This made people very curious about the identity of this self-proclaimed “Mr. Pei’s Disciple.”

It must be someone close to Mr. Pei.

But… was there a need to be so humble? What harm would come from openly writing out one’s name?

An investor speculated: “This could possibly… be one of Mr. Pei’s hidden chess pieces? Someone who, for certain reasons, cannot reveal their identity and, even in this highly confidential app, chooses not to expose themselves for safety?”

“A hidden chess piece donating 200 million as an individual has only two possibilities.”

“Either this person possesses enormous power, with abilities far exceeding 200 million, and has only donated a small portion;”

“Or this person has extremely lofty ideals, or unwavering faith in Mr. Pei, earning not much but resolutely donating everything.”

“Whichever it is, this person is very formidable and not to be underestimated…”

Just a glimpse through the Chuji Plan revealed that Mr. Pei’s power extended far beyond what was visible on the surface. There were many hidden chess pieces beneath the water, which might come into play at some future moment.

It was truly terrifying!

Mr. Pei’s true power was unclear even to close allies like them, let alone enemies.

Being an enemy of someone like Mr. Pei was a frightening thought!

…

…

March 5th, Tuesday.

Returning to Jingzhou, Meng Chang felt good.

It was as if he was experiencing again the feeling of being at the forefront when he first started his business!

This time, he had accompanied the private group to negotiate with Dyack Group. Although the negotiation process was mainly handled by Eric and Assistant Xin, with Meng Chang and He Desheng primarily providing strategic analysis and support, the trip had been quite beneficial for Meng Chang.

Of course, shorting Fingertip Company’s shares had also brought him some profit.

So, he took a portion of his accumulated gains and, through Fan Xiaodong, donated it to the Chuji Plan as an individual.

He didn’t use his real name but made an anonymous donation under a new ID called “Mr. Pei’s Disciple.”

Meng Chang had actually considered whether to use his real name or the ID “Mr. Tian.”

But after thinking it through, he gave up on both ideas.

Neither was appropriate!

Although the “Chuji Plan” was a confidential plan, it would gradually develop and expand, with more companies and individuals joining, eventually facing the risk of leaks.

Mr. Pei would know everything, of course, but outsiders might not.

When people saw that Meng Chang, a person under enforcement, had so much money to donate, they might wonder: Did he take advantage of his position at Tenda to make money on the side?

Or, wasn’t Mr. Tian supposed to have no connection with Tenda? Why would he make large donations to Tenda’s Chuji Plan? Was there something fishy going on?

If these questions surfaced, they would provide no help and could have significant negative side effects, creating unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, Meng Chang used neither his real name nor the ID “Mr. Tian,” but very humbly called himself Tenda’s disciple, making donations under this identity.

And since the donation was made by Fan Xiaodong, he didn’t worry about it being revealed that “Mr. Pei’s Disciple” was actually Meng Chang.

When working for Mr. Pei, one must be extremely careful and avoid causing him any trouble!