Xue Zhebin scratched his head, completely bewildered by Li Shi’s explanation.
Of course, this wasn’t his fault. His primary occupation was being a second-generation rich kid, not a professional investor. Besides, he was still quite young, so there was no shame in not understanding these intricacies.
However, since the topic had come up, he wanted clarity.
After thinking for a moment, Xue Zhebin asked, “Mr. Li, you said that Manager Ma is Mr. Pei’s mouthpiece. Does that mean… Mr. Pei already knew what Meng Chang would talk about in advance? Otherwise, why specifically instruct Manager Ma to ask about the meaning of ‘multi-dimensional fusion’?”
Li Shi shook his head. “That can’t be determined. There are many possibilities.”
“Perhaps Mr. Pei learned about the term ‘multi-dimensional fusion’ beforehand through He Desheng, or from materials Meng Chang submitted when seeking investment from Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital, and deduced that Meng Chang would use this term again at the press conference.”
“It’s also possible that Mr. Pei didn’t specifically instruct Manager Ma to ask about any particular term, but simply told him to question any made-up jargon that Meng Chang used.”
“The result would be the same.”
Xue Zhebin nodded, half-understanding.
Li Shi continued his explanation, “The two questions Manager Ma asked, along with his follow-ups, actually carried subtle implications that struck at the core of the issue!”
“Why did I say there were several layers of strategy at play here?”
“When Meng Chang invited Manager Ma to ask questions, he was essentially positioning himself in an unbeatable situation. Whether Manager Ma asked questions or not, as long as he didn’t sabotage Meng Chang’s presentation, Meng Chang would interpret it as ‘Tenda supporting Cold Noodle Girl.'”
“And Meng Chang believed that the possibility of being sabotaged was minimal. His presentation was purely theoretical and internally consistent. Given these circumstances, even if Manager Ma raised doubts, as long as those doubts remained within the theoretical realm, that would be Meng Chang’s home turf, where no clear victory or defeat could be determined.”
“So, this created a dilemma.”
“What was Manager Ma’s, or rather Mr. Pei’s, pre-planned counterattack? It was to identify the weakest point in Meng Chang’s theoretical system, step outside the idealized theoretical concepts, and directly introduce real-world factors to deliver a decisive blow.”
“The first question—’ Does this grilled cold noodle taste good?’—went straight to the heart of the matter. Meng Chang’s entire business concept was built on an assumption that Cold Noodle Girl’s flavor would completely overwhelm all other grilled cold noodles, creating such a powerful attraction for consumers that they would willingly pay a premium.”
“It’s like a roadside stall selling hamburgers for ten yuan each, while a big-brand chain restaurant sells them for twenty yuan each—double the price—yet consumers happily pay without complaint.”
“But what if consumers don’t buy into it? Wouldn’t the entire plan collapse from the very first step?”
“Meng Chang recognized the danger in this question, so he didn’t dare answer directly. Instead, he could only respond indirectly: Cold Noodle Girl is willing to invest heavily in standardized production, recipe development, and raw material selection.”
“At this point, investors would naturally think, ‘With all this work, surely it must taste better than roadside stall grilled cold noodles.’ This essentially answered Manager Ma’s question.”
“But then Manager Ma followed up with another question: ‘Does this guarantee the grilled cold noodles will taste good?'”
“This was hinting to all investors that some things can’t simply be solved by throwing money at them.”
“Meng Chang said that theoretically, this would be an inevitable result. In reality, he couldn’t guarantee it 100%, still unwilling to step beyond the realm of pure theory.”
“Looking at this exchange, although Meng Chang handled it perfectly, Manager Ma’s questioning directly targeted the core issue: the flavor of the grilled cold noodles is fundamental to everything. Even with recipe development and standardized production, if you can’t meet ordinary consumers’ expectations, everything becomes nothing more than castles in the air.”
“The second question asked Meng Chang to explain multi-dimensional fusion.”
“Everyone knew that ‘multi-dimensional fusion’ was a term Meng Chang made up. It sounded sophisticated and high-level, and he could certainly make it seem internally consistent.”
“But terms like this can’t be fully explained, because they’re essentially just repackaging already-existing common concepts, forcibly giving them new meanings.”
“So Manager Ma followed up with: ‘Isn’t this just multi-departmental coordination and linkage?'”
“Meng Chang obviously couldn’t agree, because agreeing would mean actively downgrading the concept of ‘multi-dimensional fusion.’ But he also couldn’t deny it, because ‘multi-dimensional fusion’ and multi-departmental coordination are essentially the same thing.”
“So, Meng Chang could only passively emphasize the differences between these two concepts: they differ in scope and level. In short, ‘multi-dimensional fusion’ is supposedly a higher-level business form.”
“This way, although Meng Chang managed to maintain internal consistency, such empty rhetoric would further make some investors realize that these beautiful-sounding concepts aren’t as sophisticated as Meng Chang made them out to be.”
“I believe that when Mr. Pei instructed Manager Ma to ask questions, he probably wasn’t fixated on the term ‘multi-dimensional fusion.’ Manager Ma could have questioned any of Meng Chang’s made-up terms and achieved roughly the same effect.”
Xue Zhebin nodded in sudden realization. “I see now!”
“So the brilliance of these two questions lies in not being constrained by Meng Chang’s theoretical framework, but instead finding the weakest points of the entire theory from the outside, dissolving the entire concept and atmosphere!”
Li Shi smiled with satisfaction. “Exactly, completely correct.”
“And this can be seen as a warning from Mr. Pei to Meng Chang, a counterattack.”
“First, Mr. Pei knew that given his position, he couldn’t personally intervene, and couldn’t let Meng Chang continue to ride on Tenda’s popularity.”
“Second, having Manager Ma raise these two questions serves as a reminder to both Meng Chang and all investors:”
“No matter how good internet marketing is, it’s the product that ultimately reigns supreme. Without a sufficiently excellent product, everything else is just castles in the air, like flowers reflected in a mirror or the moon in water.”
“Meng Chang claims to place extreme importance on the product, but this is just rhetoric. Whether he values it depends on his subsequent concrete actions.”
“And those sophisticated concepts might look beautiful, but they’re nothing more than repackaged, overused business theories. As for why they needed repackaging? Obviously, to create a certain persuasive effect.”
“For Meng Chang, being chastened by Mr. Pei like this means he’ll need to be more restrained when riding on Tenda’s popularity in the future. And Mr. Pei has also given investors a heads-up: if you still rush to invest after this, then don’t blame Tenda if you get scammed later—it would simply be due to your lack of intelligence.”
Xue Zhebin asked with confusion, “Then… why didn’t Mr. Pei make a direct statement instead of using such a subtle approach?”
Li Shi smiled, “Surely you understand the principle that actions can be absolute, but words should never be?”
“Up until now, ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ is still just a pure business concept. Whether it can succeed depends on how Meng Chang implements it. It’s still too early to declare that ‘Cold Noodle Girl’ will fail.”
“Even if Meng Chang intended to deceive people, that’s still just attempted fraud—you can’t convict someone just for having bad intentions, can you?”
“Meng Chang hasn’t caused any actual threat or loss to Tenda, so how would it look if Mr. Pei directly intervened to tear down a company he just invested in?”
“Smart people fence with subtlety. Mr. Pei is giving Meng Chang this gentle warning, making him more cautious in his actions—that’s the best approach.”
Xue Zhebin asked, “So we continue to wait and see?”
Li Shi nodded, “Correct. Mr. Pei has very clearly pointed out the risks involved. Though he’s not directly opposing it, his attitude is not very supportive.”
“We’ll continue observing alongside Mr. Pei. We can’t jump to conclusions yet.”
“Let’s go.”
The two men stood up and left.
On stage, Meng Chang had become the center of attention, skillfully navigating among investors, exchanging contact information with each one.
After safely seeing off all the investors, Meng Chang finally took a moment to drink some water and wipe away the fine beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.
“Whew… if only I hadn’t unnecessarily asked Manager Ma that question. I didn’t expect it would backfire so badly.”
“But that’s not quite right either.”
“Looking back now, even if I hadn’t asked, Manager Ma would likely have spoken up anyway.”
“That long-faced guy, though he looks foolish on the surface, as if he doesn’t understand anything, maybe that’s just an act? His goal is to make others lower their guard.”
“That makes sense. How could one of Mr. Pei’s right-hand men be a fool? Today was truly dangerous. If I had been careless for a moment, I might have already crashed and burned.”
“There’s been some impact, but no major damage. I’ll need to be more careful going forward.”
“The waters at Tenda run much deeper than I imagined.”
Naturally, Meng Chang had noticed the same issues that Li Shi had identified. They weren’t so obvious while he was on stage, but the more he reflected afterward, the more unsettling it felt.
Manager Ma’s questions had caused many investors in the audience to return to a wait-and-see attitude, pouring cold water on the flames Meng Chang had worked so hard to fan.
Meng Chang could vaguely sense that his desperate attempts to ride on Tenda’s popularity had already caught the attention of Mr. Pei and Manager Ma, and this was a warning.
Of course, Meng Chang wouldn’t abandon this tactic of leveraging Tenda’s reputation.
He would just need to be more restrained and careful in the future.
Originally, Meng Chang had heard many rumors that the restrictions at Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital were very relaxed, making it easy to secure investment.
That’s why Meng Chang had planned to start with Dream Fulfillment Venture Capital, as it presented the lowest difficulty.
He did secure the investment, but what followed was completely beyond Meng Chang’s expectations.
Meng Chang found a chair to sit down, opened an unopened bottle of mineral water, and moistened his throat.
After speaking for more than two hours, he was feeling a bit parched.
“Now it seems that the ease of getting investment from Mr. Pei is just an illusion. That makes sense—how could Mr. Pei, an investment genius, be so easily swindled out of his money?”
“It appears easy on the surface, but if you believe that, you’ll probably die a miserable death.”
“I need to be more careful.”
“However, Mr. Pei’s business empire is so vast, he can’t possibly keep his eyes on this corner all the time. As long as I’m careful not to provoke Mr. Pei and Manager Ma, I can continue playing my game as planned.”
After some consideration, Meng Chang quickly made up his mind.
This minor setback only made him slightly more cautious, but it wouldn’t deter him. If he were scared off by just this, then Meng Chang wouldn’t be Meng Chang.