Chapter 126: Hardships of March, Thousands of Miles Away

"Cheng Wei is deliberately provoking you."

In the early hours of the morning, Song Anli broke the silence in the quiet darkness, and Xie Jingxing lay flat on the bed in silence.

A few minutes later, she added: "Of course he has his own selfish dissatisfaction with us, but he is doing it for Liu Qing and the core executive team to see."

Before Liu Qing joined the company, Xie Jingxing arranged a project for her called the "Internet Enterprise Women's Power Alliance Charity Organization", which included a series of details such as care plans and psychological counseling. After she joined the company, she almost perfectly executed the project.

The fast response was to quickly imitate the female public welfare marketing plan, which was criticized by the media as learning from others without much effect.

This was obviously a pleasant cooperation between the two parties led by Xie Jingxing. However, the equity reform led by Liu Qing was disrupted by Xie Jingxing as a new round of financing was put on the agenda.

All the efforts made in the preliminary preparations were thrown into the toilet and flushed down the drain. The same thing happened to the peace talks led by Liu Qing, which were backstabbed by all of his own people instigated by the largest investor.

This is not the end. In the Harbin taxi incident, Liu Qing tried to get the upper hand. Xie Jingxing once again made the decision, setting the goal to cooperate with Heilongjiang Province Taxi and suggesting that Didi set up a GR public relations department.

Suggestions, he always uses the name of "suggestions", and it must be admitted that his strong suggestions always achieve good results.

But the prerequisite is that Liu Qing and the entire Didi management team have to play the role of emotionless paper people, NPCs in strategy games that can be controlled by players.

Unfortunately, Xie Jingxing is not God, and Liu Qing is not an NPC. There are no data progress bars representing loyalty and execution above their heads.

Cheng Wei was protesting on behalf of himself and Didi’s entire management team - you can’t fail to treat us as human beings!

With an attitude so intense that it is almost like he would rather die than live in disgrace, Xie Jingxing can either go through 318 with the Didi team, sharing weal and woe, life and death together, or a deep rift will arise between the two sides.

He can immediately choose to forcibly liquidate Didi's shares. At this critical moment, the second largest investor who holds more than 20% of the shares worth hundreds of millions of US dollars will be eliminated. No one in the market dares to take over. Public opinion will come like a tsunami and declare that Didi is finished!

Then Didi will be really finished, Kuaidi and Bumblebee will wake up from their sleep with laughter, and Teacher Ma will do a moonwalk to celebrate on the spot.

Tencent had to swallow its anger and try to hold on to the situation, but Pony Ma jumped off the hospital bed again and broke up with him. From now on, it's either you or me.

Of course, Xie Jingxing could still endure the estrangement and wait for Didi to overcome the difficulties and transform and grow, until Cheng Wei and Liu Qing had enough capabilities and then he was passively kicked out.

He watched helplessly as Liu Chuanzhi's dream came true and as he had no part in the hottest smart car travel field in the next 20 years.

“Can we find another online ride-hailing platform in China with greater investment potential than Didi and Kuaidi?”

Song Anli asked this question but still received no response. She paused and continued, "I think no one would threaten others with their own children. Cheng Wei is very humble. In fact, he is still a very strong entrepreneur."

"Aren't you sleepy?" Xie Jingxing finally spoke.

“Can you imagine having a contact lens stuck to your eye?”

Song Anli asked back, stroking his closed eyes with her fingers: "Last month, Didi burned tens of millions every day. You congratulated Cheng Wei on the crash of Didi's server and shouted that it would burn out quickly. At that time, Didi's technical team worked overtime in the office for seven days and seven nights to expand the server capacity. One of my colleagues' contact lenses were stuck to his eyes and couldn't be removed."

Xie Jingxing fumbled to shake off her hand and turned his back. He asked himself that he had given as much to Didi as anyone else.

Song Anli hugged him from behind: "I know you have been patient enough with Didi, but you can do better, really."

The even breathing rate became heavier and heavier. The phone on the bedside table vibrated from time to time. Dark lights flashed by. There were messages from Xiao Ma Ge, Zhu Xiaohu, and Tang Man...

Didi has gone through countless difficulties since its establishment. Right now, it is at the most insurmountable crossroads of life and death, with the founder who has been forced into a corner with no way to retreat and the genius investor who became famous in his debut and has no idea what failure is.

Compromise or be stubborn to the end, no one can sleep tonight.

"Shh."

Before dawn, the white light illuminated the darkness in every corner of the room. Xie Jingxing turned over and sat up from the bed: "I'm hungry."

…………

Last night it was cloudy and rainy with a cool breeze. Cleaners in orange vests walked on the streets to sweep up fallen leaves, and steam was rising from the steamers in the street breakfast shops.

“I think I really need to change my car.”

Li Yan gulped down coffee, looking at the Bentley car key with the letter B on it on the table, wanting to add an S in front of it.

“Do you know what GT is?”

Xie Jing Xing swallowed the pork and green onion stuffed bun in his mouth and answered without thinking: "A friend of mine told me that the one who steps on the accelerator and always stays on the road is the GT."

"...You drive?" Li Yan was speechless.

Xie Jingxing wiped the corner of his mouth and stood up: "The two of us will take turns and arrive in Rongdu tomorrow morning. The time is just right."

"Boss, pack four trays of steamed buns, five tea eggs, and a box of mineral water." Li Yan drank the last sip of coffee and felt refreshed.

Xie Jingxing didn't have many cars in his collection in Shanghai, only an executive version of the extended Land Rover that could barely be considered an off-road vehicle. It would be a waste of time to buy or rent a car at this point in time, so it would be better to just hit the road.

In fact, the Bentley Continental GT has a good long-distance high-speed driving experience. This car is not a domestic canary. It all depends on how the owner controls it.

We took the Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway out of Shanghai, passed Nanjing, and then Hefei to Wuhan, and then went through Yichang, Fengjie, and Nanchong. It took two people in the car 25 hours to change shifts in Wuhan. Fortunately, we didn't encounter much traffic jams, and finally arrived in Chengdu successfully the next morning.

"Thank you for your hard work. Why didn't you take a plane?" Cheng Wei greeted with his usual frustrated and annoyed face.

Xie Jingxing casually threw a few pale yellow Pulse bottles into the trash can: "I haven't driven a car for a long time, so I'll get a feel for it in advance."

"Do you want to rest for a morning? Our destination is Shigatse, more than 2,000 kilometers away." Cheng Wei helped move a small stool.

Xie Jingxing nodded and greeted several Didi executives who were sitting at two tables in the breakfast shop: "No need, leave as usual, go early and come back early, and you can catch the launch of the '10 billion subsidy' at the end of the National Day holiday."

"Everything has been arranged at home. The '10 billion subsidy' plan will be launched as planned tomorrow and will not affect business operations." Cheng Wei said as he asked the boss to add tableware and take orders.

Xie Jingxing used his foot to hook the trash can to his side, leaned over and opened his hands and said, "Pour me some water."

"Manager Liu, go buy two sets of toothbrushes and toothpaste."

Liu Qing instructed a female colleague to unscrew the mineral water bottle and pour water on his hands to wash his hands.

Xie Jingxing looked at her jacket and asked, "Have you ever driven a car before?"

"you guess."

Liu Qing was not very willing to pay attention to him. He pulled down the sunglasses on his forehead and turned around to continue eating breakfast.

Xie Jingxing and Li Yan were very hungry. They ate in silence. After finishing a bowl of wonton with red oil and two pot cakes, they were so spicy that their mouths were grimacing and sweat was coming out of their foreheads.

After filling his stomach and brushing his teeth by the roadside, Cheng Wei came closer and said, "Mr. Xie, please park your car in Rongdu. There is just enough space for the eight of us and three cars plus the two of you."

"Wait five minutes, my friend will come and give me the car."

Xie Jingxing looked at his watch. He was too lazy to show off since he was leaving Shanghai on a whim. He thought it would be okay to ask his university classmate who lived in Chengdu to help arrange a car for him on the way.

But it wasn't too exaggerated. The trunk of a standard Land Rover was filled with some necessary supplies for entering Tibet, and the back seat was filled with two sets of warm clothes and a satellite phone, which basically met the "hardship march" elements. He asked Liu Qing if she had ever driven a car by herself, meaning to give her a psychological preparation. Everyone has driven a car by herself, with a rescue helicopter on standby 24 hours a day and a guide and doctor on the ground to support the convoy, but this was not the case.

"Mr. Liu, you and Chenchen take Mr. Xie's car and follow behind us." Cheng Wei ran around organizing the convoy.

Xie Jingxing and Liu Qing exchanged glances through their sunglasses: "Are you a good driver?"

"If you dare to sit, I dare to drive." Liu Qing put his hands in his pockets and raised his chin.

"Okay, let's go."

Xie Jingxing threw the car keys to her and got into the back seat neatly, put on a windbreaker, fastened his seat belt, put on his down jacket and fell asleep. Liu Qing took the car keys, sat in the driver's seat and slammed the door.

Female manager Liu Chen and Li Yan stared at each other, both a little panicked. Nothing could be said. The latter took the initiative to sit in the passenger seat and drank tons of Red Bull, keeping an eye on all directions and listening carefully. It was a high-end human radar automatic driving function.

Liu Qing chewed two pieces of gum, started the car and adjusted the seat position. Feeling something was missing, he turned on the car stereo and played music, "Highway Song" by the band Tong Yang.

"Dreams are always so desirable wherever they are. I walk on the road regardless of everything just to be by your side..."

The rhythm of the song that fits the occasion was cheerful, drowning out Xie Jingxing's snoring, preventing Liu Qing and the other two from being infected by the sleepiness. They headed towards the Everest Base Camp and moved forward.

Zheduo Mountain is the first pass in Kham. After crossing this mountain with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, you will enter the snow area in the geographical sense.

Liu Qing, who had been driving for five hours from morning to noon, gradually developed altitude sickness. In the rearview mirror, Xie Jingxing and the female manager Liu Chen were sleeping soundly, while Li Yan stared with bloodshot eyes and held the oxygen tank in his hand.

I wanted to change drivers but felt bad about it. Fortunately, when we passed the mountain pass, Cheng Wei sent a message in the WeChat group suggesting that we take a ten-minute break.

"Wake up and go to the bathroom."

Liu Qing took the initiative to wake up Xie Jingxing. She was deeply impressed by the light yellow Meidong bottles in the morning. If she hadn't woken him up, he might have been careless when he had to pee on the road later.

"Only five hours?"

Xie Jing Xing jumped out of the car and stretched. He was in good spirits and grabbed a bag of potato chips to eat. He said vaguely: "I heard there is a snow viewing platform nearby, let's go check it out."

"The road is not easy to travel, which may delay our time."

Cheng Wei had difficulty breathing. He felt a little weak as he sat in the office and attended various drinking parties every day. The other people were almost the same. The only two women, Liu Qing and Liu Chen, had the mildest symptoms of altitude sickness.

The only ones left were Xie Jingxing and Li Yan, who were alive and well as if nothing had happened. One of them was a kryptonian warrior who had climbed the Alps, and the other was a kryptonian life warrior, needless to say.

He said calmly, "Now that we are here, the road ahead will be even harder. Let's get used to it first. I'll lead the way."

The Tibetan meaning of Zheduo Mountain is "a winding mountain". The winding mountain road is winding, and one has to climb a relatively long plank road to view the snow platform from the pass.

In early October, the local temperature dropped and a cold wind swept through. The eight people in Didi's team were all wearing down jackets and holding the handrails of the plank road, moving slowly step by step. The wind blew away their straw hats, and the oxygen cylinders in their hands became heavier and were passed from hand to hand.

"Give it to me, take a breath." Cheng Wei supported his knees with his hands.

With his hair tightly stuck to his face, Liu Qing opened his pale lips and silently handed over the oxygen bottle. His eyes unconsciously turned to Xie Jingxing, who was walking in the front with his hands on his hips, looking down, waiting for everyone to catch up.

He lowered his head and exhaled slowly as if he had regained his strength, then he straightened up and continued to move forward.

Going up along the plank road, there is a prayer flag array on the top of the mountain. The colorful prayer flags connect the sky and the earth, fluttering for a long time in the whistling wind.

In the place of prayer, local vendors sell Longda paper. In Tibetan, Long means wind and Da means mouth. The Longda paper with mantras written on it will convey people's prayers to the gods and Buddhas through the wind.

"Yours, stand firm."

"Here you go. You must pray before you spread it. Otherwise, how will the gods and Buddha know what message you brought to him."

"Do you want me to take a photo for you? I'm pretty good at it."

Xie Jingxing distributed the Ronda paper to everyone, and finally it was Liu Qing's turn. He raised his camera to signal.

The sky was clear and blue like a gem, and Ronda paper was flying all over the sky. Liu Qing was about to fly as well, but he threw too hard and the steep peak and strong wind acted as inertia.

Xie Jingxing quickly grabbed her collar with his hands and glanced at the sunglasses that had fallen outside the plank road: "Be careful."

Liu Qing said nothing. Seeing that he was safe, everyone wanted to show concern and comfort him, but they didn't have the energy to do so.

They skipped the polite words and went straight back down the mountain. The altitude sickness became more and more serious. The oxygen cylinders were exhausted after several rotations. Xie Jingxing dragged Liu Qing, while Cheng Wei and Li Yan carried the first patient who appeared.

The patient had a fever, but he said he had cold medicine in the car and he was fine.

So they hit the road again, Xie Jingxing drove, and Liu Qing took the initiative to sit in the passenger seat.

Snow-capped mountains, glaciers, rivers, lakes, the scenery is all on the road without stopping. After two days and one night, three cars are about to reach the destination, but various problems have not been spared just because of the unremitting pace.

Tires exploded due to altitude sickness, rescue operations were required for cars stuck in difficult sections of the road, the number of patients increased to three and all the cold medicines were used up, draining away the oxygen, and a small gravel cracked the front windshield of the Land Rover.

Xie Jingxing's eyes were bloodshot and his lips were chapped. Liu Qing handed the oxygen cylinder he bought from a kind passerby to his lips. He waited for a few seconds before taking a greedy deep breath, even though the oxygen cylinder was stained with a strong smell of smoke.

There was half a Snickers bar thrown on the center console. It was the leftover from her dinner yesterday and now became a special supply for the driver.

Suffering is suffering. The march of suffering cannot improve the conflicts and resentments between the two people, but can only make them see each other's most miserable side.

"We're here, aren't we?"

Liu Chen's legs felt weak and he felt like he was treading on cotton. He looked up at the hotel sign and said uncertainly.

Liu Qing supported her, in fact they supported each other and walked the last few dozen meters of the whole journey of more than 5,000 kilometers.

"Thanks a lot."

Cheng Wei, who had just checked in at the hotel lobby with his last breath, collapsed on the sofa and breathed in oxygen.

Xie Jingxing distributed the room cards one by one: "Rest, dinner will be delivered to the room, call the front desk if you have anything."

No one moved, including Li Yan. Everyone was breathing oxygen. He also lay flat on the ground holding the oxygen bottle, feeling pain in his waist and legs.

The hotel front desk staff were used to this kind of scene, so they considerately lowered the volume of the music in the lobby, but it was still "Highway Song".

"Dreams are always so desirable wherever they are. I walk on the road regardless of everything just to be by your side..."

“Is the dream ahead? The dawn has already illuminated it slightly. I seem to have smelled the flowers blooming. It is the fire of the stars that set the prairie ablaze…”

Liu Qing was crying, Cheng Wei was crying too, and looking closely, Liu Chen was also wiping away tears.

Xie Jing Xing couldn't cry, he just felt tired and hungry; this was the longest journey he had ever walked, a distance of thousands of miles.

(End of this chapter)