Chapter 223 Young Marshal
The summer heat scorched the land of Qilu, and the old oxen huddled in the fields, chewing the cud slowly.

The clear well water splashed up dust. The thin girl stood up straight with the empty bucket and held up the brim of her oversized sun hat.

Grandpa's voice came from afar, saying that the water was used up and they should go home to get some water and have lunch at the same time.

After harvesting wheat at the end of June, we planted a crop of corn in the fields. The hot summer weather was at its peak and artificial watering was needed to alleviate the drought.

In the past two years, many families in the village have dug wells in their fields and used tractors connected to generators to pump water for watering, saving time and effort. I heard that some large farmers have hired large watering trucks from the town, costing more than 30 yuan per acre, and the several hundred-meter-long spray racks can irrigate dozens of acres of land a day.

But her family only had a few acres of food-grain land allocated per capita by the village. It was not cost-effective to dig a well, and she was even more reluctant to use the watering truck.

My parents worked in neighboring Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and my grandparents stayed at home to tend a few acres of subsistence farmland. After deducting the costs of seeds, fertilizers, and labor, they only had a few thousand yuan left at the end of the year, which was barely enough to make ends meet.

At least she can afford medicine for headaches and fevers, and try to ask her parents for money as little as possible, and they still have to take care of her.

"Master, I'm full."

The girl put down her chopsticks and pressed the raised calluses on her fingertips, wondering if she could ask her class teacher to let her go back to school.

Flies were buzzing around the dining table. A small local dog was squatting at the doorstep with its eyes wide open and its tongue hanging out. The TV was playing a rerun of "Avenue of Stars". The heart-wrenching lyrics were shaking the spider webs on the roof.

I am a small stone, buried deep in the soil...

Grandpa nodded slightly to the melody of the music, raised his hand to wipe his mouth, and took a sip of white wine with a hissing sound.

"Old man, you have to water the land in the east this afternoon, so drink less." Grandma, with a hunched back, walked over with a plate of fried peanuts and reminded him in a gentle voice.

Grandpa glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and hummed muffledly in response.

Grandma didn't say anything more. She turned back to the house, took out a needle, and sat outside in the sunshine with a small stool: "Manman, come here."

The girl walked over and squatted in front of her grandmother, turned her head away in fear and stretched out her hand, waiting for the instant stinging pain when the fine needle pricked the blister.

"After watering the fields, there is not much work to do. Do you want to go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to visit your parents?" Grandma repeated what she had said countless times.

The girl pursed her lips unconsciously. Her parents worked in an electronics factory in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and had a good salary and could get overtime pay, but other factories would pay overtime but did not want child labor.

She was only 16 years old. To get a job in the factory, she had to ask someone to treat the recruitment agency to a meal and give it a thousand yuan.

Moreover, she didn't want to work in a factory to earn a low salary. The second daughter of Mr. Li next door went to Guangdong to buy clothes and worked part-time selling cosmetics on WeChat Moments. She brought back tens of thousands of yuan when she went home for the Chinese New Year this year.

"You are poor and lowly, but you always want to make a lot of money. Haven't you heard what the villagers say about the second daughter of the Li family? If you don't go find your parents, what do you want to do?"

After finishing his meal, my grandfather walked out of the house with his hands behind his back, harnessed the old ox in the yard to the cart, and went to the neighboring house of Uncle Li to fetch water from the well.

The girl lowered her head and endured the scolding silently. She was a little girl who dropped out of school early without listening to her family's advice, and her grandmother was an old lady suffering from chronic diseases.

Grandpa is an old man who needs to drink to catch his breath so that he can have the strength to do heavy physical work. He is not a bad person.

[Mr. Liu, you just said that Didi's business is the most valuable and the one that can create the most social value at this stage. Can you give us a specific example? ]

The "Star Boulevard" on TV inadvertently turned into a talk show, and a woman with short hair and a white suit was answering reporters' questions.

She sat upright with a big smile and talked eloquently: [For example, an acquaintance of mine is an entrepreneur with a net worth of tens of millions and his children are all studying in the United States. Last month, he suddenly sent me a WeChat message saying that his business failed and his wealth was wiped out. He only had a decent car left, so he became a Didi driver.]

[So from your perspective, this is Didi's core value?]

The host continued to ask, and the girl was attracted by the temperament of the short-haired female president, so she walked into the house and sat in front of the TV.

As a result, another slightly fat man wearing glasses took the initiative to take over the conversation: [Flexible employment reservoir, this is what Mr. Xie believes is Didi’s core value.]

[Currently, there are 120 million part-time and full-time drivers on the Didi platform, including veterans and laid-off workers who have found new jobs by providing travel services; there are also many taxi drivers who have increased their income by working part-time for Didi.]

He smiled and shook his head, complaining: [From my and Mr. Liu's perspective, we often say that Didi's core value is 'sharing economy' and 'intelligent dispatch of traffic big data'. In short, the concept is to smooth the allocation of social resources. ]

[But Mr. Xie refuted us, saying that lofty ideas are for ourselves, and jobs are for society. He often said that we will create 1000 million jobs in the next ten years.]

Flexible employment reservoir, sharing economy... The girl didn't understand the professional terms, but she felt that if a big boss came to her village to build a factory and hire people to work, her parents wouldn't have to go out to work, as they were all very hardworking and capable people.

How many jobs are 1000 million?
The girl held her chin with both hands and looked blankly. The host on TV was just as curious as she was, asking questions on behalf of the audience: [Is there any theoretical support for the claim of 1000 million jobs? You know, this is equivalent to 7% of the total population of our country.]

[To be honest, no. We calculated that in ten years, theoretically, 300-500 million jobs could be created.]

The short-haired female CEO in a white suit paused and said, "Boss Xie told us that 20 years ago, no one could have imagined that there would be a trillion-dollar private enterprise. Just like the successful entrepreneurs who started their own businesses in the 1990s, it was not the times that chose them, but they adapted to the times."

[We are also adapting to the Internet era. Based on the interconnection of all things, the labels of differences between individuals will be infinitely blurred. A Didi full-time driver can become an online anchor after get off work, and an online anchor can also play other roles in his spare time. This is the meaning of flexible employment. Our ability to provide 1000 million jobs is the foundation.]

The girl heard a new term, internet anchor. Are those on Kuaishou who post short videos showing themselves eating shit and arguing about fights considered anchors?

At the same time, I became a little curious about the 'General Manager Xie' mentioned by the female president in a white suit and short hair. It must be very impressive to be mentioned by such a dazzling female boss.

She took out the smartphone she bought for three hundred yuan and wrote down four words in the memo - adapt to the times.

The host on TV did the same thing, jumping to ask: [It can be heard that Mr. Cheng, Mr. Liu and Mr. Xie have a very harmonious relationship. Can you tell us how you get along as founders and investors? Is Mr. Xie deeply involved in Didi's business decisions? ]

[Mr. Xie was involved in the promotion and operation of Didi in the early days, and had direct contact with many old colleagues. New colleagues learned from netizens on the Internet and called Mr. Xie "national husband", "rich second generation", "Xiao Xie", and all kinds of names. Those old colleagues who had direct contact with him uniformly gave him a nickname - Shaoshuai. ] Cheng Wei's expression was serious, and he clearly saw that the host could not help but glance at the camera with his peripheral vision.

[So Mr. Xie was indeed involved in Didi's operational decisions in the early days, but he is no longer involved now. You two and many of your colleagues respect him very much. Am I right in understanding this?] The host calmed down and helped translate.

Cheng Wei is right: [He is like a commander, with a strong leadership temperament. His long-term strategic vision and courage can always give us confidence at the most critical moment. People who have come into direct contact with him don’t have to worry about how to get along with him. You can completely trust him and rush forward with him to win.]

[Off topic, don't you feel pressured to be with such an excellent commander whom you admire and respect? As far as I know, Mr. Xie seems to be quite strong at work?] The host kept asking.

Liu Qing and Cheng Wei looked at each other, smoothed their hair and admitted generously: "It's very stressful. It can be said that Mr. Xie is very strong and difficult to serve at work. I think this is the essence of why old colleagues call him 'young marshal'. Because I can't imagine how an ordinary 23-year-old young man and an ordinary young company of only 3 years old can complete a $25 billion financing to cope with the high-pressure market. 】

[So you will consider Uber China as a competitor next? ] The host got the answer and turned to make fun of the situation.

Cheng Wei said lightly: "We only think about defeating the bandits. We focus on doing our best and are not afraid of others challenging us."

The interview program ended with the sound of the ending music. The low mooing of an old ox was heard outside the house, and the girl grabbed her phone and ran quickly to the wall of the yard.

Connect to the wifi network of Mr. Li's house next door and download the "Panda TV" software mentioned by the female president in a white suit and short hair. Mr. Xie, who is called "Young Marshal", will chat with netizens and answer questions live tonight.

The weak network signal made the downloading slow. Grandpa loaded the farm tools into the car. The girl put away her phone with a sense of loss, put on a large sun hat, walked into the field with her head down.

…………

#Young Marshal#
#1000 million jobs#
#Xie Jingxing live broadcast#
#DiDi Iron Triangle#
#Didi resumes subsidies#
Hot searches filled the boring afternoon of Friday workday, and social science experts and professors discussed the new term "flexible employment" and the shocking significance hidden in tens of millions of jobs.

Professionals focused on the Didi Iron Triangle and watched the war reignite. Didi attacked Uber China as the defender. It resumed the high-intensity subsidy burning strategy and joined forces with Lyft in the United States, Bolt in Europe, and Go-Jek in Southeast Asia to form an anti-Uber alliance.

Didi users can use the online ride-hailing platform services of the anti-Uber alliance without any obstacles when traveling to any city in the world.

Uber China responded urgently, announcing that it would launch the cost-effective software 'People's Uber' next month, enter the sinking market, provide large subsidies to compete head-on with Didi, and publicly bid for urban area agents, expanding the speed of opening cities to popularize second- and third-tier cities.

The general public is keen on hearing about this and is actively helping each other and exchanging experiences on how to use Didi and Uber to maximize their profits and earn subsidies.

Fans in the entertainment industry counted a long list of stars including Angelababy, JJ Lin, Lin Gengxin, Korean crown girl group Tara, Princess Pei, Yang Mi, etc. who will be broadcasting live on Panda TV tonight, and they are looking forward to whether Xie Jingxing will interact with them live.

Finally, the term 'young marshal' topped the hot search list throughout the afternoon, attracting millions of comments and reposts.

Whether you are a keyboard political and economic expert or an ordinary worker, you can find adaptive elements in it.

[If I were worth 23 billion by the age of , I would be even crazier than him. ]

[Young Marshal, the next stop is Huanggutun, the American devils' Uber bomber is coming! ]

[Don't scare the young commander. If he gets upset, he'll run away without resistance. Where can we get the taxi subsidy?]

【Teacher: Which department are you from, student? Marshal: Fengtian faction.】

[Send a telegram to the whole country, Fengtian Army enters the customs! 】

When the young coach met the international giant Uber, an unexpected perfect chemical reaction broke out. The little red fans and the rationalists used memes as a carrier to fight each other wildly. For a while, they couldn't tell who was who and what was their ally.

In just a few hours, a video clip of Xie Jingxing appeared on Bilibili, accompanied by low-quality music that repeated brainwashing sounds over and over again. At first glance, he looked really handsome.

…………

The night was hot and humid, with mosquitoes flying around and cicadas and frogs chirping one after another.

The girl lifted a corner of the mosquito net and returned to her world. She put on headphones and the world became quiet. She couldn't wait to open the software she had just downloaded. Without registering an account, she could see a big live broadcast recommendation on the homepage on the refreshing interface.

He is really young and handsome, exactly like the photos found on the Internet. Perhaps only someone like this can be called "Young Marshal" without being laughed at.

"I understand that young people want to make money, but they still need to be down-to-earth and work hard, and don't expect to get rich overnight. It's better to set a small goal that is easy to achieve, such as making 100 million first."

As soon as the girl clicked into the live broadcast room, she heard a sincere suggestion. Then the screen was covered with a barrage of white comments mocking young people for having suffered enough, like a gap in a flood that was forcibly blocked.

It was stuck for more than ten seconds before returning to normal. Countless comments were made, cursing that this was not called being down-to-earth. Who is a good person who calls 100 million a small goal? !
[Okay, let's move on to the next question. Netizens ask what is the biggest mistake you have made so far? ]

A voice-over sounded in the video, and the girl rubbed the function to turn off the barrage and see the young man's face clearly.

He looked very regretful and said, "My biggest mistake, if you want to hear the truth, is that I regret creating Grapefruit Capital."

The girl couldn't help but open her mouth. She had looked up information while eating dinner. This young marshal had earned tens of billions of wealth at such a young age, but he actually regarded earning so much money as the biggest mistake he had ever made.

What's the point? !

"I thought the companies I invested in would develop well, but I didn't consider specifically that they would develop too rapidly, and the pressures and problems that might arise. For example, the competition between Didi and Uber China that netizens are discussing now."

Xie Jingxing said in a low voice and with a painful look on his face: "There are millions of drivers who have chosen Didi and tens of millions of users who have chosen Didi. They are the responsibility that Liu Qing, Cheng Wei and I cannot ignore. They are also our hope to get to where we are today. For this reason, I am so busy every day that I have no personal life at all. If I am given another chance, I will not invest in many companies in the way I am now."

The girl was listening intently and was about to click on the barrage function to type and interact when the live broadcast screen suddenly froze and displayed the words "Network is unstable, please refresh and re-enter".

(End of this chapter)