Chapter Ten: Earning Four Million Dollars and Negotiating Financing in the Food Delivery Industry

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Yan Fei leaned back in his chair, quietly watching the paused trading screen, his mind calm as a still lake. A competent trader knows that when faced with an irresistible force, the best approach is to remain silent and calmly accept the situation.

About a minute later, the market resumed normal activity. The towering single order that had dominated moments before disappeared, and the price stabilized at 32.88. Yan Fei’s account profit shrank from 4.48 million USD to 1.9728 million USD.

Staring at the screen, Yan Fei began brainstorming whether to close his position. After a few seconds, he decided to hold on a little longer, confident that the bulls would not give up so easily.

Almost immediately, a large bullish order of one thousand lots surged in, pushing the price up to 32.90. This order acted like a battle cry, reigniting the market’s fervor.

With two industry giants jointly announcing production cuts, everyone knew oil futures prices were destined to rise. Simply suppressing the market was no solution.

As numerous small bullish orders fluttered in like snowflakes, the bears, led by U.S. authorities, could no longer sit idle. They mobilized massive funds, flooding the market with thousands of short positions, seemingly warning retail and institutional investors alike to exercise caution and be prudent.

In less than a minute, tens of thousands of short orders hammered the market, cooling the heated atmosphere. Yet the bulls refused to relent, immediately flooding the market with large buy orders that absorbed the shorts, stabilizing the price at 32.86.

Countless retail and institutional investors watched the fierce battle between bulls and bears and, convinced that oil futures would continue rising, ignored the mild warnings from U.S. authorities, joining the momentum to push prices higher.

Back and forth, bulls and bears clashed with zeal, but the bulls held the upper hand, overwhelming most retail attacks and rapidly weakening the bears’ resistance, steadily driving oil futures prices upward.

Yan Fei watched the price reach 34.55, sensing the bears might strike again. However, how they would do so was unclear—at least, he doubted they would resort to the “circuit breaker” tactic again.

Adopting a spectator’s stance, Yan Fei refrained from closing his position, choosing instead to observe the ongoing contest between the bullish and bearish forces. Soon, a post appeared before him.

Curious, Yan Fei clicked it open and saw a statement from the Oil Futures Exchange: “Due to excessive order volume causing system lag, many bullish and bearish trades were executed passively, contrary to the holders’ intentions. Therefore, all invalid trades during the lag period are hereby withdrawn.”

The announcement matched Yan Fei’s suspicions perfectly but did not trouble him. After all, such operations were legally sanctioned, and anyone trading in the market must abide by these laws.

Just as Yan Fei continued watching the drama unfold, a netizen posted a message from the U.S. Energy Department, roughly stating: “U.S. crude oil reserves are ample and plentiful; the market will not lack supply. Negotiations with Saudi Aramco are ongoing, and remarks from individual executives do not represent the whole picture. Investors should beware of information risks.”

Reading this, Yan Fei immediately sensed danger. Saudi Aramco might be reneging. He quickly acted, closing all his bullish positions at an average price of 35.21. The final profit stood at $3,568,850—nearly a million less than before but still satisfactory.

Seeing his account total rise to $4,593,400, Yan Fei clenched his fist and shouted with excitement. After a burst of enthusiasm, he planned to allocate $4 million for his next venture, leaving the rest in his account to await further opportunities.

Calming himself, Yan Fei searched for the phone number of his futures brokerage and called promptly. Soon, a voice answered: “Hello, this is Sarah Chen from Marketing.”

Yan Fei replied fluently in English, “This is Yan Fei. Miss Chen, I want to conduct a cash flow swap between USD and RMB, approximately $4 million. May I know your fees?”

Miss Chen responded politely, “Sir, our standard fee is 0.05%. Are you handling this in person or online? If online, please provide an email; we will send the swap contract.”

Yan Fei promptly gave his email and added, “My futures account holds over $4.59 million. You may deduct the fees and $4 million swap amount directly from there.”

“Understood, Mr. Yan,” Miss Chen replied solemnly. “Please provide your futures account number with us. We will open a swap window in your account backend. Once the contract and confirmation are received, we will transfer the RMB equivalent to your specified bank account within one business day.”

“Thank you!” Yan Fei hung up. Shortly after, he received the email and backend confirmation. After processing the documents in minutes, he shut down his computer, glanced at the clock—already 3 a.m.—and went to bed.

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He slept deeply and was awakened by the ringing of his phone. It was Liu Suxin calling. Upon answering, her startled voice came through: “Senior, oil futures prices surged overnight and are now at 35.10. Should I keep buying?”

Yan Fei smacked his forehead, having forgotten to emphasize to Liu Suxin that night trading is when oil futures are most volatile. The market had now stabilized somewhat, but long or short positions remained risky.

After a moment of thought, Yan Fei said, “It’s not suitable to go long or short now; risks are too high. Wait for the next opportunity. You should keep a close eye on recent U.S. news.”

They chatted briefly before Liu Suxin had to attend class and hung up. Yan Fei saw it was just past nine o’clock, got up, washed, went downstairs for breakfast, and then opened his computer to research.

After over an hour of gathering information, Yan Fei compiled a list of delivery platforms on paper: Dazhong Dianping, Ele.me, Fantongwang, Xiaoyezi Waimai, Dianwoba, among others.

Seeing these platforms, Yan Fei decided to enter the food delivery business, planning to invest his $4 million into these companies. On Blue Star, the delivery market was a trillion-yuan scale.

Calculating the overall market share of delivery services, barely over one billion yuan, it was still very small. These companies’ valuations should be quite low, an ideal time for Yan Fei to invest and take control.

Among them, Dazhong Dianping’s delivery arm leveraged the parent platform’s strength, holding nearly half the market share, making it Yan Fei’s top investment target.

Ele.me, founded just last year, currently only covered some universities in Shanghai with pitifully low order volumes and no outside investment—more of a seedling to nurture.

Fantongwang, established earliest in 2003, held a sizable market share, second only to Meituan, making it another key investment candidate for Yan Fei.

Xiaoyezi Waimai, founded in 2006, remained limited to Guangzhou, showing its founder’s narrow vision, and was excluded from Yan Fei’s investment list.

Dianwoba, established this year, was similar to Ele.me in infancy but had a less appealing name, so also excluded.

After some thought, Yan Fei decided to head to Beijing first, as Fantongwang had completed Series B funding, with an estimated valuation over $100 million—an ideal candidate for investment.

He packed a few clothes, slung on his bag, hailed a taxi to Shen’an Airport, bought an economy ticket, and flew direct to Beijing. By evening, he stepped out of Beijing Airport.

He found a random hotel and had a good sleep. Feeling refreshed the next day, he checked out and took a taxi to the Chaoyang CBD, preparing to meet with Fantongwang.

After several inquiries, Yan Fei located Fantongwang’s office and entered. He scanned the company—about two hundred employees; the atmosphere was decent.

A receptionist girl noticed Yan Fei looking around and stood up, asking, “Sir, who are you looking for? How can I help?”

Yan Fei turned to the wary girl, smiled apologetically, and said, “I’m an investor looking for Mr. Zang Li, the CEO, to discuss investment.”

The girl eyed Yan Fei’s plain clothes skeptically. Unlike the usual sharply dressed investors, he seemed out of place. Doubting his legitimacy, she tried to dismiss him.

Seeing her expression, Yan Fei’s face turned serious as he said in a low voice, “You probably don’t know, but your company’s cash flow is about to break. Without my investment, you’ll soon collapse. Go get Mr. Zang now.”

Startled, the girl became flustered and quickly said, “Please wait a moment; I’ll fetch Mr. Zang.”

Soon the girl returned with a middle-aged man around forty. Seeing Yan Fei, the man frowned and asked gravely, “Young man, you say you want to invest in our company?”

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“That’s right,” Yan Fei nodded solemnly. “From what I know, your company received several million USD from Mitsui & Co. last year. Your funds must be nearly depleted by now.”

Zang Li frowned deeply. “May I know your name before we proceed? Let’s talk in the conference room.”

Yan Fei nodded and followed Zang to the meeting room, a faint smile on his face. “I’m Yan Fei, a freelance investor. Frankly, Fantongwang has been around for six years but operates in only forty cities. It lags far behind Dazhong Dianping’s delivery, founded a year later. This shows Fantongwang’s growth potential is limited.”

Zang was irritated by Yan’s criticism but knew it was true and that Yan wanted to drive down the valuation. He replied gravely, “Since Mr. Yan is familiar with us, please share your investment plan.”

Yan nodded and said solemnly, “Fantongwang has raised about $16 million to date, but its growth is slow. I can only value it at $50 million.”

Zang raised his eyebrows, his face turning grim. “Mr. Yan, perhaps you’re unaware that our company’s valuation exceeded $100 million last year.”

Yan smiled faintly. “I do know, but after the financial crisis, funding tightened, and with the internet bubble bursting, do you still think Fantongwang is worth $100 million?”

Zang fell silent for a long moment, then said slowly, “Regardless, $50 million is too low. Even amid the crisis, we handle over 100,000 daily orders with an upward trend. Our potential is immense. My bottom line is $90 million.”

They exchanged offers and counteroffers but failed to reach an agreement. They left each other their numbers and agreed to reconsider before continuing talks.

After leaving Fantongwang, Yan Fei found a hotel for lunch, feeling somewhat disappointed. Zang’s stubborn $90 million valuation exceeded Yan’s psychological price of $60 million.

Shaking his head, Yan bought a direct ticket to Shanghai. Landing at 3 p.m., he took a taxi straight to Tianshan Road in Changning District, easily finding Dazhong Dianping’s office.

At the entrance, a stylish woman in her mid-thirties stood at the front desk, smiling and asking, “Hello, sir, who are you here to see?”

Yan smiled back. “I’m Yan Fei, a freelance investor, here to meet Mr. Zhang Tao to discuss financing.”

“An investor?” The woman scrutinized Yan’s attire skeptically and hesitated. Seeing this, Yan didn’t waste words; he pulled out a printed bank deposit certificate stamped by the bank, handing it over with a calm voice: “Please check. If you think I’m qualified to invest, please take me to Mr. Zhang.”

The woman’s eyes widened in surprise seeing the 27 million yuan deposit on the certificate. She looked up at Yan respectfully and said, “Sorry, Mr. Yan, I was abrupt earlier. Please follow me.”

Yan waved off the apology and followed her. Soon they arrived at the general manager’s office, where a man about thirty-five sat in the boss’s chair, eyes fixed on his computer.

The receptionist knocked, catching Zhang Tao’s attention. “Mr. Zhang, this is Mr. Yan Fei, a freelance investor here to discuss investment.”

Zhang glanced at Yan, noting his youth, and frowned slightly. “You may go now; I’ll take care of this.”

Yan and Zhang sat by the tea table. Zhang began brewing tea while Yan smiled quietly. Neither spoke at first, the tension hanging in the air.