132: Chapter 132 The Power of Activities in Lower-Tier Markets

After the update, the brand-new Pinduoduo had been pushed to the phones of the one million core users who originally had Pinhaohuo.

Among these users, those who updated right away basically all saw this cash campaign, which had never appeared on the Great Xia internet before.

The spread of Pinduoduo in universities was actually quite slow.

After all, university students who had received higher education didn't really believe it when they first saw the campaign, and without verification, they likely wouldn't use it.

Someone like Wei Yingjie, who verified it on the spot and received the money immediately, belonged to the very small minority who were lucky.

Most university students' first reaction was similar to that rich second-generation kid, Old Wang; they felt this kind of trick must be a scam, unless they saw people around them succeed.

However, in the sinking markets, the power of Pinduoduo was almost overwhelming, encountering almost no resistance whatsoever.

In various villages and towns, after seeing this campaign, most middle-aged and elderly people would try it without hesitation.

They didn't question the authenticity like university students; their logic was simple: if someone is giving away money, why not try?

...

Hongxin Township.

Rather than calling this place a township, it was more like a settlement made of a few streets pieced together; you couldn't walk from one end to the other in half an hour.

At this moment, on the second floor of the house at the far end of the street, a young woman who had just taken a two-hour car ride for her vacation was trying to persuade the elderly person in her family.

"This kind of campaign must be fake. What platform would just give you one hundred yuan for nothing?"

Shen Xi placed the phone on the coffee table, her tone carrying a hint of impatience.

Her grandmother sat opposite her, hands resting on her knees, her expression somewhat uneasy.

The old lady's hair was mostly white. She was wearing a faded floral cloth shirt and a pair of plastic slippers on her feet.

Seeing her granddaughter put the phone down, she pushed it toward the coffee table again.

"What if it's real?"

"This is one hundred yuan, you know; you can buy a lot of things with it. Besides, clicking it won't get you scammed. Just help Grandma download the software."

"Then we can go to the street and find others to help us."

Shen Xi opened her mouth, about to say that there's no such thing as a free lunch, but swallowed the words.

She suddenly remembered a video she had scrolled past on Douyin earlier.

The video said that many elderly people don't actually believe in those campaigns; they just want to find a reason to get closer to their children or grandchildren who rarely come back, an excuse to have a conversation.

Perhaps this so-called Pinduoduo was just an excuse. Even if they couldn't get the money, at least her granddaughter could sit with her a little longer today and say a few more words.

She recalled that since she arrived, other than helping her grandmother with the phone, she hadn't really initiated any conversation, having been busy replying to messages in her work group.

Shen Xi picked up the phone.

"Fine, but after I finish this for you, don't download random things. Many of these apps are scams."

The old lady nodded, her eyes crinkling into a smile.

Shen Xi downloaded Pinduoduo herself and filled in the invitation code from her grandmother's Pinduoduo account in the registration field.

The moment the login was successful, the progress bar on her grandmother's phone jumped, increasing by eight percent immediately.

Afterward, the old lady took Shen Xi out to the street. While finding neighbors to help her download the software, she also chatted with them and introduced her granddaughter.

...

Half an hour later.

"It's actually real!"

Looking at the successful withdrawal notification on her grandmother's phone, Shen Xi was stunned. She hadn't expected that this software would actually give away cash and that it could be withdrawn successfully without being a scam.

Thinking of this, Shen Xi hurriedly took out her phone, sent the Pinduoduo link to her colleagues, and even called them directly to ask them to click it for her.

Meanwhile, the old lady, who had successfully withdrawn the money, was clicking on something on her phone by herself.

"Alright, just help me click; the campaign is real."

Hanging up the phone, Shen Xi was about to call another colleague, but just then, ding.

A notification popped up at the top of her phone screen: an Alipay deposit notification.

She tapped it open.

The received amount was 378.9 yuan.

Shen Xi was stunned.

Where did this come from?

She looked up at her grandmother, who was sitting opposite her, looking at her kindly.

"I transferred the money to you; you should have received it."

Seeing that it was money her grandmother had transferred to her, Shen Xi was stunned.

Although her grandmother knew how to use a smartphone and had Alipay, the bank card linked to it didn't have much money—maybe just the hundred yuan she had just withdrawn. How could there be over three hundred?

"Grandma, where did you get this money?"

"You keep it for yourself."

The old lady smiled.

"I don't know how to use the money on the phone."

"But I know you spend a lot of money, so I've been trying to find ways to help you a little."

"Every day, when you guys aren't back, I click on ads in different apps to earn small red packets, saving up to help you."

"Day by day, saving a cent here and a dime there, saving while waiting for you to come back."

"Slowly, bit by bit, it added up to a few hundred yuan. When you came back, I'd give the money I saved to you."

Listening to her grandmother, Shen Xi's eyes instantly welled up with tears. She remembered how it was when she was a child; whenever her parents wouldn't give her pocket money, it was her grandmother who would give her a yuan saved up, one dime at a time.

"Grandma..."

She leaned her head on her grandmother's shoulder, her hair brushing against the old lady's floral shirt. The old lady was stunned for a moment, then reached out and patted her back, saying, "You're so old now, why are you still acting like this?"

Shen Xi muttered softly.

"Grandma, I'll come back to see you next week."

...

Only a few hours passed.

On the streets of Hongxin Township, almost everyone who used a smartphone had an extra red icon on their phone.

In the sinking markets, the speed of Pinduoduo's viral spread could only be described as exaggerated.

When the first person in a township started using Pinduoduo and inviting neighbors, the spread of Pinduoduo in that area became unstoppable.

The same scene in Hongxin Township was playing out simultaneously in countless towns and villages across Great Xia on this day.

Finally, because the popularity of the Pinduoduo campaign was so exaggerated, by evening, a trending topic surged to the top of major platforms.

Weibo exploded.

"Pinduoduo is giving away a one-hundred-yuan cash red packet!"

In this world, Langchao Group held Douyin, league of legends, and crossfire, and after several rounds of financing, its book capital was quite abundant.

From the very beginning, Qin Mo did not intend to make this campaign a trick; instead, he truly wanted most people to be able to withdraw the money successfully.

Although the success rate wasn't one hundred percent, it was eighty percent, which was still quite exaggerated.

Most people who shared the link successfully received the cash after gathering enough new users.

Clicking into the trending topic, the comments section was overwhelmed in less than half an hour. Unlike any previous trending topic, this time the comments section was flooded with various links and screenshots of successful withdrawals.

"It really arrived, one hundred yuan. I thought it was a scam, but they actually gave it. It's the first time in my life I've picked up free money on the internet."

"Can anyone help me click? I'm missing the last two people. Please, I'm begging you, I'll kneel for you. I really only need two more. Whoever helps me click, I'll call him Daddy!"

"Five yuan for each new user click. Is anyone doing mutual clicks? I help you, you help me. Private message me to send the QR code."

"So Pinduoduo belongs to Langchao Group. As expected, it's still that generous Langchao Group. league of legends gives away skins, crossfire gives away gold weapons, and Pinduoduo gives away cash directly. The vision is truly grand."

The number of comments on major platforms was skyrocketing at a visible rate.

Amidst this overwhelming discussion, the fact that Pinduoduo had transformed from a fruit and vegetable e-commerce platform into an all-category e-commerce platform went unnoticed by many.

Saying it went unnoticed isn't entirely accurate. Most people's attention was completely absorbed by the one-hundred-yuan cash red packet, and they even temporarily forgot that the various products on the Pinduoduo homepage had never appeared there before.

Of course, this was also because these new users had never used Pinduoduo before and thought the software was just like that.

Furthermore, because Pinduoduo not only gave away one-hundred-yuan cash but also shopping red packets, Pinduoduo's sales volume was also skyrocketing crazily.

Although these shopping red packets weren't without thresholds, by simply adding items together, it was still enough to buy a large number of goods at extremely low prices.

However, the most important thing was the number of users. After the Slash campaign was launched, the number of Pinduoduo users jumped at an extremely exaggerated speed.

Soon, time arrived at the next day.