Chapter 473: Instant Messaging

During the dog days of summer, it was like oil being cooked over a raging fire; every inch of the world was filled with a scorching heat.

Just as he walked out of the teaching building, Shen Yan felt someone pat him on the back. Turning around, he discovered it was Zhu Baoping, followed by Tang Song, Yuan Mingqing, and Lin Yang, who looked somewhat awkward.

Shen Yan raised his hand to signal that he was on a call.

Zhu Baoping smiled awkwardly and turned his gaze toward Wu Yue'er.

"Beauty Wu, summer vacation is almost here, and Tang still owes us a meal. How about tonight? Same place, Manyuefu."

Wu Yue'er naturally didn't care about such a small banquet; it wasn't even as good as what she usually ate. Seeing Shen Yan's posture, it was clear he had no intention of attending.

So she said, "Let's do it next time; I have something to do tonight."

The "Shen Family" members also indicated that today was not very convenient.

Tang Song shrugged; it wasn't that he didn't want to treat them, but what could he do if he couldn't get everyone together?

"Then next time!" Zhu Baoping waved his hand with regret.

Inadvertently, he suddenly noticed that Wu Yue'er had changed to a new phone at some point; that bright, shiny Apple logo was impossible to miss.

Shen Yan had one too.

He asked Wu Yue'er what model of phone it was.

"Apple 4, it just came out a few days ago," Wu Yue'er replied casually.

"?" Zhu Baoping felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He had just spent 4,999 to buy a 3GS last month, so how was there already a new model? And the new one cost the same five thousand.

If this isn't being a complete idiot, what is?

The 3GS in his pocket suddenly didn't feel so great anymore.

Lin Yang, who was standing to the side and couldn't quite let go of his pride, couldn't help but interject: "Isn't the Apple 4 not released in China yet? Where did you get it from?"

"Shen Yan had someone get it from Hong Kong," Wu Yue'er said, not giving Lin Yang a cold shoulder.

Time had worn everything down.

Nowadays, the two rarely interacted, and when they met, it was nothing more than a nod of acknowledgment.

And Lin Yang no longer pestered Wu Yue'er; instead, he showed signs of having given up on himself, changing two girlfriends in two months, one of whom even ran to the classroom to call him a dead scumbag.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

They didn't understand what had triggered him to cause such a drastic reversal in personality.

Hearing this, a sense of powerlessness rose from within Lin Yang. He felt that this university life was truly boring; the goddess didn't care for him, and he hadn't made any friends.

To make matters worse, he had a nemesis for a roommate.

He still had to find women to soothe this wounded heart.

Shen Yan didn't pay attention to their conversation, his entire focus poured into the call.

Chen Jun's meaning was very clear: he wanted to take advantage of the fact that no one had yet entered the instant messaging software market to be the first to enter and seize the market.

Feixin could be considered a competitor, but its limitations were too great; it only allowed mobile users to register and use it, and it required sending free text messages from a PC to a mobile phone.

If they didn't broaden their perspective, such a competitor was not worth worrying about.

What truly worried Chen Jun was Tencent, the big brother of the instant messaging industry. QQ had a full 160 million real users; as long as the other side made a decisive decision and entered the market quickly, other companies would have no chance at all.

Chen Jun wanted to hear Shen Yan's opinion on whether they should enter the market and give it a try.

To this question, Shen Yan didn't know how to answer for a moment.

In his previous life, Xiaomi Company had indeed entered the instant messaging field, and around December of this year, they would launch a piece of software called "Millet Chat."

Its functions were very complete.

It integrated video, voice, text messaging, and images, and also had features like remote assistance and file transfer.

As soon as it launched, this software received unanimous praise from users, and the user base expanded rapidly.

However, the nickname "King of Plagiarism" for Tencent was not just empty talk.

Just one month later, Tencent plagiarized all the functions of "Millet Chat" and launched a similar product, "WeChat," plus it had the constant traffic redirection from QQ.

Even though it was a latecomer, it still beat "Millet Chat" into a steady retreat.

At that time, Chen Jun also had to take care of developing mobile phones, so he was destined to be unable to invest too much energy in the instant messaging field.

Gradually, the mobile communication market was firmly occupied by Tencent.

In this life, Shen Yan had been reborn.

Honestly, if he were to operate a chat software, relying on various super-era promotion methods, Kuaida Delivery, Easy Pay, Xiaogu Mobile, and his foresight of the future.

Facing the mountain that was Tencent, it wasn't impossible to put up a fight.

In the internet era, traffic is king.

Wasn't it precisely by relying on QQ and WeChat that Tencent became a giant enterprise?

Once this market was seized, the benefits would naturally go without saying.

But Shen Yan really didn't have that much ambition.

Fighting with Boss Ma today, fighting with Meituan tomorrow, fighting with Tencent the day after—life is about being happy and free, why make yourself so tired?

Money is something you can't bring with you when you're born and can't take with you when you die.

Managing Easy Pay well and leaving a name in history would make this trip worthwhile.

It was better to just leave it to Chen Jun to tinker with.

If it succeeded, he would sit back and collect the money; if it failed, it didn't matter.

Shen Yan said to the phone, "Uncle Chen, I think this market has great potential. Actually, I've had this idea before and have organized a feasible plan. I'll go to Shanghai in a couple of days, and we can have a good talk."

Chen Jun was immediately both surprised and delighted: "Good, good, good, I'll wait for you at the company."

This call was the right one to make.

With Shen Yan's level of understanding of the internet, he couldn't go wrong by seeking his cooperation.

Of course, the massive traffic from Kuaida Delivery was what Chen Jun craved the most.

At this very moment, Chen Jun felt a thousand emotions, recalling how when this then-unknown young man first approached him to discuss a partnership, the gap between them had been like a chasm.

More than half a year later, this situation had completely reversed.

He actually found himself needing to rely on the other person.

So it is said, heroes are not judged by their origins, scoundrels are not judged by their age; one should never underestimate the people of this world.

With summer vacation approaching, Shen Yan drove to the Communication University of China, picked up Hao Anqi, and they wandered around outside, going wherever it was cool—ice skating, catching a movie, and strolling through shopping malls.

After playing for two days, before heading home, Hao Anqi returned the keys to the BMW 3 Series to Shen Yan, expressing that she wanted to buy a commuter car suitable for a girl to drive.

She was preparing to drive back to Suzhou.

Her excuse to her parents was that she had earned quite a bit of money running her Taobao shop and was buying a car to drive around.

Shen Yan naturally had no objections; it was perfect to take the BMW back to the company, as employees often needed a car for errands.

In the end, Hao Anqi picked out a pink BYD for around 100,000, happily set off on her return journey, and even said she would come out to find Shen Yan to play during the summer break.

With a car in hand, I can go anywhere!

After seeing Hao Anqi off, Yu Youwei and Luo Qiqi were also preparing to leave Hangzhou; Shen Yan took them to the bus station, as the group had originally planned to participate in a summer social practice, but since Shen Yan could not get away, they had to find another time.

Not long after getting out of the car, Luo Qiqi made an excuse that she had left something in the vehicle.

She let Yu Youwei go into the station first while pulling the suitcase.

Yu Youwei suspected nothing and walked quickly into the station to escape the heat, while Luo Qiqi returned to the parking lot.

The white Maybach was still parked there, motionless.