Chapter 408

The audience laughed continuously; the two were having an interesting discussion.

But the two fell silent, ceasing the discussion—continuing like this would make some topics too sensitive.

Fang Hong never plays by the rules; he always drags Jack Ma into sensitive topics. There's nothing to be done—circumstances are weak, and no matter how you put it, they're stronger.

Since we can't win on business, let's talk politics then!

"Can we end this topic and bring it back on track? Principal, what do you think—do you side with Xiaomi or Gree?" The host timely ended the topic; time was limited, so they could only go this far—awards still needed to be handed out.

This stage was meant to be dominated by Lei Bus and Dong Dajie, but now the Principal and Jack Ma had steered the topic away.

And just now, they were evaluating which company's model—Xiaomi or Gree—was better.

"I side with Xiaomi," Fang Hong said.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Lei Bus extended his hand and shook Fang Hong's.

Just moments ago, he had been utterly criticized by Dong Dajie and Jack Ma, told he was worthless—whether he made money or not, he was still worthless.

Lao Wang Zong was all bluff and no bite, utterly non-confrontational, leaving him utterly frazzled.

"Why do you side with Xiaomi?" the host asked.

"Because Xiaomi's pricing has allowed more ordinary people to afford cheap phones, crushing counterfeit phones—those without after-sales service, fake IMEIs, and severely questionable quality—I call them a tumor.

Ordinary people buy them, only to have them break within days or a month, effectively throwing away hundreds or even thousands of yuan—this isn't small change for ordinary people.

Wealthy people won't buy counterfeit phones, so while other phone manufacturers didn't do it, Xiaomi did. I think this deserves encouragement, not criticism."

Fang Hong's words made Lei Bus glance at him with gratitude.

"But Xiaomi has no factory, lacks technology, has no physical stores; though it sells online, it relies solely on price competition, while Gree relies not on price but on technology.

Gree has tens of thousands of exclusive stores nationwide, and we also collaborate online with Jack Ma—shouldn't the world belong to Gree? He has nothing to support him—no better factory, no better products, no better service."

Dong Dajie spoke with more confidence and more words, and with her dark face, her speech sounded like yelling.

Fang Hong listened quietly until she finished.

"You can't demand a new enterprise come out with factories, fully equipped with all supporting infrastructure and technology right away—that's unrealistic.

A new startup's first priority is survival; only by surviving can you have the factories, technology, and all that you mention."

Fang Hong continued: "You always talk about marketing, thinking it's simple and easy to copy—but marketing isn't easy at all. If it really were that easy, we'd already have several Xiaomis, and Chinese brands would have long since sold worldwide."

"If that day ever comes, I believe it would be an immeasurable merit—more useful than any factory or internet platform."

"Hahaha." The audience laughed—it had watered Jack Ma again, and also Dong Dajie.

Jack Ma remained calm, but Dong Dajie's face darkened as she snapped: "I think you're talking nonsense—you have no technology, no factory, you have no roots. How can you sell worldwide? Are you going to steal it? Then you're thieves."

"From creation to marketing to manufacturing—if you could do it all, wouldn't that be better?"

"Dong Zong, Dong Zong," the host interrupted, "I think you should be gentler—he's much younger than you."

This woman was too fierce, too blunt—earlier, Jack Ma and the Principal had all been circling around the issue.

She directly called someone a thief!

"It's fine. Listening to Director Dong makes me involuntarily get excited—it reminds me of a woman in our village who blocked someone's front door and screamed curses." Fang Hong said.

"Hahahaha!"

The guests in the audience—celebrities, bigwigs—slapped their thighs and laughed uncontrollably.

The earlier part was fine, but the implication was clear: Dong Dajie was a shrew. That mouth of his was truly cutting.

"You're really something," Dong Dajie fumed, shoving him. Fang Hong sidestepped.

The scene was absurd—Dong Dajie spoke fiercely, yet her gestures were childlike, making her seem deeply incongruous and unsettling.

Several staff members on stage also smiled.

"It's not best to do everything yourself—borrowing the strongest elements from others isn't wrong," Fang Hong rebutted Dong Dajie's earlier words.

Dong Dajie gave him a look of disdain.

Fang Hong continued: "Technology is important—I admit that. But what I'm saying is, when your product sells, it boosts related domestic industries. With money and channels, how can you lack industry or technology? Technology must iterate; without iteration, there's no development.

What we lack isn't more factories—it's influential brands. Whether low-end or high-end, as long as it sells our products, the rest can develop gradually—isn't that the root?"

As soon as Fang Hong finished, the audience erupted in "Clap! Clap! Clap!"—the applause grew louder and louder.

The Principal's words struck a chord with certain leaders—they didn't care how many stores, how much technology, or how many factories you had; they cared whether you could sell your products.

Only when products sell do you make money; then technology naturally iterates, others naturally produce for you, more jobs are created. If you can't even sell your products, what's the point of all that?

We are a nation oriented toward exports!

Lei Bus felt deeply grateful—he opened his arms and hugged Fang Hong, finally hearing someone speak up for him.

Everyone demanded everything from him right away—it was too hard on him, and Jack Ma had even claimed marketing was the easiest to copy, the lowest-tier model—how unjust.

Fang Hong patted his back reassuringly; it was purely friendly.

Later, Xiaomi did build factories and invest in R&D—they kept pushing forward, just lacked a strong foundation.

Take chips—this isn't something ordinary companies can afford. Let me put it this way: Intel, the world's top chipmaker, spends between $10 billion and $20 billion annually on R&D.

Does Xiaomi's profit even reach Intel's pocket change?

Even without mentioning the top tier, look at Qualcomm—its annual R&D spending is also in the billions of dollars. Chip development starts at $1 billion—yes, billion in U. S. dollars—real, tangible Silver poured in, not counting ongoing investment and other costs.

So don't demand too much of Xiaomi—it's not that they don't want to, they simply can't afford it, can't do it.

Just having something and making a contribution is already good enough.

And this isn't something a piece of paper can solve—it requires years of continuous investment and constant iteration.

The prerequisite is still being able to sell the product.

"I think this is boring. What matters is how long they can last—temporary success doesn't mean sustainable development. Surviving, lasting how long—that's the key," Jack Ma spoke again.

He meant Xiaomi wouldn't last.

"Before Lei Zong founded Xiaomi, he ran Kingsoft for 25 years—more than double Alibaba's lifespan. He understands better than you what it takes to sustain a business," Fang Hong pressed on.

Jack Ma merely nodded several times, feigning indifference—he had no rebuttal; it was the truth.

He shouldn't have said that — it gave the Principal another opening to exploit.

Lao Wang Zong squinted and smiled lightly; it had been a long time since he'd seen Jack Ma like this, so the trip today hadn't been wasted after all.

The dignitaries in the audience also gave Fang Hong a couple of extra glances — this young man had managed to leave Jack Ma utterly speechless, so he clearly had something going for him.

"Actually, today's debate wasn't about winning or losing, but about better clarifying our thinking on transformation and upgrading. So after leaving this stage, we still hope you can join hands and win together — let's give them a round of applause," the host said, delivering the closing remarks.

Finally over, applause rose from the audience.

The award ceremony continued, but it wouldn't last much longer. In this debate, Fang Hong had really just been a random intruder — it had nothing to do with him in the first place.

Fang Hong and Lei Bus returned to their seats together.

"Awesome!" Liu Tianxian leaned slightly toward Fang Hong, gave him a thumbs-up, and said it in a quiet voice.

"It's all thanks to you. Without you, I wouldn't have this kind of foundation either," Fang Hong said.

"What does it have to do with me?" Liu Tianxian was puzzled.

"You often read books into my ear, and that raised my awareness," Fang Hong said.

When Liu Tianxian had time at night, she would often read books into his ear. Although those books were all philosophy titles, they made him drowsy.

But over time, it still benefited him — at least it gave him more to think about.

"Oh, is that so? As long as it helps you, that's fine." Liu Tianxian hadn't expected that the small thing she'd done was actually quite useful.

As the two chatted, Lei Bus had a word with his wife, then turned back and said, "I'm really grateful to you. Without you, I wouldn't have handled it so easily."

"No problem, I was just talking off the top of my head. Just take it as a listen, don't take it to heart." Fang Hong was being modest this time.

Because he knew whoever could go further — and soon Chang'e's mobile game would be released, and the terminals would need their channels too.

"Do you guys have time later? Let's go grab a meal," Lei Bus said, looking at Liu Tianxian and Fang Hong, asking for their opinion.

"I have to attend a brand event tomorrow morning, so I'll have to leave soon. I don't have much time — you guys go," Liu Tianxian said, glancing at the watch on her wrist.

She had only carved out this time on short notice; this year she was especially busy, and her value had risen.

Although everyone was complaining about "The Four Famous Shops 2," it didn't affect her current value much.

"That busy, huh," Lei Bus said.

"Nothing I can do about it — I'm an artist. My time isn't my own. When others have demands, we have to go and do a good job serving them." Liu Tianxian said it very casually, and didn't show any timidity just because the other party was a big boss — she came across as very poised.

"That's true — what you're selling is fame," Lei Bus understood.

"Hey, does your Xiaomi need an endorsement? Get her," Fang Hong said offhandedly.

"How much?" Lei Bus was interested.

"Fifty million, market price." Fang Hong held up five fingers.

Liu Tianxian couldn't help but glance at him — she was clearly only fifteen million, and somehow he'd tripled it out of nowhere.

Was he trying to take advantage of people who didn't know the market?

"That's a bit pricey," Lei Bus said.

"Two years — fifty million for two years is a real bargain," Fang Hong said.

"Alright then, I'll go back and talk it over with the marketing department colleagues." Lei Bus agreed without even thinking.

Don't think he didn't know the market price — it was just that this amount meant nothing to him; he was just making a friend.

Now that Fang Hong had grown bigger, the people he dealt with were of higher status, so landing an endorsement for Liu Tianxian was this simple — settled with a single sentence, no discussion needed at all.

Tens of millions to bosses like them could be scraped together by cutting administrative expenses elsewhere — it was nothing.

"Why'd you quote it so high?" Liu Tianxian tugged at Fang Hong's arm and spoke very softly by his ear, afraid the people nearby would hear.

"My mouth went dry from talking on stage — I should get something in return, right?" Fang Hong said, as if it were the most natural thing.

Liu Tianxian smiled — he truly never got up early without profit.

This business-person gala soon ended; the big bosses gathered in twos and threes — some went to eat, some went to business KTV.

As for the debate on stage just now, nobody took it to heart at all — it was just trash talk for show effect — though some people were more or less annoyed.

(End of chapter)