Chapter 107: Chen Yansen: My Temper Is Burning Hot Right Now

After the pleasantries ended, the group exchanged polite refusals before taking their seats.

Chen Yansen regarded Lei Yi and Zhou Hongyi with interest; who could have guessed that years later, these two would engage in a verbal war on Weibo over mobile phone business, even threatening to settle it with a fight at Chaoyang Park?

Although they never actually fought, Lei Yi’s dispatch of Li Wanqiang to scout the enemy was exposed.

As Chen Yansen observed Zhou Hongyi, Old Zhou was also squinting at him.

Old Zhou’s face was expressionless, but his eyes betrayed a faint hostility—he now bristled at the word “Tencent,” for Fox Tao was backed by Tencent and thus aligned with his rival.

If Lei Yi weren’t present, he would have stormed out long ago.

“Mr. Lei, the new channel director at Amazon is an old colleague of mine; I’ve already spoken to him. Tomorrow, have your company’s channel development staff reach out to him.”

As soon as Lei Yi sat down, he immediately showed his goodwill.

He was the founder of Joyo.com, which he sold to Amazon seven years ago; most employees were absorbed into Amazon, and the colleague he mentioned was likely one of his former subordinates.

“Thank you, Mr. Lei.”

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and offered a polite thanks.

At this time, Fox Tao had already onboarded over forty B2C websites of various types; its need for Amazon was no longer as urgent as in its early days.

Even without Lei Yi’s introduction, the new director would have approached Fox Tao for cooperation after taking office.

After all, competitors had already joined; failing to join would mean losing market share.

“Chen Nian from Vancl is an old friend of mine; he’ll arrive a bit later.”

Seeing Chen Yansen’s indifferent reaction, Lei Yi quickly added.

Another unlucky bastard!

Chen Yansen smirked inwardly—he remembered clearly that in 2011, Vancl, backed by Lei Yi and investors, had announced a revenue target of ten billion yuan, only to achieve one-third of it; its valuation plummeted, its warehouses piled up two billion yuan in unsold inventory, and it took five full years to make up the losses.

But clearing inventory came at a cost—Vancl’s brand value plummeted, becoming just another mass-market name.

It wasn’t until over a decade later, when Lei Yi succeeded in building cars, that Chen Nian enjoyed a brief resurgence.

Thinking of this, Chen Yansen looked at Lei Yi and couldn’t help but reflect: Mr. Lei truly stood by his friends—Chen Nian had lost him a hundred million U.S. dollars, yet they hadn’t broken ties; if it were him, anyone who lost that much money from him would be lucky to escape with only a broken leg.

“Yuncheng, tell Mr. Lei about Fox Tao ’s current situation.”

Chen Yansen nodded, signaling Song Yuncheng to handle the PR briefing.

“No rush—tonight is for drinking and chatting; tomorrow, come to my company for detailed talks.”

Lei Yi waved his hand.

Although outsiders couldn’t obtain the most accurate figures, Fox Tao ’s daily active users, orders, and sales volume were easy to estimate with near certainty.

Compared to Fox Tao , Lei Yi was far more interested in Chen Yansen himself.

A Daogou e-commerce sector no one took seriously had been turned into something remarkable—from brand flash sales and group buying to brand marketing, his business was wildly diverse.

Yesterday, when he called Chen Yansen, the man seized the opportunity and proposed a gaming partnership with Xiaomi under a CPS and CPA revenue-sharing model—something Lei Yi greatly admired.

Had Fox Tao ’s valuation not already exceeded 2.8 billion, he’d have considered bringing Chen Yansen into Xiaomi’s marketing department.

Just then, Chen Nian walked in with his female assistant, beaming with pride.

At the end of last year, Vancl completed its E-round financing of one hundred million U.S. dollars, with a valuation exceeding one billion U.S. dollars, easily entering unicorn status.

This was Vancl’s moment of glory—and Chen Nian’s.

He’d heard Lei Yi wanted to introduce him to a new contact; upon checking, he learned it was the founder of Fox Tao —the very external traffic channel he desperately needed.

With a ten-billion-yuan revenue target already announced, he needed to significantly boost both traffic and products to achieve it.

“Here he is—sit next to Mr. Chen. Let me introduce you: this is Chen Nian from Vancl; this is Chen Yansen from Fox Tao .”

Lei Yi stood up to make the introductions.

“Mr. Chen, a great honor!”

“Mr. Chen, young and accomplished!”

They smiled and shook hands, but Chen Nian secretly felt a touch of arrogance.

In Chen Nian’s view, running a platform was the true path; Fox Tao , as a traffic relay platform, had an obvious ceiling and no real growth potential.

Zhou Hongyi watched coldly—he still had another meeting with Lei Yi; 360 was seeking an IPO opportunity, and Lei Yi had experience here; he’d come hoping for help.

Lei Yi said they’d only eat and chat, so no one brought up other topics—instead, they casually shared opinions on the domestic economic situation.

They assumed Chen Yansen, being young, would have little to say—but when he spoke, he stunned them.

For a moment, they felt as if they were talking to a seasoned veteran of the business world.

After listening for a while, Zhou Hongyi sneered at Chen Yansen’s remarks and abruptly shifted the topic to his own industry: “Mr. Chen, what do you think about the future development of internet security services?”

Chen Yansen glanced at him, knowing the man had ulterior motives, and smiled as he uttered two words: “It’ll die.”

Zhou Hongyi’s face froze instantly—360’s core business was PC Manager and antivirus software; Chen Yansen’s words were a direct declaration that 360 was doomed.

“Bullshit!”

Zhou Hongyi snorted and swore outright.

“Zhou, how dare you speak like that!” This dinner was his own gathering, Chen Yansen his guest—Zhou Hongyi’s words disrespected both Chen Yansen and himself.

“Alright, Mr. Chen, I spoke without thinking—just ignore me,” Zhou Hongyi said, softening his tone as he saw Lei Yi’s expression and remembered he needed favors.

“Mr. Chen, don’t mind Old Zhou—he’s just a rough guy,” Lei Yi glared at Zhou Hongyi and laughed to defuse the tension.

“Some people can’t handle the truth—but industry trends won’t change just because someone refuses to accept them.”

Chen Yansen grinned, utterly dismissing Zhou Hongyi.

His attitude piqued Lei Yi’s curiosity—he asked, “Why don’t you elaborate? So Old Zhou doesn’t think you’re targeting him.”

“First, Microsoft began bundling Windows Defender into Windows 7, offering only basic virus protection—but for most users, it’s sufficient for daily use, reducing reliance on third-party antivirus software. Microsoft might even bundle a more powerful antivirus in the next version.”

After hearing this, Lei Yi relaxed—he agreed that Microsoft’s move would indeed shake up China’s security software market.

Zhou Hongyi knew about Microsoft’s plan but had ignored it; now, Chen Yansen’s words made his heart sink.

“Second, smartphones are entering the large-screen era; mobile operating systems are closed, and app store review mechanisms ensure virus numbers will plummet—no one will install antivirus software on phones, as it harms performance…”

Chen Yansen continued.

When smartphones first emerged, with limited RAM, most users wouldn’t waste precious memory on antivirus software.

By the time RAM increased, people had already grown accustomed to not using antivirus software at all.

If phones worked fine without antivirus software, why install it?

Over a decade later, the antivirus market would survive only among enterprise users.

“Do you believe mobile devices will replace the PC market?” Lei Yi asked curiously.

This aligned perfectly with his own view—it was precisely because he foresaw the mobile communications boom that he founded Xiaomi.

“An inevitable trend,” Chen Yansen replied firmly.

Seeing his confidence in the mobile industry, Lei Yi smiled and invited him to visit Xiaomi’s R&D studio the next day.

Chen Yansen readily accepted.

Soon after, the group began toasting and drinking; bosses all had good liquor tolerance.

Before long, Lei Yi’s face flushed red; he pulled out cigarettes and offered them around, then lit one, puffing smoke.

Chen Yansen declined with a shake of his head—he drank, but never smoked.

The several packs of cigarettes in his car were only for show.

Two hours passed; everyone was full and satisfied, and the dinner ended.

As they left, Chen Nian had his assistant jot down Song Yuncheng’s phone number for future cooperation.

Chen Yansen and Lei Yi waved goodbye, confirmed their meeting time for the next day, then got in the car and told the driver to take him straight back to the hotel.

Once Chen Yansen’s car drove off, Lei Yi turned to Li Wanqiang and asked, “What do you think?”

“Anyone who builds a company worth over a billion yuan isn’t simple.”

Li Wanqiang felt deeply—he’d observed the entire evening.

If it were him, at under twenty, dining with billionaires, he wouldn’t have been as calm and natural as Chen Yansen.

“The gaming partnership can be negotiated—I heard from Thinking Capital that before the New Year, Fox Tao had 400,000 new daily users; even if only 1% clicked the promotion page, that’s over a million new users monthly, not counting returning ones—it’ll ease our pressure significantly.”

Lei Yi patted Li Wanqiang’s shoulder and laughed.

“Giving up some profit is acceptable,” Li Wanqiang grinned and nodded in agreement.

“Old Lei, are you really that convinced by that kid?” Zhou Hongyi asked, resentful.

In his view, Chen Yansen’s analysis was pure guesswork—how could a young kid possibly predict future industry trends?

“I only believe half—that mobile terminals will likely become mainstream.”

Lei Yi said confidently.

On the other side.

Back at the hotel, Chen Yansen sat on the sofa by the window, lost in thought—the dinner hadn’t been wasted; he’d secured two B2C platforms for Fox Tao .

Tomorrow, under the guise of a visit, he could learn more about smartphone R&D and manufacturing—if it wasn’t too difficult, he might even compete with Lei Yi in the smartphone field.

As for Zhou Hongyi, he didn’t care at all—even without his interference, Zhou Hongyi would eventually corner himself.

Over a decade later, when Zhou Hongyi met Ma Huateng again, he’d be mocked: “You’re a livestreamer now.”

For a man once worth hundreds of billions, this was a direct insult—a slap in the face.

Chen Yansen picked up the glass of water on the coffee table and took a long drink.

The northern climate was dry; after drinking, he felt even more parched.

And his temper was burning hot.

Through the glass reflection, Chen Yansen watched Song Yuncheng’s every move—she was crouching slightly before the sofa, her pale fingers swiftly tapping the keyboard.

Clearly still refining tomorrow’s meeting materials, terrified of even a single oversight that might ruin the deal.

A strand of her hair clung to her lip, her pure white trousers hugging her round, firm buttocks—this sight made Chen Yansen’s fire burn even hotter.

(End of chapter)