Chapter 209: Previously You Were the Elder Brother, But You Can

Chaoyang District, 360 Headquarters Building.

Zhou Hongyi held a brand-new engineering prototype, idly playing with it.

Since 360's listing on the NYSE, his net worth had surged by billions, and his gaze no longer limited itself to the internet and mobile security sectors.

He first invested in Penguin Music through his wholly-owned subsidiary Qifei, then took a stake in FlashTool.

After Orange Phone's cumulative sales surpassed five million units, he turned his attention to the smartphone market.

In his view, whether Xiaomi or Orange, they were merely assembly plants.

If Lei Yi Army and Chen Yansen could do it, so could he—and he was confident he could do it better.

He believed that with 360's four hundred million users, selling tens of millions was out of reach, but at least ten million was guaranteed.

He used this logic to negotiate with Haier, and the other side, after consideration, found it highly reasonable.

The two parties reached an immediate agreement and began planning three months ago.

Thus, 360 didn't need to build a supply chain or find an OEM—only to customize the software.

In short, Zhou Hongyi had copied FoxTao's playbook, treating the exclusive model as one way to monetize traffic.

Meanwhile, these smartphones with deeply pre-installed 360 software could also help expand new users for his products.

"Ding ling ling—!"

The phone on the desk rang.

Zhou Hongyi glanced at it, saw it was Lei Yi Army calling, and smiled as he pressed answer: "Lei Zong, I heard Xiaomi's sales broke two million units—congratulations!"

Hearing that casual tone, Lei Yi Army took a deep breath and asked patiently: "Is 360 making phones?"

Only then did he remember the real reason Zhou Hongyi had frequently invited him to dinner last winter.

"Lei Zong, you misunderstand—360 is merely providing Haier with a sales channel; production and manufacturing have nothing to do with 360."

Zhou Hongyi lied offhandedly.

Actually, his words weren't wrong—the phone co-developed with Haier was named Haier W910, and aside from pre-installed 360 software, it had nothing to do with 360.

Zhou Hongyi's implication was that if 360 made a phone, it should be called 360 W910.

Lei Yi Army laughed bitterly, but quickly calmed himself, silently sneering—he now understood another truth: the business world is a battlefield, and there are no eternal friends.

"Zhou Zong, I wish you great sales for your 360 phone," Lei Yi Army said with a light scoff.

Zhou Hongyi's expression turned cold—he heard the barbed sarcasm, but didn't feel he'd done anything wrong.

The smartphone market is huge—why shouldn't 360 take a bite?

Previously you were the elder brother, but you can't be the elder brother forever!

Zhou Hongyi felt that since 360's listing, he now had the clout to challenge Lei Yi Army.

"Lei Zong, it's Haier phone, not 360 phone," Zhou Hongyi narrowed his eyes and reiterated.

Lei Yi Army saw right through Zhou Hongyi's scheme—partnering with Haier for an exclusive model allowed rapid product launch while also letting him covet Haier's supplier resources.

Once the timing was right, 360 would definitely break away from Haier and go solo.

In fact, Lei Yi Army was indeed sharp at reading people.

Two years later, Zhou Hongyi, having secured supply chain resources, immediately abandoned the exclusive model and launched 360 phones.

Lei Yi Army and Zhou Hongyi chatted on the phone, but the more they talked, the angrier they became—until Zhou Hongyi couldn't hold back and slammed the phone down.

Before 360's listing, Lei Yi Army was the elder brother; after the listing, Zhou Hongyi's wealth caught up, and with money came louder speech—he naturally refused to listen to Lei Yi Army's nonsense anymore.

On the other end, Lei Yi Army listened to the dial tone, mouth slightly open, then lowered the phone with a look of defeat.

An hour later, 360's marketing department announced that the Haier W910 smartphone would be released in limited quantities on February 1st, with an initial stock of ten thousand units.

A 4. -inch HD Retina screen, Snapdragon MSM8260A dual-core processor, 1GB RAM plus 8GB storage, expandable up to 32GB, priced at 1, 88 yuan.

In terms of specs, the Haier W910 crushed Xiaomi's phone—and it was over a hundred yuan cheaper.

This placed Lei Yi Army and Xiaomi in an extremely awkward position, fearing the Haier W910's launch would hurt Xiaomi's sales.

Meanwhile.

A Bentley Mulsanne sped along the Benghuai Expressway; when Chen Yansen saw the news, he shook his head.

He didn't understand what Zhou Hongyi was thinking—he overestimated 360's ability to monetize traffic, overestimated Haier's appeal to young people, and underestimated the difficulty of making phones.

If success depended solely on hardware specifications, the counterfeit factories in Huaqiangbei would never have failed to succeed.

Decades later, China's smartphone market wouldn't be dominated by just Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO—the rest would all be relegated to obscurity.

"Given Zhou Hongyi's style, he'll almost certainly fall out with Lei Yi Army."

Chen Yansen thought to himself.

"We can go to Chunshen for beef soup!"

Meng Jie sat beside him, grinning, her feet swinging restlessly.

Xiao Li sat in the driver's seat, eyes fixed ahead, driving attentively.

Xucheng and Chunshen were less than two hundred kilometers apart; they departed at nine in the morning and by eleven-thirty, they could already see the roundabout and the faint outline of Tongfei Gate.

"Xiao Li, stop at the residential complex up ahead."

Chen Yansen instructed.

"Yes, boss," Xiao Li replied, drove a few hundred more meters, then smoothly pulled over.

Chen Yansen got out, opened the trunk, and took out Meng Jie's suitcase.

The cold wind howled outside; Meng Jie shivered and quickly pulled on her down jacket.

The two walked toward the complex.

Chen Yansen had been to Meng Jie's home once before; this time, he knew the way well—he walked ahead, Meng Jie followed behind.

To an outsider, it looked like Meng Jie was seeing him home.

Soon, Chen Yansen stopped and knocked on Meng Jie's front door.

"Coming, coming! It must be Xiao Hui back!"

A gentle voice came from behind the door, followed by quick footsteps.

Su Qing flung open the door, and upon seeing Chen Yansen standing there, froze in surprise.

"Mom, I'm back! Did you make spicy stir-fried snails?" Meng Jie grinned, darting out from behind Chen Yansen and hugging Su Qing.

"Little Chen, come in, sit down! Lao Meng, brew some tea!"

Su Qing finished with Meng Jie and smiled warmly at Chen Yansen.

Meng Zhenguang slowly rose from the sofa and greeted: "Little Chen, let Su Auntie cook a few more dishes—stay for lunch and have a drink with Uncle?"

"No thanks, Uncle Meng, I have to go back and have lunch with my father—I'll be going now. Goodbye, Su Auntie."

Chen Yansen politely declined.

Seeing his firm resolve, Su Qing and Meng Zhenguang didn't press further, seeing him off to the complex gate.

Only after watching Chen Yansen get into the Bentley did Meng Zhenguang and Su Qing turn back.

"Little Jie has good taste—Chen Yansen barely passed the second-tier college entrance cutoff, yet in less than two years, he's become a big boss."

Su Qing was very satisfied with Chen Yansen.

Meng Zhenguang sighed—he wasn't as optimistic as Su Qing; as a man himself, if he were in his early twenties with a hundred-billion net worth, would he really have just one girlfriend?

But their daughter's heart and mind were entirely taken up by Chen Yansen—she couldn't bear to hear a single bad word about him.

"Why are you sighing?" Su Qing turned to Meng Zhenguang, frowning.

"I'm afraid our little Jie is too naive to keep up with Chen Yansen—she'll end up suffering. You know he's only twenty—even if he doesn't stray, beautiful girls will throw themselves at him, just like back when I…"

Meng Zhenguang suddenly realized his mistake and snapped his mouth shut.

"What happened back then? Tell me."

Su Qing glared at him, eyes fierce.

"Luckily I married you—that's what made my life complete," Meng Zhenguang grinned, wrapping his arm around his wife as they walked home.

Su Qing's lips curled into a smile, saying she'd cook him extra dishes for drinking.

"You two are the same—easy to please, easy to fool."

Meng Zhenguang sighed inwardly.

On the other side.

The Bentley entered Tongfei Gate and headed toward the Salt Industry Company's staff housing area.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen stepped out and climbed the stairs.

Faint murmurs came from nearby buildings.

"Bentley Mulsanne—this car costs over six million! Whose is it?"

"Who else? Unit 3, Apartment 401—Chen Guobin's son!"

"Oh, now I remember! I heard that Orange Phone was his son's project—he made hundreds of millions last year."

"Hundreds of millions? More like billions!"

Chen Yansen frowned—his physique and spiritual sense made safety no concern, but what about Old Chen?

Someone might take desperate risks.

As he walked, he reached Apartment 401 and found the door wide open.

Chen Guobin, wearing an apron, poked his head out from the kitchen: "Two more dishes left—go wash your hands."

"Old Chen, let's eat out—you don't have any idea how bad your cooking is, do you?"

Chen Yansen teased with a smile.

In his memory, since sixth grade, he rarely ate at home—either he pigged out at Wang Zihao's, or grabbed something from the snack street.

Chen Guobin's understanding of cooking still stopped at "cooked and edible."

"But tonight is New Year's Eve—can you really eat outside? There are chopsticks on the table; try a bite first."

Chen Guobin looked troubled, feeling he was a poor father.

Seeing his father watch him with hopeful eyes, Chen Yansen knew he couldn't refuse; he picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of beef, and put it in his mouth.

Just as he expected—it was cooked, salty, and edible. He put down the chopsticks and said, "Old Chen, stop fussing. Let's eat out. The driver's waiting downstairs."

Driver?

Chen Guobin blinked, then understood what Chen Yansen meant. His face flushed with embarrassment as he asked, "Am I really that terrible at cooking?"

"What do you think?" Chen Yansen shot back.

Chen Guobin's face turned red. He'd tasted every dish himself—they were worse than the rice bowls sold at the gate of his neighborhood.

After a silence of more than ten seconds, Old Chen untied his apron and followed Chen Yansen downstairs.

"Old Chen, have you ever thought about moving?"

On the way down, Chen Yansen asked.

"Move? Where to?" Chen Guobin asked instinctively.

"Shanghai, Beijing, Jin Ling, or Lu Zhou—any of them. I'll buy you a villa and hire a few young, pretty maids to take care of you."

Chen Yansen smiled.

"You're talking nonsense. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying in Chunshen," Chen Guobin shot him a glare, annoyed.

If it weren't for Xiao Li here, Chen Guobin would've cursed him out.

"Even people in the Salt Industry Housing Estate know your son is worth billions. If you get kidnapped one day, I won't pay a single cent to get you back."

Seeing his father still didn't get it, Chen Yansen spelled it out.

"It can't be that bad—crime's so low these days," Chen Guobin said hesitantly.

"At my factory in Shencheng, I pay workers twenty yuan an hour—I've crushed dozens of small electronics factories. They'd love to kill me. And Yunsu Express stole half the market share from the 'Three Passes and One Reach.' Last year, Yunsu's CEO nearly got run over by a truck."

Chen Yansen spoke casually.

"So if I don't move, I'm basically dead? Are you running a business out there—or waging war?"

Chen Guobin stared at him, speechless.

"Business is war. Think it over," Chen Yansen goaded him deliberately.

"I'm not leaving," Chen Guobin said without hesitation, refusing again.

"What's so great about this backwater county?" Chen Yansen hadn't expected his father to be this stubborn.

"Your mother's here. If I leave, who'll keep her company?" Chen Guobin sighed deeply, voice thick with emotion.

"No problem—I'll just pack Mom up and take her too," Chen Yansen said as if it were obvious.

"..." Chen Guobin glanced at the driver, Xiao Li. If there weren't a stranger present, he'd have beaten this brat to death.

Seeing his father refused to leave Chunshen, Chen Yansen decided to buy him a villa outside the city and hire some security personnel.

Ideally, find a local power broker too.

Just then, an unknown number called. Chen Yansen pressed answer, listened for two sentences, then smiled—luck had come knocking just when he needed it.

(End of chapter)