Chapter 258: A Rival Appears, the Northern Campaign! Teacher Luo, Let's Take a Photo Together

Evening at Yanjing Airport, the afterglow fading, the night deepening.

Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng walked out of the arrival gate one after the other, and from afar they saw Xiao Jun standing not far away, smiling and waving in greeting.

"Boss, the car is ready for you. This is the driver, Wang Teng. He'll be driving for you these two days."

Xiao Jun stepped forward proactively and said with a smile.

Huh!

Another Wang Teng!

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and, pointing to Song Yuncheng beside him, introduced: "Director of Business Development at Pinbei, Song Yuncheng."

"Director Song, I've heard a great deal about you." Xiao Jun greeted her politely.

His words were no mere pleasantry—Song Yuncheng's reputation in the industry was genuinely well-known.

As Fox Taobao's first employee, she had later followed Chen Yansen to Pinbei Mall.

The very first e-commerce automotive marketing case on the entire internet had come from Song Yuncheng's hand. Add to that the fact that she held half of Pinbei's S- and A-tier brand resources in her hands, and her standing in the industry was in no way inferior to the head of JD. com's Procurement and Sales Division, or the head of Tmall Mall's Business Unit.

"Director Xiao, pleasure to meet you!" Song Yuncheng replied politely.

Perhaps because she had followed Chen Yansen and met so many industry heavyweights, now no matter whom Song Yuncheng met, she always appeared neither obsequious nor overbearing—composed and confident.

She seemed an entirely different person from that little girl two years ago, head lowered, begging Chen Yansen at Xu Yuan for the phone card distribution rights.

"Let's go."

Chen Yansen said lightly.

The group arrived at the parking lot. Driver Wang Teng jogged a few steps, got into a Maybach, and then drove it up in front of Chen Yansen.

"Boss, I'll head back to the company then. See you tomorrow." Xiao Jun said.

"Mm, tomorrow morning I'll go to Gao De headquarters." Chen Yansen nodded slightly. Having said that, he got into the back seat of the Maybach.

Song Yuncheng sat on the right-hand side.

Xiao Jun's pupils contracted slightly, and he instantly understood something. Only after watching the boss's car drive off did he climb into a Mercedes-Benz E300 and head toward No. 18 Changsheng Road.

The streetscape outside the window swept backward continuously. Chen Yansen glanced at Yanjing's midsummer of 2012.

At that moment, a taxi with the words "Didi Taxi" stuck below its windshield emerged from the left rear.

Didi Taxi?

Chen Yansen wasn't certain whether this Didi Taxi was the same product as the Didi Taxi from his previous life.

After all, the internet landscape before his eyes had long been altered beyond recognition by his influence.

Thinking of this, he pulled out his phone and called Gao Weilin: "Old Gao, help me check if there's an online ride-hailing software in Yanjing called Didi Taxi. Yes, send it to me as soon as possible."

"Didi Taxi? I didn't expect a competitor to Kuaidi Taxi to appear in the northern market so quickly."

After Chen Yansen hung up the phone, Song Yuncheng's delicate brows knit slightly, and she remarked with involuntary feeling.

"Actually, Yanjing has had ride-hailing software for a long time. It's called Yao Yao Zhao Che. Cheng Weixing discovered it last year when researching the northern market, but their business was mainly car rentals, so at the time we didn't pay it much attention."

"After the new year, they probably saw Kuaidi Taxi's business model and switched from rentals to ride-hailing. What surprises me is that, besides Yao Yao Zhao Che, there's now another one—Didi Taxi."

Chen Yansen explained unhurriedly.

He knew in his heart that no matter how finely segmented a commercial track was, it could not be monopolized by a single company or a single product.

"Kuaidi Taxi needs to enter the Yanjing market as soon as possible. Otherwise, once they've carved up the market, it'll be far more difficult to take it back later." Song Yuncheng said softly.

"No use rushing. Let's wait until Old Gao finishes checking."

Chen Yansen said dismissively.

The fiercer the competition, the bigger the ride-hailing market!

Relying on Kuaidi Taxi alone, expanding city by city, they had to cultivate both the market and the users while also facing pressure from the transportation association.

A few more competitors would also push Kuaidi Taxi to accelerate its pace of expansion.

Half an hour later, the driver stopped the car at the entrance of the Delta Hotel.

It was only a ten-minute drive from the venue for the Xiaomi new products launch.

Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng finished checking in and took the elevator up to an executive suite on the top floor.

"I'm going to take a shower. You think about what we should eat tonight."

Chen Yansen took off his shirt, revealing his sharply defined muscles, and said to Song Yuncheng. Only when he reached the bathroom door did he turn his head and ask: "Want to shower together?"

Even though she had seen it countless times, Song Yuncheng couldn't help but swallow, thinking to herself: Master's physique is really something.

"I'll go book a restaurant." Song Yuncheng replied with a smile.

Chen Yansen said nothing and stepped into the bathroom.

When he finished showering and walked out wrapped in a towel, he happened to receive a call from Gao Weilin.

"Boss, I've checked. Xiaoju Technology registered the company in February, and the product launched at the end of April. Their business scope is mainly concentrated in the Yanjing airport terminal. Driver-side registrations are under 300, user-side registrations under 10,000. So far they've only received an angel investment from Capital Today—the specific amount is uncertain, but judging from Didi Taxi's promotional intensity, it's at most 3 million."

Gao Weilin said slowly.

"Give Cheng Weixing a heads-up and have him pull a group of people to Yanjing."

Chen Yansen instructed.

"Understood, boss." Gao Weilin replied.

"Good work. Get off work early."

After saying that, Chen Yansen hung up the phone and promptly changed into a casual outfit.

"What are we eating?" Chen Yansen asked Song Yuncheng after he was fully dressed.

"Cantonese. I checked the reviews on Dianping and they're pretty good." Song Yuncheng handed her phone over.

Chen Yansen glanced at it. It was a Cantonese restaurant in INDIGO, very close by and not expensive. He nodded without objection.

While Song Yuncheng was showering, Chen Yansen dialed Zhang Chaoyang's number: "Old Zhang, I'm in Yanjing. Treat me to a meal."

"Don't call me Old Zhang. I've told you, only the security guard at Sohu is called Old Zhang. Last time I invited you to swim across the Weihai Strait, you didn't go, and now you want me to treat you to a meal? No way!"

Zhang Zhaoyang refused outright, an irritated tone in his voice.

"I brought you two bottles of good liquor," Chen Yansen added.

"Fine, let me arrange it." After a few seconds of silence, Zhang Zhaoyang agreed readily.

Chen Yansen smiled and put down his phone.

Toward Old Zhang, he felt a deep gratitude — if not for him stepping in, the copyright issue with Today's Headlines would not have been resolved so smoothly.

Zhang Zhaoyang's title as the godfather of the first generation of the internet was not given for nothing; he had good relations with the heads of NetEase and Sina.

At seven in the evening, Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng went to that Cantonese restaurant, eating dinner at a leisurely pace.

It was not until eight-thirty that Zhang Zhaoyang sent over an address.

"Want to go to a bar?" Chen Yansen asked.

"Never been." Song Yuncheng pressed her lips together slightly, not giving a direct answer.

"Then I'll take you tonight." Chen Yansen set down his chopsticks and said.

The two left INDIGO and took a car to the bar where Zhang Zhaoyang was.

Hard to imagine that the daily life of Sohu's chairman was singing, mountain climbing, swimming, and drinking.

When he arrived and had just pushed open the door to the private room, he saw a row of pretty girls.

Zhang Zhaoyang was about to say hello, but upon seeing Song Yuncheng, the smile on his face stopped abruptly, and he thought: Oh no.

Song Yuncheng gave a slight start — she had not expected this kind of scene.

Old Zhang, you weren't like this before, were you? Chen Yansen shot him a look.

We weren't that close back then. Zhang Zhaoyang replied with a look.

"Mr. Zhang, how about we switch to somewhere quieter?" Chen Yansen suggested.

"Sure. Actually, I don't know any of these girls — they walked into the wrong room. Do you believe it?" Zhang Zhaoyang gave a dry laugh and said shamelessly.

"I believe it. This is PinBei Inc.'s senior client investment director Song Yuncheng, and also my…" Chen Yansen introduced.

"I get it, I understand." Zhang Zhaoyang turned around, tossed down two stacks of cash, and followed Chen Yansen out of the private room.

The three of them picked a quiet spot on the second floor — they could see the performance stage on the first floor without it being too noisy.

Zhang Zhaoyang took the two bottles of liquor Chen Yansen handed over, his eyes lighting up, and said with satisfaction: "Thoughtful."

Although he told the public he didn't drink, that was just to fool the media.

Over the past two years, with his career going poorly, Zhang Zhaoyang had struggled repeatedly before finally accepting his fate and lying flat.

Screw work!

Sleeping at the company during the day and getting drunk at the bar at night became Mr. Zhang's daily routine.

"Last night Ding Lei called me, saying NetEase also wants to make phones. What's your take?" Zhang Zhaoyang raised his glass, clinked it against Chen Yansen's, and asked with a smile.

"Pretty good — the success rate is no lower than 50%." Chen Yansen grinned.

"360 Phone really sold 400,000 units?" Zhang Zhaoyang rolled his eyes, then asked.

"To be precise, the total sales for the week were 430,000 units." Chen Yansen took a sip of liquor, savored it for a few seconds, and spoke honestly.

"Beyond ridiculous." Zhang Zhaoyang's mouth corner twitched, his face full of exasperation.

"The barrier to entry in the phone industry is just this high — anyone who knows the ropes can step right over it with ease. It's just that Zhou Hongyi's method was rather clever: he gave up hardware profit, saving the processes of system R&D, hardware design, and supply chain setup. If Sohu wants to make phones, I can provide you with technical support."

Chen Yansen said it in an offhand manner.

A year later, Motorola even floated the concept of a modular phone.

Simply put, it meant manufacturing components like the processor, camera, memory, communications, wireless, and battery separately, then assembling them together using a unified interface.

If the user felt the screen was too small, they could directly swap in a bigger one; if the battery capacity felt insufficient, they could swap in a bigger battery — every module was like a puzzle piece or building block.

Users only needed to buy phone modules as needed and assemble them at home.

Including Xiaomi, all had at one point entertained the idea of developing a modular phone.

Although such products did not win favor with the market or users, it still showed that making phones really isn't hard — no different from building with blocks.

The hard part is how to push sales to number one nationwide, or even number one worldwide.

"Forget it, not interested — let's drink." Zhang Zhaoyang waved his hand, looking utterly disinterested.

Chen Yansen raised his glass in response, thinking to himself: Looks like Zhou Hongyi's success really has given a lot of people courage.

The two chatted until ten-thirty, then Chen Yansen got up to take his leave.

After seeing the two of them off to their car, Zhang Zhaoyang turned around and went back upstairs to keep partying.

The next morning, Chen Yansen followed the plan and first went to Gao De, communicating one by one with the heads of each department. He chatted until noon, then had lunch with Xiao Jun and others at a nearby restaurant.

After that he left Gao De's headquarters and took a car to the 798 Art District.

When he arrived, it was exactly 1:40 — not late by any means.

After getting out of the car, Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng walked toward the conference hall where the launch event was being held. Just as they reached the entrance, they saw Xiaomi's staff saying to a chubby dark-skinned man: "Mr. Luo, let's take a photo together — if it's convenient, could you help hold up this promotional sign?"

Luo Yonghao didn't think much of it, took the promotional sign, gave a slight smile to the camera, and snapped a photo that would make him regret for years to come.

Huh?

Chen Yansen from Sister Chengzi Tech?

Luo Yonghao quickly put down the promotional sign, jogged over, and volunteered an introduction: "Hello, Mr. Chen, I'm Luo Yonghao from Smartisan Tech — may I have two minutes of your time?"

Chen Yansen was walking along when he saw a chubby dark-skinned man rushing over from afar, hair disheveled, wearing black-framed glasses, panting as he spoke.

Who?

Luo Yonghao?

Chen Yansen frowned slightly, sizing the other man up and down.

(End of chapter)