Chapter 329: Europe and America Go Wild: 6 Million, 1.2 Billion U.S

When Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was twenty, he was just an ordinary college student.

When Buffett was twenty, he didn’t even have ten thousand U.S. dollars in his pocket.

When Bill Gates of Microsoft was twenty, he had just sold the time-tracking system he wrote, with a net worth of at most a few tens of thousands of U.S. dollars.

Even Zuckerberg, regarded as a North American business genius, didn’t successfully take Facebook public until he was twenty-eight, and with his 28.4% stake, he instantly became a super-rich man with nearly thirty billion U.S. dollars in net worth.

Yet now, someone has, at the age of twenty, already owned three super unicorns (valued over ten billion U.S. dollars each) and three unicorns (valued over one billion U.S. dollars each), with a personal book value of fifty billion U.S. dollars.

At first, netizens in the Lighthouse Nation thought it was fake news, but after some investigation, they fell silent.

After all, their Alexa smart speakers came from Orange Tech—this product was wildly popular across the North American and European markets, and could not be faked.

After sensing this hot topic, Time Magazine immediately assigned staff from its Shanghai branch to interview Chen Yansen in Xu City.

And the related report would be published in Time Magazine’s Americas edition, directly targeting North American users.

Previously, Chinese entrepreneurs, sports celebrities, or international movie stars who appeared on Time Magazine mostly graced its Asian edition, with limited international influence.

At this moment, a clever netizen dug up all of Chen Yansen’s Weibo photos, registered a fake account on Facebook, and posted updates under his name.

“Hello, friends of the Lighthouse Nation! I’m Chen Yansen, founder of Senlian Capital. Pleased to meet you. On October 31, I’ll randomly draw 1,000 fans to gift each one an Alexa smart speaker.”

Along with the greeting, several high-definition personal photos of Chen Yansen were uploaded.

In an instant, it was like a massive boulder crashing into a calm lake!

The follower count of the “Chen Yansen” Facebook account surged by 1,000 to 2,000 per minute; by the end of the day, it reached 1.9 million.

In fact, Zhou Shouzhi, to secure Alexa smart speaker distribution channels in North America, had set up an office in San Francisco; after local staff verified with headquarters, they quickly received a negative response.

When the news reached Zhou Shouzhi, he didn’t overthink it—he instructed his colleagues in the Lighthouse Nation to send a formal notice to Facebook’s customer service.

The next morning, North American netizens woke up to find the “Chen Yansen” account had been banned.

The official reason given: the user violated policy by using someone else’s personal information.

In other words, this “Chen Yansen” was a fake.

But a large group of netizens were still waiting for the Halloween prize draw—now the free smart speakers were gone, and they instantly turned their anger toward Facebook’s founder.

“Zuckerberg only amassed over twenty billion U.S. dollars at twenty-eight—compared to Chen Yansen, he’s nowhere near. Could he be jealous and banned the account?”

This absurd reasoning made no sense, but the Lighthouse Nation’s mindset was different—they mentally filled in the gaps and “confirmed” this suspicion.

Although some netizens argued Zuckerberg had no reason to ban Chen Yansen’s account, no one paid attention.

Even when Zuckerberg attended public events, some journalists rushed up and asked: “Mr. Zuckerberg, did you personally order the ban of the Senlian Capital founder’s Facebook account?”

Zuckerberg looked utterly confused, and only after his assistant explained did he understand—he smiled and said: “This account impersonated someone else’s private information. Facebook always prioritizes user data protection, so we immediately suspended it upon discovery.”

He didn’t mention Senlian Capital’s formal notice—only casually promoted his own product.

Although it was true, the Lighthouse Nation’s netizens still refused to accept it—they firmly pinned the blame on Zuckerberg.

Meanwhile.

When Ye Qiuping received the call from Time Magazine, she froze for a moment, then a smile spread across her face.

In her view, the higher Chen Yansen’s popularity, the more beneficial it would be for Orange Phone’s expansion into Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and North America.

Thinking this, she immediately took the elevator to Chen Yansen’s office door and knocked.

Most ordinary people have a tendency to idolize the powerful—those North Americans who fawned over the fake “Chen Yansen” account were no exception, nor was Ye Qiuping.

The stronger Chen Yansen was, the more she was drawn to him.

“Come in!”

A familiar, deep voice came from inside the room.

Ye Qiuping turned the handle and stepped in, saying as she walked: “Boss, Time Magazine wants to do an in-depth interview with you.”

“Asian edition?” Chen Yansen looked up, leaned back in his chair, and replied noncommittally.

“Americas edition,” Ye Qiuping smiled faintly, gazing intently at Chen Yansen, a flicker of admiration in her eyes. “Zhou Shouzhi just called me—he said someone in the Lighthouse Nation impersonated my information to register a Facebook account. The spread was surprisingly effective. We really should build a self-media promotion matrix on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram before entering the North American smartphone market. You handle it.”

Chen Yansen frowned slightly and gave direct orders.

“Understood, Boss. Also, the Time Magazine team is on their way and should arrive at the company by 3 p.m.”

Ye Qiuping reminded softly.

“I know. The photo studio on the first floor hasn’t been taken down yet—perfect for reuse.”

Chen Yansen nodded slightly.

He accepted the Time Magazine interview not out of arrogance, but purely to pave the way for the Alexa smart speaker and Orange Phone.

Free traffic? Why not take it?

“I understand,” Ye Qiuping smiled lightly and stepped out of the office on her own.

Then she returned to the Brand Department and, under Chen Yansen’s name, registered accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and mischievously announced: “In collaboration with Amazon, eBay, and Walmart Online, we’ll give away five thousand Alexa smart speakers each to fans on the three platforms as a thank-you gift.”

The drawing will be held at 8 p.m. on October 31, Halloween—same time as the fake account’s.

North American netizens initially thought it was another fake, but after seeing Chen Yansen had registered on all three platforms, they reluctantly followed.

Only after someone confirmed with Twitter’s customer service did their doubts vanish.

Logically, Orange Tech had only one smart speaker product in Europe and North America, with total sales of just four million units. Even as CEO, Chen Yansen shouldn’t attract many fans.

But the fake “Chen Yansen” gained 1.9 million followers in one day with just a thousand free speakers—how much more would five thousand attract?

Within less than twenty-four hours, Chen Yansen’s cumulative followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram reached 7.4 million.

Surprisingly, most of the new followers weren’t drawn by the prizes—over seventy percent were curious about his entrepreneurial journey.

Because before this, YouTube bloggers had clearly told netizens: this Asian billionaire was born in a remote small city in China, his father ran a bookstore, and his school was only slightly better than a U.S. community college.

In short: no money, no education, no connections—yet he reversed his fate in just two years.

It gave people the illusion: “If he can do it, so can I!”

The Lighthouse Nation admires the powerful, but especially admires those who rose from nothing.

The next day, Chen Yansen’s overseas follower count broke the ten-million mark; with the prize draw ongoing, he gained two to three million new followers daily.

October 29, Monday.

On the cover of Time Magazine’s Americas edition appeared Chen Yansen’s portrait—facing forward, seated calmly in a chair, his sharp facial features perfectly displayed.

Sword-like brows, star-like eyes, his expression bright and profound, radiating intensity.

The headline: THE NEW KING OF HUA’S INTERNET INDUSTRY.

With Time Magazine’s traffic boost, by October 30, Facebook followers reached 10.7 million, Twitter 7.4 million, Instagram 3.1 million—total overseas followers exceeded 20 million without deduplication.

Before the prize draw even occurred, Alexa smart speaker sales in Europe and North America surged steadily, peaking on October 30 with a single-day sales volume of 300,000 units.

Amazon, eBay, and Walmart Online sold out their entire inventory; immediately, Chen Yansen’s “fans” flooded physical Best Buy, Walmart, and department stores to keep buying.

Not only was Chen Yansen stunned, but even local Lighthouse Nation media were shocked—they never imagined an unknown Asian entrepreneur could command such astonishing influence in Europe and North America.

Some speculated that perhaps Chen Yansen’s “poor and unconnected” family background was seen by overseas audiences as the ultimate entrepreneur’s archetype, a miracle of the internet age.

At this moment, domestic media finally caught on and flooded Orange Tech’s Brand Department with interview requests—from print and TV to internet portals—all treating Chen Yansen’s fifty-billion-U.S.-dollar net worth as a hot topic.

Suddenly, students at Xu University looked at Chen Yansen differently—previously, they thought he was a billionaire who got ahead through wealth; now, learning his fortune had quietly reached a terrifying fifty billion U.S. dollars, they instantly felt the vast gap between people, the cruel disparity of the world.

As Chen Yansen walked through campus, he was stopped more and more often by juniors and seniors, so he asked Gao Da to find him a standalone villa in Xu City; recently, he either stayed at Ye Qiuping’s home or in the Sky Garden’s guest rooms.

Throughout late October, Alexa smart speakers sold 2 million units in Europe and North America, bringing total sales to 6 million units and revenue to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars.

Seeing this, Ye Qiuping immediately released promotional materials for the Orange C-series and Green Orange D-series phones—photos of Chen Yansen holding the phones went viral across the internet.

Meanwhile.

Cheng Wei, in Beijing’s Digital Valley, hosted Sequoia Capital, Thinking Capital, and IDG Capital to negotiate the Series A funding for Didi Bikes.

(End of Chapter)