Chapter 801

July 21, 1993, the third day of the sixth lunar month, Wednesday!

Hearing Lao Meng arrived at the company in the morning and saw a thick stack of newspapers on his desk.

He walked over quickly, picked one up to look at it, and the large headline caught his eye.

"Wan Yan VCD Player's First Battle a Success!"

As Hearing Lao Meng read it, the smile on his face grew brighter and brighter; he didn't even hear Lao Sun knock on the door, and didn't notice when the man pushed the door open and walked right up to him.

"Hahaha..."

Lao Sun suddenly burst into laughter, giving Hearing Lao Meng a start, and then, looking at the laughing Lao Sun, he began to laugh along with him.

People passing by outside heard the laughter of the two bosses in the office, and smiles also appeared on their faces.

No matter who they were, their hearts were full of drive. After all, if the company did well, they could earn more money themselves.

The Wan Yan VCD, priced at 18,888, sold out its first batch of four thousand units in two days; this was absolutely shocking.

Most importantly, this was an electronic product developed by the Chinese people themselves that led the world.

It was the world's first laser digital video disc player developed using the MPEG standard digital image compression technology.

It allowed China's national electronics industry to enter the world's leading ranks for the first time in the utilization of digital image compression technology.

It shook the dominant position of Japanese electronics merchants in the global home appliance market. Wan Yan Company instantly became the glory and pride of all the people of the country.

News reports about the Wan Yan VCD were overwhelming, and advertisements were simultaneously launched on provincial television stations; for a time, everything people heard and saw was about the Wan Yan VCD.

The next day, the price of the Wan Yan VCD dropped directly from 18,888 to 4,288; such a price reduction stunned many people, who didn't know what Wan Yan Company was up to.

However, this huge contrast effect led many people who had seen the news and wanted to buy one but thought it was too expensive to walk into the shopping malls, and then another surprise was given to them.

Buying a Wan Yan VCD came with two free discs, and afterwards, with the shopping receipt, one could buy discs at a 20% discount. Discs that cost dozens or hundreds could be bought for ten or twenty yuan.

But the VCDs were temporarily out of stock, so they could only be ordered first, leaving contact information, and they would be notified when the goods arrived.

………………

"Baka!"

At the Sony China headquarters, after Ichiro Kojiki learned about the VCD price reduction, he immediately understood that the price Wan Yan had set earlier was actually set for them.

A few VCD players and a few tens of thousands of yuan were nothing to Sony, but Ichiro Kojiki was still very unhappy and felt very stifled. It had always been them fleecing the Chinese, and now that they were suddenly being fleeced by the Chinese, he was very unaccustomed to it.

There was another point that made him feel uneasy, and that was Wan Yan's promotional angle; it wasn't promoting the product itself, its functions or image quality, but rather it kept emphasizing the technology.

Things like "developed by the Chinese themselves," "the world's first to utilize the MPEG standard digital image," "world-leading"...

These terms appeared repeatedly in news and advertisements, and over time, consumers would definitely be brainwashed.

Once the concept of "self-developed" and "world-leading" took root in people's hearts, would the moon in foreign countries still be so round? When their VCDs were developed, would anyone still buy them?

Wan Yan lowered the price of the VCD to four thousand yuan at once; once they lost their brand advantage, setting the price too high definitely wouldn't work, and if they also set it at around four thousand, this fleecing wouldn't be satisfying at all, damn it.

………………

At the same time, in front of the Dongcheng Court in the capital, a large number of media reporters and members of the public gathered, because today was the opening of the unfair competition lawsuit filed by Dicos against McDonald's.

Because it was a closed-door trial, except for the two or three invited mouthpiece media outlets, all reporters couldn't get in and could only wait outside under the scorching sun.

Time passed bit by bit, and during the noon recess, some people came out of the court; those "uncrowned kings" (reporters) saw that it was Han Qi, the general manager of McDonald's China, and swarmed up to him.

"General Manager Han, how is the trial going this morning?"

"General Manager Han, McDonald's is being sued by Dicos for unfair competition; do you think you can win this lawsuit?"

"General Manager Han, if you lose this lawsuit and McDonald's reputation is damaged, will you withdraw from China?"

Han Qi frowned; he was not a person with a good temper, but facing these "uncrowned kings," he really didn't dare to lose his temper.

Especially at this critical juncture, McDonald's itself was entangled in negative news, and if he offended the reporters, he reckoned his chair wouldn't be stable either.

"I have something to do, so I'll leave first; your questions will be answered by my lawyer."

At this moment, a middle-aged man wearing glasses beside Han Qi raised his hand and pressed it downward.

"Everyone, quiet down!"

The chaotic scene quieted down, and the middle-aged man coughed: "Unfair competition is baseless to begin with..."

"Bullshit!" a loud curse suddenly came from the crowd, "Can you talk nonsense with your eyes open just because you're a lawyer? Or do you think we ordinary people are deaf and blind?

The matter is right there; your McDonald's manager Gao Zong hired people to go to Dicos to cause trouble, almost triggering a mass incident and causing a tragedy. Now it has entered the judicial process and is ready for trial, and you actually say it's baseless."

The middle-aged man's face changed, and he said very dissatisfiedly: "That was Gao Zong's personal behavior and has nothing to do with the company."

"Ha!"

It was that voice again, sneering: "You really take us ordinary people for fools. Gao Zong is a manager, but he's just an employee earning a salary. If the company leadership hadn't given the word, how much water would have to be in his brain for him to do such a stupid thing."

"Oh my!" an older woman said: "Now that you mention it, that's really how it is. These foreigners are too much; they hire people to work for them, and when something goes wrong, they push the blame away and refuse to admit it. How can McDonald's have any credibility? We can't go there to eat burgers anymore."

"Right!" that voice shouted: "From now on, if we want to eat, we'll eat Dicos. The burgers made by us Chinese are much better than McDonald's."

"That's true." A strange voice sounded, "Dicos really is better than McDonald's, and there are more styles of dishes, the decoration is better, and there's a play area for children."

The middle-aged man looked at the crowd, speechless; he was truly tired and really wanted to roar, "Who knows how much water is in that idiot's brain? I'm not lying, it really was his own personal behavior."

"An Jing is out!"

Someone shouted, and those "uncrowned kings" swarmed over and surrounded An Jing again.

The middle-aged man was a bit stunned; the people who had just surrounded him were gone all of a sudden.

No, there was still a young man, wearing a suit, with his hair combed back, using hair wax, and wearing sunglasses on his face.

He had a leather bag tucked under his left armpit, held a brick-sized mobile phone in his right hand, and was grinning at him.

It was this bastard who looked like his IQ was a bit problematic who had just caused trouble and undermined him.