Chapter 639: The Red Rose and the White Moonlight

"Why does this cake taste a bit strange? Did it go bad from sitting too long?"

"How is that possible!"

Because the cake was on the chair, the two of them simply squatted on the rooftop, adapting to the situation; their posture looked just like eating street-side barbecue and fried snacks. Hearing Zhou Yi's evaluation, Sun Yanzi's chewing mouth paused, and she instinctively turned her head to look at the opened packaging—

"This was custom-ordered; I only picked it up just after ten o'clock tonight."

"Then there's no problem. It must be the fruit on top that I'm not used to eating, and there's probably jam on it too."

With a bit of cream still lingering on his lips, Zhou Yi held a fork in his mouth. Perhaps because he had squatted for too long, he, who didn't mind the dust, simply sat down on the ground with a thump—

Sun Yanzi tilted her head in confusion: "You don't eat jam?"

"Generally, I don't really like it. The fruit is enough; adding jam as a garnish on the cream feels superfluous, and it's a bit too cloying."

Zhou Yi smiled and scooped up a bite: "But since you specially ordered it, this small matter doesn't matter. Eating a few more bites isn't a problem."

"I love hearing you say that, hehe."

Sun Yanzi tried to grin several times, but she forcibly controlled the corners of her mouth. Sitting cross-legged beside the man, she shook her head, and her wind-tousled short hair became slightly neater: "I guess you still have some conscience."

A faint scent of perfume slid into her mouth along with the sweet cream cake. Zhou Yi, looking up and gazing at the myriad lights of the city, smiled and cursed: "What do you mean 'some conscience'? Is there anyone in this world more loving than me?"

"How could there not be? Me."

Under the moonlight, Sun Yanzi pointed at herself and answered with righteous confidence: "Look at this setup, this cake. If it weren't for me, would you even have anything to eat?"

"I thank you."

Zhou Yi expressed his gratitude in a rather impolite tone: "What time did you get back tonight?"

"Huh?"

Sun Yanzi hadn't caught on immediately, but once she realized, her eyes rolled, and she spoke without blushing or losing her breath: "Around nine, almost ten. On the way back, I just happened to go to the cake shop to pick up the custom-ordered cake."

The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted it so much she wanted to slap herself twice.

What am I saying!

I should have let Zhou Yi know I came back this morning and have been waiting at the company all evening!

Too pretentious, too pretentious...

Feeling she had been a bit too overly pretentious, Sun Yanzi immediately rubbed her throat and coughed twice, reflecting on her mistake.

"Let me tell you, on the set of 'Kung Fu'..."

Sun Yanzi, who hadn't had face-to-face communication for a long time, now seemed to have endless things to say. From work and filming down to gossip within the circle, she dragged Zhou Yi through it all. Her small mouth went on and on, with no sign of stopping.

"Oh right, here are the keys."

Speaking to the end, Sun Yanzi slapped her forehead, took a car key from her pocket, and handed it to Zhou Yi: "I've already parked the car in the parking lot for you."

The sky in the Imperial Capital in January was still very cold, but the woman's heart was burning hot.

The wine-red Ferrari with its top down sped along the streets at two-thirty in the morning. Zhou Yi, controlling the steering wheel with one hand, had the corners of his mouth turned up; in the passenger seat, Sun Yanzi, bathed in the bleak cold wind, excitedly shouted and screamed—

"Too fast, too fast!!!"

………………………………

When Zhou Yi woke from his sleep the next day, the time had already reached past noon, 12 o'clock.

The warm midday sun, the moment the curtains were pulled open, dappled across most of the bedroom floor, the light blinding.

"Ah~~~"

Zhou Yi, with both hands raised over his head, stretched lazily, dragging out a long sound of comfort from his mouth.

It was nearly 3:30 in the morning when he got home last night; this sleep was truly comfortable.

Since resuming work, he hadn't had such a comfortable sleep in a long time, sleeping deeply until he woke naturally.

After simply washing up, he pushed open the door and was about to go to the restaurant to find something in the fridge, but he saw Cheng Hao organizing documents and materials in the living room—

"Hmm?"

"You're awake, Mr. Zhou, who handles a myriad of daily affairs."

Cheng Hao slapped the folder piled in front of her, and as she turned her head, she happened to meet the man's gaze, smiling pleasantly.

"Should I go back and continue sleeping?"

Zhou Yi pretended to step back half a pace and nodded his head toward the direction of his bedroom.

"Although I don't really want to spoil your fun, it's the end of the year; you need to make decisions on the company's various year-end summaries."

After pulling out a document and flipping through a few pages, Cheng Hao threw it into Zhou Yi's arms: "Including the bonuses."

"Do I even need to look at the bonuses? Max them out, max them all out."

Zhou Yi was full of boldness.

They were all following him to make a living, so the treatment definitely had to be arranged properly. He didn't lack money now; there was no need to be a stingy Grandet.

"There is one thing you do need to look at, the Foxmail department's."

Cheng Hao pointed to the document she had handed over, signaling him to open and read it: "Now, not only does Tencent want to acquire Foxmail and cooperate with us, but Microsoft has also entered the fray."

In early January 2004, Luo Chuan, who had just assumed the post of General Manager of Microsoft's MSN Division for Greater China, fully responsible for MSN's operations in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, led his team to formally send an acquisition proposal for Foxmail under Guiyi.

There was no choice; besides the 'Imperial Three' mailboxes of Sohu, Sina, and NetEase, Foxmail had the most monthly active users.

At the same time, the boss behind it was Zhou Yi.

After the good cooperation during the '50 Cent Incident', Microsoft had always wanted to continue cooperating with Zhou Yi in the Chinese market, but unfortunately, Qian Jiang had always been playing dumb according to Zhou Yi's instructions.

Chen Yongzheng, the President of Microsoft China, noticed Tencent's movements and thus set his sights on the meat that was Foxmail—

Acquiring Foxmail to achieve a de facto cooperation with Zhou Yi, while simultaneously strengthening their own power and influence; this deal was a win no matter how you calculated it.

"Acquiring for 6 million US dollars?"

After opening the document and seeing this number, Zhou Yi rubbed his chin and exclaimed in wonder: "Is Microsoft really that generous?"

"These two are going head-to-head. Tencent offered 5 million first. Upon learning that Microsoft had joined the battlefield and made an offer, they gritted their teeth and raised their bid, increasing it to 7 million US dollars..."

Seeing that Zhou Yi was still reading, Cheng Hao proceeded to speak about the currently white-hot battle for the email software, clearly and methodically explaining the course of events, pros and cons, and gains, her speech incredibly clear.

Of course, this wouldn't have happened without her top-tier maneuvering, which created a competitive dynamic between the two.

Seven million US dollars is already an astronomical price for a Chinese email software; converted to RMB, it soars past fifty million.

Although Tencent also felt the pinch, considering their email business, as one of the four major portals, lagged behind the other three, spending some money was still the safer bet; thus, they immediately bid up another million US dollars, attempting to scare off the competition.

Although Microsoft's headquarters is financially powerful, it couldn't overcome the arrogance of its upper management toward the Chinese market—or rather, their adaptation speed was simply too slow.

MSN's promotion costs were already huge; this sudden addition of an expenditure of at least seven million US dollars made them hesitate somewhat.

Microsoft's email business wasn't crippled; it just hadn't been introduced domestically yet. Therefore, their regard for Foxmail was not as high as Tencent's, whose email business had collapsed to near nothing.

"Based on my observation, we haven't reached the bottom line both sides can endure yet; there's still room for more maneuvering."

Cheng Hao, with her fingers interlaced pressed against her lips, made her judgment and decisively said, "So, whether to choose Microsoft or Tencent depends on your choice. Once it's decided, I'll have more time to probe their psychological bottom lines further..."

Very professional.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but give a thumbs-up: "Don't consider Microsoft; MSN won't succeed."

"Why are you so certain?"

"Of course, don't forget I cooperated with Microsoft once; it was that cooperation that made me remember them."

"..."

While Cheng Hao and Zhou Yi in the main hall were still discussing company development issues with great enthusiasm, on the other side, Sun Yanzi, who lived upstairs from Zhou Yi, was currently lying on the large bed in her bedroom, sleeping soundly with heavy snores—

In the room heated by the air conditioner, it was warm as spring; pajamas patterned with anime characters wrapped around her in layer upon layer of wrinkles, and a small beam of sunlight falling on the tip of her nose looked like bubblegum she was blowing in her dreams.

By 12:50, Cheng Hao even personally went to the kitchen to simply cook two bowls of noodles; one bowl had extra core ingredients like poached eggs, and she handed it to Zhou Yi, whose appetite was whetted.

"Eat slowly; this is your longevity noodles. Why rush so much?"

Cheng Hao, in high spirits, curved her eyebrows and eyes: "Happy birthday."

"Achoo!"

Inside Sun Yanzi's bedroom, Sun Yanzi, still in her dreams, suddenly sneezed, shaking herself awake.

After opening her eyes and vaguely looking around, Sun Yanzi scratched her hair, which was messy as a bird's nest, stepped one foot out of the quilt, rolled over, and went back to sleep—

With her eyes closed, she mumbled words no ordinary person could hear clearly, while her right hand occasionally scratched her slightly itchy bottom, and a pink bubble after another seemed to appear on the tip of her nose.