Chapter 39: 038 Go All Out

The performance of the two market managers in Jingcheng upset Yu Xing, but what upset him more was that the market still hadn’t been opened.

In contrast, the expansion in Yangcheng had gone smoothly, with no complications whatsoever.

Forget Jinling—it’s the origin point—and forget Shanghai, since I’m overseeing it myself; Lin’an, Jingcheng, and Yangcheng all launched their operations in quick succession—why then is there no positive feedback from the markets overseen by Yan Qiuzhen and Qiu Shixiu?

What these two are doing behind the scenes isn’t the point; what matters is the market, the market, the market!

Yu Xing planned to observe the results; if there was no movement within three days, he would immediately send Zhong Zhiling northward, and someone else could be chosen from Jinling to handle Lin’an.

After all, time was truly running out.

Today is the 4th; less than half a month remains until summer vacation, when university students will flood out of campus, inevitably impacting Guoaiwang’s order volume. Although plans were in place to offset the impact with online resources, until actual results were visible, offline market performance was unquestionably the most critical.

Yu Xing did not immediately report the Jingcheng market situation to his second and third in command; he needed to think carefully before speaking with them, and now that it was July, he also needed to mentally organize the actions planned for late July.

After finishing the day’s work, some went home, others went shopping; Yu Xing ate a simple dinner, didn’t return to his apartment, lit a cigarette, and squatted by the roadside, carefully pondering the company’s operations.

The company’s framework had been cobbled together, albeit unevenly, but to secure traffic online in the second half of the month…

Will NetEase even come?

How can I make NetEase come?

The more Yu Xing thought about it, the more anxious he became; he finished one cigarette and was about to light another when he paused for self-reflection—was he relying too heavily on NetEase?

He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts from top to bottom, searching for someone he could consult—but found no suitable candidate.

In the end, the name settled on “Liu Wan.”

She had reportedly returned to work in Xiangjiang after her vacation—would it be an inconvenience to bother her?

Always troubling her like this wasn’t right, was it?

Even as he thought this, he dialed her number.

“Hello.” Liu Wan’s voice came through.

“Sister Wan, I need your help with something.” Yu Xing got straight to the point.

Liu Wan heard no pleasantries—her first words were a request for help; she laughed in exasperation: “Hey, Yu Xing, you Yu, when you ask me for help, don’t you at least say hello?”

“Sister Wan, I didn’t want to waste your time, so I wanted to keep the call short,” Yu Xing said seriously. “Sister Wan, how’s work back in Xiangjiang? Are you willing to join Guoaiwang?”

Liu Wan fell silent for several seconds, then said: “Forget it, just get to the point.”

Yu Xing immediately laid out his request: he wanted to know if she had any contacts who could help promote the company online.

“I really don’t,” Liu Wan said, half-laughing, half-exasperated. “Yu Xing, I’m just an employee at a consulting firm. What do you think I am?”

“Alright, I was just swinging at a tree with no fruit,” Yu Xing sighed. “Sister Wan, goodbye—I’ll buy you lipstick when I make money.”

Liu Wan snapped: “Wait, wait! That’s just empty talk, isn’t it! How’s your company doing?”

“Sister Wan, are you free now?” Yu Xing found it hard to get useful advice from those around him—he was eager to talk.

“I just arrived in Chengdu yesterday; there’s a state-owned enterprise acquisition case. I was supposed to have dinner tonight, but the SOE stood me up,” Liu Wan said. “Now I’m heading over to my college roommate’s place to see her cat.”

After hearing this, Yu Xing paused, organized his thoughts, and briefly outlined the company’s development so far, the problems encountered, and his interest in NetEase.

From its official launch on June 14 to today, July 4, Jinling’s daily orders have stabilized at around 75; excluding Jingcheng and Yangcheng, Jinling, Shanghai, and Lin’an have collectively secured 1,620 orders over these days, totaling 485,264 yuan in revenue.

If current trends continue through the month, with further expansion in Shanghai, Lin’an, Yangcheng, and Jingcheng, total revenue will surely surpass one million yuan.

Of course, revenue is revenue—most of it goes to employees; what remains must cover operational costs, leaving little profit.

Even so, Liu Wan couldn’t help laughing and sighing: “Alright, that’s impressive. Hmm, your company’s been running less than a month and employees are already thinking about lining their pockets.”

“Sister Wan, is that really impressive?” Yu Xing had no good solution for Jingcheng yet. “A company cobbled together like this—employees having ideas and petty schemes—is normal.”

Liu Wan was serious: “Of course it’s impressive! In less than a month, you’ve assembled a messy mix of salespeople, lovers, traitors, fantasy equity holders, and a flood of interns—and you’ve already hit nearly half a million in revenue!”

She sincerely praised: “If this isn’t impressive, what is?”

No matter how rough, no matter how crude, no matter what methods were used—pulling together a framework in such a short time was undeniably astonishing!

A hastily assembled, rough, unstable company with questionable combat strength!

But tell me—is it a company that can actually get things done?

Liu Wan suppressed the absurdity, amusement, and admiration rising in her chest and said: “It might not be the right comparison, but I just remembered a TV from my childhood at my grandfather’s house—it always had problems. Whenever I called him, he’d come out and smack the screen, and the picture would come back.”

She laughed: “You really can get this company running, quietly waiting for NetEase to show up—it’s more shocking to me than the first time I saw a rich kid make money just by waving a piece of paper.”

Yu Xing, genuinely flattered by the praise, earnestly asked: “So, Sister Wan, how do you think I can actually attract NetEase?”

“I really don’t know,” Liu Wan mused. “But from your analysis of NetEase just now, there’s one detail you might be wrong about—its matrimonial business developments might still reach Ding Lei’s attention. NetEase is desperate to launch new businesses; otherwise, why would it have three separate matrimonial teams? It’s clearly experimenting with social products.”

Yu Xing was surprised: “I thought Century Love’s annual revenue was only twenty to thirty million.”

“It’ll grow,” Liu Wan said. “It’s an experiment. NetEase is desperate—so are Sohu and Sina. NetEase launched NetEase Pop in 2002, upgraded it in 2004, then created a Pop gaming platform. It’s tried all kinds of things; its matrimonial business expansion is certainly more important to NetEase than you think.”

“But I believe your logic is sound—the NetEase matrimonial team will be eager to try new entry points; it’s just a matter of when.”

Yu Xing felt encouraged. After thinking, he still asked: “Sister Wan, how else do you think I can optimize?”

Liu Wan paused, then sincerely said: “If I tried to do what you’ve done, I’d fail—I’m too rigid. But you, my friend, you’re far too flexible!”

She laughed: “So don’t ask me—just go ahead and do it!”

Yu Xing’s spirits lifted.

Liu Wan added: “Besides, if anything goes wrong, I’m not the one going to jail.”

Yu Xing: “...”

“I’m waiting for your good news,” Liu Wan finally said. “Alright, I’ve reached my friend’s place—I’m going to see the cat.”

“Alright, if you do get good news, just scroll through the portal sites,” Yu Xing said. “Take a picture and send it to me—I like cats too.”

The call ended.

Moments later, a color MMS of a cat arrived.

Yu Xing stared left and right, unsure whose lap the plump white cat was sitting on.

But the cat was indeed fine—no, the leg was indeed well-behaved.