Chapter 41: 040 Innovation Shift (Combined)

Orders from Jingcheng and Yangcheng saw a breakthrough, making Zhong Zhiling and Lu Haiying especially pleased.

Unlike Jinling, Shencheng, and Lin’an, these two cities were achievements secured by non-core executives, carrying a different significance.

But when Yu Xing informed the second and third executives about possible trouble in Jingcheng, their joy quickly faded.

“If I’d known this, Brother Xing, you should’ve sent me to Jingcheng,” Zhong Zhiling’s voice carried suppressed anger, “or let Xiao Ying go.”

“There wasn’t enough time—Jinling’s operations were progressing well and couldn’t be interrupted; Lin’an’s business was equally important. Most of all, I never expected them to develop other intentions so quickly,” Yu Xing said calmly, even smiling, “That’s what happens when generals are far from the court—they don’t always follow imperial orders.”

No wonder college students have bold guts—maybe if I’d refused their demands, they’d have just switched brands and started their own business in Jingcheng.

Zhong Zhiling fell silent. Time was simply too short, and manpower too scarce; controlling people with people requires people to begin with.

Lu Haiying reflected: her senior brother had once taught her to treat others with sincerity, saying that if one cannot offer kindness, it must mean someone is forcing them.

After a moment, Lu Haiying asked calmly: “Brother Xing, how should we handle this next?”

“Young people inevitably make mistakes. This matter…” Yu Xing said slowly, “let’s wait and see how the Jingcheng market performs. But the documents publicly displayed by Guai Ai Network are calculated based on 200—this remains unchanged, whether they take the documents to Jingcheng or any other market.”

Hearing their senior brother’s response, Lu Haiying and Zhong Zhiling simultaneously thought of the company’s most core strategy—selling the company. After all, the documents were clear: whether it was their side or the other party, settlement or audit would easily clarify the matter.

The matter was temporarily set aside.

Before hanging up, Zhong Zhiling couldn’t help but feel regret: “Brother Xing, this money came in fast…”

Nearly 500,000 in revenue—this sum could already cover his own shortfall.

“Precisely because most of it was distributed, it came so quickly,” Yu Xing knew what the third executive was thinking and emphasized, “Without our willingness to split the money, the staff wouldn’t have this motivation.”

Guai Ai Network’s crude team was driven primarily by commissions; the revenue generated, after paying salaries and covering operational costs, left almost no actual profit.

And this didn’t even account for final redemptions.

“Yes, I know, Brother Xing. I just see all this money piling up and I really want…” Zhong Zhiling fell silent for a few seconds, not hiding his most honest impulse, “I really want to run away…”

Skip payroll, run away—his shortfall would vanish. But he couldn’t run; it was a legal responsibility as company legal representative.

Yu Xing laughed heartily: “Really? I thought the same thing.”

Zhong Zhiling’s impulse vanished instantly; he hurriedly urged: “Brother Xing, I was just joking.”

Yu Xing laughed again: “Really? I was just joking too.”

Zhong Zhiling realized he couldn’t joke around and quickly ended the conversation with his senior brother.

Yu Xing didn’t press the third executive further, concluding with the fundamentals and discussing recent priorities: “We need market performance. NetEase’s arrival is good—it can help us capture August transition traffic. If they don’t come, we need even more to expand markets and generate revenue. Don’t forget—we have to pay salaries.”

Revenue had begun to pick up, but the first month’s salary payment was also approaching—the first batch is calculated from the 15th to the 18th, leaving only about 10 days; at that point, the money available to us would rapidly decrease.

The second and third executives each expressed their determination to push the market.

Yu Xing ended another phone meeting, looked up at the darkening sky, and didn’t return to his apartment—instead, he lit a cigarette on the roadside.

Once salaries are paid, the illusionary joy from early revenue will vanish quickly. With summer vacation ending, the next month’s situation will grow difficult.

The company was a makeshift crew, but even makeshift crews aren’t easy to assemble.

Yu Xing smoked, pondering long, until the mosquitoes’ persistent bites finally drove him upstairs.

Fortunately, while the soul of the company had to juggle revenue, salaries, operations, cities, marketing, threats, networks, and sales, the five-city teams only needed to ask seniors for money.

With good news from reserve shareholder Yin Baoyi, Guai Ai Network’s online promotion framework was largely finalized.

Yu Xing didn’t haggle much over Yin Baoyi’s 50,000 quote—only asked Feng Ge to negotiate further, hoping to cut another discount under the pretense of being broke students.

He casually mentioned the marriage industry’s landscape, noting that NetEase also had a matchmaking service, and unexpectedly listed potential threats these companies might pose.

Yin Baoyi didn’t elaborate, only revealed one known fact: “NetEase probably won’t. Their own matchmaking service isn’t even doing well—they definitely won’t pay attention to a small company like ours.”

Yu Xing’s expression remained calm, but inside, he frowned.

Had he misjudged? Was NetEase suddenly ethical?

Or had Song Yufeng somehow convinced internal innovators to hold back?

Or did NetEase’s matchmaking team truly look down on such trivial gains?

But regardless, our promotion must continue; the necessary work must still be done.

On July 10, Guai Ai Network published “A Survey Report on Chinese College Students’ Romantic Relationships” on its official website and campus networks. One key statistic: the probability of college students marrying after dating was roughly 14.8%.

The report also included other interesting findings—for example, students in economically developed regions had higher dating rates, with Jingcheng, Jinling, and Yangcheng ranking top three.

Unlike the expected viral success, Guai Ai Network had no traffic of its own and naturally drew no attention; the campus networks similarly failed to spark interest. This changed slightly that evening—reports said Song Yufeng’s team had begun pushing hard.

Also, on the afternoon of July 11, there was an interview from Sina, conducted by Liu Yilin, Song Yufeng’s college classmate.

Yu Xing didn’t know if Song Yufeng had paid his classmate any transportation fee, but he still prepared everything in advance, resulting in Liu Yilin’s immediate smile.

The Sina journalist was also young, likely not assigned to a prime reporting slot, but she asked detailed questions, allowing Yu Xing to give a more comprehensive project explanation.

The most important issue here was customer redemption.

Yu Xing gave the same answer he’d used when speaking to offline customers.

“We’re conducting a long-term social survey. Once sufficient data is gathered from different regions and schools, we’ll gradually stop accepting orders and reduce team size, then negotiate bulk partnerships with rose suppliers to cut most costs.”

“Of course, we won’t necessarily stop entirely—we’ll consider further possibilities based on company operations.”

“During recent operations, we found some couples aren’t interested in roses, so we’re considering replacing the final redemption with wedding photos, banquets, or other wedding gifts.”

“Or gold, diamond rings—basically, we’ll consider more flexible options to communicate with couples.”

Yu Xing was interviewed beneath the company banner, with curious potential customers watching nearby.

The journalist also interviewed college students on-site, gathering genuine feedback—some positive, some negative.

But after the interview ended, Liu Yilin offered Yu Xing reassurance: “Don’t worry—those negative comments won’t be reported.”

Yu Xing thanked the journalist for her consideration.

By the 13th—the day NetEase published its report—both campus networks and several high-traffic forums suddenly flipped a switch; Guai Ai Network’s “College Student Love Survey Report” received significant exposure.

The comments below varied widely, but the real impact was that Taobao and Tmall stores received curious inquiries—though only curiosity, with extremely low conversion rates.

For Guai Ai Network’s offline business, Jinling was representative, with a conversion rate of roughly 10%—10 orders per 100 couples.

Online was different: Taobao and Tmall stores received over 1,000 inquiries in one day, but secured only eight orders—a conversion rate under 0.8%.

Although judging online business by just one day isn’t representative, the gap was stark. Still, online had advantages offline couldn’t match: reaching 1,000 users offline would require Jinling’s hundred-person team two to three days; online, it was far easier.

“Director Yu, this result…” Yin Baoyi was anxious after learning the 13th’s conversion rate.

Only eight orders—totaling 2,392 yuan… She’d quoted 50,000, actually collected 45,000…

“It’s fine. Online matters need time to ferment. There’s still more to come,” Yu Xing said generously, offering no criticism.

Yin Baoyi felt slightly relieved, hoping for future reactions.

She also forwarded Guai Ai Network’s actual conversion figures to her boyfriend, urging him to push the online marketing team harder—if there was no significant growth later, she’d feel guilty not placing a few orders herself…

Yin Baoyi faintly understood her boyfriend’s mindset when he returned the transportation fee.

“Don’t worry. Campus networks will still have more. The forums probably aren’t targeted enough,” Song Yufeng replied to his girlfriend from the office—he had to work late on some manuscripts.

The phone stopped vibrating; his girlfriend would wait until they got home to discuss it.

Just as Song Yufeng was furiously writing, a calm voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Teacher Song, I saw your report today—why are the numbers different from last time?”

Before Song Yufeng turned around, a chill shot from his spine straight to the back of his skull; goosebumps rose on his arms.

His heartbeat quickened; his mouth went dry. He turned slowly and saw Ying Jiadong, deputy director of NetEase’s Local Dating Channel, standing behind his seat.

Ying Jiadong wore an innocent smile. Seeing his colleague didn’t answer, he reminded him: “That college student love survey report—you mentioned it in the cafeteria last time. Didn’t they say the marriage probability was under 21%? Today I saw your website’s report—it says 14.8% now. Why the change?”

Song Yufeng forced a smile and instinctively replied: “That company changed the probability.”

Ying Jiadong frowned: “Why change it? Which version is more accurate—the old one or the new one?”

Song Yufeng swallowed hard, voice lower: “I think… they said they gathered more data, so they revised the probability.”

Ying Jiadong nodded slightly—revision.

He paused briefly, then made a small request: “Teacher Song, our team is very interested in this business. Last week I went back to Yangcheng to discuss new industry developments with headquarters.”

“Headquarters also thinks it’s promising. This kind of bet-like business is a novel entry point.”

“Could you contact Guai Ai Network and ask them for their original survey data?”

Song Yufeng’s face darkened: “Why do you want that?”

“They call it a college student love survey report—they must have collected data from many regions,” Ying Jiadong said matter-of-factly. “First, we want to verify the data’s accuracy. Second, we want to see if we can refine and optimize the business.”

Song Yufeng’s heart sank. This wasn’t the “no interest” he’d heard about…

This was full interest—and they’d already discussed it at headquarters…

It was over. It was all over…

His girlfriend’s equity would become worthless paper…

Ying Jiadong asked curiously: “Teacher Song, is there a problem?”

“Director Ying, this isn’t appropriate,” Song Yufeng mustered courage and stated the obvious: “Our website already reported Guai Ai Network’s development as the first nationwide. If your team suddenly launches the same business… it’s not right.”

Ying Jiadong pulled up a chair and sat down, sighing: “To be honest, Teacher Song, I don’t want to do this either—but, well, our company has three matchmaking teams, and upper management desperately wants breakthroughs in the matchmaking market. They may even merge the three teams later.”

“The company needs results. We need results too.”

“It’s just one idea. If we don’t do it, someone else will.”

“If someone else will, why shouldn’t we do it first?”

“Teacher Song, help us out.”

Ying Jiadong extended his right hand, eyes holding both plea and scrutiny, adding: “Headquarters will organize a research trip in a few days.”

This wasn’t personal—it was organizational.

Song Yufeng slowly extended his right hand.

Ying Jiadong stepped forward and shook it, smiling: “Thank you, Teacher Song. Could you give me Guai Ai Network’s phone number? I might call them directly if needed.”

Song Yufeng pursed his lips, reluctantly answering: “Alright.”

“I understand your dilemma,” Ying Jiadong released his hand and said, “Don’t worry—there won’t be any problems. It’s just a college student team. We won’t launch tomorrow—first we need research.”

Song Yufeng exhaled slightly; having some breathing room was better than none.

He shook his head slightly inside: I told you so—your girlfriend shouldn’t have gone to that company; how can a commoner fight a giant corporation?