Chapter 48

Song Yufeng listened in on the entire telephone interview between Sina and Yu Xing.

As a reporter—oh, as a former reporter—he felt that quite a few of the responses were rather impressive.

Aside from using the doctor-patient relationship to describe the current situation, there was also the bluntness toward NetEase.

"I advise NetEase: if you're sick, get treatment. If you're not sick... that's impossible; I've worn a white coat for several years."

"A friend said this is NetEase paying tribute to me. OK, then my post today is also paying tribute to it."

"NetEase is too arrogant. It could have waited a while—at the very least, until its own reports were no longer on the portal site, right?"

Of course, Yu Xing also responded to some business-related matters, which did not exceed the scope of the previous interview; he simply took advantage of this storm to clarify the project's content once more.

Song Yufeng waited until the phone interview ended before mentioning a feeling of his own: "Yu Xing, President Yu, I had a feeling earlier that I wanted to say but forgot: you were indeed very calm during the interview. When I interviewed many people in the past, they weren't as organized as you."

Yu Xing just smiled at this praise: "Mm-hmm, was my travel fee tip handled smoothly?"

This was hard to judge.

But Song Yufeng still evaluated it with a clear conscience: "It was indeed smooth."

The travel fee was smooth, the recording was smooth, the coercion was smooth, and the biting back was also smooth.

"Alright, since you've finished eating and drinking and aren't drunk, you should head back on your own. I still have things to do." As Yu Xing stood up to pay the bill, he said, "I'm treating this meal. You're out of a job now, so don't be polite."

Song Yufeng let out a "tsk," feeling as if he had been stabbed again.

He had wanted to take a stroll in the night and chat with the mastermind, but he hadn't expected Yu Xing wasn't just saying it—he really had to handle things by phone—so he could only head home dejectedly.

By the time Song Yufeng arrived home, his girlfriend, Yin Baoyi, had already returned.

Because of the Gui'ai Net affair, the two had fallen into a cold war.

"Why are you back so late?" Yin Baoyi asked coldly.

Song Yufeng wanted to talk about what happened at the company today, but for some reason, he felt it was dull and flavorless, so he shook his head and didn't answer.

Yin Baoyi didn't press him, either, and just watched TV on her own.

Song Yufeng sat in the study, facing the computer, looking at the unfinished manuscript inside, his fingers resting on the keyboard, when suddenly, sorrow welled up from his heart.

It's gone, it's gone, everything is gone.

It seems the only thing left to do is to leave one's innocence in the world.

The next morning, Song Yufeng woke up even earlier than usual. After a simple wash, he still went out with his backpack, even subconsciously heading to the subway to go to the company, but only realized he didn't need to go once he was about to enter the station.

Fortunately, not long after, a text message from Yu Xing arrived on his phone, containing the contact information for a Tencent reporter.

At ten o'clock in the morning, Song Yufeng met the reporter.

Unlike the sorrow of last night and the confusion of this morning, he was full of spirit after downing a cup of coffee. Facing a former colleague, he recounted the course of events clearly and expressed his refusal to be complicit.

Because he had a draft beforehand, Song Yufeng inevitably used Tencent as a target when bringing up NetEase and his own stance, but he didn't care about this at all, believing his former colleague would edit these issues well.

This interview didn't end until twelve o'clock noon.

"Kong Huilin, let me treat you to a meal." Seeing it was lunchtime, Song Yufeng invited his former colleague to eat together.

Kong Huilin shook her head and didn't accept the invitation, but she expressed her admiration, saying sincerely: "No, I'll eat when I get back. Song Yufeng, I really admire you. You can be this furious—to be honest, if I were in your position, I couldn't do it."

Song Yufeng said modestly: "As a reporter, I've been in the industry a bit longer than you. I've encountered all sorts of things, but I haven't always been able to stand up. Sometimes, my heart is like a room full of darkness, but this time, I just wanted to open the window..."

He spread his hands and smiled: "Guess what happened?"

Kong Huilin listened quietly.

Song Yufeng sighed: "I didn't open this window completely, but I just pushed it open a crack, and the sunlight outside ignored the darkness and pierced in. The room suddenly lit up."

Kong Huilin was filled with respect.

She couldn't do it, so she respected those who could.

Song Yufeng didn't stand on ceremony and extended his right hand.

Kong Huilin shook hands with this former colleague, using a bit of force to express her feelings.

Song Yufeng bid her farewell, turned around, and walked out of the coffee shop.

Kong Huilin watched the back of this principled reporter gradually disappear, and besides being moved, she also fell into deep thought.

If a person looks tough, talks tough, and acts tough, then he is indeed tough.

Xiaonei Net still retracted the article.

However, reports from Sina and Tencent emerged, and the voices of the two parties involved appeared in a wider scope, and their words were also very memorable.

"I really didn't expect business competition to be more intense than the doctor-patient relationship."

"If NetEase is no longer a media with an attitude, then I can only express my attitude. If NetEase doesn't give me an attitude, I'll give it an attitude."

One is the entrepreneur involved, whose background is leaving medicine for business, with humorous language.

One is the party involved in the NetEase interview, whose attitude is tough, has extreme journalistic integrity, and directly confronts the company head-on.

The matter has been proven: the founder of Gui'ai Net did not lie. The newly established "NetEase Dating" indeed had the problem of forcibly seizing innovation, and what is even more sensitive is that this innovation came from internal circulation of the interview report.

According to Song Yufeng's account, Director Ying Jiadong had inquired about the relevant project before the report was even published, and later even demanded that he ask Gui'ai Net, attempting to obtain more explicit investigation data.

The nature of this was quite vile.

At the same time, following the reports from Sina and Tencent, users on Xiaonei Net who noticed this matter also became dissatisfied: where is that college student grassroots' manuscript? Why did his manuscript disappear?

More people flocked to Yu Xing's homepage to leave comments expressing support, and some even spontaneously shared the links to the Sina and Tencent reports to Xiaonei Net.

For three consecutive days, the Gui'ai Net founder spoke out in criticism, the NetEase reporter directly defected, and Sina and Tencent reported one after another... However, NetEase was slow to respond, and even the "NetEase Dating" business continued as normal.

Under such circumstances, Gui'ai Net's third-in-command, Zhong Zhiling, called his senior disciple to offer a suggestion.

"Brother Xing, let's sell out Song Yufeng. This can add another layer of reversal to the public opinion. A reporter with integrity who was just built up suddenly falls—this will definitely trigger more traffic."

Zhong Zhiling gave his observation and suggestion.

Yu Xing didn't respond for a long while, and only sighed after a long time, questioning: "Zhiling, didn't you say your character was very good?"

"Business comes first. I'm willing to sacrifice my character." Zhong Zhiling is now in charge of the Lin'an market, and has been very worried since NetEase really entered their track. He said without hesitation, "Brother Xing, if you need to maintain your image, then let me be the one to expose him as a spineless coward."

Yu Xing didn't answer.

Zhong Zhiling suddenly remembered the scene where his senior disciple came to the police station to bail him out, and he also sighed, questioning: "Brother Xing, didn't you say your character was average?"

Yu Xing didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He explained: "The current situation is already quite good. Yesterday's online store had nearly 6,000 users, and 125 orders were successfully placed, with a conversion rate of over 2%. If you take down Song Yufeng at this time, it might derive more complex problems."

Before the matter was exposed, Gui'ai Net's online store peaked at 1,000 visiting users, with a conversion rate of less than 0.8%. Now, the traffic is 6 times what it was, and the conversion rate is also more than double.

This contrast is extremely obvious.

At the same time, the number of Yu Xing's Xiaonei Net friends is also rising rapidly, which will inevitably further drive up Gui'ai Net's online orders.

"Mm, starting from the big picture..." Zhong Zhiling pondered, "Yes, Brother Xing makes sense. It was my lack of consideration."

He thought for a moment and said again: "The offline orders here in Lin'an are falling very fast, and the speed of employee turnover is also getting faster. If such online orders can be maintained for a whole month, we can successfully get through August."

The July graduation season has already ended. Zhong Zhiling can feel the intuitive changes in Gui'ai Net, and the online store's performance of over 100 orders per day is undoubtedly a powerful supplement.

299*100—this is 29,900 in daily revenue. If it can be maintained, that's 900,000 in revenue for a whole month, almost comparable to Gui'ai Net's offline revenue.

As long as September arrives and school starts, and there is offline traffic, perhaps a balanced and healthy structure can be built with the online side.

"I feel this traffic hasn't reached its peak yet, but it will definitely decline later," Yu Xing said. "We still have questions about the company that haven't been released. Once a series of things are finished, the revenue in August won't be bad."

Whether it was the previous online marketing or the current criticism of NetEase, these were all for the company's business.

The two finished their call, both waiting for further developments in the incident.

Yu Xing waited for a day, and seeing that NetEase still had no attitude, he re-posted the original post content on Xiaonei Net. This time it wasn't PR-ed away, which made him feel that NetEase's statement wasn't far off.

Sure enough, on July 29, NetEase announced the suspension of the "NetEase Dating" business and fired the relevant person in charge. At the same time, a vice president personally called Yu Xing to express deep apologies.

Yu Xing received the call and gave his attitude: "I hope to accept the apology in your company, or under the media's lens, in a dignified manner."

"Student Yu Xing, the company has already fired Ying Jiadong. What else are you dissatisfied with? Is this still necessary?" NetEase Vice Cao Zong Yongnan's tone was a bit stiff upon hearing such a request. A director was fired—isn't that enough?

"Cao Zong, you are not my classmate, nor are you my teacher. Since this is communication between two companies, please address me as President Yu." Yu Xing got serious, and naturally showed his answer to these questions.

Cao Yongnan couldn't help but laugh: "President Yu, you are quite unforgiving."

Yu Xing retorted: "Then, Cao Zong, who was it that handed the 'reason' to me?"

Cao Yongnan asked with some teasing: "President Yu, do you want to invite our President Ding to personally come to your door and apologize?"

Yu Xing said with surprise: "Is that really possible? I'm willing."

Cao Yongnan: "..."

He took a breath, neither agreeing nor denying the previous request, only saying: "I represent NetEase in expressing apologies for this business matter. Subsequent issues will be communicated to you by our Director Zhuo Shiming. President Yu, I wish you success in your entrepreneurship."

Yu Xing heard the busy signal on his phone before he could even answer.

A moment later, a call from the company's third-in-command interrupted his thoughts.

Zhong Zhiling's somewhat surprised voice came from the phone: "Brother Xing, have you already started? I see quite a few black posts appearing."

This was a part of the previous discussion: first have questions, then have Gui'ai Net's high commission exposed—it could also be considered a kind of reversal.

Yu Xing was stunned: "Ah? I haven't started yet."

Zhong Zhiling was also stunned: "Not started yet? Then this is..."

On the very night Yu Xing received the apology call from NetEase, questions about Gui'ai Net company and its business suddenly appeared quite densely on the internet, also mentioning that this company uses a large number of interns to carry out work.