After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 425 Status in the world
They said it was their honeymoon.

In fact, the two only stayed in the United States for ten days before returning to China.

I didn't earn a single penny.

Qiao Suiqing sighed with regret, saying, "The price should have been lowered."

“Brands need long-term cultivation. While short-term price reductions may boost sales, they will only reduce brand value.”

Zhou Haoran spoke with great logic and reasoning.

"what?"

Qiao Suiqing didn't understand, and they were still discussing it even after boarding the plane.

Zhou Haoran said with a smile, "Now, it's a matter of who's tougher, me or Microsoft. I want to see if Microsoft wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire and integrate Hotmail, or spend $2000 million to cooperate with me."

“That’s different…” Qiao Suiqing hesitated for a moment, “Hotmail has a lot of users, and users are the core value of an email product, right?”

"Huh?" Zhou Haoran was somewhat surprised. "You know about this?"

Qiao Suiqing blushed. "I remember you said that before."

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Normally, that's how it is, but we're in the early stages of internet development now, and the number of users is negligible. Especially for email products, there's no internal social network within the email service. Ultimately, it's the product that matters."

What is meant by "internal network of relationships within an email account"?

Qiao Suiqing didn't quite understand.

Zhou Haoran said, "Just like when users use ICQ, they can only chat with other ICQ users. If an ICQ user has enough friends, it forms a unique social network that is deeply rooted in the ICQ product, making it difficult for users to switch from ICQ to other products. Email is different; different email accounts can communicate with each other without any internal binding relationship."

Qiao Suiqing was still a bit dazed when she said "Oh," and added, "But the cooperation with ICQ didn't work out either. The $500 million offer was too high."

Zhou Haoran stretched and said, "Sister Qingmei, it's better to not cooperate if the price is too high than to lower yourself to make money. This isn't about doing business; it's about building your personal image."

Qiao Suiqing chuckled and asked, "What image?"

“I refuse to compromise with the Americans.” Zhou Haoran pointed to himself. “Otherwise, where would my reputation in the underworld come from?”

Qiao Suiqing pursed her lips. "You're the leader of the martial arts alliance, aren't you?"

Zhou Haoran said calmly, "Just like the Donglin Party in the Ming Dynasty, they would fight to the death against the emperor. Even if they failed, they would still gain the respect and recognition of their colleagues. Low-level staged accidents are just extortion, but high-level staged accidents are art."

"It's a real shame..."

Qiao Suiqing sighed softly.

"It's just money, no big deal." Zhou Haoran said dismissively. "The Asian financial crisis seems to have spread to Hong Kong Island, and the financial market has already started to plummet. I estimate it will soon affect Hong Kong Island's property prices."

Qiao Suiqing's eyes lit up. "Can we buy a house now?"

Zhou Haoran said, "When property prices in Hong Kong Island plummet, it will definitely affect the mainland."

"Let's buy more houses, a dozen or twenty."

"what?"

“There are so many people…” Qiao Suiqing glanced at him meaningfully, “You’ve taken over someone’s body, so you should give them something in return, right? Buy a few more houses, so that if anyone’s family members come to the city, they’ll have a place to stay.”

Zhou Haoran coughed. "Whose body did I take over?"

Qiao Suiqing rolled her eyes at him. "Is it still not enough?"

"Not many, right..."

Zhou Haoran touched his nose.

"You seem guilty." Qiao Suiqing's expression was calm and composed. "When you return to China this time, bring them all over to meet me. You've already done it, so what's there to be embarrassed about? After you meet, we can talk about buying a house together."

“Okay.” Zhou Haoran nodded. “Buy more, thirty or fifty sets.”

Qiao Suiqing retorted, "Aren't you being a little too ambitious?"

Zhou Haoran quickly said, "This is an investment, not keeping a mistress!"

After returning to China, I stayed out that night.

Together with Aunt Wan and Teacher Jiang.

They've now moved into a new house, which is over 100 square meters. The house is spacious and bright, with a large bathtub in the bathroom and a walk-in closet.

That evening, Zhou Haoran took a bath with the two of them, and while soaking in the bathtub, he told them about it.

Jiang Minsi didn't care.

She didn't know Qiao Suiqing before, so the pressure wasn't too great.

Sheng Wenwan was a little embarrassed, unsure how to face the little girl who used to follow her around and call her "Aunt Wan". She hesitated and said, "How about we forget about it?"

"What's wrong with that?" Zhou Haoran didn't like to hide things or pretend to be a time management master by dodging and lying. It was exhausting. "She even mentioned it to me before, saying that she likes children, but she's not having any herself."

"Then who will give birth?"

Sheng Wenwan was somewhat tempted.

Having children is something you don't feel when you're young, but at 29, she's already starting to feel the pressure.

Zhou Haoran laughed and said, "Anyone who wants to have a child can have one."

“Then…” Sheng Wenwan’s eyes flickered, “Let me think about it.”

That evening, Zhou Haoran originally intended to go back.

A short separation is truly enjoyable.

I slept here that night. The next morning, I picked up Qiao Suiqing early and took her to her workplace.

Let's see the new environment.

Hu Xiaochen arrived early as well.

"Come on, let me show you around!"

Hu Xiaochen is now a producer and is very enthusiastic.

The layout of Hongxingtai usually consists of one large office with two separate smaller offices. "Everyone's Art Up" is formed by merging two large offices, so it has four smaller offices.

"This is the small bedroom for the babies to rest in." Hu Xiaochen had already made some simple layout adjustments to the office according to Zhou Haoran's request. "This is the play area for the babies... When the time comes, we'll buy more toys and decorate it to make it like a small playground."

Zhou Haoran nodded. "Yeah, that's good."

Hu Xiaochen went to the next room. "This is the breastfeeding room. We'll let some mothers who have trouble bringing their babies to work with them... I don't know about other places, but it's absolutely unique at Hongxing TV!"

"That's exactly how it should be!" Zhou Haoran could guess without even being asked. "Now, a lot of people will sign up, right?"

"So many!" Hu Xiaochen's eyes lit up. "Master, your idea is brilliant! Not only have many mothers applied to join our group, but many unmarried girls are also eager to join and have signed up. I've received over a hundred applications already."

"so much?"

Zhou Haoran was somewhat surprised; this efficiency was impressive.

Hu Xiaochen said proudly, "That's right, my most important task every day is interviewing people. I've already accepted more than 40 people... It's not time yet, wait until it's past 9 o'clock, then we'll see, it's almost half full."

Zhou Haoran gave a thumbs up. "Doesn't that mean the work has already started?"

"It started a long time ago, and we've already contacted more than a dozen contestants! We can start preparing for the first episode!"

Hu Xiaochen snorted lightly, showing off quite a bit.

"So fast?" Zhou Haoran couldn't help but ask, "Where did you find it?"

Hu Xiaochen smiled and said, "Actually, it's a resource from the station. Many of them are talented and have been invited by local TV stations to perform. These records are all kept. We took them over, screened them, and then invited them over."

"What about in the long term?"

Zhou Haoran visited three mother and baby rooms before sitting down in the last private office.

Hu Xiaochen said, "There are mainly two types. One is that after the show airs and gains influence, talented contestants will voluntarily sign up. The other is through recommendations. Many local TV stations, cultural centers, literary and art federations, art associations, professional schools, local competitions, etc., will discover some talented people and recommend them."

Zhou Haoran said, "There's another, most important category, that you didn't mention."

"what?"

"Going to the grassroots to gather material!"

"Collecting wind?"

Hu Xiaochen frowned slightly; this was a format that had never been used in television stations before.

The main problem is that I don't have money.

Going to grassroots levels or other places requires reimbursement of expenses, which is a burden that many program teams cannot afford. Programs like "People's Livelihood Investigation" and "Family Matters" mainly rely on enthusiastic phone calls for their topics.

Zhou Haoran said with a smile, "Putting everything else aside, our harbor has so many entertainment bars and nightclubs, and the singers there are all quite good! Send some staff over there, select some with interesting stories and good personalities, and recruit them as contestants."

Hu Xiaochen's eyes lit up. "I've heard that many bars in the capital have singers performing there. Many singers started out by singing in bars."

"Yes, that's the idea." Zhou Haoran was quite knowledgeable about this. "They can go north or south. These opportunities to travel can be considered a perk of the program team providing free travel for its staff."

Hu Xiaochen twitched the corner of her mouth. "Aren't you being a bit too direct?"

Zhou Haoran said calmly, "We need to be direct and make things clear to everyone. The production team will do everything we can to secure the best possible benefits for everyone. If the program does well, a company-wide trip abroad at the end of the year is not out of the question!"

"real or fake?"

Hu Xiaochen was stunned.

Zhou Haoran said, "That's what we'll do. We'll try our best to attract the best talent from all over Taiwan."

Hu Xiaochen shook his head. "After all, this is a program on the lifestyle channel, and people from Red Star TV rarely come here. Most of the applicants now are people who were frustrated with their jobs in the past and were dissatisfied with their previous jobs."

"So we need to do a good job of screening and investigation. We should avoid people who like to complain and whine." Zhou Haoran was puzzled. "Were you the only one interviewing? Weren't you assigned an editor-in-chief?"

Hu Xiaochen said, "They've matched, there are three of them!"

"Three?"

Zhou Haoran was taken aback.

Hu Xiaochen said rather reluctantly, "There are three nominations for me to choose from. It was Deputy Director Zhan Yushan who said that I am young and lack work experience, and it would be best to find an older, more experienced editor-in-chief to assist me. All three nominees are in their thirties or forties."

"Then let's choose."

"What about you?"

"I?"

“I thought we were going to work together, with me as the producer and you as the editor-in-chief.”

Hu Xiaochen was not satisfied with her employer's decision to assign her another editor-in-chief.

Zhou Haoran chuckled and said, "Do I still need to hold the empty title of 'editor-in-chief'? No need. The exhibition director is right. It's not a bad thing to find someone mature and steady to come over."

“But…” Hu Xiaochen gave him a deep look, “What if another Lin Guiyan appears?”

(End of this chapter)