I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 216 Zhang Chaoyang, who lost 600 billion US dollars: Do you think I'm that stupid?

3 PM, East Gate 5 of Chaoyang Park.

Just as Lei Yijun was about to get out of the car, Li Wanqiang stopped him, saying, "Mr. Lei, it looks like there are reporters all over there."

At the entrance, a large group of people stood, with work badges around their necks, cameras in their hands, and video cameras on their shoulders, waiting for Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yijun to appear.

The hype is there, but whether the outcome will be good or bad for Xiaomi and 360 remains to be seen.

"Once we get out of the car, the reporters will probably swarm us," Li Wanqiang said in a low voice, his brow furrowed.

For a moment, Lei Yijun was caught in a dilemma. He hadn't expected so many media outlets to be there. Now, let alone taking action, even the slightest insult would be posted online by reporters.

"When you came to scout the area and study the evacuation routes this morning, didn't you see these people?"

Lei Yijun frowned and looked at Li Wanqiang, asking.

"Mr. Lei, I arrived around 5 a.m., and there were only a few old men doing their morning exercises at the time," Li Wanqiang said with a forced smile, truthfully explaining.

"Let's not get out of the car yet. Let's see if Zhou Hongyi dares to come!" Lei Yijun pondered for a moment and came up with a compromise.

To his surprise, Zhou Hongyi was sitting in a Maybach, only about 30 meters away from Lei Yijun's car.

One of them was at the north intersection of East Gate 5, and the other was at the south intersection.

"Mr. Zhou, it's 3:10, and Lei Yijun hasn't arrived yet." Zhou Hongyi's assistant held up binoculars, observed through the car window for more than ten seconds, and then turned to say.

"Damn it, all he does is talk the talk!"

Zhou Hongyi curled his lip, looking disdainful. After speaking, he immediately took out his phone and sent a mocking text message: "I've arrived. Where are you? If you're scared, go apologize to me on Weibo."

"I've arrived too, but I don't see you."

Lei Yijun replied quickly.

Zhou Hongyi was slightly taken aback. He snatched the binoculars from his assistant and stared at the entrance for a while. All the reporters were standing at the entrance waiting. Lei Yijun was probably just trying to fool him.

However, he had a clear understanding of the situation. Even if Lei Yijun really came, the two of them would at most exchange a few trash words after meeting. Did they really have to fight in front of everyone?
Zhou Hongyi immediately regretted it. He should have known better than to post the time and place of the fight online. Wouldn't it have been better to just beat Lei Yijun up directly?

The two then continued their verbal battle via text message. They were satisfied with their insults, but the reporters and netizens huddled at the door were not happy.

Standing outside in the dead of winter is truly unbearable.

If Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yijun hadn't made a fight, who would be here starving?

"Those two are really scoundrels. They stirred up this topic and then stood us up!"

"Oh my, who says otherwise! They were shouting all over the internet, but not a single person showed up. Let's just call it a day!"

"I'm going to Weibo to curse those two bastards!"

The netizens and reporters who had been waiting anxiously were getting impatient, but it was almost 3:30, and there was still no sign of anyone.

He immediately realized that he had been tricked by Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yijun.

"@Zhou Hongyi and @Lei Yijun, the audience is all here, where are you two?"

"It's freezing cold, are you trying to play with your dad?"

"@Lei Yijun, if you dare to come, I'll buy 10 Xiaomi phones to support you!"

"@Zhou Hongyi, if you don't show up soon, I'm going to get a refund for the Haier W910 I ordered yesterday!"

The comment sections for both of them were never short of onlookers who loved a good show and were eager to stir things up, as if they were afraid the two wouldn't fight.

At this moment, three patrol vehicles slowly drove up.

Finally, they stopped in front of the reporters and netizens. Several inspectors with flowers on their shoulders got out and said with stern faces, "Disperse, disperse, you are not allowed to gather here."

at the same time.

Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yijun each received a phone call, and were immediately scolded so badly that they couldn't even lift their heads. They then nodded repeatedly and instructed the driver to drive away from Chaoyang Park.

The China Association for Industry and Information Technology and the Internet Society of China originally planned to hold the 11th Internet Conference in September. They are currently drafting the list of invitees, which includes overseas Internet companies such as Google, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Kaspersky.

If left unchecked and Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yijun are allowed to act recklessly, then the image of Chinese entrepreneurs will be completely ruined.

What's the difference between this and a street thug?
They aren't afraid of losing face, but the big shots above them still have to save face!
"Mr. Zhou, that car up ahead looks like Lei Yijun's."

Zhou Hongyi's assistant pointed to a BMW van in front of them and said.

"So he didn't get out of the car either. No wonder he's Lei Buqun!"

Zhou Hongyi squinted and commented to himself.

With that in mind, he sent Lei Yijun another text message, choosing a boxing club as the meeting place.

Lei Yijun is determined to fight! No one can stop him!
the other side.

After resting briefly at the hotel, around 4:30 pm, Chen Yansen received a call from Liu Zhiping, who invited him to dinner at Jingzhaoyin.

In addition to Liu Zhiping and Cheng Congwu from Gaode Maps, Zhang Chaoyang from Sohu also accompanied them.

Whether the acquisition will be successful depends on how smoothly the communication goes tonight.

To put it bluntly, this drinking session is more important than tomorrow's formal meeting.

Chen Yansen readily agreed. After hanging up the phone, he took Song Yuncheng and Gao Weilin and headed straight for the restaurant address sent by Liu Zhiping. Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of the gate of Jingzhaoyin.

This is a three-courtyard, antique-style siheyuan (traditional courtyard house) facing east towards the Yonghe Temple and adjacent to the Imperial College. It features a typical Chinese residential design with green bamboo, white stones, and flowing water. Just by looking at the decoration, you can tell that it won't be cheap.

Chen Yansen got out of the car and, led by the waiter, passed through a white screen wall, stepped through a narrow door, and arrived at the door of a private room in the inner courtyard.

Liu Zhiping, holding a teacup, was chatting with Zhang Chaoyang of Sohu, occasionally letting out a hearty laugh.

"Brother Martin, this matter is troublesome. Thank you for coming all the way from Shenzhen to Beijing."

Chen Yansen stepped forward with a smile, interrupting their conversation.

"Charles, I won't go into detail about Chen Yansen, you definitely know him."

Liu Zhiping first smiled at Zhang Chaoyang, then got up to greet him and pulled Chen Yansen along.

"Mr. Zhang, I've heard so much about you. I wanted to say hello to you at the last Internet Open Conference, but I thought it would be too presumptuous. It's great to see you again today."

Chen Yansen exchanged pleasantries politely, his words carrying just the right amount of humility and sincerity.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chaoyang couldn't suppress the smile on his face.

For some reason, he would have paid no attention to these words if they had been spoken by other people, but when they came from Chen Yansen's mouth, they gave him an inexplicable sense of warmth.

“Actually, I had similar thoughts, so I want to thank Martin for creating this opportunity for us to meet.”

Zhang Chaoyang took the initiative to extend his hand and greet Chen Yansen.

"Sit down and let's talk. Cheng Congwu will arrive a little later," Liu Zhiping explained.

Chen Yansen responded with a nod and waved his hand to indicate that it was alright.

"Mr. Chen, there are rumors online that the Orange C2 phone has already sold 100 million units. Is that true?"

After Zhang Chaoyang sat down, he asked curiously.

After all, Orange Technology, in less than a year, ranked among the top five in China's smartphone shipments with sales of over 1000 million units.

"To be precise, the cumulative sales volume is 107 million units, but the order fulfillment rate is only half. Alas, production capacity still cannot keep up."

Chen Yansen smiled and told the truth.

Liu Zhiping was secretly amazed and couldn't help but think to himself: This guy is really a prodigy. He can not only handle the internet well, but also run a successful business in the physical manufacturing industry.

Zhang Chaoyang nodded slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Sohu and Tencent are similar, both operating with a light-asset model. He felt from the bottom of his heart that making money in the mobile phone business was too slow and the payback period was too long.

But he didn't say that out loud. Instead, he praised Chen Yansen's business acumen, saying bluntly: "If I had met you two years earlier, I would have offered you a million-dollar annual salary to poach you from Sohu."

This made Liu Zhiping laugh. He patted Zhang Chaoyang on the shoulder and said, "Ma Wenteng offered a salary of ten million yuan a year, but this kid wasn't tempted."

Hearing the two of them teasing him, Chen Yansen started gossiping too: "Mr. Zhang, I heard that Mr. Ma once approached you, wanting to sell you QQ for one million, but you refused?"

Zhang Chaoyang's face stiffened, and he shook his head, saying, "Do you think I'm that stupid?"

He paused for a moment after speaking, and then added, "I saw the potential of instant messaging software before the millennium. I even developed a software called SOQ back then, but it just didn't take off."

"As for acquiring QQ, I did consider it, but at that time QQ was valued at 9000 million US dollars, which Sohu could not afford."

Zhang Chaoyang smiled helplessly and clarified to Chen Yansen.

"Initially, Mr. Zhang wanted to buy QQ's shares from IDG, but after IDG withdrew its investment, it sold the shares to Naspers Group of South Africa."

Liu Zhiping smiled faintly and helped Zhang Chaoyang refute the rumors.

When IDG Capital invested in both Tencent and Sohu, Zhang Chaoyang specifically contacted IDG's co-founder, instructing him that if he didn't want QQ shares anymore, he could sell them to him.

Unexpectedly, IDG sold its shares directly to Naspers without even informing Zhang Chaoyang.

"Then Mr. Zhang has suffered a huge loss."

Chen Yansen joked with a smile.

Zhang Chaoyang chuckled dryly, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and used the opportunity to cover up his embarrassment.

Who said no?
In 2012, Tencent's market value was nearly 600 billion US dollars, while Sohu's was just over 10 billion US dollars.

He himself, the godfather of the internet, is now just a figure of fame; in terms of wealth, he can't even compare to Chen Yansen.

Ma Wenteng, the Shenzhen University student who listened to his speech back then, has become an internet tycoon with a net worth of tens of billions, and is a guest of honor wherever he goes.

Just as the three were chatting, a middle-aged man wearing a white shirt and a gray suit walked over with his assistant.

"Mr. Cheng, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Chen Yansen, Chairman of Senlian Capital."

Seeing this, Liu Zhiping stood up and introduced the two of them.

"Mr. Chen, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Cheng Congwu said dryly.

He couldn't help but look Chen Yansen up and down; in his opinion, the man's achievements were far beyond his years.

In his memory, it was impossible to find a young person who could earn tens of billions of dollars by the age of twenty.

(End of this chapter)