Restart life

Chapter 172 0169 [The Fashionable Dad]

After leaving Shanghai, Chen Guiliang did not immediately fly to Chengdu, but instead went to Nanjing, the ancient capital of six dynasties.

There is a business partner from his past life there.

To be precise, he's the mentor who guided him in starting his business. We don't know how capable he is right now, since he's still relatively young, but his character is absolutely impeccable.

The reason I'm only looking for them now is because I don't have their contact information.

Game science is missing a head steward.

Chen Guiliang took a taxi to the old town of Hehuatang in Jinling and asked for directions along the way based on his vague memory.

In his past life, he had only been here once, as a guest at his elder brother's house.

In a messy, old alley, there sits a small shop selling salted duck.

The fly repellent slowly rotated the red ribbon, driving away flies that tried to approach the duck meat. The weather was sweltering, and the alley was nearly deserted; the owner lay inside, dozing off with the fan blowing.

"Hello, is Qu Guohao here?" Chen Guiliang asked.

After calling twice, the boss finally woke up: "What do you want with him?"

Chen Guiliang said, "I am his friend."

"Come in and have a seat," the boss called upstairs, "Guohao, your friend is here!"

Chen Guiliang carried the fruit inside: "Uncle, this is a small gift, nothing special."

"Come on in, no need to bring a gift," the boss said with a smile.

A young man in his mid-twenties, wearing a vest, came downstairs and felt that Chen Guiliang looked somewhat familiar: "You are..."

"Chen Guiliang," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

"I rely on!"

Qu Guohao rubbed his eyes: "I was wondering why you looked so familiar. I just saw your news last month. What are you doing at my house?"

Chen Guiliang said, "My company has been hiring recently, and someone strongly recommended you. So, I flew here from Beijing specifically to learn from Liu Bei's three visits to Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage."

Qu Guohao was somewhat pleased that he had actually attracted an internet upstart to his door for a job interview. At the same time, he was also somewhat embarrassed, as he was currently in his most down-on-his-luck phase.

The boss brewed a cup of tea and then pointed the electric fan at Chen Guiliang.

In 1999, a super-luxurious team of overseas returnees was formed, consisting of 5 Harvard MBAs and 2 Chicago MBAs.

They developed their business plan in May, secured $47 million in investment in June, returned to China in July to prepare for the company's launch, opened their website in November, and reached 4.5 million registered users in December.

Within a year, the company expanded to 300 employees and spent $300 million on advertising alone.

This company is called Yitang.

Qu Guohao was a student union officer at Nanjing University at the time, which met Etang's recruitment and expansion criteria, so he became an on-campus employee and the publicity manager for Nanjing University. After graduating with his bachelor's degree, he officially joined Etang and became one of its key personnel in the Nanjing area.

Over the years, Etang.com burned through its $4700 million.

The company was laying off employees every year, but Qu Guohao's position kept getting promoted while his salary actually decreased. When the layoff rate exceeded 90%, Qu Guohao and the entire branch were laid off.

He's currently staying at home, studying for his postgraduate entrance exam.

Qu Guohao sighed, "Sigh, I really did a good job at Yitang before, otherwise I wouldn't have been laid off this year. I didn't expect someone to still remember me and even recommend me to ByteDance. Was it a recommendation from a former colleague at Yitang?"

"Maybe so, I'm not sure," Chen Guiliang asked. "Yitang is probably going to go bankrupt soon. Why do you think they failed?"

Qu Guohao laughed and said, "The senior management are all returnees from overseas, and their minds are full of American thinking. They've tried to force the American internet company model onto China. Moreover, these returnee executives are seriously out of touch with our local employees. Do you know what they said?"

"What did you say?" Chen Guiliang asked, playing the straight man.

Qu Guohao sarcastically remarked, "The founder said that China's internet technology is 5 years behind the West, and China's management technology is at least 20 years behind the West. He looks down on his company's local employees, and even looks down on the place where he started his business. The localization plans that my colleagues and I submitted have been repeatedly ignored; we don't even know if those senior executives have ever seen them."

"Do you know anything about the online gaming industry?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Qu Guohao shook his head: "I don't play games."

In your past life, you were the one who led us in making games, and you fucking say you don't play games?
Chen Guiliang said, "I have a game company and I would like to invite you to be a manager."

"Not ByteDance?" Qu Guohao was quite surprised.

Chen Guiliang said, "ByteDance has already filled its positions, but Game Science is still short of professional talent. If you were to parachute in directly, it would probably be difficult to gain the respect of the staff. If you are willing to join, you will need to prove your abilities."

Qu Guohao thought for a moment and asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Chen Guiliang said, "We have contacted some Three Kingdoms Kill enthusiasts at various universities through interest groups on the school's intranet. They applied last semester and will soon be starting board game clubs at their respective schools."

"Your first task is to familiarize yourself with the Three Kingdoms Kill game as soon as possible. Your second task is to contact the board game clubs of various schools after the start of the semester and encourage them to maintain regular communication. Your third task is to hold the first offline Three Kingdoms Kill University League during the National Day holiday. This year, there will only be three competition areas: Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Next year, we will expand to Chengdu, Nanjing, and Wuhan."

Qu Guohao said, "As long as there is enough funding, there is absolutely no problem. Yitang has been struggling for the past few years, with fewer and fewer employees and funds. I may not have other skills, but I can get things done for you with minimal funding and manpower."

“That’s quite an impressive skill,” Chen Guiliang said.

Qu Guohao smiled bitterly: "I was forced to train like this. Yitang keeps laying off employees and doesn't provide enough funding, yet they still make me organize events and do publicity. I can only do the work of ten people."

Qu Guohao didn't ask about the salary, but Chen Guiliang offered him a monthly salary of 6000. He also guaranteed that if the Three Kingdoms Kill College League performed well, Qu Guohao would be promoted and given a raise, eventually becoming the general manager of Youke.

At noon, Chen Guiliang stayed at his house for lunch.

When his parents learned that Chen Guiliang was the company owner, they specially invited their son to work there, and they treated him to a lot of delicious food.

In the late afternoon, Chen Guiliang took his leave. Qu Guohao packed his bags, preparing to head to Beijing for work.

In his past life, Chen Guiliang had three business partners, but he only planned to contact Qu Guohao and didn't bother to contact the other two.

Because of the remaining two: one has poor character, only good for hardship, not for wealth; the other has a bad personality, giving up easily when faced with setbacks, and then becoming complacent once financially independent.

Well, that guy with the bad temper often takes Chen Guiliang to see pretty girls, which seriously undermines our great hero Chen's fighting spirit!

……

In mid-July, Chen Guiliang returned to his hometown.

He first took some new clothes and shoes and went to his maternal grandparents' house.

The elderly are reluctant to spend money; giving them money is just a waste of it, so it's better to buy things directly.

My uncle looked radiant, his beard was clean-shaven, and his clothes were neater than before.

He was also holding a three-year-old girl, his adopted daughter whom he loved like his own. The little girl nestled in his arms, curiously looking at Chen Guiliang.

The uncle pointed to the woman next to him and said, "This is your aunt Luo Xiaofen. We got our marriage certificate a few days ago."

"Hello, Auntie," Chen Guiliang greeted.

Luo Xiaofen warmly invited, "Come in and sit down, it's very hot outside."

Chen Guiliang sat down in the main room, and Luo Xiaofen went to make tea and then went to the kitchen to wash tomatoes for him.

Chen Guiliang looked at the floor; it was very clean, and the things in the room were no longer scattered around as before.

Grandma said softly, "Your aunt is a very good person, honest and hardworking."

Grandpa sat next to me and smiled.

My uncle said, "I'll borrow your 30,000 yuan and pay it back a little each year. I'll go out to work next year."

The 30,000 yuan is the bride price.

This is clearly too much. In rural areas of Longdu City, three to five thousand yuan is usually enough, and often no dowry is required. Moreover, this is for a widow who has remarried.

But my uncle's situation is also special; he has a limp in one leg and can't find a wife in the countryside.

Luo Xiaofen left all 30,000 yuan with her deceased husband's family. After paying off medical debts, only two or three thousand yuan remained.

“Going out to work is out of the question; money is hard to earn outside,” Chen Guiliang said. “Didn’t you used to look after and raise fish for others? I’ll lend you some more money so you can lease a fishpond to raise fish. It’s okay if you lose money; you can pay it back slowly. As long as you’re not too unlucky, it can be considered a side business.”

The uncle didn't know what kind of work he could do, but when he heard Chen Guiliang's suggestion, he said, "Then I'll raise fish. Uncle Guan doesn't want to work anymore, so I'll take over his fishpond."

This Uncle Guan, by a twist of fate, is actually Chen Guiliang's distant cousin.

Their daughter married far away, and their son settled in the city. The elderly couple usually farmed, ran a boat, and raised fish. In recent years, they have gotten older and no longer want to contract the village's fishponds. They even plan to sell their cargo boat—the cargo boat business was just to transport some fertilizer for the villagers and transport grain when delivering public grain.

Just as Chen Guiliang was chatting, his maternal grandfather's neighbors came running after hearing the news.

More and more people gathered, all of them showering each other with compliments.

Several women subtly inquired whether Chen Guiliang's company was hiring. They didn't have high expectations; they just wanted to find jobs like security guards, cleaners, and movers for their children and grandchildren.

Chen Guiliang spoke frankly, explaining to them what an office building was, and that the security guards and cleaners were arranged by the property management company.

The villagers were somewhat disappointed, but their attitude remained enthusiastic, hoping that they might be able to ask Chen Guiliang for help someday.

"Drip drip!"

The sound of a motorcycle horn rang out from the other side of the village road.

It was Chen Xinghua who received a call from his son and came to pick him up on his newly bought Jialing motorcycle.

"Father-in-law, mother-in-law, uncle, aunt, I'll be leaving now."

"Have a meal before you leave."

"My dad is here."

Chen Guiliang reached out and pinched the little girl's cheek: "Goodbye, cousin."

The little girl was shy and hid behind her uncle. Judging from her actions, she seemed quite close to her stepfather.

Chen Guiliang, carrying gifts he bought for his parents and grandmother, walked to the side of the village road surrounded by villagers.

Upon seeing his father's appearance, Chen Guiliang couldn't help but tease, "Wow, are you playing the Terminator?"

Chen Xinghua was wearing a shirt on his upper body and brightly colored beach shorts on his lower body. What's even more outrageous is that he was also wearing sunglasses, and he was straddling a brand-new Jialing motorcycle.

It's quite trendy and fashionable.

He looks completely different from his migrant worker appearance last year.

Parents also have their own pursuits and dreams; perhaps the father has wanted to do this for a long time.

It's highly likely that while working in Guangzhou, he particularly envied others who could dress and be so casual. Now that his son is a millionaire and the family is financially secure, Chen Xinghua is finally fulfilling his long-held dream.

"boarding!"

Chen Xinghua patted the back seat of the motorcycle and shouted to his son in a very dashing manner.

(End of this chapter)