Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 185 The Turtle in the Wishing Well

Shenzhen, Orange Technology office.

Chen Mo's brief stay in Shanghai was like a beautiful interlude. He returned to his "old nest" in the Huabei Qiang Building. The honeycomb workstation area was crowded with employees early in the morning, and the familiar busy atmosphere was overwhelming.

"Hello, Mr. Chen!"

"Ok!"

"Hello, Mr. Chen!"

"Ok!"

Chen Mo didn't even respond with an "um" in the end, but simply nodded slightly as a response, his smile looking a little stiff.

A boss with a people-pleasing personality?

He felt that it shouldn't count, as he was considered a relatively "approachable" boss by his employees!
Before he could even push open the office door, he saw his secretary, Zhou Yumeng, holding a small orange lion cat named Xiaomi, who was noticeably thinner but still plump, with white paws.
It used to be a big, fat golden cat, but after losing weight, it turned into a darker orange cat.

Zhou Yumeng walked out of the room with a pained expression, clutching a half-dead golden pendant with shimmering golden scales in her other hand.

Upon seeing Chen Mo, Zhou Yumeng immediately looked like a child who had done something wrong, and said sheepishly, "President Chen! I'm so sorry! Xiaomi has sneaked in again from somewhere!"

Chen Mo looked at Xiaomi, who had made good progress in losing weight but still had a mischievous look in her eyes, and couldn't help but chuckle. He stepped forward and gently tapped her little head with his finger.

"Little Mimi! Can't you just stay in your office and instead of messing with my fish?"

Then, he smiled at Zhou Yumeng and said, "Tell Sister Gong to deduct some of its cat food as compensation!"

"Haha!" Zhou Yumeng was amused.

"Mr. Chen! Manager Mi has been trying to sneak over to your place to 'fend for herself' because Mr. Gong has been strictly enforcing her diet and cutting back on her food rations lately! If he cuts it any further, she'll probably be camping out at your fish tank every day!"

Chen Mo laughed too, looking at the door to his office that was clearly closed, and wondered, "I really don't know where this little guy crawled in from!"

Zhou Yumeng shook her head helplessly, indicating that she didn't know either.

Chen Mo waved his hand, indicating that she should take this "Manager Mi" back to its exclusive office—Mi's Home.

He then pushed open the office door and went inside.

Chen Mo sat in his large, comfortable office chair, subconsciously reminiscing about his brief walk and conversation with Lu Qingyue on the Shanghai seawall.

That graceful figure and the atmosphere of hiking with Viagra, which was different from usual, seem to still leave a faint impression in my mind, making me want to savor that ripple.

Then, he shook his head, bringing his attention back to reality, turned on his computer, and habitually browsed the news first.

Two news items caught his attention:
1. The number of Chinese netizens exceeds 4.85 million: According to a CNNIU report, as of June, the number of netizens in China reached 4.85 million, of which the number of mobile netizens reached 3.18 million!
With the completion of 3G infrastructure and the rollout of 4G, the wave of mobile internet is sweeping in at an unprecedented speed.

In the previous internet era, we were a step behind and became followers. Every time, a website would become popular in North America first, and then a website would become popular in China.

In the mobile internet era, we are almost on the same starting line as North America in terms of infrastructure and upper-layer applications. Only some of the upper-layer applications that have emerged have been able to go overseas and take over foreign markets.

As for Ouzhou
In the internet age, go to the docks and grab some fries!
In the mobile internet era, let's just go to the dock and grab some fries!
In the AI ​​era, it might as well become about finding the square root of a goat!
Chen Mo believes that China's infrastructure has not lagged behind in the mobile internet era, which is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for domestic entrepreneurs to catch up with North America.

2. Implementation of real-name registration for prepaid cards: The seven ministries and commissions of the Central Research Institute jointly issued the "Opinions on Regulating the Management of Commercial Prepaid Cards", which requires payment licenses, limit management, etc.

This means that the domestic online electronic payment industry will usher in a reshuffle, and the first batch of online electronic payment licenses has been officially opened for application.

Yes! Previously, Alipay's Alipay payment service was actually in a gray area. The official platform carved out a piece of the pie that belonged to banks and UnionPay.

Who changed whom is a matter of opinion, but it can only be said that both are indispensable and together they have created China's future cashless society model.

Ali Ma also said that he was taking risks when he created Zhifubao. During that period, when you made online purchases, the payment was not directly transferred to the platform, but rather the platform transferred the payment to the merchant.

Instead, you transfer money to a bank that partners with Ali to open a temporary prepaid card. Ali acts as a guarantor, using the prepaid card to pay the merchant for the goods. Once the goods arrive, Ali retrieves the prepaid card from the bank to redeem the cash.

Um... a prepaid card is like a bank intervening between you, the platform, and the merchant, which lengthens the repayment cycle.

After receiving news of the license issue, Ali Ma also resorted to a method that severely damaged his business reputation, almost cheating, to strip Ali of control of Zhifubao and place it under his own Ant Financial, directly offending Sun Zhenyi of Softbank and Yang Zhiyuan of Yahoo!

Chen Mo looked at the two news items thoughtfully, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table. The golden age of mobile internet has officially begun!
At this moment, Zhou Yumeng walked in with a glass of warm water, gently placed it on his desk, and then presented him with a stack of documents.

At the top is a summary of key recent matters of the subsidiary, which she has carefully compiled.

"President Chen, these are important matters that our subsidiaries need your decision-making or coordination on recently. I have sorted them out by priority and type." Zhou Yumeng's voice was crisp and professional.

Chen Mo nodded approvingly, quickly glanced through the summary Zhou Yumeng had prepared to get a general idea, and then began to carefully read the specific content.

The first one is Yuancheng New Energy.

This report was submitted by General Manager Xu Mingyuan!
The only people at Yuancheng qualified to submit reports directly to Chen Mo are Xu Mingyuan, Liu Mingzhen, and Liu Jiping!

The core issue of the report is that although the honeycomb power battery developed based on second-generation gaseous lithium battery technology has excellent performance, it is difficult to gain market recognition and achieve large-scale production without cooperation from major customers or application examples.

Xu Mingyuan also listed the ways in which competitors gained market recognition.

BTD: Proved the commercial application of its lithium iron phosphate blade battery with its own electric taxi, the E6.

CATL: By partnering with BMW, it uses the brand of a traditional luxury car company to endorse its ternary lithium Qilin batteries.

The current global battery leader, Sunway, has gone even further, directly endorsing Tesla with its 4680 battery.

Here's a little-known fact: Currently, the Japanese battery industry still accounts for nearly half of the global market and is a pillar industry of Japan. However, later, companies such as ATL, CATL, Guoxuan High-Tech, and BTD directly captured nearly 60% of the global battery market share.

The global battery market is only so big. If I take a bigger slice, you take a smaller slice. But if I don't take any, the number of people involved is too large, so it's no wonder the relationship between the two sides is not good!
In short, each power battery manufacturer has its own way of gaining market recognition.

BTD manufactures its own cars, uses its own blade batteries, and endorses itself.

Ningde Times directly brought in BMW to endorse Qilin Battery.

Songxia 4680 is currently the world's leading power battery manufacturer, and it can also endorse Tesla.

In contrast, Xu Mingyuan also gave Chen Mo three ways to endorse the promotion of Honeycomb Power Battery: manufacture cars themselves, cooperate with well-known car companies, and let the brand awareness of Yuancheng rise on its own!

Of course, Xu Mingyuan asked a question in a veiled manner at the end.

Mr. Chen, you are now the youngest director of the China Entrepreneurs Club, holding a prestigious position with high official recognition. Could you perhaps devise some "targeted policies" to support the promotion of "Honeycomb Power Batteries"?

He even jokingly suggested: Why don't we, Orange, manufacture our own new energy vehicles?

Looking at the report in his hand, Chen Mo blinked and was immediately at a loss for words: First, Zhao Tiezhu wanted to build a car, and now Xu Mingyuan has also come to join in the fun!

Xu Mingyuan is too audacious. Does he really think of him as a wishing turtle that can "connect with the heavens" and grant all requests?

But after calming down and thinking it over, Chen Mo felt that with his current status and influence, there really seemed to be some room for maneuver.
He rubbed his temples and said to Zhou Yumeng, "Let's put this aside for now and think about it some more. Next!"

The second is Orange Treasure Mobile Internet.

The report is from He Jian.

All the above is good news: Appbao and Orange Input Method have secured their positions, and Orange Browser has changed its marketing strategy again, focusing on its ultra-small 1MB package size, and still firmly holds the second place among third-party browsers on Android.

But what truly surprised Chen Mo was the last point: the inside jokes were profitable!

By developing a model where users tip authors and the platform takes a 30% cut, Neihan Duanzi earned 270,000 yuan in the first week of July!
However, He Jian then changed his tone and began to vehemently argue the pros and cons.

Currently, this income is processed through third-party payment channels, which incurs high transaction fees.

If the payment channel is your own, this 27 yuan income could almost double!
Immediately afterwards, he mentioned the news that Chen Mo had just seen: the first batch of online payment licenses in the country had been opened for application.
In his report, He Jian almost cried out: "President Chen! One step ahead, and you'll be ahead every step of the way!"
Mobile payment (FPS) is an important part of Orange Treasure's future strategic plan (ABCDEFG)!
We absolutely must get this payment license!
Please make sure to "get moving"!
"Good heavens! Good heavens!" Chen Mo exclaimed, covering his forehead in disbelief. "They're all so daring! I'm just a small business owner making mobile phones!"

One wants policy support, the other wants a license, and I…

Chen Mo raised his hand, asking Zhou Yumeng to pour him another glass of water; he needed to calm down.

After calming down, although he felt that He Jian was exaggerating a bit, he had to admit that mobile payment is indeed the cornerstone of the future mobile internet ecosystem, and it is crucial to plan ahead.

He said to Zhou Yumeng again, "This... well... let's put it aside for now, let me think about it, next!"

It's Orange Micro Motor's turn.

Chen Mo smiled, asking Zhou Yumeng with a hint of teasing, "They're not going to ask me to work on some policy or license, are they?" "Yuancheng and Chengbao's demands are already outrageous enough, they can't possibly be this outrageous as Chengke, treating me like a wishing well turtle!"

Zhou Yumeng had already read through all the reports, and couldn't help but smile upon hearing this.

"Mr. Chen, please don't underestimate yourself. You are the only young entrepreneur among the club's 32 directors. Are you afraid that you can't handle these things?"

She paused, then said seriously, "Cheng Ke's requirements are relatively 'pragmatic,' not so macro-level!"

Chen Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his mood calmed down a bit.

"Thank goodness, at least we have someone reliable. So, what's up?"

"Chengke is developing an 'alignment subsystem' for the Jingda five-axis CNC machine tool, which requires coordination to introduce the technology of two Shenzhen companies."

Zhou Yumeng glanced through her notebook and reported precisely: "We need industrial CNC software, as well as to purchase precision optical components."

When Chen Mo heard that it was just coordination technology, he initially nodded, thinking it was indeed easier than the previous two.

He even had the leisure to joke: "Chengke is doing quite well now. They sell low-end mobile phone accessories in large quantities, make profits from high-end target system solutions, and now they're even getting into industrial control software platforms. They're walking on two legs, not bad at all!"

Then, Chen Mo asked casually.

"Which two companies in Shenzhen specifically need which technologies?"

Zhou Yumeng looked at her notebook and read aloud: "The IDME software license from Chrysanthemum Digital Labs' industrial CNC engine, and the optical components for Lixun Precision's laser tool setter."

"We can just buy Lixun's services directly, but the core engine license from Chrysanthemum might require your coordination."

Orange Science hopes to redevelop the SRM system that Orange previously acquired from Wheat into "Smart Orange Procurement".
We directly obtained a permanent license and source code for the IDME engine to independently develop OrangeTech's proprietary CNC alignment system software platform.

"Pfft!"

Chen Mo spat out a mouthful of water.

"Wait!" He sat up abruptly, the ease on his face vanishing instantly.

"Say it again? What do you want from Chrysanthemum? A permanent license and source code for the IDME industrial CNC engine? Do I have to swallow my pride and go through all that trouble to get their core technology?"

"Holy crap!" Even someone as well-mannered as Chen Mo couldn't help but blurt it out!

Chen Mo glanced at the report to find out who had submitted it.
Zhou Mingzhe!
Ok!

Theoretically speaking, only he could submit such a report to get the boss to act like a two-faced person; at least Director Feng knows a thing or two about human relationships!

Then Chen Mo raised an eyebrow and asked, "Since when did Chrysanthemum start making industrial CNC software???"

Zhou Yumeng explained, "Yes, Mr. Chen, I did a quick check. In March of this year, Chrysanthemum Digital Labs developed an industrial CNC software for Keneng Co., Ltd. with its industrial CNC engine IDME as the core. Orange Technology's requirement is to obtain the same engine license so that it can carry out secondary development on its own!"

Chen Mo quickly went through it in his mind.

The massive Songshanhu base of Chrysanthemum is said to be able to accommodate tens of thousands of R&D personnel.

Chen Mo heard from the sidelines that there were thousands of top mathematicians from the Alliance, Da Mao, Er Mao, and Dong Ou, which is why they wanted to build a town in the style of Ou.

The powerful computing performance of the underlying industrial numerical control engine developed by the collective wisdom of these mathematicians is self-evident.

For OrangeTech, which has little prior experience, to develop secondary applications based on this engine is indeed the optimal solution.

This is like giving someone with no martial arts foundation, who unexpectedly obtains a peerless divine weapon, a golden-tipped old man who can guide them in martial arts.

The problem is that this engine is one of the core technologies of the Chrysanthemum, it's practically a goose that lays golden eggs!
It's roughly equivalent to asking ByteDance to hand over the core code of their preference algorithm and then develop a product to compete with others.

With this, Chrysanthemum is fully capable of independently developing multiple industrial CNC software programs. Why would it need to sell its core assets to Orange Technology?
Ultimately, Cheng Ke's actions were anything but "pragmatic." He clearly wanted Chen Mo to "shamelessly" go to their door, bring back their precious hen that could lay golden eggs, borrow the hen to lay eggs, and then repeat the process of eggs hatching into chickens and chickens hatching eggs.

That's completely asking the impossible!

This is actually why OrangeTech is in a dilemma. If they ask for too little, Huawei won't be willing; if they ask for too much, OrangeTech can't afford it. A joint venture project seems a bit unprofitable, since the other party only provides one engine initially, and OrangeTech has to do all the subsequent development and iterations.

Then, Zhou Mingzhe, caught in a dilemma, had a simple idea: to shift the blame to his superiors. Since President Chen was quite familiar with Juhua's side, he would ask him to go and talk to them.
"Damn it! So this is what they were waiting for!" Chen Mo couldn't help but swear. "These kinds of favors are harder and harder than the last, and they all ended up pushing them onto me, huh!"

Dear! None of the three subsidiaries are easy to deal with.

Xu Mingyuan, He Jian, and Zhou Mingzhe all treated him like a turtle in a wishing well, and each of them made a rather outrageous wish!

Chen Mo leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

Managing a company and coordinating resources is much more difficult than burying yourself in technical work.

Chen Mo suddenly felt an overwhelming longing for the freedom of hiking in the wilderness in the past, and longed to go to new places to see different scenery.

But the reality is that he is firmly bound to this office, dealing with these "sweet burdens".

After a long silence, Chen Mo finally gritted his teeth.

For the future development of the Orange Group subsidiaries, he had to try to tackle these tough challenges.

He first dismissed Zhou Yumeng: "Okay, I know about these subsidiaries. You can go and get back to work now!"

Once Chen Mo was the only one left in the office, he took a deep breath, opened the bottom drawer of his desk, and took out a leather notebook with slightly worn edges.

He carefully opened it, and inside were several cards that looked ordinary but were of great significance.

Two of the business cards were plain white, without any fancy titles, just a simple phone number printed on them.

One of the photos was given to him privately by the leader's secretary after he received an award at the Great Hall of the People last year.

The other one was left by another leader's secretary when he attended the board meeting of the China Entrepreneurs Club this year.

His fingers lingered on the two business cards for a moment, firstly regarding Yuancheng's "policy endorsement".

Chen Mo carefully considered his words and the appropriate level of tact before taking a deep breath, picking up the landline phone on the table, and dialing the first number.
He then did the same thing again, contacting another secretary.

Chen Mo spoke tactfully, mentioning that Orange Technology also wanted to contribute to the development of online electronic payment in the early stages of the flower planting industry and add its own luster.

After making the two phone calls, Chen Mo found himself covered in a thin layer of sweat on his back.

When communicating with people at this level, every word needs to be carefully considered, for fear of saying the wrong thing.

After a short rest, he picked up his phone again and found the number of He Tingbo, the person in charge of the Maritime Silk Road at Chrysanthemum Company.

He composed himself, put on a smile, and dialed the number.

"Mr. He, hello! It's me, Chen Mo from Orange."
Yes, yes, yes!
Didn't we agree before that I would definitely be there to cheer you on when your company's first mobile phone chip, K3V2, was officially released?
Haha, you're too kind. Just save me a seat, I'll be there on time!

Okay, okay, okay, it's settled then!

After hanging up the phone, Chen Mo leaned back in his large executive chair, rubbing his throbbing temples vigorously.

Yuancheng's policy endorsement, Chengbao's payment license, and Chengke's technology authorization.
This is a huge undertaking, with each aspect involving enormous scale and requiring extremely high communication costs and resource coordination capabilities.

"Sigh, managing a company seems much more tiring than doing R&D while juggling multiple roles."

Chen Mo muttered something under his breath, his gaze falling on the fish swimming in the aquarium.

Looking out the window at the bustling scenery of Shenzhen, he couldn't help but yearn for the free air of the desolate wilderness.

But Chen Mo knew that at this moment he had to sit quietly in this office and deal with the complex challenges in front of him for the future of Orange Group.

Zhao Tiezhu was openly restless, always wanting to go out, while Chen Mo was secretly restless, his mind filled with thoughts of the wilderness and those completely new landscapes he had never seen before.

He is no longer the boy he used to be!

In the past, I was carefree. I could just pack a tattered bag and embark on an extreme hike that lasted from day to night.

But now, Chen Mo can never go back to that kind of freedom and carefree life.

With some free time, Chen Mo eventually began to reminisce about the past.

(End of this chapter)