Film and Television World Life Record

Tan Zongming nodded: "Okay, no problem."

……

Chapter 109 Qu Yaojing

A diploma mill in the United States.

Qu Xiaoxiao, who can't even speak English fluently, wore a trendy halter-neck evening gown, her slender waist accentuated, looking incredibly sexy. She partied wildly with a group of friends from China until midnight, and returned home drunk.

Only then did I have time to turn on my phone, and there were two missed calls, both from Qu's mother.

She tossed her phone onto the bed, not wanting to call back, but eventually took it back and dialed back the Empress Dowager of the house.

"Mom, why did you call twice? Is something urgent?"

It was just noon in China. Qu's mother said helplessly, "Xiaoxiao, I called you but you didn't answer. You only called back at this hour. Did you go out and have fun again?"

Qu Xiaoxiao said coquettishly, "Mom, they are all classmates who went abroad together. We just played a little longer today and didn't receive your call, Your Majesty. I didn't mean to."

Qu's mother sighed and said, "Sending you abroad to study is to teach you skills. Look at you, you're not good at studying, but you're good at everything when it comes to having fun."

"Your father and I have worked our way up our fortunes our whole lives, hoping you would be ambitious enough to inherit it! Now it seems we can only watch helplessly as outsiders take it away." His tone was somewhat resentful, and also somewhat disappointed.

Upon hearing that the property had been taken by outsiders, Qu Xiaoxiao exclaimed, "Mom, how could we let outsiders take our family's property! I'm your only daughter, who else would you leave it to if not me?"

Qu's mother gritted her teeth and said, "We only have you as our daughter, but your father and his ex-wife also had a son."

“Now your father not only bought him a villa and a luxury car, but also arranged for him to become the manager of a branch company. It seems that the company will be inherited by him. Who knows when we, mother and daughter, will no longer have a share in the family.”

Qu Xiaoxiao was startled and instantly became fully awake.

"Mom, when did this happen? How come I didn't know?"

Qu's mother said, "He came not long after you went abroad, and it's been two or three years now. What's the use of letting you know whether you're good at studying or capable of inheriting the company?"

Qu Xiaoxiao paused upon hearing this. Over the years, she had been wasting her time at some dubious universities abroad, and her English was barely fluent. Studying had become a distant memory for her.

However, she was naturally unwilling to accept this. Not being good at studying did not mean she lacked ability or was unable to inherit the company.

"Mom, Dad left with nothing when he divorced his ex-wife. The family business we have now is all built up by the two of you. It is a joint asset of the couple."

"I am your only daughter, what right does that Qu Lianjie have?"

Qu's mother said, "That makes sense, but you're not even in the country, and you're so incompetent. How can you inherit the company?"

Qu Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and said, "Then I'll go back to China right now, join the family company, and let my dad see that I'm capable of managing the company. Let Qu Lianjie go back to where he came from."

Hearing that her daughter was willing to come back and no longer made excuses and acted spoiled as she had before, wanting to stay abroad and drift aimlessly, Qu's mother felt somewhat relieved.

"Xiaoxiao! There's no need to rush. The school doesn't finish for another month or so. It's not too late to come back then."

"Mom has prepared a villa and a luxury car for you, even better than Qu Lianjie's. We can't let him outdo us."

Just as Qu Xiaoxiao was about to agree, she suddenly rolled her eyes and said, "Mom, there's no need to prepare any luxury cars or mansions. Just find me an apartment in an ordinary residential area. It doesn't need to be big, just big enough to live in. Just make sure the bathroom is nicely installed."

"As for the car, let's get a hatchback, around 100,000 yuan. We have a conscience, we won't stoop to the level of those people over there!"

Qu's mother reacted instantly and understood immediately.

"Xiaoxiao, you're right. Let's not stoop to their level. We'll live in mansions and drive luxury cars. Let your father see who the real spendthrift is."

"It's going to be tough for you from now on."

Qu Xiaoxiao said confidently, "It's okay, Mom. This little bit of hardship is nothing. Just you wait and see! Qu Lianjie will be kicked out as he came. He wants to steal our family property? Dream on!"

Qu's mother said with relief, "Good, good, our Xiaoxiao has grown up."

Qu Xiaoxiao's eyes darted around, as if she had thought of something again, and she instructed her mother, "Mom, don't worry about the house. Just pretend you don't know anything about it."

"I'm leaving this matter to Yao Bin. You just wait at home. I'll be back in two months at most and teach my spendthrift brother Qu Lianjie a lesson."

.........

A few days later, early one morning, Li Mu encountered Guan Juer in the elevator.

"Guan Guan, let's go to work."

"Yes, Brother Li, you're going to work too?"

Li Mu shook his head: "I have something to do, I need to go to your company."

Guan Juer recalled the time she met Li Mu at the restaurant downstairs from the company. Later, she heard that the person Li Mu had dinner with was the vice president of the securities investment department. She didn't think it was anything unusual to hear that he went to Huaxin Securities.

After chatting for a few minutes, Li Mu asked, "Guan Guan, how do you get to work?"

Guan Juer paused for a moment and said, "Brother Li, I'll take the subway."

Li Mu smiled and said, "Would you like to ride in my car today? I can give you a ride."

Guan Juer felt a little embarrassed, but after thinking about what it was like to squeeze onto the subway, she finally nodded.

"Thank you, Brother Li."

Li Mu waved his hand and said, "No need to be so polite, we're all neighbors! It's only right."

At this point, Li Mu seemed to remember something and turned to Guan Juer, asking, "Guan Guan, haven't we added each other as WeChat friends yet?"

Guan Juer nodded, recalling how Li Mu and her colleague Michelle had added each other as friends as soon as they met, even though they had known each other for so long!

Li Mu took out his phone, and Guan Juer hurriedly pulled out hers as well. The two added each other as friends.

After exiting the elevator and arriving at the underground parking lot, Guan Juer looked at Li Mu's car and thought it was very beautiful, but she didn't recognize the brand.

The two chatted casually for a few minutes and arrived at Huaxin Securities without any problems.

Guan Juer got out of the car at the entrance, and after taking a few steps, she saw Michelle gracefully walk out of the hall.

"Guan Guan, you're here."

Guan Juer hummed in agreement and asked with some curiosity, "Michelle, it's almost time for work, why are you heading out?"

Michelle blinked and gave her a mysterious smile: "I made an appointment with Mr. Li to go out and take care of some business with him, so I won't be going to work today."

After speaking, she looked somewhat arrogant, and her shapely figure appeared even more graceful as she swayed.

Then, Guan Juer saw a scene that left her speechless: Michelle had actually gotten into Li Mu's car, and they were chatting and laughing together.

Watching the car drive away, Guan Juer was shocked, but also felt a little empty inside. Could it be that the two of them...?

But how long have they known each other? She's the one who introduced them, so how did they become so familiar? Did Brother Li come here today specifically to pick up Michelle?

Guan Juer thought of Michelle's pure and beautiful face, her enviable alluring figure, her ability to act coquettishly, and her sweet voice.

I guess most men like this!

Guan Juer secretly took out her phone and used it as a mirror to look at herself. With her large black-rimmed glasses, dull expression, and lifeless eyes, she was indeed not very attractive compared to the youthful and beautiful Michelle.

"Sigh... I should just focus on my work, get through the internship, and try to stay on."

Guan Juer suppressed her disappointment, clenched her fist, cheered herself up, and walked towards the company.

Chapter 110 Development Strategy

As June drew to a close, Origin Technology's office space was finally completed. The three-story building can accommodate over a thousand employees.

At this moment, in a luxurious office of over 200 square meters on the 25th floor, Li Mu was discussing product development and big data algorithms with more than a dozen top tech experts.

With Su Mingzhe's computer knowledge, he himself is an expert in the relevant industry, coupled with his real-world perspective and experience. In terms of cutting-edge technology and sensitivity to future technologies, he is second to none among those present.

In the real world, the rise of Toutiao has surprised many people. In their eyes, it is just an ordinary news app, and they don't know why it is so popular.

Sina, Sohu, Tencent, and NetEase, as China's four long-established portal websites, have a rich history and launched dedicated mobile news apps long ago. They should have an advantage in this area, so why did a startup company rise so strongly and quickly reach the top?

There are many reasons, but the most important one is technology and innovation. Although the four major established portal websites have developed their own mobile news apps, they are essentially the same as their PC counterparts.

It's just copying content from a webpage to a mobile phone; there's no innovation whatsoever.

Of course, we can't blame them. Since the advent of the mobile internet era, there have been more and more professional apps. Major internet companies have focused their efforts on various professional apps, including social, shopping, dating, and gaming apps, etc.

As for news websites, they seem to be outdated, products of the portal era of the last century.

They didn't invest too much time and energy here, painstakingly searching for all sorts of new tracks, ride-hailing, food delivery, group buying... all sorts of new business models.

No one expected that someone could achieve such great success with a news app.

In the real world, while the four major portal websites are still using the old methods from the PC era to develop mobile news apps, it's just a change in name only.

Toutiao has begun to gradually erode and disrupt this market with its technology and innovation.

With big data and algorithms, websites create a self-profile for each user. From now on, you no longer have to go to the website to find news, but the website will create a user self-profile based on big data analysis of you, and then use various complex algorithms to make the news find you.

From then on, the phrase "What you care about is what's on the headlines" became deeply ingrained in people's minds.

It has also become a label for Toutiao.

Toutiao, relying on big data and algorithms, made a remarkable comeback. It wasn't until around 16 years ago that major portal websites, seeing Toutiao's immense popularity, began to look for the reasons behind it.

Then they discovered that news could be used in this way! Big data and algorithms began to be valued and applied to their respective software.

Unfortunately, being late to the party means being late to the party. Toutiao, with its first-mover advantage, has already accumulated a solid foundation and a large user base, and its algorithm has been optimized to perfection. They can only watch helplessly as Toutiao continues to grow stronger.

It has grown from what people initially thought was a news app into a large-scale comprehensive media platform.

The rise of TikTok owes much to Toutiao, just as the rise of WeChat owes much to QQ.