The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

"We don't necessarily have to make it ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Dai Dama felt a sense of relief.

"You mean you want to find a contract manufacturer?"

"It's not OEM manufacturing." Chen Zhi scrolled through his phone's contacts. "OEM manufacturing just means borrowing someone else's production line. You have to build the brand, channels, and after-sales service yourself, which is too slow. I want to find an existing mobile phone brand to cooperate with. They provide the hardware and supply chain, and we provide the Moss and software ecosystem."

Dai Da-ma thought for a moment: "Huawei? Xiaomi?"

Do you think these big companies would be willing to give us their entire system layer?

Dai Da Mai shook his head. Impossible. These leading companies are burning money to advance their own AI projects. Even if their products are inferior to Moss's, they would never relinquish control of the system.

"Then who should we contact?"

Chen Zhi showed him his phone screen.

On the screen was a name—Huang Zhang.

Dai Da-mai paused for two seconds, then asked, "Meizu?"

"right."

"That... the dying Meizu?"

Chen Zhi put his phone away. "I only talked to him because I was about to die."

Dai Da-mai is good at technology but not so good at business. Anyone who follows the tech industry knows Meizu's situation in recent years.

Once a benchmark for domestic mobile phone design, it went toe-to-toe with Xiaomi at its peak. Later, internal management became chaotic, the product line faltered, and market share plummeted. Founder Huang Zhang went through several ups and downs, eventually becoming exhausted by the turmoil caused by capital.

Meizu right now, to put it nicely, is "lying dormant," but to put it bluntly, it's like lying in the ICU waiting to be extubated.

but--

"Meizu's supply chain is still intact." Chen Zhi held up one finger. "Their cooperation with Qualcomm, Samsung, and BOE has not been severed, and the production lines have not been dismantled. It's just that there are no new products to launch."

The second finger.

"Meizu's industrial design team is still there, Flyme's system development team is still there, and although the after-sales service network has shrunk, the core structure hasn't fallen apart."

The third finger.

"Most importantly, Meizu's brand also has a sentimental value. If you go to any digital forum and ask 'Which domestic mobile phone do you miss the most?', Meizu will definitely be in the top three."

Dai Da Mao took a few seconds to process it.

"So you mean...?"

"We will put Moss into Meizu phones, use our AI capabilities to extend Meizu's life, and at the same time leverage Meizu's hardware system to deliver Moss to every user."

Chen Zhi picked up his phone and dialed the number.

"Feed?"

The voice on the other end was a little hoarse.

"Mr. Huang, I am Chen Zhi from Deep Space Technology."

"Deep Space Technology? The one that makes Moss?"

"right."

Huang Zhang's tone changed noticeably, becoming more wary: "What does President Chen want with me?"

"I'd like to discuss cooperation with you."

"What kind of cooperation?"

"Making mobile phones."

This time, the quiet lasted even longer.

Chen Zhineng heard the sound of a lighter coming from the other end of the phone, and Huang Zhang lit a cigarette.

"Mr. Chen, did you dial the wrong number? Go call Huawei or Xiaomi, why are you calling me?"

"It's pointless to contact them."

"You think it's worth contacting me?" Huang Zhang exhaled a puff of smoke, chuckled, a self-deprecating laugh tinged with sarcasm. "I'm barely surviving myself right now, and you want to partner with me to make phones?"

"Mr. Huang, is your supply chain still usable?"

Huang Zhang did not answer immediately.

"It works," he said, "but it's very expensive."

"I'll pay for it."

"You'll pay?"

"I'll provide the capital, the technology, and the Moss. You provide the production line, the team, and the distribution channels. We'll split the profits 50/50."

There was another silence on the other end of the phone.

"Mr. Chen, I've been in the mobile phone industry for twenty years and I've seen all kinds of people—those who make empty promises, those who try to fool others, and those who want to get a bargain. The terms you're offering sound too good to be true, so good that I can hardly believe it."

"Then let me put it another way." Chen Zhi leaned forward slightly. "President Huang, do you still have any trump cards that could bring this back to life?"

Huang Zhang remained silent.

"Meizu's current market share is less than one percent, and the cash on hand will not last more than two quarters. Distributors are shrinking their cooperation, and the payment terms on the supply chain are also shortening."

"If you don't release a competitive product this year, by this time next year, Meizu's brand may only be in a museum."

On the other end of the phone, Huang Zhang's breathing became heavier.

"You investigated me."

"You always have to do your homework before you start a business."

Huang Zhang snorted coldly: "Then tell me, why should it be 50/50? You provide the money and the technology, I just provide the shell and a few production lines, why should I get half?"

Chen Zhi smiled.

That's just Huang's personality. Others might rush to agree when they're desperate, but Huang Zhang becomes even more stubborn when cornered.

"Because I need more than just a shell and an assembly line."

Chen Zhi stood up and walked to the window.

"Mr. Huang, you've been in the mobile phone industry for twenty years. Your team's understanding of products, aesthetic sense of industrial design, and control of the supply chain are experiences that money can't buy. I can find any OEM to assemble a mobile phone for me, but that won't give me any competitive edge."

"What I want is a product that users will never want to put down once they hold it in their hands. There are no more than three people in China who can do that, and you are one of them."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

"Can you come to Zhuhai tomorrow?"

I'll be there tonight.

……

At 5 p.m. that day, Chen Zhi boarded a flight to Zhuhai.

Dai Dama stayed in Beijing to look after the house. Before leaving, Chen Zhi gave him three instructions: First, have the legal department continue to investigate the financial backer of that tech blogger; second, keep an eye on the public opinion surrounding the "Musical Notes" blog; and third, he could ignore anyone else's calls, but he had to answer Pei Ningxue's.

It was already dark when the plane landed.

Huang Zhang didn't send anyone to pick him up, but sent a location: a barbecue stall in an alley in Zhuhai's old town.

Chen Zhi took a taxi to the destination. After passing through the smoke-filled alley, he saw a middle-aged man wearing slippers sitting alone at a plastic table with half a dozen beers and a plate of peanuts in front of him.

"Mr. Huang?"

Huang Zhang looked up at him and pointed to the plastic stool opposite him.

"sit."

Chen Zhi pulled out a stool and sat down.

Huang Zhang poured him a glass of beer, picked up a glass for himself, and without saying a word, downed half of it.

"I had someone check you out this afternoon." Huang Zhang put down his cup. "Studying at Peking University, nineteen years old, actual controller of Deep Space Technology, pre-A round valuation of 15 billion US dollars."

He peeled a peanut and popped it into his mouth.

"When you were your age, I was still soldering circuit boards in a factory."

Chen Zhi picked up his wine glass and took a sip.

Huang Zhang looked at him and suddenly asked directly, "Just how good is your Moss?"

Chen Zhi put down his wine glass and took out his phone.

"Ask it."

He opened the full version of Moss and pushed the phone in front of Huang Zhang.

"Ask anything, anything is fine."

Huang Zhang stared at the screen for two seconds, then picked up his phone and typed a sentence using voice input.

"Please analyze Meizu's current product line for me. Which models should be discontinued and which should be retained?"

Moss's reply was generated within three seconds, and a full page of analysis appeared on the screen.

From Meizu's SKU data for the past three years, profit margins at various price points, and channel inventory turnover days, to competitor benchmarking analysis, everything is clearly listed. The final conclusion is: cut all budget phone product lines and concentrate resources on developing a flagship phone in the 3,000 to 4,000 yuan price range.

Huang Zhang stared at the screen for a long time.

Instead of judging whether it was right or wrong, he entered a second question.

What are the core differences between the daily active user profiles of Meizu's Flyme system and Xiaomi's MIUI?

Moss again produced a result in three seconds.

After reading it, Huang Zhang put his phone down.

He took another sip of wine and wiped his mouth.

"Did you really make this?"

"Me and my team."

"Can current mobile phone performance handle it?"

"Deployed on the device side, it can use basic functions without a network connection, and runs at full capacity when connected to the network."

Huang Zhang peeled another peanut and chewed it for a long time.

"How exactly will it be split 50/50?"

That's exactly what Chen Zhi was referring to.

"In the new company, each party holds 50% of the shares. Meizu contributes its brand authorization, supply chain resources, hardware team, and channel network as equity; Deep Space Technology contributes its exclusive Moss authorization, software ecosystem, and capital as equity."

"What about business decisions?"

"You decide on product design and hardware-related matters, while I decide on software ecosystem and AI-related matters. Major strategic decisions are subject to a veto system between both parties."

Huang Zhang picked up a skewer of grilled kidneys and took a bite.

"A veto? Does that mean nobody can get anything done?"

"Mr. Huang, you've been in the mobile phone business for twenty years, and I've been in the Moss business. If we can still make wrong decisions in our respective fields, then we should forget about this collaboration."

Huang Zhang chewed on his kidneys and sized up Chen Zhi for several seconds.

Then he laughed.

This is the first time I've laughed tonight.

"I'll add one more condition."

"you say."

"For the first product, from project initiation to mass production, I need six months. We'll hold a press conference in a month and ship the products in six months."

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow.

"A press conference in a month? There's no product yet, what's the point of releasing anything?"

"Release the concept and the collaboration." Huang Zhang put down his skewers and became serious. "You didn't care about the videos that smeared you, did you? When the traffic reaches its peak, we'll hold a press conference, and you can tell the world that you've created a product that can change the world, and that it's better than any GG."

Chen Zhi had originally planned it this way too; indeed, smart people always seem to think alike.

Chen Zhi picked up his wine glass.

"Is that settled then?"

Huang Zhang also picked up his cup.

"It's settled."