Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

"A monthly salary of 4000, plus weekends off? Really?!"

"I should have known better than to skip class. I can't even imagine what kind of heavenly life I could live on 4000 yuan a month."

"I heard the interviews were extremely rigorous. In one morning, everyone except Xu Kun and Zhuang Bifan, both third-year students, was eliminated!"

Some who had initially hoped for a lucky break backed down, but many others with real talent were eager to try.

They didn't even have time for lunch or to study for final exams; they were busy revising their resumes.

There were significantly more interviewees in the afternoon than in the morning, and their skill level was also much higher.

After all, everyone knows that out of dozens of people in the morning, only two are accepted. You really can't take on a job you're not qualified for.

The corridor was packed with people, completely blocking the third floor.

"Please don't push, keep order, and come one at a time."

Shen Mo gave a shout and then let the girl at the front of the line go inside.

She had long, flowing hair, wore black-rimmed glasses, and a pure white dress, which made her appear even more petite and innocent.

"Hello, my name is Zhong Xue, I'm a computer science major, and I'll be a first-year graduate student in the fall. Should I call you junior or President Shen?"

"Let's each keep to our own business. I'll call you senior, and you can call me General Manager Shen, or Boss."

Shen Mo originally thought she was a junior with a D-cup, but she didn't expect her to be a senior, and a graduate student from the same university.

I glanced at the resume, which was filled with dense writing, and I immediately perked up. Finally, I've made some money!

"Senior, are you here to apply for a database engineer position?"

"Um."

Zhong Xue nodded. "If the database positions are full, the backend positions are also acceptable."

Shen Mo smiled and tested it out. Whether in theory or practice, he was much better than Xu Kun and the others.

"Senior, if—and I mean if—I asked you to add some pop-up ads with pictures of pretty girls to the website, would you do it?"

"What kind of pictures of beautiful women?"

Zhong Xue pushed up her glasses.

"You know, those kinds of pictures of beautiful women that instantly grab attention and increase website clicks and page views, you know?"

Shen Mo coughed, glanced around, and lowered his voice.

This question is not a test of technical skills, but a test of compliance.

In today's wildly growing internet environment, this is a soul-searching question that almost every programmer and engineer has to face.

"Isn't it just some lewd pictures?"

Zhong Xue rolled her eyes.

Shen Mo gave a thumbs up, "Senior, as expected of a graduate student, your comprehension and summarization skills are top-notch."

Zhong Xue scrutinized him carefully. "Boss, are you really a decent person?"

"Of course I'm a decent person. If even I'm not decent, then the world's moral standards need to be rewritten."

Shen Mo said with an air of "righteousness".

Zhong Xue frowned: "Really? But..."

Shen Mo said earnestly, "Senior, you must understand that technology is innocent."

"You said it yourself."

Zhong Xue typed away on the keyboard, entering a URL.

Shen Mo leaned closer to take a look, and wow, the flowers were in full bloom, a riot of colors that seemed to dazzle the eye; spring was always in full bloom.

Zhong Xue raised her chin. "What do you think of these pictures?"

"Ahem, this definitely has a high artistic element."

Shen Mo asked, puzzled, "Senior, how come you're so skilled?"

"There's nothing special about it; it's simply a matter of practice makes perfect."

Zhong Xue said meaningfully, "So, what do you think? Anything you like? If not, I have a few other websites."

Holy crap, could he be a master of kneading techniques?

Thinking of the benefits for Lu Wenbin and Yuan Hua, Shen Mo reluctantly agreed, "Then let's take a look."

Zhong Xue shared generously, the quality of which varied, but the sheer quantity was enough to satisfy everyone, and each link became a browser history.

The two of them huddled together in the office, silently gazing at the beautiful scenery pictures for quite a while.

"Hey, senior, once you start working, you should watch less of this kind of stuff, it can easily reduce your work efficiency."

"But it can relieve work stress, right?"

"That makes sense, but it's still best to watch less of it."

Shen Mo's lips twitched slightly. Water pressure?

"Of course, why would a woman like me look at pictures of beautiful women?"

Zhong Xue crossed her arms. "But you, boss, don't you want anyone to know either..."

Shen Mo interrupted, "Congratulations, senior! You've been accepted! Welcome to Lingyun Technology!"

"Thanks."

After Zhong Xue and Shen Mo agreed on a series of details, including salary and working hours, Zhong Xue stood up with satisfaction.

He stopped at the door and said something lightly.

"By the way, junior, those websites all have video sections. It's hot in Hangzhou in the summer, be careful not to get a sore throat."

………………

It wasn't until dusk that the last person was finally interviewed.

Shen Mo was already exhausted, but since he had no choice but to do the interview himself, he still gained a lot.

In addition to Zhong Xue, the database engineer, we also recruited testers, backend developers, and product managers. However, the number of developers is still insufficient. The original plan was to recruit at least two people for both the frontend and backend, and strive to build the website and put it into operation before the start of the semester, preferably during the summer vacation.

"Hopefully we can get the team together by tomorrow."

Shen Mo muttered something to himself.

"Brother Mo, we'll send you the list of items you need later. I'll use my own until the computer arrives."

Zhang Wei grinned, though he really couldn't bring himself to call him "Brother Mo" when he was a junior.

But the monthly salary of 3000 is just too tempting, making people willingly call him "brother".

"No need, the goods will arrive soon. You just need to focus on preparing for your final exams. You can sign the contract and start work after the exams."

Shen Mo turned his head and looked at the slightly chubby boy next to him.

"Chen Bo, you'll have to work a little harder to write out the product requirements in advance so we can get them approved together and move into the development phase as soon as possible."

"Okay, Mo-ge."

As a third-year student majoring in Information Management and Information Systems, Chen Bo needs to understand both information technology and operations management.

Although it's not as good as Zhong Xue and Zhang Wei, 2500 a month is quite satisfactory.

As the group walked away, the corridor fell silent.

The setting sun shone through the west-facing windows, bathing the entire corridor in an orange-red hue.

Shen Mo locked the door to room 308 and walked out side by side with Yuan Hua. When they passed room 306, they paused for a moment.

The door was tightly closed, and it was quiet inside.

Yuan Hua grinned and came over, "Du Manqing and Ye Xiao have their final exams the day after tomorrow, so they won't be here this afternoon."

Did I ask?

Shen Mo continued walking forward without changing his expression.

"You didn't ask, hehe, it was my fault for being nosy."

Yuan Hua followed behind eagerly.

A gentle evening breeze greeted them as the two went to the cafeteria, bought food for Qin Feng and Lu Wenbin, and then went straight back to their dormitory.

Shen Mo opened the styrofoam lunchbox, sat down in front of the computer, and glanced at the backend data of Woshou.com.

The number of registered users was 1.43, the number of registered merchants was 5019, and the number of orders in a single day reached 8352.

Because new customer acquisition campaigns were launched for both brushers and merchants, the revenue sharing ratio for each order changed from 60/40 to 40/60.

That means Woshou.com can earn 7349.76 yuan a day, even with fierce competition from other credit-boosting platforms and mutual-boosting groups.

Just as Shen Mo was deep in thought, Qin Feng asked him from behind.

"Brother Mo, what are you going to do with all these people?"

"Yeah, even if you were to do SEO optimization and promotion for Woshou.com, you wouldn't need this many people, would you?"

Lu Wenbin's tone revealed a hint of doubt.

"Of course, it's about developing a new website."

Everyone was astonished by Shen Mo's words.

Yuan Hua blinked. "A new website?!"

"Since we have so many people and merchants to rely on, we must make good use of them."

Shen Mo playfully commented: "We will further provide them with better value-added services and help them open their Taobao stores successfully."

Lu Wenbin even stopped eating and eagerly asked, "How do I make it?"

"I'm planning to create an e-commerce shopping guide platform."

He looked left and right in silence.

"Sales assistant?"

"What is a sales assistant, Wenbin? Do you know?"

They looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

Yuan Hua suddenly felt a jolt of fear. "Brother Mo, it can't be the kind you were talking about with Attorney Lin, can it?"

Shen Mo nodded and gave a concise explanation.

"Ali's 'Ali Mama' has launched a CPS (Cost Per Sale) promotion model that charges based on the number of transactions."

"We obtain product links from Taobao's promotional zone. As long as a buyer enters the seller's store through this shared link and completes a transaction, we can receive a commission paid by the seller..."

"Isn't that just helping sellers attract customers and getting a commission on each sale?"

Lu Wenbin understood immediately, and his eyes lit up.

Shen Mo snapped his fingers. "That's roughly the idea. You can call this 'Taobao Affiliate Marketing'."

Qin Feng asked, "So, we're going to create this Taobao affiliate platform? What's the connection between that and Woshou.com?"

"This is a big deal!"

Yuan Hua said, "Woshou.com currently has 5,000 merchants. What is their ultimate goal in manipulating online reviews?"

Lu Wenbin replied, "Of course, it's for traffic and orders!"

"That's right! Our shopping guide platform is designed to direct buyers with genuine shopping needs to sellers' online stores."

Shen Mo smiled. "Fengzi, how many of these 5000+ businesses do you think would be unwilling to cooperate with us?"

"Of course! Brother Mo, no one would object!"

Without thinking, Yuan Hua blurted it out.

"If it were me, I would definitely try this shopping guide platform."

Lu Wenbin nodded in agreement, saying, "If it's even more effective than Handshake.net, we absolutely must cling to this powerful force."

"That's true. Merchants who are willing to spend money to boost their online reputation certainly won't begrudge a little commission."

Qin Feng suddenly realized and slapped his forehead.

Lu Wenbin cast an admiring glance at him. "Brother Mo, you didn't anticipate this back when you were setting up Handshake.net, did you?"

"Fake reviews are 'faking it,' while sales pitches are 'real.' Fake reviews only bring temporary pleasure, while real reviews bring lasting pleasure."

Shen Mo took a bite of the chicken leg when his Nokia phone suddenly vibrated.

When I saw the caller ID read "Love you, Mom," I immediately went to the balcony and pressed the answer button.