Chapter 188 The Lonely Empire

The open office doors and windows create convection, and the breeze blows through the hall, causing the green leaves of the money tree to rustle.

The young man leaned against the door frame with a relaxed posture, more fierce and straightforward than expected, but not at all abrupt and very natural.

Bai Yongxiang smiled and asked, "Your cufflinks?"

"I only realized it just before boarding the plane. Luckily it wasn't left on the car."

Xie Jing Xing looked relieved, walked into the office, took back his cufflinks and fastened them, and complained: "The weather in Zhuhai is hotter than in Shanghai."

"Drink some water." Huang Zhang stood up and took a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator.

Xie Jingxing raised his eyebrows: "Mr. Huang likes to watch football?"

Huang Zhang was confused, so Bai Yongxiang took over and explained, "The people below are doing the unified purchasing to support their own team and get a good start."

On the second day after Evergrande Football Team won the AFC Champions League last year, Evergrande quickly held a press conference to launch 'Evergrande Ice Spring' and officially entered the high-end mineral water market.

Boss Xu has already shown signs of losing control of himself. He is being pushed by capital leverage to expand madly until his death. The day he stops will be the day he explodes.

"Unfortunately, I have changed my flight ticket for tomorrow. If Mr. Huang is interested, I can invite you to Guangzhou to watch the game tonight." Xie Jingxing made up a story.

Huang Zhang was clear in his mind: "I still have work to do and can't leave. Let Lao Bai take care of it and entertain Mr. Xie."

"No problem. Mr. Xie rarely comes here, so we must be the hosts today."

Bai Yongxiang asked enthusiastically: "Mr. Xie, do you have a Hong Kong and Macau Pass? There is a customs clearance from Zhuhai to Macau. If you don't mind the trouble, you can take a helicopter to Hong Kong Island after watching the game in the evening and experience the nightlife of our Greater Bay Area."

"That's not necessary. I always think that how you play is not important, but who you play with is important. Playing with you two, even if it's just taking the bus and enjoying the scenery around the island, it's fun."

Xie Jingxing was very interested and insisted. Huang Zhang saw that he couldn't escape and wanted to struggle again.

Bai Yongxiang gave him a look. Even Steve Jobs had to compromise with the investors. How could a 'young version of Steve Jobs' like you be so wronged to death by putting on a smile for the investors?
Huang Zhang thought about the promise he had made at the internal staff meeting last month, and he felt bored and said nothing.

The weather in Zhuhai was indeed hot, and Xie Jingxing looked a little bloated in his professional suit, so Bai Yongxiang gave him a short-sleeved T-shirt of the Meizu brand.

“Well made, good design.”

He changed it on the spot and picked up a baseball cap and put it on his head.

Huang Zhang couldn't help but say with pride: "This batch of peripherals was designed by me and the 'coal friends' on the forum."

"I heard that your senior vice president, Mr. Li Nan, was brought here from the forum?" Xie Jingxing asked curiously.

Huang Zhang was quite excited when he mentioned this: "I saw an analysis article he wrote about Apple on the Internet. I thought it was quite interesting, so I contacted him."

Meizu's web forum has many technical experts. Its self-developed operating system 'Flyme (Boundless)' has become unique among domestic mobile phone manufacturers, and the forum users have contributed a lot to it.

For example, you can swipe up on the phone screen to close background operating programs. Currently, only Meizu has this function.

The functional design of all technological products requires feedback from users and the R&D team to polish them bit by bit, and Huang Zhang has always been proud of this.

Xie Jingxing just smiled and said nothing.

He will never understand the personal charm of founders like Jia Yueting and Huang Zhang, who are so paranoid that they are suffocated by their dreams, but there will never be a shortage of followers who are fascinated by them in this world.

People who are motivated by their ideals and dreams usually have certain abilities.

Members of the software development teams of Flash Wizard, Flash Master, Pangu Jailbreak and many other successful software have once regarded themselves as "coal friends".

With Huang Zhang's arbitrary words "If you don't like it, get out", and Meizu's increasingly mediocre performance, the high-quality content on the forum gradually faded away, and technical experts scattered.

As Xie Jingxing and the other two were talking, they walked out of the Meizu building and took the bus along the bus route to the nearby island for sightseeing.

As soon as he entered a public place, Huang Zhang automatically fell into autism, staring out the window with empty eyes, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Mr. Xie, Ele.me is also a project you invested in, right? It's very popular in Zhuhai recently, and there are more leftovers in our company cafeteria."

A bus with an Ele.me promotional poster on it drove by, and Bai Yongxiang tried his best to find topics to liven up the atmosphere.

Xie Jingxing was not in a hurry. He chatted with him while leisurely enjoying the scenery along the way: "Yunshan Group is cooperating with Ele.me to develop an intelligent food procurement and supply system for corporate users. We can see if there are any opportunities for cooperation later."

"It's a good idea. There are millions of companies, schools and hospitals in the country. There is a huge market for both software services and food supply." Bai Yongxiang's eyes lit up.

Xie Jingxing said frankly: "This is an idea I came up with, and Didi's intercity freight business is just starting. In my opinion, in the era of mobile Internet, the barriers between industries have become weaker, and the boundaries that everyone can expand are getting wider and wider."

"So Alibaba and Gree are interested in investing in you, and so am I."

He paused briefly and reminded, "What you want is very important."

Bai Yongxiang remained silent. Alibaba came for software cloud storage, and Gree wanted smart home, so what do you want?
This should have been a problem that Huang Zhang should have considered, but his mind was full of Alibaba's strong control over the invested companies and Gree's low mobility due to its backing by state-owned assets.

As for Xie Jingxing, it goes without saying that he has used one top project after another to deeply engrave the word "dictator" into a distinctive personal label.

In fact, Huang Zhang does not want to take money from any of these three parties, but this is a paradox!

In the current situation, there is no investor who is not strong and willing to invest in Meizu and has the capital to lead a financing project with a starting price of 10 billion yuan.

Bai Yongxiang was exhausted as he glanced at Huang Zhang's absent-minded face.

“I want a smart car.”

It was not until the bus reached the terminal and Xie Jingxing got off the bus and waited for the transfer that he took the initiative to reveal the answer.

Huang Zhang frowned: "Car?"

“Connected cars, mobile phones and cars are connected to form a smart space.”

Xie Jingxing explained slowly and organized his words: "For example, ten years ago people needed to insert CDs into the car CD player, but now they connect to Bluetooth. Ten years from now, they only need the car computer to interact with the mobile phone system."

"Map navigation, car keys, driving recorders, all car functions will be connected to the mobile phone in an intelligent way."

He shrugged: "This is the inevitable development direction of mobile intelligent terminal devices in the future. If you don't do it, you are not an intelligent mobile terminal device."

Smart home ecosystem is optional, but cloud storage is a must. In-vehicle smart ecosystem is slightly less important.

In short, Gree is not within Meizu's strategic considerations, so it is right to take the money from Alibaba and Xie Jingxing!

Huang Zhang could not hide his resistance and emphasized: "We have our own strategic plan."

"Of course!"

Xie Jingxing agreed without hesitation: "The basic technology is not mature yet, and smart cars are still a long way from being realized. Accordingly, you don't have to worry about being forced by capital to do things you don't want to do with my investment. You can just focus on developing according to your strategic plan."

"What about next?" Huang Zhang argued.

"Excuse me, you must first survive this difficult time before you can have a future. Secondly, I will not force you to do business related to smart cars."

Xie Jingxing said confidently: "Because unless you would rather be abandoned by the times like Nokia, you will gradually adjust your strategy and move closer to the direction I mentioned." Software distribution, making friends with Alibaba, and using mobile terminals as a fulcrum to expand the investment scope of Taihe and Xiyou are not that important.

He just wanted to speculate on the next era before the "Foresight" plug-in expired, or to make the next era come earlier.

Debates about the future should be explored in countless scientific research papers and books, rather than three businessmen standing at a bus stop in the scorching sun and arguing with each other.

The bus slowly slid to the platform and Xie Jingxing finally said, "Actually, I only like the Meizu brand and I am very pessimistic about you."

He walked into the bus by himself, turned to face the door, took out two coins from his pocket, threw them into the air and caught them, then tilted his head frivolously to indicate that he should follow.

The situation took a sudden turn for the worse in just a few words. Bai Yongxiang stood there in a daze for a moment. Just as he was about to come to his senses, the bus made a "hiss" sound and the door slowly closed.

A thin figure suddenly rushed into the car from the gap. Xie Jingxing staggered and his back hit the railing. He grimaced in pain, and at first glance it looked like he was laughing.

Flaunty and proud.

"You're crazy, you want to die!"

The driver's angry curses dissipated in the wind. Bai Yongxiang watched the bus go away, his eyes dull and his expression changing wonderfully.

The fifteenth of the Thirty-Six Strategies is the method of provoking the enemy. An investor stopped looking at financial reports and started looking at military strategies. Today's young people are really amazing.

In just a few hours from this morning till now, how could he have predicted that Huang Zhang would fall for this?!
"I don't care what you think, you can leave now!"

The bus shook up and down, and Huang Zhang's thin body swayed back and forth. He gasped and growled.

Xie Jingxing held the coin box and stuffed two coins in it: "You also said the same thing to the 'coal friends' on the forum."

"And Ali, I won't take a penny from you!" Huang Zhang continued.

"Get out if you keep making noise!"

The auntie sitting in the back seat cursed, and Xie Jingxing nodded apologetically: "Sorry!"

"You are too arrogant. The mobile phone industry is not as simple as you think!" Huang Zhang blushed and lowered his voice.

"If it weren't for you, the Meizu forum wouldn't have gathered so many technical talents; also because of you, those talents are all wasted and don't play their due value."

Xie Jing Xing curled his lips: "So I can't understand people like you, but I'm a little envious."

“…You will never be me in your life!” Huang Zhang was choked to death.

The buzzing of the bus was a negative pressure on him, and his strength in the confrontation was reduced to only three points.

Xie Jingxing glared: "Are you attacking me personally?"

"what?"

"Come on, tell me something useful. Do you know why I am optimistic about Meizu?"

Xie Jing Xing restrained his expression and spoke word by word: "I firmly believe that it is unnecessary to enter the industry at the earliest stage and create a brand new brand in order to achieve rapid growth."

"Meizu has the best product design, operating system and the support of countless idealists. You can change your fate. Whether it is Xiaomi or Huawei, is the performance of 1800 million units shipped terrible?"

He asked himself and answered: "It's not scary at all, the premise is how you choose!"

Huang Zhang couldn't grasp the key point after seeing the intensive attack and defense: "What is the decision?"

"Come, let me summarize it for you: First, I won't force you to do anything; second, although I am very pessimistic about you personally, my views on the Meizu brand are consistent with yours, and we both believe in the aesthetic taste of young people."

Xie Jingxing exhaled: "Third, the resources controlled by Ali are complementary to yours, so you have to accept Ali's investment."

"Fourth, and most importantly, I have never, note, never failed! They all say I am very strong. I helped Didi achieve a valuation of $100 billion and WhatsApp a valuation of $280 billion."

"I have to say you are very lucky. You missed Lei Jun and I came. Do you still want to miss it?"

"Click."

When the car arrived at the station, Huang Zhang got off without looking back. Xie Jingxing added calmly: "Think about it carefully, and I'll wait for your reply tonight."

The impassioned impromptu speech ended here. There was no applause or flowers, but instead all the passengers in the car looked at me as if I was crazy.

100 billion happy beans is about right!

"Sorry, I was a little excited."

Xie Jingxing apologized sincerely with an embarrassed smile. Fortunately, there were not many passengers on weekday afternoons, so he quickly sat down in a corner seat.

There was a light sweat on the palms of my hands, my heart rate increased slightly, and I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

During the meeting in the morning, Huang Zhang would only speak when Ji Gang mentioned Xiaomi, so he paid close attention and observed.

Inferiority complex and arrogance are two characteristics that are fully displayed in this person. This kind of person is like a turtle, who builds a hard shell by himself and retreats into the shell when subjected to the slightest stimulation.

If you want to communicate with them effectively, you have to make them act like turtles, biting on something and not letting go even after their heads are chopped off.

For this reason, he had to try his best to act like Huang Zhang, being more arrogant than him. Fortunately, pretending to be cool was something he was born with...

Alibaba cannot get the lead investment in Meizu. So far everything is going well, with only one last hurdle left.

…………

The night is as cool as water, Zhuhai Opera House.

A thin, middle-aged man with messy hair lined up and walked to the ticket window: "Get your ticket, my surname is Huang."

"Hello, Mr. Huang, this is your ticket. Please take it and turn left to the first concert hall." The ticket seller handed him a symphony ticket with a concert repertoire brochure.

Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica Symphony - written in memory of a great man.

Huang Zhang opened the brochure, glanced at it casually, and then stuffed it into his pocket. This was his first time to attend a concert.

Ever since he dropped out of school at the age of sixteen and was scolded by his father for not doing his job properly, he has always wanted to be a down-to-earth carpenter, believing that music and art are too delicate and artificial.

Two or three listeners, dressed appropriately, carefully found their seats without making any noise, and were not allowed to applaud or move.

During the intervals between the movements, the dating couple next door were critically criticizing the poor performance of the domestic brass players and complaining that the air conditioning was too cold.

Huang Zhang, who dreams of becoming a carpenter, finds it ridiculous. Instead of turning on the air conditioner to balance the humidity, does he have to turn on the warm air to dry out and crack the wooden instruments?

He stood up in boredom and was about to leave when someone handed him a note.

[Do you want a desolate empire or a glorious republic? ]

(End of this chapter)