Chapter 189 The Republican Era
Huang Zhang sat back in his seat, and the solemn music on the stage continued to play.

The unsigned note lay in his palm. He ignored the contemptuous looks from the young couple next to him and, with the help of the dim light of his cell phone screen, he looked through the brochure again.

Heroic Symphony - written in memory of a great man.

This song was supposed to be dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, the greatest consul of the First French Republic. Unfortunately, he shockingly snatched the crown from the Pope with his own hands and crowned himself emperor.

So Beethoven angrily changed the title of the song and decided to use it to commemorate the great heroes who died in resisting the Napoleonic Empire.

Do you want a declining empire or a glorious republic?

The promotional brochure and the note paper were wrinkled and deformed in Huang Zhang's hands. Although he liked to stay at home and never go out, the 400-square-meter office on the top floor of the company building was often covered with dust.

But Meizu has always been his empire, and he holds all the shares firmly. No one, whether it is Lei Jun or Bai Yongxiang and other senior executives, can snatch his throne!

Today, some say that even a powerful man like Napoleon could not create an empire, and France was obviously most glorious during the Republican era.

Huang Zhang's body couldn't stop shaking slightly, and he wasn't sure whether it was out of fear or anger.

“Do you agree with the inevitability of history?”

The symphony performance ended unknowingly. After several rounds of applause, the audience left in an orderly manner, and the lights in the empty concert hall were turned on.

Huang Zhang tilted his head to hear the echoing question, and his lips moved but no sound came out.

"You have hypoglycemia?"

A young man with a calm demeanor and wearing cufflinks made of soft white jade sat down beside her and took out two Snickers bars from his pocket: "Want one? I haven't had dinner yet."

"You really put a lot of effort into it."

Huang Zhang couldn't appreciate empty and boring symphonies, but this actually helped him smooth out his complicated emotions, and now he was exceptionally calm.

Xie Jingxing sighed: "In fact, until now you still don't agree with introducing capital, but your empire is about to collapse, and you have to raise funds to save your life."

"If you have something else to say, please be more direct." Huang Zhang did not comment.

"That's what I just asked, do you believe in the inevitability of history? I believe that some systems will inevitably be swept into the dust of history."

Xie Jing Xing swore solemnly, then changed the subject and apologized: "Sorry, I'm a liberal arts student, and sometimes I can be a little abstract."

"I dropped out of high school and have no education. I can't understand you." Huang Zhang lowered his head and looked at the ground.

Xie Jing Xing leaned back, chuckled and said, "Just like I don't understand you, it doesn't matter, we will have plenty of time to try to understand each other in the future."

"You will help me balance Alibaba, right?" Huang Zhang asked finally.

Xie Jing Xing chewed his Snickers bar and spoke incoherently: "Actually, you just said that I took great pains. I don't agree. I think it's respect. To be honest, I also want to build an empire. In this regard, we are on the same path."

"Did not see it."

"You don't know me well enough. I'm easy to get along with. Take your time."

The cleaning lady quietly left the concert hall and turned off the lights. The curtains on both sides of the stage slowly moved toward the center, and the dim beams of light elongated the two figures.

One of them stood straight with his chin raised and looked up at the dome, while the other one hunched over and stared at the ground.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Come with me to Shanghai for two days. I heard that you like carpentry, and I happen to have a collection of Huanghuali chairs from the Ming Dynasty."

"Don't go."

"I'm really easy to get along with. If you can't get along with me, you should look for the reason within yourself."

The stage curtain closed completely, and in the darkness, the echoes of conversations echoed.

…………

"I am currently working on an interesting project, so I would like to ask Mr. Tang Mantang, our partner at Xiyou, to substitute for me in the next class. After the class, I will write a case study about this project and tell you about it."

Xie Jingxing put down the remote control pen: "I'll stop here for today, get out of class is over."

"Teacher Xie, what field is the project in? Can you tell me some inside information?" Hu Weiwei approached the podium familiarly.

Xie Jing Xing shook his head helplessly: "I really want to show off to you, but the project is at a critical stage."

"Then congratulations on your success again." Hu Weiwei smiled pleasantly and cupped her hands.

Today is Xie Jingxing's third class. It is now the beginning of April. After more than a month of contact, the students in the class have become familiar with each other.

Zhang Liaoyuan, the founder of Three Squirrels, regarded himself as the big brother and invited his classmates to go to Wuyuan for an outing to enjoy the rapeseed flowers; Mao Wenchao, the founder of Little Red Book, was the class monitor and often organized local classmates in Shanghai to eat, drink and have fun.

She never missed any event, and took the opportunity to interview many emerging entrepreneurial projects and think about the feasibility of the "shared bicycle" business plan.

Hu Weiwei planned to make an appointment with Xie Jingxing, and then bring in Li Bin and Chen Tengjiao for in-depth communication, and if possible, start the project as soon as possible.

Just as I was thinking about this, a middle-aged man with a short flat head and a stern face walked into the classroom quickly like a ghost.

She knew that this ghost was Xie Jingxing's bodyguard, who was always haunted by ghosts, and every time he appeared, something must be wrong.

"Mr. Xie, when is it convenient for you to talk about the project?" she spoke quickly.

Xie Jingxing thought for a moment and said, "Next week, I'll let you know the specific time in advance."

"Okay, you're busy."

Hu Weiwei said goodbye and left decisively.

Only after she walked away did Li Yan report the situation in a low voice: "In Zhuhai, Huang Zhang and Ji Gang had a showdown and it was a standoff."

"Tsai Chongxin is not going to show up yet?" Xie Jingxing raised his eyebrows.

Li Yan hesitated: "…Huang Zhang didn't say anything, so I didn't ask."

"You probably still want to hold on. Book your tickets. We'll be there soon."

Xie Jing Xing paused and added: "You don't have to wait for me for Xiyou's matter. Arrange for them to proceed as normal, and I will sign in the end."

"Grapefruit's first fund has entered the closed period, and the investment decision-making committee has been established; Grapefruit's first securities fund has started fundraising?" Li Yan repeatedly confirmed that there was no problem and hurried back to the company to convey the news.

Xie Jingxing went home alone to pack his luggage for the business trip.

Last week, he took advantage of the time difference to get Huang Zhang first, and agreed that Taihe Capital would lead the investment in Meizu's current round of strategic financing.

Considering that Alibaba could provide Meizu with a lot of resource support, it did not confront it directly.

This week, the team led by Ji Gang of Alibaba and the team led by Shen Xin of Taihe completed the preliminary research and officially started the negotiation of the financing plan, and then moved on to the situation reported by Li Yan.

This trip to Zhuhai will be longer, so I need to bring a few more sets of clothes.

Song Anli should be held responsible for this matter, but she is still in Beijing handling the Xiaoma Pentium acquisition case.

The Li sisters were inconsistent in their attitude. I don't know which god they listened to, but they brought up the "first gambling case" in the domestic capital market two years ago. They went to the media to make a fuss, claiming that the company's repurchase of shares was unreasonable, and angrily scolded Xie's robbery with tears.

Xiao Song suddenly felt ashamed, and in anger he directly blocked the company's cash flow.

A large number of executives, led by Zhong Lifang, who were waiting to get paid to do their work, suddenly became anxious. Many shareholders who were waiting to cash in their profits and exit were also panicked. Miao Nan called him directly.

In three days, the tires of the Li sisters were deflated three times by enthusiastic people, and ink was literally thrown on them.

Cutting off someone's source of wealth is like killing their parents. Now the two sisters finally behaved themselves.

But Xiao Ma Pentium was also tortured to death. Xie Jingxing called Song Anli back to the Magic City and gave her a severe scolding. The next day, she limped back to Beijing to continue to be in charge of the project.

As a result, Li Yan was forced to work two jobs to take on the responsibilities of an assistant. This was not going to work, and if it didn't work out, he would have to hire another secretary.

Xie Jingxing flew to Zhuhai with heavy thoughts in mind and rushed to the Meizu headquarters.

"Mr. Xie, the negotiations have been suspended. Ji Gang is making a remote report to Mr. Cai, and Mr. Huang is determined to have us lead the investment." As soon as Shen Xin met them, his face was tense and he briefly introduced the situation.

The so-called research team actually consisted of only two or three people in each company. Because they were signing a "Joint Investment Intention Agreement", Meizu only prepared one meeting room.

She had a lot of direct communication with Ji Gang in the past few days, and she really experienced what the "Ali characteristics" were, and it was very unpleasant.

Xie Jing Xing joked: "I'm here to support you, don't control yourself, just vent if you have any grievances."

"Not really, it's just that the investment philosophies are different. They care more about data." Shen Xin forced a smile.

"If you don't feel wronged, then I came here for nothing."

Xie Jingxing strode out of the elevator: "Perform well."

Shen Xin was stunned for a moment, then adjusted her posture, stepped on her high heels, and followed him into the meeting room with full momentum as if she was going to the battlefield.

"Mr. Huang, our cooperation is of strategic significance. To put it bluntly, if you invest 10 billion yuan, I can help you obtain the maximum resource allocation for online sales channels; if you invest 1 million yuan, I don't even have the confidence to apply for e-commerce channel promotion for you."

Ji Gang kept talking incessantly, Huang Zhang was puffing smoke from a cigarette butt in his mouth, and the meeting room looked like a fairyland.

Xie Jingxing pushed the door open and said, "Then you should invest 10 billion."

"Thank you, Mr.

Ji Gang nodded politely and said hello. He was tricked. There was nothing to say about not being as skilled as others. Now he had to think about how to turn the tables and win back, or at least stop the loss.

"210 billion yuan valuation, 30 billion yuan in financing, and about 15% of the equity transferred."

Xie Jingxing sat directly opposite Huang Zhang: "I think there is no problem with this financing plan. It is normal for everyone to be entangled in the allocation of quotas. Tell us what you each have in mind."

"Mr. Xie understands the product, so our communication is more efficient." Huang Zhang spoke with low EQ.

Ji Gang was so angry that he was about to die. From the morning till now, this guy had been repeating the same sentence to evade him. When he was pushed into a corner, he blurted out "We make the hardware and you make the software."

Differences in business ideas are inevitable, and different concepts will affect company decisions.

It's almost like pointing at his nose and saying, you Alibaba have led cross-border investments in so many companies, but none of them has had a good ending.

Ji Gang was a little annoyed: "My question is, if I follow the investment, can the future benefits of the project be guaranteed?"

"We are all experienced investors. These things can be fully implemented into the investment agreement. We talked about it this morning." Shen Xin replied in a neutral tone.

"Mr. Shen, just because we are all senior investors, there is no need to say something that would hurt feelings. We look at thousands of BPs and invest in dozens of them every year. Each of them has a complete investment agreement, but how many of them can successfully exit with a profit in the end?"

Ji Gang concentrated his mind: "If the lead investment and follow-up investment can be clearly stated on paper, how about Taihe's follow-up investment?"

"Let's just talk about the facts. There's no need to argue and make Mr. Huang laugh at us." Xie Jingxing knocked on the table nonchalantly.

Shen Xin smoothed the hair around his ears and said righteously, "The problem now is that Mr. Huang wants us to lead the investment. It is more important than anything else for the management and investors to maintain smooth communication."

"I can promise to give Mr. Huang the greatest autonomy and not interfere with the normal operation of the company. In this respect, we are on the same starting line. What is Taihe's advantage?"

Ji Gang turned his gun around. It was impossible for Huang Zhang to say that Xie Jingxing understood the product, so he really understood it. At least he should come up with something.

"Is Mr. Cai still busy?" Xie Jingxing asked instead of answering.

Ji Gang's momentum stagnated: "Boss Cai has something urgent to do, he may come over tomorrow or the day after tomorrow if he has time."

"He's a very busy man. Let's try to negotiate it in advance so that we can have a celebratory drink when he comes."

Xie Jingxing stood up and waved. Li Yan, who was standing outside the meeting room, brought in a backpack, unzipped it and placed it on the table.

Xiaomi, Huawei, Apple, Samsung, dozens of models of mobile phones are piled together.

Xie Jingxing picked up a phone at random and touched the four corners of the phone frame with his fingers: "These four corners are professionally called 'R' corners. Which of these phones on the table do you think has the best-looking 'R' corner?"

"this?"

Ji Gang subconsciously turned his head to look at Huang Zhang, who shook his head at him.

Xie Jing Xing explained disapprovingly: "I just discussed this with Mr. Huang these days, but he didn't tell me in advance. You can try it first according to what I said."

When his suspicion was exposed in front of him, Ji Gang's face turned red. He took the risk and picked up a Meizu to examine it carefully, and then looked at the Xiaomi.

“Apples are the best looking.”

Ten minutes later, he put down his phone and gave a truthful answer.

"After my last visit, I bought a batch of mobile phones for my colleagues to use. They felt the same way. I can't say what's good about them, but I just feel that Apple's 'R' corner is the most rounded and the arc is the most beautiful."

Xie Jing Xing said faintly: "Then I was thinking, can I imitate Apple's 'R' angle, Mr. Huang told me that it's not possible, Apple has a patent, and directly taking it and using it is an infringement."

Huang Zhang scratched his head in embarrassment. Meizu’s first mobile phone copied Apple’s and was sued by Apple.

Ji Gang didn't think there was anything wrong. Not to mention that the mobile phone industry was copying Apple, the Internet industry was also copying from each other. Whoever made a profit was doing justice.

"Then I changed my mind and continued to look for the second best-looking 'R' corner. Which phone do you think has the second best-looking 'R' corner?"

Xie Jingxing asked himself and answered: "The second best-looking 'R' corner is not on the phone, but on Apple's iPad. We can directly use it on the phone."

“This is the case with hardware products. Design and innovation are hidden in the invisible details that many consumers don’t pay attention to.”

He concluded: “There are many similar examples. Maybe I don’t understand the product as well as Mr. Huang said, but I know a little more than you think.”

Ji Gang was speechless. It was too outrageous. Who in their right mind would just sit there and play “Find the Differences” based on their feelings?

The problem is that Xie Jingxing found the right one. The all-round success of Apple mobile phones is unquestionable, and the idea of ​​copying a design in a different way is also top-notch.

He figured out what hadn't been copied for so many years on the dozens of mobile phones on the table in just a few days.

No wonder he is good friends with Xiao Ma Ge, they really have the same interests!

(End of this chapter)