Back to the teenage years

Chapter 575 Undercurrent
why me?
This should be the issue that Wang Jinghua cares about most.

For a capable but still struggling working woman like her, the idea of ​​a young, wealthy boss she'd never met suddenly offering five million to start a company with her, with no investment required except for time, and a high salary, stock options, and the right to exercise them, seemed like a windfall.

For Zhang Yunqi, this was precisely the question he found difficult to answer. He couldn't very well say, "I know you were a top performer in this industry in your past life, the future number one agent in China's film and television entertainment circle. Your abilities are there, and you won't be any less capable in this life. So, the 500 million you're given is a rare commodity."

Zhang Yunqi thought for a moment and said, "Ms. Wang, let me tell you a story. In 1994, just two years ago, John Dole of KPCB and Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital invested $500 million in Netscape Communications. A $500 million Series A funding round was record-breaking in the US at the time, far exceeding other startups of the same period. But do you know what? At that time, the two founders of Netscape Communications were only 23 years old and had not yet graduated from college. The so-called Netscape Communications was just a castle in the air. The company had not been established, the product had not been developed, and the business model had not been validated. In fact, these two world-class top venture capitalists had only met the two founders once. Seeing their vision and initial plans, as well as their high regard for these two young people, they directly invested $500 million."

Zhang Yun lit a cigarette and continued, "However, their return on investment was substantial. In August 1995, Netscape went public on NASDAQ before it was even profitable. Just eight months ago, I remember its offering price was $28, the opening price soared to $71, and the closing price was around $58. So, this company, which was only 16 months old, had a market capitalization of $29 billion on its first day of trading, creating an IPO legend at the time, which completely ignited a global internet investment frenzy."

At this point, Zhang Yunqi looked at Wang Jinghua and said, "Why you? Ms. Wang, I hope you can find the answer you're looking for in this true story."

Wang Jinghua fell silent.

She looked at the smiling boy in front of her. He didn't seem like a rich kid or the son of a mine owner. He was polite, knowledgeable, and logical, and what he said was truly convincing.

After a while, Wang Jinghua nodded, then turned to look at the girl next to her and asked, "Mr. Zhang, I've been noticing this girl for a long time, who is she...?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and then introduced Li Yufei to Wang Jinghua: "Li Yufei is a freshman art student at Xiangnan Normal University. Although she can't be described as having both moral integrity and artistic talent, she is certainly exceptional in both. As for her looks, with her right in front of you, I won't comment further. By the way, she is also the brand ambassador for our Aihua Electronics. Last year, she collaborated with Jackie Chan on our commercial, which received high praise. She already has a certain degree of fame in Central China, and her reputation is even greater in our provincial capital, Lijin. Although she is just a newcomer, there are plenty of entertainment companies that want to sign her now."

Li Yufei blushed at Zhang Yunqi's praise and reached out to tug at him. She was about to greet Wang Jinghua when Wang Jinghua stood up and said with a smile, "President Zhang, it's better to be lucky than early. I'd like to sign Ms. Li as the first artist for the new company."

Zhang Yunqi turned to look at Li Yufei.

Li Yufei said, "Ms. Wang, I'm just a newcomer with no works to my name. What Yunqi said earlier was a bit of an exaggeration..."

Wang Jinghua interrupted Li Yufei directly: "Balzac said that opportunity comes as quickly as lightning, and it all depends on your immediate and decisive action. I took to heart the story Mr. Zhang just told, what about you?"

Li Yufei's rosy lips parted slightly.

******
In the north, springtime is said to be short.

It means that spring in Yanjing is short but intense.

The sandstorms raged and subsided intermittently, and the warm sun and light rain alternately enveloped this ancient city. Magnolias, crabapples, and flowering plums had already awakened, and the sea of ​​fragrant snow gradually spread from the walls of the Forbidden City to the mountain paths of the Summer Palace.

Zhang Yunqi had a rare trip to Yanjing this time. In the midst of his busy schedule, he took in the early spring of the North. Unfortunately, Beihai Park was no longer covered by solid ice, nor were there any plum blossoms in full bloom. The spring of the North that had once aroused Mao Zedong's endless admiration was now mixed with the fishy smell of freshly turned soil, sweeping across the foot of the capital with great fanfare, as short as the tail end of a pigeon's whistle.

Time flies, and Friday arrived in no time.

The launch event for Aiwa Electronics' new VCD player and the Super Error Correction Competition have been completed.

Hu Zhibiao was highly efficient. Working day and night, he completed the task perfectly in just over a week. The advertisement for the "You Dare to Play, I Dare to Broadcast - Aihua Electronics VCD Player National Challenge" was broadcast throughout the city via Yanjing TV and Yanjing Evening News. He also partnered with Yanjing Radio to set up a listener hotline, offering VIP seats in the challenge and various home appliance prizes to viewers, addressing common VCD playback problems of various brands.

The advertisement received a strong response, with the number of registered participants exceeding eight times the number of pre-orders in just a few days. After all, it is the capital city with many wealthy people, and there are quite a few consumers who own VCD players that cost several thousand yuan each. However, VCD players are often plagued by problems such as disc jamming and misreading. This is the core reason why many people are interested in this novel competition.

Everything is ready except for the final push. Aiwa Electronics' new VCD player launch event and Super Error Correction Competition will kick off tomorrow, Saturday.

On Friday afternoon, Zhang Yunqi went to the Yanjing Xidan Electrical Appliance City to check on the preparations for the competition.

The main stage was set up, and there was quite a large crowd. The show wasn't until tomorrow, and most people were there to see the beautiful women. Li Yufei and the female host were rehearsing. A 29-inch Sony Trinitron TV was placed in the center, and 20 new Aiwa Electronics VCD players were displayed on either side. These new players, model JCL-1996, featured a super error correction function. The backdrop was covered with the calligraphy of "Good Kung Fu" and promotional posters of Jackie Chan and Li Yufei. Zhang Yunqi was generally satisfied. He only made one suggestion: to have Hu Zhibiao arrange for staff to set up a "violent testing area" overnight. There, staff would publicly rub the discs with sandpaper, scratch the inner ring of the discs with steel needles, and use magnets to attract the players, testing the Aiwa Electronics VCD players' anti-magnetic interference and error correction capabilities on-site!
Seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving; for VCD consumers, nothing is more convincing than this.

After Zhang Yunqi finished communicating with Hu Zhibiao, Wang Guibing rushed over.

He brought Zhang Yunqi some surprising news: Fuhai Trading, a subsidiary of Lu Yuanzhou's family business Xiongsen Group, was in private contact with Shinco, intending to become Shinco's general distributor of VCD players in Central China.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yunqi pondered for a long time. Central China was Aiwa Electronics' stronghold, and Shinco's VCD sales were far inferior to Aiwa Electronics'. After all, Shinco's current marketing focus was on East China, and its efforts and investment in Central China were relatively small. This strategy was actually quite wise, given that the economic strength of Central China was far less than that of the East China market, which boasted several major economic centers.

When Xiongsen Group's trading company decided to become a distributor of VCD players, Zhang Yunqi naturally attributed it to Lu Yuanzhou. This also showed that Lu Yuanzhou had a thorough understanding of his company's business, and his purpose in acquiring the general distributorship in Central China was crystal clear: it was aimed at Zhang Yunqi and Aihua Electronics, most likely intending to cause trouble in Zhang's stronghold.

Zhang Yunqi now had to admit that Lu Yuanzhou was not to be underestimated. He was rational and patient, and possessed keen insight. The explosive growth of the VCD player market was right before his eyes, and he was able to foresee this entirely through his experience from his previous life. So what about Lu Yuanzhou?
As a long-established state-owned enterprise, Shinco still firmly occupied one of the top three positions in the domestic VCD player market in its previous life, despite Aido Electronics' relentless pursuit and heavy spending. It was undoubtedly the industry leader in its previous life! Lu Yuanzhou chose Shinco as a partner, and no matter how he competed with Aiwa in the future, making money was a sure thing. This alone was enough to make him invincible.

Opponents are indeed the most worthy of our learning.

Thinking this through, Zhang Yunqi said to Wang Guibing, "Don't worry about Aihua Electronics anymore. Now, go and do three things for me. First, go back to Lijin tonight and coordinate with Qiao Zhiwu to finalize the secondhand CD production line. Don't get directly involved. Just give Qiao Zhiwu the market report and the channels. If there's a huge profit to be made, he'll naturally be very interested. His pirated VCD production line should be up and running within a month. Second, find some underground financial channels. Qiao Zhiwu has resources in this area. If you make money for him, he'll naturally be willing to work for you. But don't let him realize your true intentions. Third, find a securities trader. You can poach people from the provincial state-owned assets platform company. There are plenty of talented people in that sector, but remember, they have to be trustworthy. I'll be back in Lijin by Monday night at the latest."

Wang Guibing left without asking why.

Zhang Yunqi took out a cigarette and took a couple of puffs, watching Wang Guibing's figure slowly disappear into the bustling crowd. The sun had already set in Xidan, the streetlights cast a dim yellow light, and a dry, cold night wind blew. On the row of big trees on the street, the withered leaves that had endured the whole winter swayed and fell as spring was about to leave.

Zhang Yunqi stubbed out his cigarette, took out his phone, quickly found Zhang Qiulan's name in his contacts, and dialed her number directly: "Sis, do you have any money?"

Zhang Qiulan's voice was filled with surprise: "You're short of money?"

Zhang Yunqi hummed in agreement.

Zhang Qiulan asked, "How many do you want?"

Zhang Yunqi said, "Lend me everything except for living expenses."

Zhang Qiulan was silent for a moment, then said, "I should be able to get more than ten million. Do you want me to mortgage my house and car to help you raise more?"

Zhang Yunqi said, "No need."

He hung up the phone, then found Yu Lin's number again, the same one, and asked to borrow money directly.

Yu Lin didn't ask why: "How many do you want?"

Zhang Yunqi said, "Twenty million."

Yu Lin said, "Okay."

Zhang Yunqi asked, "Judging from your tone, it seems like you can borrow even more?"

Yu Lin said, "Then let's make it thirty million."

******