Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

What exactly is the Yellow Pages?
If Lu Yang hadn't been a reborn person who traveled back from the future, he probably wouldn't know either.

After all, this stuff can't be eaten as a meal.

Moreover, in 1994, this thing was definitely a niche within a niche. Probably out of 100 Chinese people, no, out of 1000 Chinese people, 999 had never heard of it.

But what about those who are reborn?

He needed to know.

It's not that reborn people are so amazing. Reborn people don't have an extra head compared to ordinary people. Without the help of a system or other heaven-defying things, they can't necessarily predict everything.

But what about the Yellow Pages?

It just so happens to be a project from the early stages of the entrepreneurial journey of a prominent figure who later became the richest man in China for many years.

If you're not a hardcore Douyin user,
If you weren't constantly scrolling through short videos all day long, grinning and laughing.

If you're not a die-hard bookworm who loves reading period business novels...

All of the above should be discarded, and then the gossip-loving public's interest in the life and past of the richest man should be eliminated.

So perhaps, the term "Yellow Pages" really doesn't need to be memorized by those who are reborn.

It's quite simple. In the 90s, at the Lakeside Apartments by West Lake, an unattractive English teacher named Ma Yun, along with a group of students and like-minded friends, founded a company called Hangzhou Haibo Computer Service Co., Ltd.

The first project launched by this so-called Haibo Computer Service Co., Ltd. was to create a Chinese Yellow Pages.

The slogan was grand, directly incorporating the country's name, and they did indeed become the largest ** in the country at the time.

But so what?

Yellow Pages is a product of the Internet 1.0 era. It aims to provide businesses with contact information and display their company address and other information online.

Its advantage is that it solves the pain point of a lack of transparency in corporate information.

In a time when the domestic internet was still largely undeveloped, this platform aggregated enterprise information in a simple and easy-to-use manner, requiring no complex technology. Enterprises only needed to pay to obtain an online display platform.

However, it is merely an online display platform. Its value lies in being more efficient and less prone to loss than a traditional phone book.

In the Internet 1.0 era, perhaps some companies were still willing to pay for it.

However, this only lasted for a few short years.

Because China's internet technology has developed rapidly, it took six years for the United States, the birthplace of the internet, to transition from the Internet 1.0 era to the Internet 2.0 era, while Europe, the birthplace of white people, took eight years, and Japan also took eight years. However, China only took four years to complete this period.

In the era of Internet 1.0, the shortcomings of yellow pages were also very obvious. They were static, non-interactive, and only displayed fixed information such as phone numbers and addresses. Transactions, interaction, or data updates were not possible and required manual modification, although the profit model was simple and direct.

However, once the Internet 2.0 era arrives, or even before the Internet 2.0 era arrives, as soon as the transition from the Internet 1.0 era to the Internet 2.0 era begins, what awaits it is either evolution or destruction.

Lu Yang didn't read much, nor did he understand many principles. What he had was an extra forty or fifty years of memories from the future, which gave him a lot of time to do. For example, he often watched short videos, read those motivational quotes, and read novels about the entrepreneurial era and the super-rich. He dreamed of taking over the mantle of the rich and powerful.

To put it simply, the knowledge of later generations is all hidden in excrement. Many grand principles and philosophies of life are mixed with toxic chicken soup and poisonous mushrooms, and people are forced to swallow them whole.

As for whether you, as a viewer, absorb knowledge, profound truths, life philosophies, or just nonsense, toxic motivational quotes, or poisonous ideas, that depends on the individual.

Lu Yang didn't think he was particularly smart, nor did he think that just because he had decades more of memories from later generations than the elite class of this society, he could easily beat them up.

But he knew one thing well: even Jack Ma couldn't make the Yellow Pages business work. After two years, he decisively withdrew, choosing not to take a single penny out of his 70% stake and leading his team away from this mess. This shows that the business was truly a double-edged sword—useless to keep but a pity to discard. It was better to leave early and use his limited energy to start a second business.

So you see, Jack Ma's success wasn't accidental. He had a crystal-clear grasp of the pulse of internet development. After exiting the Yellow Pages, he quickly found a completely different B2B platform model from the static and uninterrupted Yellow Pages. This platform model allowed businesses to publish dynamic products, send online inquiries, and break down the spatial and geographical barriers between businesses and customers...

This B2B platform model was the precursor to Alibaba and the precursor to Taobao.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise of the rapid development of the Internet in China, because the transition of Internet 1.0 was too fast, and there was not enough time for rigid, static, and non-social websites like Yellow Pages to grow.

It can't even transform itself, because with that effort, it could simply create a 2.0 era interactive website when the Internet 2.0 era arrives.

Therefore, the creation of Yellow Pages was destined to be stillborn, becoming a casualty of the rapid development of the times.

No one can save it.

Given that all this has been said, why is Lu Yang still interested in this young man, Ye Weiqiang?

To put it bluntly, it all comes down to this: he's only interested in the person himself. He thinks the person has potential and wants to recruit him, train him, and see if he can personally cultivate a capable subordinate. He's not interested in the person's so-called plan to run a yellow pages website with a few classmates and friends.

"what?"

"Did I say I wanted to invest?"

"no……"

"Oh, that was just a polite remark. You didn't take it seriously, did you?"

Really.

Lu Yang hadn't expected that he had merely made a polite remark over the phone, and even had Lao Mou relay it to him, simply to express his regard for talent.

But then what?

Whether this young man named Ye Weiqiang was serious or not, Lu Yang didn't know, but Lao Mou on the other end of the phone definitely was. Behind Lu Yang's back, he promised Ye Weiqiang and his classmates and friends to focus on their business, and that if they needed money, they could come to him, Mou Qizhong, who was willing to be their angel investor.

You should say it like this.

Then what are they still confused about?
It's obvious that you, Lao Mou, are a multi-millionaire, especially in the three southwestern provinces, where you are the number one private entrepreneur.

Anyone who mentions you, Lao Mou, who traded train cars and canned goods for large airplanes, would give you a thumbs up.
Even you said you have faith in them and support their entrepreneurship, so why should I, Lu Yang, poach anyone?

Lu Yang then contacted another young man named Ye Weiqiang through another person. When he learned that Ye Weiqiang was already on his way to start a business with his classmates and friends, he politely declined Lu Yang's offer.

He couldn't let down President Mu's trust or expectations. He was determined to succeed in his business. If things really didn't work out, he would come back to Lu Yang for a meal.

This time, Lu Yang truly understood that the other party was just being polite, saying that if he couldn't make a living in the future, he could come back to Lu Yang for a meal.

He should just listen to such words and not take them seriously. Moreover, Lu Yang dared not use someone who had already been a boss, at least not to invest his efforts in training such a person to be his right-hand man.

In other words, 100% trust is no longer possible.

There's no way around it; those who have been bosses before understand this. Most of them harbor a resentment towards being subordinate to others. Even if they don't usually show it, once given a platform to nurture that ambition...

Well, why don't you give it a try?

Looking back at history, Cao Cao once tried to win over Liu Bei, but what did it turn out to be?
Upon learning this harsh truth, Lu Yang was speechless for a moment, then promptly hung up the call with the young man and called Mu Qizhong, who was carrying out a top-down personnel reform of the "new" joint venture, Tianfu Cola, in Sichuan.

Yes, I gave Mu Qizhong a thorough dressing-down.

"What's wrong?"

"What else? Give me back my future top general. I asked you to help me poach people, but you're nothing. I asked you to deliver a message, and you actually went to support someone else's startup."

Lu Yang was both amused and exasperated by Mu Qizhong.

I don't know what's going on in this old man's mind. He's someone who's never even touched the internet before. Does he understand the internet? Does he understand Yellow Pages? Yet he just blurted out that he wanted to be someone's angel investor.

"Hehe... I don't understand, but you do... Oh, I know, you didn't see me trying to poach your employees and beat me to it in the industry you've got your eye on, did you?"

Lu Yang was stunned for a moment, holding the mobile phone in his hand, and didn't know what to say.

Am I to blame?
No, this old man, has he become so superstitious about me now?
Seeing that Lu Yang remained silent, Mu Qizhong assumed that he had guessed Lu Yang's thoughts and had left Lu Yang speechless.

Then he smugly said on the phone, "Let me tell you, kid, business is all about first come, first served. Besides, this Xiao Ye is from our Tianfu region, he's my fellow townsman. It's perfectly legitimate for me to invest in him and support his business. You can't let this make you act recklessly, and you can't take it out on Xiao Ye, understand? Um... haha, you can scold me if you want."

Lu Yang rolled his eyes at the person on the phone.

Of course, forgive him.

"Alright, I'm not that petty. He's just a talent. There's no shortage of talent in the country. I only wanted to recruit and train him because I thought he had good character. But now that he has your support to start a business, it's up to him to decide. Don't end up worse off than a high-level employee working under me, Lu Yang. It would be a shame for you, Lao Mu, to lose face. Tsk tsk tsk... Don't blame me then."

Mu Qizhong didn't like hearing that.

He immediately started shouting, "Don't worry, kid. I've already done my research. What they're researching is high-tech, not much worse than your computer learning machine or VCD player. In fact, it's even more advanced. And they're confident in their ability to do it. Unlike your chip project, which is just burning money and is like a mirage, impossible to grasp. I've already made an agreement with that kid. He and his classmate will build that website called Yellow Pages first, and I, Lao Mou, will invest in them and support them in buying servers and stuff. Once it's up and running, they'll just be counting their money. You can only be envious."

Lu Yang chuckled twice, too lazy to explain in detail what the Internet 1.0 era and the Internet 2.0 era meant; this Yellow Pages business was doomed to fail…

"My God, you're lying again. What Internet 1.0 era, 2.0 era? I, Old Mouzi, have never even heard of them. You're not just jealous of me, are you?"

Even a fool could guess that if Lu Yang were to share his theories with this old man, the old man would definitely say the same thing, ignoring his advice and instead mocking him.

Human nature!

Forget it, let him be. Some people won't give up until they hit a brick wall.

Lu Yang was waiting to see Mu Qizhong make a fool of himself.

But before hanging up, he had a few things to say: "You old man, it's fine if you want to be trendy, but I won't say anything about investing in the internet industry. It is indeed a sunrise industry, but it's just not the right time yet. Whether you listen to my advice or not is up to you, but don't mess up our beverage king plan."

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

Speaking of this, Mu Qizhong patted his chest and said, "One month, damn it, I, Mu, guarantee I'll clean up this Tianfu Beverage Group headquarters. Those who should be fired will be fired, and those who don't want to leave voluntarily, don't give me any leverage. Sending them to jail will be the least of my worries. I won't keep parasites in my new company. These bastards still think it's the old days, wanting to embezzle as they please. Damn it, this time I'm going to take a few people down to set an example..."

"Alright, I don't care if you use bribes to establish your authority or not. Anyway, once you've finished inspecting headquarters and arranged for the new staff, go to all 108 of Tianfu Beverage's affiliated factories across the country and have a good talk with their factory managers..."

"Does this mean... I have to visit every single one of them?"

"What do you say?"

"And what about you? You just stay in Shenzhen and don't go anywhere, are you just enjoying yourself?"

"Of course I also have very important things to do. I need to set up our new Tianfu Cola production base in Shenzhen. If we want to grow bigger and stronger, we can't continue like before, where a good cola brand is divided into 108 joint venture factories, and the taste of each factory's product is very different. There is no unified standard at all. How can this be allowed?"

"..."

"First-class companies set standards, second-class companies build brands, and third-class companies make products... We have products and we have brands. What we lack now is a standard that the entire industry recognizes... If you want to be the industry leader, listen to me, we must first set standards."

(End of this chapter)