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

Some are happy, some are sad.

Port City.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of Yinke Electronics' top-floor office, the dazzling night view of Victoria Harbour resembles a flowing neon painting.

However, the room was filled with a suffocatingly low pressure.

"boom!"

With a dull thud, the expensive bone china teacup was slammed to the ground, shards and scalding tea splashing everywhere! Li Zekai's chest heaved violently, his handsome face contorted, his eyes burning with rage.

"Bastard!" he spat out the word through gritted teeth, his voice trembling slightly with extreme anger. "Once, twice, always going against me, what does he want?!"

He turned around abruptly, his sharp gaze sweeping over his secretary and Uncle Zhao, the person in charge of mainland affairs, who were standing to the side with their hands at their sides.

The two shuddered and lowered their heads even further, wishing they could shrink into the carpet.

The old man told him to be patient.

Every time they called him back, they would give him a good scolding. His older brother would also always make sarcastic remarks, advising him to prioritize the bigger picture and not to act impulsively.

But he just couldn't bear it!
This burning anger was simmering in his chest, making his internal organs ache!
The thought of Lu Yang's calm and collected face, as if he had everything under control, and the "helpless" notification from the Mahua Teng team when they ultimately chose Lu Yang, only added fuel to the fire!
When has Li Zekai ever suffered such humiliation?!
How dare a newly rich mainland tycoon snatch food from the jaws of a tiger in front of the second son of the Li family, a wealthy family in Hong Kong?

"Get out!" He pointed to the door, his voice as cold as ice. "Get out of here, all of you! Useless trash!"

The secretary felt as if he had been granted a pardon and practically scrambled out of the room.

Uncle Zhao hesitated for a moment, then turned around with heavy steps.

"Wait a minute."

Li Zekai's voice rang out again, carrying a forced, suppressed calm that made it even more somber.

Uncle Zhao stopped in his tracks, his heart leaping into his throat, and turned around nervously.

Li Zekai took a deep breath, walked to the huge mahogany desk, picked up a pen, and quickly wrote a name and a string of numbers on a sticky note.

“Contact this person.” He pushed the note to the edge of the table. “He Yuan from Taiwan. Tell him I’m very interested in his instant messaging plan to expand into the mainland.”

He tapped the words "very interested" heavily with his fingertips. "Have him bring the most detailed plan and fly over to see me immediately!"

His gaze was fixed on Uncle Zhao like that of a hawk: "Tomorrow at noon, the revolving restaurant on the rooftop of the Peninsula Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. I'll give him half an hour. If he's even a second late, he doesn't need to come at all."

"Yes, Second Young Master! I'll take care of it right away!" Uncle Zhao hurriedly took the note, which clearly read "He Yuan" and a Taiwanese contact number.

He dared not delay in the slightest and quickly retreated.

Li Zekai was the only one left in the office.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the prosperous territory belonging to the Li family, his chest still heaving.

He Yuan, a businessman with some fame in Taiwan, does indeed run an instant messaging software company called "TICQ," which is considered to be of a small scale in Taiwan.

This man was ambitious and repeatedly extended olive branches to Yinke Electronics through various channels, expressing his desire to leverage Li's influence to penetrate the vast mainland market with his software.

Leveraging the explosive growth of internet users in mainland China, we aim to create the number one social media platform in the Chinese-speaking world.

The blueprint sounds wonderful.

Unfortunately, at the time, Li Zekai's attention was completely drawn to OICQ (Penguin), which was more down-to-earth in Shenzhen and had a faster user base growth.

Why go to the trouble of investing in a company rooted in Taiwan that needs to adapt to the mainland market when there's an existing team closer to the mainland?

Moreover, the price He Yuan offered was not low.

But now…

Times have changed!
Since you, Lu Yang, have taken the penguin I had my eye on, then I, Li Zekai, will support another one!
A challenger who is equally skilled, ambitious, and extremely eager to rely on the Li family's influence to expand into the mainland!
He Yuan is the ready-made knife!

Taiwan.

Late at night, at Taoyuan Airport in Taiwan.

A flight bound for Hong Kong is about to take off.

Inside the first-class cabin, He Yuan, dressed in a suit and tie, tightly clutched a heavy black briefcase containing his meticulously crafted "Information Professionals' Expansion Plan in Mainland China," a document crucial to his future career.

His face was filled with undisguised excitement and exhilaration, his eyes were incredibly bright, and he showed no signs of sleepiness.

Just hours before, he was losing sleep over how to secure funding for his company and find a breakthrough in the mainland market.

Suddenly, I received a call from Zhao Hong, the head of Yinke Electronics in mainland China, who conveyed Li Chao's second son's sudden "summons" and extremely demanding time requirements!
In that instant, He Yuan felt as if he had been hit by a huge pie!

Li Zekai!
The second son of the Li family, one of the most prestigious families in Hong Kong!

The other party proactively extended an olive branch to him!

He Yuan was so excited he almost jumped for joy!
He immediately realized that this was a golden opportunity, a chance that could change his destiny. Without hesitation, he canceled all his other plans, quickly organized the most important information, and headed straight for the airport.

Why would the second young master of the Li family suddenly be interested in me?
He Yuan had considered it.

He quickly recalled the recent buzz in Hong Kong's business circles: the mainland company Tencent, which the second son of Li had his eye on, was snapped up by the mainland's upstart Century Group for an exorbitant price.

"I see..." He Yuan's lips curled into a knowing yet excited smile. "When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits? No, it's Young Master Li who wants to borrow my knife to stab that Lu fellow in the back!?"

But that suited him perfectly!

He needed the Li family's funds and Hong Kong capital background as a springboard to enter the mainland, while the second son of the Li family needed a pawn that could compete with Tencent in the instant messaging field and cause trouble for the CEO of Century Group.

It's simply a matter of each getting what they need.

Thinking of this, He Yuan hugged the briefcase in his arms tightly, as if he had held the golden key to the mainland's market of hundreds of millions of users.

He gazed out the porthole at the deep night, his eyes gleaming with the flames of ambition: "Century Group... Penguin... just you wait and see!"

Meanwhile, in Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei district.

While the newly leased office space for Penguin is still not luxurious, it is much more spacious and brighter than the cramped cubicles they used to occupy. The newly purchased servers are flashing indicator lights and emitting a low hum, symbolizing that the injected capital is being transformed into actual carrying capacity.

Accompanied by Ma Huateng and several core founders, Lu Yang toured this simple yet vibrant "battlefield".

The atmosphere was completely different from the tense atmosphere when the sky-high investment agreement was signed a few days ago; it carried a sense of relief after everything had settled and anticipation for the future.

"President Lu, this is our new development area... this is operations and maintenance..." Ma Huateng introduced earnestly, his face showing fatigue, but even more so, enthusiasm.

With funding secured, the life-or-death crisis was resolved, and the next step is to fully unleash our potential.

only…

When discussing user growth rate, a hint of worry appeared on Ma Huateng's face: "...We have more funds, expanded servers, and increased bandwidth. But...the user growth rate is still somewhat unsatisfactory."

He frankly said, "The main problem is that our promotion channels are limited and our brand awareness is insufficient. Many people don't even know what our product is for."

Zhang Zhi, Zeng Qing, and others nodded in agreement, their faces showing similar worries.

In the ever-evolving world of the internet, user growth is the lifeline.

As Lu Yang listened, he stopped in front of a somewhat empty work area.

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the group of young and talented faces before him.

Suddenly, he spoke up: "OICQ..."

He read the name aloud, frowning slightly. "This name is too long, too technical, not approachable enough, and unlikely to create a strong brand memory."

Everyone was taken aback. This name had been used for so long, and although they knew it was imitating the foreign ICQ, they didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

"How about," Lu Yang's voice was clear and firm, carrying an undeniable decisiveness, "we'll call it 'QQ'."

“QQ?” Ma Huateng repeated subconsciously.

“Yes, QQ.” Lu Yang nodded. “It’s concise, catchy, easy to remember, and easy to pronounce. The two Qs stacked together are fun and easily evoke images of ‘cute’ and ‘chatting,’ and also…”

He paused for a moment, his gaze falling on the penguin plush toy on Ma Huateng's desk, which was used as a decoration. "We'll use a penguin as the icon, a chubby, adorable Antarctic penguin. The Antarctic penguin represents pure, friendly, and boundless communication."

“QQ… Penguin…” Ma Huateng muttered to himself, savoring the name and icon concept, his eyes growing brighter and brighter!

He slapped his thigh suddenly!
"Brilliant! Mr. Lu! This name is fantastic! QQ... penguin... it's vivid, easy to remember, and easy to spread. It's much better than OICQ!"

Zhang Zhi, Zeng Qing, and the others also realized what was happening, and their faces showed surprise and agreement.

The brand naming problem that had troubled them for so long was solved by President Lu with just one casual sentence!

And the solution is so perfect!

That's right, it's perfect. After all, these are the words of an angel investor, so how could they be wrong!?

Let's just put it that way.

As long as it doesn't involve matters of principle or threaten the management team's position in the company, they'll applaud enthusiastically!

The branding issue seems to have been resolved, but the challenge of user growth remains.

Seizing the opportunity, Ma Huateng brought it up again: "Mr. Lu, what about user growth..."

Lu Yang looked at them, his eyes behind his sunglasses seeming to hold a knowing smile.

He slowly and deliberately threw out an even more "earth-shattering" idea:

"On the internet, separated by a screen, who knows if the person on the other end is a person or a ghost? A man or a woman?"

His voice carried a seductive, persuasive quality: "Most internet users these days are young and have relatively simple minds... especially male users."

He paused, noticing the somewhat bewildered expressions on the founders' faces, and continued, "Have you considered... assigning some people, um... especially male colleagues in the team with pleasant voices and gentle typing... to register accounts, set their profiles to female, and put up photos of pretty girls as their avatars..."

Ma Huateng and the others widened their eyes instantly!

A sense of absurdity welled up inside me.

Lu Yang seemed oblivious to their astonishment and continued speaking:

"...Then, proactively add those new users who seem to have just registered and whose friend lists are empty. Greet them warmly and chat with them to keep them entertained. In the early stages...the interaction can be a little intimate, even a little ambiguous is fine. The key is to make them feel that there is a community here, that there is care, and that there are 'beautiful girls'. It's easy for someone facing an empty friend list to give up. But what if a 'gentle and lovely' 'girl' takes the initiative to chat with you right away? Wouldn't that increase user engagement?"

An eerie silence fell over the office.

Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhi, Zeng Qing, Chen Dan, and Xu Ye looked at each other, their faces displaying a variety of expressions: shock, bewilderment, embarrassment, and even a little...shame?
This... isn't this a scam? An online dating fraud?
This idea... is too... too bizarre!
Ma Huateng opened his mouth, his throat a little dry, his cheeks slightly flushed: "President Lu... this... this idea... is good... but..."

That's so disgraceful!
If this gets out, what will become of the company's reputation?

These high-achieving students from prestigious universities, pretending to be women online to deceive people and chat?

This...this is outrageous!
Lu Yang's gaze calmly swept over the complex expressions on each of their faces, as if he had already anticipated their reactions.

Without the slightest embarrassment or hesitation, he made the final decision:
“Since it’s a good idea,” his voice was firm and decisive, carrying an undeniable authority, “then it’s settled!”

He raised his hand, pointed to the five people, and then pointed to the busy, energetic young programmers outside:

"At the execution level, either they do it, or you do it, or you all do it together. You code during work hours, but after get off work, whenever you have a spare moment, you can always find the time, right? It's all for the company and for future development. Surely you can't even handle this little bit of hardship?"

"Remember, the focus is on increasing user activity and retention! How to discuss it and what level of discussion to take are up to you. In short, you need to see explosive growth in the number of users, but you can't go down the path of illegality and crime. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Ma Huateng, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, wanted to say something, but when he met Lu Yang's gaze, hidden behind sunglasses and seemingly able to see through everything, all his words got stuck in his throat.

He saw absolute confidence and unquestionable determination.

Thinking of the weighty investment agreement and the terrifying power Lu Yang displayed, all the unease and moral struggle ultimately turned into a barely audible sigh and a hint of desperate determination.

“Yes…Mr. Lu.” Ma Huateng took a deep breath and nodded heavily.

Zhang Zhi and the others exchanged glances, seeing complex emotions in each other's eyes, but in the end, no one raised any further objections.

A promotional strategy that would later profoundly impact the Chinese internet social media ecosystem, generating considerable controversy yet achieving remarkable results, was casually established and prematurely born in this simple office. (End of Chapter)