After divorce, I can hear the voice of the future

Chapter 834 You're a Good Person

"Chairman Kim is very cooperative, and the new version of Alipay will be launched in Korea no later than a week."

When Ant Financial was trying to expand Alipay overseas, it lacked the financial power of Ant Financial and could only act subserviently wherever it went. This is a common situation for Chinese companies going global.

Therefore, in Japan, the only option is to cooperate with PayPal, and in Korea, the only option is to cooperate with the Kakao Group.

Kakao is quite sensible, or perhaps seeing the consequences of refusing Lu Liang, so it surrendered exceptionally quickly, handing over the entire online payment market to Hyundai. With just a word from Lu Liang, Hyundai will hand it over without hesitation.

"Does it take another week?" Hearing Lu Liang mutter to himself, Zheng Xuanyi quickly said, "Mr. Lu, five days is fine too. I'll go back and urge them to complete the handover immediately."

"To be on the safe side, let's do it for another week."

Lu Liang said with a smile, "I'll call some people over this afternoon. You can get to know them first, and they'll be in charge of this business from now on."

He called Sun Zheyuan over: "Xiao Sun, contact Fang Yuan and have him come to Hancheng first. I'll wait for him here."

Fang Yuan, 45 years old, male, former president of Ant Group's business unit. Since Ant Group's IPO was suspended, the chairman was replaced, the online lending business was scaled back, and the promotion of Ant Credit Score was curbed, his existence has become dispensable.

So, with just one phone call from Lao Ma, he assembled a team within Ant Group, headed straight to Tokyo, joined Tianxing Financial, and began expanding Lu Liang's territory.

Their joining Tianxing is a true win-win-win situation, because even if they stayed at Ant Group, their equity would not be realized, Lu Liang needed it, and Lao Ma felt guilty towards them.

Zheng Xuanyi suggested, "Mr. Lu, why don't we go to the restaurant for a meal first and wait while we eat?"

"Let's go." Lu Liang nodded, going along with the host's wishes.

Japan and Korea are separated only by a strait. Both are developed countries, and flights between them are extremely frequent, almost comparable to the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in China.

Three and a half hours later, Fang Yuan arrived in Seoul smoothly, and Fang Shiyu picked him up from the airport and took him to the hotel where Lu Liang was staying.

Lu Liang smiled and looked at Fang Yuan, who was tall but slightly thin: "Old Fang, I'm sorry to have asked you to come over at the last minute."

He met Fang Yuan in Tokyo yesterday, but Fang Yuan was busy at the time, and the two only exchanged a brief greeting.

Although Fang Yuan was over forty years old, his hair was gray, making him look like an old man in his seventies or eighties.

It is said that this was her birth condition. She was often said to look old for her age when she was in school, but now that she is older, she doesn't look old at all.

"I'm just a brick; wherever there's a need, Mr. Lu can just move me there." Fang Yuan said with a smile, neither humble nor arrogant, then suddenly remarked, "It's always better to be busy than to have nothing to do."

"Then you've come to the right place in Tianxing. We lack everything here, except projects and funding."

Lu Liang laughed and turned to introduce Zheng Xuanyi: "Mr. Zheng Xuanyi, Chairman of Hyundai Group. Kakao's online payment business is currently affiliated with Hyundai."

"You will be responsible for the handover afterwards. While promoting the Japanese market, don't neglect the Korean market."

"Hello, Mr. Zheng, would you mind providing me with a market research report on the Kakao Group?"

Fang Yuan couldn't hide his excitement. First PayPal Group, then Kakao Group—Lu Liang had decisively taken down the two toughest nuts to crack in the East Asian market.

So much so that he now has the idea that if Ant Group's IPO fails and he leaves with his core team, it might actually be a good thing.

Although Marx has a certain international influence, his influence can only inspire respect, not fear.

Respect means that when everyone's interests align, you are a respectable Jack Ma.

If interests clash, then let's have a showdown.

But Lu Liang is different. He has an assertive style and is always looking for someone to fight, and he always wins.

Working under a tough and assertive boss can certainly be more comfortable. Take the online payment markets in Japan and Korea, for example; they only need to handle receiving business.

"Of course it's convenient."

Zheng Xuanyi smiled and nodded, then said, "But Mr. Fang must be tired from his journey. Why don't you rest for the night first?"

Fang Yuan shook his head and said, "Mr. Zheng, let's hurry up. I need to rush back to Tokyo later. The market there has just been opened up, and I'm not yet familiar with some of the business."

"Mr. Lu, what do you think?" Zheng Xuanyi looked at Lu Liang, revealing a knowing smile that all men understand.

We have local specialties again tonight, freshly made.

Lu Liang chuckled: "Let's go with President Fang's idea."

He once heard someone say that the reason why TV dramas were so popular back then was because most of the investors were coal mine owners.

They had no other requirements besides finding beautiful actresses, because they knew that in the mines, outsiders interfering with insiders could easily lead to production accidents.

In contrast, most investors nowadays are from the internet industry. They have many ideas, such as granularity and product empowerment, and they wish they could personally participate in the production. So what they produce is a pile of crap.

While this statement shouldn't be taken entirely at face value, it does contain some truth to it.

Just like Lu Liang only needs to know whether the company is developing according to the plan, as he doesn't understand the process and generally won't interfere.

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Fang, I'll be right back."

Zheng Xuanyi was disappointed, but he could only go out and contact his assistant to retrieve internal information from the Kakao Group.

After he left, Fang Yuan pondered for a moment, then suddenly said to Lu Liang, "President Lu, perhaps we should slow down a bit."

With the Japanese and Korean markets developing simultaneously, even though Lu Liang has money, he is starting to run out of manpower.

Lu Liang thought for a moment and said, "We will stop and digest the results in the future, but it's not time for that yet."

He laughed and said, "If you're short-staffed, go look for people at Ant Group. You should know the situation your old colleagues are in, right?"

Zhang Yong became famous a few days ago.

This is the first time he has appeared in the public eye since inheriting Lao Ma's mantle, but it's not for a good reason.

Because he stated in a public speech that in the next ten years, at least 1000 Ali employees who have worked for Ali Group for more than ten years will be sent to society every year.

It sounds nice to say that they are supplying society with talents who have worked for more than ten years, but in reality, it is just layoffs.

After all, Ant Group's IPO was suspended, and Ali Group was also affected, with many of its projects being cut and a large number of employees becoming idle.

Although veteran employees are experienced, they have long tenures, receive more bonuses, and have higher salaries, making them targets for sacrifice.

So much so that now, some people online are starting to miss the days when Jack Ma was in power. After all, compared to losing one's job in middle age, the 996 work schedule has actually become a blessing.

Lu Liang added, "Don't hire seasoned veterans; focus on middle-aged people who have elderly parents to support, young children to raise, and financial pressure."

These people were highly sought after in his eyes. Although their physical condition was probably not good, they could lower their requirements for working at sea, and since they were all Chinese, communication would be smoother.

"clear."

Fang Yuan nodded and said earnestly, "President Lu, you are a good person."

The domestic job market is getting worse and worse. Although work experience is important, a low price is even more important.

With their salaries, they could easily recruit a group of strong and healthy young people.

After all, it's a trip to Japan and South Korea, not to Africa.

These kinds of overseas assignments are probably something that young people in China would love to do. They would accept even if the pay was lower, just as a way to learn a foreign language and gain work experience.

Lu Liang's decision to prioritize older domestic employees demonstrates his deep understanding of the struggles faced by middle-aged individuals grappling with midlife crises and his willingness to give them another chance.

"Old Fang, this is the first time I've ever been friend-zoned, and by a guy no less."

Lu Liang was both amused and exasperated, and exclaimed, "Liu Bang watched dogs fight at 48 and became emperor at 55. In China, people over 35 are considered 'optimized talents'. What kind of bullshit logic is this?"

He did have a little bit of sympathy, but only a little. The key point was that he needed a group of people who could start working right away.

Fang Yuan was unaware that a crisis was about to unfold and that Lu Liang did not have much time left, so he mistakenly believed it to be Lu Liang's act of kindness.

It was a beautiful misunderstanding, and Lu Liang couldn't bear to expose it.

Shortly after, Zheng Xuanyi returned with his assistant, who brought the Kakao research report and relevant personnel.

“Young people in Korea are very willing to use mobile payment, but they don’t like Alipay because it’s Dongda’s software, so they have always been resistant to it.”

"Japan can change its logo, and so can Korea. With trillions of won in subsidies, would they turn down money?"

With a smile, Fang Yuan talked with Jin Zhiming of Kakao Group, from how to get young people to accept it to how to make them gradually become inseparable from it.

The two were kindred spirits and found themselves getting along very well as they talked.

They would sometimes argue, to the point that they completely ignored Lu Liang and Zheng Xuanyi.

Zheng Xuanyi winked and said, "Mr. Lu, it seems we can't join the conversation. How about we go for a drink?"

"Yeah, that's okay."

　It's not actually pain, it's just itching.
　　But if you scratch too much, it will hurt.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)