Rebirth after the college entrance examination

Chapter 191 Spring and Autumn, Morning and Evening, Peace and Prosperity Every Year

Xu Wanying had too much luggage.

She seems to have a collecting obsession; ever since she came to Binhai to study at university, she hasn't thrown away much of her belongings—clothes, pots and pans, books, small odds and ends…

No wonder, even though I live alone in a dormitory room, it looks quite full.

Xia An's Range Rover could not be transported all the way through, so in the end, a small truck was called, a delivery truck from the candy supermarket in the western suburbs of Binhai, to take it all away, cleanly and efficiently.

Xu Wanying rented an apartment in the city, not in the city center, two stops away from Guolan Technology Park. It's a residential area favored by working people, with a good environment, location, and amenities, and the price isn't too expensive. It's a one-bedroom apartment for 700 yuan per month, with a deposit of one month's rent and three months' rent paid in advance.

I decided to resign at noon, went out to look for an apartment at 1 p.m., signed the contract at 3 p.m., started moving at 4 p.m., and cleared out the apartment at 7 p.m.

Even Xia An was speechless, secretly marveling at what a capable girl she was.

Xia An, Le Ning, Li Xiaoru, and Wang Yue were invited and agreed to cook at her new home.

Although Lu Fei and Qi Buyang helped with moving things, and Xu Wanying invited them, neither of them came.

The small truck didn't need to be accompanied by people. Xu Wanying, Le Ning, and Wang Yue sat in the back of the Range Rover, while Li Xiaoru enjoyed the front passenger seat due to her size.

Throughout the entire process, Xu Wanying was all smiles and seemed quite happy.

Xia An glanced in the rearview mirror but didn't say much.

Here's the thing.

Although Wu Xun's family did not cause any trouble and even apologized to the school and Xu Wanying for the trouble they had caused, the school still had to give Xu Wanying a certain punishment.

In a fit of anger, Xu Wanying submitted her resignation.

Xia An didn't know how much of this "anger" was due to his instigation that night, but the result wasn't unexpected.

Xu Wanying studied finance; no matter how dull-witted she might be, she was still skilled at accounting.

Xia An believes that she must have secretly calculated things over the past two days and found that what he said that day made a lot of sense and was in her own best interest.

After all, whether working or starting their own businesses, women naturally have a greater sense of exchanging their youth for value than men.

This result... is both admirable and tragic.

Xu Wanying said she wouldn't tidy up tonight, but would get together with everyone, stepping away from being a "teacher" and acting as a friend.

"From now on, you'll have to call me 'older sister'."

Holding Le Ning's arm, she giggled as she finished speaking.

I watched as the laborers finished moving their things and ate their meal downstairs at their new home, a stir-fried dish.

At the dinner table, Xu Wanying expressed her gratitude to Xia An, her words carried on her drinking, and she got drunk again. In fact, everyone was quite tipsy. Xia An found a nearby hotel, arranged for them to check in, and then took a taxi back to her dormitory.

After that night, Le Ning and her two friends went to help Xu Wanying clean her house for two more days and then returned to school.

Xu Wanying's departure didn't have much impact on most people. The biggest impact was actually on the small theater and the Lemon band, but Xu Wanying agreed to participate in these activities while preparing for the CPA exam.

Then everything is OK.

The school temporarily transferred a counselor from the Department of Art and Design to temporarily manage the Department of Photography.

He was a young male teacher with a good personality, but Xia An guessed he was a student of Zhuangzi and preferred a hands-off approach, only instructing him to manage the class and contact him if needed.

Wu Xun's smiling face is gone again, but I believe it will return to normal soon.

Lu Yao, quite normally, seems to have completely forgotten that Xu Wanying ever existed.

Seeing that he had been playing World of Warcraft and watching anime for the past two days, completely immersed in the world of anime, Xia An did not take any measures to care for him. Instead, she figured out a way to make money.

The day after tomorrow, Guolan's Weibo account will be launched, and another part of the online strategy is the promotion of the Pilipala video website.

cartoon…

Xia An thought of a phenomenal IP: One Piece.

It aired on domestic TV in 10 and became an instant hit. In 13, Sohu bought the broadcasting rights for two years, and a massive influx of viewers came in. 15 years later, it was iQiyi's turn to broadcast it. Without this film, iQiyi would not have been able to take off.

If he could negotiate a long-term exclusive screening contract with Toei in advance, maybe even the campus cinemas could be boosted instantly... I just don't know what the price would be.

Le Ning has to rehearse, while everyone else has nothing important to do.

In the last two days of the month, Xia An stopped participating in any campus activities, stopped attending any classes, and moved to the office of Guolan Technology.

Bai Nan and Liu You went to Yue to search for this, traveling to most parts of China and spending more than 17.3 million yuan. Their spoils were the science and entertainment double-headed pages of 136 provincial and municipal mainstream newspapers and magazines, which ran for two consecutive days, December 1 and 2.

In addition, with the help of He Zhenzhen and Zhang Keyi, more than 12 artists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan pledged to join Weibo on December 1st and post congratulatory and promotional messages along with selfies.

Xia An believed that as the rumors gradually spread, there were definitely more than just these people that day.

More than two hundred artists who officially agreed to the fee were paid according to the price quoted by Maggie Cheung herself, with different levels of fame receiving HK$10000, HK$5000, and HK$3000 respectively. Some didn't pay at all, but these were her own friends.

Judging from this price point, even the most prestigious one is only a second-tier player.

The total cost was just over HK$120 million.

On the other hand, He Zhenzhen had all top-tier celebrities. She only asked Xia An to give 50 each to Chow Yun-fat and Jackie Chan, and said that Xia An didn't need to worry about the rest.

But that's not all.

In mainland China, Xia An took a clever approach by not hiring any big-name celebrities.

In the past two years, which group of celebrities has been the most popular in mainland China?

That's right, a talent show.

Last year's Super Girl competition, led by Li Yuchun, awarded 150,000 yuan to each of the top ten contestants.

There are quite a few this year, and they're still hot right now, so we can't miss them.

"Super Girl," "My Show," "Dream China," and "Go, Good Boys!"

Xia An had Liu Youwei use local media to help him secure the top ten spots on all four shows, with each person receiving 50,000 yuan.

Thus, with only a month of hasty preparation, Xia An maximized the star effect to the limit of what he could currently achieve with an advertising budget in the tens of millions.

Of course, Xiaoyouzi also contributed, with Hu Ge, Liu Shishi, Eddie Peng, and others helping out for free.

In addition to celebrities and local media, Xia An also spent a lot of money to buy homepage promotions on several portals such as Baidu and Sohu.

The cost of pop-up ads on QQ alone, with different advertorials every morning, noon, and evening for seven days, amounted to 600 million yuan.

It's worth mentioning that Sina didn't take the order.

Finally, there's the relatively smaller portion. After Li Qiao took over the on-the-ground promotion teams in universities across the country, he allocated 12 yuan per city to university student agents to help with promotion and advertising.

Despite the low cost, Xia An believes that this group of customers has the highest customer loyalty.

On the contrary, newspapers are merely creating hype, and the conversion rate of print media audiences may not be very high.

December 31, 2006, 12 PM.

There are only eight hours left until Guolan Weibo, also known as the wide-area megaphone, officially opens registration.

The company's only two accountants have been tasked with consolidating Xia An's expenses.

Of the 300 million in cash, not counting the 40 million he kept for himself and transferred to his parents, he spent over 30 million.

Zhang Tiancheng, who was holding a remote executive meeting on the second floor of a building in Dongshan, was astonished:
"It's scary!"

Xia An laughed into the speakerphone, "Is that scary? If I hadn't used my connections, the big shots from Hong Kong alone would have asked for another five million."

As soon as I got off the plane and rushed back to the office, Bai Nan and Liu Youwei, who looked noticeably thinner and darker, were eating boxed lunches. The latter wiped his mouth and nodded, saying, "President Xia is right. We should spend this money. At present, internet projects are still mainly promoted offline. But we're expanding rapidly. In the future, when the internet penetration rate is high, we'll earn back these expenses ten or a hundred times over."

Xia An nodded and said, "That's right. So right now, our own online army and our own campus team are extremely important. I believe that for at least the next two years, Weibo will only burn money, but I dare to burn, I admit to burning, and I can afford to burn."

Only Liu Youwei present knew the reason. Xia An did indeed only have 300 million on the surface, which seemed insufficient, as if he lacked a cash printing machine or a high-quality venture capital firm. But that wasn't the case.

The upcoming A-share listing of Tangshi Group will continuously inject capital into him.

Xia An said, "So, Li Qiao, listen up."

Next to Zhang Tiancheng's phone was another phone on speakerphone, belonging to Li Qiao, who was currently in Jinan running a team. The voice on the speakerphone said, "President Xia, I'm here."

"When you're out there, feel free to do whatever you want and spend money as you please."

Don't be stingy; the campus is our reservoir.

Whether you let students use the on-campus version or the off-campus version, it's all the same principle. By the time they graduate, they'll develop a habit of using the app and become loyal users. So, while promoting it, you need to continuously collect feedback from offline users.

If something is not done well, we will fix it immediately; if something is done well, we will optimize it to make them more satisfied.

Don't worry about things at home. I'll take good care of your wife and children.

Finally, he made a joke, and everyone laughed.

Xia An added, "In the next two years, I want you to gradually connect all provinces, including at least three city-level university towns, including the provincial capitals."

We need our campus agents; we need people inside the school gates to do things for us.

Besides Weibo, I have other projects that rely on universities. Can you do that?

Li Qiao answered seriously, "Yes."

Xia An looked at the six or seven directors in the room, smiling on the surface but still worried in her heart.

He knew exactly what Weibo was. Although Sina had squandered its advantages in his previous life, it was still a behemoth, a Damocles' sword hanging over his head.

Used well, it can accelerate the process of achieving a golden image; used poorly, it can lead to widespread disrepute and even cause serious damage to the sewing machine.

In 06, it emerged almost three years earlier than the original world. Neither the higher-level regulatory departments nor the public had the necessary conditions for its survival and growth.

The exploration of business models for social networks like Weibo is destined to be global. Even if Xia An has foresight, he wasn't a technologist in his previous life, so it would require someone with extremely high skills to manage it safely.

The number of people in front of us is far from enough.

He has already instructed Zhang Tiancheng to secretly contact resources and poach professional management talent from similar giant companies at high prices. His hard requirement is that they must take office after the Spring Festival, regardless of the cost.

Zhang Tiancheng has an advance limit of eight figures in annual salary; anything below 15 million is his decision.

Of course, not just anyone would do. Xia An gave him a list of six people from memory, and anyone within that range would be fine.

Taking this opportunity, Xia An said to the executives present who all wanted to become, but could never become, general managers: "I believe you all know or have even been exposed to Twitter and Facebook, which have become very popular abroad in the past two years. Our Guolan Weibo will be the same in the future."

First, it is a social networking platform; second, it is a data provider; and finally, it is a content provider.

This platform can have certain media attributes and make money by selling advertising space, but this cannot be the main source of revenue.

The business models that can be developed from it are enormous.

I can introduce you to a concept beforehand: ecosystem. If that's not clear, try thinking about QQ. Centered on social circles, it built an ecosystem of online applications, gradually extending its services to everything in users' real lives.

I'll just present the concepts without going into details; you can figure it out yourselves.

There are four main categories, and only four main categories, but they encompass everything.

Zhang Youwei and Xia An sighed deeply in Dongshan a few days ago, so they know the answer.

At that moment, only one person in the room spoke what Xia An wanted to say.

Li Xiaotang, who has not yet officially joined the company, attended the meeting today as the future CFO. With a slight surprise, she uttered four words: "Food, clothing, housing, and transportation?"

Xia An looked at her, nodded and smiled, "Otherwise what? Of course, it's food, clothing, shelter and transportation."

Everyone gasped.

Xia An said, "It's actually not difficult, but it takes time."

Not only do we need it, but society as a whole also needs to give hardware technology time to develop.

What we need to do is create timelines and search graphs, allowing users to project their lives onto our online platforms.

What are we eating today?
What should I wear today?
Which bus should I take today?
By uncovering user needs and value, and then collecting and integrating this information to build a sufficient database, we can provide a basis for rational analysis and gain insights into potential business opportunities.

Finally, they are categorized and resold to advertisers.

We build a bridge between user needs and commercial services, charging a "bridging fee" to monetize our user base.

Liu Youwei asked blankly, "Big...big data?"

Xia An nodded: "If it is managed well, in a few years, Guolan Weibo will become the world's largest arena for fame and fortune. Celebrities and ordinary people will open Weibo accounts, scholars and officials will open Weibo accounts, public welfare organizations will open Weibo accounts, vegetable sellers will open Weibo accounts, vegetable buyers will open Weibo accounts, and merchants will open Weibo accounts."

"Back then, we acted as a magnifying glass for social morality and a catalyst for cutting-edge projects..."

Bai Nan asked, "Why is it called Vanity Fair?"

Xia An thought for a moment, looked at the mineral water bottle in her hand, and said:

"When you have 100 million followers, I'm a bottled water manufacturer, and I'd like you to help me with a promotion..."

Everyone's eyes widened; they all understood, deeply shocked.

Xia An smiled and said, "To put it simply, how many people does a TV station in a prefecture-level city cover? In a city with a population of several million, how many people watch TV all the time?"

Bai Nan murmured, "Everyone's a media outlet now?"

Xia An said: "Self-media."
-
nine thirty.

With nearly a hundred candy stores across the province closing down, staff quickly replaced the old stores with brand-new large promotional posters, roll-up banners, and flyers.

[Fruit Basket Weibo, register now for a gift...]

Trucks that were about to deliver goods to various fresh food markets in the early morning began to drive out of the warehouse one after another, and brand-new posters were sprayed on their bodies in the courtyard.

[Fruit Basket Weibo, your exclusive online space]

……

January 1, 2007, 00:01.

www.weibo.com supports refreshing the login page.

Within half a minute, the data stream received over 200,000 visits, with the majority of the IP addresses located on campus.

Five minutes, 243 million.

Ten minutes, 300 million.

Xia An's previous personal beta test account has been made public.

A bunch of celebrity posts were flooding the homepage, but he didn't see them.

Search User: A Grapefruit
Click to follow.

A selfie taken on set, featuring crescent-shaped eyes and a pure, gentle smile.

Caption: May you have peace and safety every year, from early spring to late autumn.