Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 177 Topology

How powerful are Tieba (Baidu's online forum) these days?

After someone was scammed out of game points, they posted the scammer's phone number on a forum, which received replies from other users who shared the scammer's recent job postings.

Ask any question, and you'll find all sorts of knowledgeable netizens passing by to answer it, including but not limited to clips from Nissan pornographic DVDs you've seen before, how to use an underwear extender, the function of the curved notch at the front of a toilet seat, guessing the car model and location from a partial photo of your girlfriend riding in a car, and so on.

Li Yi Bar is a gathering place for great minds, emphasizing substance and producing very high-quality posts, earning it the nickname "the Louvre of Baidu Tieba".

Because Chinese football player Li Yi claimed that his ball protection was like that of Henry the Great, he got the nickname "Emperor". The Li Yi Bar was called Emperor Bar, or D8 for short.

The internet slang terms "loser," "rich and beautiful," "you know what I mean," "brainless kids have lots of fun," and "black out of the woods" all originated from the Tieba forum.

Chen Xuebing followed the posts in the front row and saw that they were all using his name as a synonym. With the keen sense of a seasoned netizen, he knew that given the meme-making and dissemination capabilities of Diba (a popular online forum), his name was likely to become a popular internet meme.

A meme about "others not knowing how rich I am".

It's actually a good thing that it becomes a meme.

Jack Ma, Lei Jun, Dong Mingzhu, and other big names in retail and the internet are all leveraging their brand awareness to enhance their company's marketing. The reach and trust generated by the "familiarity effect" are gradually becoming a core part of their competitiveness.

He sensed an opportunity in it.

If you successfully create a celebrity image, you can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

However, this image cannot be negative.

Tencent has now released his "negative news." Of course, the high price paid to poach the president of a listed company has not caused any negative impact so far. Everyone feels that business behavior does not involve morality. On the contrary, it has made netizens more expectant of the contrast between the two.

But it's definitely not okay to let netizens dig into it like this.

His past is filled with scandals.

Middle school bullies, brawls in Furong Village, extortion of Zhao Wanping's shop in Huaqiangbei, counterfeit mobile phone vendors...

These things happen to many people, not just the parties involved, but also to many bystanders. It's impossible to prevent them from happening. Once they are exposed, it's easy to create an image of him as a "corrupt businessman involved in organized crime".

Although the legal risks are not high, and the Huaqiangbei mobile phone industry is not subject to the law because of the large number of people involved, and it is difficult to obtain evidence of fights over time, no one can withstand the negative online reputation, especially since he still needs to sell products in the future.

You must establish a persona from the outset.

Create a persona that is not easily strained.

He has to get involved himself.

"Long March Capital, don't worry about this. Just focus on your own business. I'll handle it."

Chen Xuebing gave Xu Jin the order, got up, and went upstairs to take a look around.

Everyone had left work and the door was locked, but the receptionist on the 45th floor had a key, so he asked Yin Xin to come up and open the door.

The office on the left side of the elevator on the 46th floor was arranged by the building's Jingli Property Management a dozen days ago. It is almost the same as the one on the 45th floor, with a rectangular structure, a large hall, and four independent offices on both sides of the corridor.

However, the group's structure is different from that of Changzheng Capital. It does not require open communication and needs a quiet office space. So he instructed the administrative director, He Yue, to remove glass partitions from the entire hall, creating two large offices and ten cubicles against the wall.

One large office is for finance, and the other is for administration. The smaller rooms have been converted into a reception room, a meeting room, and a tea room. The rest are used as offices for the department heads and deputy heads.

It's enough for now, but in his view, this is actually just a "chairman's office" for the group.

The administration department is responsible for managing official documents and seals, issuing rules and regulations, managing meetings, and handling receptions. Overall, it acts as a steward to help him improve work efficiency.

Finances are of paramount importance and must be kept under constant scrutiny.

In the future, the group will have other business departments, and it will probably need to rent one or two floors downstairs.

After looking around, I also mentally calculated my assets.

The group's current expenses are 200 million yuan drawn from the labor service company.

In addition to the 300 million yuan start-up capital given by Chen Xuebing, Gu'an Labor Services has saved more than 400 million yuan from selling sand. The 100 million yuan final payment for the Furong Village construction site will also be settled soon. The livelihood project construction site is now operating normally and can be completed with progress payments. In the short term, there are about 600 million yuan of funds available for allocation.

The money was originally intended for Qidian Technology, but Qidian took out a loan of 500 million yuan, so he used 150 million yuan of that money to supplement Changzheng Capital, and then withdrew 200 million yuan for group expenditures, leaving more than 300 million yuan for Gu'an Labor Services to help his uncle raise funds for the Taohuaxi River whole-section management project.

He gave almost all of his personal money to Lin Huixiang, leaving him with only a card with a balance of over 50,000 yuan. However, he didn't have any expenses, as the group's administration would handle his airfare and hotel bookings, and the finance department would record them as official expenses.

With a parent company involved, it's easier to transfer financial personnel.

Just as he was thinking this, Yin Xin, who was following him around, suddenly spoke up.

"Chairman, I think setting up a headquarters now is a bit of a waste of money. I see that you are in charge of all the business, and you are always flying here and there. The people in the headquarters have nothing to do."

Chen Xuebing turned to look at her indignant expression and laughed: "You're just a lowly security guard, saying things like that. Aren't you afraid of retaliation from the group's leaders in the future? There are surveillance cameras here."

Yin Xin shut her mouth.

But after a long silence, he muttered, "I was just trying to save you money, the fund hasn't been making much money lately."

This girl has always felt a strong sense of belonging to the company, arriving earliest and leaving latest every day. She also has a good image. With nothing else to do, Chen Xuebing, in a good mood to mentor newcomers, led her to sit on the sofa in the reception room and said with a smile:

"The purpose of setting up this holding group is to ensure business independence. A holding company is different from a regular parent company. It does not participate in daily operations. Each branch only has one parent company, which can maintain its independence. The group can also unify its finances. In the future, it can also coordinate resources and help the three business subsidiaries develop by investing in other companies and establishing functional subsidiaries. Do you understand?"

Yin Xin shook his head honestly.

She didn't understand the company structure. She thought that as long as it was like Long March Capital, there would be someone in charge of everything, and only those in charge would have value, while everyone else would just be idle.

Chen Xuebing understood her thinking and changed his approach, saying, "Let me put it this way, there will definitely be a group headquarters, because I need a tool to help me integrate the resources of various subsidiaries. The tool I chose is the one that interferes with the subsidiaries the least. Normally, no group leader will tell you to go east or west. They will only study what you need and what they can provide for you based on your development and financial situation. The only one who can change your strategic decisions is me."

His core philosophy is to develop what should be developed, help where help is needed, maintain independence and professionalism, and focus on doing his own job well.

When he feels it is necessary to intervene, he will issue orders through the group or personally take command.

The architecture is now in place; all that's left is for the CEO to arrive.

Yin Xin seemed to understand but not quite, and asked curiously, "Why choose this method? I think you're still making the decisions about the branch offices. Wouldn't it be better to have a unified report and let the people at head office help you handle it?"

"Because each subsidiary will be listed independently in the future, and must be an independent legal entity, the parent company's management traces cannot be too heavy."

"Oh!!" Yin Xin's eyes lit up: "So the subsidiaries directly managed by the holding group are to be listed independently, while those under the subsidiary's name are not listed, right?"

Chen Xuebing was stunned for a moment.

Your thinking is very divergent.

"I suppose so." He nodded. "The businesses under our subsidiaries will also be listed, but they will be listed along with the corresponding subsidiaries. All the businesses under our group will be listed in batches."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Chairman, could our Changzheng be the first company to go public?"

Chen Xuebing smiled enigmatically: "Take a guess. Based on the current situation, which of our three companies is most likely to be listed on the A-share market first? There's a prize for guessing correctly."

"You said there's a prize for guessing correctly, so it definitely isn't Changzheng Capital. Gu'an Construction isn't very profitable either, so it's not that either. I guess... Qidian Technology!" Chen Xuebing grinned, put his hands in his pockets, got up, and walked out.

"Congratulations, you answered incorrectly."

Yin Xin was stunned for a moment, and seeing Chen Xuebing about to leave, he became anxious: "Chairman, you're cheating! You can't just say whichever you want! You have to tell me the reason!"

Chen Xuebing turned around and counted on his fingers, saying, "Finance, public utilities and transportation, TMT. Go back and check the number of private listed companies in these three sectors on the A-share market. Qidian Technology, which you mentioned, belongs to the TMT sector. In the A-share market, this sector is dominated by state-owned enterprises, and private companies can be counted on one hand. Qidian Technology, which you guessed, is the most difficult to list. In addition to scale, a company's development also depends on policies."

Saying it's a hand's worth is being polite. From now until the next decade or so, there isn't a single company in China's A-share TMT sector with international influence.

"Why does it have to be an A-share listing?" Yin Xin, who had been living on the 45th floor and had some knowledge about listings, argued, "I see that all those internet technology companies are listing overseas! Hong Kong stocks are fine too!"

Chen Xuebing smiled and held up one finger.

"A single dominant player!"

Actually, Chen Xuebing cheated.

Telecommunications, Media, Technology, TMT, and Singularity Technology don't really qualify as any of these categories yet; to be precise, they belong to consumer electronics.

However, he does intend to take action against the internet.

Tencent has monopolized the internet communications sector that he most wants to enter, and has even threatened to blacklist him in the internet industry. He has long wanted to retaliate, but he has been thinking about how to make a move. He is afraid that if he creates something new, it will be copied mindlessly by Tencent before it can be developed, which would be a loss for him.

Today's events gave him a glimmer of opportunity.

The forum's traffic isn't actually that bad.
First, become an internet celebrity and generate buzz!

……

"Mom, I'm back!"

With nowhere to sleep at the company, Chen Xuebing had no choice but to take his laptop home. When he opened the door, he found his mother playing with clay with Chen Xuejin in the living room.

"What's going on? Has your intelligence regressed? Why are you playing with things that kids play with?" Chen Xuebing stepped forward and patted Chen Xuejin's head.

Chen Xuejin glanced at him, but wasn't interested in replying, and continued fiddling with his clay.

Yu Chunyan got up, went to the door, grabbed a pair of slippers, threw them in front of him, and patted him on the shoulder: "You've just come back and you're already talking about your little brother? Xiao Jin is just a kid! Besides, even if I told you, you probably wouldn't understand what he was doing!"

"Yo?"

Just as Chen Xuebing was about to offer his criticism, Chen Xuejin waved his hand and said:
"He's bad at math, so he definitely wouldn't understand."

"Little brat, isn't that going too far?" Chen Xuebing glared and shouted, but he didn't seem very confident.

If this thing is related to math, he's ready to wash up and go to bed to avoid embarrassing himself.

Chen Xuejin didn't say anything, but simply pieced together a bunch of scattered items on the coffee table and placed them in front of him.

It is a wooden base with a stick inserted at each end. A rubber band is attached to each stick, and a ring hangs in the middle of the rubber band.

"The leather cord must not detach from the wooden sticks at both ends. Take off the ring. If you do, I will tell you what I am playing."

Chen Xuebing became interested upon hearing this.

This is just an educational toy!

He played with things like the Nine-Linked Rings, Luban Lock, and Tangram when he was a kid!
He lost interest in changing his shoes and squatted down to fiddle with them for a while.

half an hour.

"Give me a hint? Demonstrate it once, I'm sure I can do it!"

Chen Xuejin gave him a disdainful look, reached out and threaded the rubber band through the ring, wrapped it around the stick once and then again, and let go, and the ring came off.

The movements are incredibly smooth.

Chen Xuebing memorized the movements perfectly, immediately took the ring, and prepared to put it back on and then take it off again the way he came.

Chen Xuejin chuckled mischievously, "The question has changed. Now, don't touch the stick, and put the ring back on."

"Holy crap." Chen Xuebing was stunned.

After fiddling around for a while, I felt even worse than before; I had no clue what to do next.

I'm completely convinced.

"Master Chen, please explain the principle behind it."

“That’s called spatial imagination! Topology!” Chen Xuejin happily picked up the ring, then quickly slipped it back on. “Two equivalent objects can be transformed into the same shape through continuous deformation!”

"Hiss..."

Chen Xuebing was a little stunned.

He actually knew about topology; it was a math course for third-year students.

Of course, aside from the name "topology," he knew nothing about its contents.

He wasn't interested at first, but when he discovered that this little toy actually contained principles of university-level mathematics, he couldn't help but ask:
"You really know? Explain it to me, let me hear it?"

"I've already explained it!" Chen Xuejin said, kneading the clay in his hand. "This clay can be molded into various shapes, and these shapes are all from the same mold! The rubber band and the ring do not violate the physical principle of penetration; it's just a small trap that goes against our cognitive habits!"

Chen Xuebing forced a smile: "Could you say something I can understand?"

"Deformation, spatial imagination! I've already told you you're bad at math, you won't understand!" Chen Xuejin insisted.

"Ha, a truly good teacher is one who speaks in the simplest language so that even the worst student can understand," Chen Xuebing retorted provocatively.

Chen Xuejin shook his head, looking profound.

"You're talking about other sciences, modern mathematics. If you try to explain abstract concepts in the simplest language, it will definitely get distorted. Take this ring, for example. I can tell you exactly how to solve it, and you'll learn it quickly. But if you change the problem or the direction, you still won't understand. If you don't believe me, we'll bet you. I'll teach you, and then I'll test you with another problem. You definitely won't be able to solve it."

Chen Xuebing's mouth twitched; he wanted to curse.

But now, the way I remembered Chen Xuejin untying the ring is all jumbled up in my head, and I can't remember the direction anymore.

His spatial reasoning ability is truly terrible.

But he was also a little defiant, so he got up somewhat irritably: "Heh, topology, I'll test you when I've learned it."

Yu Chunyan saw Chen Xuebing carrying his laptop and walking out, and called out, "Where are you going?"

"I need to borrow your Wi-Fi at Aunt Liu's house upstairs!"

(End of this chapter)