Disabled Childhood Sweetheart: A Humble Puppy Begs for the Young Lady's Pity

Lin-Shen City, 2006.

Shenglong Huijin Building, Jiangdong South Road CBD area.

Xingyao Technology Co., Ltd. is located on the 20th to 23rd floors of the building. It is a young and dynamic Internet company. There is no excessive luxury decoration, no rules and regulations on the walls, but banners celebrating user growth of over 10 million and funny photos from team building activities.

The open office area is filled with rows of desktop computers, their cases covered with anime stickers, and each person's workstation has some anime figurines or celebrity posters.

The programmers in their early twenties, dressed in hoodies and jeans, were typing furiously on their keyboards.

It's not a large organization, with only two or three hundred employees. The core team consists of technical staff who have worked with Zhou Jingchen since the forum's inception. Later, they expanded to include operations, marketing, customer service, and other positions.

The company has completed two rounds of financing, and its valuation ranks among the top ten internet companies in China.

The noisy conference room fell silent the moment Zhou Jingchen pushed open the door.

The office was well-heated. He wasn't wearing a coat; his white shirt was tucked into his black trousers. He exuded an air of dignified composure as he strode to the head of the conference table and sat down.

He wasn't wearing a tie, and the top two buttons of his shirt were casually undone. The cuffs were rolled up to his elbows, revealing his well-defined forearms. Every gesture exuded the charm of a mature man.

"morning."

Zhou Jingchen nodded slightly to everyone, his voice gentle, but his angular face remained expressionless.

His deep eyes swept over everyone, his high, straight nose making his features even more defined. He pursed his thin lips, glanced at the documents beside him with a slight frown, and without looking up, said in a calm voice, "Let's begin."

Operations Director Li Wei spoke first: "Everyone has seen the data, right? The traffic generated by the doomsday topic has exploded. We've added 1200 million new registered users so far, with daily posts exceeding one million and peak concurrent users reaching 150 million. The 'Doomsday Ark' series of merchandise has already surpassed our total sales from the previous quarter in less than a month since its launch."

Chen Feng, head of the marketing department, added, "The essay contest attracted over 500,000 participants, and the topic is generating buzz across various platforms."

A few low exclamations of admiration rang out in the conference room.

Zhou Jingchen placed his hands on the table, twirling a pen in his right hand, his gaze calmly sweeping over everyone present.

"Very good." He paused, "But I'd like to ask, how long can this traffic last?"

The meeting room fell silent for a moment.

Zhou Jingchen walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker: "The doomsday news is a coincidence. The hype will fade, the panic will subside. A week later, a month later, after this year is over, when this topic is no longer novel, what will we rely on to retain these new users?"

His tone contained no accusation, but the issue itself was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.

Li Wei said, "We can continue to plan related activities to maintain the topic's popularity—"

"It's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause." Zhou Jingchen gently interrupted her, then turned and wrote a line on the whiteboard: User retention = Content quality × Community stickiness.

"We are not a news website, and we don't survive on breaking news. The core of Xinghe is community, the connection between people."

He put down his pen, looked around at everyone, and said, "The doomsday topic gave us traffic, but what can really retain users are the people who gathered here because of this topic, and the conversations, relationships and memories they have here."

He walked back to his seat, sat down, his posture relaxed yet exuding an undeniable presence.

"I have a small suggestion: the operations team could compile the best content from the essay contest into an ebook and give it to all participants so that users feel their expressions are valued. As for the rest, Director Li, I need your operations team to provide me with a complete plan."

He turned to look at the CTO: "Also, the technical team needs to optimize the server architecture to ensure a good user experience under high concurrency. This is crucial and cannot be overlooked."

"In addition," Zhou Jingchen turned his gaze to Chen Feng in the marketing department, "we will suspend the development of all new products related to the apocalypse, and the existing inventory will be cleared out as planned and will not be restocked."

Chen Feng was somewhat surprised: "President Zhou, these products are selling very well—"

"It's precisely because it's selling so well that we need to stop."

Zhou Jingchen calmly stated, "We cannot allow Xinghe's brand to be too deeply tied to a topic of panic. Over-commercializing short-term panic will damage the community's long-term reputation and value."

His voice remained gentle, yet carried an undeniable decisiveness.

After a long while, the afternoon sunlight shone into the conference room, falling on his well-defined profile.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back in his leather chair: "If there are no problems, then proceed in this direction."

"Give me the technical solution by Friday. The operations and product departments need to submit a detailed plan by next Monday. Meeting adjourned."

After leaving the conference room, Zhou Jingchen went around to the administration department: "Sister Qiao, those who have been working overtime lately will have their overtime pay doubled. We'll also be raising the standard for late-night snacks to seafood from Liang Ji Dessert, which is very popular for afternoon tea. Everyone has been working hard lately."

The other party nodded: "Okay, Mr. Zhou."

Zhou Jingchen, with one hand in his trouser pocket, turned and left, his broad shoulders and back and steady, powerful strides making him appear more confident.

"Sister Qiao, Sister Qiao..." A female colleague with curly hair called softly from the desk behind him, "President Zhou's surgery was very successful. He walks just like a normal person."

Sister Qiao sat down and took a sip of rose tea: "Of course, the surgery was done abroad. I heard it cost around 200,000 yuan in total."

"Spending over 200,000 yuan to cure a crippled leg isn't too expensive..."

Sister Qiao glanced at her: "US dollars."

"That's enough to buy my life." A girl wearing glasses pushed up her glasses.

Another female colleague, who was busy organizing documents, said, "President Zhou was already handsome. Even with his legs like that, many women were still attracted to him. Now that his legs are healed, won't he attract even more women?"

Someone clicked their tongue twice: "I wonder what kind of woman Mr. Zhou likes?"

Sister Qiao joked, "Anyway, I wouldn't like a married woman like you."

Before she could finish speaking, the other person jumped over and grabbed her neck. The office erupted in laughter.

-

After finishing his part-time job handing out flyers for Christmas, Wenxi soon stumbled upon a sizable bar on Changle Road that was hiring GOGOs.

You need to have a good appearance and be able to adapt to high-intensity lighting and music rhythms. In addition to a fixed salary, you can also earn extra income through customer orders or beverage sales commissions.

Wenxi has considerable experience in this area.

She knew how to get those lecherous, drunken men to willingly take out their money to buy expensive spirits and champagne;

She knew better than anyone how to navigate these situations with ease, making them crave her attention and actively register as members at nightclubs, becoming long-term customers and her major clients.

Seeing the job posting at the entrance, she went straight inside.

After explaining her purpose, the bar staff led her through the noisy dance floor to the general manager's office in the back office area.

Pushing open the door, a handsome young man sat inside. When he looked up and saw Wenxi, his eyes lit up for a moment.

"Mr. Zhao, this young lady is here to apply for a job at GOGO. Manager Zhang isn't here, could you please conduct the interview?"

The staff member introduced Wenxi to the owner of this bar, "You can chat with him."

Zhao Jinqian stood up, called someone to pour a glass of water and bring it in, and led Wenxi to sit down on the sofa.

Wenxi wasn't wearing makeup; her face was clear, natural, fair, and beautiful, like a jasmine flower.

Zhao Jinqian glanced at her a few times. The girl was wearing a large beige cotton-padded coat, black leggings that hugged her slender and straight legs, and camel-colored long snow boots that reached all the way up to her calves. She looked like a college student no matter how you looked at her.

He lit a cigarette, squinting at her through the smoke: "Have you ever danced before?"

Wenxi sat gracefully and politely, her body slightly turned to the side, facing the other person, her voice clear and pleasant: "I've been dancing since I was little."

How old are you?

"26 years old."

"Have you ever worked in nightclubs?"

"I've done it before, and I'm good at selling alcohol; I did quite well."

Zhao Jingan paused for a few seconds, then flicked his cigarette ash: "Okay, come over tomorrow night for a trial period. It'll be paid 300 yuan. If it's suitable, you can stay. We'll discuss the official salary then."

Three hundred!

Wenxi's eyes lit up a few times, and she immediately replied, "Okay."

The two exchanged phone numbers, and Zhao Jinqian watched her leave.

Once Wenxi's figure disappeared from sight, he immediately jumped up from his chair in excitement, his previous composure completely gone.

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, he dialed his best buddy's number and nonchalantly shouted, "Damn! Zhou Jingchen! I'm in love!"