Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

The computer host emits a faint beep, indicating that the reading is complete.

Han Fei turned his attention back to the screen, moved the mouse, and clicked on the USB drive he had obtained in exchange for "five bottles of foreign liquor." A densely packed TXT document came into view.

He opened one of the documents and saw that the names, numbers, and cities were arranged neatly.

Han Fei yawned, stretched, and shut down the computer.

He climbed into bed and lay there staring at the ceiling.

The SP port and number are all set up; everything is ready except for the website.

I currently have 3 yuan left. After deducting daily expenses, I only have a little over 2 yuan available for allocation. It's impossible to build a website that can support SP business and paid reading through normal channels.

If the conventional path doesn't work, then you have to take the unconventional path.

The next morning, Han Fei pulled a flannel shirt and a pair of Dior jeans from his closet. He couldn't remember when he bought them, only that he rarely wore them.

Han Fei dressed, put on sunglasses, and went out. When he passed a watch shop, he went in and bought a counterfeit watch for 300 yuan—a Cartier Tank watch that was made to look very similar to the original.

He put on his watch, checked his appearance in the watch shop mirror, straightened his collar, and smoothed his eyebrows with saliva. He was quite satisfied with his outfit.

Finally, he went to the used car market.

Liu Dong spotted him immediately and greeted him with a big smile.

"Hey, President Han! You look so handsome today? Here to redeem your car?" Liu Dong lit a cigarette with one hand and handed the cigarette case to Han Fei with the other.

Han Fei took the cigarette, shook his head, and said with a smile, "How can it be so fast? I came today to ask you for a favor."

"No problem, no problem! Uh..." Liu Dong said, somewhat embarrassed, "President Han, about that incident last time..."

"Ha, don't worry, I remember everything!"

"That's good. So, what do you want to do today...?"

"Could you help me get a car? I'd like to rent it for a few days."

"No problem, we also have car rental services here. How about something affordable and easy to drive?" Liu Dong turned around, pointed, and said, "Like those over there, we have Hondas, Hyundais, all kinds of Japanese cars, even Mercedes and BMWs!"

Han Fei shook his head and looked around the entire car dealership. He saw a boxy black Land Rover parked against the wall.

In 2004, Land Rover had just entered the Chinese market and was an absolute symbol of wealth, exuding more mystery and power than Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

"What's the price of that one?" Han Fei asked, gesturing with his chin towards the Land Rover.

"A Land Rover!" Liu Dong exclaimed in surprise. "That one costs 350 a day, with a 5,000 deposit. What is President Han planning to do?"

"Hey, I just want to try it out, just in case I can actually afford it later." Han Fei pulled a wad of cash out of his bag. "Let's rent it for three days first."

Liu Dong quickly completed the formalities and, as he handed over the keys, specifically reminded him, "President Han, this car has high fuel consumption but is very powerful, so please drive it carefully!"

Han Fei got into the driver's seat and turned the key. The Land Rover's engine emitted a deep, resonant sound, and the scenery outside the window flashed by quickly. The car had already driven onto Binjiang Road and sped away.

......

Wen Jie pushed open the heavy glass door of the NetEase building with his foot, stepped down the stairs, and the strong midday sun made it difficult for him to open his eyes. He stopped and looked down at the cardboard box in his arms.

Inside were a few odds and ends from his workstation: a keyboard and mouse, a mug with the NetEase logo, and a group photo from last year's department team-building event. Everyone in the photo was laughing carefree, which now seems a bit ironic.

Wen Jie worked as a programmer at NetEase for three years. He used to love the atmosphere there and the job, but everything seemed to change after the new product director took office.

Wen Jie spent nearly two months leading the development of a project to optimize the internal content management system, but it was just rejected by the product director with a single sentence.

"The technical implementation is beautiful, Mr. Wen." The director patted him on the shoulder, his tone like he was comforting an ignorant child, "But right now the company's focus is on portal traffic and Google revenue. This thing of yours can't be seen by users, and it won't bring direct revenue in the short term. Let's put it aside for now."

In NetEase's context, "fangfang" is basically equivalent to "throwing it into the trash can".

Wen Jie is not incapable of accepting the project being canceled.

It is common practice for internet companies to allocate resources to businesses that can generate quick profits.

What he cannot accept is that kind of contempt based on short-term utilitarianism.

They don't care how much editorial productivity this system will free up, how quickly it can respond to trending topics, or how much content assets it can accumulate once it's fully implemented. They only care about the numbers on the reports for this quarter.

What chilled him even more was the expression on the director's face when he tried to argue his point, a mixture of impatience and "you're too naive."

It seems that Wen Jie wasn't engrossed in writing code, but rather in some unrealistic fantasy.

And then there's the most disgusting "horse racing" mechanism.

Several groups worked on similar functions simultaneously, euphemistically calling it internal competition, with the winner taking all.

The result was the reinvention of the wheel, internal resource consumption, and mutual distrust between teams, turning technical sharing sessions into battlefields for spying on each other.

Wenjie believes his skills are second to none, but he is thoroughly fed up with the atmosphere.

Writing code should be a pure and joyful thing, so when did it become so messy and chaotic?

He needs a new work environment where he can focus on building something, rather than just meeting KPIs.

Wen Jie turned his head and looked up at the company building, listening to the various noises: cars, trams, and voices. The excited and happy voices seemed hurried, accompanied by footsteps.

The impulse to resign was not without fear.

I have a mortgage to pay, not much savings, and my next job is still uncertain.

Wen Jie took a deep breath, reached the bottom of the steps, and continued walking forward. At this moment, he saw the black Land Rover in the parking lot again.

Wen Jie knew that this was a newly introduced model this year, which was definitely rare and eye-catching in China.

That's why he clearly remembered that the car had been appearing in different parking spaces in the parking lot in front of the company for the past two days, and he had even caught a glimpse of it when he left work yesterday afternoon.

He also remembered that no one in the company drove this kind of car.

Has someone changed their car?

He squinted and moved a little closer.

Just as he was wondering what was going on, the car door suddenly opened, startling him.

A man got out of the car and closed the door quickly.

The man was very tall and strong, and looked to be in his early twenties at most. He wore a dark flannel shirt with the sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms, and a pair of well-fitting dark jeans. A pair of sunglasses sat on his straight nose, and the watch on his wrist gleamed in the sunlight.

The man smiled at Wen Jie, revealing a row of impeccably white teeth, and slowly walked towards him.

Wen Jie stared intently at the man, and the first thought that popped into his mind was: Damn, this is the kind of person I want to be. Not only is he rich, but he's also fucking handsome!