Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Han Fei hesitated for a moment, then opened the door and got out of the car, looking at the man: "Brother, I'm going to take a call, it's about the company."

"President Han, please proceed."

Han Fei walked around the bread cart and headed towards the back of the woods. Only when he was out of the man's hearing range did he press the answer button and hold the phone to his ear.

"Director Xu."

"Hey, President Han," Xu Cheng paused for two seconds, "Are you outside?"

"Um?"

"It sounds very empty over there."

"Yeah, I'm in the suburbs, just getting some fresh air. I've been cooped up in the office all day looking at drafts, my brain's practically fried." Han Fei leaned against a tree trunk, looking towards the side gate of the compound, but saw nothing. "Did Director Xu call because there's been progress on that incubation draft?"

"The incubation draft is still going through the process. I'm calling you because the legal department needs to confirm something. President Han, have you noticed something in the industry lately? Guangdong Mobile is bidding for content-based SP partners. The conditions are quite interesting; it's clearly targeting teams with content accumulation. If Qingniao submits an application, their chances of winning should be quite high. So, I wonder if President Han would be willing to share your plans? That way, we can better determine whether the draft needs to be adjusted."

"Director Xu is really well-informed. We did submit our bid for the Guangdong project; after all, the requirements were there, and it wouldn't be right not to. But as you know, these provincial-level tenders aren't just about the materials. For a small out-of-town company like ours, it would be great if we won, but it's normal if we don't. As for your incubation draft, my team is already impatient; we're just waiting for your technical experts to come and mentor us."

"President Han is right," Xu Cheng said. "Provincial bidding is indeed unpredictable, and your ability to participate with a calm mindset is commendable. I also want to make the 'exclusivity of external cooperation' clause in the draft more reasonable to avoid wasting resources due to overlap if you win the bid. There's another matter. Speaking of mentoring, I have an idea I'd like to share with you first. We've discussed it internally and feel that the incubation program shouldn't just remain on paper waiting for the process to complete. If it's convenient for you, could we take a small step and mentor through practical experience?"

"Oh? To teach through real combat?" Han Fei repeated, buying himself time to think.

The incubation program is a phased, milestone-based long-term plan. The draft hasn't even been released yet, so why did Xu Cheng suddenly propose skipping the formal agreement and using core assets for cooperation ahead of schedule—such a commercially high-risk, pre-emptive plan? For a company the size of Tencent, this is definitely not a normal mentoring or testing process. His mind raced, a series of thoughts flashing through his head: bidding, media attention, Tencent's tactics...

"As you know," Xu Cheng said, "QQ has a mature system message push mechanism, which is the 'Tencent Mini Homepage' window that pops up in the lower right corner after you log in to QQ, as well as important QQ system broadcasts. We've always mainly used these channels to promote our own business, such as memberships and major news events. My idea is, could we allocate a small portion of resources during non-core time slots to conduct a short-term, small-scale test with one or two of your most popular novels, and see how your conversion rate and retention will change in the context of QQ users? This would also be a real stress test for your technical team."

"Director Xu, this hands-on mentoring approach is indeed much more effective than sitting in the office waiting for drafts," Han Fei said vaguely.

He took a breath, breaking down his thoughts and trying to piece them back together. The thoughts quickly reassembled, effortlessly, and spontaneously. His pulse quickened. If this made perfect sense… he understood. Xu Cheng wasn't testing; he was giving it a head start. With media reports, it was clear that more than one giant was vying for Qingniao's attention. Xu Cheng's eagerness to cooperate before the formal framework was finalized was a way of binding Qingniao to Tencent, deterring other competitors. So Tencent was this anxious.

"So, what does President Han think?" Xu Cheng asked.

"Director Xu," Han Fei said, "our current technical architecture is optimized for SP SMS channels, and integrating QQ traffic might require some modifications. Perhaps I should have the team conduct a technical assessment first to see how to connect in the most stable and cost-effective way. At the same time, we might need to have a simple written memo regarding the ownership and scope of use of the test data. If all of these are clarified, I'm very willing to give it a try. After all, my original intention is to let more people see good content."

"Of course," Xu Cheng said politely. "I just wanted to let you know and see if you're interested. Since you are, I'll have someone refine the plan as soon as possible, including the traffic scale, testing period, data ownership, and the written memorandum you mentioned. We'll put it all into a formal proposal and then sit down to discuss it in detail."

A muffled thud came from the direction of the courtyard, like someone slamming their hand on a table, or like a door being kicked open.

"Great," Han Fei said. "You took the initiative to propose using QQ data for a practical test even before the draft was finalized. I appreciate your sincerity. I'll make preparations as soon as possible."

......

Elephant slammed the door shut and, along with several men, hurried down the stairs, their panting and the clatter of their footsteps echoing between the red brick walls. As they emerged from the main building, two other groups of people were just coming out of the buildings on either side.

"Did you see anyone?" the elephant asked loudly.

The group exchanged glances and then shook their heads.

Elephant turned to Ma Yongxing: "Boss, we've searched all the rooms with open doors, but there's no one there. There's one room on the second floor that's locked."

"Let's go up and take a look," Ma Yongxing said.

The elephant led the group up the stairs, climbing three steps at a time.

They stopped in front of a green-painted door on the second floor. The elephant moved forward, pressing his ear against the door—a simple and effective way to check inside. But he heard nothing, not even a sound. He took three steps back, grabbed the protruding wooden beam between the door frame and the lintel, and pulled himself up until he was high enough to see inside through the lintel, but his view was very limited; he could only see a sofa, a few small chairs, and a small table by the window. On the table was an ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

"I'm not sure if there's anyone inside," the elephant said, landing on the ground.

"Break the door down," Ma Yongxing said.