Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

"I'm glad we could meet like this." Chen Zhengyuan raised his glass.

The two raised their glasses in a toast, and Li Xiaoman, the female assistant of the NetEase R&D team, smiled at Chen Zhengyuan, the senior vice president.

"And it wasn't just about business," Chen Zhengyuan said, staring at Li Xiaoman until she lowered her head. Chen Zhengyuan carefully examined her. She wasn't the glamorous type; her features were a bit rough, and her figure was quite voluptuous, but she possessed a unique charm and allure, and had a youthful body.

Yesterday afternoon, Li Xiaoman called Chen Zhengyuan from the staff office, saying she had something unusual to report to him. But before she could finish speaking, she was summoned to Chen Zhengyuan's office. As soon as she stepped into the office, Chen Zhengyuan immediately said he didn't have time, but they could meet at the Bund Source Hotel on Saturday, which is today, to discuss it over a meal.

"We hard-working people should also get some extra allowance," Chen Zhengyuan said. Li Xiaoman thought he was referring to the meal subsidy.

So far, everything has been going quite smoothly. The restaurant manager led them to the table on the first floor where Chen Zhengyuan usually sat, and as far as Chen Zhengyuan could see, there was no one he recognized in the restaurant.

"Oh, by the way, I received a very unusual text message yesterday," Li Xiaoman said, asking the waiter to unfold her napkin and place it on her lap. "It was from an SP service account called Qingniao Reading. The content of the message was very interesting, like the headlines of a street tabloid, but a bit more sophisticated. It didn't say anything explicit, but rather hooked you with its content, making you want to know what happened next after just one glance. Replying to the message would cost 10 yuan to unlock the rest of the content, and it even included a website link that could be accessed directly on a mobile phone." Li Xiaoman's eyes darted around.

"She shouldn't be wearing such heavy makeup," Chen Zhengyuan thought. "Bluebird Reading? Why are you interested in this now?"

"Director Wang Yu already gave instructions in the group, saying that everyone should pay attention to information related to Qingniao Reading. Wasn't this something you instructed us to do?"

Chen Zhengyuan smiled simply: "Of course, it was at my behest."

Damn it, of course it wasn't his doing. That little bitch Wang Yu hasn't spoken to him since they left Wen Jie's house last time. When they bumped into each other at the company, Wang Yu just nodded indifferently and walked past. Chen Zhengyuan called her several times, but either no one answered or her secretary answered.

At the company's routine meeting a couple of days ago, Wang Yu sat at the other end of the conference table, her face tense the entire time, deliberately avoiding Chen Zhengyuan's gaze. After the meeting, Chen Zhengyuan walked around to her seat, intending to ask why she hadn't been coming to his office to report on her work lately. However, she simply looked up and said expressionlessly, "Mr. Chen, is there something you need?"

Is something wrong? Damn it, how could there be nothing wrong between them? Women are so childish when they get jealous.

Why is she still fixated on Qingniao Reading? She's even using her entire team to gather information. Does she really think a struggling little publishing house can cause any trouble? What is this woman so stubborn about?

Wen Jie's older sister is indeed quite nice, but she seems very difficult to obtain; he doesn't even know her name yet. Could he call Professor Zhang at Shanghai Normal University and ask for information about Miss Wen? But what would be a good reason to do?

"I knew it," Li Xiaoman said with a smile, "It must have been at your behest, otherwise I wouldn't have gone around Director Wang and bothered you with such a trivial matter."

"You can call me anytime, Xiaoman," Chen Zhengyuan said, then suddenly felt a pang of surprise. Was her name Li Xiaoman? He couldn't have called her by the wrong name, could he? Chen Zhengyuan gestured to the waiter to bring more wine. "What are your thoughts on that text message?"

"You told us to keep an eye on Qingniao Reading, so after I received this text message, I specifically replied to see what it said next. Wait a minute, I'll show you on my phone." Li Xiaoman bent down to find her phone in her handbag, her upper arm shaking.

"She should exercise more," Chen Zhengyuan thought. "If she loses just four or five kilograms, Li Xiaoman will be plump instead of... obese."

Li Xiaoman handed over the phone: "Look, this is it."

Chen Zhengyuan took the phone and scanned the screen. The article was called "Grave Grass," written by the author Heitu, and it told the story of a man returning to his hometown to seek revenge.

Thirty years ago, the village bully and his wife conspired to kill his father, burying his remains in a mass grave. Thirty years later, he returned to find the bully's son had built a new house on his father's grave. He didn't make a fuss, but instead bided his time, slowly approaching the family. Finally, he orchestrated the accidental deaths of his enemies one by one: some drowned after drinking, some crashed their cars into ditches, and some suffered sudden heart attacks in the middle of the night. Beside each victim, a blade of grass brought back from the mass grave would appear.

Chen Zhengyuan then clicked on the Qingniao Reading website, and burst into laughter after reading it.

"What kind of rubbish is this? It's supposed to be a publishing house, but can't it even afford a decent writer these days? Black Soil, Old Locust, Hedgehog—not a single one of them is familiar. Writing this kind of low-brow stuff is just fooling those who haven't read much. Who with even a modicum of taste could stand it? If I wanted to read something, isn't my copy of *White Deer Plain* on my bookshelf a million times better than this?"

Li Xiaoman looked up at him: "I actually find it quite interesting. I couldn't help but read several articles yesterday. What they're doing might actually work."

"That's what you don't understand, Xiaoman," Chen Zhengyuan said, leaning forward after the waiters poured their drinks. "Let me tell you, in the internet content industry, it all boils down to two things: brand and talent. As for brand, our Wangyi is one of the top portal websites in the country. And as for talent, we have an entire building full of editors, planners, and technical staff, all graduates of prestigious universities. And look at them! A publishing house on the verge of bankruptcy, a few writers poached from who-knows-where. Even their rudimentary WAP website was made by one of our former employees, a bit of a novice. For them to compete with Wangyi in the SP market is like a mayfly trying to shake a tree, don't you think?"

Li Xiaoman smiled slightly, though she hesitated.

Chen Zhengyuan raised his glass.

"I'm wondering how we should handle this?" Li Xiaoman said.

"Never mind that," Chen Zhengyuan said, "but I'm also thinking about something, Xiaoman."

"What is it?"

Have you seen the presidential suite at this hotel?

Li Xiaoman smiled slightly and said she hadn't seen it.