Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi followed Ma Yongxing back to the private room on the second floor and sat down.

Ma Yongxing instructed Da Xiang to keep watch downstairs so that any further trouble could be dealt with promptly.

"I'm so sorry," Ma Yongxing said apologetically, handing Han Fei a cigarette. "I'm sorry you had to see this. That's how it is in these kinds of places; you see all sorts of people. If Han Fei hadn't come to my rescue, we probably would have ended up at the police station again."

Han Fei smiled quietly: "Have you seen the other man in VIP room number three just now?"

"No, not at all," Ma Yongxing said. "But that guy was quite strange; his friends were causing trouble, and he just sat there..."

Just then, someone gently knocked twice on the open door, and an unfamiliar voice came from the doorway: "May I come in?"

They looked toward the door and saw a man standing there.

Han Fei took a breath, hoping the man hadn't heard what he'd just said. The man had broad shoulders, long limbs, fair skin, and a hooked nose. The only difference from before was that he was now wearing a suit jacket.

Ma Yongxing nodded to the man.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ma, there were too many people downstairs just now, so I didn't feel comfortable speaking up. My people were inconsiderate and caused you trouble." The man walked in, revealing a row of neat, porcelain-white teeth, and extended a hand.

"It's alright. We also had our shortcomings." Ma Yongxing chuckled and shook hands with the man.

The man pulled a business card from his suit pocket: "This is my business card. If he dares to cause trouble again, just give me a call."

Ma Yongxing took the business card, glanced at it, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow before handing it to Han Fei.

Han Fei took it and looked at it; the business card read:

Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.

Senior Director of Strategic Development

Xu Cheng

Han Fei felt a chill run down his spine and exchanged a glance with Zhang Ruiyi.

Xu Cheng looked at Han Fei with curiosity: "This gentleman handled things very well just now, stabilizing the situation with just a few words. May I ask your name?"

Ma Yongxing said, "This is Han Fei, the president of Qingniao Publishing House."

Han Fei nodded and handed over his business card.

"Oh?" Xu Cheng took the business card, glanced at it, and extended his hand. "President Han, it's a pleasure to meet you. There's a new SP (Service Provider) business called Qingniao Reading that our company has been following. Is that what you're doing?"

"Nice to meet you." Han Fei shook hands with Xu Cheng, noticing that his fingers were long and twisted.

"Don't worry, it's not contagious," Xu Cheng explained. "It's just a very common type of arthritis, inherited from my family. The good thing is that it allows me to accurately predict the weather."

Ma Yongxing laughed and pushed a chair over: "Since it's Director Xu from Tencent, it seems my nightclub still has some value. Come, come, sit down and have a drink, let's call it a day."

Xu Cheng glanced at his watch and sat down: "Since Mr. Ma is so generous, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Han Fei cleared his throat: "Someone of Director Xu's caliber should be staying at the Shenzhen headquarters. This trip to Shanghai must be for work purposes?"

Xu Cheng nodded, politely declining the cigarette offered by Ma Yongxing: "President Han, since I've met you here, I won't beat around the bush. I'm here today to investigate the new model of SP business. Our department has done research, and your model has a very unique entry point. According to our assessment, the content conversion rate should be astonishing. This is a very imaginative direction in the current SP field."

Han Fei smiled faintly: "Director Xu, you flatter me. We are just a small publishing house, forced by the market to come up with this approach. It's just a matter of luck that it's working for now."

"President Han is too modest," Xu Cheng said, taking a glass of red wine from Ma Yongxing. "Tencent is also exploring the diversification of value-added services. Companies like yours, which have gone so deep into the vertical content field, are exactly the kind of partners we very much hope to reach out to."

Han Fei looked directly into Xu Cheng's flickering dark eyes. Zhang Ruiyi glanced at Han Fei, as if worried about something.

Cooperation? What kind of bullshit cooperation is this? Han Fei thought to himself.

Based on his understanding of Tencent, for small teams, "cooperation" in Tencent's context often means acquisition, controlling stake, or technology replication. It's either about investing in and integrating into the system, or quickly following up and imitating, using its massive user base to overtake the competition.

Xu Cheng, as the "Senior Director of Strategic Development," personally came to Shanghai for inspection, indicating that Tencent has already regarded content-based SPs as the next growth point and has even formed a dedicated team for it.

Here comes the wolf.

Time is running out.

Han Fei waited until he and Xu Cheng made eye contact before saying, "We have indeed put some effort into the content, but compared to Tencent's QQ platform, we are still far behind. Yours is the product that has truly changed the way tens of millions of people communicate."

Ma Yongxing looked at the two of them with a blank expression.

Xu Cheng laughed heartily, the seasoned laugh of a victor, conveying a sense of finally finding a worthy opponent: "President Han, you must know this too. The SP business has reached a stage where homogenization is rampant. Relying solely on mass messaging and ringback tones has a clear ceiling. What truly retains users is engaging content like yours. The author resources and paying user data you've accumulated are the real barriers to entry. Our Tencent QQ platform has a massive user base, but we've always lacked good content to serve them. Sometimes I really envy you content creators; you can polish a story so captivatingly."

Han Fei raised his eyebrows, neither confirming nor denying these claims.

"President Han, this setting is too noisy today; it's not suitable for a deep conversation." Xu Cheng picked up his wine glass, downed it in one gulp, and stood up. "I'm very interested in your Bluebird model. If you don't mind, let's formally schedule a time in a few days for me to visit your company, and we can sit down and have a proper chat?"

"Director Xu, you are welcome to come to our small town to provide guidance anytime. However, we've been working day and night lately, so things might be a bit chaotic."

Xu Cheng smiled slightly and glanced at his watch: "Then it's settled. President Han, Mr. Ma, I have some matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now."

Ma Yongxing nodded: "No need to see me off, Director Xu."

Xu Cheng walked to the door and suddenly stopped. "President Han, starting a business is like running a marathon. Sometimes finding a good pacer or aid station can help you go further. I hope we have the opportunity to be your aid station," he said, turning around.

"Director Xu," Han Fei said, "we're afraid we'll have to pedal our beat-up car for a while longer. We can think about changing the engine once we're on the highway."

Xu Cheng shrugged: "See you next time."