Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

Xu Cheng nodded sullenly: "President Han, I understand. Team morale is indeed a big deal, especially for a team like yours that has fought its way up. Trust is more important than anything else."

"I'm really grateful that Director Xu understands this. Our team has been able to get to where we are today thanks to this kind of spirit. If you asked me to tell these guys now that we should hand over our system to the experts at Tencent, I'm afraid half of their enthusiasm would be extinguished on the spot. Whether you're a content creator or a coder, what you fear most isn't being overworked, but feeling like you're no longer useful."

"Yes, I completely understand," Xu Cheng said. "But to be honest, the system you've built has a finite ceiling. If the user base continues to surge, and the system crashes and users leave, the fire in your brothers' hearts will probably die out even faster. I'm not here to undermine you; I genuinely believe that your direction deserves to go further. But to go further, passion alone isn't enough."

"Director Xu's words did sting, but they're also true. So I'm not stubborn and insist on keeping this business from everyone else. Besides, who wouldn't want Tencent's help and traffic? I just want to find a gentler approach, to first let the team know that Tencent is interested. If they really don't want to, I was thinking, could you send a few people over, not to take over, but to mentor them? Let my team learn and grow with them. The system can be optimized and restructured as needed, but nominally and emotionally, it's still their own. Or, could you arrange some small channels to help us promote it first, so my team knows their limits? Then we can discuss deeper cooperation, and they'll be more convinced."

Xu Cheng nodded, looking down at the glossy paint on the table that was about to peel off, and twirling a paper cup between his hands. The office was very quiet, and the sound of the cup twirling sounded like a millstone turning.

Xu Cheng cleared his throat. "President Han, the two approaches you just mentioned—sending people to train them and testing on small channels first—are indeed quite clever soft landings. They get the job done while also taking care of the team's morale and stabilizing morale. But I have a more direct question." He looked up at Han Fei. "Do you genuinely think we need to train your team, or are you using this as an excuse to keep us out of the core business and buy yourself more time?"

Han Fei grinned, forming a faint smile, and lit another cigarette: "Director Xu, if I really wanted to stop you, I wouldn't have let you in today. Believe me or not, I could make you wait at the door for two hours, and then have someone come out and say that President Han had an urgent matter to attend to and left."

Xu Cheng smiled slightly but did not reply.

"But I didn't," Han Fei continued. "I not only let you in, but I also gave you a complete tour of the entire publishing house, even our technical team. Do you know why?"

"I would like to hear the details."

"Because I know that if Tencent really wants to do something, there's no stopping it." Han Fei held his paper cup under the cigarette, tapped it lightly, letting the ash fall into the cup. "You have money, people, technology, and a user base. If you really want to replicate Qingniao Reading, the speed at which you can launch it is unimaginable. What's the point of me stopping you for the time being? That's why I brought you here today and told you so much, not to stop you, but to lay the groundwork for you."

"Oh?"

"Director Xu, let me reiterate. What I fear most isn't your entry into the market and competition. The market is so big; sooner or later, others will come in. What I fear most is my team waking up one morning and realizing that what they've done, all the effort they've put in, has suddenly become unimportant. That feeling would destroy an entire team."

Xu Cheng leaned back in his chair, his fingertips touching, and thoughtfully examined Han Fei: "So you'd rather go slower than lose that fighting spirit?"

"That's right," Han Fei said. "Director Xu, think about it carefully. If my team is truly developed by you, the system is truly optimized by you, and the channel testing is successful, wouldn't it be much smoother to discuss deeper cooperation then than to push it forward now? By then, my team members will be convinced, retaining their own value while also recognizing your value. Wouldn't the resistance to cooperation be much smaller then?"

"President Han, your candid words today surprised me. I expected you to discuss various business terms, but you talked about people, the team, and spirit. I truly admire that. A good entrepreneur must first and foremost be a good manager of people's hearts. The idea you just mentioned is sound in itself, very gentle, and takes all aspects into consideration. But as the strategist, I also have to consider our company. We've invested resources, whether it's sending technical experts as instructors or opening up valuable QQ traffic for testing. What is the ultimate goal? It's to cultivate a stronger team of partners who can be deeply integrated with us, not simply to benefit others or train a potential future competitor, right?"

Han Fei nodded: "Yes, that's right."

"Therefore, your soft landing plan needs a clearer roadmap and destination. How long will our personnel train you? To what extent? How will the intellectual property rights and future development direction of the systems they are involved in developing be defined? For small-channel testing, how will traffic be calculated, how will the data be distributed, how long will the testing period be, and what will happen after the testing? If the results are very good, will we automatically gain priority for in-depth cooperation? If the results are mediocre, what should we do?"

"Director Xu's questions are indeed very practical and crucial," Han Fei smiled. "It seems my hastily put ideas from this makeshift team won't fool you. So, Director Xu, in your opinion, how should this flight path be drawn so that both of us find it reliable?"

Xu Cheng smiled, pleased that Han Fei had passed the buck back to him: "President Han, I'm not here to give you orders, I'm here to build a bridge. My suggestion is that we can turn the soft landing into a phased, clearly defined incubation plan. This will ensure your team saves face, learns, and gains traffic, while guaranteeing us clear data, priority cooperation rights, and predictability for the future. This isn't a merger; it's two players of different scales jointly setting the rules for an emerging market. What do you think?"