Chapter 669: Xiaoma Copied Me, I Must Copy Back! Kuai Pao: Oh No, I've Become the Evil Dragon

After arriving in Northern Europe, Chen Yansen spent his days going out to sea, hunting, and skiing. He paid no attention to Pinbei’s IPO progress, nor did he worry about the battle between Kuai Pao and Qian Du.

In his mind, when you were on vacation, you had to leave work behind.

He hadn’t spent a fortune recruiting so many professional managers just for show. As long as he set the general direction, he never bothered with the specific details of execution.

On an island in Norway, Chen Yansen held a Remington 700 bolt-action rifle. A rabbit dropped every time he pulled the trigger.

With his eyesight and reflexes, he was a perfect shot.

“Master, your aim is incredible,” Song Yuncheng said, looking at Chen Yansen with adoration.

She had struggled for ages, using binoculars and even setting up a thermal imaging device, but had only managed to hit three rabbits.

Chen Yansen, on the other hand, had hit seven in just five minutes.

“Want to keep going?” Chen Yansen asked.

“Let me get one more,” Song Yuncheng said with a grin, holding up her index finger.

Chen Yansen nodded.

「Meanwhile.」

Ye Qiuping was sitting in her office. After finishing the work at hand, she stretched instinctively and looked out the window at the afterglow of the setting sun.

An expanse of golden clouds lay across the horizon.

‘He calls it a business trip, but he’s clearly just having fun. He takes Song Yuncheng, but he never takes me.’

Ye Qiuping sighed softly, a trace of loneliness flickering in her eyes.

‘Am I too old?’

‘Does he only like young girls?’

‘No!’

‘That guy comes over to my place for sweet soup pretty often.’

‘Master Ye’s thoughts were a tangled mess of insecurity.’

With her current salary and stock options, once Orange Technology went public, Ye Qiuping would achieve financial freedom. Then she could finally escape Chen Yansen’s control.

But she subconsciously ignored one problem: Chen Yansen had returned her investigation report to her long ago.

It was clear she was the one who couldn’t bear to leave Chen Yansen, yet she deceived herself every day, constantly feeding herself the same line: ‘Once I make ten million, fifty million, a hundred million, I’ll leave him. I’ll find a place, buy a few dozen apartments, and become a carefree Landlady. How great would that be.’

But then she thought about how Chen Yansen’s “business trip” would last a week. She wouldn’t see him for days, and in that moment, her mind was filled with nothing but his image.

‘You’re just a glutton for punishment!’

Ye Qiuping cursed herself inwardly without mercy.

「The next day, September 8th.」

The co-branded corporate card from Orange Technology and China Telecom, after months of preparation and testing, was finally launched.

The first batch of users was comprised of all employees under Senlian Capital, including companies like Cloud Speed Express, the Orange Phone Factory, and Kuai Pao.

The monthly fee was 19 yuan for a plan that included 1GB of national data and 100 minutes of free calls. Data beyond the plan was priced at one yuan per gigabyte. A top-up of 300 yuan would upgrade the data-overage price to one yuan per 1.5GB, and a top-up of 1,000 yuan would upgrade it to one yuan per 2GB.

The contract was for two years and did not include dedicated data for apps under the Senlian Capital umbrella.

On the day of its release, a communications store on Pinbei Mall simultaneously listed a SIM card for sale. It was priced at 9.9 yuan with free shipping, and its plan was identical to the Orange Company card.

Although it couldn’t compare to the 80GB, 150GB, or even 220GB data cards that would be common a decade later, in 2013, a plan like this was an absolute game-changer.

Then, boosted by traffic from the “Ten Billion Subsidy” program, it sold 373,000 cards on the first day.

In terms of sales volume, it certainly couldn’t match the “Starshine Card,” but considering this card had neither the backing of Senlian Capital nor any pre-launch hype, such results were already quite impressive.

To the public, most users had no idea they were buying an Orange Company phone card.

For every card sold, Orange Technology would receive a 150-yuan commission. For the initial top-up amounts, the commission rate was 40% for the first six months and 30% for the next six. Starting from the second year, it would have nothing more to do with Orange Technology.

The next morning, WeChat released version 5.0, which added an emoji store and a game center.

The Android installation package size increased from 12MB to 25MB, while the iOS version jumped to 46MB because it included game resource packs and a payment module.

In other words, WeChat had officially started its journey from a social media app to a “super app.”

Furthermore, WeChat’s flagship social mini-game, “Plane Battle,” spread rapidly through Moments.

Was the game fun? To be blunt, it was pretty boring.

But after the game ended, the screen would display the “Plane Battle” leaderboard for the week, showing the rankings of all your WeChat friends.

The damned competitiveness of the people in Hua Country turned this little “plane-shooting” game into a national phenomenon in just a few days.

Some people, in order to grind for high scores and climb the rankings, played while eating, while on the toilet, on their way to work, and on their way home.

It was just like that viral sheep-themed game from more than a decade later!

All your friends were playing, so how could you not?

Driven by “Plane Battle,” WeChat saw a steady increase in new user acquisition, daily active users, and user engagement time.

When Zhang Yinjia, the CEO of Orange Pay, saw this, he immediately decided to follow the trend and “learn” from them.

WeChat’s QR codes for receiving and making payments were copied from Orange Pay in the first place. Now, he would copy them back, considering it repayment for Ma Wenteng’s “tribute.”

‘But what kind of game should we make?’

Zhang Yinjia thought for a moment, then immediately called in Xia Yuxi from the product department, Jiang Leiming from the tech department, and others for a brainstorming session.

“President Zhang, how about we make a Tetris-style game? The gameplay is simple, and we can just add a leaderboard for Orange Pay friends,” Xia Yuxi suggested after a moment of thought.

“Contra would also work,” was Zhang Yinjia’s idea.

“Contra is too difficult to develop, and the data packet would be too large. If users find out Orange Pay is taking up several hundred megabytes of their phone’s memory, they might even want to uninstall the app.”

Jiang Leiming shook his head, not sparing President Zhang’s feelings in the slightest.

However, Zhang Yinjia was used to it and didn’t take it to heart.

“President Zhang, I think a quiz game might be better. Back in the day, CCTV’s ‘Extraordinary 6+1’ and ‘Happy Dictionary’ were both super popular. We could build a question bank and just copy their format,” a newcomer from the event planning department timidly proposed from a corner of the room.

‘Extraordinary 6+1? Happy Dictionary?’

Zhang Yinjia’s eyes lit up. He became interested and turned to Xia Yuxi. “What do you think?”

“Great idea. Much better than Tetris,” Xia Yuxi said, first dismissing his own suggestion, then praising the new one generously.

“I have no objections, President Zhang,” Jiang Leiming agreed.

If “Extraordinary 6+1” and “Happy Dictionary” could become so popular back then, there must have been a reason. As long as they transplanted the core game into Orange Pay, it would likely be well-received by users.

“You! Go back and write up a product proposal and submit it to President Xia!”

Zhang Yinjia grunted, pointing at the newcomer from the event planning department as he gave the order.

“Me?” Zhang Rui pointed at himself, his face a mask of disbelief.

He was a recent graduate from Huadong Science and Technology University and had been with the company for less than two months. He hadn’t even passed his probationary period.

He never imagined that a flash of inspiration would win him the chance to lead a project on his own.

It wasn’t that he lacked confidence, but the sudden responsibility of being solely in charge made him a little nervous. After all, he had always just been an assistant, with someone else there to back him up. Now that he truly had to make decisions and bear the responsibility, it was hard not to feel a bit apprehensive.

If Zhang Yinjia hadn’t required every member of the event planning department to attend the brainstorming session, he wouldn’t have even had the chance to speak up.

“That’s right!” Zhang Yinjia said with conviction.

To him, it was just a small project.

But for Zhang Rui, it would completely change the course of his career.

“Okay,” Zhang Rui replied calmly, suppressing the excitement welling up inside him.

「Elsewhere.」

The first season of “Unexpectedly” was a massive success on Vibrato, with the 15 episodes accumulating over 500 million views, averaging more than 30 million per episode.

After realizing the immense potential of short video platforms, Yi Xiaoxing immediately gathered Bai Ke, Liu Xunzi Mo, Ge Bu, Kong Lianshun, and others to begin preparing for the filming of the second season.

He didn’t have to worry about negotiating sponsorships and advertisements at all.

Thanks to Senlian Capital’s efforts, before the screenwriter, Venerable Jade, had even written a single word of the script for season two, they had already received advertising fees from over a dozen brands, including Mengniu Dairy, Eastroc Beverage, Pinbei, Kuai Pao, and OFO Bikes.

“These are our financial backers. Let’s think about how to integrate them perfectly into the plot,” Yi Xiaoxing said, looking at the group in the conference room.

“OFO Bikes is easy. We’ll just have the Tang Monk ride an OFO electric-assist bike. Not only will we save money on renting a horse, but we’ll also integrate the ad into the story, hahaha!” Bai Ke pushed up his glasses and said with a smug laugh.

“Isn’t that a bit over the top?” Liu Xunzi Mo commented, before adding, “But I like the idea.”

“Alright, I’ll write it into the script later,” said the screenwriter, Venerable Jade.

「At the same time.」

Chen Xiang, a director at Yunnan TV Station, was lying in his rented room, glued to his Orange C3 phone as he binge-watched the entire first season of “Unexpectedly.”

‘Holy crap!’

‘This TV station job is impossible!’

‘The pay is low, the work is endless, and if you’re unlucky, you get chewed out!’

‘I should just copy them and film some goofy short skits. I heard from a friend in Yanjing that this Wanhe Tianyi Studio has been thriving ever since they latched onto Today Technology.’

‘With my skills, filming a vertical-screen comedy would be a piece of cake, right?’

With that thought, he immediately took action. First, he contacted a few small-time actors he knew, then he found lighting, props, and makeup staff. The only roles he didn’t fill were screenwriter, cinematographer, and post-production editor, because he could do all of that himself!

There were many others like Yi Xiaoxing and Chen Xiang, and the number of high-quality content creators on Vibrato was also increasing rapidly.

After all, it was a short video platform with over 20 million daily active users. As long as you could accumulate two or three million followers, the advertising offers would come pouring in.

As 2014 approached, the development of smartphones, mobile internet, and short videos advanced in lockstep, and the competition between Vibrato, Weishi, Kuai Shou, and Snapvid grew increasingly fierce.

Kuai Shou’s main appeal was its down-to-earth content.

Weishi and Snapvid, on the other hand, focused on celebrities, inviting stars like Yang Mi, Yang Tianbao, Li Xiaolu, and Lin Zhiying to join their platforms to generate buzz, and they directed most of their traffic to these celebrities.

Vibrato, however, took the opposite approach. Its attitude toward celebrities was “take it or leave it,” and the platform’s traffic continued to favor high-quality content.

In short, whatever videos the users loved to watch, the platform would promote.

The trending lists were filled with content created by amateurs.

This left Vibrato users with the impression: ‘I could do that too!’

The platform’s daily new creations once surpassed one million, covering all sorts of video categories and providing users with a rich variety of choices.

In contrast, Weishi and Snapvid looked glamorous on the surface, but once users grew tired of the few videos posted by celebrities, they would feel the platform lacked quality content and would switch back to Vibrato.

…

…

On September 10th, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c were launched simultaneously through both online and offline channels.

Half an hour later, Kuai Pao announced the launch of a standalone app, “Kuai Ying,” marking its full-scale entry into the online ticketing industry. It wouldn’t just focus on movies; it would also include stage plays and concerts within its scope of business.

In the local lifestyle sector, Kuai Pao continuously expanded its business boundaries, stealing market share from all sorts of industries.

Especially in the travel and hospitality category, Pei Yi leveraged the 300 million users accumulated from the food delivery and Group Buy industries to secure even lower contract prices than Ctrip, Elong, and Qunar Network.

Its market share was soaring!

Life grew increasingly difficult for specialized travel sites like Ctrip, Elong, and Qunar Network.

That afternoon, Ctrip’s CEO, Liang Zhangjian, was the first to strike. He hired three headhunting firms and began poaching Kuai Pao Liquor Travel’s mid-to-senior-level management at double their salaries.

His intention was obvious: to disrupt the offensive rhythm of Kuai Pao’s travel and hospitality division.

After all, Kuai Pao had been making frequent moves in the travel market recently. From subsidizing homestays to offering joint tickets for scenic areas, every step encroached on Ctrip’s traditional areas of strength. Its newly launched “Weekend Getaway Package,” in particular, had captured nearly 20% of the market share in the East China Region just two weeks after its release.

Liang Zhangjian’s thinking was simple: if Ctrip was having a hard time, he wouldn’t let Kuai Pao have it easy either!

Elong, Qunar Network, and others quickly followed suit, joining the “gang-up” on Kuai Pao.