Chapter 75

Not long after Wang Dongliang's 10-year Spring Festival, Cheng Xiaoyu came to see him the next day and resigned, starting his entrepreneurial journey with Cheng Xiaoyu.

His first task was to register a web company. Cheng Xiaoyu transferred 200,000 yuan from his account to Wang Dongliang as startup capital, to rent an office, hire employees, and everything else, all of which was fraught with difficulties.

That night, Cheng Xiaoyu revealed his true intentions for buying the alumni directory to Wang Dongliang. Wang Dongliang was greatly surprised, thinking that this bold and creative idea might lead to the next Gugu (a fictional company name).

The two discussed the matter in a hotel room all night, both extremely excited.

It seemed as if the path to becoming a general manager, CEO, marrying a rich and beautiful woman, and reaching the pinnacle of life was right before their eyes.

The next day, Cheng Xiaoyu returned to Shanghai with dark circles under his eyes, while Wang Dongliang stayed in the capital to handle his resignation and continue negotiating with Shouxu Network for the purchase of the alumni directory.

With the introduction of Wan Gang, Wang Dongliang met with Zhang Chaoyang several times, but they still couldn't agree on the price. Shouxu Network was firmly holding out for 8 million yuan.

Wang Dongliang discussed the matter with Cheng Xiaoyu, who advised him to let Shouxu Network cool off for a while to see their reaction. During this time, they should rent a place, hire staff, and set up the company.

Cheng Xiaoyu had also considered setting up the company in Shanghai, but most major web companies were in the capital, and there were more high-tech web talents in Beijing. The atmosphere was also important for a high-tech web company, so Cheng Xiaoyu didn't set up the company in Shanghai for his own convenience.

Not long after the start of the school year, the class held a baseline test. Cheng Xiaoyu's math was still a mess, but fortunately, his other subjects had improved significantly, and his overall performance was still in the middle of the class.

Every day, 24 hours were not enough for Cheng Xiaoyu. He had to attend classes, practice the piano, review, and find time to teach Wang Ou to play the guitar. He also had to write the scores for the various instruments for the songs he wanted to record, and the most challenging part was writing the songs for Su Yuxi's group.

As for the four songs he had uploaded, Cheng Xiaoyu occasionally logged into the GG website to check his account, but the music seemed to have fallen into a bottomless sea. There were no ripples, not even a single click to listen. Cheng Xiaoyu wasn't sure if the problem was with the price he had set, but he thought it might be because he was a newcomer, so no one was listening. Because he was so busy, he didn't bother to check.

Wang Dongliang rented a 300-square-meter office in the Zhongguancun Co-working Space, which was designed for young entrepreneurs and was relatively cheap, with all the necessary furniture and office equipment. He had already found two recent graduates to help, but the prospects were still far from hopeful.

As the weather grew colder and time passed quickly, Shouxu Network still showed no signs of movement, as if 8 million yuan was their final bottom line.

Wang Dongliang was extremely anxious and specially went to Shanghai on the weekend to discuss strategies with Cheng Xiaoyu. Cheng Xiaoyu called Wang Huasheng to pick up Wang Dongliang and specially told Aunt Zhou that he was bringing a friend home for dinner.

Zhou Peipei knew that Cheng Xiaoyu seemed to be busy with something related to setting up a website. She thought it was a good thing, even if they lost some money, as long as they learned something. She was quite encouraging to Cheng Xiaoyu.

When Cheng Xiaoyu said he was bringing a friend home for dinner, she was very happy, thinking that Cheng Xiaoyu was gradually stepping out of his shadow. However, she didn't know that the current Cheng Xiaoyu was no longer the same as before.

When Wang Dongliang arrived at Cheng Xiaoyu's house in a Maybach, he was once again amazed. He had seen many villas, but few had the modern abstract style of Cheng Xiaoyu's home, which was also grand and imposing.

The kitchen had prepared a variety of local dishes, but after the previous experience, Wang Dongliang was already immune to such luxury.

Su Changhe and Zhou Peipei went to a charity dinner in Shanghai's business community, leaving Su Yuxi, who had just returned from a dance practice at the company, to see Wang Dongliang. She was a bit surprised but showed no expression, eating silently.

Su Yuxi quickly finished her meal and went to practice the piano. Cheng Xiaoyu then discussed the matter with Wang Dongliang at the dining table. Cheng Xiaoyu carefully recalled the process of the alumni directory's collapse and said, "Since Shouxu Network is waiting for the right price and the alumni directory is still barely alive, we need to find a way to cut off the last breath of the alumni directory, making Shouxu Network feel the urgency to sell it."

Wang Dongliang frowned and said, "But how do we make the alumni directory collapse?"

Cheng Xiaoyu smiled and said, "Creating something might be difficult, but destroying something isn't, right?"

Wang Dongliang drew a cold breath and said, "Hire hackers? Isn't that too unethical? If people find out, our reputation will be ruined."

Cheng Xiaoyu chuckled and said, "What reputation does our small company have? Do you know how Baidu (a fictional company name) got started?"

Wang Dongliang was silent, unable to respond to Cheng Xiaoyu's question. Baidu's early search results were all stolen from Gugu's links. Later, they used their geographical advantage to report Gugu to multiple departments, accusing them of spreading pornography and threatening national security, using upper-level power to force Gugu to shut down indefinitely. Such despicable means, who remembers now? Now everyone only knows that Baidu is one of the three major internet companies in China, with a market value second only to Tencent and Alibaba.

Who remembers how the powerful Gugu was driven out of China by Baidu? The key is not to have a sense of shame, and most importantly, the referee is on your side.

Seeing that Wang Dongliang still hadn't come around, Cheng Xiaoyu said, "This won't affect Shouxu Network much. They can't provide services to the users of the alumni directory anyway, and the service often crashes. We are just accelerating the process. If it weren't for the negative impact, Shouxu Network would have shut down the servers of the alumni directory long ago. So, for a company like Shouxu Network, which lacks a sense of responsibility, we don't need to feel guilty."

Wang Dongliang could only nod, knowing that in a world of deceit and competition, he couldn't stick to his principles. As long as he maintained his底线 (底线 means 'bottom line' or 'principles'), he would be fine. Wang Dongliang silently thought and said to Cheng Xiaoyu, "I know what to do. When the servers of the alumni directory crash, I will also hire some internet trolls to post on various forums to create momentum."

Cheng Xiaoyu showed a look of approval and said, "Try to be as discreet as possible. Although I think the current servers of the alumni directory are full of vulnerabilities, we should act naturally so that no one can catch us. Don't hire all trolls; also find some former CHINAREN employees who were laid off by Shouxu Network and some real users. Stand on the moral high ground to criticize Shouxu Network, leaving them no room to argue."

Wang Dongliang deeply felt that these high-ranking officials' children were not human. When they did bad things, they left no room for others to live. His respect for Cheng Xiaoyu increased.

Cheng Xiaoyu then discussed his ideas for building a social networking site with Wang Dongliang. Initially, it would be based on schools, similar to Facebook, but in terms of the interface, he preferred Twitter and Weibo.

Cheng Xiaoyu didn't just describe it in words; he drew the Weibo page from his memory on an A4 paper, explaining the layout of various functions to Wang Dongliang one by one.

Wang Dongliang could see that this was similar to an open version of Gugu's social circle, but listening to Cheng Xiaoyu explain the details, he was amazed and deeply admired Cheng Xiaoyu's imagination. He was even more grateful for his decision to resign without hesitation.

Cheng Xiaoyu knew nothing about website construction and only told Wang Dongliang what he needed. How to achieve it was up to Wang Dongliang to figure out.

The company also gave Wang Dongliang 10% of the shares. Cheng Xiaoyu said it would be a dry share, but Wang Dongliang didn't agree. He insisted on including the 200,000 yuan Cheng Xiaoyu gave him later, before accepting. At this point, he didn't know what this 10% share meant.

The two discussed the matter in Cheng Xiaoyu's room all night. This night marked the beginning of an epic for Wang Dongliang. From this night on, Xi Yu Company began its journey to soar to new heights.

Cheng Xiaoyu renamed the Weibo-like platform he created as "Xiyu." Wang Dongliang also thought this name was good, at least better than the names "Facebook" and "Twitter" that Cheng Xiaoyu initially came up with.

The next morning, Wang Dongliang, with dark circles under his eyes like Cheng Xiaoyu, rushed to the airport and took the early flight back to the capital. He couldn't wait to start working, though the tasks were numerous and complex, he now knew his direction and wasn't blindly chasing.

Cheng Xiaoyu had Wang Huasheng send Wang Dongliang off, inviting him to have a bowl of noodles before leaving, but Wang Dongliang didn't eat, as if he felt that the more time he saved, the sooner he could get back to the capital.

As soon as Wang Dongliang left, Cheng Xiaoyu felt sleepy and went back to his room to sleep.

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