Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The next evening when He Li had Su Yun over for dinner, Chen Jin asked curiously, “Su Yun, why did you go to the award ceremony yesterday as the certificate presenter?” He felt rather puzzled about her presence at the award ceremony. As an important judgment contest that was organized by the municipal government, it was not possible that they could not even hire some award presenters.
“Um…” Su Yun lowered her head. She was at a loss as a blush appeared on her cheeks.
With an unaffected expression, He Li quickly helped to explain, “She was chosen from the Tax Bureau. The upper management has given the directives to economize office expenditures and to simplify activities like celebrations and related ceremonies. As a response, there were no more expensive branded mineral water bottles placed on the rostrum. Even the MCs and ceremonial staff were chosen from the various government departments… So as to organize this big event using a small amount of money!”
Chen Jin nodded. “Oh…” That certainly made sense. He looked at Su Yun again, who still had a slight blush on her pretty face, and thought about how she looked in the ceremonial qipao yesterday. This girl really isn’t too bad.
Feeling his attention on her, Su Yun lowered her head even further. Her face felt like it was boiling.
Sitting to the side, He Li was grinning from ear to ear.
…
That night, Chen Jin opened his WeChat and saw that he was flooded with messages.
“Hey hotshot, are you free over the next few days?”
“I want to treat you to a meal, can you make some time for it?”
“Hey Mr. Maven, at least reply with a few words.”
He had added this girl labeled under ” Director Dong’s daughter” as a WeChat friend some time ago. She had sent more than 10 messages, all expressing the same thing: she wanted to treat him to a meal.
“I’m sorry, I’m not free.” Chen Jin typed a few words and sent his reply.
He has replied!
Yuan Lin had her eyes stuck to her phone’s screen the entire time. After seeing his reply, she was at first overjoyed, but then quickly depressed. She replied with a crying emoji and typed, “So, when are you free, hotshot?”
The reply was “I don’t know.”
Yuan Lin sent an image of a crying girl. She felt so frustrated that she had to change the topic. “I went with my mom to see the live judgment selection of the ’10 Most Outstanding Youth Entrepreneurs’ yesterday. I think that you have so much style. Not mentioning the older ages of the other nine entrepreneurs, there was only one who was in the internet business. Of the others, five are in real-estate or related businesses and three are in F&B. Their achievements are too lacking. All of them together can’t even be compared to you!”
“Thanks for the compliment.” This made Chen Jin feel rather pleased with himself. The barriers of entry to the high-tech industry were very high. One could not enter the industry easily. The other nine entrepreneurs knew this fact. Hence, all of them approached Chen Jin and tried to cozy up to him by asking for his contact information. Chen Jin only accepted the name card from the internet entrepreneur. As for him, he did not have the habit of pushing his name card onto others.
Chen Jin and Yuan Lin chatted for a while. Chen Jin thought that “Director Dong’s daughter” had a good personality. She had a high EQ and was good at conversation. Although she frequently sent him messages asking about him, she knew when to stop and did not overly pester him. Hence, Chen Jin usually chatted with her more.
As the conversation was about to end, Chen Jin was in a good mood and messaged, “I might be free next month. I could treat you to a meal then.”
When she saw those words, Yuan Lin waved her fist and bounced in happiness~! “Yay! Yes!”
However, she calmly typed, “It’s a promise.” The two ended their chat on a happy note. Yuan Lin was so excited that she couldn’t sleep.
…
On the third of July at Xing Hai Technologies, the project “Learning Machine” had officially started. Ling Jundong, Liang Ying, Hou Xiao Feng, and others in upper management did not look favorably upon this project. They thought that the technological difficulties involved were too great. Even so, they still acted professionally in the execution of the projects’ specifics. There were no areas in which they tried to hinder the progress of the project.
Even when faced with the wrong decisions from the boss, he still had to carry out the project implementation to the best of his abilities as an outstanding CEO. He had to get the best results from his diligence and ability. When the boss had cleared his mind and realized his mistake, yet could not find any reasons or excuses for failure from the CEO, then he would start to accept his suggestions. This was Ling Jundong’s principle of management.
Currently, the organization of the “Learning Machine” project team was basically completed. The pre-project requirement evaluation would be carried out. Today, Chen Jin came to the company to take part in a meeting for upper management. After an intense discussion on the next action plan for the “Learning Machine” project, they also conducted an in-depth discussion on another topic of greater importance.
It was the company’s globalization strategy. Should the company venture abroad and expand globally? Should it become an international corporation? Ling Jundong, Liang Ying, Hou Xiao Feng, and others had already come to a consensus on this topic; the company must venture abroad! It must expand its presence into the global market! It must become a transnational corporation!
“President Chen, not only has our Wa-wah robot attracted the attention of the domestic consumers, but it has also attracted much attention from overseas users. They managed to get a few Wa-wah robots via certain channels. After trying the robot out a few times, they gave very good reviews. Many asked where can they buy the robot in their country, and what the cost was. They said that they like this product from Z country.”
Lian Ying said, “There are even cases where international parallel trading organizations bring the Wa-wah robot overseas and act as purchasing agents for the overseas customers.” She shared a video on the foreign video platform, youtube, that had more than a million views. It was titled “A Foreigner Using The Wa-wah Robot.” In the video, the user wore an exaggerated expression and praised the robot effusively, saying that it was a “godsend for the lazy man” and “caused obesity rates to increase by at least 2%.”
Sales Manager Li Yuan Liang said, “President Chen, the sales of the Wa-wah robot from the official Taobao shop has decreased significantly. Consumers do not have to compete with each other to be the early birds when purchasing the robot. There are ready stocks all the time that can easily be purchased. As for the custom-made commercial edition of the robot, demand still outstrips our supply. However, professional market analysts think that the total sales of the Wa-wah robot will be significantly reduced after sales of five billion units. The company will gradually be facing a situation where it’s primary revenue will come from old customers; little revenue from new customers will be generated. As of now, the company has sold five million units. In a maximum of three years, the company will be facing a difficult situation of feeble growth. After all, we are not making mobile phones which consumers change every one or two years. Therefore, the overseas market will be a huge boost for us, especially the Merican market in the West. Their general population is well-off with strong purchasing power. After the Wa-wah robot has been distributed in their market, our sales and profits from that market will not be lower than what we have achieved domestically!”
The upper management scrambled to present their arguments. All of them took an extremely important view of the overseas market.
“President Chen, we should start to formulate a strategy immediately to sell the Wa-wah robot across the world.”
“Yes, President Chen. There is news that foreign companies are already starting to develop a similar model of the robot. If we don’t hasten our steps, we’ll not be able to get the largest market share.”
However, Chen Jin sank in silence for some time. Waving his hand, he quieted the audience down and said something shocking. “I understand your meaning and it’s a good idea. The potential in the overseas market is not any smaller than the domestic market and we have very good prospects in the overseas market too. But…” In a low voice, he said, “Xing Hai Technologies will not become a global company. We are a purely domestic company from Z country. We are a 100% domestically-created company. I do take an important view of the overseas market. But, Xing Hai Technologies will not expand its overseas presence directly. Our primary foothold will still be in the domestic market. I will not send people overseas to open a branch office. Of course, Xing Hai Technologies is willing to earn revenues from the foreign markets. But it won’t be something that will be missed.”
What?!
The upper management audience was beyond astounded