How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 449

Should We Build Cars?

Xu Jun led the senior executives of Longwei Group, those above the manager level, to wait at the group’s main entrance.

Employees had also hastily laid a red carpet, and some beautiful female employees held banners, lining up on both sides of the red carpet, waiting for Yang Chen and President Ren to arrive.

As they waited, some executives couldn’t help but ask Xu Jun about Yang Chen.

“Chairman Xu, what does President Yang of Star Technology look like? Have you met him?”

“Is he an academician or an expert?”

“A scientist who can develop a quantum chip must be an old expert.”

……

Xu Jun said with a smile, “President Ren has seen his photo, but I haven’t. However, you must be wrong because President Ren said he is young and promising, a rare genius in Dragon Country. So, from President Ren’s words, we can infer that President Yang is a young man.”

“A young man? No wonder President Ren would say he is a genius.”

“So many experts couldn’t develop it, but he can develop a quantum chip at such a young age. He must be a genius.”

“Wow, I’m so excited. I really want to see what such a genius looks like.”

……

Amid everyone’s anticipation, President Ren’s BMW 730 drove over.

Everyone became serious and prepared to welcome them.

President Ren’s BMW 730 stopped, and Xu Jun quickly stepped forward to open the door.

Xu Jun: “President Ren, hello. Is this President Yang?”

President Ren: “Yes! This is President Yang of Star Technology Group. President Yang, this is Xu Jun, the rotating chairman of our Longwei Group.”

Yang Chen got out of the car and shook hands with Xu Jun to greet him.

“Chairman Xu, hello. I’ve seen you online. I’m very happy to meet you in person.”

Xu Jun: “Haha… Thank you, thank you. I’ve always admired President Yang. Today, I finally get to meet you in person. President Ren, President Yang, our press conference is still waiting for you. Let’s go over now.”

Yang Chen: “I won’t go to the venue. It’s really not appropriate. When I have a direct relationship with Longwei Group, I will definitely attend Longwei’s new product launch.”

President Ren: “If President Yang doesn’t want to go, then don’t go. Xu Jun, go continue with the press conference. I’ll show President Yang around. After the press conference, come to my office.”

Xu Jun: “Okay! President Ren, President Yang, this way, please.”

Xu Jun greeted Yang Chen and President Ren to walk into the Longwei Group’s gate. The female employees and senior executives on both sides of the red carpet expressed their welcome.

President Ren took Yang Chen to visit the offices of various departments of Longwei Group, and Xu Jun returned to the press conference venue.

“Chairman Xu, where are President Ren and the guest?”

“Yes, why did you come back alone? Why didn’t they come?”

“I heard that President Yang of Star Technology Group is here, right? Where is he? We really want to meet him.”

……

Xu Jun: “Haha… Who told you that President Yang of Star Technology Group is here? No, it’s another guest. President Ren is with the guest. We invited President Yang of Star Technology Group to attend the press conference a long time ago, but President Yang is very busy now and doesn’t have time to come. Okay, let’s continue the press conference.”

There were disappointed sighs at the scene. They thought they would be able to see the president of Star Technology Group, but they were happy for nothing.

Xu Jun showed no abnormality on the surface, but he was very angry in his heart because someone inside the company leaked the news that President Yang was coming.

Although it wasn’t a confidential matter, such behavior of casually leaking internal company affairs was very annoying.

If they dared to leak this matter today, they would dare to leak more important matters tomorrow.

After the press conference, after seeing President Yang off, Xu Jun decided to send an internal email to warn those “gossips.”

Yang Chen was following President Ren on a tour when Yu Dong, the previous rotating chairman, walked over.

“President Ren, is this President Yang of Star Technology Group?” Yu Dong said with a smile.

Yang Chen took a step forward and shook hands with Yu Dong, saying, “President Yu, hello. I used to see you online often. Today, I finally get to meet you in person.”

Yu Dong: “Haha… I have also admired President Yang for a long time. President Yang is younger and more handsome than I imagined. It’s really beyond my expectations.”

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Yu Dong hinted that he had something to say to President Ren.

So, Yang Chen excused himself to go to the restroom, giving them a chance to chat privately.

Yang Chen deliberately delayed for more than ten minutes before returning.

At this time, Yu Dong was gone, and President Ren was waiting for him with a smile.

“President Yang, let’s go to my office and have a seat. I bought some new tea last month that I haven’t drunk yet. Let’s go taste it,” President Ren said with a smile.

Yang Chen nodded and followed President Ren to his office.

The secretary took out the Da Hong Pao [a type of premium oolong tea] that President Ren bought last month, brewed the tea, brought it up, and then left.

The two chatted while drinking. Before long, there was a sound of arguing outside.

The secretary quickly came in and whispered the situation to President Ren.

President Ren’s face clearly turned ugly. Then, he put down his teacup with a smile and said to Yang Chen, “President Yang, I’ll go take a look. Please enjoy your tea.”

Yang Chen: “Okay. Please do as you please, President Ren.”

President Ren got up and went out, and his reprimands were immediately heard outside.

Then, Yu Dong’s very unconvinced voice came, arguing with President Ren. There was also a woman’s voice scolding Yu Dong, but Yang Chen couldn’t tell who it was.

From what they said, it seemed that they were arguing about whether Longwei Group should build cars. Yu Dong firmly wanted to build cars, but President Ren and the unknown woman opposed it.

As the three quarreled, Xu Jun’s voice came, and he was also reprimanding Yu Dong for being ridiculous and misusing the Longwei brand.

Yu Dong was definitely no match for the three of them. He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he suddenly said, “You are all in the game and don’t know the situation. Let’s listen to the opinions of the bystanders. Isn’t President Yang in President Ren’s office? Then let’s listen to what President Yang has to say. If he can convince me not to build cars, I will never mention building cars again. If he also thinks we should build cars, then you have to seriously consider my opinion. What do you think?”

Yang Chen was unwilling to participate in Longwei Group’s new product launch, so how could he be willing to participate in such a major decision discussion?

President Ren scolded, “Nonsense! Why are you pushing the internal affairs of the group to others? Go back and think about it behind closed doors. If you still don’t understand, then step down.”

It could be heard that President Ren was very angry, and his attitude was also very firm. Longwei Group would definitely not build cars.

Yu Dong didn’t dare to speak, and the outside returned to calm.

After a while, President Ren came in with Xu Jun and a woman.

Yang Chen took a closer look and realized that the woman was President Ren’s daughter, Ms. Ren Wanwan, the vice chairman of Longwei Group.

Yang Chen put down his teacup and stood up with a smile.

President Ren: “President Yang, let me introduce you. This is my daughter, Wanwan. She is now the vice chairman of the group and CFO [Chief Financial Officer].”

Yang Chen: “Hello, Miss Ren. I’m Yang Chen.”

Ren Wanwan: “Hello, President Yang. I’ve seen your photos. I’ve also admired you for a long time. President Yang looks younger and more handsome than in the photos. You are so young and handsome, and you can still develop such high-end products as quantum chips. You are simply a perfect person.”

Yang Chen: “Miss Ren, you flatter me. It’s just a coincidence.”

President Ren invited Xu Jun and Ren Wanwan to sit down and chat.

Yang Chen must have heard the loud noise outside just now.

President Ren was also very open, and said with a smile, “I’m ashamed to have made President Yang laugh. There was a strategic disagreement within the group. I’m embarrassed to have lost face in front of President Yang. I’m really sorry.”

Yang Chen: “President Ren, you’re too polite. It’s normal for a company as big as Longwei Group to have disagreements. Every time I set up a company, I consider the issue of disagreements, so I must have absolute control. Or I can distribute some equity, but other shareholders must give me the voting rights. This will ensure that only I have the final say in the company, and no one else dares to interfere. If I make the right decision, everyone will eat meat and drink soup together. If I make the wrong decision, I will bear the consequences myself and will not let my partners suffer losses.”

President Ren: “President Yang is right. It’s a pity that I didn’t have President Yang’s ability in my early years. At that time, I lacked money for research and development, so I pulled investors everywhere to join, which inevitably led to the distribution of some equity. Over time, the equity became dispersed.”

Ren Wanwan: “Then does President Yang think that our Longwei Group should build cars? Please feel free to say anything. It won’t have any impact. We just want to hear more different voices.”

Yang Chen: “Haha… I don’t know anything about building cars. I don’t dare to have any opinions.”

Xu Jun: “Does President Yang’s business map include new energy vehicles?”

Yang Chen nodded and said, “Yes. I have shares in Biwadi [likely a reference to BYD], quite a lot, the second largest shareholder. I also have Hualin Technology making batteries and charging piles, so I can be considered to have set foot in the new energy vehicle industry.”

Ren Wanwan: “President Yang, have you ever thought about building your own cars? With your financial resources, network resources, and status in Dragon Country, it should be easy to do.”

In the end, Ren Wanwan was just trying to find out Yang Chen’s opinion on building cars in a different way.

As long as she didn’t directly ask whether Longwei should build cars, Yang Chen wasn’t afraid to share his views with them.

Yang Chen analyzed the reasons why he was unwilling to build cars from three aspects.

First, the country already has new energy giants like Biwadi, as well as new car-making forces such as Xiaopeng and Weilai [prominent Chinese electric vehicle brands]. There is no need for new new energy vehicle brands to appear. The appearance of another brand is a waste of resources.

Second, building cars is not just about simply assembling a car with a different shape from other brands. The various aspects of performance, software and hardware services, etc., need to be developed by oneself.

The investment cost of building cars is very large, the cycle is very long, and it is not certain that a car that consumers like can be built.

The most famous example is “Next week I will return to China” Jia [a reference to Jia Yueting, founder of Faraday Future], who has been working on it for more than ten years and has not seen a car yet.

There is also Xu’s Evergrande [a Chinese real estate developer that attempted to enter the electric vehicle market], which has been stuck in PPT [PowerPoint presentations, implying unrealized plans] and cannot come out.

These people are not short of money, but they just can’t build cars.

With Yang Chen’s personality, if a project requires such a large investment and takes so long to see results, he would definitely not be able to accept it.

Third, he himself has no idea of building cars, and the country is not being restricted in this regard, so he will not choose to build cars.

President Ren and others nodded, agreeing with Yang Chen’s views.

Ren Wanwan: “So, you are now sharing a piece of the pie in the new energy vehicle field by holding shares in Biwadi and controlling Hualin Technology to produce charging piles and batteries. Is that right?”

Yang Chen: “Yes! New energy vehicles are an inevitable trend, and I must make an early layout to share a piece of the pie.”

Ren Wanwan: “Why does President Yang think that new energy vehicles are an inevitable trend?”

Yang Chen: “If we want to achieve great unification, we must get rid of our dependence on oil. Electricity can be obtained from coal, solar energy, hydropower, wind power, tidal power, etc. Developing electricity facilities must be the will of the country, and no one can change it.”

Listening to Yang Chen, it seems that building cars is very necessary.

If we don’t build cars now, we can only watch others eat meat in the future.

President Ren: “Then does President Yang think that software can share a piece of the pie in the future new energy vehicle field?”

The reason why President Ren insists on not building cars is here. He believes that if Longwei builds cars, whether it will be successful or not cannot be determined. If Longwei does not build cars and only provides software services, Longwei can take over the entire new energy vehicle market.

Yang Chen: “It may be possible temporarily, but not necessarily in the future. Take myself as an example. If I am in the early stages of development, in order to reduce investment and make good products, I will definitely accept other people’s parts. But when I gain a firm foothold, the first thing I will do is to get rid of the suppliers that are restricting me. I have always been unwilling to be controlled by others. As long as I have the ability, I must do it myself. If the heads of major car companies have the same idea as me, they will definitely start developing their own systems and software when they gain a firm foothold, so as to get rid of their dependence on Longwei Group. The chip problem that Longwei Group faced before has inspired businessmen all over Dragon Country. It is always unreliable to buy things from others with money. It is only reliable to have it yourself. Therefore, you can share a piece of the pie temporarily, but it is not certain in the future. It depends on the ideas of the heads of major car companies.”

Alas, after listening to Yang Chen’s analysis, President Ren was a little shaken.

Any boss who can build a successful company will definitely lay out the market in advance and wait for the harvest.

If Longwei Group does not build cars, the car companies that cooperate with it will either go bankrupt or develop their own independently.

Then it will be difficult for Longwei to share a piece of the pie in the new energy vehicle market.

President Ren is an old player, but at this moment, he was a little confused by what Yang Chen said.

Any company that can make a lot of money must lay out the market in advance and wait for the harvest.

If Longwei Group does not build cars, the car companies that cooperate with it will either go bankrupt or develop their own independently. Then it will be difficult for Longwei to share a piece of the pie in the new energy vehicle market.

At this time, the secretary came.

“President Ren, lunch is ready,” the secretary reported.

President Ren got up with a smile and said, “Okay, President Yang, let’s go eat and chat while we eat.”

Yang Chen nodded, got up and followed President Ren and others to dinner.

President Ren didn’t enjoy this meal at all.

Not long after lunch, Yang Chen and Jin Ming left Longwei Group and went back to the hotel for a lunch break.

The more President Ren thought about it, the more annoyed he became. He immediately sent an internal email, re-soliciting everyone’s opinions on whether Longwei Group should build cars.

Let them discuss it slowly. Anyway, Yang Chen has no plans to build cars for the time being.

……

In the evening, Wu Yue met Yang Chen.

Wu Yue has cooperated with the Shenzhen police to seal up Gao Yunbo’s internet celebrity company, Chen Yang and Zhang Lei’s two factories. These three people were also taken back to the police station for investigation.

In addition, Zhang Daiyu and other anchors suspected of selling fake goods were also taken away by the police.

The total sales of Zhang Daiyu’s Taobao store alone exceeded 100 million yuan, most of which were fake goods.

As long as these are verified, these people will not be able to escape a sentence of more than ten years.

This depends on the determination of the LVMH Group and the ability of the lawyers.

Because the products flowing out of Chen Yang and Zhang Lei’s factories are not fake in essence, but they are not authorized by LV [Louis Vuitton], Dior and other brands, but this will still be identified as fake goods in law.

Just like Gleevec [a brand name for imatinib, a drug used to treat leukemia] in “The God of Medicine” [a popular Chinese film based on real events], as long as it is not Gleevec that comes in through formal channels, even if it is produced by the original factory in India, it is also a fake.

Therefore, these people are likely to end up badly.

Yang Chen nodded and said, “In short, we must take this matter seriously and give other suppliers and foundries a warning.”

Wu Yue: “Understood! Mr. Yang, don’t worry, we will definitely punish them severely this time. Mr. Yang and Miss Jin haven’t eaten yet, right? Let me treat you two to a meal. Okay?”

Yang Chen: “Let me treat you. What do you want to eat?”

Wu Yue: “No, no, no, let me treat you. Please give me a chance, Mr. Yang. Thank you, thank you.”

Seeing Wu Yue’s humble appearance, Yang Chen didn’t argue with her.

Yang Chen: “We want to go to Sea World to see the night view and have something to eat there.”

Wu Yue: “Okay! I haven’t been there for a long time. Let’s go there.”

The three immediately set off and rushed to Sea World.

Sea World is a maritime tourism center integrating tourism, food, entertainment, shopping, art, and hotels.

There are fountains, music, and water shows at night.

With the cooperation of music, the night scene is not only beautiful, but also dynamic and emotional. You must not miss the night scene here when you come to Shenzhen.

After dinner, Yang Chen came out to enjoy the night view first, and Jin Ming and Wu Yue went to the restroom.

Because the weather is relatively hot, girls are more inclined and go to the restroom to touch up their makeup.

After a while, the two came back.

At this time, a man in his thirties was pestering them.

The three came to Yang Chen.

Yang Chen: “What are you doing?”

The man was stunned for a moment, then smiled and took out a business card and handed it to Yang Chen.

“Hello, handsome guy. You are so handsome. You are together, right? A handsome guy and beauty combination, that’s great. That’s right, I’m Chen Wang, the assistant to the president of Juli Culture Media Company. I think these two beauties have great images and I want to introduce them to our company. We are currently cooperating with Penguin Pictures [a major Chinese film studio] on a TV series called “Love of Cangming”. The heroine is the big star Zhang Shuangshuang, and the hero is the popular young student Hong Yueming. Our company has also invested in it, accounting for 10% of the shares, and can recommend a female supporting role and some very important supporting roles. As long as you join our company, you can immediately participate in this big production. This TV series has invested 200 million yuan and will definitely become a hit. You will definitely be able to become a little popular with this TV series. How about it, do you want to try it?”

Yang Chen: “Thank you, we don’t need it. Go find someone else.”

What era is this? There is a surplus of actors in the entertainment industry. Many young and beautiful actors take the initiative to accept unspoken rules but can’t get a role. This guy is still using such an old method to deceive people.

Yang Chen and the three of them had only taken a few steps when the man chased after them again.

“Brother, if you don’t need it, it doesn’t matter. Don’t stop these two beauties, especially this long-haired beauty, from trying it. If she becomes popular, you are harming her by stopping her now, right?”

Isn’t this obviously because he thinks Jin Ming looks good and is coming for her?