"That's not quite right either," Ye Zhi said, propping her chin on her hand. "We're partners, so we're making money together."
Chen Wei: ...
He finally understood. Ye Zhi wasn't taking it seriously at all. She didn't think of it as a great favor from the bottom of her heart, nor did she consider leveraging it for future gains. Perhaps, in Ye Zhi's eyes, this was akin to her helping an old lady cross the street.
If he continued to dwell on this topic, it would only make Ye Zhi uncomfortable. Since that was the case, he would help her make money.
"Right," Chen Wei frowned. "Ou Minghan is a very possessive person. I suspect he'll force those merchants to choose one or the other. How should we respond when that happens?"
Ye Zhi looked at the various metrics of the Taoxun website and suddenly smiled. "Then he better not do that, or he'll feel the wrath of society."
At Qianbai Company, Ou Minghan's expression was extremely unpleasant.
"Feng Jie, what did you say?!"
Feng Jie said tremblingly, "Pres- President, those brand merchants have all stated that if they have to choose one, they will lean towards Taoxun..."
"Crack!"
Ou Minghan angrily slammed the table. He ignored the pain in his hand and said furiously, "That's impossible! Why would they choose Taoxun?"
Feng Jie was too scared to speak. Ou Minghan glared at him. "Speak!"
Feng Jie had no choice but to say in a low voice, "They said... Taoxun won't charge merchants any fees for three years. Also, Taoxun's promotional conversion rate is very high, and they have a massive number of new registered users. And although their discounts are very generous, Taoxun is footing the bill themselves, which doesn't affect the merchants' profits. Taoxun's payments are convenient and secure, and with a large number of users placing orders, those merchants' sales figures are far higher than on our website..."
"Breach of contract! Breach of contract!" Ou Minghan, enraged, pounded the table again. "I've cooperated with them for so many years, and they're all siding with Taoxun for a little bit of favor?"
Feng Jie quickly suppressed the urge to speak and couldn't help but think, isn't this more than just a little favor?
This is not a small favor. People open online stores to make money, not to give money to websites. It's only normal to go where you can make more money, isn't it?
Of course, Feng Jie didn't dare to say any of these words.
To prevent Ou Minghan from further attacking the poor table, Feng Jie couldn't help but advise, "Actually... President, we don't have to mind them! China's market is so large, it can still accommodate two shopping websites..."
"What do you know?!" Ou Minghan said impatiently. "I don't want to see Ye Zhi make money! I just want to see that company go bankrupt!"
Feng Jie was helpless. He continued, "President, why don't we do the same as them, not charge merchants any fees, and also run some promotional activities to attract users..."
"Compete with Taoxun in burning money?" Ou Minghan said with a grim expression.
Feng Jie said, "Taoxun is a newly established company with nowhere near our deep roots. If we compete in burning money, we won't necessarily lose to them, will we?"
"You're thinking too simply!" Ou Minghan said impatiently. "If you suddenly stop charging fees now, what about the money they paid before? Will you refund it? Besides, how can you be so sure you can win the burning war?!"
If it were before this morning, Ou Minghan would have felt he had a sure win when faced with this question.
However, having lost to Ye Zhi repeatedly made him subconsciously feel that Ye Zhi had anticipated his every move and prepared in advance, just waiting for him to fall into her trap and then utter that phrase, "Got you!"
Ou Minghan's pupils contracted sharply. He never imagined he would reach a point of timidity, of fearing a woman so much. No, he couldn't continue like this!
Ye Zhi was just more prepared, that's why she caught him off guard. It must be so!
Suddenly, a mobile phone rang. Ou Minghan, without even looking at who was calling, hung up.
"Feng Jie!" Ou Minghan said in a deep voice, "Notify all departments, we're having a meeting!"
Feng Jie immediately went to do as he was told.
However, after a day of meetings, they still couldn't come up with any good solutions.
If they did nothing, with Taoxun's fierce momentum, they would likely be surpassed sooner or later. But if they tried to compete with Taoxun in burning money, then Taoxun would likely not be the first to burn out, but them. Moreover, the major shareholders of their company might not agree to such a drastic measure. They were now forcibly tied to this chariot by Ye Zhi, caught in a dilemma.
Just as Ou Minghan was agonizing over the situation, the conference room door was forcefully pushed open, and Ye Qin Ya walked in.
"Get out!" Ou Minghan said impatiently.
Ye Qin Ya shivered, and then said aggrievedly, "Ming Han, today is your birthday..."
Ou Minghan's face turned even uglier. This terrible day had even made him forget it was his birthday, and he had even prepared a banquet for that evening.
His eyes darted around. He had invited quite a few people to the evening banquet. Perhaps he could take this opportunity to bring in more investors for Qianbai Company.
He was naturally unwilling to burn his own money, but he felt no pain in burning other people's money.
Also, how could he have forgotten Ye Qin Ya?
Ye Zhi was terrifying, even unfathomably so, but the blood relationship between her and Ye Qin Ya was unbreakable.
"Meeting adjourned," Ou Minghan said in a deep voice.
After everyone else had left, Ou Minghan came to Ye Qin Ya's side and said apologetically, "Qin Ya, I'm sorry, I wasn't angry at you just now. I was just too tired today. If it wasn't for your sister... never mind, I won't say any more."
"Ming Han, what did my sister do again?" Ye Qin Ya asked quickly.
Ou Minghan sighed. "I didn't want to say anything, but I don't want to keep it from you..."
*
"Achoo—"
Ye Zhi suddenly sneezed, rubbing her slightly sore nose. "It's almost quitting time, who's secretly cursing me behind my back? Never mind!"
Ye Zhi directly started packing her things and said to Chen Wei, "I'm leaving first, you continue to work overtime!"
Chen Wei: ...
What was going on? He didn't seem to be that grateful to Ye Zhi anymore.
Ye Zhi instructed, "You work hard to keep an eye out for the next couple of days, just in case the Jinying team makes a surprise return."
"Okay." Chen Wei asked, "Are you going to the new flagship product launch event for W-brand?"
"Yes," Ye Zhi nodded.
He casually asked, "The new phone launch event for W-brand was originally scheduled for a week later. You convinced Chairman Zhao to move the launch forward, was it also because of today's date?"
"You guessed it!" Ye Zhi said with a smile. "Today isn't over yet, we have to make certain people remember it forever!"