"How is it, Mr. Huang agreed to help us persuade Apple?" Larry Page eagerly asked after Little Swift hung up the phone.
Little Swift was truly busy now. After staying in Paris for less than two days, he was sent back to the United States by Huang He to take charge of the overall situation.
Larry Page was now very smug, feeling a sense of revenge, but he wanted to feel even more satisfied and completely crush Yahoo, hence this plan to continue attacking the advertising alliance. He, Larry Page, was never a gentleman.
Well, there were no gentlemen in America.
"The boss said you're thinking too much. Jobs is basking in glory now. Forget about spending money on advertising on Google; he even thinks that Apple's brand appearing on Google's pages is Google borrowing Apple's popularity and should be paid for!" Little Swift said indifferently.
"Believe it or not, that might actually be true!" Larry Page pondered for a moment, then nodded seriously. With Jobs' personality, he would really think that way.
Moreover, if you think about it carefully, what Larry Page wanted to do now was to use Apple's fame to attack his opponent. Jobs' thinking wasn't wrong at all. Even if Apple didn't pay, Larry Page would have wanted to advertise for them.
But the problem was that this matter had to be paid for. If it wasn't paid for, it would be humiliating.
"So, is there no other way?" Larry Page said somewhat unwillingly.
"However, our boss said that this matter can..." Little Swift drew out his words, then said something that completely stunned Larry Page.
"We can do it this way too?" Larry Page asked in a low voice.
"Our boss said we can, so we can. Besides, are there any technical difficulties? Or does it violate any laws or regulations?" Little Swift retorted impatiently.
"Of course not, but our company is about to go public. This money must be accounted for. I can't play any tricks or give him kickbacks!" Little Swift said.
"That's right, our boss said he will pay you every cent, but he thinks that with Google developing so well, it's only natural to buy about 200 million US dollars worth of servers!"
"So that's what you've been waiting for!" Larry Page rolled his eyes. But on second thought, it wasn't a loss. After all, the cost-effectiveness of Jiangnan Group's servers was incredibly high. Moreover, with Google's traffic soaring, it would indeed need more servers in the future. And Google still had over a billion US dollars in cash. This deal was not a loss.
So Larry Page readily agreed and immediately called the technical department to arrange various matters, as time was very tight.
Shifting the perspective back to Paris, Huang He hung up the phone, but the eyes of the people around him were still focused on him. So Huang He smiled and said, "Don't worry, everyone. My gift needs a little more time. Why don't we wait for the chime of 9 PM, and then everyone will see my gift!"
When Huang He said this, everyone couldn't help but look at their watches. It was already 8:32 PM, and there were only 28 minutes left until 9 PM. They could wait.
It was just that no one knew what trick Huang He was up to, or what gift he intended to give Princess Vivian.
"What do you think it is?" Princess Stephanie held Vivian's arm, and the two beautiful women whispered to each other.
"What else could it be? Something that needs to be delivered at a specific time either has special significance at that time, or it's not in this garden but outside!"
"I think it's very likely to be a fireworks show. Perhaps when the clock strikes 9 PM, a large number of fireworks will erupt in the garden around us, illuminating the entire night sky... Wow, thinking about it, it's so romantic!!!" Princess Vivian muttered excitedly to herself.
"Tch, that's too boring and cliché. Just fireworks, not interesting!" Princess Stephanie shook her head, genuinely unimpressed by the gift.
"Then what do you think it is?"
"If it were me, I'd give you a yacht, a large one, and we'd go out to sea and have fun freely for several days and nights! I've wanted a yacht for a long time, but my dad is too stingy to buy me one!" Princess Stephanie said.
"If your father gave you one, he'd probably be scolded to death by his citizens. Do you think you're a princess of Saudi Arabia!" Vivian retorted exasperatedly.
"Tch, I don't want to be a Saudi Arabian princess. There's no freedom there at all. I can't even study abroad. I have to wear a veil when I go out, let alone go on a yacht to have fun. I'd rather die than be a Saudi Arabian princess!" Stephanie shook her head forcefully.
As the two chatted, they continued to guess what Huang He's gift was. Most people around were the same. Time ticked by, and finally, it was the long-awaited 9 PM. Vivian closed her eyes excitedly.
But nothing happened. There were no fireworks, no planes, and no yachts. The entire garden remained unchanged, or rather, the only change was that the wind in the garden felt a bit colder.
Everyone's gaze simultaneously fell on Huang He. Huang He smiled slightly, gave Hu Jing a look, Hu Jing nodded, then took out a laptop and handed it to Huang He. Huang He then personally presented it to Vivian.
"This is your gift?" Vivian's smile was a little stiff. The laptop looked very expensive, and for many boys, a laptop was the best birthday gift in the world.
But giving her a laptop, wasn't that a bit... Moreover, anyone could tell that this laptop had been used before.
"Open the computer and take a look!" Huang He said with a smile. Vivian nodded, then opened the computer.
"Could it be Vivian's art photos in here..." Princess Stephanie suddenly thought of something and asked inexplicably.
"..." Huang He didn't know how to answer, so he could only give her a white eye.
Soon, the laptop was opened. It was a very formidable computer. There was nothing extra on the desktop, and it was impossible to discern anything magical.
"Take a look online!" Huang He continued to remind her.
Vivian nodded again, then slowly clicked on the IE browser on the desktop.
Then, a stunning photo of Vivian in traditional Chinese attire standing on a runway appeared as the browser's webpage background. Along with it was a message that clearly stated: "Happy 16th Birthday to my eternal Princess Vivian!"
"Thank you!" Vivian said, touched. Princess Stephanie, unable to bear it, said indignantly, "Hey, you just changed the browser background photo and that's the gift? You might as well have just given me a laptop!"
"Take a closer look!" Huang He said with a smile, giving Princess Stephanie a look that implied she was an idiot.
"What's so precious about this photo..." Stephanie muttered, then continued to look at the page. Indifferently, she said, "I really can't see what's so precious about it. Isn't it just a Google search page with Vivian's photo as the background? Although this photo is taken quite beautifully, it's just a photo..."
"Wait... I think I missed something!" Princess Stephanie suddenly looked at the webpage again and shouted, "Does anyone here have a laptop that can connect to the wireless network? Quickly open your computers and let me see!"
A few minutes later, someone brought a laptop. Princess Stephanie quickly turned it on, opened the browser, and the default homepage was Google.
Thus, Princess Vivian's photo appeared on the webpage background.
"Whoa!" Princess Stephanie exclaimed involuntarily.
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Huang He lived up to his reputation as the biggest news traffic source in the entire year of 2003. Especially in July, the world's media seemed to be relying on Huang He to survive.
Even in the last few days of July, Huang He continued to dominate the world media's public opinion with unimaginable popularity.
That was because Huang He had done another earth-shattering and awe-inspiring great deed.
When 9 PM on July 28, 2003, passed, and many people refreshed the Google homepage again to perform a search, they were suddenly surprised to find that the originally pure white page background had suddenly changed to a photo of a beautiful girl, with the words "Happy 16th Birthday to my eternal Princess Vivian!"
This was originally a very ordinary blessing, but when this blessing and photo appeared on everyone's computers, everything became extraordinary.
The next day, the world's media exploded. They easily uncovered the truth: the Chinese boss who had previously purchased the Tuileries Garden had once again spent a fortune, buying the homepage background advertisements for all their websites from the Tesla Advertising Alliance.
For the next day, the homepage of Facebook, the homepage of Google, and the homepages of other advertising alliance member websites would all display the same photo, celebrating Princess Vivian's birthday together.
Some reporters and media outlets specifically interviewed Larry Page, the president of the Tesla Advertising Alliance, and learned from him that the advertising fee for this occasion was around 100 million US dollars.
Spending 100 million US dollars on advertising to wish Princess Vivian a happy birthday, this grand gesture once again shocked the world.
And because Google Search was already the world's largest search engine, almost all netizens got to know Princess Vivian and her birthday on this day.
As well as her stunning photo in traditional Chinese attire.
This was indeed an unparalleled gift. At least Princess Stephanie extorted Huang He at least three to four times that night, begging Huang He to agree to give her a similar gift.
However, Huang He stated that giving the same gift a second time had no meaning, and he would give her other gifts. This angered Princess Stephanie so much that her legs almost crushed Huang He's waist.
Well, it's worth mentioning that this did not include China. Huang He was truly cowardly and didn't dare to play such games in China, or he would be sprayed to death.