Two days later, Ye Zhi, while at work, received another call from Liu Lingyu.
"That Gu Sheng kid, he's truly incorrigible," Liu Lingyu said with a sigh. "He found out that your Aunt Gu made Cen Ya sign an IOU. He threw a huge tantrum at the Gu family's place! And he even said he could sign his own IOU for them, in exchange for Cen Ya's."
"Did the Gu family agree?" Ye Zhi asked curiously.
"No, Gu Sheng's IOU and Cen Ya's IOU, how could they be the same?" Liu Lingyu replied. "Your Uncle Gu and the others aren't foolish. Only Cen Ya's IOU puts pressure on them. If it were Gu Sheng's, they wouldn't take the IOU seriously!"
Ye Zhi strongly agreed.
"Besides," Liu Lingyu continued, "your Uncle Gu and the others took your advice and directly served him a court summons."
Ye Zhi was a little surprised. She hadn't expected the Gu family to act so decisively. She could almost imagine how dumbfounded Gu Sheng would be when he saw that court summons.
"He must have caused a scene, right?" Ye Zhi asked.
"Exactly. He was almost done negotiating with a buyer, and now with the property dispute, he can't sell it at all," Liu Lingyu said. "Gu Sheng was furious at the time, and his pride was ignited! He said a lot of provocative things to your Uncle and Aunt Gu, and also said that if they wanted the house so badly, they should just take it back, and he and Cen Ya would move out."
"Then Uncle Gu and the others should have agreed immediately!" Ye Zhi said with great interest.
"They agreed on the spot, but as soon as Gu Sheng went back, he suddenly changed his mind!" Liu Lingyu sighed. "He recanted and said he didn't want to give up the house anymore. Since he couldn't sell it, he'd just keep living there and refused to move out for any reason."
Ye Zhi laughed. "Moving out costs rent. A decent two-bedroom apartment in Kyoto isn't cheap, and he definitely wouldn't want Cen Ya to live in a very poor one. His salary isn't low, but to cover rent and Cen Ya's expenses, it would be quite tight. I think Gu Sheng has lived too comfortably and hasn't felt the harshness of life enough."
"Yes, I hope the child will come to his senses in the future," Liu Lingyu sighed, and then hung up.
The matter of Cen Ya and Gu Sheng was just a minor interlude for Ye Zhi. Hearing about it was like catching up on fresh gossip, and she wouldn't have cared much if she hadn't heard it.
What she cared about most now was X Company.
The transaction between the Cen family and X Company was complete, and Cen Xiucheng was preparing to leave the country and return to Country K. Taoxun had already launched a new campaign to improve services for this competitor. But Qianbai seemed to be completely silent.
***
Qianbai, Tang Jiatong knocked on the door of the responsible person's office and then pushed it open.
"Mr. Austin," Tang Jiatong said happily, "Taoxun is currently running an event called 'Service Improvement Month.' They are enhancing the overall service quality of Taoxun Shopping. It seems Taoxun is treating X Company as a formidable rival!"
"Heh, I've also heard of your Taoxun in China. Its rise was largely due to luck, and it was only because your former Qianbai boss was too incompetent that Taoxun had an opportunity. We, on the other hand, have built X Company step by step with solid effort," Austin said somewhat smugly. "It's normal for Taoxun to feel afraid."
Tang Jiatong opened her mouth. Although Austin's summary of X Company was accurate, was he being too dismissive of Taoxun?
Tang Jiatong thought for a moment and decided to persuade him further. "Mr. Austin, Taoxun's ability to become the number one in the country is not solely based on luck. Taoxun made its move this early; once our restructuring is complete, they will surely have other tricks up their sleeve, and we cannot afford not to respond..."
"Your idea is wrong," Austin said displeasantly. "Do you know why Taoxun won against Qianbai in the first place?"
Tang Jiatong quickly summarized various reasons in her mind, but she knew very well that Austin's question was not a question.
"I don't know," she said shrewdly.
"It's because Taoxun's goal from the beginning was not to surpass Qianbai," Austin stated.
Tang Jiatong realized with a sudden clarity.
"When I arrived, the headquarters had already analyzed Taoxun. President Ye of Taoxun is quite capable. Her initial strategy was not to compete with Qianbai for the top spot; she aimed to build a business ecosystem centered around Taoxun Shopping.
Taoxun was doing its own thing, not trying to compete with Qianbai. Whereas you, Qianbai, wanted to compete with Taoxun for the number one spot, which is why you were always on the defensive, always a step behind Taoxun, and ultimately squeezed out of any room to survive by Taoxun." Austin continued.
Tang Jiatong nodded in agreement. It seemed there was a master at X Company! Their analysis of the war between Qianbai and Taoxun had hit the nail on the head.
"Therefore, our X Company will absolutely not follow Qianbai's old path. What we need to do is develop according to our own development plan, rather than focusing on Taoxun," Austin said.
Tang Jiatong: ...
Although the analysis was accurate before, the core of the strategy was "you do your thing, I do mine"?
Tang Jiatong finally couldn't help but persuade him, "Mr. Austin, what you said is very true. However, X Company doesn't have much user base here. We still need to pay attention to Taoxun's movements and make adjustments based on the situation..."
"No, no, no, Tang, do as I say!" Austin said proudly. "We at X Company have successful experience, and this experience is absolutely infallible! X Company has its own advantages. As long as we follow our original path, we can make X Shopping defeat Taoxun and become number one! Don't worry, I used the same method to defeat their local shopping websites in France and Japan..."
Tang Jiatong: ...
Why did she suddenly have a bad premonition! Did X Company send a conservative leader?
"Tang, how is the website's revamped interface coming along?" Austin asked.
Tang Jiatong snapped back to attention and quickly replied, "It's done. Mr. Austin, please take a look..."
Tang Jiatong opened her computer and showed Austin the revamped new shopping interface.
"Mr. Austin, this is what we did according to your requirements," Tang Jiatong explained as she showcased it. "We also incorporated some features from the X headquarters website and made some localized adaptations. The current interface is very suitable for Chinese aesthetics and user habits, and it clearly reflects X Company's characteristics. I believe it will be very popular after its launch..."
"No, no, no! Oh my god!" Austin's eyes widened dramatically. "Tang, you completely failed to follow my instructions! I explained it very clearly..."