“Shut up!” Yang Xu gritted his teeth.
He wanted to use Taoxun navigation too, but Taoxun was expensive!
If it had always been that expensive, he could accept it, but why were the fast-pass users cheaper, only charging premium prices for Feitong users?
In that case, wouldn't his costs be even higher? It was like they were deliberately overcharging him!
What's more, this was like sending money to Ye Zhi, which was aiding the enemy!
Was he supposed to send his hard-earned money to Ye Zhi, allowing her company to grow stronger?
Seeing Yang Xu's conflicted expression, the assistant knew it was not the time to persuade him.
“Then I’ll find a few map companies, and we can try them out for a month to compare which one is better,” the assistant said.
“Go ahead and do it,” Yang Xu waved him away irritably.
After the assistant left, Yang Xu paced restlessly around the office.
He couldn't let Feitong go down like this. He had originally planned to rely on Qianbai’s self-operated business to make a comeback, but he had been waiting. Although Qianbai had launched a few larger cities as pilot programs, the results weren’t great.
Yang Xu immediately took out his phone and contacted several investors, but these investors seemed unenthusiastic about Qianbai’s business. Even though he was eloquent and described the situation as extremely urgent, the investors merely advised him not to be anxious and to let Qianbai develop slowly, stating that Qianbai’s self-operation had a promising future.
Yang Xu was so angry his nose felt like it would fall off. "Promising future" meant "not good now," didn't it?
He thought long and hard and then thought of Jin Kaiyuan. Due to a past incident of rummaging through warehouses, Jin Kaiyuan was also the most resolute in his opposition to Taoxun!
Yang Xu immediately got up and went to see Jin Kaiyuan in person. He didn't mention Qianbai's slow development. Instead, he only talked about Taoxun's rapid growth and expressed deep concern about the current situation, warning that if this continued, Qianbai might never be able to defeat Taoxun.
Jin Kaiyuan and Yang Xu hit it off immediately. Jin Kaiyuan had long been dissatisfied with Shi Fan, Qianbai's current vice president. Seizing this opportunity, they reached an agreement to hold Shi Fan accountable!
Soon, with Jin Kaiyuan's push, Qianbai gathered all its investors for another meeting.
To achieve better results, Jin Kaiyuan chose an offline meeting.
That morning, all the investors were gathered in Qianbai’s conference room, but they were all somewhat impatient.
What was Qianbai up to again? Didn't they have their own companies to manage? They had only invested, they weren't here to be parents and nannies for Qianbai!
“Everyone, I won’t waste your time, I’ll get straight to the point!” Jin Kaiyuan said aggressively, distributing the printed materials to everyone.
He questioned them righteously, “Everyone, please take a look! These are the five pilot cities for Qianbai’s self-operation. During this period, Taoxun has captured the entire market in the pilot cities, Qianbai’s revenue is abysmally low! Moreover, the reputation is exceptionally poor, and the customer repurchase rate is very low! At this rate, how many years will it take for the money we invested in self-operation to be recouped? Shi Fan, you must give us an explanation!”
Shi Fan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and replied displeasedly, “Director Jin, Taoxun was the first to arrive in these cities, and users are already more accustomed to using Taoxun. It is *we* who are taking market share from Taoxun, thank you!
Also, if the reputation is poor, you should look at what the users are complaining about. They are all complaining about the express delivery, not us! The low customer repurchase rate is because the delivery personnel don't deliver to the door and just leave the packages at the collection points!”
“Look at his attitude!” Jin Kaiyuan pointed at him furiously and said to the other investors, “All the problems are with others, and he’s not to blame at all, is he? Young people are just young people; they’re incompetent at work but quick to shift blame!”
“Since Director Jin is not satisfied with me, then let someone else do it!” Shi Fan said angrily.
Just as Jin Kaiyuan was about to say something, he heard other investors speaking one after another.
“Old Jin, don’t be so hard on the young people. Qianbai is already in this state, it can’t afford to go through personnel changes!”
“Exactly, what he said isn’t wrong. It is indeed Qianbai that is taking market share from Taoxun!”
“Yes, that’s Taoxun. And it’s only been in trial operation for less than a week, so having any revenue is already good!”
“It’s really more of an express delivery problem. If we had chosen Shun... cough, other express companies, the reputation wouldn’t be so bad, so don’t blame Shi Fan.”
...
Hearing everyone defending Shi Fan, Jin Kaiyuan was stunned!
This development was not right!
In the past, these investors were all very concerned about Qianbai, wishing they could personally get involved in management. But now, why did they seem resigned and completely indifferent to Qianbai’s survival?
Also, what did they mean by "That's Taoxun" and "If we had chosen Shunda"?
In the past, these people at least had some ambition and were unwilling to be second best, but now it seemed as if Taoxun was an insurmountable mountain, and Qianbai could snatch some scraps from Taoxun, which was already something to be proud of?
“Old Zhan, what do you think?” Jin Kaiyuan looked at Zhan Li anxiously.
“...I think what they’re saying makes sense,” Zhan Li said after a moment of silence.
Jin Kaiyuan quickly looked at Su Ming, “Su Ming, what’s your opinion?”
“I think what Zhan Li said is quite good,” Su Ming thought for a moment.
“You guys…” Jin Kaiyuan was completely dumbfounded! Why had Su Ming and Zhan Li’s attitudes also changed?
What exactly had happened? Why did he feel as if he had just slept for a night, and the world had completely changed?
He suddenly felt a sense of great tragedy and desolation, as if he had bravely charged into the enemy camp with his saber, only to turn around and find his teammates standing with the enemy!
“That’s all for today. Shi Fan,” Zhan Ruofeng said, “Continue with Qianbai’s self-operation as originally planned, don’t rush, just take it steady and slow. Uncles, please leave first. Director Jin and I have something to discuss.”
Everyone nodded and left. For goodness sake, they were all very busy!
Soon, only Jin Kaiyuan, the Zhan father and son, and Su Ming remained in the conference room.
Jin Kaiyuan asked angrily, “What do you want to say? You traitors!”
The expressions of the three immediately became somewhat unnatural.
“Uncle Jin,” Zhan Ruofeng said with a polite smile, “I’m actually here to talk business with you. You see, besides collection points, Fangxin Post Station is also planning to install a batch of smart lockers. With your son Jin Mian’s efforts, we plan for Jinshi Home Furnishings to build this batch of smart lockers. What are your thoughts on this…”
Jin Kaiyuan was a little surprised. Who? Jin Mian, who always opposed him?
He frowned and asked, “How many smart lockers are you planning to install?”
“Our plan is to install smart lockers in all cities across the country. Densely populated communities will have more installations, so in total, it should be several hundred thousand units…”