Chapter 1661
Losing Temper
That morning, Zhang Yuan landed at Hong Kong's New Territories Airport.
I turned on my phone and called Wang Baoqiang first.
"How is it?" he asked gently.
"I'll be on stage soon!" Baoqiang replied in his signature hoarse voice.
The background noise on his end was quite loud.
Applause and cheers could be heard from time to time.
Meanwhile, in the background, there is a distinctive voice with a Hubei accent shouting loudly.
"Everyone, isn't that awesome?!"
That incredibly familiar voice belonged to Jun'er.
In the early days, press conferences, especially those for electronic products, were filled with all sorts of vulgar language in an effort to attract attention.
Several bosses or executives also frequently engage in "real-life Kombat" on Weibo.
For example, during the years when Xiaomi and Honor were fighting the fiercest, Jun'er said, "Take life and death lightly, and fight if you're not convinced."
Big Mouth said, "This low-end brand will never be able to break into the high-end market."
Then DaZui was banned by LaoRen.
Although Da Zui's words are rough, there's some truth to them... Moving into the high-end market is a problem.
But Xiaomi also delivered two direct shocks to the industry.
One thing Jun'er told his colleagues was something.
marketing?
What marketing? As the boss, I do it all myself.
This approach was also learned from Steve Jobs, but among all the companies in China, Jun'er is the most adept at it.
Secondly, it taught the entire national industry chain a valuable lesson, making most brands and industries that were making easy money feel the impact of the internet.
Wherever Mijia enters, that industry erupts in cries of despair and a price war ensues.
The most famous one is the power bank.
When this thing first came out in the early 2000s, people dared to buy a 2000 mAh one for over a hundred yuan.
Furthermore, the false labeling is rampant, and most products lack safety guarantees.
This chaotic situation was completely changed when a soldier pulled out a 60-yuan power bank that was not falsely advertised, had safety certifications, and looked decent.
Even more ruthless, Jun'er directly published the cost and profit statement of the power bank, laying it out for everyone to see.
And the origin of this way of playing is today.
"Not only are the specs awesome."
"What's even cooler is our price!"
"699!"
Today is the launch event for Redmi 1.
This product marked the beginning of the demise of the domestic counterfeit mobile phone industry.
Not only the counterfeit mobile phone industry was in despair after the price of 699 appeared.
Even the major players like "ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, and Lenovo," who have been thriving on carrier contract phones in recent years, are now alarmed and have to take this rising star seriously.
The scariest thing is that, selling at this price and with this configuration, they're not actually losing money to gain publicity; they're actually making a profit.
How will consumers view those contract phones after discovering this situation?
So Jun'er is not like Steve Jobs, but more like Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.
His greatest strengths lie in his exceptional supply chain and cost control.
Of course, the side effect of drastically expanding the consumer electronics market and emphasizing cost-effectiveness is the very thing that Da Zui criticized.
They can't handle high-end products.
Especially with the Redmi series, Zhang Yuan couldn't personally appear.
Low-end phones that emphasize cost-effectiveness don't fit my market positioning.
It's one thing to endorse Phoenix bicycles, at least their image was already online, so I just went along with it.
If I can't do it, Baoqiang can!
His problem is that his image is too down-to-earth, so he is basically excluded from any high-end endorsements, whether for cars, cruise ships, cameras, or mobile phones.
He's a perfect fit for endorsing snacks and agricultural products.
But today, this 699 yuan phone is perfect for him.
"Big brother, it's my turn to go on stage!"
"Okay, go ahead."
Zhang Yuan put down his phone and offered a few words of encouragement.
This is called making the best use of resources.
Many of Redmi's consumers are middle-aged and elderly people in small towns and rural areas.
These people don't need to use their phones to play games or browse the internet; they only need basic functions like making phone calls.
Letting him go would be perfect; he's down-to-earth.
However, this was just Baoqiang's "disguise".
An artist's image is merely their on-screen image.
Baoqiang looks like a country boy, but when he laughs, he reminds the older folks of the silly boy from their own village.
In reality, he not only earns tens of millions a year, but his two children, a boy and a girl, were both born in high-end private hospitals in North America, and both are citizens of the United States.
They will also receive advanced private education when they go to school.
In the future, they can use their foreign citizenship to gain admission to top domestic universities with lower scores.
They don't need to husk corn; they eat cornmeal porridge.
I ate steak and salmon as a child, and I studied violin and piano.
The silly boy isn't silly at all.
Zhang Yuan is the same; his sunny and cheerful image on screen is just a protective facade.
The audience will never see his fierce and brutal side.
For example, right now.
After putting down his phone, he immediately dropped the elation he had felt over the launch of Redmi.
His face was as gloomy as a deep pool of water.
"Here you are."
Not long after, we arrived at our usual restaurant, in the same private room.
Dishes like the two-headed abalone and braised shark fin remain unchanged.
"The abalone is still as good as ever." Zhang Yuan cut and ate it with a knife and fork.
“Of course it’s beautiful! One of them is worth a month’s salary for an average person,” Yang Chen replied, wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
"This is nothing."
"Once the company goes public, we'll make enough money to eat every day," he said with a smile to the crowd.
"Yeah yeah."
"Yes."
Everyone responded amicably.
Harmony brings wealth.
"Mr. Yang, Wang Fei is coming to Hung Hom to hold a concert later. Could you please help arrange it?" He served Yang Chen a bowl of old turkey soup, being quite polite.
"No problem, we're all on the same side."
"You should also take care of Joey Yung, Nicholas Tse, and the others when they go to the mainland to hold concerts."
"Definitely." He smiled kindly.
The atmosphere was quite harmonious, with everyone's faces beaming with praise for the delicious food and a desire to make money after the IPO.
However, this harmonious atmosphere did not last long.
Whether the Hong Kong entertainment circle is chaotic or not is up to Zhang Yuan to decide.
"Oh, right." He looked up at everyone.
“I recently had a meeting with the IPO finance team.”
"Let me give you an update on the situation."
"The returns are not a problem."
"This year, the revenue from 'Lost in Thailand' and several previous films alone will make the accounts look very good."
"There are also a few films that are collaborations with Hollywood, which should be pretty good too."
"The situation is also very good for TV dramas and performances."
"The total revenue should easily exceed 10 billion."
"Of course, the net profit will be lower because there are many expenses incurred in order to go public."
“No problem, you’re so capable, we trust you to get things done,” Jiang Zhiqiang said, praising him.
"Of course I will try my best."
"But it also requires everyone's cooperation." Zhang Yuan was still eating abalone, but he was using much more force with his hands.
The knife made a sickening crunching sound as it cut into the plate.
"So that everyone can have abalone to eat, right?"
He looked up as he cut.
By this time, several people had already noticed that something was wrong.
I could tell there was something hidden in his words.
"We're having dinner today to discuss something."
"If you encounter any problems, you can bring them up." Jiang Zhiqiang put down his cutlery and looked at him cautiously.
"There's nothing seriously wrong."
“I just found out that some people don’t want everyone to have money to eat abalone every day.” Zhang Yuan said, looking at Huang Baiming sitting to his left.
Everyone understood, and they all looked at this person.
Seeing this, Yang Chen wanted to act as a peacemaker.
But before he could speak, a deafening roar was heard!
boom!
In an instant, everyone present was in a daze!
Tinnitus in the cochlea.
Most of these people were middle-aged or even elderly. Several of them were so frightened that their hearts pounded as if they were about to jump out of their throats.
Some even reached into their suit pockets with trembling hands, intending to swallow the pills.
When they came to their senses, they realized that the commotion was caused by Zhang Yuan slamming his palm hard on the large round table.
The table in front of him had collapsed!
It was falling down, drooping.
The cracks created by the force of the palm strike layer upon layer, even extending to the other side of the table.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Zhiqiang's eyes widened to the size of longans.
If that slap were delivered to someone, wouldn't they break?
This is a solid wood table, 6 or 7 inches thick.
He felt short of breath and couldn't even open his mouth. "What are you going to do!" Huang Baiming reacted the fastest after being frightened.
He really has the mind of a comedian; he's quick-witted.
Quickly start questioning them.
Of course, my heart was pounding and my blood was rushing through my body.
It rushes to the brain, making the whole body feel hot.
But instead of a rebuke, he was met with a dinner knife.
call!
I felt a sudden gust of wind whistle past my ear.
And out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to see a flash of silver light.
When he came to his senses and looked behind him, he discovered a Western-style knife used for cutting abalone stuck in the wall behind him, which was covered with patterned wallpaper.
More than an inch of the blade was embedded in the wall.
The blood that had just begun to heat up suddenly turned cold.
If that gets stuck in your skin...
I could be a Sprite spokesperson.
A refreshing coolness, a feeling of exhilaration.
"I'll fucking kill you today!" Only then did Zhang Yuan leave his seat and walk quickly along the edge of the table toward the other person.
I didn't run, I just walked quickly.
In fact, he could jump onto the table with just a little effort, since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
But he deliberately ran in circles.
Because it's necessary to provide an opening for others to breathe.
No, no, no.
"calm!"
"Let's talk this out."
"Calm down, we'll stand up for you."
Two people stood up to stop him, and another hugged his waist.
It would be strange if Qu Chuxiao and others who played with him a few days ago were present.
What happened?
Even with several strong young men working together, we couldn't stop him, but a few middle-aged men held Zhang Yuan so tightly that he couldn't move.
Whether or not someone can be stopped depends not on who is stopping them, but on whether they want to be stopped.
Now that he needs someone to stop him, they can naturally stop him.
"Fuck your mother!"
"If you dare cause trouble at a time like this, I'll break one of your legs today!"
He shouted at the same time.
Those watching were furious with the kid; their hands were trembling.
Actually, my head went numb from slapping the table earlier.
You'll feel numb if you take a picture.
Similarly, if he wanted to, that flying knife wouldn't have missed.
But he made this scene to settle things, not to kill anyone.
According to the auditors' report, they found some problems with the company's income and expenditure records.
The investment is mainly focused on film and television works.
For example, intellectual property rights may be recorded in the books, but not actually transferred.
But the money was stolen.
There are also cases of issuing false invoices, falsifying accounts, and siphoning off assets.
Inflating revenue and misappropriating profits through related companies, etc.
The amounts can vary, ranging from tens of millions of yuan to tens of millions of yuan in actual, heavily related funds.
When reviewing IPO assets, the primary goal of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is to achieve a "closed-loop funding system."
All accounts must match up, and then you need to check whether the matching accounts are reasonable.
Are there any interconnected transfers of assets or falsified accounts?
Before and after an IPO, there are a hundred ways to raise money, and many of these methods operate in a gray area.
Hong Kong has far more experience in this matter than the mainland.
Because they got into the capital securities business early.
As one of the Four Asian Tigers and the financial center of East Asia, it's no joke.
Also, because I started playing early, and because Hong Kong's financial policies seem complicated but actually have more backdoors.
Otherwise, how could it become a financial center?
A bunch of cross-border brokerage firms and companies that trade global futures are all here.
Therefore, these Hong Kong business owners are extremely familiar with all kinds of financial schemes.
Of these people, very few have escaped investigation by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, also known as the HKMA in Hong Kong movies.
They're all up to no good.
In this respect, Shu Chang, who was in charge of overseeing his accounts, was indeed too inexperienced.
Zhang Yuan was a little unhappy, but he didn't blame her.
Just as you can't expect a first love's bedroom skills to be as good as a seasoned veteran's.
It's unrealistic if you haven't experienced it.
He, too, had never personally led a company to go public and was unaware of the many intricacies involved.
It's not even a small company with a market value of a few hundred million after going public.
There are so many tricks involved; you'll never understand unless you suffer a loss or get cheated.
Zhang Yuan is willing to "pay tuition," but only if things are under control.
We can't undermine the company's foundation and ruin the listing process!
The audit team told him that these things posed significant risks.
We need to work together to smooth over the accounts.
Zhang Yuan naturally cooperated.
The problem is, the person who committed the crime has to cooperate!
In addition, while resolving the issue, it is essential to ensure that no further incidents occur that could affect the overall situation.
That's why we have this whole situation today.
Of course he was angry; he was genuinely angry.
However, the level of anger was amplified through performance.
This is a part that his fans and viewers will never see.
If I saw that, I probably wouldn't like him anymore.
The reason why they didn't speak politely but instead chose to react with rage is because of one issue.
The problem is that the issue isn't with just one person!
These Hong Kong shareholders all have some problems, more or less!
They know all too well how to cheat; it's second nature to them.
As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses.
Because blaming the masses is tantamount to not taking any responsibility at all.
Moreover, criticizing the masses can easily put oneself on the "opposition to the people".
Regardless of right or wrong, you can't stand people banding together.
Especially at times like these, internal divisions within the company could cause serious problems.
So it needs to be addressed, but we can't make sweeping generalizations.
Just like fighting, when one person faces a group, you can't just attack randomly.
We have to catch one and beat him to death!
He chose Huang Baiming, with whom he had previously had a conflict.
Go all out and show your fury with all your might, and others will naturally step in to break it up.
Moreover, in order to appease him and ensure that someone else would handle the IPO, the remaining people had to be on his side.
These people must be feeling guilty seeing him like this. Don't they have any idea what they've done?
We need to help him calm down so that he doesn't turn his anger on us.
This unites the masses.
When Huang Baiming saw his old friends all standing on moral high ground criticizing him, he wanted to speak up and refute them.
But before he could even open his mouth, the others interrupted.
"Stop talking!"
"You should admit your mistakes."
"Old Huang, I have to say a few words to you. At this critical moment, we all need to unite."
Huang Baiming: ...
Better to die for your fellow Daoist than for me.
Well, don't blame us.
He knows the Tathagata Palm technique; we can't handle it, so you'll have to bear it.
It's better for you to die than for us to die together.
You can try to handle it, and we'll help you persuade him.
Zhang Yuan listens to advice, especially when a group of people speak up for him.
"Mr. Huang, I really want to respect you as a senior."
"But your behavior does not earn my respect."
"I'll make things clear today."
"No matter who's behind you, who you know, or who your in-laws are."
"I will not let anyone who dares to affect the company's listing or cause problems with the accounts get away with it!"
He looked at Huang Baiming as he said this, but the expressions of the others were also not good.
Was it a special request for us, or was it just a coincidence?
"Humph!"
After saying that, he flung his hand away and stormed out of the private room.
The group of people were left looking at each other in bewilderment.
Simply making threats and rallying some people to attack others will not solve the problem.
"Brother Zhang Yuan, shall we go back to the capital?" the assistant asked after they left the house.
"No, let's go to Shanghai, right now."
He got into the car and headed straight for the airport.
A mere show of anger isn't enough.
Establishing order and discipline requires concrete examples. (End of Chapter)