Chapter 102: The Three Realms Plan

After today, the news broke that Tenda had secured a $50 million investment from SoftBank Group, instantly igniting the entire internet industry. In exchange for this $50 million, SoftBank acquired 40% of Tenda’s shares, which were distributed proportionally by the existing shareholders.

Following this equity reshuffle, the Tenda team’s stake dropped from 60% to 36%, MIH’s share reduced from 33% to 19.8%, and IDG’s holdings shrank from 7.2% to 4.32%. With this, SoftBank became the majority shareholder of Tenda.

However, SoftBank was known for its non-interference in company operations, so Masayoshi Son was unlikely to meddle in the company’s day-to-day management. Instead, he would support Pony Ma’s decisions, granting the latter even greater authority within the company’s board.

With his newfound financial power, Pony Ma’s first move was to announce an immediate purchase of Compaq servers to ensure all users enjoyed a pleasant and smooth online experience.

Compaq was more than accommodating, promptly declaring that although their domestic server stock was temporarily depleted, they would expedite shipments from the United States, promising delivery within a month. They also pledged to send a top-tier team to assist Tenda with equipment setup and tuning, promising a complete server overhaul within six weeks.

Pony Ma expressed heartfelt thanks for their efficiency.

This six-week interval became a rare golden period of growth for OO. During this time, OO’s active user base grew daily—from an initial 2.4 million active users to 6.48 million once QQ’s servers were fully installed, debugged, and reopened, lifting the queue restrictions and allowing everyone unfettered access. This number surpassed half of Tenda’s entire active user base.

Naturally, with the launch of QQ Voice, active user numbers declined again as many were drawn back to QQ. However, the drop was far less dramatic this time—around 400,000 users. Five days later, the decline halted, and active users began to rise once more. Though growth was somewhat slow, it was unmistakably still on the upswing.

In broad terms, despite losing the voice war, OO had earned the right to seriously challenge QQ. At the very least, the gap in user numbers was no longer hopelessly wide.

Most importantly, OO had established strong user retention. The era of QQ’s unchallenged dominance was over. By 2021, the social networking space had evolved into a two-horse race.

It was akin to the present-day rivalry between Ele.me and Meituan. Although Meituan had a larger business, it could never fully eclipse Ele.me. Barring unforeseen events, these two companies would continue their fierce competition for a considerable time.

Crucially, the market had not yet saturated. Every day, large numbers of newcomers joined through personal computers or internet cafes, becoming new netizens. Many learned to surf the web by first registering an OO account, a QQ account, or both simultaneously.

China’s internet was still in its infancy, with abundant opportunities flowing freely. Thus, both platforms saw their user bases grow simultaneously—this was the market’s most idyllic phase.

Consequently, both OO and QQ entered a period of steady development.

Yet Huang He, the ever-ambitious Mr. Huang, had no intention of remaining complacent. He knew well that QQ still held advantages. Without further expanding his own edge, OO would inevitably falter someday.

“Zhiwen, call Zhimeng over. I have something to ask her,” Huang He instructed his secretary.

“Yes, boss,” came a somewhat listless reply. Zhiwen promptly picked up the phone to call Zhimeng.

Indeed, Leng Zhiruo’s plan had succeeded—she had persuaded Leng Zhiwen to become Huang He’s secretary, thereby preventing others from coveting her brother-in-law’s lucrative position.

Zhiwen was reluctant at first, but Zhiruo had told her she only needed to hold the post for a month at most, enduring the interim with no successor in sight. Zhiruo promised that she would soon find a suitable replacement.

Most importantly, Zhiruo offered Zhiwen a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan, which reluctantly convinced her to accept.

To be fair, as a university student, Zhiwen was capable, especially with Zhiruo’s full support. During the first few days, Zhiruo would call her for three hours daily to provide guidance, so Zhiwen’s work performance was quite decent—at least competent enough to get the job done properly.

However, she never warmed to Huang He, her brother-in-law. Occasionally, Huang He caught a glint of hostility in her gaze—an almost murderous intent that, disturbingly, sometimes drifted downwards, making Huang He clench his legs tightly as he urged Zhiruo to find a new secretary for him.

Unfortunately, Zhiruo kept procrastinating. The promised one-month turnaround had stretched to six weeks, yet Zhiwen—the “bad luck charm”—still sat stubbornly by Huang He’s side.

Sigh. Ever since the confession, although Zhiruo fled immediately, she had gradually assumed the role of mistress of Jiangnan Group. She took no interest in other matters, but she managed everything surrounding Huang He with an iron grip. When it came to secretarial affairs, she would not allow any interference—not even from Huang He himself. He could do nothing but bear the presence of Zhiwen. Truly, a pitiful plight.

Ten minutes later, Zhimeng arrived, panting and clearly displeased. “Brother-in-law, what do you want? Don’t you know I’m so busy I’m getting dark circles under my eyes?”

“Ahem, Zhimeng, I called you here to ask how our ‘Three Realms Plan’ is progressing,” Huang He smiled.

At the mention of the plan, both Zhimeng and Zhiwen’s expressions shifted. Zhimeng’s face lit up with excitement, while Zhiwen showed a hint of fear.

A plan that could unnerve even the fearless Zhiwen had to be something extraordinary.

“I knew it!” Zhimeng grinned. “Brother-in-law, you know how massive and terrifying this ‘Three Realms Plan’ is. I only learned about it a month ago and have been preparing and executing it since then. Isn’t it a little rushed to be pushing me now?”

“I can’t afford to wait,” Huang He said, rubbing his nose. “Masayoshi Son’s side has already received their investment funds. I expect they’ll make the first move soon. We must act quickly! At the very least, you need to deliver the first phase—the ‘Investiture of the Gods’—to me now.”

“Three days. Give me three days, brother-in-law, and I promise to deliver the ‘Investiture of the Gods’,” Zhimeng held up three fingers.

“One day!” Huang He grasped her hand, pressing two of her fingers down. “I’m giving you one day—by the early hours of the day after tomorrow, the ‘Investiture of the Gods’ must be fully launched.”