Chapter 66: Tengda Finally Realizes

In the end, Zhu Yue did not sell Foxmail or Zhang Xiaolong. After all, Foxmail still held the second-largest share in the national email market, and the gap with the leader, NetEase Mail, was not so wide. If a breakthrough happened, becoming the top email service in the country was entirely possible.

Moreover, in just one year, someone was already willing to pay eight million more to acquire Foxmail, which proved its intrinsic value. If he waited a few more years, perhaps it could be worth thirty or forty million.

Thus, Lin Haiquan and his companions, who had arrived in a hurry, left just as quickly. Yet at that time, Lin Haiquan could never have imagined that years later, at an industry gathering, his greatest claim to fame would be that he was the first to recognize the value of 00 and Jiangnan in the market that year, and that he was only a step away from acquiring OO, earning him looks of respect from everyone present.

At this moment, Lin Haiquan was actually filled with immense frustration. He felt that he had left Wenzhou in a rather embarrassing state, which gave him a strong urge to take revenge on Huang He.

"Xiaolong, do you know anyone at Tengda?" Lin Haiquan suddenly asked Zhang Xiaolong in the taxi back.

"I know the head of their technical department, who is also one of the founders, Zhang Zhidong. But what do you want to contact them for?" Zhang Xiaolong replied with a question.

"It's nothing. I just think the people at Tengda are a bit slow to catch on; such an obvious competitor and they haven't noticed. I should give them a nudge!" Lin Haiquan said with a smile.

"Mr. Lin, maybe we shouldn't do something that harms others without benefiting ourselves," Zhang Xiaolong said, somewhat resistant.

"Even if it doesn't benefit us directly, we could use this to build a good relationship with Tengda, laying the groundwork for future collaboration. As for OO, it's beneath us. If we want to partner with someone, it should be a market leader like Tengda!" Lin Haiquan spoke as he jotted down Zhang Zhidong's phone number from Zhang Xiaolong.

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"Hello, who is this?" Zhang Zhidong answered the phone. It was an unfamiliar number, but it was his private line, known only to those he considered worth associating with, so he did not choose to reject the call.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang, I am Lin Haiquan, General Manager of Boda Company. I met you once with President Zhang of Foxmail, and we had a long conversation!" Lin Haiquan said with a smile. Zhang Zhidong then remembered that he had indeed talked with Zhang Xiaolong.

Ma Ge had always wanted to develop an email service, which meant Zhang Zhidong, as Chief Technology Officer, had long been paying attention to email technology and talent. So it was Zhang Zhidong who had initiated the previous conversation with Zhang Xiaolong. He just didn't recall that there had been a third person present at the time.

Could his memory be fuzzy?

Thinking of Zhang Xiaolong, Zhang Zhidong couldn't help but recall their last meeting, when Zhang Xiaolong had discussed whether mobile phones could have PC-like platform features. He truly was talented, certainly superior to himself in many ways.

"Mr. Zhang, are you listening?" Lin Haiquan, noticing the silence, asked.

"I'm here, sorry. I worked late last night. What can I help you with, Mr. Lin?" Zhang Zhidong asked.

"Well, I wonder if your company has noticed a new challenger in the market, OO?"

"OO? What's that?" Zhang Zhidong reflexively asked.

"What, you've never heard of 00?" Lin Haiquan exclaimed. "Actually, Boda just completed an investigation, and we found that OO now has at least five hundred thousand registered users. Such a large competitor, and your company has no awareness?"

"Five hundred thousand? Is that a lot?" Zhang Zhidong scratched his head. He remembered that Tengda had just surpassed thirty million registered users a month ago, so fifty thousand seemed negligible by comparison.

"Well..." Lin Haiquan was stumped for a moment, then said, "Mr. Zhang, your company must not underestimate this enterprise. Their new OO Drift Bottle feature is dazzling and has attracted a large number of users. If they continue to grow unchecked, QQ's foundation may be shaken!"

"Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Lin. I've noted it." Zhang Zhidong hung up, thought for a moment, and realized it might be overstepping to report directly to Ma Ge. So he called the marketing department, mentioned OO, and asked how they viewed it.

"We are already aware of OO. Their Drift Bottle feature is indeed impressive, and we are conducting a detailed investigation. It will be included in next week's market report." The marketing department replied, and Zhang Zhidong said nothing further.

As Tengda grew larger, its power structure and system became more independent, and as CTO, Zhang Zhidong was not interested in interfering with marketing matters.

Since the marketing department said they were aware, it was no longer his concern.

Lin Haiquan had expected Tengda to respond within two or three days of his call, but to his disappointment, after five days, Tengda still seemed oblivious to OO, allowing its unchecked growth without any response.

"Is Ma Ge really that slow?" Lin Haiquan grumbled angrily.

But it wasn't Ma Ge's fault. He had to wait five days for the weekly market report from the marketing department.

Nor was it the marketing department's fault, as the report was submitted on schedule, and OO's threat was highlighted.

The problem was, after Ma Ge received the report, he only read the first half concerning foreign products. The second half, he habitually skimmed and set aside, as he had more pressing matters to attend to.

With no reaction from Ma Ge, the whole of Tengda continued to ignore OO's existence, as if the competitor didn't exist at all. Even Huang He, after waiting nearly half a month and seeing Tengda remain silent, muttered, "Why isn't Tengda coming after me?"

It wasn't until September 1, 2001, when all students faced the hardship of school starting, that Ma Ge was engrossed in playing a game.

Don't misunderstand – Ma Ge wasn't slacking off. On the contrary, he was working diligently, for the game he played was "Legend." In just half a year, this game had driven all online players mad, and even made a little-known company, Shengda, the most profitable online company in China in only six months. Ma Ge was genuinely envious, jealous, and resentful, since QQ was still losing money, and no one in QQ had found a way to make it profitable.

This was the crucial task Ma Ge had been planning lately. Although QQ had an astonishing market share, its expenses were equally astonishing, and it had yet to find a path to profitability.

Thus, games became Ma Ge's most valued domain.

"I need to send someone to Korea to see if we can bring over a game similar to Legend!" Ma Ge quickly came up with a solution. If he couldn't beat the competition, he'd join them and turn their market into his own. This was Ma Ge's usual and effective tactic.

"Brother-in-law, have you opened a farm? Can you let me steal some crops?" Suddenly, Ma Ge's QQ vibrated. He glanced down and saw a message from his sister-in-law.

But what did 'stealing crops' mean? He had no idea.

Ma Ge had one virtue: he was never ashamed to ask questions. So he sincerely replied, "What is 'stealing crops'? Is it a new game?"

"It's OO Farm! Isn't that your company's product?"

"OO Farm? Wait a moment!" Ma Ge replied to his sister-in-law. That day, she never received another message from him. It was said that on that day, not a single member of Tengda's management went home before dawn.