Chapter 78: Discovering a Distant Relative

Huang He had no idea that one of his sisters-in-law was plotting against the other. After his shower, he went to find Leng Zhimeng. His purpose, naturally, was to check on OO; after all, in the past week, he hadn't really managed or kept up with what was going on with OO.

So the first thing he asked when they met was, "How is OO doing?"

"It's better than we expected," Leng Zhimeng replied with a wry smile. "Based on our initial estimates, we thought we'd lose between 350,000 and 500,000 active users. But unexpectedly, after the first day, some users came back, so right now we have 300,000 active users, and the total number lost is about 250,000."

"That's good news!" Huang He broke into a smile. "Under such an aggressive offensive from QQ, the fact that we've managed to keep part of our base means OO still has its own charm; we've managed to keep a core of loyal users. What we need to focus on next is how to win back those wavering users!"

"Mr. Chen, how is your team's progress?" Huang He turned to Chen Shoufu, who was standing beside him.

"We haven't let you down!" Chen Shoufu replied, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, stifling a yawn. "Thanks to the hard work of everyone in the R&D department, we managed to finish developing the new feature in just one week. This is something even QQ doesn't have, and it involves a lot of data traffic. We have no idea how many bugs might crop up in actual operation—crashing several times a day might be normal. Are you sure you want to launch it in such a rush?"

"We have to. Time waits for no one. If we delay any longer, no one can afford it." Huang He sighed. "Get ready. We'll launch it tomorrow!"

"Yes, sir!" Chen Shoufu nodded.

"Zhimeng, make sure to give Mr. Chen and everyone in the R&D team an extra month's salary as a bonus for all their hard work," Huang He added.

"Thank you, boss!" The sleepy Chen Shoufu instantly perked up, showering Huang He with gratitude and marveling at his luck to have such an excellent boss.

As they spoke, Huang He suddenly noticed a head peeking around outside the door, eyes darting in his direction from time to time.

"Who are you?" Huang He's gaze sharpened, while Leng Zhimeng immediately stood up, briskly dragging the lurking figure inside.

"Are you a business spy from Tengda?" Huang He asked bluntly.

"No, I'm not! I'm a programmer under Mr. Chen!" the young man hurriedly explained. Huang He glanced at Chen Shoufu, who nodded. "That's right—this is Xiao Huang. He was an online friend of mine, very skilled. When I learned that he was a student in the Computer Science Department at Zhejiang University and was about to start his internship, I invited him to join us here."

"Xiao Huang has already received an offer from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the U.S. Once he graduates next year, he'll be able to continue his studies there."

"He's also extremely diligent—often the last one to leave the office," Chen Shoufu added.

"I see. Have a seat," Huang He said, his expression softening. He liked people who voluntarily worked overtime.

To be fair, when Huang He was an employee himself, he hated the toxic culture of forced overtime. But there was no choice—if you didn't work late, you couldn't stay in the company; overtime was a necessary evil.

But now that he was the boss, he found himself more and more fond of employees who liked to stay late. So, hearing that this guy often worked overtime, Huang He instantly became much more amiable.

"So your surname is also Huang. That means we're kin!" Huang He chuckled. "Tell me, my kinsman, what were you doing peeking around outside? Do you need something from Mr. Chen?"

"No, I just saw a news story that I thought might be useful for OO, so I wanted to bring it to you and get your opinion," the young man said, a little nervous as he looked at Huang He.

"Oh? What news?" Huang He still smiled, but deep down he felt a bit displeased. It wasn't that employees couldn't share ideas, but skipping the chain of command like this showed a bit too much ambition.

In movies and TV, people like this might get suddenly promoted after catching a boss's eye, rocketing to the top. But in reality, such people are usually suppressed in big companies. Even if their ideas are recognized, they rarely get credit—because bosses don't like this sort of person.

Do you think bosses enjoy having random people interrupt their regular routines?

What bosses actually want is for people to submit their suggestions and ideas through internal channels. While these procedures can stifle innovation, without them, large companies would descend into chaos.

This is also why big companies struggle to innovate—it's a double-edged sword, and it's up to the boss to wield it wisely.

As for Boss Huang, his thinking was simple: ambition should match ability. If Xiao Huang's idea was good enough, he wouldn't mind giving him an opportunity.

If it turned out to be garbage, well, he wouldn't fire him—after all, what boss would let go of someone willing to work overtime? Let him work overtime for the rest of his life.

"Here it is!" Xiao Huang handed a small notebook to Boss Huang. On it was a hand-copied news item. In these days before large-screen smartphones, you couldn't just screenshot or take a picture to share news; you had to copy it by hand.

"Online Lovers Meet By Chance, Only to Discover They're Coworkers—A Brawl Ensues and Both Are Arrested!" The story was a bizarre one: a man had been dating someone online, calling each other husband and wife and even sending money several times.

Since both lived in the same city, they arranged to meet, but the other party kept refusing.

Later, the man went to an internet cafe with a coworker, only to find his coworker logging into the very QQ account of his online "girlfriend." Holding back his disgust, he chatted a bit to confirm his suspicions. Once confirmed, the two started fighting right there in the internet cafe, damaging five or six computers and ending up in jail.

"This happened in Shanghai and so far only the local Sina news site has reported it. Not many people know—my friend just shared it with me as a joke," Xiao Huang said excitedly. "But I think this is an opportunity—a great opportunity, a chance to defeat QQ!"

"Absolutely not!" Chen Shoufu couldn't help but interject. "A story like this would damage not just QQ, but the reputation of all online chat platforms. I get what you mean—you want to focus the blame on QQ, but with news like this, if one falls, all fall. Our users would lose out too. It's not a good idea."

"Logically, that's true. But what if we tied this news to our new feature and promoted them together? I have an even bolder idea—why not use television to help us publicize it..."

At first, Huang He had been dismissive, but as Xiao Huang spoke, his expression turned thoughtful, and by the end, he was beaming.

"What’s your name, my young kinsman?" Huang He grinned like an eccentric uncle.

"My name is Huang Zheng!" Xiao Huang lifted his head and proudly announced his name.