Chapter 453: Awaiting an accumulated eruption

The boundaries between the four seasons were less distinct in Shenghai. Shenghai’s climate did not vary much between spring and autumn, which did not last for very long too. People generally felt like the blazing heat of summer had only just passed when winter had then descended in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, along with it also came the winter holidays.

The government ministries were prudent as usual, bringing along with it that habitual ultra-low efficiency. The contest between Xingchen and Tencent continued with no end in sight, with the former’s two lawsuits remaining stuck in procedures. It seemed that the Lunar New Year would come and go before this affair was settled.

Still, as the holidays arrived, the influx of the student population meant that the number of registered users and people online for Happy Farm and Three Kingdoms Kill skyrocketed.

Along with this came a mass increase in Weibo’s user base. It was the same for Weixin too as slowly but surely, the highest number of users simultaneously online had already climbed up to nearly a tenth of what QQ usually saw.

Without uttering a sound, Xingchen was slowly climbing back up where it had been one-sidedly pummelled while pinned down to the ground. While it was still too early to call it a reversal, the media entities and netizens who had previously predicted the fall of Xingchen, Weixin and Xu Tingsheng were already beginning to change their verdicts.

“It seems like they still haven’t lost yet…”

“So great at stacking bandages on a wound.”

“Weibo itself is unrivalled in its foundation. Since Xingchen has already basically won the battle of Weibo, it is hence effectively enabled to keep holding on. As for how they operate Weixin on top of Weibo as a foundation, while two small games might not seem like much, there is simply no way to underestimate them. Look at how popular those are, even becoming a societal issue.”

“Always forging an alternative route. All those new-fangled moves back at Hucheng before, and now this…”

“How do I put it? While Xu Tingsheng definitely isn’t a business expert, he’s definitely a genius in terms of innovation and grasping the overall flow.”

“That’s so true. His self-awareness and insight are so accurate it’s scary. The most important thing one can have is self-awareness, and yet it’s the most difficult to attain too. Yet, he has it despite still being so young. He is self-aware, and so he poaches people and hands out those operations-related affairs while focusing on innovation, direction and the overall situation…”

“Indeed, Hu Chen and He Yutan are rare talents in running a business. I heard that he poached someone called Shao Yanshan from overseas recently too. I wonder what he’s up to this time.”

“...”

“There’s another key point too. Have you noticed? When starting to do something, he always begins with the mindset of a ‘resigned loser’. It’s not just once that he’s first kept a low profile, taking a beating. Many people used to deride and mock him for this. Now, I can only say that truly, this is very hard to come by.”

“Before planning for victory, first planning for defeat...it’s true. And yet he is only 22 years old. Well, technically, almost...logically speaking, he should be full of arrogance because of youth…”

“...”

Xu Tingsheng confounded many people.

In truth, Xu Tingsheng was clearer than anyone else on his deficiency in the area of running a business. The methods, experience, capabilities and even intuition for running a business were all not things that his rebirth could grant him.

As for those main characters in rebirth novels who transformed completely into ‘Super Saiyan+ Zhuge Liang+ tyrannical veins of steel CEO’ in the blink of an eye, they should be taken with a pinch of salt.

The greatest wealth that rebirth had bestowed upon Xu Tingsheng was, of course, none other than foreknowledge. Next was the change in personality that experience had brought to him. This included the confidence that came from foreknowledge, the steady reliability that came from age and the easygoingness that came from failure and death…

Finally, there was his knowledge of and attitude towards failures and setbacks.

And so he had been willing to give up the leadership of Hucheng. And so he was able to plan for defeat before planning for victory, calmly maintaining his pace and rhythm despite the mockery. And so he was able to not lose himself amidst fame and wealth, looking at his weaknesses as well as flaws in the face.

Without Lu Zhixin and those managers whom she had found, Hucheng would probably not have reached its current state. If Weibo was run by Xu Tingsheng himself, it would definitely be full of flaws too...

It was precisely due to his self-awareness that he was not blindly arrogant and self-confident in attempting to do everything himself. He did not even know how to stop their traffic from being blocked by Baidu. Here, Hu Chen had already forged a harmonious relationship with Baidu. Their relationship right now was great, at least.

……

While Xingchen Technologies was not yet a listed company and had no need to show its financial situation to the outside world, its current state of losing money should be known by all.

What people did not know was that in fact, just a day ago, not long into the winter holidays, Xingchen had finally ceased its ‘money burning’ model, entering a money-generating state thanks to the popularity of its two games.

Calculating their overall finances for that day, they had a revenue of 302.4 yuan.

This meagre 302 yuan sent the entire Xingchen into an excited frenzy.

Meanwhile, after five days at Xingchen’s headquarters in Shenghai, Old Jin had already officially decided to invest in Xu Tingsheng’s game. The creation of a branch company of Xingchen’s that would operate independently in terms of finances and such, Xingchen Games, was announced.

On the day that Xingchen Games was established, Hu Chen announced to the public that the company had already secured the rights for a racing game produced by the Korean company Nexon, Crazyracing Kartrider. The game was currently undergoing server formation and internal testing as it was projected to be released for beta testing in March 2006.

As for that Shao Yanshan whom it was rumoured Xu Tingsheng had found from overseas, he was officially revealed to the public as the one who would be in charge of Xingchen Games.

The public had differing opinions on this, while those in the industries mainly reached two conclusions. Firstly, Xingchen had actually been secretly maneuvering even when it was at its most tragic. Secondly, Xu Tingsheng had once again firmly and decisively handed things over to someone who knew the industry.

Xu Tingsheng was winning more and more approval from the business world with his methods.

As for the opinion of the public, the netizens and the media, just the existence of a charitable venture like ‘Ningju Xingchen’ alone coupled with his usual low profile lifestyle already gave many extra impression points to his image.

And that departing figure from before…

Xu Tingsheng’s upraised fist after his farewell at Hucheng and how he had shown a wild, unruly image even in a high-end suit gained him a large amount of female fans after widespread use by the media.

The media seemed to be intentionally forging his image in the vein of a handsome, carefree youth too. Xu Tingsheng’s departure speech had also left a very good impression on them.

“A pretty good guy, a loyal and warm-hearted person, an interesting fellow.”

This was what some female reporter who had been present had concluded after seeing Xu Tingsheng for the first time. This had virtually nothing to do with his business characteristics whatsoever.

Who asked the reporter to be a female? The way they looked at things were different.

This phrase of hers was later used as a headline. And so, the core content of the article had gone from ‘Xu Tingsheng’s departure from Hucheng’ to ‘the one known as Xu Tingsheng’.

Still, little was actually known about the actual Xu Tingsheng, in truth. After some enthusiastic discussion, people would generally come to realise that they truthfully did not understand him. All the public knew of him was virtually only his companies.

People were also unaware that even as Xu Tingsheng came so intensely under the public eye, he was totally unconcerned as he had already began working hard on another matter in secret.

Unbeknownst to all, ‘Endless Stars Investment Company(Wujin Xingchen)’ that was led by Xu Tingsheng and gathered the funds of Hucheng, the Black Horse Club and Old Jin was in the midst of approaching Qihu 360 and negotiating on their investment in a methodical fashion.

Some companies and projects could not be invested in just on the basis of money alone. Still, the current Xu Tingsheng had more than just money. He also had platforms, two ultra popular, far-reaching platforms.

Finally, as Old Jin left Yanzhou to spend the Lunar New Year at home, their negotiation team sent word that the two sides had basically already established common ground for cooperation. Many minor details still remained that had to be ironed out, however.

That aside, Old Jin had decided to invest in a Bright Brilliance branch in Xihu City. This too was set to happen after the Lunar New Year.

Over these winter holidays, if felt as though everything was stacking up, awaiting an imminent, accumulated eruption.