Chapter Forty-Four: Partners?

On Riverside Avenue, a silver-white car merged into the flow of traffic. The impartial glow of the streetlights cast alternating shadows that were left behind with every mile. Zhou Yun had not heard his answer; she felt she could not fathom Tang Zhichu. A card turned face down was like Schrödinger’s cat—the closer one got, the less one saw.

With a faint sigh, Zhou Yun asked, “Do you have faith in DY?”

There was no answer for a long while. Zhou Yun turned to glance at Tang Zhichu, who was gazing out the window. His hair had grown longer, and the half-lowered window glass fell just below his nose. The city’s neon lights painted fleeting streaks of color across his face.

Zhou Yun quickly looked away, suddenly realizing how long it had been since a man sat in her passenger seat. From this angle, how many times had she seen such a scene?

“I’m asking you a question!” Zhou Yun spoke again.

Tang Zhichu returned to himself. “I’ve already eaten.”

Zhou Yun’s face darkened, then she burst into laughter.

On their first meeting, that was about how their conversation had gone.

“Do you have faith in DY?”

Tang Zhichu sat upright. “That’s paid content. Want to hear?”

“If you speak, I'll listen.”

“I have boundless faith.”

“Why?”

Tang Zhichu organized his thoughts, then said, “At present, the short video field is divided three ways. But from a cultural perspective, their differences are clear. KS was first to launch short videos. Once it gained traction, capital stepped in, took shortcuts, and recruited a host of northern streamers to stack traffic. The data looked good, but it set KS’s cultural foundation—one that young people now strongly reject.”

“What about WeChat? Its advantage lies in resources and capital. When a new track emerges, of course it tries its hand. How? By indiscriminately copying videos and importing massive traffic, never forming a unique cultural atmosphere.”

“And DY? It’s essentially an improved KS. From the outset, it leveraged intelligent algorithms for a disruptive edge—a true tech innovation. Because KS came first, DY positioned itself to avoid KS’s shortcomings, focusing on young people in first- and second-tier cities and gradually expanding to all ages. But now, everyone has hit a bottleneck.”

Zhou Yun nodded slowly. She asked again, “Yes, but now most people have all three apps on their phones. Intelligent algorithms are certainly a technological revolution, but now WeChat and KS are imitating DY. Why are you so optimistic about DY?”

Truth be told, Zhou Yun was optimistic about DY as well, but she felt her conviction was not as strong as Tang Zhichu’s. After all, the worlds were different, and there was no pandemic to accelerate change.

Behind WeChat was Penguin’s massive traffic infusion; KS had a vast downward market. For capital, technological innovation is not the key. As development hits a bottleneck and WeChat and KS imitate DY, the issue becomes one of traffic monopoly.

Thus, in this world’s reality, the favorite of capital is not KS or DY, but rather WeChat’s short video platform, which seems scattered and unfocused. Cultural atmosphere is easier to create than traffic; at worst, capital waves its hand and recruits the top traffic aggregators, and gradually, the atmosphere emerges.

The cleverness lies in the three-way division. WeChat indeed wants to poach the top traffic holders from DY and KS. Yet, moving one piece affects the whole. If WeChat acts, it will likely trigger strategic cooperation between KS and DY, thereby reinforcing the current tripartite balance.

Tang Zhichu smiled mysteriously and pointed upward.

Zhou Yun was puzzled, not understanding.

Tang Zhichu did not elaborate, only saying, “You asked, and I answered. That’s all.”

Zhou Yun began to reflect on his words, then guessed at his gesture’s meaning. Did Tang Zhichu know some insider information? Or did DY already have a way to break through the bottleneck?

She pondered for a long time but could not figure it out. Shaking her head, she gave up and said, “Why don’t we partner up?”

“Partner up?”

“Yes, let’s do DY together.”

Tang Zhichu looked at Zhou Yun as if to ask, why partner with you?

Zhou Yun straightened her posture, her confidence evident. “I’ve investigated Brother Jun’s company. He has one influencer with five million followers and four with over a million. But right now, he’s in a lawsuit with the five-million-follower influencer, who wants out. If that influencer leaves, the company’s value will plummet. That’s a crucial breakthrough. My plan is simple: acquire Brother Jun’s company and approach DY professionally.”

“And don’t underestimate Brother Jun’s company—the five-million-follower influencer was incubated by them.”

Tang Zhichu smiled and nodded, reflecting that Zhou Yun’s inquiry about DY was really a prelude to this proposal. If she dared discuss Huang Zejun’s company in front of him, she probably had a good chance of taking it—another card laid out.

He had to admit, Zhou Yun’s journey as a young woman made sense.

“Why are you laughing? I’m not scheming against you—this is sincerity. Facing the champion of the Magic Voice Cup, I have to show something, right? Rest assured, to acquire Brother Jun’s influencer company, I need neither your money nor effort. I can handle it all. It’s you I value.”

Tang Zhichu shook his head. “I should thank you, then.”

Zhou Yun pouted. So she was rejected, just like that?

“Can’t you just take it easy? At your age, it’s all business and calculation. The most important thing in life is to enjoy the present.” Tang Zhichu crossed his arms, then looked out the window again.

Zhou Yun pursed her lips, silently complaining, So lofty, so impressive! You don’t know the weight of daily necessities unless you run the household!

...

In the villa, on the second-floor corridor, Huang Zejun and Yang Jiaxing sat side by side, each with a bottle of beer and some snacks before them.

Huang Zejun was distracted; Jiang Lan’s messages had stopped. Coupled with his career troubles, he felt defeated.

Huang Zejun gazed into the distance and suddenly asked, “What did you mean by what you said last time?”

Yang Jiaxing put down his phone, looking at Huang Zejun, who suddenly seemed much older.

“Which time? What did I say?”

“By the lake—you asked me what was most important for a girl.”

Yang Jiaxing thought for a moment, then patted Huang Zejun’s shoulder. “Brother Jun, just let it go.”

Huang Zejun picked up his beer, raised it toward Yang Jiaxing, who lifted his own bottle and clinked it with his.

After a drink, Huang Zejun spoke again, “Honestly, it’s my own doing. If only from the start...”

Yes, if only he had focused solely on Jiang Lan from the beginning, perhaps things would have turned out better.

Chen Siyang? Someone from the entertainment industry—at most, a dream.

Did Huang Zejun have no selfish motives at first? He did. Running an influencer company, if he managed to win Chen Siyang, his business would have benefited.

Now, after setbacks, he was left to reflect. He could only blame his own greed.

Yang Jiaxing suddenly thought of Zhou Yun. If he’d only shown goodwill to Zhou Yun from the outset, would things have been different?