Tossing and turning all night, sleep was hard to come by.
Early the next morning, Zhang Dalong ordered a cup of coffee from the hotel to clear his head.
He hadn't slept well at all last night, not only because he had personally witnessed the most extraordinary scene of his life the day before, but also because he had spent the entire night reading the Criminal Law.
Yes, the Criminal Law!
He could understand the company issuing work uniforms, but the move of handing out Criminal Law books was something he truly couldn't comprehend.
Could it really be that they wanted him, a man nearing forty, to go pick fights with people, so he'd know in advance whether he'd end up behind bars?
He finally understood why the men in black from the Ten Thousand Dragons Society that night were so professional.
Most companies would just have a legal department, focusing mostly on commercial law. But the Ten Thousand Dragons Society? Everyone studied law, and it was Criminal Law.
It was utterly absurd!
After downing the coffee, Zhang Dalong finally regained some of his energy.
Just then, the dedicated phone line in the room rang.
It was Su Mansu, the Young Mistress's assistant, informing him that the Young Mistress wanted to see him in the executive lounge on the top floor.
What was coming had finally arrived.
Zhang Dalong changed into his black suit and, without even bothering with breakfast, headed for the elevator.
The executive lounge on the top floor was quiet, with an expansive view overlooking the streets of Pearl City just beginning to stir.
Liu Yutong sat alone by the window, a half-finished cup of coffee in front of her.
Today, she was dressed in light grey casual wear, shedding some of yesterday's sternness and gaining a touch of elegant simplicity, but her eyes remained just as bright and sharp.
"Young Mistress!" Zhang Dalong greeted her.
"Sit."
Liu Yutong raised a hand, gesturing for Zhang Dalong to take the seat opposite her.
Dispensing with small talk and pleasantries, she got straight to the point: "Engineer Zhang, how did you rest last night?"
"It was... alright, thank you for your concern, Young Mistress," Zhang Dalong replied, feeling somewhat awkward.
"You must have many questions in your mind about why I went to such great lengths to recruit you."
"President Lin must have mentioned some things to you, right?" Liu Yutong asked.
Zhang Dalong nodded, not hiding anything. "Yes, Young Mistress. I spoke with President Lin and have also thought about it myself. The Ten Thousand Dragons Society already has the 'Wanhui Youxuan' internet product under its umbrella, which shows you place great importance on the internet. And in the internet field, currently the biggest entry point and barrier is undoubtedly social networking. Domestically, the synonym for social networking is my former company, Big Goose. I'm guessing the Young Mistress wants me to lead a social networking project to challenge Big Goose's dominant position."
Liu Yutong nodded, her eyes full of appreciation. "Talking with a smart person saves so much trouble. It seems I didn't pick the wrong person."
But Zhang Dalong wasn't very confident. "Young Mistress, to be frank, if it really is this project, I don't have much faith. Big Goose's user base, the stickiness of its relationship chains, and its brand recognition have already formed a near-monopolistic moat. Although I was only in charge of the email product, I understand very well the importance of user experience and distributed systems. It's extremely difficult to break through that."
He left one more thought unspoken: This was an almost impossible mission, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!
After listening to Zhang Dalong, Liu Yutong picked up her coffee and took a sip.
"A very rational analysis, befitting someone with a technical background."
"However, Engineer Zhang, you guessed wrong."
"Guessed wrong?"
"Correct."
"I never once considered having you challenge Big Goose head-on. That would be too foolish, like an egg striking a stone. At least at this stage, there's no chance of winning."
"Engineer Zhang, you must know about Twitter, right?"
As soon as Zhang Dalong heard this, he immediately understood what kind of platform the Young Mistress wanted to build.
"I've heard of it. You want to build a social platform similar to Twitter's model?"
Liu Yutong nodded. "That's one way to understand it, but it can't be mere imitation. What we want to build is a microblogging platform that fits the national conditions of Dragon Country and can more deeply integrate with the social habits and information consumption patterns of our people."
Just as Big Goose built a closed social circle based on acquaintance networks, what we want to build is a weak-tie network based on interests, information, and celebrity influence—an open public forum for discourse. That is Weibo.
"Microblogging, Weibo..."
Zhang Dalong's mind raced, and soon everything became clear.
Yes! Why stubbornly fight to the death on the battlefield of instant messaging? We could completely open up a new front.
"But as far as I know, there seem to have been similar attempts domestically already, like Fanfou, Taotao, these..."
"They're insignificant, not worth worrying about," Liu Yutong directly pronounced the death sentence on these platforms.
Zhang Dalong was somewhat surprised by her words—surprised by the Young Mistress's confidence. Wasn't it too arbitrary to dismiss those platforms so easily?
Liu Yutong directly stated the reasons she didn't favor those platforms: "They're too niche, too confined to tech circles or small communities, lacking sufficient appeal to the masses. More importantly, they lack a clear business model and an understanding of the macro environment. We are different."
"The Ten Thousand Dragons Society possesses offline resources and execution capabilities beyond your imagination. Take Wanhui Youxuan as an example. Currently, our Wanhui Youxuan is about to undergo its Series B financing. When that happens, it will completely cover all first and second-tier cities in the country, and third and fourth-tier cities will be rolled out after the financing."
"Engineer Zhang, can you guess how many delivery riders Wanhui Youxuan has now?"
As the country's first group-buying platform, although limited by technology (ordering was still only possible via phone and web pages), Wanhui Youxuan's scale was already nothing to scoff at.
Since Zhang Dalong hadn't looked into it deeply, he could only answer honestly, "I really couldn't guess."
Liu Yutong gave him the answer directly: "Currently, Wanhui Youxuan's platform handles a stable daily average of over 800,000 orders. However, due to technological and consumption habit limitations, food delivery only accounts for about 30%, roughly 240,000 orders."
"To support the instant delivery needs of those over 200,000 daily orders, we've built a massive delivery team. The total number of full-time and part-time riders currently contracted with Wanhui Youxuan has already exceeded 100,000 people, spread across the thirty-plus cities where we've launched our service."
Zhang Dalong did a quick mental calculation. A daily average of 800,000 orders was an absolutely staggering number for this era, sufficient proof of Wanhui Youxuan's user base and market penetration.
And that 100,000+ rider figure was even more terrifying—though, of course, the costs would be equally 'touching.'
Wanhui Youxuan's losses definitely wouldn't be small.
But as long as Wanhui Youxuan could develop healthily, there would naturally be plenty of capital willing to foot the bill.
Zhang Dalong had to admit he had somewhat underestimated the Ten Thousand Dragons Society before. He truly hadn't expected this traditionally 'black-tinted' enterprise to play the internet project game so well either.
He also completely understood the source of Liu Yutong's confidence.
Once the Weibo product was developed and launched, the company's over 100,000 riders, hundreds of thousands of partner merchants, and millions of daily active users could all become the initial seed users and promotion channels for Weibo.
This is something that small platforms like Fanfou and Taotao, which operate purely online and rely on word-of-mouth, simply cannot compare to. It's a completely asymmetric advantage, a veritable case of overwhelming superiority!
Even looking across the entire country, platforms capable of driving this kind of traffic are few and far between. Big Goose is one of them, though so far, there's been no news of Big Goose planning to launch a microblog.
Even if Big Goose actually developed one, there would be an inherent conflict. After all, Big Goose is built on a network of acquaintances—a closed social circle—which naturally resists this sort of relatively open platform.
"Engineer Zhang, do you still think we are starting on the same starting line as Fanfou and the others in developing our microblog?"
"I understand now, Miss!"
Zhang Dalong stated solemnly, "This project has tremendous potential. I will give it my all!"
"Excellent."
Liu Yutong immediately assigned him a task: "Regarding the specific product concept, team assembly, and technical architecture, you have five days to produce a proposal that satisfies me."
"I want to see the product begin internal testing within two months. Money is not an issue; whatever amount is needed will be provided. However, you will need to recruit the talent yourself, and you have the final say on compensation packages."
"When the product is launched, I will give you a substantial reward."
