Lianxiang, of course!
That was the undisputed king of the PC era. Although it had never really made much of a splash in the mobile-phone market, even a sick camel was still bigger than a horse. At the very least, it was one of the founding names in China’s consumer-electronics industry, with experience and distribution channels that ordinary new brands simply couldn’t match.
In the early years, Lianxiang computers had sold across the length and breadth of the country. From first-tier cities to tiny county towns no one had ever heard of, Lianxiang stores could be found everywhere. Its strength was undeniable.
With a smile, Yu Xin walked off the stage and approached Yang Yuan, extending her hand.
“Welcome to the alliance, Mr. Yang.”
Yang Yuan shook Yu Xin’s hand and immediately made his position clear. “Lianxiang will give the alliance our full support!”
Lei Jobs watched the scene from the side, secretly sighing with emotion.
He had started Rice not only to prove himself once again, but also because he genuinely wanted to contribute to the development of China’s mobile-phone industry.
That was why he had shouted that slogan at the launch event: the comprehensive net profit margin on hardware would never exceed five percent. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make money. He wanted to use the most extreme value-for-money pricing to force the entire industry to improve.
But one person’s strength was ultimately limited.
Even if Rice managed to succeed, the lifeline of the supply chain would remain in the hands of outsiders, leaving them vulnerable to being strangled at any moment.
He had never expected Miss Liu to have thought of this long ago. She had specifically asked Yu Xin to contact him, and the two sides had sat down and negotiated through the night. In the end, they had created the initial framework of this alliance.
With a group as powerful as the Wanlong Association leading the charge, he naturally couldn’t have been more pleased.
If the mobile-phone industry of the Dragon Kingdom truly wanted to rise, it would take more than just him. Yu Xin alone wouldn’t be enough either. What they needed was the collective unity of the entire industry, from upstream suppliers to downstream manufacturers.
Today, they had finally taken the first step.
…
The establishment of the Light of Domestic Products Alliance was like a nuclear bomb detonating in the country’s technology and internet circles, stirring up a storm of unprecedented proportions.
Less than twenty-four hours after the press conference ended, more than a dozen domestic mobile-phone brands—including Lianxiang, Jinli, Bubu Gao, OP, and VO—successively announced through their official channels that they had applied to join the alliance.
The speed of the response caught even Yu Xin and Lei Jobs off guard.
Before the press conference, they had privately estimated that three to five brands joining in the first round would already count as a success. After all, although the alliance’s terms were attractive, membership also meant complying with unified supply-chain standards and a patent-sharing agreement. For many brands accustomed to doing things their own way, that might not have been easy to accept.
However, reality proved that domestic phone manufacturers were far more eager to break free from their dependence on overseas supply chains than they had imagined.
In particular, the two core terms—the priority right to purchase Longxin chips and a fifteen-percent discount from standardized prices, along with free authorization through the patent pool—had prompted nearly every domestic manufacturer to rush to submit an application.
One week later, at a convention center in the imperial capital, Yu Xin and Lei Jobs once again stood side by side beneath the enormous emblem of the Light of Domestic Products Alliance. Together with representatives from the twelve domestic mobile-phone brands that had joined in the first round, they signed the alliance charter and posed for a group photo.
The photograph quickly spread across Weibo and all the major digital forums.
“Lianxiang, Jinli, Bubu Gao…all those established domestic brands are here. What an incredible lineup!”
“Twelve domestic mobile-phone brands joining forces—that’s enough to bring tears to my eyes. At last, we won’t have to worry about foreign companies cutting off our supply chains.”
“So it isn’t just Longyao and Rice fighting the battle. The entire domestic mobile-phone industry is gathering strength. Apple and Samsung, you’d better get ready to tremble.”
“I heard Baidu wanted to join too, but they were turned down because they don’t make phones.”
“Hahaha, Li Yanhong is probably saying, ‘I can start making them right now! Wait for me!’”
“That killed me. Mr. Li will probably establish a mobile-phone division overnight.”
“…”
At the same time, with the establishment of the Light of Domestic Products Alliance—and with the deliberate support of senior officials—the name of Yu Xin, president of the Technology Business Group, began appearing regularly in headlines across the country.
This young female executive, just twenty-one years old, had become practically a household name within a few short months, completing a transformation so dazzling that it could only be described as legendary.
China Entrepreneur magazine named Yu Xin its Year 10 cover figure. The cover carried just eight words:
“Yu Xin, the Barrier-Breaker of Domestic Mobile Phones.”
On the cover, Yu Xin wore a black suit, with the familiar dragon-shaped insignia still hanging at her chest. She stood before a massive rendering of the Longyao S1, smiling yet radiating a sharp, unyielding edge.
The magazine devoted twelve full pages to Yu Xin’s life story and the rise of Longyao phones.
Soon afterward, Forbes also named Yu Xin to its list of the “Thirty Most Promising Business Leaders Under Thirty of Year 10,” placing her second.
The list selected only thirty people each year, and everyone who made it was a dazzling rising star in their respective field.
This year, Yu Xin, just twenty-one years old, made the list as co-founder of Longyao Mobile and president of its Technology Business Group, landing directly in second place.
Forbes described Yu Xin this way:
“She used a single phone to change global consumers’ preconceived notions about products made in the Dragon Kingdom. Through one launch event, she also proved to the world that people from the Dragon Kingdom could define the aesthetics of technology.”
It was an extraordinarily high evaluation.
Before this, the international image of products made in the Dragon Kingdom had always been associated with cheapness, knockoffs, and poor quality. Yet Yu Xin and her Longyao S1 had managed to tear away a corner of that label, allowing the world to see something entirely different.
However, what truly set the internet ablaze was not Yu Xin’s ranking, but the person above her.
At the top of the Forbes list was a name that read:
Liu Yutong.
Founder and chairwoman of the Wanlong Association Group.
Age: Twenty-one.
Industry: Diversified business conglomerate.
Estimated net worth: Impossible to estimate.
That “impossible to estimate” naturally left plenty to the imagination.
Yet in the photograph section, there was nothing but a blank space.
Of the thirty people on the list, only the number-one position had no photograph. In its place was merely a gray silhouette.
Once the list was reposted on Weibo, the comments section erupted in discussion.
“Another refusal to make her photo public? How many times has this happened now? Who exactly is this Miss Liu? Is she some kind of supernatural being? Even Forbes can’t get her to cooperate?”
“I’ve heard of the Wanlong Association. I have a distant cousin who works in Pearl City, and he says it’s the largest private enterprise there. But their way of doing things is incredibly overbearing. They always travel with black-suited bodyguards clearing the way, and their presence is more intimidating than a movie godfather’s. I don’t know whether it’s true, though.”
“The person above isn’t exaggerating. I’m a student at a university in Pearl City, and I once saw the Wanlong Association’s motorcade with my own eyes. It was terrifying—easily more than a hundred Mercedes-Benz cars, with license plates that were almost all in consecutive sequences. The whole thing was ridiculously extravagant!”
“More than a hundred Mercedes-Benz cars, with consecutive license plates? My God! That’s intense!”
“I’ve heard that too. Almost everyone in the Wanlong Group wears a black suit, complete with a dragon-shaped pin on the chest. They look like the Dragon Nation’s version of the Mafia. The first time I saw them, I thought they were filming a movie.”
“Hey, hey, don’t make things up. The Wanlong Group is a legitimate company. Just the year before last, they donated more than two billion yuan in BS Province alone and helped build over a hundred schools. Doesn’t your conscience hurt, calling them criminals?”
“A legitimate company? Yeah, right. I don’t buy it.”
“Is the Wanlong Group really that intimidating? Because now I suddenly kind of want to work there.”
“Get a grip, buddy. I heard they conduct background checks going back three generations, have physical assessments comparable to special-forces selection, and even require employees to undergo training for the legal qualification exam. Ordinary people don’t stand a chance of getting in.”
“???”
“……”
As the discussion in the comments grew increasingly absurd, the debate over whether the Wanlong Group was truly a legitimate company flared up on Weibo once again.
The topic made it onto the trending searches almost every few days.
Just as someone had pointed out earlier, there was indeed something about the company’s name that made people’s imaginations run wild.
