Chen Pingjiang's first order of business upon returning to Dongjiang was to make an appearance at the Yan family home.
This guy felt somewhat guilty when facing Yan Yan again, thinking he wasn't cut out to be a philanderer, and his time management wasn't up to par.
"When are your parents planning to return?"
Yan Liming asked during the meal.
"It's been a long time since I went fishing with your dad."
"They'll be a while, probably another month or so."
Previously, Chen Pingjiang had used the excuse that he was going to Europe to discuss a project, and took his parents along for a tour.
The Yan family didn't think much of it.
During dinner, his mother-in-law, Li Yuhua, secretly glanced at Chen Pingjiang several times, repeatedly hesitating to speak.
Finally, Chen Pingjiang smiled and said,
"Aunt Li, just say whatever you want to say."
Only then did Li Yuhua put down her chopsticks and ask in a deliberative tone,
"Xiao Chen, look... you and Yan Yan have been together for so long, and we are very satisfied with you. Your parents also treat Yan Yan well. If it weren't for... if your Uncle Yan wasn't going to be transferred soon, I wouldn't rush you. When do you think you can settle your affairs?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Pingjiang glanced at Yan Yan, who was sitting next to him, and saw her with her head down, focused only on eating her rice.
In reality, her pretty face was already flushed.
Realizing Chen Pingjiang was looking at her, she quickly met his gaze for a moment, then withdrew her eyes.
At this moment, Yan Yan was incredibly nervous, yet also full of anticipation.
"Alright, I have no problem with that. After my parents return, we can pick a date for the engagement first."
Whether this day came sooner or later, Chen Pingjiang didn't care; it was just an engagement, not a marriage, after all.
Besides, he felt a certain amount of guilt towards Yan Yan and wanted to use this opportunity to make amends.
Li Yuhua nodded repeatedly, the big stone that had been weighing on her heart finally settling.
"Good, good. I'll be relieved once your affairs are settled."
On the other side, Yan Liming's hand, holding a wine glass, trembled slightly, spilling some wine.
Although he was also eager, he felt a little melancholic when the day actually arrived.
Chen Pingjiang perfectly understood Yan Liming, because he now also had Xiao Doubao.
If his grown-up Chen Yu were ever to be taken away by some yellow-haired boy, he would probably cripple that kid.
"Uncle, after you've moved, I'll look into investing in some industries there,"
Chen Pingjiang said with a comforting smile.
With that, Yan Liming finally brightened up again.
Usually, it was the father-in-law helping the son-in-law, but here, it was the other way around.
But Yan Liming happened to need help.
If he wanted to quickly open up the situation in his new position, the only card he could play was Chen Pingjiang.
As for Chen Pingjiang, he didn't care at all.
With so many industries, it didn't matter where they settled; at least with his father-in-law, there would be someone to look after things.
Small places didn't require large investments; simply setting up some customer service centers or affiliated studios would suffice.
After dinner, Yan Liming and Li Yuhua tactfully went out for a walk, leaving Chen Pingjiang embracing Yan Yan on the bedroom bed.
"Time flies so fast. It feels like the last time we met was at the sports institute, on the day freshmen enrolled,"
Yan Yan murmured, leaning against Chen Pingjiang's chest, gently inhaling his scent.
Chen Pingjiang recalled the scene and couldn't help but laugh,
"Who would've thought, Senior Yan Yan will be getting married in the blink of an eye."
As he spoke, Chen Pingjiang put his arm around Yan Yan's back, just behind her neck, gently rubbing the delicate skin on her arm, sighing continuously in his heart.
Juggling these women could indeed be exhausting at times.
If everyone were like Cong Nini, how much easier would things be for him?
For his nominal official girlfriend, Chen Pingjiang certainly had to give an account, but what about the other women?
"Forget it, I can't figure it out, so I won't think about it."
......
For several consecutive days, Chen Pingjiang attended meetings, discussing the new annual work arrangements for various groups.
He also made time to visit the capital to hear the report from Gaode.
"The biggest task for Renrenwang today is to quickly implement the WeChat Pay project and secure a first-mover advantage against Alipay. All preparatory work must be arranged in advance so that once the mobile payment license is issued, it can be rapidly rolled out."
"I don't need to say much about Renrengou, do I? First, establish delivery stations in first-tier cities and key second-tier cities, recruit riders, and begin trial operations."
"After the S2 goes on sale, Juzi Technology will immediately focus on developing the S3. The most critical part is solving some patent issues, whether by purchasing or developing them. In any case, with the S3, we aim to enter the global market and engage in a head-on battle with Apple and Samsung."
"Zhizhen Catering will prepare for its IPO within the year."
"Furthermore, the Qingshan Lake Juzi Super Factory needs to expand to its second phase, Daqin Chip must also deliver products, and the wafer fab must begin formal preparations."
"We also need to prepare to build our entertainment ecosystem."
Work plans were assigned one by one.
If 2010 was the year of setting sail, then 2011 would be the year of accumulating strength for a breakthrough, with tasks no easier than the previous year.
WeChat Pay, food delivery, Juzi S3, the wafer fab, and so on—each one was a major project.
The executives present understood the gravity of the situation.
Strictly speaking, apart from "Toutiao", the major groups didn't undertake many big projects last year.
This year would be different.
Not only would they have to directly compete with Ali, but also contend with companies like Qualcomm and Samsung.
As the opening act of the year, the launch of the Juzi S2 also captured many people's attention.
Not only was Juzi Technology itself on edge, but other sister groups were also paying close attention.
When the Juzi S1 was released, there weren't many domestic competitors, at most just Samsung and HTC.
Now it was different.
Besides Apple entering China, the Samsung S2 was also coming on strong, and Xiaomi would be launching in the second half of the year.
Yes, even though Chen Pingjiang had poached Lin Bin and Zhou Guangping, Lei Jun still managed to get Xiaomi off the ground.
Because he had always wanted to make phones, and after failing to invest in Meizu, his belief in making phones never wavered.
The Juzi S2 faced much greater challenges than before.
No one wanted it to merely flash across the night sky like Meizu did back then, leaving no trace.
To become a great phone manufacturer, it's not enough to just make one good product; every single one must be a hit.
Sailing against the current, you either advance or retreat.
Even a powerful company like Apple, with its iPhone 14 and 15 having no major innovations for two or three generations, still faced considerable criticism.
If it weren't for Apple fans buying their products and Huawei's inability to go global, who knows who would come out on top.
But even so, iPhone 15 sales in China experienced a cliff-like decline.
While Huawei was churning out Kunlun Glass, Xuanwu Architecture, and satellite calls as if they cost nothing, iPhone 15's biggest change was merely upgrading the entire series to USB-C ports, which, frankly, was laughably ridiculous.
What's even more speechless is that only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max would be equipped with USB 3.2 ports, supporting higher transfer speeds, while the basic iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus were equipped with USB 2.0 ports.
In terms of charging, iPhone 15 models only supported USB-C accessories certified by the Apple Made for iPhone (MFi) program.
This meant that uncertified cables would have limited charging speeds and would not be compatible with the Android ecosystem; only Apple's own connectors could be used.
Oh, and a 1-meter data cable sold for 145 yuan, a 2-meter data cable for 243 yuan, and the charging adapter also cost money.
The "leeks" were so scared they didn't dare to grow anymore.
The general public, as well as Xiaomi, Apple, HTC, and Samsung, were also paying attention to this product launch.
Xiaomi goes without saying.
Apple and Samsung were purely interested in the Juzi S2 launch because these two companies never expected that the smartphone market share in mainland China once reached 40% last year, only dropping after the iPhone 4 was released.
But even so, the Juzi S1 still held a 29% market share throughout the year.
In comparison, Apple had only 18%, Samsung 14%, followed by Zhonghua Coolpad's four companies, plus Lenovo, Meizu, HTC, and Motorola.
How could these two established enterprises have foreseen that a small company that had only emerged one or two years ago could become a leading player in the domestic smartphone market in such a short time?
For some patents, Juzi Technology hadn't even paid yet!
But they couldn't sue anyway, as Chen Pingjiang hadn't launched sales overseas.
The ones most concerned about the Juzi S2 were the general users.
The Juzi S1 was an instant hit, offering a very good user experience, and crucially, it was highly cost-effective.
For similar configurations, the Juzi S1 was only 70% of the price of Samsung or Apple.
This was the greatest user-friendliness.
Since Juzi phones launched the beauty camera, other manufacturers also began to follow suit, but development required time and could only be implemented in the next generation of phones.
Chen Pingjiang looked at the list of invited guests handed over by Lin Bin with interest.
It wasn't until he saw a familiar name that Chen Pingjiang smiled and said,
"Mr. Lei also came personally?"
Lin Bin also smiled,
"We have a good relationship. He heard we were holding a product launch and personally contacted me for an invitation."
Chen Pingjiang patted his shoulder,
"He's probably here to learn from us. I heard he poached a lot of people from Meizu and is ambitiously planning to make phones; he even has prototypes out."
Lin Bin nodded,
"The information I have is that Mr. Lei intends to start from the low-end market. He can't compete with us and Apple in the mid-to-high end, he simply doesn't have the capital to compete there."
"In any case, you should pay more attention; this person is destined to become a disruptor in the smartphone market."
Chen Pingjiang's memory of Lei Busi was still stuck at the Mi Shijie launch event, where Lei Busi specifically invited the heads of Wei Xiaoli to publicly criticize them.
When it came to marketing prowess, Chen Pingjiang would have to give Lei Busi a wide berth.
He was truly a god who could get trending by just saying a few words.
Chen Pingjiang estimated that even if Weibo was his own now, he probably couldn't compare.
Whether it was the hunger marketing of the Xiaomi M1 back then, or the later refundable 5,000 yuan deposit for the Mi Shijie, he truly mastered marketing.
Oh, and there was another memorable incident.
A couple was talking about phones on their window, and because the wife said she only wanted to buy a Huawei, the video was actually taken down due to a complaint from Xiaomi's legal department!!?
Chen Pingjiang was stunned by that audacious move.
Later, Huawei and Xiaomi would occasionally clash.
Lei Busi himself hadn't even spoken, but Lu Weibing was constantly jumping around on Weibo, disparaging this and that, which was truly boring.
Xiaomi fans called Huawei fans Haigou, and Huawei fans called Xiaomi fans Mi Hou.
It was truly a case of 'pain for loved ones, joy for enemies.'
(End of chapter)