Chapter 0238 The Meaning of Struggle

Whether provocation works depends on whom it is used on. Of course, it also depends on when it is used.

Most of the time, this tactic doesn't work on women; only men are easily provoked by a few words into making choices they wouldn't dare to make otherwise.

Zhao Fusheng knew Wang Zhen too well. Though he didn't talk much, this fat guy had a strong sense of self-esteem deep down.

To make him make up his mind, Zhao Fusheng had to make Wang Zhen understand that some things don't disappear just because he keeps avoiding them.

"Think it over. You know Dong Chenxi's situation. Future Advertising has great prospects. Although she's my assistant, she's actually Teacher Zheng's assistant. In other words, no one can guarantee how far a general manager's assistant can go." Zhao Fusheng looked at Wang Zhen seriously and said, "Do you think, if this continues for a few years, what will the gap between you and her become? By then, will her parents accept you?"

Wang Zhen's expression shifted; it was clear he was in the midst of a fierce inner struggle.

As Zhao Fusheng said, love is between two people, but marriage is between two families. Loving someone is simple, but marrying someone is not so easy, because you also have to consider both families' situations.

For most couples, each other's families may not meet their expectations, like teeth and tongue, always colliding in various ways.

Zhao Fusheng remembered reading a book that said the ideal marriage partner is someone whose parents are deceased and who owns a car and a house. Of course, this might just be a joke, but it also speaks to helplessness.

Reality is reality. No matter how much Dong Chenxi and Wang Zhen love each other, as one party keeps moving forward, once the gap between them becomes impossible to ignore, problems will naturally arise.

That's why Zhao Fusheng's parents were worried about Fan Baobao going to the Central Academy of Drama.

Fortunately, Zhao Fusheng's development now has put the elders at ease. At least, Zhao Fusheng has a promising future now.

"Don't worry about losing the money. If that happens, you can just work for me, handling the navigation website. What do you think?" Seeing Wang Zhen still hesitating, Zhao Fusheng directly encouraged him.

Now wo123 had taken on quite a few ads. As Zhao Fusheng said, charging by the day, there were still people willing to advertise on it. The money wasn't much, but Wang Zhen knew that as long as things continued like this, wo123's development would get better and better.

According to Zhao Fusheng, if his virtual community lost money, he could work for him, which was also a solution.

With that in mind, Wang Zhen nodded and said to Zhao Fusheng, "How about this: for this virtual community, you invest two hundred thousand, I contribute the idea as equity, I take twenty percent, you take eighty percent. What do you think?"

Zhao Fusheng didn't speak, just lowered his head, calculating something.

Wang Zhen hesitated, thinking he might have asked for too much. After all, he only came up with an idea and got something for nothing, while Zhao Fusheng was putting up real money—two hundred thousand. Gritting his teeth, he prepared to give up some more.

Just then, Zhao Fusheng looked up and said slowly, "No need for that. How about this: I'll take sixty percent, and the rest is yours. What do you think?"

"Huh?"

This time, it was Wang Zhen's turn to be stunned. He never expected that Zhao Fusheng, instead of reducing his share, was thinking of giving him more.

"That's not right. That's not right." Wang Zhen quickly waved his hand. "How can I take that much? No, I can't accept it."

In his view, he really didn't deserve that much.

Zhao Fusheng laughed and waved his hand. "You're not getting that forty percent for nothing. Even though I'm taking a smaller share, I have one condition you must agree to."

"Go ahead, I'm listening." Wang Zhen said.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and continued, "For this virtual community, we'll try to build it in the shortest time, then quickly promote it. We can even give up the ad spots on wo123 to fully promote this virtual community."

Wang Zhen was stunned. He never expected Zhao Fusheng to go to such lengths to promote this thing. Did he really have that much faith in it?

Hesitating, Wang Zhen voiced his thoughts, "Old Zhao, maybe we don't need to take such big steps so soon."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head seriously. "Listen to me. Once we make this, plenty of people will copy us. In fact, I can guarantee that soon, similar virtual communities will appear."

This was true. The Chinese love to follow trends, like with Hong Kong genre films. After 'A Better Tomorrow,' countless people appeared on screen in trench coats. After 'Mr. Vampire,' hordes of Qing Dynasty zombies popped up everywhere.

Given the current situation, as soon as Wang Zhen's virtual community was made, people would copy it. Then our only competitive edge would be that we started earlier and had higher user stickiness.

More importantly, in Zhao Fusheng's view, with the development of internet technology, such virtual communities would eventually be replaced by social chat software. People prefer communication, not things like simulated life.

Besides, even though the internet industry seemed booming, if Zhao Fusheng remembered correctly, in a little over a year, this bubble would burst.

The so-called internet bubble refers to the speculative bubble from 1995 to 2001, when stock markets in Europe, America, and many Asian countries saw rapid rises in tech and emerging internet-related company stocks. According to theory, internet companies' survival depended on quickly expanding their customer base, even if it caused huge annual losses. In a highly prosperous market, promising internet companies could go public to raise large sums, even if they had never been profitable, or in some cases, had no revenue at all.

In such circumstances, a company's lifespan was measured by its burn rate, meaning the time it took for a company that was neither profitable nor had a viable business model to exhaust its assets.

In financial markets, a stock market bubble refers to the self-sustaining rise or rapid development of stock prices in a particular industry. The term is clearly used only when stock prices crash. Bubbles occur when speculators, noticing rapid price increases, buy expecting further rises, not because stocks are undervalued. Many companies become severely overvalued. When the bubble bursts, stock prices plummet, and many companies go bankrupt.

According to Zhao Fusheng's plan, Wang Zhen's virtual community was their tool to get the first pot of gold.

"What do we do?" Zhao Fusheng's words clearly worried Wang Zhen. After all, he was young, not as cunning as Zhao Fusheng, and didn't think things through comprehensively.

Zhao Fusheng grinned. "Simple. We build this webpage in the shortest time, then sell it while the site is still hot."

"Huh?"

Wang Zhen was dumbfounded. He never expected that after all that planning—investing, promoting—Zhao Fusheng had already decided to sell the thing.

"Why sell it?" Wang Zhen found it hard to understand. According to Zhao Fusheng, if this virtual community took off, it would become a pioneer of the era...

Zhao Fusheng wiped the smile off his face and said calmly and seriously, "Because neither you nor I can afford to play the internet game. It requires burning money, lots of it. Do you think either of us can afford that?"

Wang Zhen fell silent. He had to admit Zhao Fusheng was right.

For one thing, just the wo123 navigation page had cost Zhao Fusheng tens of thousands already, and that was just a small navigation page. If they really built the virtual community as he said, Zhao Fusheng's two hundred thousand would probably only last six months. After that, without new funding, the site would definitely shut down.

"Alright, I'll listen to you." After a long silence, Wang Zhen uttered a sentence.

He finally realized he wasn't cut out for business. What Zhao Fusheng could think of, he couldn't figure out at all. If Zhao Fusheng hadn't enlightened him, he'd probably still be dreaming.

Zhao Fusheng smiled warmly at Wang Zhen. "Don't worry, I won't screw you over. Once we get this first pot of gold, we can really do something big."

"Okay, do something big." Wang Zhen said.

Zhao Fusheng rolled his eyes and slapped him hard on the shoulder. "You bastard, I never thought you'd give me such a big surprise."

His words surprised Wang Zhen. Turning toward the dormitory, he walked and said, "Is this idea really that great?"

Clearly, he lacked confidence.

A smile crept across Zhao Fusheng's lips as he walked beside Wang Zhen. "It's not just great. Originally, I wanted to play the stock market with Tan Kaixuan, but on second thought, that's too volatile. Your idea has strengthened my resolve to focus on real business."

"Good. I also think stocks are unreliable. Winning or losing isn't up to you..." Wang Zhen's voice was light. He hesitated, then asked Zhao Fusheng, "If the website is built, will Chenxi's family accept me?"

Zhao Fusheng burst out laughing. "A man who hasn't even graduated from college but has already made his first million with his own hands—Dong Chenxi's family would have to be crazy not to make her hold on to you!"

"At that moment, for the first time, I felt full of confidence and hope for the future..." Years later, Wang Zhen said.