Tan Jincheng's speed not only surprised Tao Qinian but also Gu Qingqing.
From the three-way intersection where they parted to the county, it was about a 20-minute drive, and then from the county back home, it was about another half an hour's drive.
Gu Qingqing learned this from Tan Lihua.
The drive took almost an hour, yet when Tan Jincheng arrived home, they had been apart for less than an hour and a half!
Finished talking in less than half an hour?
Did the negotiations fall through?
Seeing Gu Qingqing's worried expression, Tan Jincheng gave her a reassuring look:
"It's fine, everything's normal, don't worry."
"Really?"
Although Gu Qingqing didn't participate in the operations of Shanchi Tech, she couldn't possibly not care about Shanchi's major projects, especially something as big as building a factory.
"Of course, it's true."
"Then why are you back so quickly?"
"We weren't discussing specific details, just confirming a cooperation method. What's the point of staying there and talking nonsense? Besides, I brought you back to my hometown; I can't just leave you here alone all the time."
This reason sounded quite absurd, not something an entrepreneur would typically say, but Tan Jincheng truly thought that way.
The two exchanged smiles.
Tan Lihua was also a bit surprised, wasn't he going to the county?
How did he come back so quickly?
After Tan Jincheng explained, Tan Lihua was stunned:
"So you're going to build a factory in Wangjiang?"
"It shouldn't be called building a factory; it's an industrial park, and supporting industrial parks will also be built. Don't let this information spread."
Since Tan Jincheng hadn't returned, Gu Qingqing felt somewhat out of place among a group of relatives whose language she didn't understand, so she played with Jinyue in Tan Jincheng's room.
Only his parents knew Tan Jincheng's true purpose for coming back, which is why Tan Jincheng told Tan Lihua not to reveal it.
Currently, it's just an intent to cooperate; no specific details have been discussed.
There are still six or seven days until the National Day holiday ends, and if the news spreads too quickly, it might cause trouble.
As for Tao Qinian and Nie Yunlai, Tan Jincheng believed they wouldn't be so thoughtless as to cause trouble for him.
From this perspective, spending less than half an hour in Tao Qinian's office also had its advantages, creating a situation that was hard for others to grasp.
Tan Lihua nodded solemnly, his expression looking somewhat nervous and excited.
Seeing this, Tan Jincheng smiled:
"No need to be so nervous, let's go out and have some fun."
With that, he picked up Jinyue.
Not only was Gu Qingqing a bit unaccustomed to the situation, but Jinyue was also a bit uneasy.
The relatives might have had some reservations in front of Gu Qingqing, but they were very enthusiastic with Jinyue.
Their great enthusiasm somewhat startled her, and another thing was that Jinyue no longer spoke the local dialect.
Just when she started to form memories and learn to speak, she was taken to Beicang.
Education there was already promoting Mandarin, and Tan Jincheng usually spoke to her in Mandarin.
Moreover, Gu Qingqing also spoke Mandarin, which resulted in Zhang Suzhi rarely speaking the Yicheng dialect when at home in Beicang.
Her brother was back, and with him holding her, Jinyue wasn't as nervous.
Many people were in the main hall, all relatives, chatting idly.
Seeing Tan Jincheng come out, they couldn't help but look at him.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Tan Jincheng said with a smile to everyone.
Tan Licheng, who was closest to Tan Jincheng, called out loudly:
"Where did you run off to? Everyone's waiting for you to come back and give your wife a red envelope."
"I had some business in the county. A big leader from the county might come to our house in a couple of days. Don't go running around everywhere; come recognize faces then, maybe there'll be some benefits."
The industrial park settling in the county would bring significant ripple effects, especially for Tanjia Village and Tan Jincheng's immediate relatives.
In the future, whatever policy benefits the county had, they would certainly lean towards the village.
Some subsidies might not be fully received, but at least they could get more than other villages.
From Tao Qinian arranging Nie Yunlai to be his liaison, it was clear that he was well-prepared for this.
In the office, Tao Qinian personally stated that he would come to Xinba Township for inspection during this National Day holiday.
The reason was, of course, to visit the public during the double holidays, but Tan Jincheng understood his true intention.
Tan Jincheng's words immediately silenced the chattering in the room.
Only at this moment did the relatives truly realize Tan Jincheng's difference.
Nothing was more impactful than power.
The highest official they had ever seen was a town mayor.
But Tan Jincheng went to the county and returned in less than two hours, bringing back this news.
Was this the influence of this great nephew?
"Do we need to prepare anything?"
"No need to prepare anything, just be home. It's impossible for him to visit every household, but he'll probably come to my place."
Uncle Tan Liye looked around the main hall and leisurely said,
"Then your house needs to be renovated."
Tan Jincheng couldn't help but smile.
This house was built in 1997.
Although it was less than 10 years old, according to his father, the price of rebar and cement was exceptionally high that year.
After laying the foundation, they found they were severely over budget.
Because of this, the two-story house was built quite simply, and the second floor hadn't even been decorated.
The main reason was that the walls were too thin, and there were no insulation measures, so it was really too cold to live there when they returned in winter.
Tan Jincheng smiled,
"It really needs to be renovated. How about you, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, and brother-in-law, if you have time, could you help me oversee it?"
Second Uncle and brother-in-law were bricklayers, and Third Uncle was a painter.
In those days, these weren't considered good jobs, and the wages were low.
A decade or so later, these jobs would become popular, but by then, they would be old, having missed out on an entire era.
Fortunately, they raised their descendants well, which was some consolation.
Tan Jincheng couldn't help them much, as their education levels and understanding were inherently limited.
After Tan Lihua returned from Beicang, he had asked them if they wanted to work in a factory, but they didn't want to do such restrictive work, so there was nothing more to be done.
Let them be.
Anyway, in their previous lives, although they weren't wealthy, they never lacked money and knew how to be content, so their lives were already quite good.
—Beicang, October 1st.
The sign for Financial Building had been taken down, and the original LOGO location was replaced with the four large characters "Shanchi Group," shining brightly under the sun.
Passersby occasionally looked up, watching the new sign on the building's roof.
While Tan Jincheng was discussing house construction in his hometown, renovation workers could still be seen going in and out of the Financial Building from time to time.
Zhu Chengying was quite efficient.
After the sign was changed, he immediately began to clear out the tenants inside.
With rent refunds and certain compensation, everyone was quite cooperative.
Some small companies with short leases and new office locations had already started moving during this National Day holiday.
The remaining companies were also confirmed to be completely vacated before the end of the year.
As for renovations, Tan Jincheng didn't have many demands.
The Financial Building was newly completed; it wasn't the later version that was severely ravaged by internet celebrities and scam companies.
Tan Jincheng didn't care about the style or anything.
He just wanted to redecorate his and Zhang Xupeng's partner offices, make simple modifications to other departments, add some office supplies, and then they could officially move in.
On New Year's Day 2007, along with the official production launch of the Beicang factory, Shanchi Group's headquarters staff could also officially move in.
Some people were already enjoying their holiday, while others were still working.
Such was the case for the Orange Tech employees in Shanchi Group's headquarters building.
They had no holiday during National Day, and as of now, Kaixin.com's registered users had exceeded the 5 million mark.
Both in terms of registered users and daily active users, it had far surpassed its competitor, Xiaonei.com.
This made Wang Xin very depressed.
Both were copying Facebook, so why could others do better than him?
Tan Jincheng had no interaction with Wang Xin.
Xiaonei.com wouldn't be a match for Kaixin.com.
Kaixin.com's next goal was to surpass QQ Zone, and its target had always been QQ Zone.
Among similar products, QQ Zone had QQ for traffic, while Kaixin.com had MSN for traffic, plus ubiquitous link sharing.
In terms of traffic, it was no less than QQ Zone.
"How are the preparations going?"
Cheng Hao was somewhat nervous.
With over 5 million users, through the two mini-games "Friends' Trade" and "Parking War," users had accumulated a certain amount of game currency.
To break through from 5 million to 10 million users, Kaixin.com chose the Happy Farm mini-game, which had been prepared long ago.
Happy Farm and the Kaixin.com project were developed concurrently and had been kept under wraps, waiting for this very moment.
From internal test results, this game was indeed addictive.
Just wondered if the scenario described by the boss would materialize.
"It's ready,"
Gu Yanling said, a little nervously.
The Kaixin.com project had succeeded after market testing, and now the future development of Orange Tech would be in the hands of their project team.
"Good, release the advertisements, stress test the servers, and prepare for launch."
Embedding Flash mini-games into social networking sites was still an innovation in those years and explored a new profitability model for social networking sites, which was why Kaixin.com received so much attention from venture capital firms.
As for Happy Farm, vegetables could be harvested in a few minutes.
Switching the web page while slacking off at work or doing homework would complete a round of the game.
It fully utilized fragmented time for entertainment while also being social.
This was the short video of the PC era!
Tan Jincheng had high hopes for Kaixin.com and Happy Farm.
Game development costs were low, and two or three programmers could imitate a game.
So, early barrier protection would be made through trademarks.
Domains with "Kaixin" in them, Happy Farm, Happy Ranch, and other miscellaneous trademarks had already been registered by Tan Jincheng.
This move was also learned from internet companies.
Tan Jincheng had thought of all possible protective measures for the early stage; the rest depended on the capabilities of the game development team and the marketing department.
At 10:01 AM on October 1, 2006, Happy Farm officially launched.
"Let's all come and steal vegetables."
"Come to Kaixin.com, play Happy Farm, and realize your dream of being a farm owner!"
Overwhelming advertisements were rolled out on the first day of the 2006 National Day holiday across the internet, as well as on buses and subway websites in major cities.
During the National Day travel season, Kaixin.com appeared extensively outside the internet for the first time.
Going offline, the highly recognizable website name introduced more Chinese people to this recently viral online website.
Kuang Ping, a partner at Qiming Venture Partners responsible for information technology investments, felt extremely complicated after seeing widespread Kaixin.com advertisements in Shanghai.
"It's bad news, the 100 million valuation can't hold."
(End of Chapter)