Chapter 1182 Fan Baobao's Idea

For Zhao Fusheng, no matter how many troubles he had outside, the moment he returned home and saw his family, he would put them all behind him.

Everyone has times when they are unhappy and sad, and Zhao Fusheng was no different. He wasn't a deity, and when he encountered troubles that made him feel stifled, he too would feel frustrated.

Moreover, he didn't have the habit of taking out his stress on his girlfriend; he could only sulk alone.

"Brother, what's wrong with you?"

Children are always the most sensitive group. Although they don't understand the adult world, they can tell whether adults are happy or not.

Just like Fan Beibei, even though Zhao Fusheng picked her up with a smile, she still sensed that he wasn't really happy.

"Brother is fine." Gently patting the little girl's head, Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

"No, you're not. Brother is lying." Fan Beibei snorted in dissatisfaction, completely unconvinced by Zhao Fusheng's excuse.

This was a bit awkward. Zhao Fusheng rubbed his nose sheepishly but said nothing.

Fan Baobao, sitting across from him, furrowed her delicate brows slightly. She glanced at Zhao Fusheng, then at her sister, and finally spoke: "What's wrong? Is it about the company?"

She wasn't stupid. Zhao Fusheng's reaction proved that her sister was right; he must have run into some trouble.

In Fan Baobao's understanding, Zhao Fusheng was just like that—no matter what difficulties he encountered, he never told his family, accustomed to shouldering everything himself.

"Nothing major, just a small issue with the advertising company." Zhao Fusheng said with a faint smile to Fan Baobao.

He wouldn't tell Fan Baobao about Chen Shijie's trouble; there was no need to worry her. So he could only mention the problem Future Advertising had encountered.

"Advertising company?" Fan Baobao raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. Clearly, she didn't know what had happened either.

After all, she had been busy filming recently, staying with the crew and having little contact with the outside world.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and recounted the day's events, finally saying: "As it stands, Baidu is preparing for its IPO, which is why they did all this. They want to expand their company's influence."

In fact, this was normal. A listed company must have enough influence to show investors the hope of profitability. Baidu's approach was understandable; if it were Zhao Fusheng, he would have made the same choice.

But the mistake was that Baidu's move effectively destroyed Future Advertising's livelihood.

Taking away someone's means of making a living is like killing their parents.

This saying has held true since ancient times.

The current situation was that Baidu, by acquiring Perfect Advertising and Oriental Advertising to form Perfect Oriental Advertising Group, aimed to dominate the advertising industry in the northern region and accelerate its IPO. Meanwhile, Future Advertising's market was being squeezed, and in the long run, it couldn't sustain itself.

Zhao Fusheng certainly couldn't accept that.

Thus, the two companies inevitably ended up on opposite sides.

"Baidu, huh." Fan Baobao frowned: "I remember they bought your navigation webpage, didn't they?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled, surprised that she still remembered that.

He nodded slightly and said: "This company is very ambitious. To be honest, in the future of the domestic internet industry, Baidu is bound to have a place."

No one knew better than him how much potential Baidu had. What a free search engine meant domestically—probably many people still couldn't see it now.

By the time they realized it, Baidu would have grown into a behemoth.

Zhao Fusheng couldn't change that. Although he hated this company, he had to admit that with his current capital and ability, he was powerless.

But that didn't stop Zhao Fusheng from planning to teach Baidu a lesson.

"What do you plan to do?" Fan Baobao asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Meet the challenge as it comes. What else can I do?"

Then he told Fan Baobao about the advertising alliance that Zheng Yao had proposed, and finally said: "I think it's a good idea. It can squeeze their living space."

"Did you come up with this?"

Fan Baobao looked at Zhao Fusheng with a strange expression and asked.

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback. He could tell that Fan Baobao seemed to have some thoughts about this matter. After all, they had known each other for too long.

"You don't think it's suitable?" Zhao Fusheng looked at Fan Baobao with interest and asked with a smile. He hadn't expected that Fan Baobao would be interested in business.

No, to be more precise, he hadn't expected that Fan Baobao would have studied this.

"What's that look?" Fan Baobao glared at Zhao Fusheng, quite dissatisfied. Clearly, he didn't think she could offer any good advice.

"Ahem, no offense, no offense." Zhao Fusheng looked innocent, then patted Fan Beibei: "Beibei, look, isn't brother's expression very serious?"

Fan Beibei looked back and forth between her sister and Zhao Fusheng, then said seriously: "Brother, you clearly don't believe sister."

"Little imp!"

Tapping the little girl's head, Zhao Fusheng turned to Fan Baobao and said: "It's not that I don't believe you. I just think Zheng Yao's approach is already good. What better plan could you have?"

He said this purely as a joke. After all, in Zhao Fusheng's eyes, Fan Baobao was far more important than money.

Money is cold, but a lover's hand is warm.

Zhao Fusheng understood this better than anyone.

From start to finish, he cared about money, but he didn't want to become a slave to it.

Whether Future Advertising could continue didn't matter much to Zhao Fusheng. What mattered was that he didn't want to lose to an unscrupulous opponent like Baidu.

It was said that if a person gave up humanity for money, they would live in guilt forever. But in Zhao Fusheng's view, Baidu, from top to bottom, seemed to have no guilt.

The word 'conscience' didn't exist in this company's business philosophy.

Therefore, Zhao Fusheng was determined not to lose this war.

"Sister Zheng Yao's idea is certainly not wrong, but don't you think we could play bigger?" Fan Baobao shrugged and said to Zhao Fusheng.

"Bigger?" Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, somewhat surprised.

Clearly, Fan Baobao's words puzzled him, but somehow he felt there was some truth in what she said.

"It's simple. Future Advertising and that Perfect Oriental Advertising are both in the northern region. Since you want to form this advertising alliance, why not bring in advertising companies from the southern region too?" Fan Baobao looked at Zhao Fusheng and said calmly: "After all, you said the goal is to teach Baidu a lesson."

At that moment, Zhao Fusheng was stunned. He suddenly realized that what his girlfriend said made a lot of sense.

All along, both he and Zheng Yao had only focused on the advertising market in the northern region, ignoring the national market. But now that Fan Baobao brought it up, Zhao Fusheng felt it was worth a try.

After all, his target was Baidu's Perfect Oriental Advertising. Instead of infighting among northern advertising companies, it would be better to bring in southern advertising companies and let everyone play together.

"What, am I being too fanciful?" Seeing that Zhao Fusheng neither spoke nor nodded, Fan Baobao asked hesitantly.

She wasn't sure herself; it was just a flash of inspiration. Now that Zhao Fusheng was silent, she began to feel uncertain.

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily and waved his hand: "No, not fanciful at all. It makes a lot of sense."

With that, he put Fan Beibei down, stood up, and said to Fan Baobao: "I'll go make a call."

And then, that was that.

Fan Baobao watched in astonishment as Zhao Fusheng walked aside and started calling Zheng Yao.

"Did I actually help him?" Fan Baobao muttered to herself.

Clearly, she was surprised herself.

Fan Beibei watched, blinked, and suddenly said: "Hmm, is this what Mom meant when she said even idiots occasionally have smart moments?"

Fan Baobao shuddered. The next moment, the drama of sisterly love and hate resumed.

Zhao Fusheng, however, acted as if he saw nothing.

"Anyway, that's the idea." Zhao Fusheng said into the phone to Zheng Yao: "I think Baobao's suggestion makes a lot of sense. Since we're putting on this show, why not build a bigger stage and let everyone join in? What do you think?"

Zheng Yao was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking, then said after a while: "I think it's feasible too. Although the operation might be more difficult, if we consider it carefully, it's definitely a good idea."

Fan Baobao's idea, at first glance, seemed fanciful, but in fact, it was quite workable.

"In that case, let's do it." Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

No matter what, he had to give it a try. Even if he ultimately lost to Baidu, Zhao Fusheng didn't think he would regret it later.

"Alright, but what about the leadership?" Zheng Yao hesitated for a moment but still raised a question to Zhao Fusheng. After all, compared to Perfect Oriental Advertising, the biggest problem with this alliance was that it was too loose. That was a single company, while they were just an alliance of interests among several companies.

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "We're only responsible for bringing everyone together and facilitating the alliance. The other side will definitely react then. As for who will be the spearhead, what does that have to do with us?"

Are you kidding? He just wanted to annoy Baidu, not be a vanguard.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, the faster you charge, the worse you die. It was better to keep a low profile and make big money.