Chapter 0978: Lion's Mouth Open

"Tell me, what is the most important thing in life?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at Dong Chenxi and asked, his expression unreadable.

Dong Chenxi was startled, looking at Zhao Fusheng strangely: "The most important thing in life is, of course, to be happy."

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Yes, one must live to make oneself happy. If not, life would be too dull."

Hearing his words, Dong Chenxi was somewhat bewildered, not knowing what Zhao Fusheng meant. Just a moment ago, this guy had seemed convinced by her, but now it appeared that wasn't the case at all.

"You know, just a moment ago, I was convinced by you," Zhao Fusheng looked up at Dong Chenxi, revealing a smile. "I was even considering whether I should restart negotiations with Baidu as you suggested."

"And now..."

"I'm sorry, but I feel uncomfortable." Zhao Fusheng's face was calm as he said to Dong Chenxi indifferently: "You need to know, I have a psychological cleanliness fetish. Sometimes I think, a hundred years from now, when our descendants look back on our generation, they will surely think that this was the most spineless generation in history—a generation of cowards and weaklings. No matter how big the matter, as long as the whip doesn't fall on their own flesh, they won't utter a sound."

"Nowadays, many people's only value is to make money by any means, using wealth to support their inner insecurity. Apart from the wealth race, the entire generation has not shaped values that directly command the respect of future generations, nor have they taken actions to defend those values. This generation has neither the responsibility of aristocrats nor the integrity of scholars, nor the bloodiness that should come with being human. The whole generation is silent and collectively degenerate, unprecedented in history."

"The only joy and dignity of these people is: I am richer than you, I live better than you. This is the degenerate value of most people today."

"I don't want to live like that."

Dong Chenxi was completely dumbfounded. She never expected Zhao Fusheng to think this way.

"So you mean, we won't cooperate with Baidu?" After a long while, Dong Chenxi hesitated and asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Apart from Baidu, the portals that are interested in us at this stage can't afford the price."

This was the truth. Today, before 360 had been founded, although major portals like NetEase, Sohu, and Sina appeared prosperous, it was undoubtedly unrealistic to expect them to spend tens of millions to purchase the my123 navigation page.

Therefore, Zhao Fusheng had few options for cooperation.

Similarly, Baidu also had limited choices before it.

Because before this, Baidu had officially announced that its listing would not be in Hong Kong or the mainland, but in the United States.

But the problem was that the U.S. stock market had strict requirements on the scale of listed companies; they had to reach a certain size before being allowed to list. Baidu's current scale was insufficient. If it could acquire the largest domestic navigation page, my123, it would undoubtedly help expand Baidu's influence and base.

More importantly, when Baidu's Mr. Li founded the company, he had a concept: Internet users could be divided into two poles.

On one side were search engine users, who used search engines to find information they were interested in on the Internet. On the other side were navigation page users, who used navigation pages to find websites they liked.

As the number of Internet users increased, the number and usage rate of navigation page users would greatly increase, and some of them would transform into search engine users.

And Baidu was a company built around search engines, firmly ranking first in the domestic field of web retrieval.

My123 navigation page, as the largest navigation website in the country, stood out among similar websites.

In other words, if Baidu could acquire my123, it would become the largest enterprise in the entire same type of field.

Therefore, in this acquisition, Baidu was more anxious than Zhao Fusheng himself.

With this judgment, Zhao Fusheng actually felt quite confident.

"Contact them. Our asking price is ten million US dollars." Zhao Fusheng looked at Dong Chenxi and said slowly, "If Baidu can't afford this price, then I'm sorry, I'd rather continue maintaining the website myself."

Dong Chenxi gasped, never expecting that Zhao Fusheng would dare to ask for such a high price.

"Maybe you should think it over again." Looking at Zhao Fusheng, Dong Chenxi felt she ought to remind him. After all, this wasn't a deal of one or two million, but tens of millions.

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: "Nothing to think over. Contact Baidu."

Dong Chenxi nodded helplessly. Since things had come to this, she could only follow Zhao Fusheng's instructions.

……

……

A new round of negotiations began. Feng Zhijie and Dong Chenxi, each leading their own negotiation teams, sat down at the conference table once again.

"President Feng, here are our terms. Please take a look."

Dong Chenxi signaled an assistant to hand a document to Feng Zhijie, a smile on her face as she said: "Our boss's intention is clear: ten million US dollars, a firm price. If your company is willing to cooperate, we can sign the contract immediately. If not, there's no need to continue talking."

Feng Zhijie nearly spat out blood, looking at Dong Chenxi in disbelief as if he had heard a fairy tale: "Miss Dong, are you joking with me?"

Dong Chenxi thought to herself, I'm even more bewildered than you, but her face remained calm: "President Feng, as I said, this is our boss's decision. I'm sorry, but you'd better contact your company's head as soon as possible."

Feng Zhijie nodded helplessly, took the document, and began to read.

After a long while, he looked up, his expression quite strange.

Yes, strange.

There was no helping it; he found it hard to understand the thinking of the幕后 boss. Creating the my123 navigation page, and then selling it to Baidu, but only wanting cash and not accepting stock pledges—what was that all about?

Could it be that this was another eccentric hobby of the wealthy?

"Miss Dong, I think I need to take this document back to the company headquarters." After a moment of deliberation, Feng Zhijie said to Dong Chenxi. As a senior professional manager, Feng Zhijie naturally knew how determined his company was to acquire the my123 navigation website. In other words, Dong Chenxi had no idea that no matter how outrageous the price she proposed, Baidu would seriously consider it.

In business, once your hand is revealed, you're bound to suffer a great loss.

Watching Feng Zhijie and his team leave, Dong Chenxi looked puzzled. She couldn't understand why, despite Zhao Fusheng's obviously absurd demand, Feng Zhijie could still discuss things with her calmly. Could it be that Baidu was willing to spend ten million US dollars to buy my123?

Then, a week later, something that astonished Dong Chenxi happened.

Baidu had actually accepted her offer.

Ten million US dollars!

Baidu fully acquired the my123 navigation website.

When the news broke, Future Investment, which had previously been obscure in domestic investment circles, was suddenly thrust into the spotlight. Dong Chenxi, the beautiful general manager, instantly became a target for media pursuit.

Everyone was curious: where did this young and beautiful woman come from? What company was Future Investment behind her? And why had Baidu suddenly favored them?

More importantly, was the my123 navigation website really worth ten million US dollars?

"Of course it is," Zhao Fusheng said with a smile to the curious Fan Baobao. "It might not matter to other companies, but for Baidu, my123 is significant. So they'll hold their noses and accept this offer."

"So, you have ten million US dollars now?"

Fan Baobao blurted out, then looked at Zhao Fusheng nervously. "Where's the best place to hide the money? Will anyone kidnap you?"

Zhao Fusheng was instantly covered in black lines. He suddenly felt that as a newly minted millionaire, he might need to establish some authority in front of this girl, Fan Baobao.