Partnership?

On the riverside avenue, a silver-white car merged into the traffic flow.

The impartial light of the streetlights cast streaks of light and shadow that were quickly left behind.

Zhou Yun didn't hear his answer. She felt she couldn't figure Tang Zhi Chu out either; a covered card was like Schrödinger's cat, the closer you got, the less you saw.

Zhou Yun sighed softly and asked, "Do you think highly of DY?"

After a long pause without a reply, Zhou Yun turned her head to glance over, only to see Tang Zhi Chu looking out the window.

His hair was already a bit long, and the half-rolled-down car window stopped just at his nose bridge. The city's neon lights cast fleeting neon glows and shadows on his face.

Zhou Yun quickly averted her gaze. She suddenly realized, looking at her passenger seat from this angle, how long had it been since a man sat there?

"I'm talking to you!" Zhou Yun spoke again.

Tang Zhi Chu snapped back to attention, "I've eaten."

Zhou Yun's face darkened, then she let out a snicker and smiled again.

It was the same conversation from the first day they met.

"Do you think highly of DY?"

Tang Zhi Chu sat up straight, "It's paid content, want to hear it?"

"Tell me and I'll listen."

"Infinitely highly."

"Why?"

Tang Zhi Chu organized his thoughts and said, "Currently, the short video field is divided into three parts. However, from a cultural perspective, you can see their differences. KS was the earliest to do short videos. After gaining some traction, capital intervened and took a shortcut, poaching a bunch of live streamers from the north to stack their traffic. The data became impressive, but it also determined KS's cultural foundation, which young people today largely reject."

"What about Weixun? Its strengths are resources and capital. When a new track suddenly appears, wouldn't it have to jump in and try? How would it do it? Uncritically reposting videos and importing massive traffic, it never formed a unique traffic culture atmosphere."

"As for DY, it's essentially an optimized KS. From the start, it used intelligent algorithms for a 'descending-to-strike' approach, considered a true innovation in internet technology. Because KS came first, DY's positioning avoided KS's shortcomings, starting with young people in first and second-tier cities and gradually expanding to all age groups. It's just that, currently, everyone has hit a bottleneck."

Zhou Yun slowly nodded and asked again, "Yes, but many people have all three apps on their phones now. Intelligent algorithms are indeed a technological innovation, but now Weixun and KS are both learning from DY. Why are you so optimistic about DY?"

Actually, Zhou Yun was also optimistic about DY, but she felt her subjective opinion wasn't as strong as Tang Zhi Chu's.

There was still a gap between the two worlds, and without the catalyst of the mask incident.

Weixun had the massive traffic import from Penguin behind it, and KS had a huge downward market. For capital, technological innovation wasn't the key.

When development hit a bottleneck, and both Weixun and KS were learning from DY, it involved the factor of traffic monopoly.

Therefore, the reality in this world was that what capital favored most wasn't KS or DY, but rather Weixun's short video, which seemed to have scattered rather than concentrated traffic.

A cultural atmosphere was precisely easier to create than traffic. At worst, capital could wave its hand and poach the top traffic influencers, and slowly, the atmosphere would form.

The clever part was the division into three parts. Weixun did indeed want to poach DY and KS's top traffic influencers.

However, if one move affected the whole, and Weixun dared to make a move, it would most likely trigger a strategic cooperation between KS and DY, thereby solidifying the current three-way split.

Tang Zhi Chu smiled mysteriously and then pointed upwards.

Zhou Yun was confused; she didn't understand.

Tang Zhi Chu didn't explain further, only saying, "You asked, and I gave the answer. That's it."

Zhou Yun began to recall Tang Zhi Chu's words, then wondered what Tang Zhi Chu's gesture of pointing upwards meant. Did Tang Zhi Chu have some inside information?

Or perhaps DY already had a way to break through the bottleneck?

After thinking for a long time, Zhou Yun couldn't figure it out. Shaking her head, she decided not to think about it anymore and said, "How about we partner up?"

"Partner up?"

"Yes, partner up to do DY."

Tang Zhi Chu looked at Zhou Yun, as if asking why he should partner with her.

Zhou Yun puffed out her chest, quite confidently saying, "I investigated Brother Jun's company. He has one influencer with five million followers and four with over a million. However, he's currently in a lawsuit with the five-million-follower influencer. If that influencer leaves, Brother Jun's company's value will plummet. This is a very important breakthrough point. My idea is simple: acquire Brother Jun's company and do DY with a more professional approach."

"Also, don't underestimate Brother Jun's company. That five-million-follower influencer was incubated by their company."

Tang Zhi Chu nodded with a smile, contemplating that, from the moment Zhou Yun asked him if he was optimistic about DY, she had actually intended to say this.

The fact that Zhou Yun dared to mention Huang Ze Jun's company in front of him likely meant she was confident in acquiring his company, essentially playing another card.

One had to admit that Zhou Yun, a young woman, had her reasons for reaching this point.

"What are you smiling about? I'm not scheming against you. This is sincerity. Facing the champion of the Mo Yin Cup, I have to show something, right? Don't worry, I don't need your money or effort to take over Brother Jun's influencer company. I can handle all of that. I value you as a person."

Tang Zhi Chu shook his head, "I thank you."

Zhou Yun pouted. Was she rejected just like that?

"Can't you just relax a bit? Your prime years are filled with business and scheming. The most important thing in life is to enjoy the present." Tang Zhi Chu crossed his arms and then looked out the car window again.

Zhou Yun curled her lip, thinking to herself, You're so noble, so amazing!

You don't know the cost of living until you have to manage a household!

In the villa, on the second-floor corridor, Huang Ze Jun and Yang Jia Xing sat next to each other, with a bottle of beer and some snacks in front of each.

Huang Ze Jun seemed a bit lost in thought. Jiang Lan's text message was gone too.

Coupled with his own career struggles, Huang Ze Jun felt a sense of defeat.

Huang Ze Jun gazed into the distance and suddenly asked, "What did you mean by what you said last time?"

Yang Jia Xing put down his phone and looked at Huang Ze Jun, suddenly feeling that Huang Ze Jun seemed much older.

"Last time? What did I say?"

"By the lake, you asked me what's most important for girls."

Yang Jia Xing thought for a moment, then patted Huang Ze Jun's shoulder and said, "Brother Jun, try to be more optimistic."

Huang Ze Jun picked up his beer and raised it to Yang Jia Xing. Yang Jia Xing also picked up his beer bottle and clinked it against Huang Ze Jun's.

After a gulp of beer, Huang Ze Jun spoke again, "Actually, I brought this upon myself. If only from the start..."

Yeah, if only he had focused only on Jiang Lan from the start, perhaps things would have been much better?

Chen Si Yang? Someone in the entertainment industry, that was at most just a dream.

Didn't Huang Ze Jun have selfish motives from the start? He did. He ran an influencer company. If he had actually pursued Chen Si Yang, his career might have seen a breakthrough.

Now that he was frustrated, he started reflecting. He could only blame himself for being greedy.

Yang Jia Xing suddenly thought of Zhou Yun. If he had only shown interest in Zhou Yun from the start, would things have turned out differently?