Chapter 372 A Classic of Classics

“Who are you?”

“We’re here to pay an early New Year’s visit.”

Xu Huo looked at the two unfamiliar middle-aged people and paused.

Their features were about seventy percent similar to Wang Chao’s, so it wasn’t hard to guess they were his parents.

His tone shifted slightly.

“You two must be Wang Chao’s parents, right?”

The couple paused, looking Xu Huo up and down.

He was quite good-looking. If he were willing, plenty of women would probably spend a fortune on him.

‘But…’

His clothes were from an ordinary brand, but his bearing was decent.

‘All in all, he’s probably just an ordinary person.’

“Are you here for Chao?”

The parents paused, then nodded. “Chao, what are you still standing there for?”

“We have guests, and you don’t even know to tidy up.”

As they spoke, they welcomed Xu Huo and the other man inside.

Wang Chao breathed a sigh of relief.

There was no sharp, aggressive confrontation.

Although his parents were materialistic, their core values were sound. They weren’t the type to be arrogant or look down on people for being poor.

After all, they weren’t wealthy themselves.

However, while they wouldn’t dislike him, they wouldn’t exactly take a liking to him either.

Chu Linhai, holding a thermos, began to wander slowly around the house.

He wore a kindly smile as he observed every nook and cranny of the room.

Wang Yu, who was watching TV nearby, suddenly felt the man looked a little familiar, but for the life of him, he couldn’t place him.

“You are…” he asked tentatively.

“Just an old man about to retire.”

Hearing the question, Chu Linhai put down Wang Chao’s notebook and turned around with a cheerful smile.

Wang Yu looked very similar to Wang Chao. ‘I just wonder about that god-awful luck of his…’

‘Jiangsan City could barely handle one Wang Chao.’

‘If there was another one… no, if their parents had a whim and went for a third child…’

‘Zhang Liang would probably have to run all the way back to Capital City, even if he couldn’t take a train or a plane.’

“Young man, are you from Linlan City?”

Chu Linhai sat down on the sofa next to Wang Yu and asked cheerfully.

“Yes, my hometown is Linlan City in Hanhai Province. It’s a small place.”

“Judging by how you’re dressed, you seem to have a pretty good position. You must have faced a lot of setbacks along the way,” Chu Linhai asked casually.

“There were some, but not too many. I got lucky and joined a new company. I managed to get into management before it really took off, and now the company is preparing for an IPO…”

“An IPO?”

Chu Linhai let out a silent sigh of relief.

If the company he worked for could go public, then he was probably completely different from Wang Chao.

‘Hmm, if it were Chao Zi…’

‘The company would probably be six feet under by now.’

Even if every strategy and choice was correct, the company still wouldn’t do well.

‘Thank goodness.’

‘Chao Zi can’t be mass-produced!’

‘Otherwise, we’d all be doomed…’

‘A company going public…’

Chu Linhai thought for a moment more, then glanced at Wang Yu. “A real estate company?”

“Zhang Jian should know you, then.”

Wang Yu froze, his mind racing to place the name Zhang Jian. Finally, he answered respectfully,

“I had the honor of participating in the highway construction.”

“Mm, that’s good.”

Chu Linhai nodded nonchalantly, his attention returning to Wang Chao’s baffling, fantasy-like future plans.

「Meanwhile.」

Xu Huo was standing with Wang Chao.

“What did you call me over for?”

Xu Huo eyed him suspiciously.

“Business,” Wang Chao said excitedly.

Zhang Niu hadn’t brought just one prototype, but several, and he had told him to give one to Xu Huo.

Xu Huo froze. Seeing the look on his face, he instantly guessed what it was.

“You finished the phone!?”

“That’s right. The latest generation of the prototype has achieved the basic overall form of the new-concept phone.”

“Next, in ’04, all we need to do is advertise—a massive, all-out advertising blitz…”

His face flushed with excitement, Wang Chao pulled out a phone.

Xu Huo expertly turned on the phone and tapped the screen a few times.

“Starting next year, in ’05, these phones will gradually start replacing the old brick phones. That’s when we’ll enter the profit-making stage!”

Wang Chao said excitedly, unwittingly painting a grand vision for Xu Huo.

“Not bad. Looks like you can get ready to enter the market around ’06.”

Xu Huo smiled, making Wang Chao’s eyes fill with longing for the future.

Then, Wang Chao calmed down and sighed.

“I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. This thing will burn through an insane amount of money in the early stages. I need to build up some capital.”

“The money from Brother Niu’s contract might not be enough.”

“Of course, I can bundle the software, but that’s only one key part of the food delivery business. There are two other parts.”

To create a food delivery ecosystem, you need customers, couriers, and merchants all to advance together.

The phones won’t become widespread in a short time, and without widespread adoption, the number of all three will be extremely small.

And for this kind of mass-market industry, if the user traffic is low… there’s naturally not much money to be made.

“But if you miss this opportunity, there won’t be a next time, will there?” Xu Huo said, offering a word of comfort.

Even if the timing isn’t right, if you don’t jump in early and pour in a bottomless amount of money, you can forget about making any.

“Don’t worry. Even if you lose money on this, the subsequent dividends will be more than enough to cover the hole.”

“Our contract isn’t just about profit sharing. It’s very comprehensive and covers a lot of ground. Besides, you’re not just making one piece of software.”

Hearing this, Wang Chao felt that it was true.

The previous case had given him a new idea.

If food delivery could be done over the internet, what about ride-hailing?

If ride-hailing was possible, what about other on-demand home services?

And then there was that question Xu Huo had asked him before: ‘What about the old stuff?’…