Lin Yuan's Outlook

Good Group did not intend to sit idly by in the face of its plummeting stock price.

After the stock market bubble burst, Good Group's senior management had no choice but to accept being forced to return to tangible value—Good Group still believed it had a significant advantage in delivery algorithms, thus achieving a dimensionality reduction attack on Lanbiao Factory in terms of delivery costs.

Of course, this was just wishful thinking on the part of Good Group's senior management.

Although this was merely their wishful thinking, it was somewhat understandable.

Because in recent months, Good Group's internal research institute had continuously produced results, its delivery algorithms were constantly iterated, and delivery costs were claimed to be continuously decreasing.

When the stock market was booming, no one paid attention to these things, but when Good Group faced difficulties, problems quickly emerged.

Good Group's senior management originally hoped to still overwhelm Lanbiao Factory with their delivery cost advantage. They believed that the current losses were merely short-term interests, and the future was still on their side.

Therefore, when Lanbiao Factory offered delivery riderss the same treatment, Good Group's senior management did not take it seriously, assuming it was just Lanbiao Factory taking advantage of the situation to throw money around in subsidies. They relied on the fact that burning money with subsidies was unsustainable and kept waiting for the day Lanbiao Factory couldn't hold on and canceled the subsidies.

As a result, Lanbiao Factory released an additional financial report, which showed that it had achieved profitability and its food delivery business had returned to its original normal track.

It was only the beginning of 2025, and the first quarter's financial report was still far off. Lanbiao Factory's hurried release of a financial report was clearly because of some significant change in its own business.

Good Group's senior management initially did not believe Lanbiao Factory's financial report, but after organizing personnel to delve into it carefully, they had to accept reality—Lanbiao Factory's delivery costs were already on par with their own, and their own delivery cost advantage no longer existed.

Good Group's senior management was immediately furious because their internal research institute had always been win, win, win, claiming that their delivery algorithms were several orders of magnitude ahead of competitors, and asserting that competitors had no hope of catching up within five years.

But now, Lanbiao Factory seemed to have caught up overnight.

Good Group's senior management's first reaction was that their internal research institute had a mole, so an immediate top-tobottom internal review began at Good Group.

The result of the review was shocking—there was no mole in the internal research institute at all. As for why Lanbiao Factory was able to catch up in such a short time, it was because the internal research institute's work in recent months had been completely stagnant.

The so-called iteration and upgrade of Good Group's internal research institute's delivery algorithm was, from beginning to end, nothing more than minor tweaks to the initial draft algorithm.

It was as if Boeing aircraft were being upgraded—they got more advanced displays, the interior was upgraded, and the manuals and operating instructions were updated, but the fundamental design of the aircraft hadn't changed in decades.

This kind of deceptive operation often fools outsiders.

For example, the Boeing 737-800 and MAX, with various derivative models, made outsiders think the aircraft had undergone major upgrades. As for the truth? Reality has provided a cruel answer.

Similarly, the work of Good Group's internal research institute in recent months was also like this. Several executives responsible for the research institute were afraid that their performance would be affected, so they instructed their subordinates to heavily embellish the initial draft algorithm.

As a result, various supporting tools for the algorithm were updated N versions, the UI and user experience were also significantly improved, and the algorithm's version even soared from 1.0 all the way to 3.X. However, the core code of the algorithm was never changed, and even the most core algorithm logic was not changed a single bit.

During the internal review, it was found that the research institute's biggest achievement was translating the initial draft of the algorithm several times.

Simply put, it was like changing a person named Zhang San to: Nicholas-Guduyev-Christina-III-Zhang.

Good Group's internal research institute was not entirely incompetent; many people wanted to thoroughly digest the initial draft of the algorithm, and then introduce the currently popular Feng Shui AI concept to refactor the initial draft, in order to completely understand and master this algorithm.

But the management couldn't accept it.

So why couldn't the management accept it?

Damn it, could work not proceed after Lin Yuan was fired? Would that mean admitting that the layoffs hit a major artery? For a mature listed company, would someone need to step forward and take responsibility for this matter?

Clearly, no one wanted to step forward and take responsibility for this matter.

So the research institute had to create an atmosphere where the world still turned after Lin Yuan left.

Good Group's big boss, General Manager Wang, was very reluctant to believe the results of the internal review; his heavily invested research institute was systematically slacking off. What he found even harder to accept was that the delivery algorithm was actually created by an obscure former research institute engineer who had been fired.

Although Lin Yuan was considered a senior engineer at Good Group's research institute, he was not qualified to appear in General Manager Wang's work log.

So General Manager Wang discovered, to his dismay, that he didn't even know who Lin Yuan was.

At this moment, General Manager Wang was like a helpless parent with a mischievous child; the trouble his child caused had already fermented and come knocking, and only then did he realize what kind of trouble his child had caused.

What was even more infuriating was that General Manager Wang found that the handling of Lin Yuan was completely in line with Hao Tuan Company's internal regulations.

Lin Yuan showed great potential, then management offered a suitable salary, then Lin Yuan didn't cooperate, then management started applying pressure, and then Lin Yuan was swept out the door.

This whole process was completely fine; it didn't violate Good Group's internal work regulations at all.

And the formulation of these work regulations naturally involved General Manager Wang's handiwork.

General Manager Wang had to accept that it was his own company's overbearing style that drove Lin Yuan to the competitor. As for the subsequent shady behavior of the research institute, it was merely a derivative episode.

Given the situation, what else could be done?

General Manager Wang immediately sent a friendly message through Lin Yuan's former colleagues at Good Group, stating that as long as Lin Yuan was willing to return, all conditions were negotiable.

When Lin Yuan received General Manager Wang's invitation, he found it quite amusing. Although he hadn't worked at Good Group for long, his first contact with Good Group's big boss was several months after he had been fired by Good Group.

Lin Yuan was disdainful of General Manager Wang's invitation, mainly because he was already tired of the food delivery industry now, and his self-positioning was not to spend his entire life cooped up in the food delivery industry.

So Lin Yuan didn't give General Manager Wang any face. He replied with a simply worded email: "Thank you, General Manager Wang, for your kindness. What Good Group owed me back then, I have already taken back by my own ability. delivery riderss have a difficult life. Earning the portion of money you should earn is the path to long-term sustainability."

How could Lin Yuan be qualified to lecture an old hand who had been immersed in the internet industry for many years and whose net worth had already exceeded 100 billion, but he was still indignant.

The food delivery industry is inherently a business model that is extremely simple, but now it has been played into what kind of state?

Various full-reduction coupons, red envelopes, activities, etc., what are they for? Nothing more than to mess up the pricing rules. Only by messing up the pricing rules can one fish in troubled waters.

But what actual value did this process create? What was the point of using algorithms for such things?

Food delivery was originally an extremely simple industry—how much this meal should cost, how much the delivery riders's delivery fee is, and how much commission the food delivery platform should take. Clearly displaying it would suffice.

Lin Yuan had an impulse—he wanted the food delivery industry to return to its original form.