58: Huang Zhang: Do you see if I still have hair on my head?

Li Yunhua took a deep breath and knocked on Old Huang's office door.

"Come in."

Mr. Huang looked up and saw Li Yunhua. He immediately asked with a smile, "Xiao Li, what's the matter? Has the Flyme bug been resolved?"

"President Huang, it's been resolved. The adaptation for the Meilan 1 has also been completed."

"Then why are you..."

Old Huang looked at Li Yunhua with some confusion, wondering what he was doing here at this time.

Li Yunhua adjusted his breathing and placed an envelope on Old Huang's desk.

"President Huang, I'm here to resign."

"Resign? Xiao Li, did you run into some problems at work? You know, we're in a big hurry with the Meilan right now, so you guys have been working a lot of overtime lately. Don't worry, you can take tomorrow off and go out to relax."

Hearing that Li Yunhua wanted to resign, Old Huang thought his recent work pressure was too high. After all, he was the leader of the Flyme system, and with the Meilan about to launch, he was often working overtime to fix bugs and do adaptations.

"It's not that, President Huang. I just want to leave. I've worked at Meizu for so many years, and I want to change my way of working."

"Is someone headhunting you? Who is it?"

Mr. Huang's face turned serious. This wasn't the first time he'd experienced this—someone claiming they wanted a 'change in work style' only to turn around and join another company.

"President Huang, really, no one is headhunting me. I just want to..."

Before Li Yunhua could finish, Old Huang interrupted him: "Is it Lei Jun? Is it Xiaomi?!"

"It must be him! I can't think of anyone else!"

Looking at the silent Li Yunhua, Old Huang composed himself, picked up the resignation letter from the desk, and handed it back to him.

"Yunhua, I don't care who is headhunting you, I'll act as if this never happened. You are still the head of Flyme. Go back to work."

"President Huang."

Having said that, he placed the resignation letter on the desk again and pushed it forward.

"What benefits did Lei Jun promise you? Why are you so dead set on leaving Meizu? Did I, Old Huang, do something wrong by you?"

"I admit the recent projects have been rushed and you've been working hard overtime, but that's for the development of the company. As I just said, you can take a vacation anytime now."

"No, President Huang. A company has invited me to go and develop a domestic mobile operating system for China."

Self-developing a domestic operating system?

What kind of idiot company would do such a stupid thing?

Self-developing an operating system is practically a death wish.

Hearing this, Mr. Huang first ruled out Xiaomi. With Lei Jun's shrewdness, he wouldn't fail to see the risks of self-developing a domestic operating system; he wouldn't do something so foolish.

"Yunhua, I don't care which company is headhunting you, self-developing an operating system is a dead end. You've been in software for years; you know the most important thing for an operating system is the ecosystem."

"What's the use of developing one if there's no corresponding ecosystem?"

"If Fruit, Microsoft, or Google were headhunting you, I'd let you go without a word. But now you say you're going to work on some self-developed domestic operating system? We've worked together for so many years; I can't just stand by and watch you jump into a fire pit."

Li Yunhua knew Mr. Huang was telling the truth, but wasn't this his original dream?

"President Huang, some things just have to be done by someone."

What's the difference between a person without a dream and a salted fish?

Li Yunhua didn't want to be a salted fish anymore. He wanted to take on the challenge. How could he know it would fail if he didn't try?

Just like Mr. Yuan back then, didn't he also dedicate his life to the dream of 'resting under the shade of giant rice stalks'?

And Mr. Deng and Mr. Qian after the founding of China—many people said it was impossible then, too, yet they turned the impossible into the possible.

Some things just have to be done by someone.

"Hand over your work and then you can go."

Mr. Huang looked at the determined Li Yunhua and knew he couldn't keep him anymore. Even if he forced him to stay, his heart wouldn't be with Meizu.

As long as it wasn't Lei Zi headhunting him, he could go anywhere.

Just as Li Yunhua left, Bu Sibo walked in holding an envelope.

He didn't even need to look; this was definitely another resignation.

He couldn't exactly be bringing a love letter with an envelope like that, could he?

"Are you here to resign too?!"

"Are you also going to work on some domestic operating system?"

Bu Sibo was stunned. No, he just felt that Meizu's compensation was a bit low, and Lei Jun's side offered a higher price, so he wanted to jump ship.

Why was Old Huang reacting so strongly?

"President Huang, no, I am indeed here to resign, but not to work on some operating system. Isn't doing that in China right now a dead end?"

"Tell me, who headhunted you? If you don't tell the truth today, I won't agree to this resignation."

Old Huang suppressed his anger, wanting to see who else was coming to poach from Meizu.

"Uh, President Huang, this..."

"Speak!"

"It's Xiaomi."

Bu Sibo whispered Xiaomi's name. It was clear that Old Huang was at his breaking point; if he didn't speak up, he might really not be able to leave.

"Dammit, it's Lei Jun again!"

"How much did this Lei Jun give you?!"

"He's a thief! An out-and-out hypocrite like Yue Buqun!"

"Get out, get out now! I don't want to see you for another minute! Go to Lei Jun's place!"

Putting down the resignation letter, Bu Sibo quickly left Old Huang's office. His timing was terrible; if he'd known Li Yunhua was also resigning, he would have picked a different time no matter what.

Mr. Huang picked up the two envelopes on the desk and tore them into pieces.

"Damn you, Lei Jun! I, Huang Zhang, am irreconcilable with you!"

Back then you wanted to learn, so fine, I taught you step-by-step how to make phones. In the end, you turned around and founded Xiaomi yourself, and even poached several executives and Engineers from me. Now you're poaching people again.

Are there no other sheep in China?

Do you have to keep shearing just me, Huang Zhang?

Mr. Huang took a large gulp of water but still couldn't suppress his fire. He pulled a hongmi 1 out of his drawer and slammed it hard onto the floor.

Looking at the shattered Hongmi phone, Mr. Huang said through gritted teeth:

"One day, you'll end up just like this phone!"

"Old Bai, come to my office for a moment."

Bai Yongxiang came to Mr. Huang's office. Seeing the fragments all over the floor, he seemed to realize something. It looked like Li Yunhua and Bu Sibo's resignations had really infuriated Old Huang.

"President Huang, why such a big temper?"

"Old Bai, you tell me, has this Lei Jun run out of places to poach people? He's just constantly shearing our Meizu. Do you see any hair left on my head?"

No hair left, not a single strand!

Hearing Lei Jun's name, Bai Yongxiang understood. If it were just two people resigning, Old Huang wouldn't be this angry. But as long as Lei Jun was involved, Old Huang would immediately go berserk.

A few years ago, the relationship between these two was so good they talked about everything, often spending the whole day talking in Old Huang's office.

Lei Jun liked to drink ice-cold Coke, so Old Huang specifically put a refrigerator in his office so Lei Jun could have Coke anytime.

But everyone knows what happened later—the two became enemies. As Lei Jun's Xiaomi Company grew larger and larger, Mr. Huang felt even more indignant.

"I was the one who taught you how to make phones, Lei Zi!"

"President Huang, the funds from Ali are already in place. Our Meilan series can go into production at any time. Don't get worked up over this; the Meilan is the most important thing right now."

Suppressing the anger in his heart and putting down his water glass, Mr. Huang thought for a moment and decided to hold a Meizu concert early next month.

But who should be invited this time?

Xu Wei?

The Meilan brand was established after his careful consideration. Originally, with Meizu's scale and capital, they couldn't have played in the hundred-yuan phone market at all.

It was only with Ali's 400 million dollar investment that Mr. Huang dared to let loose and go for it.

In Old Huang's own words, he had been meticulously polishing the first Meilan phone for two and a half years; its release would be a total bombshell.