43: Chapter 43 Warm-up

Shanghai, Jing'an District.

On the sixth floor of an old residential building, a few washed-out shirts were drying outside the window.

Qin Mo sat on the fabric sofa in the living room, holding an orange in his hand, peeling it slice by slice.

He handed the peeled orange to his mother, Xiao Yuelan, who was sitting next to him.

Xiao Yuelan took it but didn't eat it, just holding it in her palm.

"Look at you, your company has just started, you haven't made much money yet, why buy a house?"

Her tone carried reproach, but the corners of her eyes were crinkled.

"We've lived in this old house for so many years, we're used to it. Why spend that kind of money?"

Qin Mo picked up another orange from the coffee table.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't buy anything too expensive, just somewhere with a better environment than here."

"You two will move over in a couple of days. It's close to the park, so it'll be convenient for your morning walks."

"You really didn't buy anything too expensive?"

Xiao Yuelan was a bit skeptical.

"Really."

Qin Mo handed the second slice of orange into her hand.

"That's good."

Xiao Yuelan nodded, then couldn't help but nag again.

"You need to save money yourself, don't be extravagant."

"It's not easy for young people these days, and starting a business is even harder. Last time you said your company was almost going under, I was so worried I couldn't sleep all night."

"Isn't it getting better now?"

Qin Mo smiled.

At the other end of the living room, Qin Jianguo sat on a rattan chair by the window, holding a newspaper that covered most of his face.

The newspaper was already slightly yellowed; it was yesterday's issue.

He hadn't spoken at all, and his movements in turning the pages were very slow.

But Qin Mo noticed that in the intervals of turning the pages, his father's gaze would drift over from the edge of the newspaper, lingering for a second before retracting.

It was obvious he was eavesdropping on their conversation, but he was too embarrassed to join in.

Xiao Yuelan followed Qin Mo's gaze, smiled, and didn't call him out.

"Oh, right."

Xiao Yuelan suddenly lowered her voice and leaned in closer to Qin Mo.

"How are things with Jiang Youyou?"

Qin Mo didn't stop peeling the orange.

"How are what things?"

"Don't play dumb with me."

Xiao Yuelan slapped his arm.

"Let me tell you, Jiang Youyou is a good girl. Where else are you going to find someone like her? She's pretty, has a great personality, and her family background is impeccable."

She paused.

"Plus, you grew up together; you know everything about each other."

"You know her mother's attitude. Although Jiang Youyou has never looked down on our family, you can't keep her waiting too long."

Qin Mo tossed the orange peel into the trash can.

"Did Jiang Youyou come to find you again?"

"Every time you say things like this, it's because she secretly put you up to it."

Xiao Yuelan coughed twice, looked away, and pretended to adjust the hem of her clothes.

"It's nothing, just the occasional phone call."

"You can talk for half an hour on a phone call?"

Qin Jianguo let out a harrumph from behind the newspaper.

Xiao Yuelan glared at him, and Qin Jianguo raised the newspaper high again.

"She's graduating soon, too. By then, things between you two can move forward."

Xiao Yuelan continued, completely ignoring whether Qin Mo was listening or not.

"Mom isn't pressuring you, just mentioning it."

"Just keep it in mind."

Before Qin Mo could reply, his phone in his pocket vibrated.

He put the orange on the table, took out his phone, and glanced at the caller ID.

Zhao Lei.

"Boss."

Zhao Lei's voice came through the receiver, speaking very quickly.

"Douyin Mall is officially live. The backend is running smoothly, and there haven't been any technical issues."

"The first batch of Livestream E-commerce rooms will officially open in three days."

"Top influencers like A-Ze, Lao Qie, and Xiao Yang have already joined. The merchants have all been integrated, and both inventory and logistics are set up."

"These streamers are all posting Short Video clips to warm up, and the engagement is pretty good."

"We will also be pushing traffic to these Livestream E-commerce rooms when they go live."

Qin Mo leaned against the armrest of the sofa, his voice calm.

"As long as the backend data is fine."

"Are the merchants' requirements met?"

"Yes. The merchants just want us to clear their inventory. As long as sales are high, they are willing to give us a higher commission."

"However, from my observation, these merchants are still a bit skeptical about this Livestream E-commerce format. The ones who trust us completely are the merchants who were the first to invest in traffic on Douyin."

Speaking of this, Zhao Lei remembered something.

"By the way, Boss, I've sent those sales scripts you asked me to prepare to all the streamers, and after reading them, they all said there's real potential."

"However, Lao Qie said he's a bit worried. With his comedic style of Livestream E-commerce, will people really buy anything?"

"Just tell him to follow the script."

Although Douyin had only just started Livestream E-commerce, Qin Mo didn't have the time to let these streamers figure out how to sell on their own.

So.

He had directly taught these streamers the most popular and effective sales tactics from his past life.

After giving a few final instructions, Qin Mo hung up the phone.

His gaze turned to the corner of the living room.

There stood a brand-new massage chair, its leather surface still covered in plastic wrap that hadn't been fully removed.

It was what he had bought for his father today.

But all afternoon, his father hadn't gone near it.

Qin Mo stood up, walked over to the massage chair, and touched the control panel on the armrest.

He turned his head to look at his father, who was still holding up the newspaper.

"Dad."

Qin Jianguo lowered the newspaper slightly, revealing a pair of eyes.

"Your back isn't good. I bought this massage chair specifically for you. Why haven't you tried it?"

Qin Jianguo raised the newspaper high again.

"Not used to it."

He paused.

"I've sat in the massage chairs in the mall; they aren't comfortable."

"This one is different. It's much more high-end."

Qin Jianguo still didn't speak.

Qin Mo looked back at his mother.

Xiao Yuelan smiled, shook her head, and mouthed a few words silently.

Don't take it to heart; your dad is just like that.

Qin Mo didn't say anything more. He took his hand off the massage chair and turned to walk toward the door.

"Mom, I'm leaving first. There are still things to take care of at the company."

"Leaving already?"

Xiao Yuelan stood up and followed behind him.

"You haven't finished the orange yet."

"I'll eat it next time."

Qin Mo opened the door and looked back at the living room.

"Dad, I'm going now."

Qin Jianguo's newspaper was still held high, but his gaze was no longer on it.

Xiao Yuelan stood at the door and waved at him.

The door closed.

Footsteps faded away in the hallway.

Xiao Yuelan turned around and looked at the brand-new massage chair, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"If you won't sit in it, I'll give it a try."

But unexpectedly, Qin Jianguo had already put down the newspaper.

He stood up, walked over to the massage chair in a few quick steps, touched the armrest, and pressed the control panel twice.

"Didn't you say it wasn't comfortable?"

Xiao Yuelan stood in front of the massage chair, her expression somewhat helpless.

Qin Jianguo sat down in the massage chair and pressed the start button.

The massage chair began to hum as it started up, and his back was slowly pushed up by the air cushions.

"Anything my son buys for me, naturally I should be the first to sit in."

He closed his eyes, unable to suppress the corners of his mouth from turning up.

"Didn't you just say you weren't used to it?"

"Once I use it, I'll get used to it."

Qin Jianguo took his phone out of his pocket, found a number, and dialed it.

The phone rang twice before connecting.

"Old Zhang, my son, he insisted on buying me a house. You tell me, this kid, the company just started making money a few days ago and he's already spending it recklessly."

A muffled voice came from the other end of the line.

"Right, the environment is better than here, right by the Suzhou Creek, close to the park."

Qin Jianguo adjusted the massage chair's mode, leaned back, and his voice even sounded a bit lighter.

...

The news of Douyin updating the mall didn't spark much discussion over the next few days.

In these past two days.

The PK live streams on Douyu and Huya had fully spread, and almost every top streamer's live room was frantically connecting and sparring with each other.

There were even several PK battles with over ten million in turnover.

On the Weibo trending list.

Several search terms related to PK were trending one after another.

Douyu's number one sister's PK turnover exceeds ten million for the first time.

Huya's second PK duel breaks ten million again.

Data analysis accounts on various platforms were enthusiastically discussing the warming effect of this wave of PK trends.

But clicking into the trending topic's comment section, the vibe felt a bit off.

"Douyu's ten-million PK battle, the number one on the leaderboard is a new account, registered only three days ago, and has only this one night of tipping history. This is too fake."

"The one on Huya is about the same. The number two on the leaderboard is an account registered last week, which usually just watches and doesn't spend. Tonight, they suddenly dropped hundreds of thousands?"

"Maybe it's a side account of some super rich person? Do big shots need to report to you when they spend money?"

"I call bullshit. This is clearly internal staff doing it themselves to manufacture hype."

But regardless of whether it was internal fraud, this wave of PK trends did indeed bring back some users for Douyu and Huya and brought a lot of exposure.

The trend of user churn had temporarily stabilized.

...

Inside the Tencent headquarters building.

Old Xu was having a video conference with the operations manager of Huya.

"The data has stabilized over the past few days, with daily active users up by about five percentage points compared to last month."

On the screen from Huya, the person in charge said.

Although Douyu had been acquired by Tencent, and Huya also had investment from Tencent, the two platforms had been competing with each other before.

After all, within Tencent, "raising poison" is a corporate custom.

But after Douyin introduced live PK and siphoned off a large number of users, the two platforms put aside their differences and banded together completely.

Old Xu nodded.

"The rebound is a good thing, but we still can't let our guard down."

"Has Douyin made any moves in the past few days?"

"I've been keeping an eye on it."

On another screen, someone from the data analysis team took over.

"In the last two days, Douyin has only launched the mall function. There haven't been any other changes. On the live streaming side, they haven't launched any activities, and they haven't even had their streamers do more PKs."

Old Xu paused.

"They only launched a mall?"

"Yes, and the results have been very average. Although there are many merchants joining, users basically haven't discussed this matter at all, and there's almost no heat."

The person in charge next to him confirmed it again.

Old Xu leaned back in his chair, and the shoulders that had been tense for several days finally relaxed.

They were afraid that after Douyu and Huya launched the PK function, Douyin would launch some counter-measures.

Now it seems.

Douyin really hasn't done anything.

As long as it's not an action in the live streaming direction, it's not worth their attention.

"It seems Douyin really doesn't intend to continue adding pressure on live streaming, having given up on any big moves."

"They made a mall, but who knows why."

"Could it be they want to go head-to-head with Taobao?"

The person in charge at Huya also laughed.

"Our PK is directly linked across platforms; Douyu and Huya streamers can PK with each other. This is an advantage Douyin has no way of comparing with us."

"No need to worry too much in the short term."

Old Xu nodded after hearing this.

Regarding Douyin's move to launch the mall, everyone didn't take it too seriously.

In their view, a Short Video platform doing e-commerce was simply bizarre.

And time.

Soon arrived at the third day.