183: Chapter 183 Should we start a team?

One hour later, the car stopped in front of the hotel.

The hotel was called the Hangzhou Marriott Hotel. Chen Fan got out of the car, looked up at the familiar name, and suddenly couldn't help but laugh.

"Boss, what's wrong?" Qiao Linlin walked over dragging her suitcase, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

"It's nothing."

Seeing the words "Marriott," the image of Sett from the "Five Top Laners" in league of legends immediately popped into Chen Fan's mind.

Come to think of it, league of legends would likely enter open beta domestically next year. By then, he could be one of the first players.

This game later became incredibly popular, sparking the rise of live streaming, esports, and an entire industrial chain.

In a few years, the esports-related industry would develop into a market worth hundreds of billions annually, from event operations to club management, and from player agency to peripheral merchandise, supporting a large number of people upstream and downstream.

Chen Fan wasn't very interested in industries like esports peripherals or event operations; he was thinking about something else—would it be possible to start a team for fun when the time came?

Starting a team in the early days of league of legends would probably only cost a few million, but if they made a name for themselves, the benefits would be far more than ten or a hundred times that.

Don't you see, in his past life, by '23, even when RNG had rotted to that extent, a team spot could still sell for 100 million.

Besides the revenue, the most crucial aspect was the brand effect.

In his past life, JD.com established JDG, Bilibili established BLG, Li-Ning acquired LNG and renamed it, Weibo started WBG, and Suning also played with SNG.

Why did these big companies all want to start teams?

Naturally, it was for brand promotion.

The core audience for esports is young people aged 18-25, who happen to be the main force of internet consumption.

For e-commerce platforms like JD.com, they wanted this group to remember them and use them.

For content platforms like Bilibili, this group was already their user base; they needed to find ways to keep them and make them spend more time there.

Instead of spending billions on advertising in traditional media, without knowing how effective it would be, it was better to just start a team directly.

When the team played matches, your logo was printed on their uniforms, the commentators said your name, and fans discussed your team online; this level of exposure was more direct than any advertisement.

Therefore, Chen Fan felt that starting a team in the future was quite necessary.

Whether it was a game company, the Bilibili he was about to invest in, or other industries Chen Fan might have in the future, all could use a team to promote their brand.

However, it was too early to talk about this now. league of legends hadn't entered open beta yet, and the domestic esports industry was still in a chaotic state. He would talk about it later when the opportunity arose.

After entering the hotel.

Qiao Linlin finished the check-in procedures at the front desk and walked back with the room cards.

She had booked two rooms: a deluxe king room for Chen Fan and a standard king room for herself.

Although the two could have easily booked one room, the expenses for this business trip had to be reimbursed by the company.

If a boss and an assistant went on a business trip and booked one room, it wouldn't look appropriate to the finance department.

So, they ultimately decided to book two rooms to keep public and private matters separate and the accounts clear.

After checking in, the two dragged their suitcases into the elevator. Chen Fan swiped his card and pressed the 22nd floor. The elevator doors slowly closed, shutting out the noisy crowd in the lobby.

The room was on the 22nd floor with a great view.

As soon as Qiao Linlin entered, she let out a "Wow" and ran in, her high heels clicking on the floor.

She pulled back the floor-to-ceiling curtains, revealing an entire glass wall facing the Qiantang River.

"It's so beautiful." She leaned against the window and looked back at Chen Fan. "Boss, come and look."

Chen Fan walked over and looked down from the floor-to-ceiling window.

The river surface was sparkling, a few cruise ships were slowly passing by, and the distant city skyline shimmered with a golden light in the afternoon sun.

"It really is nice."

To be honest, in a place like Chang'an, which had no rivers, it was hard to see such a sight.

"Oops, I was just busy looking."

Qiao Linlin exclaimed, turned around, and started to unpack.

She crouched in front of the suitcase, took out Chen Fan's clothes one by one, shook them out, and hung them neatly in the wardrobe. Suits, shirts, trousers—all sorted and facing the same direction. Only then did she tidy up her own things, placing them in the corner of the wardrobe.

Ten-plus minutes later, everything was put away.

"Let's go, let's go get something to eat first." Chen Fan picked up his phone and room card and walked toward the door.

"Alright, I'm starving." Qiao Linlin trotted to catch up, naturally took his arm, and the two walked out together.

To be honest, he didn't have high expectations for Hangzhou's food. In his past life, when scrolling through Douyin, he would always see various complaints calling Hangzhou a "culinary desert," where the most famous dish was West Lake Vinegar Fish, which was also the worst-tasting.

Various jokes sounded so convincing, like "You only know KFC is the best once you come to Hangzhou," or "Hangzhou locals don't even eat West Lake Vinegar Fish." After seeing enough of these, he didn't hold out much hope.

However, Qiao Linlin was in high spirits, looking around while holding his arm. Whenever she saw a long line in front of a shop, she would go over to check the sign, and when she saw a street stall selling Dingsheng cakes, she insisted on buying one to try.

The two turned into a not-too-busy alley. The alley wasn't wide, and on both sides were small shops converted from old houses, selling silk, tea, and West Lake lotus root starch, as well as some small restaurants hidden deep in the alley.

The fragrance wafting from one of the shops was particularly rich, and Chen Fan stopped to look at the sign.

"Let's go with this one."

"Alright, Boss."

There weren't many people in the shop. The owner was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a white apron. Seeing customers enter, he greeted them enthusiastically, handed over a menu, and poured each of them a cup of tea. Qiao Linlin took the menu, passed it to Chen Fan first, and only after Chen Fan ordered a few dishes did she add a plate of green vegetables.

Longjing shrimp, Dongpo pork, Beggar's chicken, Pian Er Chuan noodles, plus a plate of stir-fried seasonal vegetables.

The dishes were served quickly. The first was the Longjing shrimp. The shrimp were quite large, translucent, coated in a thin layer of starch sauce, and garnished with a few tender green Longjing tea leaves. Chen Fan picked one up and put it in his mouth; the shrimp meat was fresh, tender, and bouncy, with a subtle tea fragrance—refreshing but not bland.

"The taste is pretty good, you should try some too," Chen Fan said to Qiao Linlin.

Qiao Linlin then used her chopsticks, picked up a shrimp, chewed slowly, and nodded: "It really is delicious."

The Dongpo pork was served right after.

Chen Fan took a bite; the fat melted in his mouth, the lean meat was tender and flavorful, and the sauce was rich, sweet, and savory—it was really good with rice.

Perhaps he was lucky; this meal was much better than he had expected.

Even as a northerner, he felt the taste was good.

The meal lasted for over half an hour, and by the time they paid the bill, it was already dusk.

After leaving the restaurant, the night had completely darkened. The two were in no rush to return to the hotel and walked slowly along the road by West Lake.