The two walked toward Lin Jiang.
"President Lin, what are you still doing standing here? Go find a seat."
Li Wuyang extended a hand and shook Lin Jiang’s, followed by Zhou Jin. On the surface, everything was amicable.
"I was just casually looking around. I won’t take up any of your space."
"How could that be? A visitor is a guest. Berkeley is getting more and more popular these days. I think you should go up on stage and share your experience with everyone. Let Old Han learn a thing or two as well."
"That’s a great idea. Why don’t you go tell him for me? I happen to need an assistant. I promise I’ll teach him everything I know and hold nothing back."
"Telling us is no use. You need to get on stage and tell Old Han yourself. It’s the perfect chance to share your experience in this area."
As he spoke, Li Wuyang shot Zhou Jin a look. The latter understood immediately and pulled out his phone to call Han Guangqi’s assistant.
Li Wuyang blocked Lin Jiang’s path, clearly having no intention of letting him leave.
Before long, Han Guangqi’s voice sounded from the stage.
"I’ll answer Professor Zhang’s question in a moment. We have an important guest who has just arrived."
A buzz of curiosity rippled through the venue. The audience looked around in all directions, wondering who this important guest was.
"Today’s important guest is President Lin of Berkeley! Let’s welcome President Lin to the stage."
Li Wuyang and Zhou Jin led the applause. The sound drew everyone’s attention, and they all turned to look. In an instant, Lin Jiang became the focus of the entire room.
Despite being put on the spot, Lin Jiang remained perfectly calm. He walked over step by step and was welcomed onto the stage by the host.
Once he was on stage, Han Guangqi and the other three panelists all stood up to shake his hand one by one.
In terms of status, only Han Guangqi was on a similar level as Lin Jiang. The other three were just high-level employees, not even in the same league as an entrepreneur of Lin Jiang’s caliber.
After the friendly handshakes, Han Guangqi took the microphone and said:
"President Lin, the Smart Living and Intelligent Shopping platform we’ve created is an open platform under the Huipin Group. Anyone can come to observe and learn, even our competitors. We’d gladly teach them everything we know. So, there’s really no need to hide in the back and eavesdrop."
Han Guangqi said this in a joking tone. The words seemed harmless and devoid of any hostility, but they concealed a sharp jab that anyone paying attention could discern.
Laughter rippled through the audience, lingering for a while.
They had seen plenty of scenes like this over the years—entrepreneurs sparring on stage. Right now, they were all just enjoying the show.
Han Guangqi smiled and raised a hand, quieting the laughter.
"President Lin, as a junior in the field, I’m actually very interested to hear your thoughts. In this day and age, with traditional brick-and-mortar industries in decline, do you think there’s still any hope for them?"
With that, Han Guangqi passed the microphone to Lin Jiang. The entire audience fixed their attention on him.
Han Guangqi’s meaning was obvious: Berkeley’s business model was a traditional brick-and-mortar model.
He was implying that such a shopping method would gradually be replaced by online shopping, which was a veiled jab suggesting Berkeley would be replaced by Huipin City’s intelligent shopping model.
Taking the microphone, Lin Jiang slowly began to speak:
"In this era of rapid e-commerce and logistics development, traditional industries are indeed on the decline. That’s why I believe the Huipin Group has made a very correct move. Smart Living and Intelligent Shopping could very well be an opportunity to save them from their downward trend and predicament. But then again, it’s hard to say what the future holds. I wish them the best of luck."
Lin Jiang had flipped the script, shifting the focus of the problem onto the Huipin Group itself.
CLAP CLAP CLAP—
The venue erupted in thunderous applause. Many were cheering for Lin Jiang’s counterattack.
After all, this was a press conference, not a fan meet-and-greet. Everyone was there for the drama, hoping to get some juicy material for their articles. Naturally, they were happy to see things heat up.
"President Lin, Berkeley is also a brick-and-mortar business. It has also been impacted by the e-commerce industry and faces higher costs. When it comes to predicaments, I’m sure you have a much deeper understanding of them than we do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come here today. Am I right?"
Han Guangqi’s tone remained playful, leading the audience to believe he and Lin Jiang were just teasing each other.
"Sigh... You talk about impact? I truly wish the impact was even more intense."
Lin Jiang sighed. "Let me tell you, we’ve had to start limiting entry. The number of people who come every day without buying anything is so high you can’t even imagine it. We really can’t accommodate that many people."
After a pause, Lin Jiang continued with a troubled expression:
"President Han, I actually came here today to ask for your advice. How can we get fewer people to come to Berkeley? It would be best if it were like your Huipin City—not many people inside, no lines, so anyone who comes can buy what they want. Plus, with fewer people, it’s nice and cool inside. Unlike us... we have to spend a fortune on air conditioning every day."
Han Guangqi’s expression changed instantly. Down in the audience, people were snapping photos nonstop.
’This was a straight-up public takedown!’
"As for the higher costs you mentioned, well, there’s nothing we can do about that. Salaries at Berkeley are far higher than the industry average. We also offer the shortest working hours and the most vacation time. Frankly, all of this is very expensive to maintain. So when it comes to making and saving money at the expense of our employees, we’re definitely no match for the Huipin Group. I, as a senior in this business, really have to learn from you people who’ve studied abroad."
If the previous jab was a public takedown, this was spitting in Han Guangqi’s face—and landing it right in his mouth.

Comments

Loading...