A few days after Wan Xingnian joined the company, Lu Xi, Hong Xuedong, Wan Xingnian and Yang Wenfang went straight to the United States and arrived at their destination San Francisco via LA.

After getting off the plane, Hong Xuedong and the three of them were not in a hurry to work at this time, hiding in the hotel to sleep and falling jet lag, Lu Xi didn't have time to lie on the bed and sleep, he also had to go to the mahogany tree not far away, to help the little sister send the missing information when applying for school online, and complete the task assigned by her parents.

After renting a Ford car in the name of an overseas company, Lu Xi drove straight to St. Lee's Redwood Tree High School in East Bay, and after chatting with the principal Firth about the specific situation of the little sister, he submitted all the information that was missing in the previous online application, and got the promise that as long as the grades were excellent, he could be admitted, and Lu Xi went back satisfied.

After resting for two days, the next few days, the four of them were busy and couldn't stop, Lu Xi and Wan Xingnian went to find a network company to do online promotion, and Hong Xuedong took Yang Wenfang to rent a server to deal with some trivial matters.

Hong Xuedong and Yang Wenfang, with the help of Fan Chonghai, defrauded eight servers from IBM, Dell, HP and Cisco for free trial rights for half a year, the price is not high, it can be said that each has its own results.

When the overseas branch is established, in addition to Wan Xingnian as the head of the overseas company, one or two technicians will be sent to cooperate with his work, and at the same time, a civilian staff will be recruited locally.

Job postings had been sought, hundreds of resumes had been received, and the four of them had selected a dozen qualified people from hundreds of people, and after two interviews, Melanie, a twenty-three girl from Alabama, was hired.

On April 12, the day before returning to China, Lu Xi and the four of them thoroughly cleaned the office space rented by Fan Chonghai, and it was already evening when they came back.

The four of them walked into the Italian restaurant downstairs of the hotel and sat down, and Lu Xi said half-jokingly: "We will return to China tomorrow, and Lao Wan will work hard in the future, if you can't meet the requirements in the contract, I may fire you at any time." ”

The contract signed with Wanxingnian has hard requirements, the overseas branch operates with a small capital, the budget for the first year is only 100,000 US dollars, and the network ant must be the first in North America in the first year, with a huge user base to negotiate with the five major record companies, and then launch the music download website to achieve profitability.

Wan Xingnian smiled and replied: "Fortunately, Lu Shao and Mr. Hong took the lead in launching the network ants overseas in advance, the foundation has been laid, my pressure will not be too great, and after a period of development, I will try my best to contact the five major record companies, in short, I will not disappoint you." ”

Lu Xi was about to continue, when a woman's scolding suddenly sounded in the quiet restaurant, and the woman spoke in Chinese.

Several people followed the voice and looked over, Yang Wenfang pouted first and said: "It's really a shame to be caught by your wife for having an extramarital affair!" ”

There are two women and a man sitting not far away, the man is in his early thirties, tall and handsome, the two women next to him are within thirty, one has a cold appearance, seems to be a little dragon girl who does not eat fireworks in the world, and a short-haired and capable woman are extremely rare beauties.

Lu Xi didn't think there was any shame, some foreigners went to China to do much worse than this, and said to a few people with a smile: "Those foreigners don't understand." ”

Wan Xingnian and Hong Xuedong nodded and smiled, Yang Wenfang pursed his lips slightly, listening carefully to what the short-haired woman said, Lu Xi smiled evilly: "Extramarital affair is really a technical job, if you don't do it, you will be wiped out, this old brother and Lao Wan are a living example." ”

Wan Xingnian resigned from Microsoft last year because his Japanese wife had an extramarital affair because he was busy with work all day long, and after the two divorced, he also left Microsoft and returned to China.

Seeing Lu Xi sprinkling salt on Wan Xingnian's wound, Hong Xuedong and Yang Wenfang couldn't help laughing, Wan Xingnian smiled embarrassedly: "Don't mention the old things, don't mention the old things, let's fill our stomachs first." "Beckon the waiter to come and order.

After ordering the meal, the voices of the man and the two women gradually became quieter, and Lu Xi continued the previous topic and said: "You still have to contact Fan Ning first, take advantage of the small number of users of his software, buy it first, don't be afraid to spend money, this part of the expenditure will not be included in the cost of overseas operations." ”

When Lu Xi and the four of them met Fan Chonghai on their third day in San Francisco, they heard him say that a 19-year-old student named Fan Ning had developed a software to share music for free.

After Fan Chonghai's reminder, Lu Xi remembered that there was indeed such a software in 99, and the number of users reached more than 80 million in the glory period, but because of copyright issues, it was sued by the American Recording Industry Association at the end of the year, demanding compensation for infringing millions of songs, each of which cost 100,000 US dollars.

Although the network ant is not limited to music download, but music download is the key to the profitability of overseas companies, Hong Xuedong's team has developed a music website in China, only waiting for the user accumulation to a certain extent, Wanxing will go to negotiate, so it is necessary to acquire the still weak software in the hands of Fan Ning, and give up the operation, reduce the profit pressure of the network ant.

Hong Xuedong answered: "Lao Fan is already helping to contact, there will be results in a few days, if we don't go back tomorrow, the chances may be greater." ”

Although Fanning's software was launched later than the network ant, it was welcomed by some young people after it was launched because of its clear definition, although there are not as many users as the network ant at present, but Fanning has great expectations for it, and it is very difficult to acquire.

Lu Xi thought about it silently for a long time, and he didn't even notice that the waiter brought the food up, until Yang Wenfang called him, then he picked up a knife and fork and cut a piece of steak into his mouth, and said: "We can't follow the rules too much, I think the website should be launched immediately, and then go to seek an opportunity to negotiate, but Fan Ning's side can't stop, and continue to do work." ”

The Internet Express has not been launched for a long time due to technical problems, there is one less competitor, everyone is full of confidence before it comes out, and suddenly killed a nineteen-year-old Fanning, one is charged and one is free, and the free Fanning will become an obstacle to the development of Internet ants in the future, and several people also realize that the bright future requires a lot of difficulties in customer service, first of all, Fanning, followed by the record company.

Hong Xuedong and Wan Xingnian talked about this topic in the afternoon, even if Lu Xi didn't open his mouth, the two would bring it up, and when they saw him say it first, the two immediately raised their glasses in approval.

Lu Xi smiled helplessly and said, "I hope we don't target the Record Industry Association too early, it will be more difficult to negotiate after receiving the indictment." ”

Wan Xingnian and Hong Xuedong both smiled bitterly, with the growing number of users, it is impossible not to target the Record Industry Association, it is difficult but there is no room for discussion, both sides have common interests, just see how much benefits can be given to each other.

At this time, the short-haired woman who had just scolded the man walked straight out of the restaurant, leaving only the man with the Chinese character face and the long-haired woman.

Yang Wenfang followed out, in addition to work, he also traveled, and he was not very interested in what a few people said, and he paid attention to the three people over there while listening, and when he saw the woman leaving, he asked Lu Xi and the three of them to look over there.

Lu Xi glanced back, turned around and said helplessly: "If the Record Industry Association sues us in advance, we can't afford to hire a lawyer......

Wan Xingnian and Hong Xuedong were facing the two of them, and when they saw the man and the woman whispering a few words, they suddenly got up and walked over to this side, Hong Xuedong said in a low voice: "Wen Fang stared at others, and now I can see that something is wrong." ”

When Lu Xi looked back again, the man with a Chinese character face had already walked to the table, smiled in broken English and asked, "Are you Chinese?" ”

Lu Xi smiled and nodded, guessing his intention to come, and the man with a Chinese character face asked in Chinese, "Your surname is Lu, right?" ”

Lu Xi nodded stunnedly, and then smiled: "Am I so famous? ”

"I know you, Lu Xi, the behind-the-scenes boss of Luzhu." The man with the Chinese character face casually pulled over the chair and sat down, looked at Hong Xuedong and said, "This is Mr. Hong of the Internet ants, I really didn't expect to meet you here, this is my business card." ”

Some domestic partners know his status in Luzhu, but in addition, even if they know that Luzhu has him, they have mostly watched Nie Chenghui's interview, when he is an ordinary programmer, this person will tell his identity as soon as he speaks, but Lu Xi has no impression of him.

After taking the business card, Lu Xi looked up and looked at it carefully, and after being slightly surprised, he smiled and said, "Mr. Yi is very similar to a person, you and ......"

Yi Hongjie interrupted Lu Xi's words with a smile and said, "I don't know that person well, I just know him." He casually called the long-haired woman over and introduced Lu Xi and the others: "Song Yafei." ”

Yi Hongjie lightly exposed the person and didn't mention it, Lu Xi didn't ask more, thinking about the purpose of his coming to say hello, and said with a smile on his face: "Although it is not uncommon to meet compatriots overseas, it must also be regarded as fate, so it is better for Mr. Yi and Ms. Song to sit together." ”

Seeing Lu Xi say this polite word, Yi Hongjie smiled and said to Song Yafei: "This is the genius that your cousin and cousin have been talking about. ”

Lu Xi turned his gaze to Song Yafei again, guessing who her cousin and cousin were.

Song Yafei stared at Lu Xi a few times in surprise, and then smiled slightly: "You don't have to guess, my mother's surname is Shu, and Shu Wei is my cousin." ”

Lu Xi suddenly smiled bitterly in his heart, this world is so small, the two brothers and sisters of the Shu family were offended by him, and they could still meet their relatives when they went abroad.

Seeing that Lu Xi didn't know what to think, with a helpless look on his face, Song Yafei smiled and said, "The matter between you and them has nothing to do with me, it is Hongjie who has something to talk to you about." ”