E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World
Chapter 157: Episode 157: Even though it was reported, nothing came of it

Chapter 157: Episode 157: Even though it was reported, nothing came of it

Ji Ge: "Bro, haven’t sold the 9600GT yet?"

Zhang Lei’s alt: "Not yet, why? Interested?"

Ji Ge: "Seventy percent of the market price, is it genuine?"

Zhang Lei’s alt: "Authentic! But no packaging. I’ve made it very clear in my post, if you want to buy, buy it, if not, forget it."

Ji Ge: "How about you take a couple of photos for me to check out? The pictures in your post are official images. How would I know if what you have is the real deal?"

Zhang Lei’s alt: "Here, have a look!" Attached were two product images.

Ji Ge: "Looks indeed like it’s not fake."

Zhang Lei’s alt: "No ****, as the esteemed Director of Zhongonline’s gaming channel, would I deceive you with a fake? Would I do that to myself!"

Ji Ge: "Alright, how about we meet up to make the deal?"

Zhang Lei’s alt: "You decide the time..."

The chat record was just that much, but it felt like Zhang Lei was eager to sell off this graphics card, and he even actively revealed his identity...

"Did you send the report email?" Zhou Xueyin asked.

"Sent it... The chat log, including the IP address and the product photos, I’ve sent them all to Liu Ruidong..." Wei Jingzhu was quite efficient, packing up the evidence and sending it off to Liu Ruidong as soon as he had collected it.

But Zhou Xueyin always felt that the evidence was not sufficient. Although the stolen graphics card was indeed a 9600GT, two were missing along with a watch. It would be great if they could all be traced back to Zhang Lei, but currently, they had only found the whereabouts of one graphics card.

The other one might very well be inside his own computer case, and as for the watch, either he had gifted it or already sold it at a high price, beyond recovery.

However, seeing how hard Wei Jingzhu was working to help her, Zhou Xueyin didn’t want to discourage him and was very thankful that he thought of her.

A few days after the report was sent, Wei Jingzhu was looking forward every day to Liu Ruidong having a talk with Zhang Lei.

Yet, contrary to his wishes, Zhang Lei’s life was still very comfortable, and the boss of Zhongonline hadn’t had a talk with him.

At the mid-year summary conference of the company in early July 2008, Chen Lu stepped down from the position of Director of the Asia-Pacific, handing over to Liu Ruidong, the current General Manager of Zhongonline.

At the same time, the organizational structure of CBIS also changed.

Liu Ruidong decisively abandoned some companies with poor performance, terminated contracts with them, and also established three new companies with different businesses: one in charge of mobile market trends, one for gaming market trends, and another for stock market trends.

The mobile site was managed by Yu Guodong, the head of the Zhongonline mobile channel; the stock one was actually a direct revamp of a previous research site without changing the organizational structure. And that gaming market trends site was handed over to Zhang Lei...

"Damn! Has Liu Ruidong gone mad? Handing over the gaming site to Zhang Lei to manage? It’d be a miracle if he can make it work!" Zhou Xueyin complained while having lunch with Wei Jingzhu after the summary meeting.

"Don’t even mention it, it’s one thing that he’s gone independent, but he took all the veterans of the gaming channel with him!" Wei Jingzhu said helplessly.

"And you? Didn’t follow him?"

"Pay cut..." Wei Jingzhu slowly uttered these two words.

So going to the new company even meant a pay cut, then who would go? Who would go if not fools? Zhou Xueyin thought to herself, complaining internally.

"Aside from cutting my salary, everyone else got a raise to go with him to start a business, promising that once the company grew, everyone would be shareholders," Wei Jingzhu said weakly. "Who would believe him, they’re all just his stepping stones."

"I agree... But what about the report? Just dropped, no mention of it anymore? That’s just too screwed up!" The topic turned back to the issue of the report.

"Don’t know what happened, it just vanished without a trace," Wei Jingzhu said apologetically to Zhou Xueyin, "I’m sorry, I couldn’t help you recoup your losses."

"The loss isn’t much to me, but what about you... Not following Zhang Lei, are you sticking with the game channel on your own?" Zhou Xueyin was right, she indeed didn’t care much about the loss of a little over a thousand.

Instead, she was worried about Wei Jingzhu’s plans.

"The game channel has reached a certain scale by now, and I hold the dealerships, so I have some resources. It all depends on whether the manufacturers are still willing to work with me..." Wei Jingzhu seemed to still have some lingering attachment, "Xiaodong also agreed to give me six months to restructure the game channel..."

"Six months is enough! Don’t forget, even my forum started to make a profit in half a year!" Zhou Xueyin reassured him, "But still, if you need anything, just ask! I’ll definitely help you."

"Mm! Alright! Thanks!" Wei Jingzhu nodded gratefully.

Even though he said that, Wei Jingzhu didn’t ask Zhou Xueyin for much help.

He got Zhao Kai and Han Linqing, friends from his college days, to help him support the game channel for half a month relying on a few dealerships.

After the Olympics, during the famous Chinajoy event, Wei Jingzhu made some contacts with sales representatives from game manufacturers and they verbally agreed to help each other with advertising.

One rainy night at the end of August, Zhou Xueyin unexpectedly received a drunken call from Wei Jingzhu, "Hello? Yinyin? Can you come, come and pick me up... Where am I? Oh right! Wangfujing! Dongdan Silver Street?"

"Xiaojing? What happened to you? Why did you drink so much?" Zhou Xueyin was extremely concerned when she heard his befuddled voice, "Just stay at Silver Street in Dongdan, don’t go anywhere! I’ll be there in half an hour!"

After hanging up, Zhou Xueyin hurried out of her home.

"Middle of the night, where’s Yinyin going?" Li Jianiang was puzzled as she watched the group.

"I don’t know, Yinyin got a call and just rushed out..." Yao Shanshan shook her head in confusion.

"It seemed like it was Xiaojing who called, but I didn’t quite catch it..." Kang Siyin shrugged, unclear about what had happened.

Despite the fact that all four of them now had decent salaries and could afford better places, they all chose to live frugally together, providing mutual support.

It’s hard to get a taxi on a rainy night. It took a while, but when a taxi finally showed up, the driver outright refused to take Zhou Xueyin to Wangfujing.

After a 15-minute delay, Zhou Xueyin was finally able to get a taxi to Wangfujing.

One only values a vehicle when it’s needed... If she had known, she would have bought a car. It would have been so convenient for anything! She regretted not having bought a car earlier, thinking to herself that if she had done so, she could have driven to pick up Wei Jingzhu at Wangfujing herself. Was it necessary to wait so long in the drizzle?

Fortunately, the traffic was smooth on the way, with hardly any congestion. However, by the time she reached Wangfujing Silver Street, an hour had already passed.

She wondered if Wei Jingzhu was still waiting there...

After getting out of the taxi, Zhou Xueyin, holding an umbrella, searched for the familiar figure in the square, but whomsoever she saw seemed like Wei Jingzhu, and yet none of them were him...

Zhou Xueyin walked back and forth several times around the square outside of Oriental New World but still didn’t spot Wei Jingzhu.

Hopefully, he hadn’t become impatient and taken a taxi home already...