His confession
"ah?!"
Peng Lei's expression was even more surprised than seeing an alien, "You have a boyfriend?"
Under the influence of alcohol, Zuo Xiao felt countless happy bubbles bouncing in his head. He curled his lips and said, "Do I look like a lesbian?"
"That's not the case..." He murmured, cigarette between his hands, "The main thing is that I really can't tell! It's been almost a month, and I haven't heard you mention your boyfriend. You haven't been hanging out with anyone except the Zhuang brothers and sisters. I thought you..."
He raised his eyebrows and sneered, "I thought you were having an affair with the banker! I even made a bet with Young Master Qin about when that guy would confess to you..."
"Are you crazy?" Zuo Xiao glanced at him, then looked at Qin Yufei. This guy didn't look like he was so bored that he would make such a bet with others.
Qin Yufei shrugged: "I ignored him."
"Let's get back to the point..." Peng Lei finished his cigarette, stubbed it out, and said, "Did you just break up? Tonight?"
Zuo Xiao tilted his head back, took a big gulp of wine, and then nodded.
"No wonder he suddenly wanted to drink..." Peng Lei shook his head and sighed, "Cheating?"
Zuo Xiao burped, thought about it carefully, and shook his head: "Probably not."
"What do you mean by 'probably not'?" Peng Lei was more serious than her. "You don't know whether he did it or not? You're not sure? You don't have any solid evidence?"
"Whether it's true or not, he and I are breaking up." Zuo Xiao held his chin with one hand, a trace of confusion in his eyes. "We've been in a cold war for over a month, and suddenly I heard that he was having an affair with someone else. Only then did I realize that I didn't have him in my heart... How about this reason? Is it hardcore enough?"
The other party didn't answer her question, but instead focused on the details: "Cold war for over a month? That's a bit exaggerated... Why?"
"He wants to get married, but I don't. I tried to persuade him not to waste his time on me, and he got angry..." Zuo Xiao became increasingly confused as he spoke. "I don't understand you men anymore... Do you really want to get married that badly? What's so good about getting married?"
"Tsk tsk..." Peng Lei's expression was subtle. He took out another cigarette and said, "I have something to say, but I'm not sure if I should say it..."
"You can talk about it or not," Zuo Xiao stopped him. He coughed twice and said, "I don't know what your boyfriend... oh no, ex-boyfriend is like, but he seems to be quite serious about you."
"What do you mean?" Zuo Xiao glared at him. "Are you saying that I'm not good enough and that I've let him down?"
"I didn't say that!" Peng Lei said, full of desire to survive. "Marriage and love are free! If you don't want to get married, you can't force it on you..."
Zuo Xiao snorted softly: "That's right!"
Peng Lei let out a long breath and asked, "How old is he?"
Zuo Xiao thought for a moment and said, "Twenty-seven or twenty-eight."
"Tsk tsk, marrying young..." The lighter cast a circle of light on his lips. He pursed his lips, took a deep puff, and said in the slowly rising white smoke, "Is this guy so depressed? Is he ugly and poor?"
Zuo Xiao smiled and replied, "I'm not ugly, and I'm not poor. I'm just too skinny. I don't have any chest or abdominal muscles."
Peng Lei lowered his head, looked at his frail frame, and sneered, "What good are these muscle-bound hunks? They're all good-looking, but useless!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Zuo Xiao sneered. "This is just some men with poor figures deliberately spreading rumors and engaging in vicious competition!"
"You women should say the same thing," Peng Lei said with a curled lip. "If you don't believe me, go search online for yourself."
"I'm too lazy to argue with you." Zuo Xiao supported his face with both hands, feeling a little sleepy, and said dejectedly.
The air fell silent again. She drank the wine in silence for a while, and suddenly heard Qin Yufei say:
"You feel bad about dumping him?"
Instantly, her heart felt a sharp jolt, and a surge of heat rushed to her throat. When she realized what was happening, she felt two streaks of cool dampness running from the corners of her eyes to her cheeks.
"Holy shit!" Peng Lei exclaimed. He dropped his cigarette and frantically searched for a tissue. Qin Yufei was quicker, pulling out two sheets of paper and shoving them into her hands.
Zuo Xiao had already gotten over the stress. He wiped his face and asked nonchalantly, "What time is it?"
Peng Lei took out his phone and glanced at it: "10:45."
"I'm almost late for the subway..." Zuo Xiao supported himself on the table and staggered to his feet. "I'm leaving now. Bye..."
"Are you kidding me?" Peng Lei jumped up from his chair and held her steady. "Two grown men are here, how can you let me take the subway back alone?"
In the car, Zuo Xiao leaned her head against the window, staring out in a trance. Peng Lei sat next to her, and Qin Yufei sat in the passenger seat.
Peng Lei yawned and said, "I thought you could hold a lot of alcohol, but it turns out you can only drink this much."
"I'm not drunk." Zuo Xiao said lazily, "It's just that I have to rehearse tomorrow and I'm worried it will affect my condition."
"You're the one!" Peng Lei gave her a thumbs-up. "Honestly, at first I thought you were just playing around, but I didn't expect you to be more serious than anyone else! Reliable! A woman is as capable as a man!"
Zuo Xiao smiled faintly and closed his eyes. Peng Lei tactfully said no more.
Zuo Xiao woke up as soon as the car stopped. He looked up and saw that he had arrived at the gate of the community.
Peng Lei insisted on helping her. He was polite, simply lending her his bent arm. He was thin, and his arms were thin, but from years of drumming, they were quite strong.
As soon as he reached the door of his unit, he saw the property manager, Zhang Jianming. Zuo Xiao stopped and waved at him.
"Why are you so late?" Under the dim light, Zhang Jianming looked at the two men beside her, his gaze fixed on Peng Lei's elbow.
Zuo Xiao noticed his unhappy expression and explained, "It's okay, we're all friends."
Zhang Jianming swiped open the unit door, held it open with one hand, waited for them to enter, and then followed them silently. He followed them all the way to the elevator and pressed the floor button.
"Neighbor?" Peng Lei turned to ask Zuo Xiao. She shook her head: "Property management."
Zhang Jianming watched with his own eyes as the two men escorted Zuo Xiao into the living room and placed him on the sofa. He stood at the door, neither entering nor leaving.
"Why are you acting like a guard dog?" Peng Lei whispered in Qin Yufei's ear. Zuo Xiao heard this and chuckled, then said, "You should leave now. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
The door closed, barring the three men from entering. As usual, her roommate, Eric, was away on a business trip, leaving Zuo Xiao alone. She collapsed on the sofa, the ceiling light glaring at her. She raised her hand and covered her eyes with her forearm.
The next day, not long after Zuo Xiaogang got up, there was a knock on the door.
"I was going to tell you yesterday," Zhang Jianming said, standing at the door. "In the complex where I live now, someone I know is subletting the second bedroom for 1,000 yuan a month. The master bedroom is also occupied by a woman. The address is on the North Sixth Ring Road, not far from the subway. Do you want to go take a look?"
Zuo Xiao washed up and left with him. Zhang Jianming packed two trays of steamed buns and two cups of soy milk from the shop at the entrance of the community. He ate one for himself and gave the other to Zuo Xiao, then took an online taxi.
Everything went smoothly. The house was clean and the people were pleasant. Before noon, Zuo Xiao and the original tenant reached a verbal agreement that she would pay the rent starting next Monday and the tenant could move in at any time.
Zuo Xiao invited Zhang Jianming to lunch. During the meal, she offered to pay for the taxi fare, but he refused and, in a rare moment of joking, said, "My boss may be stingy, but the salary he pays is enough to keep him away from taxis."
"Whether you have money or not is your business." Zuo Xiao insisted, "If you took a taxi for my business, I should pay for it."
"Okay." The other party smiled slightly and took out his phone. "Let's add WeChat. You can transfer it to me."
"Don't use yours or yours." Zuo Xiao said with a smile, "From now on, we'll just be neighbors. No need to use honorifics."
Zuo Xiao returned home and began thinking about moving. She called Eric first to let him know she had found a place and would be moving out that week. Eric was happy for her and told her not to worry: his colleague had already decided to take over her current apartment and would be able to move in within the month. They agreed to have dinner together with Zhuang Jinghao and Chen Liqing when he returned from his business trip.
Zuo Xiao had too much stuff, and figuring his newly rented second bedroom wouldn't fit it all, he shamelessly called Chen Liqing and told him he wanted to store some of his unused belongings at his house. Naturally, he didn't hesitate and offered to help with the move. The two of them decided to move this weekend.
At the same time, Zhuang Jinghao was in the studio, accompanying his brother to record an interview video. Ge Xin, the public relations director, was also there.
The program is hosted by Xu Ziwen, a middle school classmate of Zuo Xiao. In the month since she joined the media industry, she has already interviewed two emerging entrepreneurs; Zhuang Yu'an is her third. The first episode is already online and has received a positive response.
Zhuang Jinghao sat nearby, watching his brother, dressed in a suit and tie, speak eloquently before the camera. The show was meticulously produced, with four cameras and six or seven lighting fixtures deployed on set. Although it wasn't his first time accompanying his brother on a video interview, Zhuang Jinghao couldn't help but feel a little nervous under the circumstances.
She watched with utmost caution for a moment, then relaxed slightly when she saw that everything was proceeding smoothly according to the outline. The recording session required strict silence, and since she had nothing else to do, she pulled out her phone and opened WeChat.
Her chat history with Zuo Xiao was still stuck on that "Oh" from yesterday morning. She'd discovered Luffy and Ge Xin's affair and tipped Zuo Xiao off, but he'd only replied with an "Oh"—nothing else, leaving her bewildered. Unsure of Zuo Xiao's attitude, she hesitated, fearing she'd make more mistakes and appear to be gossiping, so she didn't dare say anything more.
After thinking for a moment, I typed in the dialog box: "Does rehearsal start at 7 o'clock tonight?" and pressed the send button.
She was asking this question knowing the answer. The band usually rehearsed once a weekday and once a weekday, with the times agreed upon in the group chat. Tonight's rehearsal at 7:00 PM had been scheduled last night. But she could pretend she'd missed the message; the "Red Hot Shocking Rock Circle" group was bustling with activity, with at least a hundred messages a day.
After waiting for a while without receiving a reply, Zhuang Jinghao put her phone back into her bag and turned her attention back to the ongoing interview. The previous question had just finished, and host Xu Ziwen, following the prepared interview outline, threw out the next question:
"Pet Planet went from zero to its IPO in just seven years, which is incredibly fast in any industry. You've previously said that the key to the company's exceptionally rapid growth was its ability to seize a strategic opportunity. Could you elaborate on this? How do you understand the so-called strategic opportunity?"
Zhuang Yu'an met her gaze and answered calmly:
"Businesses are constantly caught up in cycles, large and small, such as those affecting the macroeconomy, policies, consumer trends, technological innovation, capital rotation, and evolving industry landscapes... When these cyclical fluctuations reach specific points, and multiple favorable cycles overlap at a certain moment, a structural opportunity is formed at this intersection, the so-called window period. During this window period, companies have the opportunity to achieve returns far higher than at other times and achieve extraordinary rapid growth. However, the door to opportunity will not remain open forever. The window period is undoubtedly limited, sometimes even fleeting and can close at any time. Companies must seize the right opportunity to do the right thing, which requires strong sensitivity and action.
"Back to AiPetPlanet itself. First, we were fortunate to have caught up with the golden age of explosive growth in the pet economy. In the early days of the company, we benefited from rapid economic development, a surge in the number of pets, and the rapid development of mobile e-commerce. We achieved rapid growth through online sales of pet toys and supplies. At the time, the entire market was in a state of having categories but no brands. From the outset, we firmly pursued a branding approach, and the sale of each product continuously accumulates the compound interest of brand recognition.
Subsequently, we seized the opportunities presented by consumption upgrades and content-based e-commerce, focusing on mid- to high-end pet toys and supplies with aesthetically pleasing design. In particular, targeting the rise of the cat economy, we developed a series of highly designed and interactive toys and supplies specifically for pet cats. We also entered the high-end cat snack market. Furthermore, we capitalized on the trend toward smart technology earlier than our peers, pioneering products like smart feeders and smart litter boxes to capture market share. These products have received positive market feedback.
In the past two years, we have focused on two major areas: pet intelligence and pet health. At the same time, we have taken advantage of cross-border e-commerce opportunities to rapidly expand overseas markets. We have achieved good results in the Southeast Asian, European and American markets.
Looking back, as a startup, we were able to achieve exceptionally rapid growth because we capitalized on multiple opportunities and reaped asymmetric returns. If you missed that window of opportunity, you could still do many things, but it would just be more laborious and slower.
As his brother spoke, Zhuang Jinghao consulted his outline, trying to figure out how he had expanded a mere 200-word outline into such a lengthy speech. He conducted no fewer than ten face-to-face interviews a year, never requiring the PR department to prepare verbatim scripts, only providing direction and key data.
At this time, Xu Ziwen said, "Many people say that Pet Planet is a company with strong product capabilities. From what I hear, the premise of our continuous success in releasing hit products is that we are better than others at identifying real opportunities and noise, and making products that better meet market demand."
This interaction wasn't part of the outline; it felt more like a spontaneous response. Zhuang Yu'an nodded in agreement, saying, "Right. Many companies are capable of making solid, polished, or flashy products, but our advantage lies in our ability to focus on the right things. This is based on our keen insight into market trends, cultivated over time, and our ability to rapidly iterate and innovate our products in response to change."
Xu Ziwen smiled and interjected a question that wasn't on the outline: "What if a company has good fundamentals but isn't sharp enough, or simply has bad luck and misses almost all of its opportunities?"
Zhuang Yu'an also smiled and replied, "If you miss the window of opportunity, then be a little dumber and slower, you can still survive, and even live a good life. In short, try to stay at the table as much as possible, and the last one standing will be the winner."
"It sounds like this slow pace is more in line with people's concept of long-termism," Xu Ziwen continued. "I wonder if you're worried that companies, always chasing short-term opportunities, might suffer from strategic shortsightedness in their decision-making. What I mean is, a decision might seem right at the time and bring good returns, but it might be wrong in the long run."
Zhuang Jinghao's forehead was covered in cold sweat: This Xu Ziwen is really something, it's okay if she doesn't act according to the script, but why does she have to ask such tricky questions...
Thinking of this, he looked at his brother with some concern, but he looked calm. After a moment's thought, he replied:
"That's a great question. I believe many companies are both afraid of missing out on opportunities and wary of being sidetracked by short-term gains. They need to make prudent decisions when faced with opportunities. Balancing the long-term and short-term is crucial. I believe a great company must embrace a long-term perspective while also flexibly seizing opportunities. The two are not contradictory, but rather complementary."
"So-called long-termism is essentially a strategic focus based on long-term goals, using your inner long-term certainty to manage external short-term uncertainty. When you set out with your destination clearly in mind, all the noise, obstacles, and temptations along the way will not affect your progress in the right direction, leading to your desired destination. In the process of moving forward, you must constantly embrace change, adjust your tactical path at any time, avoid traps along the way, and act swiftly when you discover opportunities. Otherwise, you may die on the road before reaching the end.
"During the company's development, we've actually turned down many opportunities based on a long-term perspective. For example, we've more than once given up on developing hot new product categories and rejected a very attractive strategic investment. Just recently, we turned down a partnership plan to enter an emerging market segment, despite the other party's very sincere offers. We don't pursue all opportunities. We will say no to short-term temptations that don't align with our long-term strategic direction or our core capabilities."
Finally, the interview was over. Xu Ziwen took several photos with Zhuang Yu'an, and then she said she wanted to invite Zuo Xiao to dinner, so Zhuang Jinghao volunteered to take care of it.
It was past 5 o'clock when they walked out of the studio. Zhuang Jinghao asked if they could go home directly, and Ge Xin readily agreed.
Before leaving, his brother leaned over and said in a low voice, "I have a meeting later. I'll pick you up after it." Zhuang Jinghao nodded and reminded him, "Try to come as early as possible."
A few hours later, when she saw her brother again, her face flushed crimson with excitement. She pulled him to a deserted corner, grabbed his sleeve, and said in a trembling voice:
"Brother, your window of opportunity has arrived!"
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