Chapter 818: Chapter 343: Sunken Ship

After enjoying a meticulously prepared dinner at Gu’s family home, complete with plated frozen pears, Su Huai quickly returned to work.

Chen Xing really helped him arrange a meeting with Suhua, but the one who came was Cheng Yixiao.

“Apologies, President Chen; there was an emergency at the company, so Mr. Su was called into a meeting.”

Cheng Yixiao arrived in quite a hurry–even his suit from work remained unchanged. He appeared formal and upright as he stepped into the boisterous business karaoke venue Chen Xing had booked.

Nowadays, Kuaishou has grown quite large, but not excessively so. As a result, habits from the early days of entrepreneurship remained ingrained in its senior staff and leaders–like their polite demeanor toward everyone and their ability to adapt easily to chaotic business karaoke environments.

“And this is… Mr. Su?”

After exchanging pleasantries with Chen Xing, Cheng Yixiao noticed Su Huai standing nearby with a smiling expression and was visibly taken aback.

“Yes, Su Huai,” Chen Xing said casually, pulling Su Huai over. “Xingyu has sent quite a few influencers to your platform, right? You’re strong partners; a toast is in order!”

“Mr. Cheng, hello, it’s an honor to meet you.”

Su Huai shook Cheng Yixiao’s hand. Cheng placed his left hand on Su Huai’s arm, prompting Su to mirror the gesture, resulting in both offering further mutual support.

“Wow, Mr. Su looks much younger than I imagined! I knew you were young, but I didn’t expect you to appear so… radiant.”

Cheng Yixiao wasn’t very articulate. Though compliments came naturally to him, they often remained superficial.

Su Huai, on the other hand, excelled at giving compliments subtly yet comfortably.

“Mr. Cheng, are you feeling old? You’re a young man yourself and one of the most successful doers in creating products for young people. You can’t allow yourself to age prematurely. I’m here tonight to learn from you. Let’s focus on discussing products, business, operations, and games, and avoid superficial topics like age, family background, or appearances. Agreed?”

“Agreed” is a common phrase used especially in the Northeast, particularly in Liaoning. Even though Su Huai hadn’t known Cheng Yixiao would attend tonight’s meeting, he had done all the necessary research in advance.

Cheng Yixiao’s smile instantly became more genuine, and his posture became less tense.

“Tense” doesn’t mean incapable but rather describes the effort one might exert when doing something they neither enjoy nor excel at, resulting in concentrated but stiff behavior.

Chen Xing followed up to smooth things over: “Brother Cheng is someone I deeply admire. In China’s internet industry, you’ll encounter two kinds of people: those who are eloquent, skillful, and adept at maneuvering through everything–a quality that reflects strong leadership–and those who are introverted yet dedicated, like IT and engineering professionals. Personally, I prefer the second type. They genuinely push this ecosystem forward.”

“No, no, you’re exaggerating,” Cheng Yixiao quickly waved his hand dismissively.

Su Huai naturally wouldn’t play favorites, so he also offered praise for Chen Xing.

“The investment from Morninglight Capital into Kuaishou last year was brilliant. I imagine part of the underlying reason stems from the mutual admiration among heroes. Internet investments are essentially investments in people, and businesses that accept investments must also evaluate the investors. Brother Chen and Mr. Cheng serve as a perfect example of mutual success.”

Chen Xing broke into a wide grin, though in reality, he hadn’t played any significant role in the Kuaishou investment…

With some artful maneuvering, Su Huai managed to balance the dynamics between the two, leading the conversation into a better rhythm.

Whenever Su Huai met someone for the first time, he would focus his full attention on observing the smallest details and assessing the person’s capabilities, qualities, disposition, and so forth.

In Su Huai’s estimation, aside from being somewhat lacking in external communication, Cheng Yixiao’s intellectual depth, foresight, logical reasoning, and tenacity made him stand out as an extraordinary figure.

Years ago, when Cheng was working on Kuaishou GIF, it was technically Suhua who joined him. Yet, Cheng willingly ceded the majority of shares to Suhua’s team and relinquished the CEO position–a testament to his clarity and decisiveness.

During today’s conversation, Cheng Yixiao showcased this quality well.

Since the main topic was live streaming, he carefully shared his strategies for Kuaishou’s streaming business.

“I work on products as well as operations, but I don’t believe in micromanaging or meddling in every single matter.

Within my area of expertise, I aim to excel–whether it’s designing interactions or refining user experience. When it’s time for me to make decisions, I’ll fully take ownership.

However, when it comes to the specifics of live streaming operations, I trust the team beneath me, like Fu and others.

Furthermore, I’m more than happy to hear the opinions of professionals like yourself, Mr. Su. For MCNs joining Kuaishou, as long as they comply with platform rules, their development is up to them. I provide support but avoid unnecessary interference.

If you can achieve great success, that would prove you indeed have the capability to succeed on your own, while also indirectly showcasing the effectiveness of my services…”

The core philosophy: encourage competition and allow for uninhibited growth.

It’s little wonder Kuaishou eventually fostered a unique ecosystem in which groups like the Six Families emerged, nearly monopolized traffic, and pushed the platform’s policies through outside pressure.

From Su Huai’s perspective, Kuaishou stands out as an unusual phenomenon in the history of internet platforms.

How does Douyin handle its traffic control?

Zhang Yiming adopts a strategy of suppressing any rising stars–it’s knock one down as soon as another emerges, ensuring no one becomes too big or dominates the platform.

The platform has only one exception: Dong Yuhui.

The only S+ tier influencer Douyin didn’t limit or successfully suppress was Dong Yuhui.

All the others were drowned at the height of their fame. One mistake led to the downfall; even slight signs of disobedience resulted in throttled traffic, causing major influencers to suspend their streams as soon as issues arose.

Though Dong Yuhui wasn’t immune to targeting, Douyin internally encouraged K to “learn from him” and said, “We’ll support you,” essentially attempting to dethrone Dong from his position.