Chapter 249 - 247: Fruit Company’s Shady Operation
Chapter 249: Chapter 247: Fruit Company’s Shady Operation
"Okay!"
Ning Ruoxi nodded happily, feeling a little excited.
After all, she was a girl, and it was only natural to care about her appearance.
Even though Ning Ruoxi was at an age when a girl is considered most beautiful, she still sometimes worried about getting old and her skin losing its glow.
Of course, this worry wasn’t out of fear that Ye Ling would stop liking her someday. She was afraid of becoming a haggard, worn-out woman.
This was yet another difference between men and women.
Generally speaking, if a boy suddenly starts grooming himself and dressing more elegantly, it’s usually because he likes a girl and is trying to win her over.
For girls, however, whether it was putting on makeup or taking care of their skin, the primary goal wasn’t to be seen by boys, but to look good for themselves.
Seeing themselves look beautiful just makes them happy.
After washing up, Ye Ling and Ning Ruoxi went to the kitchen, where Ye Feng had already prepared breakfast.
Millet porridge with pickled mustard greens.
’That familiar taste again!’
Ye Ling savored the porridge, and after finishing his bowl, he ladled another.
’You can’t get this anywhere else! No amount of money can buy this, because this is the taste of home!’
"How long are you two planning to stay in Pingjiang this time?" Ye Feng asked.
"Until the tenth. We’re heading to Jiangyou after that," Ye Ling replied.
"Mm, that’s good," Ye Feng nodded.
...
After breakfast, Ye Ling thought for a moment and then gave Lin Xiao a call.
"Brother Ye, Happy New Year!" Lin Xiao answered the phone promptly and offered his greeting.
"Happy New Year."
Ye Ling returned the greeting with a smile. "Brother Lin," he added, "I was hoping I could ask you to do something for me."
"Brother Ye, just name it. As long as it’s within my power, I’ll definitely get it done. I still haven’t figured out how to repay you for last time! If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be stuck working overtime at Xia Wei Group, hahaha!"
Lin Xiao replied readily.
"Here’s the thing. I’d like you to help me test the processor frequencies of older Fruit phone models, from the 4X to the 6X series. It would be best if you could present the findings in a report."
Ye Ling didn’t waste any words and got straight to the point.
"Fruit phones?"
Lin Xiao was taken aback for a moment.
"Yes, that’s right. The processor frequencies of the older models. The report should be as easy to understand as possible, but it also needs to look official," Ye Ling clarified his requirements.
The reason he asked Lin Xiao for this was, of course, related to the trade secret Ye Ling had obtained the day before. It detailed how the Fruit Company, in order to boost sales, throttled the processors of its older models, among a series of other shady maneuvers.
After the Fruit Company released a new phone, if you updated the system on an older model, it would become laggy and its performance would degrade, thereby accelerating the phone replacement cycle.
From the perspective of corporate profitability, this was, of course, understandable.
The performance of most modern smartphones was already overkill for many users. After all, a phone couldn’t compare to a computer.
While computers had tons of large-scale games that required powerful specs, and then there were console games, what did the average person really play on their phone?
At most, they would play a few rounds of a MOBA or a battle royale.
A mid-range phone could run those games perfectly fine.
And to be honest, as long as there wasn’t some major technological leap, a high-end phone could easily last for seven or eight years.
If everyone only replaced their phones every seven or eight years, how would the Fruit Company make any money?
However, from a consumer’s perspective, this was undoubtedly unfair.
’You spend good money to buy their product, their service, but then they degrade that service for their own selfish interests?’
Consumers weren’t idiots. The only reason people were still buying Fruit phones was that the public was completely in the dark.
That was precisely why it was such a dirty trick.
Who could have imagined that a system update would actually make things worse with each new version?
’Perhaps. This must be the legendary ’reverse optimization’ I’ve heard so much about!’
The moment he learned this trade secret, a plan had already formed in Ye Ling’s mind. He intended to make very good use of it.
Never mind the enormous profits to be gained if this plan succeeded; just watching the arrogance of those foreign corporations lately had been pissing Ye Ling off for a while now!
"Okay, I understand."
Although Lin Xiao didn’t fully understand why Ye Ling was asking for this, he agreed without hesitation.
For him, a task like this wasn’t difficult at all. He could even just delegate it to his subordinates.
"Oh, right, Brother Ye," Lin Xiao said, suddenly remembering something. "Those four P40 phones I promised you are ready. Are you in Modu right now?"
Even though the Xia Wei P40 phone hadn’t been officially released yet, there was such a thing as getting items through internal channels.
Under normal circumstances, they couldn’t just be handed out. Even for pre-orders, you’d have to wait until the official launch day.
But Ye Ling was different.
In the eyes of the Xia Wei Group, Ye Ling’s current status was extremely high.
He was a case for special treatment.
"My apologies, Brother Lin. I’m in Pingjiang right now, and I’ll be heading to Jiangyou in a bit. As for the phones, could you have them sent to Shengding Group for me?"
Ye Ling said after a moment of thought.
"No problem."
Lin Xiao nodded in understanding.
’It’s the New Year, after all. Everyone has to make their rounds visiting family and friends.’
After hanging up, Ye Ling thought for a moment before calling Chen Lin.
"President Ye, hello, and Happy New Year!" Chen Lin’s voice came through the moment the call connected.
"Happy New Year."
Ye Ling said, "Do you have a moment?"
"I await your instructions, President Ye."
Upon hearing this, Chen Lin’s spirits lifted.
This was the first time Ye Ling had personally contacted him since taking over Celestial Dragon Investment Company, so naturally, he wanted to make a good impression.
"I’d like to know how much capital Celestial Dragon Investment Company has at the moment," Ye Ling asked.
"President Ye, as you know, given the nature of Celestial Dragon Investment Company, most of our funds are tied up in financial products. There isn’t much in the way of liquid capital."
Chen Lin paused for a moment before continuing.
’Of course, I understand that!’
So-called investment firms were, in reality, a bit like intermediary agencies.
They might look like they’re trading tens, or even hundreds, of millions at the drop of a hat, but most of that money didn’t belong to the firm itself—it came from their clients.
Celestial Dragon Investment Company simply pooled its clients’ money and invested it to generate profits.
"As for idle funds, we should have around one hundred million. That’s the company’s reserve capital."
Chen Lin said.
To be honest, this was already a considerable amount of capital.
Many investment firms could only mobilize a mere few hundred thousand in liquid assets.
Yes, you heard that right. A firm managing tens of millions in funds might only have a few percent of that as liquid capital.
This was also why some investment firms could go bankrupt from a single failed investment. They truly had no cash reserves; if a product they invested in went south, they were done for.