Chapter 113: The Snipe, the Clam, and the Fisherman

"All right, Xunfei, we won't stay for lunch today. Give me three days, and I will give you my answer then." For the first time, Mr. Wu’s expression turned serious.

"Very well. Then, Mr. Wu, Mr. Lei, let me see you out."

After Wang Xunfei saw Mr. Wu and Lei Jun off, he returned to his computer. He was eighty percent certain that Mr. Wu would agree to invest five hundred thousand in him. He knew that during these three days, Mr. Wu would visit the companies where he had secured those three projects to verify his reputation.

Lei Jun was perhaps a true talent; to be able to grasp the future value of instant messaging software just by looking at a snippet of code—he definitely had to get in touch with him privately.

Wang Xunfei reached for the phone, intending to call a friend to see if they knew Lei Jun.

"Lei Jun? I don't know him. Mr. Wu didn't mention he was bringing anyone along. Should I ask Mr. Wu for you?"

"Oh, no need, thank you." Just as Wang Xunfei hung up, the phone rang immediately.

"Hello, this is Wang Xunfei," he said out of habit.

"Hello, this is Lei Jun. Do you have time to sit down for a chat? I'm downstairs at your office building right now."

Speak of the devil. Wang Xunfei felt a surge of delight. "Sure, I'll be right down."

A few minutes later, Lei Jun and Wang Xunfei met. Sitting on the sofa in the lobby, the two future titans looked at each other and smiled.

Before Wang Xunfei could speak, Lei Jun said, "I left my business card upstairs and forgot to bring it down. Regardless, we have each other's contact information, and we're in the same city, so we can chat again when we have time."

"Fair enough. I'll be heading off then," Lei Jun said, bidding him farewell before rising to leave the lobby.

Wang Xunfei watched Lei Jun’s retreating figure and sighed softly. Qiu Bojun’s technical skills were unquestionable—Wang Xunfei felt they were far superior to his own—but what impressed him even more was Qiu Bojun’s ability to manage talent; someone as exceptional as Lei Jun remained fiercely loyal to him.

From his brief contact with Lei Jun, Wang Xunfei could tell that this young man, who was about his own age, was inferior to no one in terms of technology or business foresight. If he were to start his own venture, he would undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with.

It was just that he didn't seem particularly adept at interpersonal relations, but Wang Xunfei understood that this was not due to a lack of intelligence or social awkwardness, but rather a disdain for playing such games. With time and experience, he would eventually leave Kingsoft to strike out on his own.

The pity was that until then, everything about Lei Jun would likely belong only to Kingsoft, and to that man seven years his senior, Qiu Bojun.

Returning to his office, Wang Xunfei opened Jiang Xiwen’s code and studied it carefully once more. Indeed, the two lines Lei Jun had pointed out contained errors that led directly to a memory overflow and system crashes.

Jiang Xiwen had left the flawed code there intentionally; no wonder he wasn't worried about Wang Xunfei finishing the software himself. What was his true objective in doing this? Could it be that the vision for this software was impossible to realize, and he was just trying to dump it quickly to get his hands on that five hundred thousand? That seemed impossible; it wasn't just him who felt this...