Chapter 550: UC Browser

At noon, everyone left the gym and headed straight to the cafeteria.

Feng Nanshu and Gao Wenhui chose seats at the back right of the tray return area where the sunlight was brighter and warmer—a little blessing from nature during the autumn and winter seasons.

As Jiang Qin followed the crowd in, he lifted the door curtain and entered the cafeteria, seeing the little rich girl waving at him.

“With so many people in the cafeteria, and many as handsome as me, how can you still spot me?”

Unable to hold back, Gao Wenhui turned to Feng Nanshu: “Your wife has been staring at the entrance even before you arrived, almost turning into a stone waiting for her husband!”

As Jiang Qin sat down, he pinched the smooth cheek of the little rich girl: “I was just catching up with young master Cao on the news. Sorry I am late, wife.”

“No worries. Your wife just loves to wait for you,” Feng Nanshu cheerfully said, unbothered by anything.

“If you want to call me wife, just say it directly. Why beat around the bush? Tiring, isn’t it?”

After hearing Gao Wenhui’s teasing, Jiang Qin turned back to look at Feng Nanshu, finding the word ‘wife’ almost magical. Although they were just pure friends, such flirtation was irresistible and led to whimsical thoughts.

Maybe I also have a tiny bit of ulterior motive, though it’s not obvious and no one knows…

“By the way, have you guys updated Tonight’s Headlines yet?”

“We updated it! Otherwise, how could we let you down after you tagged us individually in the group chat deep at night?”

Jiang Qin beckoned to Gao Wenhui: “Come on, show me what’s on your feed.”

Gao Wenhui glanced at him, handing over her phone: “What’s there to see?”

As Jiang Qin scrolled, he noticed Gao Wenhui’s feed was full of overly sweet romance stories, perfectly fitting her persona.

Wondering who in the future would marry this sugar-obsessed Huihui, and would probably need to act in an idol drama every day.

Hmm?

As Jiang browsed further, he was startled by one of the article titles.

“How to Trick Your Best Friend into Bed with the Man She Likes”

What the hell is this?

Jiang Qin looked at Gao Wenhui with an odd expression and then at the little rich girl acting dumb under the sunlight, thinking to himself that indeed two women were after him. Boys really need to protect themselves when they’re out and about, don’t they?

Just then, Wang Haini returned after getting her meal and sat down, looking at Jiang Qin: “So, I heard you and Feng Nanshu went to a movie and bumped into an ex-girlfriend?”

“Nonsense, I don’t have an ex-girlfriend.”

Listening to this, Feng Nanshu’s head began to spin with visions of ‘first love’ floating before her eyes.

Jiang Qin reached out to her: “Haini, let me see your headlines.”

“Why look at this?”

Wang Haini handed over her phone, which was filled with love tactics like secret crossings, covert contacts, and hidden efforts—all shady and not to be exposed to light.

Impressed, Jiang Qin exclaimed, “Awesome Haini, you really like the thrilling stuff with a high excitement threshold.”

However, he scrolled only briefly, fearful of finding posts about how to deceitfully get a friend’s good buddies into bed.

Then, Jiang Qin took Feng Nanshu’s phone, keyed in 0203 to unlock it, and his first thought was ‘Wow, handsome.’

The wallpaper was a photo of two people; Jiang Qin was in the front with her snuggled close, both looking bright-eyed at the camera.

Both good-looking, that must be what good friends look like.

Jiang Qin never missed a chance to praise himself, without considering the objective truth.

Then, he opened the little rich girl’s Tonight’s Headlines.

Before the feed refreshed, he expected her headlines to be full of news about himself or ads where he endorsed himself. But he was puzzled after it refreshed.

It was all about first loves—how precious they are, their beauty, how men never forget them, from falling in love to marriage …

Jiang Qin turned to Feng Nanshu, thinking she was still jealous: “She really isn’t my first love, I swear.”

“I know.”

Feng Nanshu nodded sweetly. She now knew Jiang Qin’s first love was indeed herself and wasn’t jealous at all.

Looking at her, Jiang Qin realized she didn’t smell of jealousy or tea, and got a bit curious, leaning in: “Do you really believe that?”

“I do.”

“How come little jealous fairy is so easy to coax now?”

Feeling like his talent in coaxing friends wasn’t fully utilized, Jiang Qin pinched her cheek again, finding the soft and smooth texture irresistible.

After lunch, Boss Jiang wandered around a bit, asking some acquaintances for their user experience.

He also recorded some good suggestions as directions for later improvement.

Finally, Jiang Qin also stopped by the school office to see Zhang Boiqing, and found Dean Zhang’s Tonight’s Headlines wasn’t updated. He kindly updated it for him.

But after the update, the phone showed insufficient memory and was very sluggish.

The trouble was that Tonight’s Headlines was pre-installed and couldn’t be uninstalled.

No problem, Jiang Qin considered himself a smartphone expert and had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, so he went to work.

After a while, he quietly returned Dean Zhang’s phone to the desk, pretended not to have touched it, exchanged a few polite words, and left quietly.

“Hmm?”

“My phone… why is there a green little robot on it?”

After finishing his work, Zhang Boiqing picked up his phone, puzzled at the image on the screen.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qin returned to headquarters and had a brief meeting with Nai Nai, finalizing the optimization direction based on everyone’s feedback.

Subsequently, Tonight’s Headlines underwent two simple algorithm tweaks, significantly improving the user experience and reducing the issue of homogeneous content caused by algorithmic recommendations.

Based on feedback from various app markets, Tonight’s Headlines’ approval ratings gradually increased.

However, looking at the current market, there are many options for news apps, and Tonight’s Headlines is not yet the sole choice for audiences.

Especially those well-established big companies that already have a PC audience; their mobile development is relatively mature, giving them a higher starting point than Tonight’s Headlines.

For instance, after receiving investments from Alibaba, uc led the industry through their sensationalist style, currently ranking first in user numbers.

They can even make a headline about a bare-bottomed kid herding sheep seem like a nude boy facing a group of beasts. High attractiveness is nothing strange to them.

Originally, Lu Feiyu was also a fan of sensationalist titles and was an expert at using them, having honed his skills while they were creating content for Zhihu. uc’s headlines were mere child’s play to them.

But after the content team was reorganized and Tonight’s Headlines business group was established, Jiang Qin stopped them from using sensationalist styles, instead focusing on quality content to win over audiences.

Thus, in terms of drawing traffic, Tonight’s Headlines was slightly behind uc.

At that moment, Alibaba’s Ma Yun, Pang Rui, Lu Zhichuan, and uc’s CEO He Xiaopeng, along with other executives, were discussing the promotion for the upcoming Double 11 shopping festival while eating.

Since 2009, when Taobao first launched the Double 11 shopping festival, it has been a major project every year, gathering all efforts for extensive promotion.

The performance of the Double 11 shopping festival has indeed been impressive, with transaction volumes increasing multiple times each year.

Most importantly, if the concept of the Double 11 shopping festival can be ingrained in people, the online shopping community will grow significantly, benefiting Taobao permanently.

Alipay’s current promotion is also crucial, and Pang Rui hoped to leverage the impact of the Double 11 shopping festival to intensify Alipay’s promotion.

Since uc is now part of Alibaba’s ecosystem and has a large user base, it naturally became the top choice for promotional channels.

“This Double 11, there are thirty thousand more vendors participating than last year, so traffic is crucial.”

“I want everyone to know that Double 11 is not just Singles’ Day anymore, but a shopping festival. Anyone who shops at Taobao during this time is getting a bargain!”

“uc needs to fully support Taobao’s promotion, with pop-ups, banners, and redirect links all clearly visible.”

“Some users are resistant to pop-up ads, but you need to find a way to make them click, without limiting the methods.”

He Xiaopeng nodded, knowing this was a significant responsibility since joining Alibaba. How effective it would be was crucial, but he was confident in uc’s ability to draw traffic.

“Jiang Qin is also working on a news app,” Pang Rui whispered after the meeting.

“It’s Tonight’s Headlines,” Lu Zhichuan said casually.

During the recent group-buying controversy, capital joined forces to push a smear campaign aiming to destroy group-buy using rumors, and their main battleground for counter-attacks was Tonight’s Headlines.

It seemed that even the hot search articles on Weibo had been reposted from this app, so their impression of it was quite strong.

“Does President He know about Tonight’s Headlines?”

Hearing this, He Xiaopeng looked at them: “I know, but I need to correct one point—Tonight’s Headlines isn’t really a news app.”

Pang Rui looked at him: “How so?”

“As far as I know, they don’t even have their own news department or editorial team, just a content group. All their articles are second-hand, picked from Tencent News, Phoenix News, and Sohu News. It’s just picking up scraps.”

Pang Rui was surprised: “Then where do Tonight’s Headlines’ articles come from?”

“They come from part-time college students who write backstage, paid per article. Think about it, these students don’t even leave their campuses, just hear things and add their own understanding before daring to write for everyone to see. Is that reliable?”

“…”

“It’s just a platform for sharing little stories.”

After setting down his cup, He Xiaopeng said goodbye to Pang Rui and Lu Zhichuan and returned to his business group’s office to start planning the upcoming promotions.