Chapter 461: Strategic Alliances in Sports Innovation

Nie Fei was holding a meeting in the conference room with Jiang Yuze and Sun Lingfeng, along with three interns following up on Ran Bing Sports.

Spotting Xu Chen with a free moment, she asked Sun Lingfeng to call him into the conference room.

“Let’s sync up on the second wave of ‘Ran Bing 001’ sales—you should hear this too.”

“Sure!”

Xu Chen grabbed a chair and sat next to Fei Jie.

He glanced around the room and quietly asked:

“Where’s Vice President Zhou?”

Nie Fei leaned in a bit, joking, “He’s off playing corporate spy.”

Xu Chen: “Huh?”

Nie Fei: “Anta’s developing a high-value, soft-cushioned running shoe that could directly compete with us.

They’re still reaching out to suppliers and manufacturers…”

“Zhou Junjun used his connections to pose as a supplier and chat them up—basically scouting their product plans.”

Xu Chen: “You can do that?”

Nie Fei smiled: “Vice President Zhou was bored, so he decided to have some fun.

But it’s also useful—helps us gauge potential competitors.”

Xu Chen recalled his casual chat with Director Li Yue from yesterday and asked:

“Is it Anta?”

Nie Fei nodded.

Xu Chen: “Yesterday, Director Li Yue mentioned that Chen Lan from the State Athletics Team just signed with Anta.

Apparently, it’s for a new running shoe line—is that the same thing?”

Nie Fei: “Possible.”

Xu Chen: “That line was originally aimed at Bing Ge, but they settled for the Asian Games silver medalist Chen Lan instead.”

Nie Fei: “At least on the endorser front, they’re weaker than us.

We’ll have to wait for Zhou Junjun’s report on product competitiveness and marketing scale.”

Xu Chen nodded.

Nie Fei continued:

“No need to worry too much—we’ve got a competitive edge in midsole materials since Wan Rong signed exclusively with us.

Consumer feedback has been great, making it unique in China’s running shoe market.

Unless Anta wants to shell out for newer TPU materials from BASF in Europe…”

“But that would hike up costs.

Add in marketing expenses, and they couldn’t compete with ‘Ran Bing 001’ on price anyway.”

…

Sun Lingfeng shared a screen with store operation data, summarizing the current second batch sales of ‘Ran Bing 001’.

Riding the wave from Bing Ge’s gold medal at the World Youth Athletics Championships last month, plus the hype from the Sanya Marathon, it set up perfectly for another sales surge.

Yesterday, the official store opened sales and sold out instantly.

Sun Lingfeng: “Following the strategy we set with Fei Jie, we’re controlling the stock.

We’ll release batches weekly to keep market buzz alive and encourage users not to speculate.”

Nie Fei added:

“Production should stabilize after the New Year.

When I visited the Lifeng factory last month, the hardware lines were all set—the challenge is hiring.

It hit right during the Lunar New Year, so we faced some pressure.

But things will pick up quickly after the holiday—Zhou Junjun’s already arranged it.”

Xu Chen: “Everything’s looking up—time to take off!”

…

…

In the pantry.

Xu Chen grabbed a soda water while Nie Fei brewed coffee.

“When’s the design proposal for ‘Ran Bing X’?” Xu Chen asked.

Nie Fei: “Four thirty this afternoon—Chen Youjian’s team is presenting online.”

Xu Chen: “Great, I’ll head back for a nap and return later.”

Nie Fei remembered something:

“You’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

Xu Chen: “Yeah, I’ve got the Louis Vuitton shoot with Bing Ge on the 14th.

If anything comes up, I can swing by the office.”

Nie Fei: “The Effie Awards ceremony is on the 10th in Beijing.

Think you can make it?”

Xu Chen: “You go ahead, Fei Jie—I’m not in the mood for the hassle.”

Originally, Chen Xinyi from Jiaduobao entered our ‘Afraid of Getting Heated’ ad campaign for two awards—the Great Wall Award, which we’ve already won, and the Effie Award.

The Effie focuses on real advertising impact, so winning it for ‘Afraid of Getting Heated’ is almost a given—no suspense like the Great Wall Award.

Last week, the Effie shortlist came out, and East Morning Star Advertising made the cut.

Xu Chen sipped his soda: “Which award exactly?”

Nie Fei: “We’ll find out at the ceremony.”

She smiled:

“At least a gold!”

Xu Chen burst out laughing:

“Put the prize money straight into the company’s snack fund!”

Nie Fei: “I’ll take Aimi to pick it up.”

Xu Chen: “No problem.”

Nie Fei glanced at the nearby display area and said with a smile:

“We could add another shelf here—I feel more trophies are on the way next year.”

Xu Chen: “That reminds me.”

He called out, “Xinxi!” and Gu Xinxi hurried over:

“What’s up, boss?”

Xu Chen: “Sort through all our ad campaigns and research next year’s domestic and international award entries.

Pick the ones we’re likely to win and that matter most—they’ll boost our industry influence!”

Gu Xinxi: “Got it, I’ll dive into that over the next couple of days!”

…

…

At noon, Xu Chen grabbed a meal with Su Rong alone.

Su Rong was heading home that afternoon, and Xu Chen had heard about it yesterday.

He’d thought about helping with her luggage and dropping her at the station, but Su Rong casually said:

“My dad’s sending a driver—he’s already on the way.”

Xu Chen: “Say hi to Uncle Su for me!”

Su Rong smiled sweetly:

“And I’ll say hi to Uncle Xu for you.”

…

After lunch, Xu Chen walked Su Rong back to the dormitory.

A white Toyota Alphard waited at the Southwest Tower entrance—it was there for Su Rong.

The driver was a burly man in his thirties.

He spotted Su Rong from afar and approached with a big smile.

But seeing the tall, handsome guy next to her, his expression turned a bit odd.

Su Rong introduced them:

“This is Uncle Liu from my dad’s company, and this is my classmate Xu Chen.”

Xu Chen politely said, “Uncle Liu,” and the man, after a moment’s thought, smiled:

“So you’re President Xu’s son!

I drove to pick him up when he visited our company before.”

…

After seeing Su Rong off, Xu Chen headed straight back to the office.

He returned to his cozy eighth-floor space, set out some fruits and snacks, and enjoyed a relaxed afternoon.

As Xu Chen munched on a big strawberry, he thought about how Bing Ge was already grinding through training.

That’s the tough part of being an athlete—all the hard work falls on your shoulders.

Unlike a ‘Young Xu Chen,’ where you can delegate the mental and physical labor to your team.

And even on Bing Ge’s days off, he doesn’t slack—he still does fitness and strength workouts.

Competitive sports are brutal—you can’t let up for a day, or you fall behind.

…

…

Around four, Xu Chen wandered over to the sixth-floor office.

The team was buzzing, so he slipped in quietly and went to his manager’s office first.

After checking a few messages, Sun Lingfeng knocked:

“Young Xu Chen, the ‘Ran Bing X’ design meeting is starting.”

Xu Chen nodded and followed him to the main conference room.

Besides Nie Fei, Jiang Yuze, and Sun Lingfeng, Sun Aimi was there too—Fei Jie had called her for her design expertise.

They discussed the new ‘Ran Bing X’ product line plans, so they didn’t invite the interns who hadn’t signed confidentiality agreements yet.

The gentle Nana brought in drinks and handed Xu Chen his favorite soda water.

Seeing Nana reminded Xu Chen of Vice President Zhou’s obvious crush on her.

Fei Jie seemed to think the same, adding casually:

“Zhou Junjun was supposed to make it back for this meeting…”

He just messaged that he’s stuck talking product needs with Anta’s director and can’t break away yet.”

Xu Chen smiled and nodded:

“Let him keep up the spy work—it’s crucial.”

At four thirty, Chen Youjian’s studio in Hong Kong joined the call on time.

Qian Mandi, their business director, spoke first—she’d visited before to express interest on Chen Youjian’s behalf, leading to today’s presentation.

After a quick intro, she outlined the team on their end.

Of course, that included their boss, the top figure in Chinese design and art circles, Chen Youjian.

When Chen Youjian greeted them, he politely shared his honor and regrets.

He was honored to work on the Ran Bing and Xie Bingran project but sorry about the earlier miscommunication on ‘Ran Bing 001’ design and that he couldn’t present in person from New York.

His words were sincere, leaving a good impression on Xu Chen.

Chen Youjian spoke with a thick Hong Kong accent, clearly trying hard with Mandarin and mixing in some English when needed.

Jiang Yuze led from the Ran Bing Sports side, highlighting Xu Chen and Fei Jie.

After greetings, they jumped straight into the proposal.

The PPT arrived instantly, with Chen Youjian presenting verbally.

He used his awkward Mandarin, slipping in English for tricky terms.

The intro covered strategy and design elements, showing high expertise and artistic flair.

Xu Chen reflected on the earlier Pearl Cat proposal from London—it had a different vibe.

He worried that if ‘Ran Bing X’ clashed too much with ‘Ran Bing 001’ in style, it wouldn’t work.

After all, both were under the Ran Bing brand and needed a unified feel.

But for Ran Bing Sports, even if this fell short, they could pivot to Pearl Cat—no big loss, just time.

When they finally saw the actual designs, Xu Chen and Nie Fei exchanged glances and smiled, relieved.

“We’re sticking to the Ran Bing brand’s core—blending the beauty of motion with Chinese elements…”

“And we’ve kept it close to ‘Ran Bing 001’ for some shared essence…”

“Here’s today’s proposal.

‘Ran Bing X’ comes in men’s and women’s styles, with the concept… [Phoenix Seeking Phoenix].”

On the screen, designs for the men’s and women’s ‘Ran Bing X’ appeared.

The men’s was ‘Phoenix,’ the women’s ‘Imperial Phoenix.’

Drawing from classic Chinese elements, the phoenix evoked power, mystery, and dynamic energy.

Chen Youjian wove in modern, flowing fashion, making it striking and stylish.

‘Ran Bing X’ positioned higher than ‘Ran Bing 001’—better materials, higher price, more premium.

It was an ultra-refined, lightweight runner, and the phoenix imagery perfectly amplified that luxury.

The cleverest part was avoiding the cliché by using ‘Phoenix Seeking Phoenix’ instead of pairing with a dragon.

Most importantly, both ‘Phoenix’ and ‘Imperial Phoenix’ suited Xie Bingran perfectly.

Xu Chen pictured the shoes on Bing Ge and nodded approvingly—they’d look cool on him, whether men’s or women’s version.

This proposal from Chen Youjian was a pleasant surprise, a solid win before leaving Shanghai.

…

Ten minutes later, the online presentation wrapped up.

Xu Chen and Nie Fei didn’t rush to respond; they thanked them and said they’d discuss and feedback later.

Once the call ended, Xu Chen stood with a grin:

“I was worried ‘Ran Bing X’ might not sell well at that price, but with this design, it’s going to fly off the shelves!”

As a designer herself, Sun Aimi had been excited since seeing the plans.

She adjusted her round glasses and said:

“This design is really eye-catching…

When we started Ran Bing Sports, Xinxi and I reviewed a bunch of domestic and international running shoe designs.

Most Chinese brands just copy foreign styles from Adidas, Nike, Asics, and Mizuno…

‘Phoenix Seeking Phoenix’ stands out as innovative in the industry!”

As Sun Aimi noted, in 2007, Chinese sportswear lacked original designs, mostly mimicking imports.

Ran Bing Sports’ early focus on fusing classic Chinese elements with modern sport fashion was Xu Chen’s planned differentiator.

Xu Chen looked at Nie Fei and smiled:

“Big thanks to you, Fei Jie, for bringing in Chen Youjian’s studio.

They’ve got real talent…”