Feiyang acquired Jili in the year Li Xun turned thirty-seven.
The driving force behind the acquisition plan, however, had been neither Li Xun nor Zhu Yun — it was Feiyang’s CEO at the time, Huang Zhifei.
Speaking of Huang Zhifei: back in the days before Huajiang’s investment, when Dong Siyang was still overseeing Feiyang’s renovations, he had slipped Zhu Yun a flash drive with resumes inside — and Huang Zhifei’s name was on it. He was among the very first batch of people hired after Feiyang got back on its feet; Zhang Fang had conducted his interview.
The interview lasted very little time, and Zhang Fang made his decision almost immediately. His reason was simple: this person radiated the same energy as Zhu Yun and Li Xun.
Huang Zhifei started out as a programmer and gradually shifted toward business and administration. He was careful and far-sighted, though his temperament was somewhat reserved — which made him a natural complement to Dong Siyang. Together, they allowed Zhu Yun and Li Xun to channel all their energy into research and development without worry. With Feiyang developing steadily, the company successfully listed five years after its relaunch.
The year Li Siqi turned six, Li Xun and Zhu Yun were out of town every day negotiating with the government over the rollout of interconnected medical data across mid-sized cities. They were so busy they didn’t even make it back for Li Siqi’s first day of school. Fu Yizhuo ended up taking a very sullen Li Siqi to school.
After reaching a preliminary agreement with the relevant government departments, Zhu Yun and Li Xun set off on the journey home. Zhu Yun had been planning to stop at a shopping mall first and buy Li Siqi a present as an apology — but Dong Siyang and Huang Zhifei called her in for a meeting.
Dong Siyang made a point of telling Zhu Yun not to let Li Xun know about the meeting yet.
Zhu Yun found this very strange.
They didn’t hold the meeting at the office. Dong Siyang gathered everyone at a teahouse — ornamental rocks, a quiet pond, a serene atmosphere. Zhu Yun saw that alongside Dong Siyang and Huang Zhifei, Hou Ning was also present, which made her instinctively more alert.
Hou Ning had always been responsible for information security at the company. Because medical data was unlike other types of data, Feiyang needed airtight protections for user information. Zhu Yun assumed something must have gone wrong in that area.
“What’s happened?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
Dong Siyang sat comfortably in the redwood chair, sipping his tea, and said: “Nothing has happened to us.” He gestured to Huang Zhifei. Huang Zhifei said directly to Zhu Yun: “Here’s the situation: Hou Ning has discovered that someone at Jili Company has been selling user data.”
Zhu Yun hadn’t heard the name “Jili” in quite some time. After Huajiang invested in Feiyang, they and Jili had gone down entirely different paths. Fang Zhijing hadn’t dared cause them further trouble after that, and had focused all his attention back on gaming.
From the occasional bit of news that filtered through, Zhu Yun knew that Jili’s operations hadn’t been going well. Though they had successfully listed, Huajiang had declined to invest in them, citing “lack of independent innovation.” Jili’s most profitable project at the time, the game “Perfect Girlfriend,” had quickly been banned under government restrictions. Jili had undergone two major restructurings and had barely scraped by, selling off most of its shares to bring in new investors.
“What kind of data are they selling?” Zhu Yun asked.
Hou Ning: “All their games are deeply embedded into users’ phones.”
Zhu Yun nodded.
This was extremely common practice among domestic companies at the time. Every company tried to harvest as much user data as possible, and would go to any length to ensure installation rates.
She looked at Hou Ning, who was scribbling busily in his notebook. “How did you find out they were selling data?”
Hou Ning: “I have my methods.”
Zhu Yun raised an eyebrow. “You’ve still been keeping an eye on that company?”
Hou Ning glared at her. “Of course I have, since you clearly haven’t!”
Huang Zhifei, seated beside him, pushed up his glasses and said: “The data selling is verified. But given how widespread game-based data harvesting is right now, that alone isn’t a major issue. What matters is something that’s just happened — an opportunity.” His long, narrow eyes gleamed with sharp intelligence as he looked at Zhu Yun. “If you still have any unfinished business with that company, we can use this to take them down completely.”
Zhu Yun: “What’s happened?”
Huang Zhifei placed a newspaper on the tea table. Zhu Yun picked it up. It was an article about a home invasion robbery and assault that had taken place in the city. The details were disturbing enough that Zhu Yun’s brow furrowed deeply as she read.
She asked: “This is connected to Jili selling data?”
Huang Zhifei: “Whether it’s connected or not — we decide.”
Zhu Yun looked at him.
Huang Zhifei wasn’t like Dong Siyang, who was always relaxed and grinning. He rarely smiled; his presence ran deep and still. “I know someone involved in this case — I asked him to examine the victim’s phone, and Jili’s game was on it. The suspect has already been caught. He’s confessed that he purchased the personal information online.”
Zhu Yun: “Who was the seller?”
Huang Zhifei: “The seller can’t be traced right now.” He leaned forward slightly and added: “So anyone could be the seller.”
Zhu Yun understood what he meant.
Huang Zhifei continued: “Director Zhu, we’ve recently been preparing to acquire a browser company focused on protecting user privacy. People nowadays take themselves very seriously — the demand for privacy protection is growing, but most people don’t know where to start. The public’s patience with internet companies extracting user data without limits has run out. All that’s missing is a spark.”
Zhu Yun held her tea and thought carefully.
Huang Zhifei: “The time is right. We make Jili an example — we pin this tragedy squarely on their data selling. Then we launch our own privacy-protecting browser. Even if it’s not a hundred percent effective, it signals our company’s values. We’re in healthcare. We need the trust of our users.”
Zhu Yun thought it over for roughly ten minutes, then set down her teacup.
“All right. Do it — but carefully.”
Fang Zhijing hadn’t come looking for trouble with Feiyang in a long time. Feiyang’s strength was now on an entirely different level, and he was too busy trying to keep his own head above water.
Huang Zhifei and his team spent three days preparing, then unleashed everything at once: a wave of news stories swept the country, all centered on Jili’s gaming company secretly selling user data and enabling a criminal to locate his victim.
Jili was caught completely off guard.
Fang Zhijing made countless public appearances to explain and reassure, stating that the employee who had sold the data without authorization had been handed over to police, offering a public apology, and pledging strict internal management going forward.
Watching Fang Zhijing on television, Zhu Yun actually believed that selling the data hadn’t been his idea. Data like that sold for maybe a few tens of thousands — barely pocket change for someone like Fang Zhijing.
But the public didn’t see it that way.
Under Huang Zhifei’s careful amplification, everyone felt as though this had happened right next door to them. After the initial panic, a wave of enormous fury broke through — directed at the criminal, the company, and the government agencies that had failed to provide oversight.
Public outrage mounted; the government scrambled to crack down on the most visible offender.
When the wall falls, all hands push to bring it down. Old copyright infringement lawsuits against Jili were dug up, and even the grievances between Fang Zhijing and Li Xun from more than a decade ago were excavated and brought back to the surface.
There was no suppressing it this time.
The first time Li Xun saw this news, he was at home. It was a rare day off; Li Siqi was bouncing off the walls wanting to watch cartoons. He and Zhu Yun sat on the sofa with him. Fang Zhijing appeared in the news segment that followed the cartoon.
As he watched, Zhu Yun told him about Huang Zhifei and the others’ plan beside him.