Thinking about the impending defeat, Nie Yunsheng glumly closed the live streaming room and briefly looked at the discussions in the comments section.

Sure enough, what he feared had happened!

Netizens’ discussions weren’t limited to the operational models of Homely Delivery and Slackin’ Delivery, nor were they confined to the delivery industry. Instead, they expanded along the paper’s line of thought to the entire internet platform industry!

“This paper is truly profound, I find it so enlightening! All these internet companies follow the same pattern!”

“Exactly, on the surface Homely Delivery and Shengrun Group seem different, with the former being more conscientious than the latter, but in reality, they’re just at different stages—essentially birds of a feather!”

“Homely Delivery constantly emphasizes customer and delivery rider demands, but completely detaches itself from its role as platform leader, shirking responsibility. This tactic is identical to what Shengrun Express did to its couriers back then!”

“Delivery riders requesting more orders and actively extending working hours is fundamentally due to insufficient welfare guarantees. Yet the platform, while earning sufficient profits, not only fails to address this issue but creates an illusion of ‘getting rich through hard work’ for the delivery riders. It’s too much!”

“If platforms only find various objective excuses without personally solving problems, what’s the point of their existence? They deserve to be replaced by superior platforms!”

“Exactly! Slackin’ Delivery can do better than Homely Delivery—it’s a healthier operational model! I’m willing to pay a certain percentage more in delivery fees per meal to support the delivery industry’s development in a more long-term and healthier direction!”

“Actually, Slackin’ Delivery’s delivery prices aren’t much higher than Homely Delivery’s! As for why, Rui Yuchen explained before—partly because Slackin’ Delivery doesn’t demand high profits, and partly because they’ve integrated catering and delivery sectors, allowing them to subsidize some delivery costs with catering profits.”

“If not for Professor Wang’s live stream, I wouldn’t have considered the industry’s future development. Considering problems that will definitely occur in the future, Slackin’ Delivery’s operational model is clearly a more mature and stable one! While Homely Delivery’s model can also create a delivery platform with wide coverage, as it continuously develops, the contradictions between delivery riders, customers, and merchants will inevitably become more pronounced. By that time, finding solutions will be difficult!”

“Without long-term planning, you’ll have immediate worries. Support Tenda Group, support Slackin’ Delivery!”

Nie Yunsheng looked at these comments and dejectedly closed the webpage.

The vice president noticed Nie Yunsheng’s mood change and asked softly, “Mr. Nie, what should we do next?”

Nie Yunsheng closed his eyes momentarily and said, “Let’s pause, we can’t continue this fight!”

This public opinion war was clearly becoming increasingly unfavorable for them!

As the content of the debate deepened, both sides’ operational models were thoroughly dissected and made public.

The companies under the Anti-Tenda Alliance were seemingly counterattacking on the surface, but in reality, they were continuously generating buzz, attracting netizens’ attention, and providing new material for the Tenda Alliance’s side of the public opinion war.

Although both sides might have wins and losses during the public opinion war, the further the war progressed, the more the situation would tilt toward Tenda!

The war would gradually evolve from a public opinion battle between Tenda Group and the Anti-Tenda Alliance into a rights protection war between all ordinary consumers and these internet company giants.

In this process, ordinary consumers, industry practitioners, and even sociologists would participate in discussing these problems that would definitely be encountered in the future!

For companies in the Anti-Tenda Alliance, the best approach in this situation was to turtle up and not express any further opinions on this matter!

Because their business models couldn’t withstand deeper scrutiny either.

The more said, the more mistakes made—saying more would only result in being exposed more brutally!

“Damn, I almost fell into Mr. Pei’s trap again!”

Nie Yunsheng realized that the path of this public opinion war was probably temporarily impassable.

After several rounds of public opinion warfare, the Anti-Tenda Alliance had thought they could reclaim lost ground each time, only to lose more miserably every time.

Seeing Nie Yunsheng’s troubled expression, the vice president cautiously asked, “Mr. Nie, are we really going to back down?”

“But once we abandon the public opinion position, it will be incredibly difficult to reclaim it in the future!”

“Once this public opinion trend stabilizes and forms a stereotype in netizens’ minds, we probably won’t have another chance to turn the tables!”

After pondering for a moment, Nie Yunsheng said, “For next month, temporarily adopt a defensive posture. Let’s observe Pei Qian’s strategy and reorganize the resources in the Anti-Tenda Alliance’s hands.”

“Pei Qian is cunning with endless schemes. If we actively attack, we’ll easily fall into his traps!”

“Let’s take the opposite approach! First, hold our ground and watch Pei Qian’s moves. It’s also a feigned retreat, seeing if we can lull Pei Qian into carelessness.”

“If Pei Qian or Tenda Group’s managers become reckless due to victory and do something irrational, we can find an opportunity to counterattack instantly!”

“As for the public opinion war… of course, we should continue, but we can’t fight these battles with no assurance of victory.”

“We must find an excellent breakthrough point before considering public opinion warfare matters!”

The vice president nodded quickly and promptly contacted the managers of other companies.

Nie Yunsheng’s fingers drummed rhythmically on the desk as he mentally reviewed the multiple battles with Tenda Group, deeply impressed by Pei Qian’s strategic genius and cunning tactics.

“What must be done to defeat this formidable opponent?”

Nie Yunsheng sank into deep thought.

Although narrowly winning against Tenda several times so far seemed impressive to outsiders, the more Nie Yunsheng fought, the more clearly he felt Tenda’s strength reaching an invincible level.

……

……

Monday, May 6th.

This year’s May Day holiday was a bit peculiar. On the surface, it seemed like a five-day break, but the two days in the middle were disconnected.

How could anyone tolerate this?

Pei Qian immediately made a grand gesture, directly allocating the working weekend to employees, thus creating a genuine seven-day mini-vacation that officially ended with work resuming on May 6th.

As Tenda Group’s scale grew larger, the system increasingly disregarded these one or two-day short holidays, allowing Pei Qian to arrange vacations outside the statutory holidays.

Often, as long as he didn’t go too far, the system would turn a blind eye.

On the first workday after the mini-vacation, Pei Qian sat in his office, pondering the work plan for the next month.

At this point, a knock at the door interrupted his train of thought.

Two long-absent faces entered the office: Chen Kangtuo and Min Jingchao!

Two months had passed since their Suffering Travel experience, and they had undergone a rebirth of sorts.

After their rebirth, both had become slightly thinner and their skin a bit more tanned, but their spirits were noticeably better, exuding vibrant energy and vitality.

After completing Suffering Travel, the two came to find Pei Qian as per his previous instructions.

However, Suffering Travel had ended just before the mini-vacation, so they only came to his door after the holiday ended.

Seeing the changes in Min Jingchao, Pei Qian patted his shoulder gratefully: “You’ve worked hard. Come, sit down!”

Chen Kangtuo noticed that Pei Qian showed no intention of greeting him, and felt a bit sour inside.

Why was Mr. Pei so nice to Min Jingchao?

Chen Kangtuo didn’t know that his and Min Jingchao’s reasons for going on Suffering Travel were completely different.

Without noticing Chen Kangtuo’s expression change, Pei Qian casually asked, “How was Suffering Travel?”

Both simultaneously displayed bitter yet polite smiles.

“Actually, it was fine, quite enlightening!” Chen Kangtuo said through gritted teeth.

Min Jingchao maintained a forced smile: “My colleagues at the Wildfire Studio all gave it positive reviews and strongly hope that Mr. Zhou can come experience it personally too!”

“However, since leaving Suffering Travel, I’ve been following Tenda’s public opinion war and didn’t expect such a precarious public opinion battle to be fought so brilliantly!”

“Mr. Pei truly plans three steps ahead, firmly blocking every move of the Anti-Tenda Alliance! Especially in the delivery sector, with one high-level prediction, Slackin’ Delivery directly forced Homely Delivery to cease their assault!”

Chen Kangtuo also expressed agreement: “Yes, I also watched with boiling blood, just regrettably stuck in Suffering Travel, unable to return and help!”

“Otherwise, I would definitely be the first to charge over and throw the Anti-Tenda Alliance into complete chaos!”

Their comments left Pei Qian silent, vaguely feeling like he had missed something.

Public opinion war?

That didn’t seem right. Hadn’t the “Manager’s Talk” program been stopped long ago?

What public opinion war were they talking about?

These two certainly had outdated information.

Pei Qian didn’t know that the one with truly outdated information was actually himself…

Although the online paper instantly ignited netizens’ discussions about delivery and other industries, this heat was mainly concentrated in the knowledge section of the Useful App and Rabbit Tail Live Stream.

Many people were also discussing it on other online forums, but unfortunately, none were within Pei Qian’s attention scope.

Pei Qian’s focus had drifted, so he completely missed what Min Jingchao and Chen Kangtuo were excited about.

He thought they had been isolated from the world in Suffering Travel, with outdated information, congratulating him on something that happened a month ago.

Pei Qian interrupted their excitement and got straight to the point: “I called you here because I have a new task for you!”

“Many companies have seen the success of our collaboration with Wildfire Studio and also want the valuable opportunity to cooperate with us. These companies are so enthusiastic that they’re almost fighting over slots!”

“I think there was a good saying online—Tenda means ‘rising without forgetting our original heart, achieving success while helping the world.’ For these companies, we can give them a bit of a hand.”

“So, I plan to establish a Tenda Collaboration Department, specifically to work with other companies on some joint projects. Of course, the initial focus will still be on game development!”

“Min Jingchao, you have successful experience collaborating with Wildfire Studio, I think you’re the best manager for this department! As for Chen Kangtuo, you’ve been the manager at Thriller Hostel for so long now, it’s time for a job rotation. You can go to the Tenda Collaboration Department first to assist Min Jingchao.”

Actually, Pei Qian only told half the truth, hiding the other half.

On the surface, he spoke righteously and with a clear vision, but in reality, Pei Qian’s reason for creating this Tenda Collaboration Department partly stemmed from his own ulterior motives.

Indeed, many companies had approached seeking cooperation—that was true.

After all, Wildfire Studio had earned a fortune with a game developed in collaboration with Tenda. Which game company wouldn’t be envious?

But Pei Qian’s agreement and personal involvement in preparing the Tenda Collaboration Department were mainly because he had tasted the sweetness of profit-sharing.

The bonus that Wildfire Studio gave Pei Qian as the producer directly offset several months of loss conversion. How could Pei Qian possibly pass up such a good thing?

Of course, he wanted to promote this cooperation model extensively!

However, Pei Qian hadn’t anticipated that as soon as he spoke, Chen Kangtuo immediately became anxious and expressed opposition: “Mr. Pei, this absolutely won’t do!”

“I still have unfinished business at Thriller Hostel! Could we wait until I complete my work at Thriller Hostel before discussing helping at the Tenda Collaboration Department?”

Chen Kangtuo had already submitted the initial draft of the new haunted house project design to Thriller Hostel, and now Ruan Guangjian and Ma Yiqun were in charge.

This project could be said to condense Chen Kangtuo’s blood, sweat, and hatred—how could he easily abandon it?

Therefore, Chen Kangtuo didn’t want to go anywhere else right now; he just wanted to return to Thriller Hostel immediately and work overtime to complete this project!