Chapter 58

June 9, the morning of the 10th China-US Entrepreneur Summit, a three-day forum that brought together representatives from government agencies, academic institutions, and leading companies from both countries under the theme of ‘Dialogue, Communication, Understanding, and Imagining the Future’.

The invited enterprises of both countries could be said to be a gathering of bigwigs, such as the chairman of the board of directors of Alibaba Group, the CEO of Tencent, the chairman of the Lenovo Group, the president of Baidu and other famous senior big shots. There were a number of new high-tech companies listed. Among the ranks was the dazzling XlouS. Its staggering valuation simply couldn’t be ignored.

The Republic of China and the United States of America, as two of the strongest countries today, occupied half of each major field, such as the internet. The in-depth dialogue and exchange of business leaders from the two countries would also bring together a vision of major media and newspapers from around the world, providing instant global coverage of this annual forum.

The summit would start at 10:00am sharp. And at that moment, at that scene, all the reporters had long been queuing up while the bigwigs arrived one by one before the opening ceremony. Every bigwig who showed up was a world-renowned business leader; the camera in the hands of reporters never stopped flashing. The scene was as if an alternate Oscar red carpet walk. However, the wealth of the people who walked the red carpet wasn’t what Oscar stars could compare to. They were on a totally different level!

Finally, Ren Hong who was also invited to participate in the summit arrived on time. The appearance of Ren Hong suddenly attracted a lot of reporters to point their cameras at him. Fortunately, this was a high-profile meeting, so no one rushed up to interview him. Ren Hong, who was only 21 years old, entered the venue without any nervousness, excitement, and fear. His suave face displayed a relaxed and peaceful smile.

He was so young, and the youngest of the other bigwigs currently in attendance was at least 12 years older than him. To achieve what he had at such a young age—something no one else could have achieved in 10 lifetimes—was certainly incredible. He founded XlouS less than three years ago and now, it was valued at 375.8 billion USD, making it the number one domestic company, entering the top 10 companies in the world today. In less than three years, XlouS had become Apple’s biggest competitor in their 40+ years of experience, and its wearable smart device S-1 had been hailed as the lifelong enemy of Apple’s iPhone series.

This series of events made him and the company he founded a miracle, a legend!

“Ren!”

Ren Hong suddenly came to a halt as he heard someone calling his name from behind. He turned and saw a young foreigner with a wide smile coming toward him. Ren Hong also smiled in response and stood on the spot.

“Zuckerberg!”

The young foreigner was Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg came over with a smile, and they instantly shook hands with each other and held a friendly conversation.

“Zuckerberg, your Chinese is becoming even more fluent!” Ren Hong said with a smile.

“Is it? Ha~~ There’s an old Chinese saying: one should be given a different look even after only three days of separation.” Zuckerberg chuckled. “Allow me to say it to you as well; you really surprised me, Ren!” Zuckerberg made a slightly exaggerated expression. In this aspect, Europeans and Americans were much more vivid than Asians. Zuckerberg held up and shook his left wrist, laughing again. “This is a gift from God! You know what? Ren! I loved it the first time I saw it, and now, I regret it so, so much!”

Ren Hong listened and curiously looked at him as if waiting for the rest of the story.

“I missed out on what was probably the biggest mistake of my life. If I had known what you were achieving today, I would have taken a stake in your company in the first place. If I were to add up to another 40 billion USD, I’ll be glad to take up a 5% stake.” Zuckerberg smiled and said, waving the bracelet on his wrist again. “I’m sure you’ll continue to make products and inventions that will surprise the world. S-1 is just the beginning, but I haven’t forgotten your lofty aspirations in the beginning!”

No matter whether Zuckerberg was being sincere or customary, this was a sign of recognition. Ren Hong replied with a smile. “No matter what, XlouS is thankful for having you and Facebook help us achieve what we have today. That 12 billion USD at the start counts as a favor I owe you!”

“A normal partnership often leads to a win-win situation, so this isn’t some sort of a favor!” Zuckerberg teased. Ren Hong didn’t know whether he was telling the truth or just being courteous, but the former continued to express his good-natured gratitude, so Zuckerberg was also pleased.

“Speaking of which, I should formally congratulate you, Zuckerberg.” Ren Hong said. “Today Facebook once again took a step forward, exceeding 500 billion USD in market capitalization for the first time to become the third largest public company in the world. I look forward to when you overtake Google’s parent company, Alphabet.”

“Thank you for your blessings!” At that point, Zuckerberg’s smile grew even wider. Facebook had a bright future. In just two years, the company’s market value had risen nearly 100 billion USD. Its revenue growth year-on-year was maintained at 35%. For them to achieve such results, Real-time Online Translator definitely played a huge part. He smiled, “We have you to thank for our results. Facebook wouldn’t have been able to grow as fast as it has without Real-time Online Translator. Let me share a piece of good news with you; the number of daily active Facebook users has increased by another 200 million!”

“Oh, wow! Looks like I’m going to advertise my company’s products through Facebook then. But hey, don’t charge me too much for the advertising fees, okay?” Ren Hong said with a slightly surprised tone.

“Sure!” Zuckerberg gestured OK and replied with a smile.

While the two were talking, another man arrived, and when he came within a few feet of them, Zuckerberg gave a polite greeting. “Hello, Mr. Cook!”

“Hello! Zuckerberg! And Mr. Cyrus!” Cook, who wore glasses, came to a halt and kindly greeted, looking at Ren Hong with a smile. Although there was a fierce competitive relationship between their companies, neither of them showed their competitiveness to each other.

“Hello, Mr. Cook!” Ren Hong also responded politely with a brief handshake.

“You guys continue enjoying your conversation, I’ll head off first.” Cook smiled, took one more look at Ren Hong and left.

The sound of cameras kept clicking, especially when Ren Hong and Zuckerberg stood together, as it was incomparably attractive from the media’s point of view. They were both so young—probably the two youngest tech tycoons in the conference. What was even more interesting was that they seemed to have the same interest; both wore short-sleeved T-shirts. The only difference was that Zuckerberg wore a gray t-shirt, while Ren Hong was clad in a black one.

The two of them stood together, making the scene an eye-catching one. They came from two countries; both were young, well-groomed, and also had deeper ties due to the strategic partnership between them. This was simply a perfect front-page headline to accompany the picture shot.

“Let’s go!” Ren Hong smiled.

Both of them politely extended their arms to the side for each other, finally taking a step forward under the media lens.