From Taobao intern to the father of Pinduoduo

Chapter 34 Interview

Lin Mu knew that this "buy on the go" feature would greatly benefit Taobao in later generations.

It's said that the feature brought Taobao an additional 750 million orders in the month it was launched. Of course, Taobao back then was completely different in size from Taobao today.

He pondered that the idea itself wasn't particularly difficult to conceive, but Taobao only conducted a gray-scale test in 2020 and officially launched it in 2021. Given Taobao's technological capabilities, the fact that it took a year to implement suggests that the technical challenges involved were likely far greater than imagined.

However, none of these things concern him and are outside his scope of consideration.

After the meeting, Lu Huai was tidying up his speech, preparing to communicate with other departments later. Just then, Lin Mu came up to him: "Team leader, I have a favor to ask you about. I'd like to request some media resources."

"Oh? What is it?" Lu Huai asked, looking up.

Lin Mu recounted the public opinion crisis that the Spring Diary store had encountered in detail. Lu Huai frowned more and more as he listened, thinking to himself: This is a problem for the C-end merchants themselves, what does it have to do with Taobao? It's not difficult for the company to step in and help the merchants solve it, but what benefits can they get from it? He felt that although Lin Mu was a promising young man with a sharp edge, he was still young after all, focusing too much on specific details and lacking overall control.

Lin Mu saw his concerns and added quickly, "Of course, I know that the company directly intervening to resolve this matter won't bring any direct benefits. But I have an idea, we can do it like this..." He explained in detail how to use a special interview to offset the public opinion crisis, and the huge benefits that Taobao could gain from it.

After hearing this, Lu Huai's attitude completely changed, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "You're a genius! Okay, I'll help you contact the resources of the Hangzhou Daily right away. This matter is your responsibility. If you encounter any difficulties, just come to me for resources. If I can't solve it, I'll report it to my superiors."

"Okay, thank you, team leader!"

……

Spring Diary Factory.

Lu Zhaodi was an 18-year-old girl in the prime of her youth, with dyed blonde hair, earrings, and a lip piercing. She was nervously fidgeting with the ends of her hair.

Just a day earlier, the factory manager told her that reporters would be coming to the factory today, and she had been chosen as the interviewee. She was to answer whatever the reporters asked and not to hide anything.

Lu Zhaodi never dreamed that she would one day be interviewed by a reporter—she couldn't think of anything about herself that would be worth interviewing. Surprised and delighted, she didn't sleep well all night and developed heavy dark circles under her eyes the next day.

Shortly after, a reporter from the Hangzhou Daily arrived at the factory and went straight to Lu Zhaodi. Noticing her tense shoulders and stiff expression, the reporter smiled and reassured her, "Don't be nervous, little sister. The camera isn't on yet. Let's chat for a bit, and we'll start when you've relaxed."

Hearing that "the camera isn't on," Lu Zhaodi's shoulders relaxed slightly. She asked curiously, "Reporters, why are you interviewing me? I don't have anything to say."

"Because you're very representative, little sister," the reporter replied with a smile.

"Representative?" Lu Zhaodi looked confused. Who could she represent?

The reporter abruptly changed the subject, asking, "Young lady, you seem quite young. Why are you working in a factory? Is it because your family is struggling financially?" He then winked at the photographer behind him. The photographer understood, quietly turning on his camera and beginning to record.

Lu Zhaodi, unaware that filming had already begun, honestly replied, "My family isn't particularly poor, is it? We certainly don't have a car, but we're not starving either. I came here to work because I didn't do well in school. After graduating from junior high, my grades were too bad to go to high school, so my mom told me to prepare to get married. I didn't want to get married, so I ran away to work."

The reporter pressed further: "Did you encounter any difficulties at work? Was overtime work serious at the factory? What were the wages and benefits like? Did you ever think about going home or going back to school?"

"No way," Lu Zhaodi shook her head without hesitation. "Let me tell you, there was a female classmate who came to work with me back then. We both secretly took our family's household registration booklets and ran away to Hangzhou."

"Once, we were sewing socks in the workshop when a female classmate accidentally got a sewing machine needle stuck in her fingernail. She cried so much that she had to go to the hospital for treatment."

"I'm her friend, so I took her to a nearby clinic on my bicycle."

"It happened to be raining that day, and I accidentally ran over a stone on the road, and we both fell to the ground."

"My classmate came back from the clinic after getting her bandaged up, and she was in a really low mood. She asked me if I wanted to go back with her, saying she didn't want to do it anymore. I asked her why, saying that getting a needle prick doesn't really hurt that much." At this point, Lu Zhaodi held out her hand to show the reporter, showing several shallow scars on the back of her hand.

The reporter asked in surprise, "Little sister, do you get pricked with needles often too?"

"It doesn't happen often. When I was first not good at it, I would get pricked, but I got used to it later." Lu Zhaodi waved her hand.

"What about your classmate? Is she still at the factory, or did she go back to school?"

"She went back later, but she didn't continue her studies," Lu Zhaodi sighed. "Her grades were actually better than mine, but her mother wouldn't let her continue, and she got married not long after she went back. I secretly went home to see her last time, and she seemed to be living a very miserable life. Her husband wasn't treating her well either. Seeing her like that, I thought to myself, I will never go back."

The reporter exclaimed in an exaggerated tone, "Little sister, you're so brave! Working alone for so many years, don't your parents worry about you?"

Mentioning this, Lu Zhaodi proudly puffed out her chest and said, "What are they worried about? All they know is how to ask me for money! At first, they even went around asking people about my whereabouts, trying to drag me back to marry someone else."

"But ever since I earned my first salary, 1500 yuan, and sent 800 yuan home, they stopped mentioning taking me back. They just want to give them half of my salary every month."

She pointed to her dyed blonde hair, earrings, and lip piercing, and said proudly, "Look at my dyed hair and these piercings, I paid for them myself. If I had dared to do these things before I started working, my mom would have killed me. Now that I can earn money, they don't care about me anymore."

The reporter followed up on the topic: "Young lady, your dyed hair looks great. Do you think it's fashionable?"

"No, that's not it." Lu Zhaodi shook her head. "When I was in school, I saw that the 'big sister' in town all had dyed their hair blonde. They were very respected and no one dared to bully them. So I dyed my hair blonde too, thinking that way I wouldn't be bullied."