novelslam Chapter 272 Tencent, a company caught in the middle
Chapter 272 Tencent, a company caught in the middle
Lu Ran and Tan Yu stayed in the disaster area for five days.
Over five days, they followed the convoy to three counties and seven townships, delivering more than a dozen truckloads of supplies and moving over a thousand boxes of goods.
I get up before dawn every morning and don't come back until it's completely dark at night. I'm exhausted, but I feel more fulfilled than ever before.
At first, Tan Yu could barely carry a box of quilts, but later he could carry two boxes with ease. His hands developed blisters, which then burst and formed thick calluses.
"Brother Lu, look at my muscles." He rolled up his sleeves, revealing the pitiful amount of muscle on his arms. "Haven't you gotten a bit more muscular?"
Lu Ran glanced at it: "It's firmer, but it still doesn't have much muscle."
"...Can you please stop being so discouraging?"
"Ha ha..."
On the afternoon of the fifth day, the pace of the supplies transfer finally slowed down.
The roads leading to the epicenter have been cleared, and professional rescue teams and large quantities of supplies have begun to pour in, significantly reducing the pressure on the surrounding areas.
The person in charge of the distribution center—the middle-aged man with a square face—finded Lu Ran and said, "Young man, you can go back now. Leave the rest to us."
Lu Ran wanted to stay a few more days, but the middle-aged man was adamant: "You've already helped a lot. The next step is professional rescue work, and you can't help much if you stay here. Go back and get some rest, and doing a good job with your businesses is the biggest support you can give to the disaster area."
Lu Ran thought about it and didn't insist anymore.
On the day they left, the middle-aged man saw them off at the entrance of the distribution center, took out a neatly folded banner from his pocket, and stuffed it into Lu Ran's hand.
"This is something we made hastily, it's a bit simple, please don't mind," he said. "It says on it—'A thousand miles of aid, boundless love.' Your supplies have saved many lives."
Lu Ran accepted the banner and suddenly felt that everything was worthwhile. What he had done was meaningful, and this rescue had indeed helped many people.
Tan Yu, standing beside him, already had tears welling up in his eyes.
"Don't cry." Lu Ran patted him on the shoulder. "Aren't you ashamed?"
"I didn't cry!" Tan Yu blinked hard and said stiffly, "I just... got sand in my eyes."
The middle-aged man smiled and patted the two men on the shoulders: "Alright, let's go. Be careful on the road."
The truck started and slowly drove out of the distribution center.
Looking in the rearview mirror, Lu Ran saw the middle-aged man standing at the door, watching them until they became a blurry little dot.
On the way back, Tan Yu was unusually quiet, leaning back in his seat and watching the mountains and fields rushing past the window, feeling a lot of emotions.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and glanced at it. It was a news link sent by Zhou Mingzhe.
Tencent urgently adds 50 million yuan to its disaster relief donation, bringing its total donations to 100 million yuan.
Lu Ran raised an eyebrow and clicked to see the details.
The news report was written in a very flat and even tone, stating that Tencent donated 50 million yuan immediately after the earthquake, and then urgently added another 50 million yuan based on the needs of the disaster area, bringing the total donation to 100 million yuan, demonstrating the company's sense of social responsibility, and so on.
But Lu Ran knew that things weren't that simple.
He exited the news, opened TUTU, and browsed the public opinion trends of the past few days.
Sure enough, the comments section was already in an uproar.
[User's "Rational Analysis"]: Tencent only donated 50 million initially? How much is their annual profit? Hundreds of billions, right? Only 50 million? Even a small company like Tutu Technology donated 20 million, plus supplies, their actual investment was more than Tencent's. Tencent is a huge company, and they only donated this much?
[User "spectator"]: It's not just Tencent; Weibo only donated ten million. Weibo is a listed company with annual revenue of tens of billions. Donating ten million? How can they be so shameless?
[User "Passerby A"]: The key issue is attitude. Lu Ran, a company CEO, personally went to the disaster area to move boxes. What about the CEOs of Tencent and Weibo? Did they just sit at home and sign a check?
[User "Sichuanese Xiao Chen"]: I'm from Sichuan, and I'm a volunteer in the disaster area. I can say with certainty that a significant portion of the first batch of supplies to the disaster area came from Tutu Technology and Xingyao. Tencent's money? I haven't seen any yet.
[User "Isn't the game fun?"]: The person upstairs, donations require a process. Large companies need multiple levels of approval for donations; it's not something you can just donate on a whim. Besides, Tencent subsequently added another 50 million, bringing the total to 100 million. Isn't that enough?
[User's "Rational Analysis"]: Process? Doesn't Tutu Technology have any processes? They started contacting suppliers the night of the earthquake, the donation page went live the next day, and their staff arrived in the disaster area on the third day. How can a company as big as Tencent have slower processes than a small company?
[User "spectator"]: To put it bluntly, they didn't take it seriously. If it weren't for the huge online backlash, the additional 50 million might not have happened.
Lu Ran scrolled through the entries one by one, her mind filled with mixed feelings.
He actually didn't really want to see this kind of comparison.
When it comes to donations, just do what you can afford; there's no need for moral blackmail.
Whether it's Tencent or Weibo, regardless of how much they donate, they are at least doing a good deed.
But netizens don't think so.
In many people's eyes, if you earn more, you should donate more. If you don't donate, you're heartless. If you donate less, you're stingy.
While this mindset may seem extreme, it's not entirely without merit.
After all, with great power comes great responsibility.
He put his phone away and didn't look at it again.
The vehicles began to slowly drive away. Although the road back was easier to travel than the disaster area, it was still damaged to varying degrees.
Because the roads are still barely passable, construction efforts are focused on areas with more severe damage.
On the way back, the signal gradually improved.
While in the disaster area, Lu Ran's cell phone often had a signal and then lost it; he and Tan Yu even had to use two walkie-talkies.
Now that the signal was better, Lu Ran made a video call to Shen Yuege.
For many days, Shen Yuege was very worried in Shanghai because she could not contact Lu Ran often.
However, because she was in Shanghai with Zhou Mingzhe and the others, she was also in charge of sending out supplies, so although she was worried about Lu Ran, she didn't bother him.
Shen Yuege was extremely excited when Lu Ran contacted him.
Because before that, Lu Ran had sent her a message telling her that today was the day of their return flight.
The two, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, seemed to have endless things to talk about.
……