Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 132: Chapter 122: Let’s Just Call It Orange

Back at apartment 0418, Meng Jie was already gone.

Chen Yansen opened the refrigerator. Inside was a row of vacuum-sealed beef soups and two fried dough sticks wrapped in tofu skin.

He took one out, put it in the microwave for two minutes, and took a large bite. It was still savory and crispy.

Chen Yansen walked over to the sofa and sat down. He opened his laptop while eating, first checking the project group’s messages, then glancing over the sales data from the last three days.

Daily active users had reached 2.8 million, with over 500,000 orders per day. Daily sales had broken the 30 million yuan mark, a 20% increase from April.

”Looks like we won’t have to wait until June for FoxTao’s monthly sales to break one billion,” Chen Yansen muttered to himself, finishing the fried dough wrap in a few bites.

Once the beta version of the Aurora System went live, he would have to start recruiting talent in hardware and industrial design. It wouldn’t be appropriate to use FoxTao’s resources for that.

Including the operating system R&D team, there would be at least 100 people. The personnel costs would probably be even higher than the FoxTao project.

No matter how slow they were, Penguin, Siwei, and the IDG Venture Capital Fund would eventually notice Chen Yansen’s little moves.

Fuck!

’Still short on cash!’

Chen Yansen frowned and thought for a moment. He finally decided to sell a portion of his equity. Compared to the mobile phone industry, a shopping guide e-commerce platform brought him too little Human Dao Fire value.

Having figured it out, Chen Yansen planned to put out feelers tomorrow and see if any suckers would take the bait.

He knew that once Ah Li and Jingdong went public and their stock prices stabilized, they would definitely make a move on FoxTao. It would be impossible to keep making money so comfortably then.

After spending the afternoon reading at home, Chen Yansen asked Meng Jie out for dinner. Afterward, they sat for a while on a stone bench at Pearl Lake.

The early summer evening breeze blew gently.

On the way back, Meng Jie said she wanted to go to 0418 to watch a movie. Chen Yansen just smiled, made up a random excuse, and coaxed her into going back to her dorm.

He and Song Yuncheng had design work to do, so he couldn’t let Meng Jie disturb him.

Chen Yansen saw Meng Jie off and walked back alone.

Just as he reached the fourth floor, he saw Song Yuncheng standing at his door, holding her laptop and looking around.

”Don’t you have a key?” Chen Yansen walked up and asked with a smile.

”I just got here. I was about to open the door,” Song Yuncheng retorted, not wanting to seem flustered, tilting her head up to explain.

”Is that so?” Chen Yansen gave a half-smile, not believing her at all.

He opened the door and walked straight toward the bedroom.

”Let’s get this straight first—we’re only here to talk about work,” Song Yuncheng hurriedly reminded him.

”I’m just getting my laptop. What’s going on in that head of yours?” Chen Yansen turned around, a look of mock disgust on his face.

”Oh.” Song Yuncheng immediately deflated and walked over to sit at the dining table.

She hadn’t been to 0418 in a while. Her eyes scanned the room. This was where she had completed her practical interview for FoxTao. She had started in design, then led the operations and customer service teams for a time, before finally transferring to the key account Investment Attraction department.

The experience of the past six months or so felt like a dream.

Chen Yansen was like the straw she clutched at to save her life while drowning, pulling her ashore.

’No!’

’A straw is too flimsy. Chen Yansen was more like a life-saving log.’

At this thought, Song Yuncheng’s face flushed red. The corners of her mouth turned up, and she let out a soft laugh.

”Scoot over.”

Carrying his laptop, Chen Yansen nudged Song Yuncheng with his hip and sat down to her right.

”There’s plenty of space over there!” Song Yuncheng snapped back to reality and tried to push Chen Yansen toward the corner of the table.

MWAH!

Chen Yansen leaned down, kissed her on the lips, and forcibly squeezed her over to his left.

”Didn’t you say we were only going to talk about work?” Song Yuncheng wiped her mouth with her hand, demanding indignantly.

”Did I agree to that?” Chen Yansen retorted with a grin.

”Do you know what Wang Teng and his team are busy with every day?” Chen Yansen’s smile vanished as he asked seriously.

”Yeah, I heard from Xu Dan that they’re developing the FoxTao mobile app. Why do you ask?”

Song Yuncheng answered subconsciously, not understanding his point.

”They’re developing a mobile operating system,” Chen Yansen said, shaking his head and telling her the truth.

Few people at FoxTao knew what the Aurora Research and Development Team was working on. Now there was one more.

”A mobile operating system?” Song Yuncheng froze for a second, her mind struggling to keep up. In her view, FoxTao’s business had absolutely nothing to do with a mobile OS.

”I’m planning to get into the mobile phone industry. But it’s still in the very early stages, which is why I need you to design a brand logo.”

Chen Yansen said earnestly, then added a warning, ”Keep this to yourself. Don’t go blabbing about it.”

”Got it. So, what’s the name of the product?”

Seeing that Chen Yansen really had just brought her here to do design work, Song Yuncheng felt a pang of disappointment.

”Haven’t decided yet,” Chen Yansen said, shaking his head with a frank expression.

He had considered many names, like Banana, Strawberry, or Rice. They sounded catchy and down-to-earth, giving users the feeling that it was something they could afford.

Chen Yansen had also thought of names like Lingxi, Shunying, or Huanjie, but he found them too much of a mouthful.

He felt that letting an ordinary user like Song Yuncheng, who didn’t have much exposure to the mobile phone industry, come up with a name might result in something that appealed more to the general public.

”???”

Song Yuncheng was completely baffled. She gave a helpless laugh, ”Boss, how am I supposed to design anything without even a name?”

”So you do know I’m the boss? I hired you to do the work. If I have to think of everything, what do I need you for?”

Chen Yansen immediately put on the vile face of a capitalist, leaned back in his chair, and acted like a hands-off boss.

Song Yuncheng rolled her eyes. Staring at the computer screen, she mentally scanned the names of mobile phone brands on the market and tentatively asked, ”How about ’Xingyao’? It sounds grand and high-end.”

”I want something down-to-earth. Something that makes users feel like they can afford it the moment they hear the name,” Chen Yansen said irritably.

”Then how about ’Wheat’? It sells for pennies, cheaper than a bottle of mineral water.”

Song Yuncheng gave a new answer, drawing on her own upbringing.

Chen Yansen shook his head. There was already a Xiaomi, so following it with a ”Wheat” would be too obvious a copy.

”Xiaolajiao, Little Apple, Little Mutt, Little Bread, Little Peanut?” Song Yuncheng continued to ask.

THWACK!

Chen Yansen raised his hand and gave Song Yuncheng a sharp rap on the head. ”Put some thought into it,” he chided.

”Why don’t you use my nickname, Little Orange?” Song Yuncheng, having been hit, wanted to retaliate but didn’t dare. She could only continue spouting nonsense.

”’Little Orange?’ Sounds okay, but two words is a bit long. Let’s shorten it to one word. We’ll just call it ’Orange’.”

When Chen Yansen heard the two words ’Little Orange,’ his interest was piqued. In a few years, this fruit would be mass-produced, and its price would drop to 9.9 yuan for five catties with free shipping—not much more expensive than wheat.

”Orange? Apple? Won’t people accuse us of plagiarism?”

Song Yuncheng reminded him out of goodwill.

”When my shipment volume and sales surpass Apple’s, then they’ll be the ones copying me.”

Chen Yansen said with self-righteous confidence.

”Alright, I’ll give it a try.” Unable to stand Chen Yansen’s thick skin, Song Yuncheng laughed and opened CorelDRAW. She first drew the outline of an orange, then added two leaves.

”Get rid of one leaf. Just keep one and let’s see how it looks.”

Chen Yansen rested his hand on Song Yuncheng’s shoulder, glancing at the draft of the logo. He wasn’t quite satisfied and said immediately.

”Okay.” Song Yuncheng obediently did as he said and deleted the leaf on the left.

”It looks a bit like the Apple logo,” Chen Yansen muttered, rubbing his chin.

”Then what about keeping the left leaf?” Song Yuncheng asked as she quickly made the change.

”Yeah, that looks much better. Go back and tweak it a bit, then make three versions and email them to me.”

Chen Yansen nodded in satisfaction and gave Song Yuncheng his instructions.

”Alright, I’m heading out then.” Song Yuncheng packed up her laptop, ready to leave quickly.

”It’s still early. Let’s watch a movie together. I just bought a projector; you can help me test its clarity.”

Chen Yansen pointed to the projector beside the sofa and said with a smile.

”Maybe next time.” Song Yuncheng pursed her lips into a faint smile. ’Chen Yansen is such a transparent scumbag. He just wants to get handsy and is using ’testing the projector’ as an excuse.’

Her dorm roommates were all back at school now, and she didn’t want to have to explain to them tomorrow where she had been all night.

Seeing that she wasn’t taking the bait, Chen Yansen didn’t force her. He pulled Song Yuncheng into his arms and played with her as if she were a rag doll until her face was beet red, only then letting her go.

He raised his wrist to check the time. It was just past eight. He picked up a stack of books by the door and went into his bedroom.

Leaving the faculty apartment building, Song Yuncheng walked back with her cheeks still flushed. When she thought about how Chen Yansen had used her nickname for his new product, she couldn’t help but smile, her steps light as she headed back.