Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

On National Day, the campus was quiet and deserted.

Most of Xucheng Academy’s students hailed from within Huian Province. Half of them went home for the holiday, while the other half took trips to nearby areas with their boyfriends and girlfriends.

Only a few scattered single dogs were holed up in their dorms, playing games or just lying in bed.

Inside Room 418.

Chen Yansen summoned the system panel and gazed at the Human Dao Fire section. He had never seen so much of it before.

Including the 63 wisps left over from August, he had a total of 3,483 wisps!

Of that, Orange Technology had contributed 500 wisps, the Orange Phone Factory had contributed 960, FoxTao’s September salaries, quarterly bonuses, and N+1 severance packages had contributed 760, and the final 1,200 wisps had come from the stock option compensation for Zhang Wenbo and the others.

’Synthesize!’

Chen Yansen chanted inwardly.

Thousands of hair-thin wisps of white mist materialized out of thin air. As Chen Yansen watched, they intertwined and, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a chopstick-thick golden mist that shot into the space between his eyebrows.

In just a few seconds, his Spirit attribute had risen to 10.83!

Chen Yansen gave a slight smile, changed into a pair of light gray casual pants and a white shirt, and headed straight out.

He went downstairs to get his car and drove all the way to the East Gate before stopping.

Meng Jie had returned to Chunshen to attend her cousin’s wedding. She had originally wanted to drag Chen Yansen along, but he said he was going to Hu City on a business trip, so she had to give up on the idea.

Gao Weilin had returned to Hong Kong Island.

The second floor of the Innovation Park was now completely empty, the former hustle and bustle replaced by a sudden quiet.

As a result of the acquisition, roughly ninety people had successfully joined Ali Baba.

Their positions ranged from P5 to P7. After all, this was 2011, two years before Ali Baba’s IPO; their future earnings were bound to skyrocket.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—!

A knocking sound came from the car window.

Chen Yansen lowered the window to see Song Yuncheng standing there, dressed in a white T-shirt, a light-blue plaid shirt worn open over it, and a pair of wide-leg jeans that hinted at the curves of her figure.

”Chen Yansen, are you even human? Zhang Wenbo and Xiang Pengfei both get a vacation, but I have to go on a business trip with you.”

Song Yuncheng raised a fist. Looking at Chen Yansen’s grinning face, she really wanted to punch him.

”You’re my number one employee, after all. How could Wenbo and Pengfei possibly compare to you?” Chen Yansen said with a smile, casually handing the car keys to Song Yuncheng.

Song Yuncheng’s eyes widened. It was nearly 600 kilometers from Xucheng to Hu City, yet Chen Yansen was making her drive.

”What are you looking at? The company paid for your driving lessons. What’s wrong with me collecting a little interest?”

Chen Yansen said gruffly.

With that, he got into the passenger seat and patted the driver’s seat. ”President Song, hurry up and get in!”

”Yes, Boss Chen!” Song Yuncheng took the car keys, obediently sat in the driver’s seat, and started driving toward Hu City.

”Why don’t you buy a car?” Chen Yansen asked casually.

”I can get reimbursed for taxis on business trips, and I don’t need a car at school. Plus, you have to buy insurance and do maintenance every year. Buying a car is too expensive.”

Song Yuncheng replied seriously.

”So you’re sitting on over a million in savings, but your quality of life is worse than a customer service rep’s. You have to spend the money you earn. Otherwise, letting it sit in your bank account makes it no different from toilet paper.”

While lecturing Song Yuncheng on his views on spending, Chen Yansen placed his hand on her thigh.

”If you’re going to talk, just talk. You’re going to distract me from driving like this,” Song Yuncheng chided, her cheeks flushing.

”It’s fine. I’ll just leave it here. I won’t move,” Chen Yansen lied through his teeth. He said he wouldn’t move, but his hand kept fidgeting.

’A shame she’s not wearing a short skirt. I can’t feel anything through these jeans.’

After amusing himself for a bit, Chen Yansen stopped teasing her and pulled his hand back.

”So, is our new project a general e-commerce platform or a vertical one? Min Jie from Meiters invited you to visit Hu City a year ago, and you never accepted. But now we’re suddenly going to Meiters Headquarters. My guess is it’s a vertical-specific category. Are you planning to follow in Vancl’s footsteps?”

Now that Chen Yansen had settled down a little, Song Yuncheng finally asked her question.

”You’ve gotten a lot smarter. But Chen Nian himself has already run Vancl’s path into a dead end. Why would I repeat his mistakes?”

Chen Yansen scoffed, denying Song Yuncheng’s guess.

”Then...” Song Yuncheng was filled with curiosity. Even though she had passed on joining Ali Baba, she still wanted to know the gist of her new job.

”I’ll tell you tonight,” Chen Yansen leaned in and said in a low voice.

Song Yuncheng’s earlobes reddened as a few bashful scenes flashed through her mind, and the corners of her lips curled up unconsciously.

Seeing Song Yuncheng blush, Chen Yansen smiled. He stopped teasing her, opened a pre-scanned e-book on his device, and began to browse through it.

「Meanwhile.」

The Orange Phone Factory in Zhongsha Science and Technology Park was as busy as ever.

Working overtime for the first three days of the National Day holiday earned triple the hourly wage. Ever since the base pay was raised from 15 to 20 yuan an hour, the workers’ motivation had soared.

In the past, some people would curse the big boss, calling him crazy. Now, if anyone dared to badmouth him, they’d probably get a beating from their fellow workers.

This was the fucking God of Wealth!

He was the one who provided for them all!

In the packing department, Li Yunzhu was exceptionally focused, carefully placing each phone and its accessories into a box.

”Brother Zhu, are you really not going to take a single day off?” a coworker next to him asked.

”You take a break if you want. Don’t worry about me!”

Li Yunzhu replied simply, his mind completely on the work at hand.

The first three days of the National Day holiday offered triple pay for an eight-hour shift, which was 480 yuan a day. The remaining four days offered double pay, which was 320 yuan a day.

You could earn 2,560 yuan in seven days for just eight-hour workdays. When making money was this easy, who would want a vacation?

’Only an idiot would take a day off!’

Li Yunzhu didn’t even bother to say anything harsh. He just thought that his coworker had enjoyed a few good days and had already forgotten the bitterness of manual labor.

He’d heard the company had rented the neighboring Zones A1, A2, A4, and A5, and was planning to increase production capacity four- to fivefold.

Once the workforce expanded, things wouldn’t be as cushy as they were now.

Come next year’s National Day, you might even have to apply just for the chance to work overtime.

So, while he could still earn more money, he didn’t dare to slack off in the slightest.

Last month, his pre-tax salary had been 6,920 yuan. After taxes and social security deductions, he still took home over 6,500 yuan.

In the past, he wouldn’t have dared to imagine it: with four days off a month, working twelve hours on weekdays and only eight on Saturdays, he could actually earn nearly 7,000 yuan.

By now, the pay and benefits at the Orange Factory were famous throughout Huaqiang North.

Everyone knew that the Orange Factory was going to hire more than 5,000 employees in the fourth quarter, and some people were even slipping money to the HR specialists just for a chance to work there.

When Zhang Jing found out, she just warned the two HR specialists who took the money and told them to return it to the interviewees.

She didn’t want to lose her job over such a small matter. After all, the big boss gave such good compensation to even ordinary employees. For mid-level managers like her, their base salary alone was twenty to thirty thousand a month.

She knew that by charging a 300 to 500 yuan referral fee per person, she could rake in over a million from the 5,000-plus new hires.

But after mulling it over, Zhang Jing didn’t dare go through with it. Too many people meant too many mouths—the word would surely get out, and she could end up in jail for years.

Even when a subordinate suggested using a third-party agency to help collect the money, Zhang Jing didn’t dare to try.

After all, Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu had been knocking around Huaqiang North for many years and were extremely shrewd. Unless she could pull them in with her, she would never dare to act rashly.

At that moment, Chen Yansen, who was on his way to Hu City, had no idea that his decision to give his employees a raise had already inspired some crooked ideas in others.

Chen Yansen wasn’t a complete beast, after all. When they reached Jinling, he voluntarily switched to the driver’s seat.

”How about we spend a day sightseeing in Jinling first?” Chen Yansen suggested.

”No thanks. Business first,” Song Yuncheng replied, shaking her head.

”Alright.”

Chen Yansen gripped the steering wheel and drove toward Hu City.

In his previous life, he had lived in Hu City for over a decade, but in this life, he had only visited once. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to come, but that he felt the time wasn’t right.

A big city offered more opportunities; it was a better choice for both employees and entrepreneurs.

Three hours later, Chen Yansen exited the highway and followed the Middle Ring Road to the Waldorf Hotel on the Bund.

After parking the car, he expertly led Song Yuncheng through check-in, and they took the elevator to a river-view room on the 22nd floor.

3,200 yuan a night. When it came to enjoying life, Chen Yansen never short-changed himself.

This was a suite with a living room, over 100 square meters in total, with classical decor. Even the landline phone on the bedside table had a retro design.

A two-meter-wide bed dominated the bedroom, with a crystal chandelier hanging overhead. The bathroom was equipped with a round bathtub 1.8 meters in diameter.

Chen Yansen was very pleased with that particular feature.

”We’re going to Meiters Headquarters tomorrow, so we’re staying on the Bund for one night. Want to take a bath?”

Chen Yansen asked with a smile, pointing at the glossy bathtub.

”Why don’t... why don’t we go for a walk first? I’m a little hungry,” Song Yuncheng said, unconsciously pressing her thighs together as she scrambled to change the subject.

”That works too,” Chen Yansen agreed readily.

BZZZ BZZZ BZZZ—!

Just then, Chen Yansen’s phone rang.

Song Yuncheng was startled. She tiptoed to peek at the caller ID, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Yansen picked up the phone. ”President Lin, still thinking about me during the holiday?”

The caller was indeed Lin Chenfeng from the Penguin Venture Capital Department. The two had met several times and had gradually built a rapport.

”My apologies, President Chen! I didn’t want to disturb your vacation either, it’s just that Brother Martin is pushing me.”

Lin Chenfeng gave a dry laugh and explained.

”Oh? So you have a problem with Brother Martin?”

Chen Yansen walked out onto the balcony, plopped down on the sofa, and continued to tease him with a smile.

”President Chen, please don’t mess with me! Right, let’s talk business. Brother Martin heard you’ve started another new company, with e-commerce as its main business, so he had me ask if you need investment?”

Lin Chenfeng gave a wry smile and asked tentatively.

’Does Chen Yansen lack capital?’

’Of course he doesn’t!’

Lin Chenfeng was really just sounding Chen Yansen out, trying to see whether he would be receptive or resistant to an investment offer from Penguin.

”Sure. If Penguin wants to invest, I certainly won’t object. I want a first-level entry point on WeChat and QQ. Can President Lin agree to that?”

Chen Yansen agreed straightforwardly.

QQ had nearly 200 million daily active users. A first-level entry point would get at least 100 million impressions. Even with only a 5% click-through rate, that would still be 10 million in daily traffic.

As for WeChat, ever since the ”Shake” feature was launched, its daily active users had skyrocketed, approaching ten million.

’Lust truly is humanity’s primary productive force,’ Chen Yansen couldn’t help but reflect.

In just two months, WeChat’s user base grew from 15 million to 50 million. The influence of the ”Shake” feature was evident.

Hearing Chen Yansen’s demand, Lin Chenfeng’s expression stiffened. He gave a wry smile and said, ”President Chen, I will definitely convey this request to Brother Martin.”

What did a first-level entry point on WeChat and QQ even mean?

An entry point on the main tab bar—that was a first-level entry point.

At this time, even Penguin’s own QQ Weibo was relegated to a second-level entry point. For Chen Yansen to ask for a first-level one right off the bat, this was no small demand.

There was no way Lin Chenfeng could make that decision!

”Alright, let’s talk again later.” Chen Yansen smiled and hung up the phone.

He knew Lin Chenfeng couldn’t call the shots. Making this demand was just using Lin Chenfeng as a mouthpiece to pass the message to Little Ma.

As for whether Little Ma would agree, he wasn’t worried at all. It’s business. As long as you can sit down and negotiate, there’s hope.

As far as he knew, three years from now, both Jingdong and Paipai Network would enjoy this very treatment.

Chen Yansen didn’t want to waste too much time in the initial stages of the project. Leveraging Penguin’s resources would let him run faster and farther.

That equity stuff is only valuable once the business is off the ground!

Orange Technology’s profitability was too weak. He needed to find a more profitable sector to build a stronger foundation for future ventures into other fields.

Nearby, Song Yuncheng watched Chen Yansen quietly.

Behind him was the night view of the Bund as the glamorous lights came on. The light reflecting on Chen Yansen’s sharp, chiseled face made her heart skip a beat.

’This man is perfect in every way... he’s just a bit of a scumbag!’