Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

At the thought of the surprised expressions Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu would have when they found out, Xiao Jun couldn’t suppress a smile.

”President Chen, you don’t mind that I was the loser in Gaode’s internal power struggle?”

Xiao Jun held back for a long time but finally asked the question.

”An internal struggle? That’s just because Hou Jun didn’t have your back. Besides, once Senlian Capital acquires Gaode, as long as you don’t make any mistakes, I will always support you.”

”When you’re out here working, if the boss has your back, everything is smooth sailing. Otherwise, you can’t get anywhere. Surely you understand that principle?”

Chen Yansen asked with a smile.

As for Xiao Jun’s lack of skill in office politics, he actually saw it as a good thing.

He didn’t want to hire a CEO who would divide the company into old and new factions, spending all day on office politics instead of focusing on the business.

”Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Chen.” After thinking it through, Xiao Jun abruptly stood up and bowed to Chen Yansen.

”Congratulations on rejoining Gaode.” Chen Yansen rose as well and gently pushed him back into his seat.

He knew that with Xiao Jun at the helm of Gaode, Senlian’s takeover would go exceptionally smoothly.

Seeing that they had reached an agreement, Gao Weilin waved to the waiter outside the door.

A moment later, a variety of exquisite dishes were brought to the table.

The men exchanged toasts, and a bottle of baijiu was quickly finished.

”President Xiao, Gaode Map is in your hands now. Once President Gao finalizes the acquisition process, I want your first order of business to be announcing a free-to-use strategy for individual consumer users.”

Chen Yansen set down his wine glass and instructed in a solemn tone.

’Free?’

Surprise flashed in Xiao Jun’s eyes. ’Gaode’s revenue is already low. If we implement a completely free policy for the B2C market, won’t our earnings drop even further?’

”Boss, if we do that, our revenue will drop by at least six to eight percent!”

Xiao Jun’s expression was grim and his brow furrowed as he tried to advise him against it.

He was a smart man, quick to change his form of address.

”I can accept that loss. I hope that within two years, you can flip the revenue ratio between B2B and B2C.”

Chen Yansen continued.

Gaode’s total revenue last year was 127 million US Dollars. In-car navigation accounted for the lion’s share, at about 65%. Mobile and internet location services brought in 27 million US Dollars, or 21%, with the personal navigation business making up 6.3% of total revenue.

Xiao Jun didn’t quite understand why Chen Yansen wanted to voluntarily give up a portion of their profits. However, he had already agreed to be the CEO of Gaode Map, and with his new boss emphasizing the point again, he didn’t press the issue or object further.

”Yes, Boss. I understand,” Xiao Jun said with a nod.

’Rather than wait for Qian Du Map to force Gaode’s hand with its own free strategy,’ Chen Yansen thought, ’it’s better to strike first. We can build a good reputation and seize more market share ahead of time.’

The dinner party didn’t break up until nine-thirty.

When Gao Weilin heard his boss wanted to head back to the hotel, he breathed a sigh of relief. ’Finally, I can go home and get some rest.’

Halfway there, a call came in from Lei Yijun.

After a brief chat, Chen Yansen hung up. ’He wondered why Lei Yijun had had such a significant change of heart in just a few short hours, but he didn’t dwell on it. As long as the outcome was positive, that was all that mattered.’

”Boss, did Lei Yijun agree?” Gao Weilin asked tentatively, having overheard a few words.

”I’ll have to trouble President Gao again. Have the legal team draft a contract tomorrow. I’ll have Cao Dahua handle the coordination, but I need you to keep a close eye on the signing process.”

Chen Yansen hummed in acknowledgment and then gave the order.

”Of course, Boss,” Gao Weilin readily agreed.

「Half an hour later, the car returned to the Marriott Hotel’s parking garage.」

”You must be tired from the past couple of days.”

As soon as they got back to the room, Song Yuncheng pulled Chen Yansen over to the sofa and started massaging his shoulders and neck.

’Tired?’

Chen Yansen scoffed. ’He hadn’t felt tired in a very long time.’

”Let me massage you too.”

After enjoying the massage, Chen Yansen switched places with Song Yuncheng. But as he massaged her, his hands began to slide unconsciously downwards.

Song Yuncheng’s face was flushed, her glistening eyes turning to look at Chen Yansen. ”Your massage technique is improper.”

”I can’t help it. I can’t control myself,” Chen Yansen said with a sly grin as he scooped Song Yuncheng into his arms.

The two of them lay on the sofa, admiring the dazzling nightscape of Yanjing.

”Not here. Let’s go to the bedroom,” Song Yuncheng pleaded in a soft whisper, squeezing her legs together. By now, even her neck was flushed pink.

Chen Yansen ignored her, simply reaching over to draw the curtains.

A few minutes later, two small handprints appeared on the glass.

...

...

「The next day at dawn, the distant sky began to glow with the pale light of morning.」

Chen Yansen climbed off the sofa, picked up a pair of shorts from the floor, and slipped them on. Song Yuncheng was still fast asleep.

He padded into the living room in his slippers, opened his laptop, and first checked the work reports from his various subsidiaries. Then he glanced at the total sales for the Orange D1 and Orange C2 phones, which were just a step away from four million units.

Regarding the preparations for Factory No. 4, Cao Dahua had selected a group of mid- to high-level managers from Shencheng City and sent them to Luzhou to handle the initial business registration and recruitment.

Meanwhile, Zuo Hongyu was busy contacting equipment suppliers to set up the new factory’s production lines.

On another front, Kuai Pao had driven Eleme out of Xuhui District in just five days.

Unable to compete with Kuai Pao in either price or delivery speed, Eleme was quickly abandoned by users.

After all, the fundamental logic of the food delivery model is the offline fulfillment of users’ online orders.

The stronger the fulfillment capability, the higher the user’s rating.

Seeing that he couldn’t beat Kuai Pao on delivery speed, Zhang Xuhao limited the number of orders his couriers could accept at one time. While this did increase speed, the couriers’ hourly wages dropped sharply.

’If they couldn’t make money, who would be willing to keep working for Eleme?’

Even though Zhang Xuhao readjusted the salary and benefits for his courier team, people still kept jumping ship to Kuai Pao.

”Boss, give me one month, and I guarantee I’ll conquer the Hu City market.”

Pei Yi vowed in a work email.

Chen Yansen chuckled softly and thought to himself, ’Acquiring Kuai Pao was the right move. If I had tried to build something from the ground up, Eleme would have already established itself before I even had a team assembled.’

Trying to suppress them at that point would have cost ten, or even a hundred, times the money and effort.

Although Eleme had also secured an investment from Ah Li, Ah Li hadn’t gone public yet. How much capital and traffic resources they were willing to commit to supporting Eleme remained an open question.

At nine in the morning, Chen Yansen left the hotel.

Following Gao Weilin’s directions, the car pulled up in front of an office building on Zhichun Road in Haidian District.

”Byte’s office is on the 14th floor. They have about thirty people right now, all focused on developing Lingxi Browser.”

Gao Weilin explained softly.

Chen Yansen glanced out the car window and saw Zhang Yiming striding quickly toward them, accompanied by a young man with a round face and a buzz cut.