Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

A fierce storm raged over Xucheng in March, painting the sky and land inky black.

The rapeseed fields lining the road thrived in the downpour, stretching eagerly toward the sky. From a distance, they formed a panorama of lush, vibrant green.

Chen Yansen leaned against the car window, recalling Xu Zhenhui’s words. ”President Chen, I can’t speak for other cities, but for Xucheng, just say the word and the authorization documents for Fast Taxi will be on your desk the very same day.”

’He’s really afraid Orange Technology and Pinbei Mall will just pack up and leave!’

In truth, Chen Yansen had no immediate plans to move his companies, but it was time to start preparing for the possibility.

Xucheng’s supporting infrastructure was, after all, somewhat lacking.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was still a student at Xuyuan, he probably would have moved long ago.

Even though he had been there for two years and couldn’t recognize all his professors, it hadn’t stopped Chen Yansen from becoming Xuyuan’s ”Merit Student,” ”Excellent Scholar,” ”Outstanding Alumnus,” ”President of the Huian Province University Student Entrepreneurship Alliance,” and a ”National Scholarship Recipient.”

Tang Qingshan had basically forced this whole mess of titles on him.

’And he couldn’t even fucking refuse them!’

”Boss, about Kuai Pao’s Series B financing... when are we looking to start? Ah Li, Penguin, DST, and Jinsha Venture Capital have all expressed strong interest.”

Gao Weilin, who was sitting beside him, asked softly.

”We’ll talk about it after Pei Yi conquers the food delivery market in Hu City,” Chen Yansen replied nonchalantly, snapping out of his thoughts.

At the moment, Kuai Pao hadn’t even fully captured the market in Luzhou, let alone Hu City.

He knew very well that a provincial capital with a resident population of seven to eight million should generate at least 800,000 food delivery orders per day.

Although Kuai Pao’s service categories weren’t yet comprehensive—lacking options like groceries, fresh produce, and medicine—its current daily order volume in Luzhou was only 170,000. It clearly hadn’t reached its ceiling yet.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in Hu City, a torrential rain was also pouring down.

In such severe weather, the volume of food delivery orders surged, but delivery times were significantly delayed.

The roads were covered in standing water, and there was a risk of skidding out with even the slightest acceleration on an Electric Vehicle.

Through streets big and small, Kuai Pao Riders in their orange uniforms were a constant sight, every one of them instinctively slowing down.

To ensure delivery times and rider safety, Pei Yi immediately had the tech department throttle the number of orders available in the system.

The riders’ nominal hourly income immediately dropped by thirty percent. However, after factoring in various bonuses, their pay per delivery was actually much higher than usual.

For one thing, Kuai Pao had a severe weather bonus. For another, Chen Yansen had given specific instructions that during extreme weather—be it high heat, cold, strong winds, or heavy rain—the entire delivery fee for every order was to be paid out to the riders.

As a result, the number of online Eleme riders plummeted, while Kuai Pao’s numbers remained unaffected. Its delivery times were still being kept under 29 minutes.

Users who ordered on the Eleme platform, however, were having a miserable time. Their estimated arrival times were pushed back again and again. Some people waited over two hours before finally calling the restaurant, only to learn that no rider had even accepted their order.

The restaurants were helpless, too.

After requesting a refund, these users immediately placed a new order on Kuai Pao. The result? Once the restaurant had the food ready, it was delivered in under twenty minutes.

Using high pay-per-order to ”force” riders to work in severe weather might seem unethical, but from a business standpoint, it was the smartest move.

Generally, a user’s patience for a delivery platform’s delays runs out after two or three instances. When they discovered Eleme’s delivery times were far worse than Kuai Pao’s, they would immediately switch apps.

After a few more experiences like that, even the most loyal customers would uninstall the Eleme app without a second thought.

Nobody wants to eat cold food.

And in the fickle, fluctuating temperatures of early March, nobody wants to drink a cold milk tea, either.

「Longcao Road No. 200, Kuai Pao Headquarters.」

”President Pei, as of 4:00 PM, a total of seven riders have been injured in falls. Fortunately, they’re all minor, superficial wounds,” the head of the dispatch department reported, walking up to Pei Yi’s desk.

”Understood. Tell the guys in the dispatch department that the company will cover their medical expenses and compensate them for lost wages.”

Pei Yi took a deep breath and replied calmly.

After learning about the weather conditions, Kang Guodong, who was stationed back in Luzhou, had suggested that he either force the riders to log off or suspend service in areas with difficult traffic or heavier rainfall.

Pei Yi had flatly rejected the idea, scoffing at it.

It wasn’t that he was cold and heartless; he just had a deep understanding of human nature.

If he followed Kang Guodong’s suggestion, the Kuai Pao Riders he forced offline would probably just register as Eleme riders and start taking orders to earn money there instead.

’Handing the market over to the competition on a silver platter like that would be just plain stupid!’

”Yes, President Pei.” The dispatch head sighed and turned to relay the order.

If Chen Yansen had been there, he would have supported Pei Yi’s decision as well.

He had chosen Pei Yi over Kang Guodong not just because they had different skill sets. There was another crucial reason: Pei Yi was rational, calm, and, most importantly, he prioritized profit.

Kang Guodong’s line of thinking wasn’t inherently wrong, but it was the absolute worst time to implement it—right at the peak of market competition.

Once Kuai Pao had established a dominant position in the food delivery industry and possessed ample delivery resources, Kang Guodong’s strategy would become more advantageous than Pei Yi’s.

But right now, Kang Guodong’s plan was basically suicidal.

The CEO of Qian Du Delivery, four years in the future, would have the same line of thinking. On the eve of the Lunar New Year, he announced that all riders would be given a holiday, complete with travel subsidies.

The result? After the holiday, not only had all the riders flocked to Meituan and Eleme, but Qian Du Delivery had also lost one-fifth of its users.

That was because during the Lunar New Year, anyone who wanted to order food delivery could only use Meituan or Eleme.