Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Boss Huang of Yijia Rice Industry, smiling broadly, pulled a two-pound bag of rice and a 500ml bottle of rapeseed oil from his bag, found a space on the round table, and squeezed them in.

Chen Yansen was both amused and exasperated at the sight, but he still opened a bag of peanuts and tossed one into his mouth.

’Crisp, salty, and plump. They actually taste pretty good.’

His plan was to use Chunshen’s agricultural aid program as a model, setting a new standard for agricultural products. This would strengthen Pinbei’s market competitiveness, giving it an edge that differentiated it from platforms like Taobao and Jingdong, thereby expanding its customer base and increasing user stickiness.

Additionally, it would generate more parcel volume for their delivery services.

If they could take it a step further in the future, they could invest in agricultural R&D partnerships, host farming competitions, and promote the application of innovative agricultural technology. They might even build their own private farms across the country.

This vertical integration of production and sales would also create more jobs.

Of course, the prerequisite was convincing more people that they could make money by following his lead.

Pinbei’s Agricultural Aid program was the first step!

”Pinbei’s agricultural aid policy has two main benefits: free platform registration and zero commission. We also offer preferential traffic allocation. I’ll have a colleague from our merchant recruitment department explain the specific onboarding rules to you.”

Once he finished, Chen Yansen waved to the receptionist.

”Have Zhang Yifeng send someone from merchant operations down,” Chen Yansen said.

”Right away, Boss,” the receptionist replied with a nod.

The faces of Chai Kai and the others lit up, and they thanked Chen Yansen profusely.

Three minutes later, Chi Kai hurried over. After introductions were made, he began discussing the platform’s rules, marketing tactics, and methods for acquiring traffic with President Zhu and the others.

There was free traffic, but not a lot of it. The zero-commission offer was also real, but they would start charging a commission once a store’s sales volume reached 100,000 yuan per month.

After all, a shop that could generate over a million yuan in annual sales didn’t need that kind of support.

President Zhu and his group agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Countless others like Chai Kai in Huian Province began expressing their interest in cooperating, whether by calling in favors, visiting in person, or contacting them through the official business partnership hotline.

Seizing the opportunity, Huang Zheng officially launched the Pinbei Agricultural Aid program, recruiting high-quality fruit, vegetable, seafood, and livestock merchants from across the country.

Soon, Pinbei users discovered that within the ”Ten Billion Subsidy” program, the fresh food section had been split off from the general food category. Its subcategories now included fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs, and seafood.

Products like Qin Island Prawns, Huian Stinky Mandarin Fish, Beihu River Crayfish, Zhoushan Hairtail, and Dalian Sea Cucumber were all readily available.

For a time, Pinbei’s approach was the polar opposite of Taobao’s and Jingdong’s. Pinbei was all-in on agricultural aid, putting products like potatoes, chili peppers, loofahs, and garlic on its e-commerce platform. Meanwhile, the other two were busy negotiating with major international brands like Estée Lauder, Dyson, La Mer, and A.O. Smith.

On June 22, Kuai Pao entered the food delivery market in Changshan City.

Cheng Weixing and Pei Yi joined forces to run promotions: take a ride, get a food delivery coupon; order food, get a ride-hailing coupon. Combined with the new users brought in by Pinbei, Fast Taxi remained unbeatable, even as DiDi Dache opened a second battlefront in Beihai Province.

「Meanwhile.」

Holed up in a rental apartment in Shencheng City, Brother Hui and his crew had been tinkering away and had actually managed to find a new loophole in DiDi Dache.

”Brother Hui, I got it. This set of SMS verification hardware is brand new. With the new virtual location software and route simulator, DiDi Dache’s tech team won’t spot us for at least six months.”

Ah Zhen, the group’s tech expert, said smugly.

”Six months? Shit, can you stop bragging!” Brother Hui said dismissively.

”Brother Hui, let’s get to work. We haven’t seen any cash in almost a week,” Yaozi urged with a sly grin.

Shencheng City was way more fun than Yanjing. The five of them were big spenders, and during their time there, aside from finding loopholes for DiDi Dache, they spent all their time in high-end karaoke clubs and bars. They had long grown accustomed to a life of extravagance and debauchery.

Liu Zi and Chaozi nodded in agreement and looked toward Brother Hui.

”This time, we’re not getting our hands dirty. We’re just selling the tech!”

Brother Hui said, narrowing his eyes and enunciating each word.

”Sell the tech? Just hand over a money-making opportunity to someone else? Brother Hui, are you out of your mind?” Yaozi immediately grew frantic and lashed out.

”The fuck you say! Who do you think you’re talking to?” Brother Hui wasn’t about to tolerate that and kicked out at him.

”Brother Hui, calm down! You know how Yaozi is—he’s got a one-track mind and speaks without thinking,” Ah Zhen said, quickly grabbing Brother Hui to hold him back.

”Yeah, Brother Hui, don’t stoop to his level.” Liu Zi and Chaozi also jumped in, helping Yaozi up while telling him to apologize to their leader.

”Brother Hui... I’m sorry,” Yaozi apologized, his gaze averted as he lowered his head.

”Next time, you’re out. Got it?” Brother Hui waved his hand dismissively, scolding him.

Yaozi mumbled an affirmative and obediently returned to his seat.

Brother Hui scoffed. He couldn’t stand whiners.

He’d learned a lesson from last time: getting personally involved in fleecing DiDi Dache made him too easy to expose. It was much better to stay behind the scenes and sell the tech package to other Gray Studios.

Just as DiDi Dache and Fast Taxi were clashing fiercely, a piece of fake-order software called ”Little Cow” rapidly gained popularity in the underground gray industry.

Little Cow was the shit!

It cost 100,000 yuan per set and included a complete technical package: virtual location, automated SMS verification, dynamic IP and device ID switching, a route simulator, and more.

The price was high, but everyone had seen the news reports. As long as you were bold enough, earning over a million a month wasn’t a problem.

Fortune favors the bold!

After selling two sets of the software, Brother Hui immediately realized he’d priced it too low. He then raised the price to 150,000 yuan per set.

Yet, in just a few short days, he sold another six.

”Brother Hui, you’re a genius! This is way faster than doing the dirty work ourselves,” Liu Zi and Chaozi said, overjoyed. Their eyes gleamed with a hunger for money.

”Be quick and clean about it,” Brother Hui instructed, still a bit uneasy. ”Once you get the money, block the buyer immediately. The bank cards have to be destroyed, too.”

”Relax, Brother Hui. All the receiving accounts were bought from the Sanhe Great Gods. I guarantee we won’t leave any tracks,” Ah Zhen said with a smile.

”I hope so. You can never be too careful,” Brother Hui said.

「At the same time.」

Cheng Wei stared at the data report, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

In Yanjing, the market share between Fast Taxi and DiDi Dache was 6 to 4.

In Changshan, the ratio was 5.5 to 4.5.

Cheng Wei thought he had clawed back some market share, but he had no idea that in the eyes of gray industry operators, DiDi Dache’s subsidy campaign was a juicy steak ripe for the carving.

Bonus hunters and Gray Studios were desperately using every technical trick in the book to bypass DiDi Dache’s IP and device ID verification, colluding with taxi drivers to fraudulently claim huge subsidies.

In reality, DiDi Dache’s market share hadn’t changed at all. The number of fraudulent users and drivers had simply skyrocketed. Over thirty percent of their orders were fake trips and ghost rides.

In other words, over a million yuan of DiDi Dache’s daily marketing budget was being siphoned off by the gray industry.

Buoyed by the joy of what he believed was an impending comeback, Cheng Wei expanded his business territory to Jinmen.

Cheng Weixing responded immediately, dispatching personnel to establish a Jinmen branch and directly challenge DiDi Dache on its new front.

This move sent the bosses of the Gray Studios into a frenzy of delight. After all, the wider DiDi Dache’s business scope and the higher its order volume, the harder it would be to detect their cash-out schemes.

Two days later, Kuai Pao also announced its expansion into the Jinmen food delivery market.

With no competitors to hold it back, Kuai Pao’s rate of expansion was almost unimaginable.

Kuai Pao Deliverymen could be seen in half the cities across Huian Province.

Their on-the-ground sales teams fanned out through every street and alley, poaching all the merchants that Meituan, Dianping, and Lashou Network had worked so hard to cultivate, and moved them onto the Kuai Pao platform.

At this point, Pei Yi realized something important: ’Why don’t we add a Group Buy service to Kuai Pao?’

’When our sales teams are negotiating with merchants, if they can sign them up for both food delivery and Group Buy at the same time, wouldn’t that boost their efficiency?’

With this thought, Pei Yi immediately went to report his idea to his boss.