Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Clearly, 50 kilograms was beyond his capabilities.

Chen Yansen could only turn his attention to a 5-kilogram plate, but to his surprise, he failed again.

He then switched to 2.5 kilograms and failed. After that, he tried 1.25 kilograms and could barely ’lift’ it.

”So, the limit of my telekinesis is about 41.25 kilograms.”

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and muttered to himself.

’Just one more enhancement, and I’ll even be able to ’lift’ Meng Jie.’

Chen Yansen glanced at his watch. Only ten minutes had passed. He grabbed his car keys and headed straight out.

When he reached the ground floor, just before stepping into the rain, he used his Spiritual Power to create a protective shield over two meters in diameter. Rainwater flowed around him, not a single drop touching him.

Flies couldn’t get near, and rain wouldn’t touch his body!

This bizarre scene was hidden in the misty rain, making it nearly impossible for an ordinary person to notice.

Chen Yansen got into the driver’s seat of his Bentley and headed for the Science and Technology Park.

「Meanwhile.」

Near the South Second Ring Road in Luzhou’s Baohe District, on a massive 470,000-square-meter construction site, excavators, loaders, and bulldozers worked ceaselessly. Workers were demolishing existing structures and clearing vegetation, leveling the land, and putting up fences and warning signs.

A sign hung before the main gate: ”Orange Technology Luzhou Headquarters Construction Project”!

”Whoa, look at the scale of this! Holy crap! On a plot this huge, how many buildings are they gonna put up? Orange Technology is loaded.”

A local passing by looked up and exclaimed in astonishment.

”I wonder when it’ll be finished. My son is at Luzhou Engineering College studying computer science. It would be amazing if he could get a job at Orange Technology after he graduates.” Another passerby stopped, their eyes filled with hope.

They say the rite of passage for Huian people is a one-way ticket to find work in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang region. But if you could make a living at home, who would want to drift to a faraway place?

It wasn’t just Huian; the situation was largely the same in other major labor-exporting provinces like the Central Plains, Sichuan, Ju State, Xiyue, South Lake, and Xijiang.

”Orange Mobile Phone sold over 10 million units last year, so they must have made a killing. My nephew works on the assembly line at the Orange Phone Factory, and he takes home seven or eight thousand a month. The pay is amazing.”

”Seven or eight thousand a month? No way!”

”I don’t give a damn if you believe it or not!”

”Fuck! What’s your problem?”

”Goddamn it, are you some kind of professional contrarian? If you’re so good at arguing, why don’t you go lift some steel bars?”

”Hey, hey, you two, calm down! No need to fight, just talk it out.”

Seeing them start to argue at the slightest disagreement, an older man hurried over to mediate.

News that Orange Technology was building its headquarters in Luzhou gradually spread. Young people studying in the city were ecstatic, all of them dreaming of joining the company after graduation.

After all, who wouldn’t be envious of a job that offered comprehensive social insurance and housing funds, a rent subsidy, meal and transportation allowances, overtime pay, quarterly bonuses, free physicals, supplemental medical insurance, and a travel fund?

「At the same time.」

Chen Yansen drove into Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, parked his car, and entered Building 9, home to Orange Technology.

”Good morning, Boss!” the receptionist called out sweetly.

The young woman, named Tian Tian, had been hired by Wang Xueting. She was a ’08 graduate from Xuyuan’s hotel management program. True to her name, which meant ”sweet,” she was tall with a sweet-looking face and often wore black thigh-highs.

Chen Yansen noticed out of the corner of his eye that she was wearing white ones today.

”Boss, I’ve emailed you the overseas sales data for the Alexa Smart Speaker for July.”

Just then, Wang Teng came up from behind and greeted him as soon as he saw him.

”Got it. Has the issue with the protests from overseas users been resolved?” Chen Yansen pulled his gaze away from the receptionist’s white stockings and turned to ask Wang Teng.

The Moss Smart Speaker sold for 799 Hua Yuan in the domestic market, while the Alexa Smart Speaker sold for 199 US Dollars in the European and American markets. No one noticed at first, but a week ago, a YouTuber posted a video furiously accusing Orange Technology of price discrimination.

The Moss and Alexa Smart Speakers were essentially the same product.

To address this, Chen Yansen had Wang Teng register official YouTube and Facebook accounts and post an explanation for the price difference.

First, there were tariffs, value-added taxes, and other fees.

Second, the voice interaction systems in the Moss and Alexa Smart Speakers had different training costs for their respective algorithm models.

Third, the two products had different software ecosystems, leading to different licensing fees for music, search, map, and Q&A apps.

”It’s just a few minor influencers making a fuss. It hasn’t affected the Alexa Smart Speaker’s sales at all. Daily sales over the past week have been between 35,000 and 40,000 units.”

Wang Teng shrugged, unconcerned.

To put it bluntly, if overseas customers thought the Alexa Smart Speaker was too expensive, no one was forcing them to buy it.

”It’s better to be safe than sorry. We need to keep an eye on public opinion. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are all looking to enter the smart speaker market. You never know when one of them might stab us in the back.”

Chen Yansen nodded slightly and cautioned him.

”Understood, Boss,” Wang Teng replied with a nod.

With that, the two of them walked toward the elevators.

As they walked, Wang Teng mentioned that the engineering prototypes for the Orange C3 and Orange D1S had completed hardware, system, and scenario simulation testing. He then asked for Chen Yansen’s opinion on when to hold the product launch event.

More than six months had passed since the launch of the Orange C2 and Orange D1. Considering a phone’s typical sales life cycle of eight to twelve months, it was about time for a new product release.

”Let’s do August 18th,” Chen Yansen said casually.

Similar to the spring launch event, they were again going with a combined high-end and low-end strategy, leaving the mid-range market to the now-discounted Orange C1.

After just one year on the market, the price for a smartphone with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage had been driven down to 1,299 Hua Yuan by competitors like Xiaomi, 360, NetEase, Shanda, and Ah Li.

The price of the Orange C1 had also dropped from 1,999 to 1,399 Hua Yuan. As the ”phone king” of 2011, it could still hold its own in 2012. Total shipments for the first half of the year were 4.1 million units. Including July’s sales, the cumulative total reached an impressive 4.9 million units.

”I’ll book the venue first, then send out invitations to suppliers, competitors, the news media, and fans,” Wang Teng replied.

Chen Yansen acknowledged him with a simple sound. ”You can handle it,” he said directly.

Wang Teng had experience hosting a launch event before. Besides, Ye Qiuping’s brand department would be assisting the marketing department.

Back in his office, Chen Yansen turned on his computer, opened his email, and started working. He soon found the sales summary report from Wang Teng.

The Alexa Smart Speaker sold 294,000 units in June and 1,273,000 in July, for a total of 1,567,000 units. The sales revenue amounted to 312 million US Dollars.

However, the sales growth trend suggested a limited market capacity. Daily sales had now dropped to just over 30,000 units. He estimated the market could absorb about 6 million units for the entire year, with a projected annual revenue of 1.2 billion US Dollars.

For a smart speaker, this sales performance already met Chen Yansen’s expectations.

Although the Moss Smart Speaker had launched a week earlier, its total sales for June and July were only 529,000 units—not even a fraction of the overseas sales.

’Looks like the domestic market isn’t mature enough yet.’

Chen Yansen leaned back in his chair, pondering.

The second email was from Xiao Jun. It reported that the latest version of Gaode Map had been released on July 31. Besides a new UI, it now included integrations for the Fast Taxi and Kuai Pao services.

On the first day alone, it generated 83,000 orders for Fast Taxi and 19,000 for Kuai Pao, demonstrating an astonishing ability to monetize traffic.

The results showed that the Fast Taxi service was a more natural fit for Gaode Map.

Users would first navigate to a destination and then use the ride-hailing service, creating a complete and seamless business loop.

With this boost from Gaode Map, DiDi Dache’s market share shrank even further. Their CEO, Cheng Wei, was so anxious he couldn’t sleep at night.

The very next morning, he rushed to the Qian Du Network headquarters to meet with Liang Zhixiang.

”You want to embed the DiDi Dache service into Qian Du Map?” Liang Zhixiang’s eyes lit up. The plan was brilliant; it seamlessly connected navigation with the final-mile destination service.