Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

He had only been joking, but to Wang Zhengqiang’s surprise, Song Yang actually nodded.

”Damn! Aren’t you and Sister Yin getting along great?” Wang Zhengqiang asked, looking utterly confused.

”Song Yang broke up?” Tang Zhenzhe, Meng Xibo, and Zhu Xiaopeng, who had just walked in, overheard the last part of the sentence and immediately started prying for gossip.

Chen Yansen sat in his seat, looking down at the real-time sales data for the Orange C3 and Qingcheng D1S. From 6 p.m. until now, the two phones had sold a total of 597,000 units, a sales pace that far exceeded his expectations.

The mobile phone market in 2012 wasn’t as cutthroat as he had imagined.

If even trash like the 360 Mobile Phone, the NetEase phone, and the Aliyun Phone could sell several million units, then it seemed perfectly reasonable for the Orange Mobile Phone to sell a million units in a single day.

As for Song Yang?

’He couldn’t even be bothered to chew him out. The guy was clearly born with a silver spoon, yet he insisted on starting from scratch. If that’s the case, then what was the point of his dad working his ass off for decades? Wasn’t it all for nothing? Just like that idiot son from the Wanda family. He clearly had a screw loose. Still, it was for the best that they broke up. He’d met that Fu Yin girl before. Her cunning and sophistication were on a completely different level than Song Yang’s.’

”Should I talk to HR tomorrow and have her fired?”

Chen Yansen suggested out of the blue.

He had only given Fu Yin a position in Orange Technology’s design department as a favor to Song Yang. Now that they had broken up, why the hell should he continue the favor?

Tang Zhenzhe, Meng Xibo, and Wang Zhengqiang exchanged glances, seeing this cold, stern side of Chen Yansen for the first time.

”That... doesn’t seem right, does it?” Zhu Xiaopeng said meekly.

”Thanks, Brother Sen, but that’s not necessary.” Song Yang thought they could still be friends after breaking up and should leave each other with some dignity.

”Orange Technology has plenty of outstanding young men. Programmers making four or five hundred thousand a year are a dime a dozen, and they’re very attractive to young women...” Chen Yansen said slowly.

”Brother Sen, I’ll have to trouble you then. Fire her.” Song Yang’s mood changed on a dime; he clearly wasn’t over Fu Yin yet.

”...” Tang Zhenzhe.

”...” Meng Xibo.

”...” Wang Zhengqiang.

”...” Zhu Xiaopeng.

’What a simp!’

Chen Yansen mentally commented, his eyes filled with disdain as he looked at Song Yang.

Then, the three single guys, none of whom had ever been in a relationship, began to analyze Song Yang’s situation for him with the air of seasoned experts.

”Brother Zhe, you’ve never even held a girl’s hand, but you seem to be an expert on relationships. Impressive!” Wang Zhengqiang teased with a laugh.

Tang Zhenzhe’s face flushed. That was a low blow from Wang Zhengqiang. Stiffening his neck, he retorted, ”So I’ve never eaten pork, but I’ve seen a pig run, haven’t I? Does a pianist also have to know how to build a piano?”

”Qiangzi, don’t interrupt! I think Brother Zhe has a point.” Song Yang waved his hand, gesturing for Wang Zhengqiang to shut up.

Chen Yansen chuckled to himself at the scene. The twenty-year-old Song Yang was so damn naive. He was a completely different person from the greasy, middle-aged man who, a decade later, would be at a business KTV with his arms linked around a girl, sharing a drink.

Thanks to Boss Song’s recent heartbreak, the gathering didn’t end until midnight.

Tang Zhenzhe and the others, who still hadn’t had their fill, grabbed a case of beer and a bag of savory snacks. They planned to get a hotel room and drink until dawn—after all, tomorrow was Sunday, so they didn’t have work.

The group staggered out of the restaurant and headed toward a hotel.

”Brother Sen, what do you think I should do?” asked Song Yang, his face flushed and his speech slightly slurred from the alcohol, as he tugged on Chen Yansen’s arm.

”If you want to keep Fu Yin, give up on your startup. Otherwise, just find someone else.”

Chen Yansen shrugged and added, ”The breakup rate among college couples is over seventy percent. From an economic standpoint, most breakups are caused by imperfect competition, diminishing marginal utility, and increasing opportunity costs. So when it comes to feelings, if you get serious, you lose.”

”Brother Sen, I’m enlightened,” Song Yang replied after a dozen seconds of silence.

’I just spouted a few lines of bullshit, and you’re fucking enlightened?’

Chen Yansen froze, then noticed Tang Zhenzhe and the others were staring at him with pure admiration.

”What about you guys? Enlightened too?” Chen Yansen asked casually.

”The greatest truths are the simplest. Brother Sen is spot on,” Meng Xibo chimed in, responding promptly to his boss’s question.

”When it comes to romance, Brother Sen is a true master,” Zhu Xiaopeng added.

’Come on, guys. Chen Yansen’s only been in one relationship, how is he a master? I talked until my mouth was dry just now, and I didn’t see any of you praising me like this!’

Tang Zhenzhe opened his mouth, almost laughing in exasperation.

A short while later, the group of six was standing at the hotel’s front desk.

”One room. A big one,” Song Yang said, still dizzy.

The young woman at the counter stared at the group strangely. ’Six men, one room?’

”Six rooms,” Chen Yansen said flatly.

”IDs and security deposits, please.” The clerk finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After checking in, the six of them headed upstairs, but ultimately, they all filed into a single room.

The clerk, watching the security monitor, felt her imagination run wild with all sorts of indecent scenarios.

Chen Yansen only stayed in the room for half an hour before leaving. But instead of returning to his own room, he went into room 8488.

”I brought you some tea to help with the alcohol. Should I pour you a cup?” Meng Jie, dressed in a pink pajama set, playfully threw herself at him. She wrapped her arms around Chen Yansen’s waist and asked in a soft, sweet voice.

”Please.” Chen Yansen lowered his head and sniffed at Meng Jie’s neck, taking in the fresh scent of her body wash.

At his word, Meng Jie let go of Chen Yansen and hurried to get the thermos.

Chen Yansen pulled out his phone. Just as he opened the project group chat, he saw the latest sales summary: in the eight hours since launch, the Orange C3 had sold 275,000 units and the Qingcheng D1S had sold 728,000 units, for a combined total of 1,003,000 units. Revenue was as high as 1.607 billion yuan.

Of those, Kuai Pao contributed 220,000 units, Orange Mall and Pinbei’s ”Ten-Billion Subsidy” channel contributed 430,000 units, and the flagship stores on platforms like Sunning, Gome, and Taobao sold a combined total of 353,000 units.

1,003,000 units sold in eight hours!

Orange Technology was thrilled, but its competitors—Huawei, ZTE, Mountain Star, Xiaomi, and the others—were in for a world of hurt.

Normally, the total daily smartphone shipments for the entire country were just over 600,000 units. The moment Orange Mobile Phones launched, they sucked the entire market dry.

There was hardly a single phone brand whose daily sales weren’t affected. Right now, they were all cursing up a storm.

Also of note, daily sales of the Moss Smart Speaker had jumped from just over 3,000 units to more than 40,000. While this couldn’t compare to its performance in overseas markets, it was a dramatic improvement over its previously dismal sales figures.

”The tea’s still warm. It’s perfect for drinking now,” Meng Jie said, holding out the cup to Chen Yansen.

At this, Chen Yansen tossed his phone aside, downed the tea in one go, and then swept Meng Jie up into his arms, carrying her toward the bathroom.

”I’m already clean,” Meng Jie said, blushing.

”Let’s wash again. I’ll wash you this time,” Chen Yansen said with a mischievous grin.

「Meanwhile.」

After coming to an agreement, Chen Dejun and Yu Weijiao immediately set out from Hu City, driving through the night to Xucheng.

They both knew full well that the real person in charge at Clound Speed was Chen Yansen.

Liao Wei was a nobody; he couldn’t call the shots!

As long as they could sell Shentong and Yuantong for a higher price, they didn’t care who the buyer was.

Compared to Ma Liyun, both Chen Dejun and Yu Weijiao preferred to sell their companies to Chen Yansen.

Chen Yansen, the man who had defeated Shentong and Yuantong, was certainly detestable, but Ma Liyun, who was deliberately stalling to drive down the price, was an even bigger bastard.

The pair sped along, arriving at the East Gate of Xuyuan at three in the morning. They picked a nearby hotel to stay in, preparing to pay Chen Yansen a visit the next day.

Little did they know, Chen Yansen was staying right next door.

Early the next morning, both Orange Technology’s official Weibo account and Chen Yansen’s personal Weibo account posted a sales report announcing that the new Orange phone had broken one million units in sales.

If these were single-day sales, it honestly wouldn’t be that impressive of a result. But the fact that Orange Technology had broken the Apple iPhone 4S’s first-day pre-order record in just eight hours was still shocking.

「9:00 a.m.」

Chen Yansen parked his car and walked into Building 9, where Orange Technology was located.

”Boss, there are two guests in the reception area to see you. They’re the owners of Shentong Express and Yuantong Express,” the receptionist, Tian Tian, reminded him quietly.