Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

After some internal struggle, Shan Jiawei finally made the call.

「Meanwhile.」

Chen Yansen had just finished a meeting with Pei Yi and Kang Guodong when the phone on his desk rang. He glanced at it and saw it was an unknown number with a Yanjing area code.

He thought for a moment, then pressed the answer button.

”President Chen, I’m sorry to bother you so suddenly. I’m Shan Jiawei, the CEO of Lashou Network.”

Shan Jiawei introduced himself cautiously, afraid his forwardness might anger the other man.

’Shan Jiawei?’

’What does he want with me?’

Chen Yansen frowned slightly and asked nonchalantly, ”President Shan, is there something I can help you with?”

”President Chen, I’d like to ask, is your company’s Kuai Pao business still hiring?” Shan Jiawei took a deep breath and asked directly.

He didn’t dare beat around the bush with Chen Yansen. Although the other man was young, he was a genuine internet tycoon.

And entrepreneurs of that caliber generally didn’t have much patience.

If they did, it was just an act. He had been around the block at Ah Li, Meituan, and Qian Du, and he knew very well what these people were like in private.

”Were things unpleasant for you at Qian Du, President Shan?” Chen Yansen asked in return.

”President Li has his own strategic plans, and I’m not part of them.” A flash of embarrassment crossed Shan Jiawei’s face as he replied diplomatically.

”The Kuai Pao Group Buy division needs a head for its Investment Attraction team. It’s a general manager-level position, and the compensation should be similar to what you had at Meituan.”

Chen Yansen said without a second thought.

Currently at Kuai Pao, Kou Zhen was managing the Investment Attraction teams for both the Group Buy and the Takeout divisions.

That was fine in the short term, but it would likely cause problems in the long run.

”Thank you for the opportunity, President Chen. I’ll definitely do my best.” Shan Jiawei’s heart surged, and he expressed his thanks with a hint of gratitude.

”You’re an Ah Li veteran, you understand the operational models of Meituan and Lashou Network, and you have seasoned operational experience in the group-buy sector. I should be the one thanking you. Welcome to Kuai Pao, President Shan.”

Chen Yansen said coolly.

As for Shan Jiawei’s notorious reputation as a ”Three-Name House Slave,” Chen Yansen had heard of it but scoffed at the idea.

’It’s just a job, it’s not like he signed an indenture contract.’

’99.9% of companies can’t even survive for three years, yet they expect employees to stay for a lifetime. Isn’t that just being a scoundrel?’

Shan Jiawei’s business development skills were outstanding. It was only after he joined Meituan that the company fought its way up from seventh or eighth place in the market to become number one in the group-buy industry.

After Shan Jiawei joined Lashou Network, he increased its monthly transaction volume by over 30%, and Lashou Network’s final acquisition price rose from 320 million US dollars to 420 million US dollars, a clear testament to his considerable abilities.

’There’s no need to completely write someone off!’

In fact, Liu Qiangdong had a similar idea, but Jingdong’s profitability was poor, and the terms it offered simply didn’t meet Shan Jiawei’s expectations.

”Alright, President Chen,” Shan Jiawei readily agreed. He didn’t ask for too many details about the compensation package.

A tree is known by its shadow, a man by his name.

’A subsidiary of Senlian Capital was famous for its generous compensation. An internet company that dared to pay up to triple for overtime—how could they possibly shortchange him?’

’Asking for too many details would just make him seem petty and lacking vision.’

”As for the specific compensation structure, I’ll have Pei Yi discuss it with you personally.” Even if the other party didn’t ask, Chen Yansen couldn’t just leave it unsaid.

’Pay people well, and they’ll put their all into the work.’

After the brief conversation, Chen Yansen hung up the phone, shook his head with a smile, and thought to himself: ’Li Yanhong really is an idiot. Turning away such a good workhorse and pushing him right to me.’

But he also understood Li Yanhong’s thinking. People are divided into close and distant, and of course, it’s more reassuring to use your ’own people.’

Chen Yansen was sometimes the same way. For example, Yuan Wei, Ye Qiuping, and Gao Weilin were his ’own people’ from his past life, while Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, Zhuang Rui, and Hu Yun were his ’own people’ in this life.

But where he differed from Li Yanhong was that when his ’own people’ didn’t have the skills to meet his standards, he would still use outsiders without any sentimentality.

Chen Yansen then called Pei Yi and told him about Shan Jiawei.

”Boss, this guy has a bad reputation,” Pei Yi reminded him in a low voice.

”Old Pei, how can you be just like those idiots out there? Who doesn’t change jobs in their lifetime? Shan Jiawei’s execution is top-notch. Once he joins Kuai Pao, he’ll give you a whole new way of thinking about management for the on-the-ground promotion structure and organizational framework...”

Chen Yansen scolded irritably.

For example, Jingdong had an unwritten ’Three-Five Rule’ for hiring: no more than three companies in the past five years, with each job lasting an average of more than two years, or at least one job lasting more than three years.

But in practice, as long as a candidate was strong enough, the ’Three-Five Rule’ could be broken at any time.

To put it bluntly, rules were tools to restrain the weak, not to limit the strong.

Chen Yansen was the boss; he made the rules.

”Boss, in that case, can I recommend Zhang Xuhao to be the head of the Group Buy division?” Pei Yi’s heart leaped with joy as he asked boldly.

He had intentionally used Shan Jiawei to test Chen Yansen’s reaction. Seeing that the boss didn’t mind a subordinate’s history of frequent job-hopping, he finally brought up the real matter.

”Did Zhang Xuhao bribe you?” Chen Yansen’s eyes narrowed slightly as he teased in a low voice.

”After talking with Zhang Xuhao, I feel his management skills aren’t bad. The reason he lost to Kuai Pao was mainly because he was at a huge disadvantage in terms of funding and traffic.”

Pei Yi replied, choosing his words carefully.

”Let him start as a regional manager first. We’ll see if he has the ability or not in a year or so.”

Chen Yansen tactfully rejected Pei Yi’s suggestion.

’Zhang Xuhao and Pei Yi were both from Hu City; he needed to balance the various factions within the company.’

’Besides, it was a fact that Zhang Xuhao had lost to Kuai Pao. To give him the title of division head out of thin air... what would the people under him think? How could they be convinced to obey him?’

’Shan Jiawei could get the general manager position for the Investment Attraction department because he had made a name for himself in the industry. Meituan’s on-the-ground promotion ”iron army” was renowned.’

’But even Shan Jiawei didn’t manage to get the position of head of the Group Buy division. For Zhang Xuhao to show up and expect to be parachuted into a top position—in his dreams!’

’Let’s see some results first!’

”Understood, Boss.” Pei Yi’s heart sank. He instantly realized that his act of recommending Zhang Xuhao might have crossed a line.

After a moment of thought, Pei Yi didn’t try to explain further.

’Some things only get worse the more you try to explain them.’

After giving his instructions, Chen Yansen tossed his phone aside and continued writing the underlying architecture for the Aurora Future OS. He planned to use a hybrid microkernel design, combining the advantages of the QNX and L4 microkernels.

Orange Mobile Phone’s shipment volume in the country was no less than Mountain Star’s. The time was ripe to develop a proprietary OS.

Although the open-source parts of the Android system could be used for free, the initiative was in Google’s hands. Who could guarantee that Google wouldn’t, for some reason, restrict or change Android’s usage rules, licensing methods, or pricing policies?

Chen Yansen didn’t want to do all the work just for Google to reap the benefits. And the 2012 timeline was perfect.

Smartphones were just taking off, and shipment volumes were far from their peak. By entering the market now and leveraging Orange Technology’s market influence, it might be possible to change the landscape of mobile operating systems.

Otherwise, if he waited a few more years until the Android and iOS app ecosystems were dominant, it would be much more difficult to change users’ habits.

The difficulty would be tantamount to making a lifelong vegetarian suddenly start eating meat.

Habit is a very powerful force.

「At the same time.」

Below the Meituan Headquarters, more than thirty delivery riders had gathered, blocked outside by security guards.

”Wang Xin, you son of a bitch! Get your ass out here and see if I don’t smash your head in!”

”He cancels our contracts just like that! No more base salary or social security! And he still wants to compete with Kuai Pao? Ptooey!”

”This is disgusting! Brothers, let’s just go to Kuai Pao. They’re hiring anyway.”

The riders, dressed in Meituan Takeout work uniforms, shouted and cursed chaotically.

The reason was simple. Meituan had issued an order in the morning only to rescind it by evening, abolishing the full-time rider system and switching to an outsourcing model.

All their benefits were canceled, and their official full-time positions were turned into temporary ones. Who could accept that?

Wang Xin stood by the window, glanced down, and said to Wang Huiwen, ”Compensate each of them with half a month’s base salary and get rid of them.”