Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The pen holder on the desk wobbled, and the pens inside knocked against each other with a soft clatter.

Two hours later, the moon hung high in the inky-black night, and all was quiet again.

Chen Yansen plopped down into a chair and let out a long sigh.

He leaned back in his chair with a smile, watching Ye Qiuping clean up the mess. It was as if he had returned to a scene from their past life together.

”I’ve made some sweet soup.”

Three minutes later, Ye Qiuping, now fully dressed, said in a soft voice.

”Next time.”

Chen Yansen waved his hand, signaling that Master Ye could leave.

The expression on Ye Qiuping’s face froze. She cursed inwardly, ’He turns into a different person the second he zips up his pants. He’s worse than an animal.’

”Okay, Boss,” Ye Qiuping replied.

”I like Sichuan-style pickled vegetables,” a soft voice said from behind her just as she was about to walk out of the office.

”I can make those, too,” Ye Qiuping said, turning to look at Chen Yansen with a smile.

Chen Yansen didn’t say anything, just gave a slight nod.

Ye Qiuping’s mood brightened instantly. Holding her head high, she walked toward the elevators, her footsteps echoing, TAP, TAP, TAP.

Chen Yansen’s gaze lowered as he muttered under his breath, ”Mom, that’s number three. You still haven’t come to me in a dream to tell me which one you like best. I guess I’ll just have to keep trying.”

After a moment of reflection, he rubbed his stomach and pushed the door open. He decided to head to the cafeteria for a bowl of beef noodle soup to replenish his energy.

He took the elevator to the first floor and strolled leisurely toward the cafeteria.

It was long past dinner time, and the noodle chef in the cafeteria was just about to leave for the day when he saw his boss strolling in.

”President Chen, you haven’t eaten yet? Should I make you a bowl of fine noodles?”

The chef quickly stopped what he was doing and greeted him with a wide grin.

He used to work in a hotel kitchen downtown, where he was worked half to death for so-so pay. Then, by a stroke of luck, he came across a job posting for the Orange Technology cafeteria.

He had only intended to check it out, but during the interview, the HR representative listed a whole slew of benefits, including but not limited to: a base salary, overtime pay, quarterly bonuses, a housing allowance, a meal stipend, a transportation allowance, social security and a housing fund, holiday bonuses, and a travel fund—over a dozen benefits in total.

He had asked dumbfoundedly, ”Chefs get a travel fund, too?”

To his surprise, the HR rep had laughed and said, ”It’s just another excuse for the boss to give us money. It’s like the housing allowance—whether you rent or not, you get the money. Everyone gets it.”

He signed the employment contract on the spot, terrified of missing out on a dream job.

”Make it leek-leaf width. The finer ones aren’t satisfying enough,” Chen Yansen replied.

With that, he found a place to sit.

”You got it! Coming right up!” the noodle chef responded immediately.

Chen Yansen took out a 64GB Orange C3, opened the Toutiao app, and started scrolling through trending news.

”The iPhone 5 is Here! Orange C3 Sales May Be Affected!”

”A Rundown of Goofs and Gaffes in ’iPartment 3’!”

”Behind-the-Scenes Footage of ’Lost in Thailand’ Leaked!”

”Dangdang Network CEO Li Guoqing Slams Jingdong: ’They Only Have Enough Cash to Burn Until September!’”

”The Disappearing ’Three Passes and One Reach’: Shentong and Yuantong Express to Follow Yunda and Zhongtong, Merging into Cloud Speed Express!”

”Jingdong Cancels CPS Rebates, Confirming Rumors of a Cash Crunch!”

’Handsome Dong is out of money?’

Chen Yansen thought for a moment before dismissing Li Guoqing’s baseless speculation. ’If it weren’t for Zhao Yingchun bringing in the investment from the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Fund, would she have become Jingdong’s Vice President?’

Ma Wenteng had told him this news personally. Li Guoqing was either uninformed or just trying to mess with Liu Qiangdong, hoping to use public opinion to create negative press for Jingdong.

Chen Yansen kept scrolling. The following articles were all about the latest developments in the group-buy and food delivery industries. At 10 a.m., Qian Du had announced it would soon be launching Qian Du Delivery, officially entering the food delivery war.

Meituan and Dianping were immediately matching the marketing policies of Kuai Pao and Lashou Network, desperately issuing coupons to users to protect their market share.

A cup of Shanghai Auntie bubble tea, normally 7.9 yuan with a group buy, could be had for a final price of 2.9 yuan with stacked coupons. They were selling seven to eight thousand cups a day. The lines outside the milk tea shops were massive, full of customers waiting to redeem their vouchers.

Pei Yi’s move was even more ruthless. He launched four daily 1-yuan flash sales that covered most milk tea brands, like Happy Lemon, CoCo, and Bi Feng Tang.

In addition, there were tons of 9.9-yuan group-buy flash sales for services like haircuts, KTV, teeth cleaning, billiards, and internet cafes.

After absorbing Nuomi Network’s resources, Kuai Pao even started making moves in the hotel and movie ticket categories, dropping prices to rock bottom.

Whatever category had high gross profits for Meituan and Dianping, Pei Yi would attack it.

This infuriated Wang Xin and Zhang Tao, who cursed him up and down, but they had no choice but to follow suit and lower their prices.

When no one was making a gross profit, the company with the best service fulfillment and strongest after-sales support would be the one to win over the users.

Chen Yansen had instructed Pei Yi that if a merchant or group-buy product handled by a member of the ground-promotion team failed to let a customer redeem a voucher three times, that team member was to be fired immediately!

The less money you make, the more you have to perfect the user experience!

”President Chen, your noodles.”

Just then, the noodle chef brought over a steaming bowl of noodles and set it down gently. A thick layer of beef floated in the broth.

Chen Yansen picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat heartily.

「At the same time.」

Far away in Hang City, at the Ali Headquarters, Ma Liyun paced back and forth in his office, his face etched with anxiety.

”This is impossible! Chen Yansen has no reason to offer such a high price. It’s completely inconsistent with his usual way of doing things.”

”It’s all Chen Dejun and Yu Weijiao’s fault. If they had come to me together, I absolutely would have paid to acquire Shentong and Yuantong.”

”What am I going to do about Cainiao Logistics?”

Ma Liyun’s brow was tightly furrowed as he muttered to himself. Due to his misjudgment, he had personally pushed Shentong and Yuantong Express into the hands of Cloud Speed.

As it stood, the only delivery companies that had verbally agreed to join Cainiao Logistics were Shunfeng, Best, Tiantian, Guofeng, and a few others. Aside from Shunfeng and Best, whose parcel volumes ranked in the industry’s top ten, the rest were all obscure, minor players.

Their industry standing and delivery efficiency had fallen to the point where buyers were disgusted: ”If you dare ship with Tiantian or Guofeng, I’m giving you a one-star review!”

”Mr. Ma, could this actually be a good thing for both Cainiao and Best?” Lu Zhaoxi, who was sitting to the side, suddenly asked.

”Perhaps. The delivery war is finally over.”

Ma Liyun let out a long sigh and spoke with a bitter smile.

The reason he hadn’t invested in Shentong and Yuantong was partly to drive down the price, and partly because funds were, in fact, tight.

To ensure their ’own son,’ Best Express, survived the price war, Ali had pumped in a great deal of capital.

In terms of shareholding, Ali Baba had long since become the largest shareholder of Best Express.

In fact, Ma Liyun and Lu Zhaoxi’s guess was correct.

Three days earlier, Liao Wei had received an order from Chen Yansen: Cloud Speed’s shipping rates for small e-commerce packages would be raised from a minimum of 1.5 yuan to 3.5 yuan, depending on the region and shipping distance.

For merchants shipping fewer than 2,000 orders a month, the minimum price was 5 yuan.

In short, the delivery price war, which had lasted nearly a year, had come to a temporary close.

Cloud Speed Express was about to shift from a loss-making model to a profitable one, and everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Of course, for merchants on Pinbei, especially those supported by the farmer-assistance program, Cloud Speed also introduced corresponding preferential policies: for packages under one kilogram, the price per parcel would range from 2.5 to 3 yuan.

Upon hearing this news, merchants from Taobao and Jingdong flocked to open stores on Pinbei, viewing it as their second most important online sales channel.

When the owners of Tiantian and Guofeng heard that Cloud Speed Express was raising its prices, they actually felt a sense of relief, as if they had survived a catastrophe.

At least they had survived. More than twenty other private express companies, like Speed Peak, Guotong, Kuai Jie, Su’er, and Flying Leopard, had died without a sound, failing to even make a ripple.

「Meanwhile.」

After finishing dinner, Chen Yansen drove back to Xuyuan. Along the way, he saw many students with suitcases heading toward the school.

September was just around the corner—it was the annual back-to-school season!

He had already discussed the contract phone plans for the Orange C3 and Qingcheng D1S with Zhao Maolin last week. Unlike outside the province, the prices in Huian Province were lower, and the plans were more generous.

The Bentley drove onto campus.

A minute later, Chen Yansen parked and went upstairs. Just as he reached the fourth floor, he saw a familiar figure and couldn’t help but think, ’She’s getting bolder and bolder.’