Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

At dawn the next day, the sky was just beginning to lighten as a fine drizzle fell outside.

Chen Yansen slowly opened his eyes. He gently moved Song Yuncheng, who was lying on top of him, to the side before slipping on his shoes, getting out of bed, and heading to the bathroom.

He showered, brushed his teeth, and washed his face, then changed into a clean set of pajamas and lay on the sofa to read.

The pitter-patter of rain and splashing water outside brought a hint of chill to the late summer morning.

But Liang Changlin’s heart felt as if it had plunged into an icy abyss. He couldn’t stop cursing Pei Yi.

Dingdong Community had only been online for a month. Despite having very little business overlap with Kuai Pao, it had already been targeted.

At 10:00 AM on August 28, the Kuai Pao app updated to include a new lifestyle services section, adding housekeeping, document printing, laundry, locksmithing, and home appliance repair to its business scope.

In an instant, Dingdong Community’s business partners began flocking to Kuai Pao.

The daily active user count plummeted from 1,200 to 800, while order volume dropped from 400 to 300. Their business had shrunk by a quarter overnight.

Pei Yi’s move was a crushing blow to Liang Changlin.

Dingdong Community hadn’t even made it out of the tutorial zone before it was being targeted by the final boss.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t terrified.

Even giants like Meituan, Dianping, and Lashou Network had to be on high alert and actively respond to Kuai Pao’s challenge; what hope did Dingdong Community have?

His only saving grace was that he had managed to secure a 100 million Hua Yuan angel investment just before Kuai Pao launched its lifestyle services.

But Liang Changlin knew this money wouldn’t last long. When it came to a price war, he was no match for Pei Yi.

In terms of deep pockets, Dingdong Community couldn’t hold a candle to Kuai Pao. After all, Kuai Pao was taking on three major rivals at once—fighting evenly against Wang Xin, Zhang Tao, and Gong Zhenbing—which spoke volumes about its financial backing.

’Avoid a direct confrontation? Pivot to other services?’

’But what business could I pivot to?’

Liang Changlin stood on his balcony, pinching a Zhonghua cigarette between his fingers. He took a drag from time to time, but no good ideas came to mind.

「8:40 AM. Longcao Road No. 200, Yiyuan Office Building.」

Dressed immaculately in a crisp suit, Shan Jiawei drove into the parking lot, popped open an umbrella, and jogged into Building A.

”Sorry, we’re not signing up for any credit cards or buying insurance. Please leave,” an employee from Kuai Pao’s Market Department said, looking up at the newly arrived Shan Jiawei with a frown, already trying to usher him out.

No one at Kuai Pao Headquarters ever dressed that formally. Most employees wore T-shirts, button-downs, and shorts.

Last week, a credit card agent had snuck in, and by invoking the company’s name, had actually managed to fool a few naive employees.

At this thought, the employee muttered to himself, ’The security guard at the back door must be slacking off again.’

Shan Jiawei paused, momentarily stunned. He glanced down at his suit, which had cost over 6,000 Hua Yuan, and couldn’t help but wonder, ’Do I really look like an insurance salesman?’

He gave a wry smile and extended his hand. ”Hello, I’m Shan Jiawei, the Director of Investment Attraction for the Group Buy Division.”

’The Director of Investment Attraction for the Group Buy Division?’

’Shan Jiawei?’

With that, Shan Jiawei presented his credentials.

Now it was the marketing employee’s turn to be surprised. His eyes went wide, his face flushing with embarrassment. ”My apologies, President Shan!”

”No worries. I suppose I am a bit overdressed. What department are you in?”

Seeing it was still early, Shan Jiawei wasn’t in a hurry to report to Pei Yi. Instead, he leaned against the desk and struck up a conversation.

”Market Department. I’m Zhao Kai,” he replied, glancing nervously at Shan Jiawei, afraid the executive would make his life difficult later.

”Oh, so you must be part of the ’Thousand Talents, Hundred Cities’ plan, then! You guys are routing Meituan, Lashou, and Dianping. Your team is every bit as capable as Ah Li’s Huagong Iron Army!”

Shan Jiawei gave him a thumbs-up, his tone as casual as if he were chatting with an old friend.

”President Shan, I heard you and the founder of DiDi Dache both came from the Huagong Iron Army. Is that true?”

Seeing that Shan Jiawei had no intention of reporting him, Zhao Kai immediately relaxed and asked with a grin.

”You mean Cheng Wei? He did spend time with the Hua Country suppliers, but the one who made it furthest is Lu Zhaoxi, the president of Ah Li. He used to be my boss. Kuai Pao is growing fast in the Group Buy business. What’s its current market share...?”

After a brief reply, Shan Jiawei seized the opportunity to probe for information about Kuai Pao, chatting with Zhao Kai about the latest industry shifts.

Shan Jiawei was only discovered when Pei Yi happened to be passing through the first floor.

”President Shan, welcome to Kuai Pao!” Pei Yi didn’t overthink the situation, simply clearing his throat and stepping forward to greet him.

”President Pei, I’ve heard so much about you! Frankly, I’ve been eager to report for duty, but I had to tie up loose ends at Lashou first. You’re even younger and more accomplished than I imagined, President Pei. Defeating Eleme in two months and then creating the ’Thousand Talents, Hundred Cities’ plan—truly impressive!”

Shan Jiawei abandoned Zhao Kai and strode forward to meet him. He leaned in slightly, a smile on his face, speaking with smooth eloquence.

This served two purposes: first, to show he was a man who finished what he started, and second, to lay the flattery on thick.

No boss dislikes an employee who’s quick-witted and knows how to talk.

Hearing this, the corners of Pei Yi’s mouth lifted in a slight smile.

’If I hadn’t hitched my wagon to a powerhouse like Chen Yansen,’ Pei Yi thought, ’I probably wouldn’t even have the right to be making small talk with Shan Jiawei right now.’

Just then, Zhang Xuhao, who had been transferred to the Hu City Branch only two days prior, walked up behind them. When he heard Shan Jiawei mention ”Eleme,” his expression froze.

’Shit!’

’I have to make a name for myself at Kuai Pao, or I’ll spend the rest of my life as nothing more than a backdrop for Pei Yi’s success.’

Zhang Xuhao silently made a vow.

Pei Yi heard the movement behind him. Catching sight of Zhang Xuhao out of the corner of his eye, he pulled him forward. ”This is Zhang Xuhao,” he said, ”head of the East China Region for our Group Buy Division. You two will be working together, so you should connect.”

”President Zhang, a pleasure.” Shan Jiawei shook Zhang Xuhao’s right hand in a polite greeting.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the name sounded familiar.

”President Shan, hello. I’m that Zhang Xuhao—the one President Pei defeated. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Zhang Xuhao adjusted his glasses and said with a self-deprecating laugh.

”Shit! You lost to the big boss!” Pei Yi roared with laughter.

Shan Jiawei’s unease vanished in an instant. If Chen Yansen was willing to take in a defeated rival like Zhang Xuhao, he surely wouldn’t mind Shan Jiawei’s own history of job-hopping.

Zhang Xuhao, standing opposite him, had a similar thought. ’If Chen Yansen is willing to hire a ”Three-Name House Slave,” he probably won’t hold me back at Kuai Pao.’

The two men looked at each other and smiled, their anxieties finally put to rest.

With Shan Jiawei and Zhang Xuhao’s help, Pei Yi found the task of acquiring and restructuring Nuomi Network to be much smoother.

After all, Shan Jiawei had single-handedly spearheaded the optimization of Lashou Network’s offline promotion structure. His methods were experienced, mature, and ruthlessly efficient.

Moreover, Shan Jiawei’s arrival would inject Kuai Pao with the Huagong Iron Army’s sales incentive system, spirit of sharing, talent development mechanisms, and powerful execution.

With this, Kuai Pao’s core leadership team began to take shape.

「Meanwhile.」

Far away in Yanjing, Cheng Wei was leveraging his startup experience from DiDi Dache. He had easily assembled an R&D team in an office building near Digital Valley and was now working around the clock to develop the ”DiDi Bike” app.

To enable ”direct communication” between the user and the DiDi Bike, the most critical issue was solving the technical challenges of positioning and communication.

Fortunately, by 2012, it was possible to use a built-in GPS module to obtain the bike’s real-time LBS location data, making it convenient for both users to find bikes and for the company to manage its fleet.

The communication module could use an SMS interface; the bike would unlock automatically after receiving an unlock command from the server via text message.

In addition, significant work was needed on the smart lock, its power supply system, and the design of the bike itself.

”President Li, yes. All right, we can discuss the details in person.”

Cheng Wei smiled faintly, hanging up the phone in satisfaction.

Compared to the rocky fundraising journey of DiDi Dache, things were going much more smoothly for DiDi Bike. The app’s development had barely begun, yet Li Fukei, the head of Innovation Workshop, had already extended an olive branch.

Although he was undoubtedly a ”failure” in the ride-hailing market—having had control of the very company he founded snatched away by Li Yanhong—DiDi Dache’s staggering 4 billion valuation was no fiction.

Typically, any entrepreneur who could get a project’s valuation to the billion-level was already considered a top player.

Judging by results alone, Cheng Wei’s business acumen was clearly sound, which was the main reason Li Fukei was willing to invest.

This time, however, Cheng Wei had learned his lesson. He set up a dual-class share structure and made it clear to Li Fukei that he would only be offering Class A shares, which came with minimal voting rights.

In other words, Innovation Workshop would share in the project’s financial returns, but would have no control over the company.

Li Fukei agreed readily without a moment’s hesitation.

After collecting his thoughts, Cheng Wei grabbed his car keys from the desk, took an assistant with him, and sped off toward their appointed meeting place.

... ...

”The Eastern European market? You don’t need to report the details to me. Just go for it. I trust your abilities.”

Chen Yansen said dismissively, looking at Zhou Shouzhi from across his desk.

Zhou Shouzhi wanted to leverage DST’s network to sell Orange Mobile Phones in Eastern Europe first, then use that as a launchpad to enter Western Europe, and finally, North and South America.

”Consumers in some Eastern European countries are quite price-sensitive and prefer low- to mid-range products,” Zhou Shouzhi explained. ”I think we should lead with the Orange D1 and Qingcheng D1S, supplemented by the Orange C3, to gradually penetrate the local market.”

He said confidently, handing over a written proposal.

”Coordinate with Zhang Cong and Zhou Ze for the product modification plan. For network compatibility and software localization, talk to Wang Teng.”

Chen Yansen nodded slightly, laying out the arrangements for Zhou Shouzhi.

Eastern European winters are long and cold, so the phones’ stability in low temperatures was paramount. The casing, internal components, and batteries would all need to be adjusted to prevent them from freezing up or suffering significant battery drain in the cold.

As for sales channels, they could simply rely on the carriers and offline retailers that DST Capital already had relationships with.

Not a single cent of the salary Chen Yansen paid Zhou Shouzhi would go to waste. For anyone else, trying to secure deals with local Eastern European carriers without an established network would be a fool’s errand.

In the Eastern European market, carriers were responsible for half of all smartphone sales, with offline retailers accounting for 40% and online sales making up a mere 10%—a stark contrast to the situation in Hua Country.

”Understood, boss,” Zhou Shouzhi replied with a smile.

It was only after joining Orange Technology that he learned that Orange Mobile Phone’s total online sales in Hua Country were already strong enough to claim the number one spot.

Mountain Star might be formidable, but in the low- to mid-range market, Orange Mobile Phone was the undisputed king.

If he could help Chen Yansen build out the company’s overseas markets, Orange Technology’s valuation would surely surpass 50 billion, 100 billion, or even 200 billion US Dollars.

This stage was every bit as grand as the one at DST!