Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”Principal Tang, long time no see!”

Cao Dahua walked into Tang Qingshan’s office, carrying a gift bag.

”It seems Teacher Cao’s personality has changed now that you’ve made it big. You even know to bring a gift.”

Tang Qingshan looked up, sizing up Cao Dahua from head to toe with a teasing smile.

Compared to a year ago, Cao Dahua was noticeably slimmer. He wore a dark, custom-tailored suit, and you could tell from the fabric alone that it was expensive.

The mustache on his upper lip was neatly trimmed, and his hair was slicked back in a three-seven part, giving him the air of a corporate executive.

”I used to only think about mooching tea off you. Now that I have some money, of course I have to pay you back,” Cao Dahua said with a chuckle.

”Have a seat. I just so happen to have a tin of tea from Chen Tongxue. It’s not even opened yet. You can be the first to try it.”

Tang Qingshan said with a smile.

Times had changed. Cao Dahua was no longer an instructor at the Innovation Park, nor was he the old slacker who used to coast by. He was now the general manager of the Orange Phone Factory, in charge of thirty to forty thousand employees.

”Then I’m in for a treat.” Cao Dahua habitually rubbed his hands together, pulled up a chair on his own, and sat down across from Tang Qingshan.

”Back for your year-end review?” Tang Qingshan stood up, walked to a cabinet, and picked out a tin of Cloud Mist White Tea from a row of exquisitely packaged teas.

”Yeah. President Chen’s businesses are growing, and the whole operation is getting bigger and bigger. Naturally, he can’t inspect every single one like he used to.”

Looking perfectly at home, Cao Dahua took the tea tin from Tang Qingshan’s hands and got busy boiling water for tea.

The two sat facing each other, separated by a coffee table.

”You really got lucky, latching onto someone so powerful. Once you reach the second half of your life, it’s hard to find opportunities to climb any higher,” Tang Qingshan said, looking at Cao Dahua with a sigh of emotion.

”Luck is a part of skill. It just so happened that President Chen wanted to enter the mobile phone industry, and it just so happened that I have experience in management, procurement, and operations in mobile phone manufacturing. How can you say that’s not skill?”

Cao Dahua said smugly.

”It’s a shame, though. Chen Yansen bought a 460,000-square-meter plot of industrial land in Luzhou. I’m afraid that in two years, the area around Xuyuan will be back to how it was in 2010.”

Tang Qingshan said with great reluctance, his eyes fixed on the bubbling water.

”You could always move the school over there,” Cao Dahua joked.

”You think I don’t want to?” Tang Qingshan rolled his eyes.

Moving the school was, of course, just a joke.

When the time came, even though Pinbei, Orange Technology, Today Technology, and Orange Pay would be moving away, the goodwill and connections would remain. It wouldn’t be a problem for them to take in a few hundred Xuyuan graduates each year.

At the very least, Kuai Pao, Clound Speed, and the Orange Phone Factory would have plenty of jobs to offer.

Cao Dahua grinned, his gaze passing through the window to the not-so-distant Innovation Park—the place where the second chapter of his life had begun.

...

...

「It was New Year’s Day, the first day of 2013.」

After dealing with Hu Ruihui and the others, Chen Yansen returned to the villa complex in the Delta.

’The employees were on holiday, after all. The boss couldn’t be working all the time.’

In reality, at least a third of the employees had come to the Science and Technology Park to work overtime.

The reason was simple: today, they earned triple pay.

An operations staff member with a monthly salary of 12,000 yuan could earn 1,655 yuan in overtime pay just by working for six hours.

Because of this, the overtime slots in every department were highly sought after during holidays.

Supervisors would usually create a schedule to ensure everyone got a turn, satisfying both the company and their subordinates.

But what they didn’t know was that Chen Yansen didn’t care at all.

Given the profitability of companies like Pinbei and Orange Technology, that little bit of overtime pay was a drop in the bucket—practically a bonus.

Song Yuncheng was in the kitchen cooking while Chen Yansen had carried a chair out to the fish pond. He occasionally sprinkled a handful of fish food into the water, causing several plump koi to scramble and fight over it.

The cold Hubei wind had no effect on him; even outdoors, Chen Yansen was only wearing a thin, solid-colored undershirt.

Next, after handling the collaboration with Huawei, the only thing left was the year-end work reports from the subsidiary companies.

He’d heard from Old Zuo that Cao Dahua had returned to Xucheng two days early.

Mao Chaorong was also on a plane, rushing back to the country.

Chen Yansen had originally planned to have them report online, but Gao Weilin had chimed in, ”Boss, let’s take a New Year’s group photo.”

That single sentence convinced him instantly!

Besides, Chen Yansen also wanted to use this opportunity to speak with the heads of his various holding subsidiaries one by one.

’People’s hearts are fickle!’

’Even those I handpicked can hardly be expected to stay the same forever.’

With his Spiritual Power, he could easily discern a person’s true inner thoughts from subtle information like their facial expressions, micro-expressions, and tone of voice.

He could get a pretty good idea of who was making moves behind his back.

”Dinner’s ready, Master Chen.” Just then, Song Yuncheng, wearing an apron, stood at the living room doorway and shouted loudly to Chen Yansen, interrupting his thoughts.

With the new year, Song Yuncheng was now twenty-two. Under his ”cultivation,” she had become even more radiant and lovely.

’Whoa! So I’m twenty-one... again?’

Chen Yansen was secretly amused. He stood up and ambled toward the living room.

「Two days passed in a flash.」

It was January 4th, the first workday of 2013.

Downstairs at the Science and Technology Park, luxury cars were as common as clouds in the sky.

Liao Wei stepped out of his car. Before he had taken two steps, he ran into Pei Yi, Cheng Weixing, and Xiao Jun chatting by the entrance.

”Well, well, if it isn’t President Liao. How are those MBA classes going?”

Pei Yi and Liao Wei were both based in Hu City. Privately, the two would occasionally grab a drink together, so they knew each other well.