Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”Choice is more important than effort. In the e-commerce industry, I discovered a brand-new niche: piggybacking on platforms like Tmall Mall, Jingdong, and Sunning. By leveraging their product and merchant resources, we launched a shopping guide e-commerce platform that provides supporting services to merchants, the platforms, and users. As it turns out, my choice was the right one.”

Chen Yansen replied.

”Orange Pay’s ’Collect the Five Blessings’ event has become a phenomenal marketing campaign. Where did that idea come from?” Chen Hongwei asked.

”The inspiration came from collecting stamps and Water Margin cards as a child. Chinese people have a strong penchant for collecting things, but the key was figuring out how to generate commercial value from the event.

To achieve that, we designed it with three layers. The first is social fission; you have to share to collect them all. The second is brand exposure; every blessing card comes with an ad. The third is creating payment scenarios; you get more blessing cards by using products like Pinbei, Gaode, and Kuai Pao.

That way, we solved user growth, ad revenue, and the cultivation of payment habits all at once.”

Chen Yansen smiled faintly and spouted some nonsense off the cuff.

”I heard that event earned Orange Pay over 60 million. Is that true?” Chen Hongwei pressed, curious.

”Just a rumor. While we covered some of the costs through advertising partnerships, it was nowhere near 100 million.”

Chen Yansen flatly denied it.

’I can’t very well tell the users that Orange Pay made money *and* gained traffic, can I?’

’Some things are better left unsaid, for everyone’s benefit. It saves the users from feeling like idiots.’

Chen Hongwei was secretly amused, thinking, ’As expected of a business genius. He can lie without batting an eye.’

”In the e-commerce sector, Ah Li and Jingdong already hold an absolute advantage. How did Pinbei manage to find a breakthrough?” Chen Hongwei continued to ask.

”My thinking is the exact opposite of yours. While Ah Li and Jingdong have high market shares, there are still untapped lower-tier markets they can’t reach. Besides, Pinbei can use group buying models and social fission to lower customer acquisition costs.”

Chen Yansen said dismissively.

”President Chen, from what I understand, Pinbei launched an agricultural assistance program, bringing agricultural products from all over the country onto its e-commerce platform. In 2012 alone, it generated over 40 billion in transaction volume. Compared to products like cosmetics and home appliances, the profit margin on agricultural products is low. Why did you do it?” Chen Hongwei asked seriously, his eyes fixed on Chen Yansen.

”To compete with Ah Li and Jingdong by targeting a different market segment, creating a differentiating advantage for our platform. And to increase the income of merchants in towns and rural areas. The dividends of internet technology should be shared by everyone, not confined to first- and second-tier cities.”

Chen Yansen replied with a straight face.

He was also quite skilled at spouting lofty rhetoric and grand principles.

His statement sounded innocuous at first, but upon reflection, it carried an audacious undertone of criticism. The university students in the audience were deeply moved.

Chen Hongwei’s heart skipped a beat. He turned to look at the producer and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the man nod.

”President Chen, what is Orange Technology’s next focus? Artificial intelligence or internationalization?”

Chen Hongwei quickly changed the subject, not daring to probe any deeper. He was afraid that Chen Yansen, in a fit of passion, might shout something like, ”The wheat has been harvested thousands of times, but the farmers shouldn’t have to suffer so much.”

”Why choose one? I believe we can walk on two legs,” Chen Yansen answered succinctly.

He paused, then added, ”Both are very important. In terms of AI, Orange Technology established an Artificial Intelligence Laboratory focused on breakthroughs in computer vision, speech recognition, and natural language processing. Moss and the Alexa Smart Speaker are the results of the AI Lab’s research.”

”As for internationalization, we’ve chosen Africa as our first stop and the Eastern European Market as our second. Last year, total sales for the Orange Mobile Phone were 6.7 million units. This year, our target is 20 million.”

Seeing that Chen Yansen wasn’t causing any more trouble, Chen Hongwei felt a great weight lift from his chest. He smiled and said, ”President Chen, do you think young people today should work for a big company or start their own business?”

”My advice is to first work at a large company for two or three years. The skills required for entrepreneurship are too comprehensive. If you can quickly build industry knowledge and accumulate network resources, you can shorten that time to one or two years.”

”In this era, the only constant is change itself. A company’s moat isn’t technology or capital, but the ability to continuously innovate.”

Chen Yansen said in a slow, deliberate manner.

Meanwhile, on the LED screen behind the stage, a video montage produced by the ”Dialogue” crew played continuously, featuring interviews with people from various positions, including Cloud Speed Couriers, Orange Phone Factory workers, and Kuai Pao Deliverymen.

After that, the rest of the recording went very smoothly. An episode usually took two or three hours to film, but today, the entire process took only an hour and a half.

”President Chen, thank you for your hard work and cooperation.” Chen Hongwei, along with the producer, director, and others, saw Chen Yansen out of the television station.

Chen Yansen exchanged a few pleasantries, then got into the Maybach 62S with Song Yuncheng and sped away.

”I finally get it. I see why the higher-ups chose him to be their poster boy. His ability and emotional intelligence are impeccable. He’s aggressive when he speaks, but he knows exactly where the line is,” the director sighed.

”Well, he’s a young man. Like the sun at seven or eight in the morning,” Chen Hongwei chimed in with a smile.

”You two are too naive! Every single word he said was carefully calculated. An entrepreneur who can make tens of billions of US Dollars doesn’t have much room for sentimentality in his head.”

The producer analyzed calmly.

”This episode of ’Dialogue’ is probably going to blow up,” Chen Hongwei said, recalling Chen Yansen’s final remarks. If they managed to pass censorship, they would definitely thrust him into the eye of the storm.

”Don’t worry about it. The big shots upstairs are all watching,” the producer said with a purse of his lips, turning to walk back inside.

「Elsewhere.」

Chen Yansen returned to his hotel to rest for a bit. At six o’clock, he took a car to Jingzhao Prefect.

Zhou Hongyi had privately invited him seven or eight times. After all, the man was a major client of the Orange Phone Factory, so he couldn’t keep turning him down.

The addition of Accountant Jia piqued his interest a little more.

Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of the entrance to Jingzhao Prefect.

Zhou Hongyi was pulling Jia Yaoting along. The two of them stood beside a screen wall, craning their necks to look out. The moment they saw Chen Yansen get out of the car, they immediately rushed over to greet him.

He knew perfectly well that without Orange Technology’s help, the 360 Mobile Phone would be no match for Xiaomi.

This past year, he had thoroughly trounced Lei Yijun, and now, seeing Chen Yansen, he was as enthusiastic as if he were greeting a long-lost relative.

Jia Yaoting followed close behind, carefully sizing up the young man before him.

He was around twenty years old, dressed in an indigo shirt under a suit jacket. He was a full head taller than Jia Yaoting, who had to look up at him.

”President Chen, it’s not easy to get a meeting with you,” Zhou Hongyi said with a cheerful laugh.

”Then why didn’t you come find me in Xucheng?” Chen Yansen retorted.

As he spoke, he glanced at Jia Yaoting out of the corner of his eye.

’What a talent!’

’The master of building cars with PowerPoint slides. He could spin circles around both Chinese and foreign investors. If not for his bad luck, Jia Yaoting might have actually succeeded.’

”Hello, President Chen. I’m Jia Yaoting from LeTV Network. I’ve long heard of your reputation. I hope you’ll forgive my presumption in crashing President Zhou’s dinner party today.”

Seeing Chen Yansen look his way, Jia Yaoting immediately stepped forward to introduce himself.

”President Jia, a pleasure,” Chen Yansen replied.

”Let’s go inside and chat,” Zhou Hongyi suggested.

With that, he led Chen Yansen and Jia Yaoting around a courtyard patio, through pavilions and terraces, and into a quaint, antique-style private room.

As soon as they sat down, Zhou Hongyi beamed and said, ”Last year, the 360 Mobile Phone sold 1.13 million more units than Xiaomi, all thanks to your support, President Chen. For this first drink, I must toast you.”

”The 360 N2 will run on the Aurora Future OS, right? No problem?” Chen Yansen asked abruptly, raising the glass to his lips before pausing.

”I trust Orange Technology, and I trust you even more, President Chen,” Zhou Hongyi said, laying on the flattery.

’In any case, Chen Yansen isn’t forcing the 360 N2 to use Aurora Future OS. When the time comes, I’ll just release two versions and let the users choose for themselves, won’t I?’

Jia Yaoting looked at Zhou Hongyi and couldn’t help but think, ’If even a character like this can make mobile phones, why can’t LeTV?’