Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

It was 10:30 PM at the Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.

Aside from Buildings Five and Six, which remained brightly lit, the other buildings were pitch-black inside and out. The employees of Orange Technology, Today Technology, and Orange Pay had already gone home long ago.

”These bastards! Trying to scam me out of overtime pay again!”

Chen Yansen cursed under his breath, a smile playing on his lips as he sat in a rattan chair on the rooftop balcony.

Did President Chen care about that little bit of overtime pay?

Of course not!

Pinbei’s monthly gross profit was as high as three billion Hua Yuan. Even if everyone worked 24/7, the salary expenditure would be a mere drop in the bucket for the company.

But today was the ”3.8 Goods Festival.” Although the promotion wasn’t on the same scale as 618, Double Eleven, or Double Twelve, it was still the most important e-commerce event of Q1.

The tradition for a big Pinbei promotion had always been: barbecue, hot pot, and beer; fried chicken, braised snacks, and Chen Yansen.

’Like some kind of mascot!’

Chen Yansen grumbled to himself.

As the boss, it was only natural for him to stay at the company and hold down the fort.

Otherwise, he would’ve long since gone back to the Delta to study Meng Jie or Song Yuncheng’s ”lock cylinder structure,” or perhaps gone to Master Ye’s place for a bowl of authentic Sichuan-style sweet soup.

Catching the scent of barbecue wafting up from the first floor, Chen Yansen patted his stomach. Just as he was about to head downstairs for a late-night snack, his phone on the table began to vibrate.

”Boss, you’re not asleep yet, are you?” Liao Wei asked tentatively.

”What’s up? You want to tell me a bedtime story?” Chen Yansen joked.

Liao Wei grinned. ”If that’s what you need, Boss, I guess I could.”

”Alright, enough nonsense. Get to the point,” Chen Yansen said.

”Air China just delivered the thirteen used passenger jets. Same as before, we’re taking them to Temasek for retrofitting first. They’re expected to be in service by July,” Liao Wei explained in an unhurried tone.

He finished his formal report before getting to the real reason for his call. ”Air China has a brand-new Gulfstream G550 business jet on hand. The asking price is only 46 million US dollars.”

”The same model as Ma Liyun’s?” Chen Yansen asked.

At the beginning of the year, Lao Ma had also bought a Gulfstream G550 for a package price of 49.7 million US dollars.

Zhang Chaoyang had been the one to tell him that.

Liao Wei chuckled. ”That’s right! The CEO of Shangde Group originally had Air China purchase the plane for him, but his company’s funding dried up last year. Now they’re desperate for cash and looking to sell it.”

’Shangde?’

It took Chen Yansen less than a second to recall the company’s general situation. A few of the packaging factories that Cloud Speed Express had acquired were, in fact, their subsidiaries.

”46 million US dollars isn’t expensive. I’ll have Old Gao contact you later,” Chen Yansen said after a moment’s thought.

A new Gulfstream G550 cost about 50 million US dollars, while a used one was around 30 million.

’I’ll buy it under the name of Senlian Capital and then register it with the Cloud Speed Express fleet. That should save some money on management and maintenance fees.’

’With my business activities becoming more and more frequent, buying a private jet is perfectly justifiable.’

As for a used plane, President Chen wouldn’t even consider it.

Whether it was cars or planes, Boss Chen never bought secondhand.

”Understood, Boss. You should get some rest,” Liao Wei replied.

Chen Yansen put his phone away, stood up, and walked toward the elevators. He planned to make one last round before heading home for the night.

DING. The elevator doors slid open slowly.

”Boss!”

”Brother Sen!”

Several employees from the Investment Attraction and Operations Department quickly greeted him.

Chen Yansen gave a slight nod. From a distance, he spotted Zhang Yifeng, Chen Xu, Li Hui, and Yuan Wei gathered together, eating skewers and drinking beer.

In reality, this was typical for a major e-commerce promotion. As long as the preliminary work was done properly, there wasn’t much to do on the day of the event itself.

”Brother Sen!” Upon seeing Chen Yansen, Li Hui quickly put down his beer and skewer, grabbed a chair for him, and placed it at the head of the group.

Chen Yansen didn’t stand on ceremony. He plopped down, took the beer Zhang Yifeng handed him, and took a large swig before asking, ”Have we hit three billion yet?”

Zhang Yifeng and Yuan Wei exchanged a smile, then shook their heads.

”Brother Sen, our average daily sales are 1.2 billion Hua Yuan. A major promotion should multiply that a few times over, right? Mr. Huang said that if we don’t hit the 4 billion sales target, our Q1 performance bonuses will be cut,” Chen Xu said.

”Brother Sen, we’re already at 4.83 billion. We’ll probably end up around 5 billion.” Li Hui, being the most straightforward of the group, didn’t dare keep his boss in suspense and reported the real number.

Chen Yansen was slightly surprised. ’The golden age of e-commerce is getting closer and closer,’ he thought.

”If you hit the 5 billion target, I’ll add another 0.2 to your Q1 bonus multiplier,” Chen Yansen said casually.

”Thanks, Brother Sen!”

Upon hearing this, they all broke into wide smiles and replied in unison.

There was still over an hour until midnight. Racking up another two hundred million would be almost too easy.

They knew full well this was just their boss’s excuse to give them a bigger bonus.

Although Pinbei’s standard was a twelve-month salary, with the four annual quarterly bonuses, employees received a minimum of sixteen months’ salary and a maximum of twenty-four.

And during every major promotion, there were additional reward systems in place.

Zhang Yifeng, for example, had taken home twenty-six months’ worth of salary last year.

”It’s getting late. I’m heading out. I won’t stay up with you guys.”

Chen Yansen only stayed for a few minutes before giving a wave and turning to leave.

「Meanwhile.」

Though Liu Qiangdong was in the Lighthouse Country, he couldn’t stop paying attention to Jingdong’s sales promotion results.

Inside a luxury apartment, he leaned back on a sofa, his eyes glued to his computer screen.

The data backend page clearly displayed the gross merchandise volume for Jingdong’s ”3.8 Big Sale”: 2.27 billion.

It was an unremarkable figure—not particularly good, but not bad either.

Liu Qiangdong let out a long sigh and turned his head toward the kitchen, where a slender figure caught his eye.

Her high ponytail and innocent, lovely appearance made him feel as if he had traveled back twenty years, reliving the wonderful days of his youth.