Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”Because Orange Technology wants to create a proprietary mobile operating system for Hua Country, we will continue to maintain the original Aurora OS for the time being.”

Wang Teng stopped to answer the reporters’ questions.

”President Wang, we heard you used to be an R&D engineer at OPPO. What are the differences in the work environments at OPPO and Orange Technology?”

”President Wang, will Tiangong Technology be entering the mobile processor field next?”

”President Wang, netizens are all saying they want to be your dad. What are your thoughts on that?”

”President Wang...”

’Be my dad?’

’What kind of ridiculous questions are these?!’

Wang Teng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He couldn’t get away, so he had no choice but to answer them one by one.

”Congratulations, President Chen. Even if the Yaocheng X1 and Aurora Future OS don’t perform as expected, Orange Technology’s shipments and revenue for 2013 will still be strong, thanks to the Qingcheng D2, Orange C3S, and the Alexa A7 Smart Speaker alone.”

He Dingyou sighed with admiration.

”We might as well try. What if it works?” Chen Yansen said with a light laugh, shrugging.

”You’ve probably heard that Microsoft is acquiring Nokia. Even an international giant like them is struggling to promote the Windows Phone system. It’s not that I lack faith in you, President Chen, but reality can be brutal,” He Dingyou replied.

”President He, the banquet doesn’t start for another hour and a half. Shall we talk?” Chen Yansen proposed.

”After you, President Chen!” He Dingyou agreed readily.

’ZTE is definitely buying the architecture license for the Orange Z1 instruction set!’

’But the difficult part is, Aurora OS has a licensing fee, while Aurora Future OS is free. Which one should ZTE choose?’

「At the same time.」

Orange Mall, Pinbei’s ”Ten Billion Subsidy” program, Jingdong, Tmall Mall, Sunning, Gome, and the Kuai Pao Flash Sale Store all posted teaser links for four new products, with a release time of 6:00 PM.

The release date for brick-and-mortar stores was set for 10:00 AM on March 19th.

Weibo, Toutiao, and the ZOL forums were flooded with discussions about Orange Technology’s new products.

The hottest topics were the Qingcheng D2, Aurora Future OS, the Celestial Craft T100, and the Orange Z1 instruction set.

Half an hour later, Ma Wenteng posted on Penguin Weibo: ”The tide of technology surges forward, and the march of innovation never ceases. Congratulations to @Orange Technology on developing the Aurora Future OS. I look forward to it connecting people with the digital world through a smarter, more user-friendly experience, empowering our lives with the warmth of technology.

All of Penguin’s apps—WeChat, QQ, Weibo, Penguin Music, Penguin Video, QQ Browser, QQ Mail, and QQ Games—will release AFOS-compatible versions to support our homegrown OS.”

A moment later, someone had already reposted Ma Wenteng’s message on Sina Weibo.

Zhou Hongyi curled his lip in disdain and rapidly tapped on his T9 keypad: ”Wishing my good brother @Chen Yansen smooth sailing ahead! May Aurora Future OS’s market share climb ever higher. 360 will fully integrate into the AFOS app ecosystem.

”Tomorrow at 10:00 AM, 5,000 units of the 360 N2, running on Aurora Future OS, will be released at a special price of just 1,599 Hua Yuan!”

When it came to chasing clout, Lao Zhou was never one to be left behind.

”President Zhou, you always say President Chen is your best friend, but you two have never interacted online. Is that for real? Or are you just bragging?” a netizen questioned.

”For real? Real friends don’t need to put on a show for everyone.”

Zhou Hongyi’s composure cracked. He replied with a dark expression, thinking, ’Maybe I should get a few photos with Chen Yansen later?’

”Fun fact: Zhou Hongyi and Chen Yansen have never been seen in the same photo, and Chen Yansen has never acknowledged Zhou Hongyi as his friend.”

’Damn it!’

’Chen Yansen never denied it, either!’

Zhou Hongyi’s face flushed red. ’I’m a big-shot CEO worth billions. Do I really need to lie about something like this?’

At that thought, he immediately stood up and started scanning the conference hall for Chen Yansen.

Following him, the heads of more than forty top internet companies—including NetEase’s Ding Lei, Sohu’s Zhang Chaoyang, Ah Li’s Ma Liyun, and Sina’s Cao Weiguo—all posted on social media in support of the Aurora Future OS.

Whether their support was genuine or not, the successive endorsements from these tycoons propelled Aurora Future OS to the number one trending spot online.

At 6:00 PM, the official Weibo account of Huaguo Daily reposted Orange Technology’s promotional poster with the caption: ”Technological innovation is the powerful force driving social progress. We are delighted to learn of Orange Technology’s successful development of the Aurora Future OS, another major achievement for our nation’s tech sector.”

In the time that followed, seven or eight other official media outlets also came out in support of Orange Technology.

Meanwhile, a hastily prepared script was delivered to the anchor of the 7:00 PM nightly news.

The anchor wiped the cold sweat from his brow and quickly familiarized himself with the script. After all, misreading a single word on air would cost him two hundred yuan from his salary.

By now, the Qingcheng D2, Orange C3S, Yaocheng X1, and Moss M7 had all gone on sale.

The Qingcheng D2 garnered the most attention.

At a price of 799 Hua Yuan, users could find no reason to complain.

The entire stock of 200,000 units was sold out in just one hour.

The 100,000 units of the Qingcheng D2 running Aurora Future OS were gone before 8:00 PM.

On the Taobao second-hand market, people immediately began reselling the new Qingcheng D2 phones they had just managed to buy, with markups generally ranging from 300 to 500 Hua Yuan.

Several hundred units were sold in just a few minutes!

It couldn’t be helped; the Qingcheng D2’s value for money was just too insane!

Yan Peng didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately told the heads of all sales channels to switch the product links to pre-order mode.

The market performance of the Orange C3S was considerably ”cooler,” selling only 127,000 units in two hours.

The Yaocheng X1 was the most expensive, yet its sales figures were jaw-dropping: a total of 73,000 units sold.

It didn’t receive the cold shoulder people expected. Despite its underdeveloped app ecosystem, the Yaocheng X1’s specs were truly worthy of a flagship killer. That, plus the 1% chance of winning a gold bar, tempted many people to take a gamble.

The Moss M7’s sales were the most dismal, with only 7,000 units sold.

For most people, the price was simply too high.

You could buy a whole Qingcheng D2 for 799 Hua Yuan, so who would want to spend 999 on a Moss M7 Smart Speaker?

Elsewhere, just as Chen Yansen and He Dingyou finished their conversation and entered the banquet hall, Zhou Hongyi sidled up, insisting on taking a photo with him.

Chen Yansen was actually a bit put off, but considering Lao Zhou contributed seven to eight hundred million in gross profit for him each year and provided tens of thousands of strands of Human Dao Fire, he finally, reluctantly, agreed.

What he didn’t expect was that Lao Zhou immediately posted the photo on Weibo.

His intentions were obvious.

’What have you got to say now, Little Heizis!’

”Feeling great, having dinner with a good friend.” Zhou Hongyi’s caption was tacky, but it was one hell of a flex.

”@President Chen Yansen, if you’ve been kidnapped, change your profile picture to this one.”

”Whoa! Did President Chen really change his profile picture?”

”Dude, stop messing around! That’s always been President Chen’s profile picture.”

”I’m dying! People actually believe a ridiculous joke like ’Zhou Hongyi kidnapped Chen Yansen’!”

But the netizens still wouldn’t let Zhou Hongyi off the hook, continuing to tease him good-naturedly.

By midnight, after eight hours of sales, the three new phones—the Qingcheng D2, Orange C3S, and Yaocheng X1—had sold a combined total of 1.727 million units.

The Qingcheng D2’s sales were in a league of their own. It completely dominated the sub-1000 yuan market, selling a total of 1.37 million units. Shipping dates for pre-orders were already backed up by five days.

The Orange C3S sold 241,000 units, and the Yaocheng X1 sold 116,000.

With a cumulative 1.727 million units sold, the total sales revenue reached a staggering 2.63 billion Hua Yuan!

Outsiders speculated that Chen Yansen was likely using low-cost smartphones to pump up sales volume, hoping to surpass Apple, ZTE, and LG in 2013 shipments to become the world’s third-largest smartphone brand.

In reality, Chen Yansen did have a similar plan, but his target wasn’t third place—it was second.

’Nokia might have had a chance if it fought alone,’ he thought. ’But by teaming up with Microsoft, it’s just going to be buried along with the Windows Phone system.’

On the other hand, increasing smartphone penetration in the domestic market would also be hugely beneficial for the growth of Orange Pay, Pinbei, Kuai Pao, and Fast Taxi.

Boss Chen already had one foot in the door of the mobile internet era; he was just waiting for smartphones and 4G networks to become widespread.

Chen Yansen didn’t finish his networking until 1:00 AM, having met with countless industry peers and suppliers.

Wu Hongxin from Mindu, representing Meitu XiuXiu, bought a user license for Aurora OS, as did ZTE.

”Isn’t Meitu XiuXiu a photo-editing app?”

On the way back to Delta, Ye Qiuping asked curiously, leaning against President Chen.

”Is that a problem?” Chen Yansen teased with a smile. ”There’s even a custom Sister Furong phone out there. Compared to that, Meitu is practically high-tech.”

The 2013 smartphone market was a chaotic free-for-all. Compared to the Sister Furong Phone and the GengPhone, Cui Jian’s ”Blue Bone” phone and Jay Chou’s uGate phone were practically normal.

The most bizarre of all was the upcoming Mountain Star Galaxy S4 Zoom. It came with a xenon flash, an external tripod mount, and was as thick as a brick. It was basically a ”digital camera that could make phone calls.”

’Making a phone call with a camera... how fucking stupid!’