Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

A girl who had just turned twenty, brimming with youth, was bound to be pretty.

She had fair skin, a slender waist, and long legs. Her bust was surprisingly ample, almost rivaling Song Yuncheng’s.

Unlike their previous two meetings, this time Xu Jiujiu was dressed more maturely. When she smiled, the dimples on her cheeks deepened.

”Miss Xu, we meet again.”

Chen Yansen greeted her with a gentle smile.

After all, she was a major client and a loyal Orange Mobile Phone user, so it was worth his while to greet her first.

”President... President Chen, you remember me?” Xu Jiujiu beamed, her eyes curving into crescents.

”I’m not senile,” Chen Yansen joked.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they entered the private room and sat down.

”Would you like a soda or juice, Miss Xu?” Chen Yansen asked.

”President Chen, can you call me ’Jiujiu’? All my friends call me that,” Xu Jiujiu made her first request.

”No problem. So, what would you like to drink?” Chen Yansen smiled, repeating the question nonchalantly.

”I’d like some yellow wine. I swiped it from my dad,” Xu Jiujiu said, lifting an exquisite gift bag and pulling out a jar of collector’s edition Shaoxing jiafan wine.

’Swiped it?’

’What a dutiful daughter!’

Chen Yansen glanced at the jar. With his experience, he could tell it was a fine vintage, worth at least thirty thousand Hua Yuan on the market.

Seeing this, a nearby waiter quickly took the jar to have it warmed.

”President Chen, can I ask a personal question?” Xu Jiujiu asked cautiously.

”You can, but just one,” Chen Yansen replied.

”Do you have a girlfriend?” Xu Jiujiu asked boldly, her gaze fixed on Chen Yansen.

”I do,” Chen Yansen said with a grin.

Xu Jiujiu deflated instantly. Deep down, she knew that for a man with Chen Yansen’s talent, looks, and status, not having a girlfriend would be more alarming than having one.

After a moment’s thought, she asked, ”Is the relationship serious? How long have you two been together?”

”Sorry, Jiujiu, but that’s the second and third question. I can’t answer those.”

Chen Yansen said with a mischievous smile.

Xu Jiujiu’s face fell. She hadn’t expected him to be such a stickler. She pouted, ”President Chen, can we just count that as one question, please?”

It was a trick she’d only ever used on her dad, and it had never failed. That was how she’d gotten the over ninety million for her Yu’e Bao account.

”I’m a man of principle,” Chen Yansen said, shaking his head.

He was starting to get it. Xu Jiujiu had an ulterior motive. Her mentality was no different from a celebrity fangirl’s. She had deposited nearly a hundred million into Yu’e Bao just for the sake of ’chasing her idol’.

President Chen scorned such people.

But then it occurred to him that he was the ’idol’ she was chasing, and a hint of embarrassment crept onto his face.

”Oh... okay,” Xu Jiujiu said, clearly disappointed.

Noticing the awkward silence, Chen Yansen asked casually, ”Are you a university student in Luzhou?”

”I’m a junior at Luzhou University of Technology, majoring in marketing,” Xu Jiujiu answered truthfully.

”That’s nice,” Chen Yansen replied perfunctorily.

”Useless mouth, just say something!” Xu Jiujiu muttered under her breath.

Before coming to Xucheng, she had rehearsed countless questions and conversation starters, but now that the moment was here, her brain felt like it had been hit with a paralysis debuff—it was stiff as a board, and she couldn’t remember a thing.

Chen Yansen ate in silence. For one, he hadn’t had dinner yet, and for another, the company was footing the bill.

Adhering to the principle of not letting things go to waste, he ate with particular focus.

”Is it good?” Xu Jiujiu asked, finally snapping out of her daze and attempting some awkward small talk.

”It’s fine,” Chen Yansen’s reply was just as noncommittal.

He could see right through her little crush, but President Chen had never been a fan of boring women.

’Her conversation is so disjointed and dull. She’s probably the same in bed.’

Xu Jiujiu watched Chen Yansen eat with such gusto that she almost laughed. But then she remembered how tongue-tied she was and felt like crying from frustration.

She took a few deep breaths. After a long moment, she asked, ”President Chen, some classmates and I have a startup project. It’s an app that quickly turns users’ photos into comic-style art, but we’ve hit an R&D bottleneck with the image synthesis. Could you possibly offer some guidance?”

’Turn photos into comics with one tap?’

’In a decade or so, this kind of feature would be a dime a dozen.’

’But in 2013, its market prospects were pretty good. No problem making a quick buck for a few years.’

Chen Yansen’s interest was piqued. ”What makes you think I’d know anything about that kind of tech?” he asked, a faint smile playing on his lips.

”Daniel from the Orange Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory hails you as his godfather, and Mike, the chief chip designer at Tiangong Technology, said at a press conference that he learned more advanced programming skills from you...” Xu Jiujiu recited, her delivery precise and well-rehearsed.

Clearly, she had watched every single Orange Technology press conference and memorized the key takeaways.

”I’m their boss. It’s only natural they’d suck up to me,” Chen Yansen cut in, his tone unhurried. ”Don’t think foreigners don’t understand office politics. Besides, I was a journalism major.”

”I don’t believe you.” Xu Jiujiu panicked. The perfect image she had of her idol was crumbling at an alarming rate.

She had built him up in her mind as someone so powerful and perfect; she couldn’t accept the idea that he was just a carefully packaged product.

Chen Yansen’s smile vanished. He decided to stop being a jerk.

Regardless, Xu Jiujiu had put down over ninety million in cold, hard cash for this dinner, bringing enormous traffic and hype to Orange Pay.

Yu’e Bao’s net capital increase of 60 billion Hua Yuan in March was also partly thanks to the hype she had generated.

’It’s fine to tease her a bit, but there’s no need to actually treat her like an idiot.’

”You could try developing a selection algorithm. Use the integral image method to rapidly compute feature values, then combine weak classifiers to build a strong classifier, forming a cascade of classifiers that can detect the face and extract key features like face shape, the position of facial features, hairstyle, and so on.

Next, based on the extracted facial features, you match them with preset comic-book elements to convert the real-life face shape, features, and so on into a comic-book style.

Real-time rendering engine technology is actually more critical than the image synthesis itself. Users have very little patience. If they don’t get the results they want quickly, they’ll uninstall the app.”

After a moment of thought, Chen Yansen gave Xu Jiujiu a clear path forward.

In fact, Today Technology had already incorporated this type of feature into its development pipeline. The plan was to release it as a built-in effects plug-in, free for all Mimo users, to improve product retention rates.

However, if Xu Jiujiu wanted to do it, he wouldn’t stop her.

The domestic and international markets were huge. If her team’s R&D capabilities were solid, it wouldn’t be hard for them to grab a slice of the pie by following in Mimo’s footsteps.

”And you said you didn’t know anything!” Xu Jiujiu chided playfully, a wide smile instantly spreading across her face.

’So clueless.’

That was Chen Yansen’s silent assessment.

The two of them continued to chat about her project, and time flew by. In what felt like the blink of an eye, more than two hours had passed.

The three-jin jug of yellow wine was finished, not a drop left.

Xu Jiujiu’s cheeks were slightly flushed, but her eyes were clear, and she wasn’t slurring or mumbling her words at all.

As expected of the only daughter of the ’Wine King’ of Luzhou. With a name like Jiujiu, she could really hold her liquor.

What surprised Chen Yansen was that the ’photo-to-comic’ app Xu Jiujiu had mentioned was already more than halfway through development and had even secured angel investment.

President Chen, however, was highly skeptical. He figured there was an eighty-percent chance the so-called ’investment firm’ was just something Xu Xiangdong had arranged to please his daughter.

Before leaving, Xu Jiujiu gave Chen Yansen a portrait that she had painted herself.

She had been learning to paint since she was three. Regardless of her artistic talent, her fundamental skills were solid, which was why she had chosen a ’photo-to-comic’ app for her first startup venture.

Chen Yansen gave her a 64GB Yaocheng X1, a gift the Market Department had prepared for him.

Even though Xu Jiujiu already owned a top-of-the-line Yaocheng X1, she still beamed with satisfaction after he autographed the new one for her.

After leaving the hotel, Chen Yansen settled into the back of his Rolls-Royce and was whisked away.

「Meanwhile.」

”’Top Yu’e Bao Investor Revealed to Be a Female College Junior.’”

”’Magic Camera Founder Spends Ninety Million to Buy President Chen’s First Time.’”

”’Yu’e Bao Funds Exceed 300 Billion!’”

Several articles related to Chen Yansen and Orange Pay appeared on the homepages of major web portals, quickly racking up impressive numbers of clicks and views.

Magic Camera was the name of Xu Jiujiu’s product.

She had come up with the name on the fly on her way back, thinking it would be good for promotion.

In the photos, Chen Yansen was sharply dressed, while Xu Jiujiu’s face had been blurred out.

You could never be too careful. Blurring her face to protect the client’s privacy and security was standard procedure.

Of course, if Xu Jiujiu decided to release the photos herself, Orange Pay wouldn’t interfere.

The next morning, it was announced that Orange Pay would be holding another ”10 Billion Trial Fund” giveaway event from June 1st to June 30th.

A crowd of wealthy heirs and entrepreneurs, none of them short on cash, were eagerly preparing to raise funds, all vying to win Boss Chen’s ’second time’.

First, to boost their personal renown and their product’s industry influence, just like what happened with Magic Camera.

Second, the opportunity to receive business advice directly from Chen Yansen, helping them resolve their own struggles with investments and operations and avoid making critical errors in judgment.

And finally, to expand their network. The first two reasons aside, Chen Yansen was a bona fide super-billionaire and a business genius. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with President Chen?

The West has the Buffett lunch, the East has the Chen Yansen dinner.

For this reason, Zhang Chaoyang called specifically to tease him. ”I’ve got three hundred million ready, but I have one condition: you have to come to Yanjing.”

”No deal!” Before Zhang Chaoyang could respond, Chen Yansen added, ”Old Zhang, you’ll need to add another three hundred million for that.”

”Anyway, I’ve got something to tell you. I closed a deal with Yanjing Telecommunications. We’re launching a ’Fox Card’ in May. It’s 25 yuan a month and comes with a 30-day Sohu Video membership and 40GB of app-specific data.”

After finishing his joke, Zhang Chaoyang got down to business.

After all, this partnership model was pioneered by Senlian Capital. If he just went ahead and launched it without saying anything, he worried it might affect his friendship with Chen Yansen.

”Hope your Fox Card sells like hotcakes, President Zhang. In return, let me borrow your yacht for a few days!” Chen Yansen said unconcernedly.

’Ah Li, Penguin, and Sohu all wanted to sell these internet-linked SIM cards. It’s not like he could stop them.’

’At least Zhang Chaoyang had the decency to call. Xiaoma and Lao Ma wouldn’t even say a word; they’d just put their heads down and copy it.’

”No can do. That yacht is my mistress,” Zhang Chaoyang said with a straight face.

”What about your first wife?” Chen Yansen asked.

”That’d be my Gulfstream G550,” Zhang Chaoyang said with a sly grin.

”Then I’ll borrow your first wife,” Chen Yansen said, laughing freely.

”Next time you’re in Yanjing, I’ll lend you both my first wife and my mistress,” Zhang Chaoyang replied magnanimously.

The two chatted for a few minutes, then Chen Yansen hung up the phone.

He tossed his phone aside and continued to search for the most suitable target among a pile of research materials.

Beihu Dawu Electric Fan Factory: covered an area of 60,000 square meters, with 1,300 employees and the capacity to produce 6 million fans and 1 million heaters annually. Due to poor management, it had now entered bankruptcy proceedings.

Jiahaojia Electrical Appliance Factory: covered an area of 80,000 square meters, with an annual production capacity of 8 million electric fans and 4 million mini fans. Due to market competition, it was on the verge of collapse.

Qiao Xincheng Electric Fan Factory...

’Which one should I choose?’

Chen Yansen mentally compared them, weighing factors like production capacity, factory size, local infrastructure, and transportation links.

All in the hopes of picking the perfect acquisition target!