Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Late at night, Zhou Hongyi’s heart went cold as he scrolled past Lei Yijun’s Weibo post. He wanted to fire back a retort, but on second thought, he realized he didn’t have the standing to do so right now.

’I’ll let you be smug for a few days!’

Zhou Hongyi scoffed, then decided to just play dead, ignoring the mentions and comments from Lei Yijun and other netizens.

「Meanwhile.」

In a magnificent hotel suite, Chen Yansen, dressed in a Big Big Wolf cosplay outfit, said to Song Yuncheng, ”Mei Yangyang, once I charge into Sheep Village, I’m going to eat you first!”

”Well, if you eat me, you can’t eat Pleasant Goat,”

Song Yuncheng said, fiddling with the pink bow on her head and blinking her eyes, playing along with President Chen’s special little quirk.

”I’ll have to see how you perform first,” Chen Yansen said with a wicked grin.

Even though he had to head to the conference center in a few hours for the Mobile Internet Conference, President Chen was full of vigor and not the least bit sleepy.

「At the same time.」

「Ni Cai Group Headquarters.」

Lu Hongbo was sitting in his lavishly decorated office with a long, worried face.

After the successive releases of the Qingcheng D2, the 360 F1, and the first-generation Redmi, sales of Nicai Mobile Phones had taken a massive hit.

Priced at the same 799 yuan, their Ni Cai S700 couldn’t find buyers even in rural markets.

After all, users weren’t stupid. The Ni Cai S700 might have a large screen, but it lagged severely. The system and hardware were poorly optimized and simply couldn’t compare to a quality model from a major manufacturer like the Qingcheng D2.

As for the 399 yuan Ni Cai A300, although its sales weren’t as affected, it was plagued by a huge number of after-sales issues.

With 256MB of RAM and 512MB of storage, the damn thing was only usable for a week before it became no different from a brick.

The user experience could be summed up in one word—lag!

Although in 2013, apps didn’t take up an absurd tens of gigabytes of space, they still required several hundred megabytes.

The most unbearable part was that in order to earn installation fees, Lu Hongbo had also pre-installed three apps—Phoenix News, URL Directory, and Dragonfly FM—and made them impossible to uninstall.

In other words, the user’s actual available storage was only 160MB.

It was normal for it to lag; it would be abnormal if it didn’t!

Last year, Ni Cai’s nationwide shipments were 8 million units, with sales of 2.4 billion yuan. This year, shipments had shrunk drastically. With one month left in the first half of the year, they had only sold a little over 2 million units.

At the current sales pace, wouldn’t they be short 3 million units for the year?

”Chen Yansen! Zhou Hongyi! Lei Yijun! You all deserve to die!”

Lu Hongbo cursed under his breath.

”KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—!”

Just then, a crisp knock sounded at the door.

”Come in!”

Lu Hongbo leaned back, snapping irritably.

Yang Rui, the head of Ni Cai’s offline channels and former general manager of NetEase’s Southern China region, pushed the door open and looked at Lu Hongbo. ”President Lu, still working?”

”The Redmi 1 sold nearly half a million units in a single day. How could I possibly sleep?”

Lu Hongbo had gotten his start as a coal boss, and he really felt like throwing Chen Yansen and the other two into a mine shaft and burying them.

Yang Rui gave a sheepish laugh, pulled out a chair, and sat down opposite Lu Hongbo.

He hadn’t jumped ship from NetEase to Ni Cai to advance the mobile phone industry in Hua Country; the coal boss in front of him had simply offered too much money.

”President Lu, we don’t actually need to worry about Orange, 360, and Xiaomi. The price range above 500 yuan wasn’t Ni Cai’s main battlefield to begin with,” Yang Rui advised.

”What if that bastard Chen Yansen launches a 399 yuan phone in the second half of the year?” Lu Hongbo asked, his face dark.

Seeing Yang Rui remain silent, he continued, ”And then Ni Cai just goes back to making feature phones?”

What Lu Hongbo feared was Chen Yansen trying to wipe them out completely!

”We have over 6,000 factory stores nationwide. In terms of offline channels, Orange, 360, and Xiaomi can’t compare. It would be extremely difficult for them to extend their sales network to the town and village markets in a short time,”

Yang Rui said after a moment of thought.

”Don’t forget, the Cloud Speed Express Service Stations are also selling phones. Dammit, go find a few guys, burn down a couple of their stations, and teach Chen Yansen a lesson.”

Lu Hongbo said, his eyes narrowed.

’Set fire to their stores?’

’And he wants *me* to do it?’

Yang Rui couldn’t help but curse inwardly: ’If you want to send me to prison, just say it outright.’

’Arson is a serious felony!’

”President Lu, calm down! To put it bluntly, with Ni Cai’s production capacity and supply chain, you can make some quick cash for three or four years at most. The market is changing too fast.”

Yang Rui’s smile vanished as he spoke the honest truth.

The implication was clear: did he really think a company selling electronic trash like Ni Cai could profit forever?

When it came to knockoffs, Ni Cai was a king among kings.

Judging by looks alone, you could barely tell a Ni Cai from an Apple.

He had built his business on plagiarism, copying everyone from Mountain Star to Apple. Lu Hongbo had spared no one.

In Ni Cai’s factory stores, you could find a 399 yuan knockoff ’iPhone 4S’ and a 499 yuan substitute for the Mountain Star Galaxy.

”Tell me, should we make a knockoff version of the Qingcheng D2?” Lu Hongbo asked again.

He had been thinking about it alone for a long time, and this was one of the plans he had come up with.

”Cloud Speed Express has over a hundred thousand employees nationwide. Liao Wei comes from the traditional freight industry. I think it’s best not to provoke Senlian Capital,”

Yang Rui said patiently.

His subtext was, ’Boss, when it comes to playing dirty and using underhanded tactics, you’re probably no match for Liao Wei.’

”Can’t do this, can’t do that. So according to you, Ni Cai should just wait to die?” Lu Hongbo retorted irritably.

”President Lu, I’ve studied Chen Yansen’s strategic direction. If you use the 6,000-plus factory stores as a bargaining chip, I don’t think he would refuse a proposal for cooperation from Ni Cai. Chen Yansen is willing to accept outsiders like 360 and NetEase. As long as you’re willing to take a step forward, Ni Cai can board the great ship that is Senlian Capital.”

Yang Rui showed Lu Hongbo a clear path forward.

”You want me to ride Chen Yansen’s coattails?” Lu Hongbo craned his neck and asked in disbelief.

”Lei Yijun, Zhou Hongyi, and Ding Lei are also riding his coattails.”

Yang Rui replied with a smile, while thinking to himself, ’Aren’t all three of them more capable than you? They can swallow their pride, but you can’t?’

Lu Hongbo scratched the short hair on his forehead. After a long moment of contemplation, he said to Yang Rui, ”Find a way to get me an invitation to the Mobile Internet Conference.”

”No problem.” Yang Rui couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

It was good that Lu Hongbo was willing to listen to advice. If he had remained stubborn, Yang Rui would have rather taken his resources and defected to Chen Yansen himself.

Outside the window, it was pitch black and silent.

「A few hours later, as dawn broke over the Yanjing Conference Center.」

A steady stream of luxury cars drove in. Compared to the Hua Country Internet Conference, although the Mobile Internet Conference had a strong name, very few top-tier entrepreneurs participated.

The only companies that could add some luster to the event were Penguin, Senlian Capital, Xiaomi, UC, and One Fund. In addition, car manufacturers like BMW and Ford were also invited.

Therefore, even though Ni Cai had a bad reputation, it was ultimately a second-tier manufacturer in the mobile phone industry.

When Lu Hongbo wanted to come, the conference organizers didn’t hesitate and immediately sent him an invitation.

Chen Yansen was sitting in an all-black Maybach 62S. Before he even got out of the car, he saw Ma Wenteng surrounded by a throng of reporters, with two security guards struggling to protect Little Ma in the center.

”Chen Yansen of Senlian Capital is here!”

The words had barely left the speaker’s mouth when camera flashes lit up.

In an instant, it was as bright as day.

A group immediately split off from the media crowd and swarmed the car.

Seeing this, four security guards rushed out of the Mercedes MPV behind them and kept the reporters two meters away.

Chen Yansen took the opportunity to get out of the car and walk toward the conference hall.

”President Chen, the first-generation Redmi sold 476,000 units yesterday. Are you worried about the sales of the Qingcheng D2?”

’Worried my ass. For every Redmi 1 sold, I make more money than Xiaomi does.’

”President Chen, Da Kele has announced its entry into the hundred-yuan phone market. How will Orange Technology respond?”

’Da Kele?’

’What the hell is that!’

Listening to one bizarre question after another, Chen Yansen didn’t even have the slightest inclination to stop and respond.

He didn’t think the reporters were incompetent; on the contrary, these questions were a testament to their skill at provoking a response.

If he answered, they would have their soundbite and a hot topic.

Chen Yansen glanced at the logo on one of the microphones, silently committing it to memory.

”President Chen, why didn’t you come to the bar last night? Charles and I were drinking until after eleven,” Ma Wenteng asked in a low voice.

”I was watching cartoons in the hotel and got completely engrossed,” Chen Yansen said casually, making it up on the spot.

Ma Wenteng looked utterly baffled, assuming Chen Yansen was joking.

Hearing this, Song Yuncheng, who was standing nearby, blushed beet red, her mind filled with images of Chen Yansen in his Big Big Wolf cosplay.

”Charles invited me to go fishing at Bohai Bay tomorrow. You in?” Ma Wenteng changed the subject.

The fishing wasn’t important; he mainly wanted to use the opportunity to build a better relationship with Chen Yansen.

Weishi was scheduled to launch in mid-June, and he hadn’t yet given Chen Yansen a heads-up.

Although Weishi would launch on the app store as scheduled regardless of his approval, giving him advance notice was, after all, the more respectable thing to do.

”Sure,” Chen Yansen nodded.

He knew what Zhang Chaoyang was thinking. He probably thought he’d found a fantastic fishing spot and wanted to show it off to Ma Wenteng.

Having received a satisfactory answer, Ma Wenteng walked into the conference hall side-by-side with Chen Yansen.

Seeing Chen Yansen and Ma Wenteng approaching, Lei Yijun quickly stood up to greet them.

”President Chen, Mr. Ma!” Lei Yijun called out with a broad smile.

The Redmi 1 had sold 476,000 units in a single day, the Xiaomi 2S sold 91,000, and the Xiaomi 2A sold 134,000.

He hadn’t forgotten who was mainly responsible for Xiaomi’s incredible success.

”The Redmi 1’s sales are impressive,” Chen Yansen complimented.

”It’s all thanks to President Chen’s support,” Lei Yijun said humbly.

”Hello, Mr. Chen. I’m Lu Hongbo from Ni Cai.”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke up from behind them.

’Ni Cai?’

Chen Yansen turned to see a middle-aged man with black-framed glasses and a crew cut approaching with a sycophantic smile plastered on his face.

Lei Yijun’s brow furrowed, his expression darkened, and he stared coldly at Lu Hongbo.

Logically, before the launch of the Redmi 1, the customer bases of Xiaomi and Ni Cai didn’t overlap much, so there shouldn’t have been any conflict between them.

But Lu Hongbo, just to show off, often made outrageous claims to the media, like, ”A 1999 yuan Xiaomi phone only costs 1200 yuan to make. We sell a phone with the same specs for only 1180 yuan.”

Or, for example, that he would defeat Xiaomi within two years, make Ma Liyun and Ma Wenteng work for him, and surpass Apple in three years.

When it came to the art of bullshitting, even Lei Yijun had to call Lu Hongbo a grandmaster.

”Is there something you need, President Lu?” Chen Yansen asked with a smirk.

In the media’s eyes, he, Lei Yijun, and Zhou Hongyi were all ’knockoff phone killers’.

So, he was a little confused about the reason for Lu Hongbo’s fawning expression.

”President Chen, could we speak in private?” Lu Hongbo asked tentatively.

Chen Yansen raised his wrist; there was still half an hour until the conference’s opening ceremony.

”President Lu, please.” Chen Yansen gestured, and Meng Yun immediately moved to find a staff member and request a meeting room.

”President Chen, I’ve already prepared a meeting room,” Lu Hongbo said. He then led the way, bringing Chen Yansen and the others to a conference room.

The group entered one by one. Chen Yansen took the head seat and sized up Lu Hongbo and his entourage.

”President Chen, Ni Cai’s shipments last year were 8.261 million units. I also want to support the Aurora Future System. Could you give me a chance?”

Lu Hongbo asked bluntly.

”What kind of chance?” Chen Yansen asked, feigning ignorance.

”To share the supply chain, manufacturing, and after-sales system with Orange Mobile Phone, on the same terms as Xiaomi, 360, and NetEase,” Lu Hongbo replied.

”Ni Cai’s development momentum is quite good. President Lu, you can very well operate independently,” Chen Yansen said unhurriedly.

”President Chen, Ni Cai has over 6,100 factory stores nationwide. We are willing to take on a portion of the sales tasks for Orange Mobile Phones.”

Lu Hongbo played his biggest bargaining chip.

He had spent over two years focusing on building his offline sales channels, and their value was certainly not to be underestimated.

”I’ll give you 500 million. Sell Ni Cai to me.”

Chen Yansen said casually, unwilling to waste any more words.

Ni Cai’s factory stores were small community shops, only 50 to 80 square meters in size, mostly opened in third or fourth-tier cities or township areas. The cost to open a single store was typically just a few tens of thousands of yuan.

’Five hundred million?’

’To buy Ni Cai?’

Lu Hongbo was stunned. He hadn’t expected Chen Yansen to say that. He subconsciously glanced at Yang Rui, looking for advice.

Chen Yansen sharply caught this detail.