Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”President Chen, you’re not joking, are you?”

Lu Hongbo’s face was cold as he shot back angrily.

Ni Cai’s profit margins might be low, but with nearly ten million units shipped annually, they still made a good amount of money.

Last year, their gross profit alone was two hundred million. Chen Yansen wanted to buy Ni Cai for five hundred million? Wasn’t that just bullying him?

”You think it’s too little?” Chen Yansen leaned back, the corner of his mouth twitching into a mocking smile.

”One billion would be more like it,” Lu Hongbo said defiantly.

”As far as I know, of those more than 6,100 factory stores, only 2,000 are directly operated by Ni Cai. The other 4,000-plus are franchises over which you, President Lu, have no real control. I’d say five hundred million is already generous.”

Seeing that Lu Hongbo wasn’t playing along, Chen Yansen’s words grew even harsher.

”Does President Chen think he has me in the palm of his hand?” Lu Hongbo retorted.

”Then let’s talk again in a month,” Chen Yansen said dismissively.

’Why a month from now?’

Lu Hongbo froze, his mind racing with wild guesses.

”Is President Chen going to launch an even cheaper smartphone?” Lu Hongbo asked reflexively.

”Oh? You truly are the Sect Leader of Ni Cai, seeing right through Orange Technology’s next move. Tell me, President Lu, should I set the price at 399 yuan, or 499?”

Chen Yansen asked with a wide grin.

”You...” Lu Hongbo wanted to curse.

”Once some things are said, they can’t be taken back. President Lu should think carefully.”

Chen Yansen threatened lightly.

Lu Hongbo took a deep breath. He held back for a long moment before swallowing his curses. In a heavy voice, he said, ”President Chen, give me two days to think it over.”

”No problem,” Chen Yansen replied, unconcerned.

He knew that a rough-and-tumble character like Lu Hongbo, who came from a background of coal bosses, might have taken a few EMBA classes, but at his core, he was fiercely defiant and would never admit defeat easily.

In fact, even his ”five hundred million” offer was a carefully calculated number.

The two of them hadn’t even spoken for ten minutes before Lu Hongbo turned and left.

As soon as they were out of the conference room, Yang Rui pressed, ”President Lu, it’s obvious Orange Technology looks down on Ni Cai. They just want to use our channel network.”

”Fuck! So young, yet he talks so damn big.”

Lu Hongbo cursed under his breath.

”So, President Lu...” Yang Rui asked cautiously.

Before he could finish, Lu Hongbo cut him off. ”I’m not selling Ni Cai.”

In his view, even though the thousand-yuan phones from Orange, Xiaomi, and 360 had a negative impact on Ni Cai’s sales, they had also given him a new idea.

He could easily copy the models of the Qingcheng D2, Hongmi 1, and 360 F1, launch a few new products, and slash the price by two or three hundred yuan. He refused to believe they wouldn’t sell.

’Two hundred million in gross profit a year, and sell for only five hundred million?’

’He wasn’t an idiot!’

Holding out for another two years would be more profitable than selling to Chen Yansen.

Yang Rui sighed softly. The day’s events had exceeded his expectations.

The two returned to the main conference hall and sat down, but their minds weren’t on the event.

Lu Hongbo’s mind was filled with counterattack strategies.

Yang Rui, however, was looking further ahead. If the new product Chen Yansen mentioned really existed, then Nicai Mobile Phone wasn’t far from death.

In terms of supply chain command, cost control, and logistics, ten Ni Cais combined would be no match for Orange Technology.

An idea flickered in his eyes, and a different plan began to form in his mind, but it was one he couldn’t share with Lu Hongbo.

The morning passed in a flash, followed by the luncheon.

For most of the invited entrepreneurs, the two-hour luncheon was the perfect opportunity to expand their networks and find investors and business partners.

”Boss, that person next to Lu Hongbo—I had someone look into him. He was formerly the regional marketing general manager for NetEase. He joined Ni Cai two years ago and is mainly responsible for building their sales network,” Gao Weilin, having made a circuit of the banquet hall, returned to Chen Yansen’s side and said in a low voice.

”So, the Ni Cai Factory Store model was actually Yang Rui’s handiwork.” Chen Yansen’s fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop. TAP TAP TAP.

”That’s right,” Gao Weilin confirmed.

”Go book a conference room,” Chen Yansen said quietly, looking at Meng Yun.

”Yes, Boss.” Meng Yun put down her chopsticks and bowl, immediately getting up to leave.

Old Gao immediately understood. Without a word, he made his way toward Yang Rui.

His boss wanted to poach someone, so of course, he had to hand him the shovel.

Song Yuncheng also saw what Chen Yansen was planning. After a moment’s thought, she asked curiously, ”If Lu Hongbo had agreed just now, would you have bought Ni Cai?”

”Do you think acquiring Ni Cai’s channels, brand, and production lines for five hundred million is worth it?” Chen Yansen didn’t answer directly, asking a question in return.

”It’s a reasonable price. You could take it or leave it. But from the perspective of penetrating third and fourth-tier cities and rural markets to promote the Aurora Future OS, it has positive value.”

Song Yuncheng knew Chen Yansen was testing her, so she thought about it seriously for a moment before speaking slowly.

Chen Yansen smiled and gave a slight nod.

’What’s five hundred million to Orange Technology?’

’The potential return from saving time on expansion would be at least five billion.’

If Lu Hongbo dared to sell, he dared to buy.

But anything over five hundred million wasn’t worth it to him.

After all, Ni Cai had neither R&D capabilities nor production strength.

Its products were imitations, and its production was almost entirely outsourced.

It might have a dozen or so production lines, but the equipment was old and the capacity was insufficient. They were basically worthless.

If it weren’t for those few thousand factory stores, Chen Yansen wouldn’t have even bothered with him.

Before long, Old Gao returned and discreetly made an ”OK” sign.

Chen Yansen stood up and left the banquet hall.

Song Yuncheng and Meng Yun remained where they were.

Outside the banquet hall, he and Old Gao met in front of the conference room. They had been sitting for less than two minutes when Yang Rui trotted in, pulling the frosted glass door shut behind him.

”Hello, President Chen.” Yang Rui leaned forward slightly in a polite greeting.

”President Yang, please have a seat. I heard from Old Gao that you single-handedly built Ni Cai’s channel network. It seems President Ding let an exceptional talent slip away,” Chen Yansen said with a smile, bringing up Ding Lei to tease him.

”President Ding is a good boss, too. But I’m a bit greedy and wanted to make more money, which is why I jumped ship to Ni Cai,” Yang Rui explained quickly, full of praise for Ding Lei.

As for his true thoughts, no one could guess.

Badmouthing a former company or a former boss is a major workplace taboo. As a veteran of the corporate world, Yang Rui naturally knew the score.

”Orange Technology needs a head of offline channels who will report directly to CFO Zhou Shouzhi. The core task is to expand the coverage of our directly-operated stores. Is President Yang interested?” Chen Yansen got straight to the point.

Zhou Shouzhi held multiple roles and had taken less than ten days off since joining Orange Technology.

Lao Zhou was working too hard. Chen Yansen was worried he might actually work himself to death, so finding him a reliable subordinate would also help share some of the load.

”President Chen, President Lu holds me in high regard,” Yang Rui said with an awkward smile, playing hard to get.

”Whatever salary Lu Hongbo is giving you, I’ll add 20%. Plus, Orange Technology offers a minimum of 16 months’ salary and a maximum of 24, along with 100,000 stock options,” Chen Yansen stated nonchalantly.

He had been an employee and worked for others before, so he knew how to recruit top talent.

Use monthly salary and quarterly bonuses to guarantee short-term earnings, and use stock options to secure an employee’s long-term gains.

A two-pronged approach!

And if that didn’t work, he’d just add more money!

Yang Rui opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to negotiate, but then he had a second thought. This was the founder of Senlian Capital, not some HR director from Orange Technology.

It was okay to be greedy, but not excessively so.

Besides, Orange Technology also had a housing subsidy equivalent to 20% of the monthly salary. So while the base pay was only increasing by 20%, it was actually a 40% raise in practice.

After a moment of thought, he nodded and replied, ”Boss, give me half a month. I’ll get on board as soon as possible.”

”The detailed addresses of the Ni Cai Factory Stores...” Chen Yansen trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.

”I understand. Just give me an address. I’ll take care of it within three days.”

Yang Rui was a ruthless man himself. Even though he knew exactly what Chen Yansen was planning, he still sold out Lu Hongbo completely.

Chen Yansen’s idea was simple. He just wanted to get a little cozier with Lu Hongbo—by opening Orange Technology’s direct stores right next door to Ni Cai’s factory stores.

This was because Ni Cai had already considered population density, market potential, traffic, and location when selecting sites for its factory stores, which would save Orange Technology a huge amount of time and money on market research.

It was like how, a dozen years later, there would be a Mixue Ice City next to every Luckin Coffee.

Although Gaode Map had collected some location data for mobile phone brand stores, the data was incomplete—not even 40%—and nowhere near as comprehensive as Yang Rui’s firsthand information.

”Old Gao, give President Yang a shipping address,” Chen Yansen said to Gao Weilin.

Normally, sending an email would be quick and easy, but Yang Rui was worried Chen Yansen would turn on him and backstab him later, so he chose a more troublesome method.

Chen Yansen’s ready agreement was his way of showing Yang Rui: I want the data, and I want the talent, too.

”Thank you, Boss.” Yang Rui was thick-skinned and black-hearted, and he changed his tune in a heartbeat.

He had already been thinking of jumping ship to Orange Technology, so fifteen minutes ago, the moment Gao Weilin approached him, he had eagerly taken the bait.

After they exchanged contact information, Yang Rui left the conference room, completely satisfied, and discreetly returned to the banquet hall.

”Boss, this man plays both sides. He sells out his boss without a second thought,” Gao Weilin said hesitantly, unable to stop himself from giving a word of caution.

”I know what you mean. Let’s just use him for a while and see,” Chen Yansen replied nonchalantly.

It was just selling out a boss. He’d seen plenty of people like that.

As long as they were managed properly, they could still create significant value for the company.

Besides, Yang Rui’s ability to run a channel network was truly outstanding.

The man could sell over eight million units a year of electronic trash like the Nicai Mobile Phone.

’What if it were an Orange Mobile Phone instead?’

Chen Yansen felt a surge of anticipation.

Seeing that his boss had things under control, Gao Weilin said no more.

For the next two days, Chen Yansen spent his days in meetings and his nights drinking with Ma Wenteng, Zhang Chaoyang, Lei Yijun, and others, getting acquainted with all the internet company bosses in Yanjing along the way.

This included the founder of Tuge, the car-sharing company.

During this time, Jia Yaoting specially invited him to a meal and personally handed him the first-generation technical documents for the LeTV mobile phone.

Ever since LeTV’s television sets achieved great success, selling a cumulative total of over 300,000 units, President Jia’s desire to enter the mobile phone industry had grown increasingly intense.

On the evening of the last day of May, Chen Yansen set off to return to Xucheng.

「Meanwhile.」

With Shen Nanpeng’s help, Wang Xin had finally found a buyer to take over!