Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Shen Peng said with a smile, having figured out what was on Wang Xin’s mind.

In reality, he wasn’t just spouting nonsense. Paipai Dai, Hongling Venture Capital, Yixin, Renren Dai, and Lufax all operated this way. If they later expanded into small-sum loans and business lending, they could definitely make a killing.

The P2P industry in 2013 was in a period of unbridled growth, with two years left before it reached its peak.

Born in 2013, it flourished in 2015, died in 2019, and was buried in 2020.

Some made money, some lost money. Some went to jail, and some were ruined.

But regardless, Shen Peng was right about one thing: in 2013, P2P was a sunrise industry that also aligned with the growing trend of the ”sharing economy.”

”I’ll think about it. Any other ideas?” Wang Xin asked again.

”Brother Xin, the economy has been growing extremely fast these past two years, and the income of white-collar workers is also rapidly increasing. I think the market prospects for the hotel and travel industry are good. We can start with a vertical category to create a differentiated advantage.”

Wang Huiwen secretly glanced at Shen Peng. He didn’t approve of getting into the P2P business.

’An interest rate of 8% to 15% is too high. Are there really that many people who need to borrow money?’

He didn’t believe it.

”Hotel and travel? There’s already Ctrip, Elong, Qunar, and Tongcheng. The competitive pressure is no less than in the Group Buy industry, and Kuai Pao has been poaching people like crazy recently. I heard they all went to the hotel and travel division.”

Wang Xin frowned and shook his head in refusal.

’Right now, only the P2P and mobile gaming proposals seem reliable.’

「At the same time.」

After Chen Yansen finished talking with Yu Xianyang, he had nothing else to do, so he led him to the R&D lab for the Celestial Craft A100.

”Mike! Lao Wu!”

As soon as Chen Yansen entered, he shouted towards Mike and Wu Shengyu.

Hearing this, the two subconsciously looked up at the door and saw Chen Yansen walking in with a middle-aged man in his thirties.

”Old Yu, this is the chief designer of the Celestial Craft Chip, Mike Keller. He’s also your direct supervisor. And this is Wu Shengyu, a senior principal engineer at Tiangong Technology.”

Chen Yansen personally introduced Yu Xianyang to the two.

Mike Keller and Wu Shengyu immediately understood that the man before them must be highly skilled. Otherwise, Chen Yansen wouldn’t have accompanied him personally.

”Yu Xianyang. Formerly a supervising engineer at NVIDIA, currently a senior supervising engineer in the GPU design department at Tiangong Technology. It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

Yu Xianyang introduced himself.

”Mike, he’s in your hands now. Finalize the architecture design for the Celestial Craft A100 as soon as possible. I’ve looked at your and Lao Wu’s proposals. There are no major issues, and the approach is correct.”

Chen Yansen patted Mike’s shoulder and urged him in a serious tone.

”Boss, don’t worry. Our R&D capabilities are on par with Apple’s. If it weren’t for your ridiculously high standards, the Celestial Craft A100 would already be at the tape-out stage.”

Mike dipped down slightly, making it easier for Chen Yansen to reach his shoulder. He wore a flattered expression, though his words were a complaint.

He deeply admired Chen Yansen, yet he was also full of grumbles.

”A good meal is worth the wait. What’s the rush?” Chen Yansen said dismissively.

Mike was the type to speak his mind. Every time they met, he wanted to take a jab at his boss, but then he’d turn around and tell everyone, ”Chen Yansen is my mentor.”

After getting Yu Xianyang settled, Chen Yansen started walking back.

”Xiaozhang, I don’t recommend you resign. Think about it, how many rounds of interviews did you go through to get into Orange Pay? Was it easy? What kind of trouble are you facing? Tell me, maybe I can help you solve it.”

By the campus fence, Zhang Baofeng tried to persuade him earnestly.

”Brother Zhang, the company’s pay and benefits are great, and my colleagues are really nice. It’s a personal issue.”

Zhang Peng opened his mouth, about to say something, but swallowed his words and rephrased.

Chen Yansen stopped and glanced at Zhang Baofeng, knowing he was the manager of the NFC payment development group.

After a moment’s thought, he changed direction and walked over.

Zhang Baofeng caught sight of Chen Yansen out of the corner of his eye and quickly bowed forward slightly, greeting him with a grin, ”Boss.”

”What’s the R&D progress on the NFC payment feature?”

Chen Yansen asked casually, not acknowledging Zhang Peng.

”We just finished. Next is testing and device compatibility work,” Zhang Baofeng replied immediately.

’This kid has some sense of responsibility, but not much.’

’The project just finished, and he’s already making a fuss about resigning.’

”Care to talk for a minute?” Chen Yansen asked, looking at Zhang Peng.

”Boss, I...” Zhang Peng stammered. He still hadn’t recognized that the big boss in front of him was the ’idle bystander’ from that night whose every word had stung.

”Boss, I’ll head back first then,” Zhang Baofeng said, a look of realization on his face. ’No wonder this kid doesn’t value his job at Orange Pay,’ he thought. ’Turns out he knows the boss.’

Only after Zhang Baofeng was some distance away did Chen Yansen tease with a smile, ”If you lose your job, how are you going to support your ’older woman’?”

”How did you know?” Zhang Peng was stunned for a moment, then asked, dumbfounded.

But he wasn’t an idiot. He quickly put two and two together and realized Chen Yansen was that ’colleague’ who loved to eavesdrop on gossip.

”You didn’t finish your story last time. Continue,” Chen Yansen said with a wave of his hand.

”Boss, your ex-girlfriend’s age...” Zhang Peng asked cautiously.

”Who gave you the nerve to casually pry into your boss’s private life?” Chen Yansen said with a straight face.

’What the fuck!’

’Then why are you asking me?’

’Are you the poster child for double standards or something?!’

Zhang Peng was dumbfounded, roasting him internally.

But after a moment’s thought, he finally laid it all out, then looked at Chen Yansen hopefully.

”Go write your resignation letter.”

Chen Yansen said lightly.

Before a happy expression could appear on Zhang Peng’s face, he added, ”What’s the difference between a man with no money and a stray dog on the street?”

Zhang Peng’s expression froze. He asked weakly, ”Boss, could you transfer me back to Hu City?”

”Are we that close?” Chen Yansen retorted with a half-smile.

”I’m your employee,” Zhang Peng said shamelessly.

”Who hired you? I’ll turn around and fire them too,” Chen Yansen said bluntly.

Zhang Peng gave a hollow laugh and leaned against the fence, silent.

”Make your own decision. Or, here’s another idea: give your dad a grandson,” Chen Yansen joked.

The only reason he was willing to say a few more words to Zhang Peng was that he saw a shadow of himself in the young man.

”A grandson?” Zhang Peng stood there stunned, starting to ponder the idea.

By the time he looked up again, Chen Yansen was long gone.

’A shotgun wedding... The old man might not want his son, but would he really not want a grandson?’

At this thought, Zhang Peng wished he could take leave immediately and go back to Hu City to make a baby.

「Meanwhile.」

After having lunch at the company, Chen Yansen clocked out and went home.

It was Saturday, after all. Aside from a few project teams working overtime, most people were on break.

Before long, a Gusteau drove onto Xucheng Avenue.

「At the same time.」

Lei Yijun gathered Li Wanqiang, Lin Bing, and others for a small celebration at the Xiaomi Headquarters Building to congratulate them on the Hongmi 1 selling a cumulative 2 million units. Adding the sales of the Xiaomi 2S and 2A, the total reached 2.7 million units, completely crushing 360 Mobile Phone.

”At the current sales rate, we estimate that by the end of the year, Xiaomi’s total annual shipments will exceed 15 million units!”

Lei Yijun stood at the podium in the conference room, his expression excited as he spoke.

Last year, Xiaomi only sold a little over 7 million units. At the beginning of the year, he made a bold proclamation that he would double that number, only to be mocked by Zhou Hongyi.

15 million units was just a conservative estimate. At that moment, Lei Yijun even wanted to shout out the number 20 million, but he held back.

”Ah Li, come have a drink?” Lei Yijun called out when he saw Li Wanqiang sitting in the corner.

”President Lei, Orange Technology just announced the total sales figures for the Qingcheng D2 on their official social media five minutes ago.”

Li Wanqiang swallowed, his face a mask of shock.

”How many?” Lei Yijun asked curiously.

”Twenty. Million. Units!” Li Wanqiang said, enunciating every word.

Lei Yijun, Lin Bing, and the others, who had just been beaming with joy, instantly lost all interest in celebrating.

You have to understand, the Qingcheng D2 had been on the market for less than 80 days, all told. That worked out to 250,000 units sold per day.

Those sales figures were too fucking scary!

Quite a few people shared Lei Yijun’s sentiment. Phone manufacturers like Coolpad, Lenovo, ZTE, OPPO, and Meizu also fell into deep thought after seeing Orange Technology’s battle report.