Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Wang Fu glanced at him, his eyes fixed on the ”Ni Cai Factory Store” logo on his chest. Frowning, he said, ”We’re hiring, but the store manager is busy. Are you a salesperson for Ni Cai?”

”That’s right,” Big Mouth replied with a smile. ”I’m very experienced. I worked at Ni Cai for two years.”

”That shouldn’t be a problem, then. You can come back during the lunch break,” Wang Fu said after a moment’s thought.

For one, the store really was short-staffed.

For another, poaching Ni Cai’s salespeople would be a good way to weaken a competitor.

”And the commission?” Big Mouth asked, rubbing his fingers together.

”We’ll discuss that at the interview.” Wang Fu remained tight-lipped.

Big Mouth was slightly disappointed, but he wasn’t one to give up. He started probing into Wang Fu’s salary. ”So, in your position, how much do you take home in a month?”

”About seven or eight thousand, take-home,” Wang Fu replied casually.

’Seven or eight thousand?’

Big Mouth couldn’t help but gulp. At Ni Cai, he worked his tail off, and even in a good month, he only made a little over six thousand. On a normal month, it was closer to four or five thousand.

”Do they cover social insurance?” Big Mouth asked.

”Isn’t that obvious? We’re a direct-operated store for Orange Technology. We’re employed by the same company as the people at headquarters. On top of social insurance, we get a transportation allowance, a meal stipend, quarterly bonuses, holiday pay, and even supplemental commercial insurance.”

Wang Fu rattled off the list.

As far as he was concerned, all this information was available on the official website, so it wasn’t worth keeping secret.

But he overlooked one fact: the total number of PC and mobile internet users in the country was less than 700 million. The other half of the population had never even touched a smartphone.

As Big Mouth listened to the long list of benefits, his eyes grew brighter and brighter. Compared to what the Ni Cai Factory Store offered, Orange Technology’s benefits package sounded almost unreal.

”You’re not kidding me, are you, man?” Big Mouth asked cautiously.

”Just search it on Lingxi. The open positions and the basic benefits are all listed clearly on the Orange Technology official website.”

Wang Fu said, unconcerned.

To be honest, he hadn’t really believed it himself before he was hired. But after joining Orange Technology, he truly understood what it felt like for a company to ”treat its employees like family.”

”Thanks, man. I’ll head back for now and come back at noon. If I pass the interview, I’ll treat you to some duck blood vermicelli soup and salt-water duck.”

Big Mouth promised enthusiastically.

Before Wang Fu could react, he added in a hushed voice, ”Hey, man... could you put in a good word for me with the store manager?”

”You’ll have to rely on yourself for the interview. But with two years of sales experience at Ni Cai, your abilities are definitely solid. Good luck.”

Wang Fu said, patting Big Mouth’s shoulder.

”Thanks, man. You’re a good dude,” Big Mouth said, scratching his head.

Wang Fu let out a small, amused laugh but said nothing more.

Not long after Big Mouth left, Wang Fu handled his first repair job of the day. A customer with an Orange C3 came in, saying there was a small issue with the charging port.

Wang Fu had trained for three months at the repair department in Shencheng City, so he could handle minor problems like this with ease. He had it fixed in less than ten minutes.

”How much is it?” the customer asked.

”Sir, this Orange C3 is still under warranty, so minor repairs like this are free of charge,” Wang Fu answered.

”And if it were out of warranty?” The customer smiled, nodding in satisfaction as he pressed the question.

”That would be 20 yuan,” Wang Fu replied politely.

The charging port itself didn’t cost much; the bulk of the 20 yuan covered his labor and commission.

”That’s pretty cheap. I used to have an Apple 4S, and when the port broke, the official store charged me 130 yuan. What a damn rip-off,” the customer couldn’t help but complain.

Wang Fu just smiled and watched the customer leave.

The store was absolutely swamped with customers. It wasn’t until after twelve-thirty that the crowd finally started to thin out.

The store manager and two other employees pulled over a stool and draped themselves over the counter, panting for breath.

”Holy crap! Business is insane!”

”Boss, I ran the numbers. In a little over three hours, we’ve sold 310 Qingcheng D2s, 367 Qingcheng D2 SEs, 54 Orange C3Ss, and 9 Yaocheng X1s.”

”We didn’t even get to use the sales pitches we memorized last week. We were basically reduced to being cashiers.”

The store manager’s name was Chen Xin, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He used to be a supervisor at an OPPO franchise store. The moment he heard Orange Technology was hiring, he immediately jumped ship.

He grinned and said, ”It’s exhausting, sure, but we’re raking it in. By the end of the day, everyone’s commission will be over a thousand yuan.”

You had to admit, he was good at dangling a carrot.

The moment they heard about a thousand-yuan commission, the other two were instantly re-energized.

”Brother Xin, a salesperson from the Ni Cai Factory Store earlier said he wanted to come by for an interview at noon,” Wang Fu reminded him.

”An interview? Sure. We happen to be short-staffed,” Chen Xin replied. He then pulled out his phone, opened the Kuai Pao Delivery app, and ordered four lunch boxes.

”You’ve all worked hard. Lunch is on me,” Chen Xin announced.

At the exact same time, the first batch of 174 small, direct-operated Orange Technology stores opened simultaneously across the East China Region.

Seventy percent of these new stores were located near Ni Cai Factory Stores, guaranteeing both a customer base and high foot traffic. As a result, business was booming.

When Lu Hongbo found out, he was so furious he nearly burst a lung.

”President Lu, I heard Yang Rui went to Orange Technology. He’s in charge of building out their physical retail network.”

His subordinate said, pushing the door open and twisting the knife.

’Fuck!’

Lu Hongbo grabbed the Ni Cai Da Qingcheng prototype from his desk and violently smashed it on the floor, where it instantly shattered into pieces.

In a daze, Yang Rui’s words echoed in his mind: ”The Qingcheng D2 SE is nothing to fear!”

’Yang Rui, you son of a bitch! You screwed me over!’

Lu Hongbo cursed, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

「Elsewhere.」

Liu Qiangdong was personally overseeing things at Jingdong Headquarters, where the event planning department had even set up an ”Old Liu’s Picks” section.

The implication was that Jingdong’s Sect Leader, Liu Qiangdong, had personally curated the selection, which consisted mainly of discounted small and large home appliances, as well as consumer electronics.

They had also set up a smartphone sales chart.

”First Place: Qingcheng D2”

”Second Place: Qingcheng D2 SE”

”Third Place: Redmi 1”

”Fourth Place: iPhone 5”

”Fifth Place: 360 F1”

”Sixth Place: Orange C3S”

”Seventh Place: Mountain Star Galaxy Note 2”

”Eighth Place: Xiaomi 2S”

”Ninth Place: Honor 2”

”Tenth Place: Lenovo K860i”

Liu Qiangdong glanced at the list. Orange phones took up three of the ten spots, and the top three were all dominated by budget phones.

”Chen Yansen is on a real lucky streak; everything he touches turns to gold. He’s not just thriving in the smartphone industry—even his ventures in e-commerce, search, food delivery, and group buying are looking impressive. It’s enough to make anyone jealous.”

Handsome Dong said, shaking his head.

...

...

”Luck is temporary; strength is the true foundation of success. The only reason Pinbei was able to hit its 10 billion sales target is thanks to the contributions of every single person—from customer service, operations, and Investment Attraction to events, product, development, and marketing.”

”There are three hours left. We’re at 11 billion in sales. The Q2 performance multiplier will be 1.2. For every extra billion, it goes up by another 0.2!”

Chen Yansen was up to his old tricks again. Raising a wine glass, he announced to the Pinbei employees at the top of his lungs.

”Thank you, Brother Sen!” Xiang Pengfei and Zhang Wenbo were the first to shout back.

”Thank you, boss!” Huang Zheng, Fei Qiweng, and Cai Qiming were also grinning from ear to ear.

”Same old rule: we’re done at midnight. Any department that isn’t completely empty fifteen minutes after that gets their Q2 performance bonus wiped to zero.”

Chen Yansen said, half-joking.

After dangling the carrot and boosting morale, he left the main hall and slipped into the back seat of the Gusteau.

A moment later, Song Yuncheng followed him into the car.

Lao Huang, long past the point of being surprised by such things, said nothing. He simply drove, speeding silently down Xucheng Avenue.

The next day, the ”battle reports” for the 618 shopping festival were released by the major e-commerce platforms.

Jingdong broke the 5 billion yuan mark for the first time, with a final sales total of 5.06 billion yuan.

Tmall and Taobao had a combined total of 15.92 billion yuan.

Although Ah Li didn’t place a high priority on the 618 festival, their daily active user numbers spoke for themselves. They also ran a ”get 100 off every 199 spent” promotion, so hitting a sales figure of nearly 16 billion yuan was perfectly normal.

Pinbei’s single-day sales volume reached 12.17 billion yuan!

Less than 4 billion yuan shy of Ah Li’s total!

When Ma Liyun saw this number, his sense of alarm skyrocketed.

It was obvious: Pinbei and Jingdong were both closing in on Ah Li.