Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

By the time Chen Yansen left Kuai Pao Headquarters, it was already 10:30 p.m.

The streets were quiet as a black-and-white Gusteau crossed the Xupu Bridge and sped along the Outer Ring Expressway.

Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of Number 116, Yun Jin Villa.

Chen Yansen got out, walked through the garden, and opened the front door.

Song Yuncheng followed behind. As she caught an accidental glimpse of the soft water sofa out of the corner of her eye, her porcelain-fair earlobes flushed red.

”I doubt we’ll make any headway at the courier industry conference tomorrow. You can stay home and rest. You don’t need to be with me all the time.”

Chen Yansen said, shrugging off his jacket and tossing it onto the sofa.

”It’s no problem. I’m not tired,” Song Yuncheng said, shaking her head with a smile.

”For you.” Chen Yansen smiled, pulling a small jewelry box from his pocket and holding it out to Song Yuncheng.

”Wh-what is this?” Song Yuncheng’s breath hitched, her face flushing as her head swam.

”What’s with the wild thoughts? Just open it and see,” Chen Yansen said with a helpless laugh, lightly rapping her on the head.

Wincing, Song Yuncheng met Chen Yansen’s teasing gaze. Her heart fluttered in a panic, and she eagerly opened the box.

A brilliant, silvery-white necklace lay inside. The pendant was engraved with the number ”116” and edged with tiny diamonds, looking utterly exquisite.

”Oh, it’s a necklace,” Song Yuncheng said, taking a deep breath. ”I thought...” A flicker of disappointment crossed her eyes.

”What did you think it was? A ring?” Chen Yansen asked, his eyes narrowing and a smirk playing on his lips as he stared at her.

”I wasn’t,” Song Yuncheng said unconvincingly, her eyes darting away.

”Oh, really?” Chen Yansen said, ruffling her hair. He found the whole thing rather amusing.

’A ring? As if President Chen would ever buy one of those.’

’He’d much rather spend his money where it counts—on a few more cosplay outfits. After all, he’d already grown tired of playing Spider-Man, Black Widow, and Iron Man.’

...

...

「The next morning.」

The crisp sound of birdsong filled the air.

Chen Yansen slowly opened his eyes to see Song Yuncheng sprawled on top of him. Her eyelashes trembled faintly, and a strand of hair clung to her rosy lips as she slept soundly.

He gently shifted Song Yuncheng to the side before getting out of bed.

He went to his study, opened his laptop, and proceeded with his daily routine of checking the core data for Pinbei and Orange Technology.

Now that Factory No. 3 was in operation, the pre-order links for Orange Mobile Phones on major e-commerce platforms had been switched to direct in-stock sales. Yesterday, combined online sales for the three models had reached 160,000 units.

At this rate, total sales for February would hit 4 million units, generating over six billion in revenue for Orange Technology. However, the gross profit margin was frighteningly low, barely scraping ten percent.

Cao Dahua had reported in an email that they would begin producing power banks, phone cases, data cables, and Bluetooth headsets the following week. Between that and the manufacturing orders from Xiaomi and Huawei, the Shencheng Factory’s production capacity would be completely maxed out.

Chen Yansen tapped his fingers on the desk, shaking his head slightly. ’The smartphone market in 2012 hasn’t even peaked yet. The entire country’s monthly sales ceiling is only twenty million units.’

Orange Mobile Phone’s market share was already over twenty percent. They either had to expand into foreign markets or keep squeezing their competitors’ room to breathe. Otherwise, Factory No. 4 in Luzhou would face the awkward predicament of having no orders to fill.

”Zhou Jinling and his team are still too slow,” Chen Yansen muttered, leaning back in his chair.

After a moment’s thought, he replied to Cao Dahua’s email: ’Do whatever it takes to speed up our expansion in the African Market. If you’re short on people, poach them directly from Transsion.’

As of early February, Orange Technology had sold a total of 930,000 Orange F1s and 620,000 Orange F2s in the Abysinnian market. The numbers looked decent, but their local market share wasn’t even half of Mountain Star’s.

Chen Yansen knew full well that the Abysinnian market could absorb at least thirty million smartphones a year.

The problem was the difficulty of building a sales network. Zhou Jinling and his team had to negotiate with every single dealer, distributor, and retailer one by one.