Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

”Are they saying I’m being too stingy?” Chen Yansen joked.

”They’re accusing you of a ’malicious wage hike,’” Ye Qiuping said, enunciating every word.

Chen Yansen shrugged, finding it rather amusing. ’The hourly wage at the Orange Phone Factory is only 25 yuan, and the base salary is just 3,300. That’s not even that high,’ he thought.

”So no one is praising me?” Chen Yansen asked, his expression darkening.

”Everyone else wants a job tightening screws at the Orange factory. Your Weibo DMs have blown up,” Ye Qiuping said with a look of resignation.

”Just handle it however you see fit,” Chen Yansen said dismissively.

’I’ve got connections high up. What the hell do I have to be afraid of?’

’With Meng Yuanzhi’s backing, I can do whatever I want in Huian!’

’As for Cao Dahua, if he really got into trouble, I wouldn’t be stingy. I’d at least get him a nice titanium alloy urn.’

Ye Qiuping watched Chen Yansen’s departing figure, a faint smile slowly spreading across her face.

’I used to think that aside from his good looks, great body, emotional intelligence, and ability to make money, Chen Yansen was a complete disaster in every other respect—a womanizing pervert who was just after my body.’

’But now... it seemed he wasn’t completely rotten to the core. At the very least, he was genuinely good to his employees.’

’Even the couriers at Cloud Speed and the delivery drivers at Kuai Pao received valuable stock option awards.’

「At the same time.」

At the production office for the talk show *Dialogue*, the host, Chen Hongwei, was stunned when he heard the news. He recalled what Chen Yansen had said during the program. ’Could he have done this on purpose?’

’Before the episode even aired, Chen Yansen had already made huge headlines.’

’It was easy to imagine the massive impact the episode would have when it aired tomorrow.’

”Mr. Chen, the producer is calling you in for a meeting,” a voice called from outside the door.

Chen Hongwei acknowledged the call, pushed his thoughts aside, and left the break room, heading to the control room behind the main studio.

The lead writer, director, producer, and others were all there.

”We just got a call from the higher-ups. They told us to cut all the sensitive topics from the Chen Yansen interview,” the producer said with a sigh.

’If we cut all that, what selling points will the episode have left?’

”Didn’t yesterday’s cut get approved?” Chen Hongwei asked curiously. He paused, then added, ”Is this related to today’s news?”

”The higher-ups want to use Chen Yansen as a poster boy, not a lightning rod for controversy. Naturally, they’re going to protect him,” the director said with a smile.

”We’ll need to re-record a few shots. Sorry for the trouble, Chen,” the producer added.

Chen Hongwei nodded in understanding. He had encountered situations like this countless times and was long used to it.

That evening, discussion about the wages at the Orange Phone Factory began to die down on Weibo, forums, and major news portals as related reports were quietly buried.

Just as Wang Xin thought the storm had passed, he received more news: the Tangcheng City Market Supervision Association had received a massive number of user complaints, demanding that Meituan issue a formal explanation and resolve all local customer issues within three business days.

Wang Xin knew Pei Yi had struck again. He cursed inwardly, ’When is this going to end?!’