Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The spoils from their sea fishing trip had already been handed over to the kitchen staff at Jingzhao Prefect by Zhang Chaoyang’s assistant. Just as Chen Yansen was about to walk into the private room, he heard someone call from behind, ”President Chen!”

Chen Yansen turned around at the sound.

It was Shen Nanpeng from Redwood Capital, and... Wang Xin, the founder of Meituan.

”President Chen, President Zhang, what a coincidence,” Shen Nanpeng said with a smile, jogging over to greet them.

”President Shen, a pleasure.”

Chen Yansen extended his right hand and exchanged pleasantries.

This was the first time he and Shen Nanpeng had met. The other man had invested in OFO Bike’s Series A financing, so in a way, he was a partner of Senlian Capital.

Zhang Chaoyang had been about to suggest they all dine together, but the moment he saw Wang Xin, he immediately shut his mouth.

Wang Xin stared daggers at Chen Yansen, his eyes filled with fury.

After a few seconds of silent contemplation, he took a deep breath, forced a smile, and offered a polite greeting. ”President Chen, President Zhang.”

”Is President Shen thinking of a follow-up investment in Meituan?” Chen Yansen asked, ignoring Wang Xin and turning to Shen Nanpeng.

’Do you take me for a fool?’

’As if I don’t know what’s going on with Meituan.’

’Investing more at this point would be no different from throwing money down the drain.’

Shen Nanpeng gave an awkward laugh. ”I’m just out for a meal with President Wang. We’re not talking business.”

To Wang Xin, those words were like a plunge into an icy abyss.

With only four days left until the end of May, Meituan’s transaction volume had just broken 300 million, with e-commerce accounting for 39% of it.

In other words, the monthly transaction volume for its Group Buy business was now less than 200 million.

At this rate, Meituan would have to rebrand itself as ’Meituan E-commerce’ in a few months.

Chen Yansen chatted with Shen Nanpeng for a few more minutes before ending the conversation and heading deeper into the courtyard.

After they left, Wang Xin could no longer keep his composure. His face instantly darkened.

”President Wang, stop overthinking it. The best outcome for Meituan is to find a willing buyer while its performance is stable over the next couple of months,” Shen Nanpeng advised.

He had invested a lot of money in Meituan and naturally wanted to recoup some of it.

But a follow-up investment was out of the question!

Pan-Atlantic Capital’s 100 million USD had only kept Meituan afloat for three more months. It was a bottomless pit.

”President Shen, I’ll have to trouble you then,” Wang Xin replied.

He needed Redwood Capital’s connections and network. Even though he was dissatisfied with Shen Nanpeng, he didn’t dare show it in the slightest.

Each with their own ulterior motives, the two returned to the private room with smiles on their faces.

Meanwhile.

Chen Yansen and Zhang Chaoyang sat across from each other, the table laden with exquisite dishes.

”I bet Wang Xin wants to sell the company,” Zhang Chaoyang said with conviction.

”Who cares? Whether Wang Xin sells or not, it won’t have much of an impact on Kuai Pao,” Chen Yansen said unconcernedly, pouring a cup of warm tea.

”True! Kuai Pao’s biggest rival is Qian Du.” Zhang Chaoyang waved his hand, and an assistant quickly brought over two bottles of fine wine.

...

...

「At dawn the next day, the sky was just beginning to lighten.」

Chen Yansen slowly opened his eyes, brushed Song Yuncheng’s hair away from his face, then lifted the corner of the covers, picked up his pajamas from the foot of the bed, and put them on.

He glanced out the window. It was gray and hazy. He didn’t need to check the time to know it was no later than five in the morning.

He sat down at his desk, turned on his computer, logged into the data backend, and, as usual, checked the recent business and financial status of products like Pinbei, Kuai Pao, and Fast Taxi.

After surpassing Jingdong, Pinbei’s single-day sales soared. It took three months to go from 1 billion to 1.2 billion, but only two months to go from 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion.

Huang Zheng had set a target of 10 billion for the 618 shopping festival, which was 3 billion higher than last year’s Singles’ Day transaction volume.

Business for Kuai Pao and Fast Taxi had stabilized. Although Qian Du had snatched some market share through a price war, it had come at a steep cost for Li Yanhong.