Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

It was almost noon, and the FoxTao members started heading downstairs to the cafeteria one after another.

After Chen Yansen finished reviewing the product selection list Zhang Yifeng had sent, he looked up and noticed only three customer service reps were left on duty on the second floor. He patted his stomach and ambled out.

It was the peak lunch rush. Xue Lin Road and Xuehai Road were teeming with vibrant university students. Unfortunately, as late autumn had arrived, the number of girls in short skirts and stockings was dwindling.

"Someone fainted! Can anyone help?"

A girl’s startled cry suddenly came from up ahead, and the surrounding crowd descended into chaos.

Chen Yansen heard the commotion, glanced over casually, and planned to walk around it.

’University students, what can you do?’ he thought. ’Fast forward a decade or so, and who would dare be this enthusiastic to help?’

Chen Yansen scoffed. Just as he was about to pass by, something caught his eye out of the corner of his vision: the fainted girl’s belongings. An ugly, earth-yellow backpack and a business laptop, the standard model issued by FoxTao.

His brows knitted instantly. He plunged his arms into the rowdy crowd and, with a casual shove, pushed the gawkers on either side half a meter back.

There, in the center of the crowd, lay Song Yuncheng. Her lips were pale and her eyes were squeezed shut. She was on her side on the ground, the skin of her knees and palms scraped raw and oozing crimson blood, yet she was completely oblivious.

"Move!"

Chen Yansen roared, then scooped Song Yuncheng up in his arms.

Only then did he realize that while Song Yuncheng’s face looked a bit chubby, she probably weighed less than a hundred pounds. She felt as light as a feather in his arms.

Chen Yansen had no time for further thought; he just ran toward the infirmary, carrying her.

"Holy shit! That guy’s strong! He can run that fast while carrying someone!"

"I think that’s Chen Yansen, the upperclassman from FoxTao. He’s so handsome and manly."

"This backpack and laptop belong to the girl who fainted. Can someone help me take them to the infirmary?"

"I will!"

A girl with glasses volunteered, picking up Song Yuncheng’s things and jogging after them in the direction of the infirmary.

...

...

"Xiaochen, is this your girlfriend? I’m not trying to criticize you, but you’re eating well and dressing warmly while your girlfriend is anemic and malnourished. If I’d known you were this kind of person, I definitely wouldn’t have written you that sick note."

Meng Yating shot Chen Yansen a harsh glare, her eyes filled with disgust for a scumbag. She looked like she was about to spit in his face.

"Sister Ting, don’t go accusing an innocent man. She’s an employee at my company, FoxTao. I pay her three to four thousand a month. Who the hell knows how she managed to get herself into this state?"

Chen Yansen had no intention of taking the blame for this and retorted irritably.

Meng Yating’s older sister was the channel manager for the on-campus telecom office. Chen Yansen had gotten his sick leave slip previously by calling in a favor with her.

"Oh... Is that so? Well, don’t worry. She just has low blood sugar. She’ll be fine after she finishes this IV drip of glucose."

Meng Yating’s expression froze. She gave an awkward laugh, realizing she had wrongly accused Chen Yansen, and hurried out of the IV room.

Lying on the hospital bed, Song Yuncheng, in her daze, vaguely heard Chen Yansen say, "She’s an employee at my company, FoxTao." A sense of relief washed over her. ’That’s right,’ she thought. ’My relationship with Chen Yansen has always been that of a subordinate and a superior. It’s never changed.’

A glistening teardrop welled up in her eye. She squeezed her eyelids shut, forcing it not to fall.

"Upperclassman, here are her backpack and laptop. I’ll put them on the chair."

Just then, the girl with glasses walked in with a smile, pointing to Song Yuncheng on the bed.

"Thanks." Chen Yansen gave a faint smile in polite response.

The girl waved her hand, indicating it was nothing, but her eyes were secretly sizing up Chen Yansen.

"Is there anything else?" Chen Yansen asked abruptly.

"N-no. Goodbye, Upperclassman." The girl looked flustered. She quickly shook her head and left with a strained smile.

Chen Yansen pulled a chair over, sat down by Song Yuncheng’s bed, and muttered, "She’s so much trouble. Making several thousand a month and still ends up like this. Don’t tell me she also has a sick mom, a gambling-addicted dad, and a younger brother in school?"

Song Yuncheng had planned to keep pretending to be asleep, but upon hearing Chen Yansen’s teasing remark, her heart ached. She immediately opened her eyes and retorted fiercely, "You’re the one with a sick mom, a gambling-addicted dad, and a younger brother in school!"

In full combat mode, Song Yuncheng was like a feral cat with its fur on end.

"You were pretending to be asleep?" Chen Yansen realized.

"Fine, my mistake. I’ll leave." Seeing that she was awake and looked ready to bite his head off, Chen Yansen let out a soft chuckle and turned to walk away.

"You..." Song Yuncheng watched his retreating back, so angry she couldn’t even finish her sentence.

...

...

Chen Yansen wasn’t the type to coddle anyone. After lunch, he went back to Room 0418 for a nap. It wasn’t until one-thirty in the afternoon that he yawned and leisurely strolled into the Innovation Park.

"Class Rep, this is the December office supply procurement list and the employee benefits plan. Do you think it needs any adjustments?"

The moment he sat down, Xu Xingxing came over with a stack of documents, grinning.

"Mmm, just put it here," Chen Yansen said flatly, tapping the desk.

FoxTao’s daily active users were currently stable at around 600,000. Of these, 400,000 new customers came from the "Slash to Zero" viral marketing campaign, 50,000 came from paid advertising channels, and the remaining 150,000 were retained, long-term customers.

If the advertising and the "Slash to Zero" campaign were to stop, the number of daily active users would quickly drop below 100,000.

The platform averaged over 70,000 orders per day, with a gross profit of about 500,000. After deducting marketing, labor, and technology costs, there was still 200,000 left over. That amounted to 6 million a month.

’Money is meant to be spent!’

In this life, Chen Yansen’s interest in villas, luxury cars, and yachts had greatly diminished. After all, he’d grown tired of them in his past life. Having experienced a life-and-death situation, he now understood the importance of health better. So, he had Xu Xingxing brainstorm some employee benefits, giving himself an excuse to spend money.

"1. Holiday Gifts: For Spring Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, employee birthdays, etc., a 200-yuan red envelope will be distributed."

"2. Supplemental medical insurance."

"3. One team-building activity per month."

"4. One company trip per year."

Chen Yansen opened the file, skimmed it, and couldn’t help but shake his head. He took out a pen and started making changes.

’Team-building? Crossed out!’

’Company trip? Crossed out!’

’Wouldn’t it be better to just give them cash?’

Chen Yansen added a note: Full-time employees will receive a 200-yuan team-building stipend each month, distributed with their salary.

Full-time employees will receive an annual travel fund of 2,000 yuan. The amount will increase by 1,000 yuan for each additional year of service, capped at a maximum of 10,000 yuan.

As for whether the employees actually went on team-building activities or traveled, the company couldn’t care less.

A 200-yuan red envelope for holidays was too stingy. With a flick of his pen, he changed it to 500.

Finally, he added a new item: All FoxTao members will receive a monthly meal allowance of 500 yuan, effective immediately. The administrative department will deposit it directly onto their meal cards; reimbursement forms are not permitted.

Chen Yansen tossed the document to Xu Xingxing. She glanced at it and immediately shrieked with excitement.

Hearing the commotion, the others craned their necks to look, their eyes full of curiosity.

"Class Rep! You didn’t accidentally add an extra zero, did you?" Seeing everyone staring at her, Xu Xingxing lowered her head shyly and asked in disbelief.

"Cut the crap! It’s effective starting today. Here’s my meal card!" Chen Yansen rolled his eyes and threw his card over.

Xu Xingxing caught the card and ran back to her seat, face alight with excitement. She made the changes to the document, then sent the digital version of the employee benefits plan directly to the project group chat.

"AHHH—AAAAAH—!"

Before long, a wave of cheers erupted from the second floor.

Chen Yansen smiled faintly. These miscellaneous expenses would earn him at least one point of Human Dao Fire per employee per year. In the future, with more employees, that would be thousands upon thousands of points of Human Dao Fire.

’Even Superman would have to kneel before him and sing "Conquer"!’

Spurred on by this, the FoxTao members worked with even more vigor, as if they were on steroids.

When Song Yuncheng returned to the Innovation Park after finishing her glucose drip, she clearly sensed that the atmosphere was different today.

"Why is everyone so motivated?" Song Yuncheng was bewildered. It was only after she sat down and turned on her computer that she saw the new file in the project group chat.

’Supplemental medical insurance, holiday red envelopes, a travel fund, a team-building stipend, and a 500-yuan meal allowance every month?’

Peeking at Chen Yansen through the gap above her computer monitor, Song Yuncheng noticed the line in the document: "meal allowances are not permitted to be reimbursed." It felt like that rule was aimed specifically at her.

’He’s not such a bad person after all,’ Song Yuncheng thought to herself.

The memory of how Chen Yansen had teased her that morning was unconsciously buried deep in her heart.

Around two o’clock, an interview van with the words "First Look" printed on its side pulled up to the entrance of the Innovation Park.

"Chen Yansen, let me introduce you. This is Teacher Zhang Liang, the field host for ’First Look’. He came all the way from Lucheng just to record a segment with you." Cao Dahua led the group into Room 206.

"Teacher Zhang, welcome!"

Chen Yansen extended his hand to greet them, then led them to Room 202. The office was currently vacant, making it a perfect spot for the interview.

Zhang Liang couldn’t help but look Chen Yansen up and down. He was about eighteen or nineteen, wearing a white shirt under a coffee-colored jacket. He was handsome with refined features, and stood half a head taller than him.

His demeanor and conversation style were nothing like a university student’s; he was more like a seasoned veteran who had spent years navigating the business world.

After the accompanying crew finished adjusting the lights and microphones, one of them asked Zhang Liang, "Teacher Zhang, should we put some light makeup on Chen Yansen?"

"No need. With his skin condition and facial features, makeup would actually detract from his look." Zhang Liang stared at Chen Yansen for a moment, then waved his hand in refusal.

The interview that followed left Zhang Liang even more astonished. The young man before him spoke flawlessly, was witty and humorous, and possessed a wealth of experience. He was able to hold his own in a back-and-forth conversation with him.

’This episode is definitely going to be a hit!’

Before leaving, Zhang Liang was firmly convinced of this.

「Three days later.」

The show aired. The image of Chen Yansen sitting in a chair, speaking eloquently to the camera, instantly caused a sensation throughout the province.

Afterward, video clips from the show started trending, and the three major news portals successively shared and reported on it.

This time, Chen Yansen and his company, FoxTao, completely blew up and went mainstream.

Chen Yansen was handsome, which naturally attracted attention. When the media also dubbed him the "youngest post-90s multimillionaire," he became even more sought after by students and white-collar workers.

The majority of them were women, who flocked to register FoxTao accounts and buy clothes, bags, cosmetics, and snacks on the website.

Some people even started promoting and supporting him on Weibo.

This led clueless netizens to believe that Chen Yansen was some newly debuted celebrity idol.

Chen Yansen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he found out. He never expected to be walking the same path as Cheng Ou.

But he didn’t get sentimental about it. That very night, he registered a Weibo account with the username "FoxTao CEO Chen Yansen." Without a second thought, he uploaded a few handsome photos of himself along with a link to the "Slash to Zero" campaign.

"Hello everyone, I am Chen Yansen, the founder of FoxTao. I speak for myself. Use FoxTao, shop smarter!"

Chen Yansen shamelessly copied Cheng Ou’s lines directly. As for what Cheng Ou would do in the future, that wasn’t his damn problem!

’Walk someone else’s path, leaving them with no path to walk. Now that’s satisfying!’

As a result, in just a few days, his Weibo followers skyrocketed from 0 to 800,000, and it looked like he was about to break a million.

Meanwhile, far away in Chunshen, Chen Guobin sat in front of the TV, watching the sharp-suited Chen Yansen, and was once again filled with doubt: ’Is this thing really my son?’