Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chen Yansen tapped open the picture. In the photo, Song Yuncheng was wearing the pink down jacket, a warm, yellow light falling on her cheek. Her delicate nose and cherry-red lips made her look especially captivating.

"I’m not going to look for free. I’ll send one back to you," Chen Yansen said. Bare-chested, he casually snapped a picture and sent it.

Song Yuncheng glanced at the photo and let out a laugh. She put her phone away, breathed warm air onto her cold hands, and then headed toward the dormitory.

...

...

As the year drew to a close, everyone at FoxTao was incredibly busy.

New Year’s Day was a three-day holiday, and they couldn’t just force the entire staff to stay on duty at the Innovation Park to keep the Super Rebate event running without a break.

So, the Investment Attraction and category management teams were under enormous pressure. They had to schedule three days’ worth of brand events in advance, a considerable workload.

Xu Dan was busy recruiting for the customer service department and conducting initial interviews for experienced hires for the Investment Attraction and category management teams.

Chen Yansen, on the other hand, didn’t have much on his plate, so he prepared to take down Zhang Hanhua. After mapping out Zhang Hanhua’s partnership channels, he first spoke with Liang Youzhi from Penguin, then used a third party to find a partner Zhang Hanhua had previously terminated.

A well-thought-out plan was soon put into motion.

Although last week’s fake liquor incident didn’t seem to involve Zhang Hanhua, maybe he just hadn’t been implicated yet. Chen Yansen had no intention of letting an enemy lurk in the shadows.

’Crush him first, ask questions later!’

With everything arranged, Chen Yansen was in a great mood. He got up, ready to attend the School of Business’s New Year’s Eve gala.

"Zihao, hold down the fort at the company party tonight. Meng Jie and I will head over after 7:00," Chen Yansen made sure to instruct before he left.

"Alright. Wenbo and Pengfei were just saying everyone feels more relaxed when you’re not around," Wang Zihao said with a teasing smile, nudging Zhang Wenbo with his elbow.

"Brother Sen, you have to believe me, I never said that!" Zhang Wenbo waved his hands frantically, denying it outright.

"Brother Sen, you know me. I’ve always had the utmost respect for you," Xiang Pengfei said with a chuckle, laying on the flattery.

"Oh, get out of here!"

Chen Yansen couldn’t be bothered to waste time on them. With a playful curse, he got into his BMW 750 and drove straight to the School of Business’s main auditorium.

As soon as he walked backstage, he spotted Meng Jie from a distance.

Her makeup tonight was exquisite. Her eyes were clear and bright, and she wore a pair of blue colored contacts that made them look both lively and enchanting. Her short, curly hair added a playful and cute touch.

She wore a blue gauze slip dress, and the pearl necklace at her throat was particularly eye-catching. She looked like a completely different person from who she was six months ago.

"Aren’t you cold, wearing so little?" Chen Yansen walked up to her, taking her small hand and speaking in a warm voice.

Meng Jie’s hand was small, soft, and pleasantly warm.

"I’ve stuck heat packs all over the inside of my dress. I’m not cold," Meng Jie replied with a smile.

"Really? Let me see." After saying this, Chen Yansen pretended to lift the hem of her dress.

"Stop messing around! I arranged with the emcee to go on stage at 6:30 PM so I can leave half an hour early," Meng Jie said, dodging away from him.

"Alright, I’ll go to the auditorium and wait for your performance, then." Chen Yansen smiled, chatted with Meng Jie for a little longer, and then headed to the main auditorium.

The School of Business had many different majors and a large student body, so when Chen Yansen entered, he found there wasn’t a single empty seat. He didn’t mind, though, and just leaned against a wall.

A girl wearing glasses nearby caught him in her peripheral vision, and her eyes immediately lit up.

After a moment’s hesitation, she took the initiative to speak to him. "Excuse me, do you want this seat?"

"Oh, may I?" Chen Yansen asked with a smile.

Seeing his roguish smirk, the girl became even more convinced that he was devastatingly handsome. She quickly stood up to offer him the seat. "I’m meeting a friend for a movie, so I was just about to leave anyway."

"Thanks. This spot is perfect for getting a good shot of my girlfriend on stage," Chen Yansen made sure to add.

’Girlfriend?’

The girl’s face fell with disappointment. She almost blurted out, ’On second thought, maybe you should just keep standing.’

Chen Yansen paid her no mind. He took out his phone and started chatting with Song Yuncheng while he waited for Meng Jie to take the stage.

After three more acts, Meng Jie finally walked onto the stage, microphone in hand.

"♪ Starlight falls like tears, unspoken longing becomes dark circles under my eyes. Hundreds of days of passion, shattered by a single cold wave."

"..."

"♪ You’re in my room, like a slide show; you fill my vision. You’re on my phone, on my laptop, there’s no escape..."

Meng Jie had a beautiful singing voice, and her rendition did the original song justice. Combined with her naturally vibrant personality, she captured the attention of countless boys in the audience.

About ten minutes later, Meng Jie had changed her clothes and was heading out with Chen Yansen.

"Meng Jie, you were so beautiful tonight! These flowers are for you."

The two had just stepped out of the auditorium when a boy holding a bouquet of roses ran up to them excitedly.

Meng Jie froze, her expression turning awkward. Her boyfriend was standing right beside her, after all.

’This guy is so annoying,’ she thought. ’I’ve rejected him countless times, but I can’t believe he’d just show up and offer me flowers without any warning.’

’I told him clearly I have a boyfriend. His comprehension skills are so bad, how did he even get into college?’

"Oh, tulip roses. You’ve got good taste, buddy. Thanks."

Without another word, Chen Yansen snatched the roses from the boy’s hands.

"Who are you?" the boy demanded loudly, staring dumbfounded at his now-empty hands.

"Senior Brother He, he’s my boyfriend." Meng Jie’s words completely extinguished the boy’s hopes.

The boy lowered his head, his face flushing crimson.

’Meng Jie had used that line to reject him before, but he’d never seen this guy come to the School of Business to look for her, so he’d assumed it was just an excuse. If he had known, he never would have come and made a fool of himself.’

"Hey buddy, these flowers smell great!"

Chen Yansen said, waving the bouquet, twisting the knife.

The boy let out a cry of anguish and ran off in shame, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"You’re so mean," Meng Jie said, unable to stop laughing.

"For you." Chen Yansen said, re-gifting the bouquet to Meng Jie.

"I don’t want flowers someone else bought. I want you to buy them for me," Meng Jie said, putting her hands behind her back.

"Silly girl. Wouldn’t you rather I save the money to buy you another gift? That kid’s a clueless idiot. It would be a waste to throw the flowers out. This way, he gets to feel like he participated," Chen Yansen said with a mischievous grin.

It was a good thing the boy had left so quickly. If he’d heard that, he probably would have wanted to jump straight into Pearl Lake.

"You’re absolutely terrible," Meng Jie said with a giggle.

"Let’s go, Zihao is waiting for us." Chen Yansen took Meng Jie’s hand, and they got into the car, heading toward the city center.

Meanwhile, the venture capital firms that had previously visited for on-site due diligence received FoxTao’s business and financial statements for the third quarter.

October: Average DAU of 167,000, an average of 25,000 daily orders, average daily sales of 810,000 yuan, and a monthly gross profit of 3.57 million yuan.

November: Average DAU of 613,000, an average of 104,000 daily orders, average daily sales of 4 million yuan, and a monthly gross profit of 15.6 million yuan.

December: Average DAU of 1,024,000, an average of 207,000 daily orders, average daily sales of 13.8 million yuan, and a monthly gross profit of 67.2 million yuan.

Although Chen Yansen hadn’t disclosed operating expenses, FoxTao had a total staff of fewer than 100 people. Even accounting for advertising costs, its net profit margin had to be at least 50%.

’Can a shopping-guide e-commerce platform really be this profitable?’

The VCs had originally put FoxTao’s highest valuation at around 700 or 800 million yuan. After receiving these documents, that valuation immediately skyrocketed to over 1.5 billion.