Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The next morning, Chen Yansen, dressed and ready, went downstairs to the restaurant.

As soon as he entered, he saw Song Yuncheng sitting alone by the window, holding half a fried dough stick. A bowl of soft tofu pudding sat in front of her, and her suitcase was by her feet.

She wasn’t wearing yesterday’s white blazer. Instead, she had on that patched pink down jacket. Her fluffy hair was tied up in a high ponytail, revealing a clear forehead.

Chen Yansen casually grabbed some breakfast and walked over with his tray.

"So early. What time is your train?" Chen Yansen asked softly as he sat down.

"9:30." Song Yuncheng glanced up at him, making up a train time on the spot.

"What time does it get to Lucheng?" Chen Yansen asked again.

"I... I didn’t check." Song Yuncheng hadn’t even bought a ticket, so how would she know the arrival time? She could only lower her head to avoid his gaze.

"Did you know that when people lie, their expressions become subconsciously unnatural? You can train yourself to suppress that instinct, though."

Chen Yansen said teasingly, taking in her every expression.

"Is that so?" Song Yuncheng gave a dry laugh, took a sip of milk in a tactical retreat, and changed the subject. "By the way, are you going back to school today?"

"I’m going to Lucheng."

Chen Yansen said slowly, his eyes fixed on Song Yuncheng.

"You’re going to Lucheng, too?" Song Yuncheng’s eyes lit up, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, and a look of delight unconsciously spread across her face.

But she quickly realized he had probably seen through her lies long ago. His going to Lujiang most likely meant he was planning to drive her home.

"Yep. Taking an unlucky soul home," Chen Yansen nodded and replied.

"I was thinking of trying my luck at the long-distance bus station," Song Yuncheng muttered. She understood what he meant but didn’t want to get too involved with him.

She was afraid of falling in too deep.

"Colleges in Hu City are on break these couple of days, so it’s nearly impossible to get a ticket at the bus station," Chen Yansen added, completely crushing Song Yuncheng’s hopes.

At 9:30, the two left the hotel and got in the car.

Chen Yansen sped along the outer ring road and soon merged onto the highway. He glanced at Song Yuncheng, who was staring blankly. "Put on a song."

"Huh? Okay," Song Yuncheng snapped out of it and obediently agreed.

It took Song Yuncheng a full ten minutes of fumbling before she finally connected to the car’s Bluetooth. She scrolled through the songs on her phone, but none of them seemed to fit Chen Yansen’s personality.

After hesitating for a long time, she picked "Luzhou Moon," which seemed rather fitting for the occasion.

"♪ As a child, I chiseled a wall to steal whose light? With hair unkempt, I endured ten years of bitter study."

"♪ Now I read idly by the lamplight, with a red-sleeved beauty adding incense; half a lifetime of fleeting fame is but an illusion..."

Chen Yansen hummed along, his voice low and husky, with a magnetic quality.

Song Yuncheng was slightly taken aback. After spending a few months with him, she had almost forgotten that, like her, Chen Yansen was also born in the 90s. She was even a year older than him.

’He actually listens to Xu Song’s music.’ Song Yuncheng thought to herself and couldn’t help but smile. This was the first time she had seen this other side of him.

No, wait!

Chen Yansen’s under... underwear pattern was also completely at odds with his usual dapper appearance.

Her cheeks flushed at the thought.

Song Yuncheng leaned back in her seat, watching the scenery fly by outside the window. ’You’re so pathetic,’ she thought. ’Chen Yansen just beckons, and you come running into his car. Didn’t you promise yourself you’d only see him as your boss and mentor?’

She recalled an hour ago, it felt as if some inexplicable force had pushed her into the car.

’Is it because I like him?’

Song Yuncheng sneaked a peek at Chen Yansen. He was handsome, with sharp, well-defined features. In the Journalism Class of ’10 alone, there were enough girls who liked him to form a soccer team, to say nothing of the entire Xuyuan.

’If I say he’s a bad guy, besides Meng Jie, it seems I’m the only one he takes advantage of. But if I say he’s a good guy, he’s always got his eye on other women while he’s with one. A total player.’

Song Yuncheng remained silent, her mind racing with wild thoughts as her face alternated between flushed and pale.

Chen Yansen was a skilled driver, making it all the way from Hu City to Jinling in one go without stopping.

After lunch at a rest stop, they were back on the road half an hour later.

At three in the afternoon, Chen Yansen exited the highway, drove for an hour on a provincial road, and then turned onto a country road.

The narrow country road was harder to drive on than the highway. The surface was riddled with potholes, and when another car approached, they had to pull over onto the ridges between rice paddies.

The sun hung over the birch branches, offering no warmth.

The biting early winter wind swept up a few withered leaves, carrying them toward a distant, dark ditch.

"Are you going home to see your parents?" Chen Yansen suddenly asked.

"No." Song Yuncheng shook her head, but quickly added, "I’m seeing my brother."

"Your brother must have graduated and started working, right?" Chen Yansen asked, not thinking much of it.

"My brother couldn’t graduate," Song Yuncheng said with a bitter smile, a flash of guilt in her eyes.

Chen Yansen turned to look at her, asking in confusion, "Did he get expelled for failing his classes?"

"My brother won scholarships every year. He never failed a single class," Song Yuncheng sighed, forcing a small smile.

Chen Yansen chuckled awkwardly and shrugged. ’I never failed any classes either,’ he thought.

’Barely passing with 60 percent on every single one!’

’And I got a 99 in English!’

The principal and the dean had both pulled some strings, so the major course professors had no choice but to bite the bullet and change Chen Yansen’s tests—which had scores in the teens—to a passing 60.

Chen Yansen was confused by her words but didn’t press for details. He was interested in Song Yuncheng, not her brother.

About ten minutes later, the car stopped beside a small, two-story house.

"This is your house?" Chen Yansen asked curiously, sizing it up.

The house before them had yards of several dozen square meters in both the front and back, and the living space on both floors was also considerable.

It was much bigger than his own family’s house. It seemed Song Yuncheng wasn’t as poor as he’d imagined.

He had thought that, for Song Yuncheng to be so stingy, her family must be dirt poor.

"Do you want to come in for a glass of water?" Song Yuncheng asked, not answering his question.

She didn’t actually want him to come inside. There would be too much to explain, and she didn’t want him to know too much about her.

But he had driven her all this way. It would seem heartless of her not to even offer him a glass of water.

"A meal would be even better," Chen Yansen said, not holding back at all.

After getting the luggage from the trunk, Chen Yansen strode right ahead. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought it was his house.

"Chen Yansen, slow down!" Song Yuncheng jogged to catch up.

Just as Chen Yansen walked through the door, he came face-to-face with a woman in her thirties, who stared at him in astonishment.

"And you are?" the woman asked, frowning in confusion.

"Auntie, I’m home," Song Yuncheng said with a smile, stepping out from behind Chen Yansen.

"Oh, Little Orange! I was just about to call and see where you were. Your uncle was worried you wouldn’t be able to get a ticket," her aunt said, beaming as she took Song Yuncheng’s hand.

"And this young man is...?" After speaking, her aunt turned her gaze back to Chen Yansen.

"He’s my..." Song Yuncheng hesitated, unsure whether to introduce him as a classmate or her boss.

Chen Yansen stepped forward on his own. "Hello, Auntie," he said with a smile. "I’m Little Orange’s boyfriend, Chen Yansen. You can just call me Xiaochen."

"Hey! Chen Yansen, don’t talk nonsense!" Song Yuncheng panicked, standing on her tiptoes, wanting to clamp a hand over his mouth.

’And besides, "Little Orange" is a nickname only family is allowed to use.’

’Chen Yansen, shut your mouth!’

Afraid her aunt would get the wrong idea, Song Yuncheng frantically tried to protest.

"Auntie, Little Orange is just shy. You know how it is," Chen Yansen explained with a grin.

"Little Orange, your aunt isn’t some old fossil. Having a boyfriend is a good thing! Xiaochen, is it? Come on in and sit down."

The aunt simply assumed Song Yuncheng was being bashful and enthusiastically welcomed Chen Yansen into the main room, bustling about to find tea leaves to make tea.

"Chen Yansen, why did you have to lie? My aunt believed you!" Song Yuncheng kicked him, her face full of displeasure.

"You confessed to me last time, and I accepted. Doesn’t that make us boyfriend and girlfriend?" Chen Yansen brought up the old incident with a wicked smile.

Just then, a tall, slender young man walked out of a bedroom. Seeing Song Yuncheng, he immediately broke into a wide grin.

"Little Orange, you’re finally out of school! Will you play Ludo with me?" The young man bore a slight resemblance to Song Yuncheng. His tone of voice was strange, but his smile was pure.

"Brother, I brought you toys and workbooks." Seeing her brother, Song Yuncheng forgot about bickering with Chen Yansen and quickly opened her suitcase to take out the things she had prepared.

"Xiaochen, you can probably tell, Little Orange’s brother... he has a problem up here." The aunt brought over a cup of hot water, placed it gently on the table for Chen Yansen to drink, and tapped her own head.

"Was it caused by an illness?" Chen Yansen asked.

Song Yuncheng had mentioned that her brother had gone to college and won scholarships every year, so he couldn’t have been born this way.

"Little Orange didn’t tell you?" The aunt paused for a moment, but then figured that since Song Yuncheng had brought Chen Yansen home, she probably wasn’t planning on hiding it from him.

Chen Yansen nodded. Now he understood why Song Yuncheng was so frugal, to the point of being malnourished despite earning four or five thousand a month.

"The year Little Orange was a sophomore in high school, our house’s old wiring caused a fire in the middle of the night. By the time we discovered it, Little Orange was lying alone outside the door."

As the aunt recounted the story, her eyes reddened. She choked back a sob before continuing, "That boy, Yunuo, woke up early. He carried his sister outside first. But when he went back in to save his parents, he inhaled too much toxic smoke. The doctors called it toxic encephalopathy. Now his mental age is about the same as a six or seven-year-old child’s."

"And Little Orange’s parents?" Chen Yansen asked in a low voice.

"They didn’t make it," the aunt answered directly.

Chen Yansen looked at Song Yunuo. His face was clean, and his clothes, though not high-end, were well-fitting and neat. It was clear the aunt had been taking care of both Song Yuncheng and her brother all these years.

"Little Orange is a real fighter. She started working part-time at school in her sophomore year. It’s just that her boss is a real piece of work, always piling on so much work that she’s too busy to even eat properly," the aunt complained angrily.

Every family has its own hardships. Song Yuncheng knew her aunt’s family depended entirely on her uncle driving a truck in the city to make a living, and they had two elementary school-aged children of their own. How could she freeload off them?

With her parents gone and her brother gravely ill, Song Yuncheng, who had been a good student, ended up only getting into a Tier 2 university.

Her aunt and uncle urged her to repeat the year and retake the exams, but Song Yuncheng refused.

Hearing this, Chen Yansen smiled knowingly. Given Song Yuncheng’s stubborn temper, it was normal for her to refuse.

"I’m not against you two dating, but I’m telling you this, one, so you’re mentally prepared, and two, to let you know that if you can’t accept Little Orange’s burdens, you should tell her directly. Don’t let her get too heartbroken," the aunt said with a long sigh, her tone earnest.

She knew in her heart that her niece’s baggage was too heavy. Whoever married her would have to take on an extra ’son’ to raise, something no ordinary family would agree to.

She didn’t want Chen Yansen to suddenly back out when it came time to talk about marriage. It was better for everyone to get the ugly truth out in the open now.

"I understand." Chen Yansen didn’t say much more, simply waving Song Yuncheng over.

"Brother, you play by yourself for a little while, okay?" Song Yuncheng coaxed her brother before walking over to Chen Yansen.

"You two take your time and talk. I’m going to the school to pick up Wang Yun and Wang Yu." With that, the aunt left them alone in the main room, hopping on her electric scooter and heading toward the town’s elementary school.

Wang Yun and Wang Yu were Song Yuncheng’s younger cousins. The school was less than 800 meters from their house. One was in sixth grade and the other in fifth; they hardly needed to be picked up.

Her aunt was obviously just giving the two of them some space to talk.

"I’ve never thought about dating, or getting married. My brother saved my life, so I have to take care of him," Song Yuncheng said softly, her eyes on her brother.

Song Yunuo was squatting on the floor, engrossed in his game of Ludo, oblivious to the conversation happening beside him.

"He definitely wouldn’t want you to live your whole life like this," Chen Yansen said with conviction.

"But this is the only way I can live my life," Song Yuncheng let out a soft laugh, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Life isn’t as bad as you think. Just focus on making money for me, and in a year or two, I guarantee you’ll have saved a few million."

Chen Yansen said with a comforting smile.

This time, he didn’t say something like, ’Be my part-time girlfriend and I’ll give you X-thousand a month.’

He was a bad boy, not a monster.

"Zhang Yifeng only made fifty thousand last month. How am I supposed to make a few million in two years?" A warm feeling spread through Song Yuncheng’s heart, but her words were full of disbelief.

"You’re my number one employee. If even you can’t get rich, who’s going to want to work for me in the future?" Chen Yansen retorted with a pout.