Chapter 114: Da Bolo

After Chen Yansen left, Cao Dahua pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Hua Ge, what do you need?”

Zuo Hongyu, seeing the familiar caller ID, smiled and pressed answer.

“Old Zuo, are you getting used to life at Da Bolo?” Cao Dahua leaned back on the sofa, grinning.

“Clone phones? Just assembly—no real challenge. But the past two years haven’t been as comfortable as ’08 or ’09.”

Zuo Hongyu took it as friendly concern and chatted casually.

“Ever think about switching jobs?” Cao Dahua ended the small talk and got straight to the point.

“Hua Ge, are you coming out of retirement?” Zuo Hongyu froze, hesitated, then quickly pressed.

“You think this is a movie? I don’t have time to play the returning king! I’ve got a student who wants to enter the phone industry—he needs a procurement director who knows the supply chain inside out. So, are you interested?”

Cao Dahua, hearing his old friend’s excitement, doused him with cold water.

“Huh? So your student’s a rich kid?”

Zuo Hongyu didn’t accept or refuse, continuing to probe.

“The kid I mentioned before—Chen Yansen.”

Cao Dahua grinned, clearly proud—he always told outsiders Chen Yansen was his star pupil.

“Wait, isn’t he in e-commerce? Why suddenly phones?”

Zuo Hongyu was puzzled—the two industries were vastly different.

“Lei Jun started in software too, and now he makes phones. Anyway, this kid’s loaded—he won’t treat you badly. So, are you in?” Cao Dahua urged.

“Hua Ge, I’m past my prime. I don’t want to start over. If you were going back in, I’d throw my old bones into it with you. But this?”

Zuo Hongyu thought it over and declined.

Though clone phone momentum had cooled since its peak, the domestic market still held huge potential—if they couldn’t sell in first- or second-tier cities, they’d go to third- or fourth-tier towns, even remote county seats. There was always a meal to be had.

But joining Chen Yansen? Uncertain future. For a man in his forties, the risk was too high—not worth it.

“Old Zuo, you’re being foolish! Clone phones thrived because MediaTek supplied chips and OS—but now MediaTek’s lost its edge in touch and smartphone tech. You’re heading straight for a dead end.”

Cao Dahua spoke with certainty—he wasn’t slacking off just because he was at school.

His past entrepreneurial failure still rankled; he knew every detail of this industry.

“Is it really that bad?”

Zuo Hongyu didn’t believe it—he still thought Da Bolo was popular in the mid-to-low-end market.

“Hmph! Your factory’s electronic trash can’t even compete with the smart phones carriers give away for top-ups. What are you going to use to fight Huawei, ZTE, and Coolpad?”

Cao Dahua sighed in frustration—he thought: Old Zuo’s good at support, but if left alone, he’d turn everything into a mess.

“Hua Ge, why don’t you take the procurement director role? I’ll be your deputy.”

After a moment’s thought, Zuo Hongyu proposed.

“Why drag me into this?” Cao Dahua laughed bitterly—he spent his days sipping tea, watching movies, living like a god. Why suffer through startup hell with Chen Yansen?

“Heh, without you as the big god in charge, I just can’t sleep easy,” Zuo Hongyu grinned.

“I’m no god. If I had any real ability, I wouldn’t have slunk back home from Shencheng all those years ago. Give me a straight answer—yes or no?”

Cao Dahua snapped, impatient.

“Then I’ll have to go to Xu City to meet your student.” Zuo Hongyu’s smile faded, his expression turning serious.

“Fine. We haven’t met in ages—let’s have enough stewed chicken.” Cao Dahua sighed, then agreed readily.

“Done. This Saturday—I’m going to Hui’an on business anyway.” Zuo Hongyu checked his schedule and confirmed the meeting time.

After hanging up, Cao Dahua stood, gazing at the darkening sky outside the window. A sudden impulse surged—he couldn’t ignore Zuo Hongyu’s suggestion.

Chen Yansen was mature, steady, thriving in e-commerce, even winning over venture capitalists—but manufacturing was a deep pool. Cao Dahua feared he’d repeat his own past mistake: one misstep, total ruin.

“Forget it. I’ll talk it over with my wife.”

Cao Dahua was tempted; after some thought, he made his decision.

The next morning, before work, he stopped by the president’s office and mentioned Chen Yansen’s plan to expand off-campus hiring to Tang Qingshan.

Tang Qingshan, hearing FoxTao wanted to hire sixty more off-campus staff, immediately frowned, looking troubled.

“President, I think we shouldn’t agree. FoxTao’s valued at over two billion. Still pretending to be a student startup to take advantage of the school? That’s unethical. Better make them move their team to the nearby tech park.”

Cao Dahua put on a stern face, saying this deliberately.

Move to the tech park?

Tang Qingshan paused. If FoxTao left campus, could it still count as a student startup project?

His eyes fell on the document on his desk—the invitation to the Student Startup Competition.

“Teacher Cao, as head of the startup park and mentor, you’re supposed to help students in trouble. Driving them out? What’s that about? I approve it. Have security register them and tighten safety protocols.”

Tang Qingshan waved his hand, first scolding Cao Dahua’s “avoidance mentality,” then nodded decisively.

Cao Dahua smiled apologetically, nodded in agreement—and as he lowered his head, a flash of triumph gleamed in his eyes.

Whistling a tune, he hurried to the startup park with the invitation—Chen Yansen hadn’t arrived yet.

“If this kid had half my old work ethic, FoxTao would be worth four billion already.” Cao Dahua boasted inwardly.

He walked to Xu Dan’s desk, placed the invitation down, gave brief instructions, then waddled back to his office, belly out, resuming his leisure.

Only at 10:30 did Chen Yansen arrive. After hearing Xu Dan’s report, he smiled faintly.

Old Cao was reliable—every time he said “I’ll try,” he always got it done.

He tossed the invitation to Zhuang Rui and told the product team to pick a sharp-tongued product manager to represent FoxTao at the competition.

He had no intention to waste time on this—better to take Meng Jie to the small woods by Pearl Lake and enjoy the breeze.

Then Chen Yansen handed the keys to several downstairs startup spaces to Xu Xingxing, telling her to hire some part-time students to clean, then get approval from Cao Dahua to move desks, chairs, and water dispensers from the warehouse.

Xu Xingxing nodded and got to work.

Chen Yansen returned to his seat, as usual checking data first, then calling a ten-minute meeting with several team leads.

“Boss, I warned the business development team about last night’s inventory drop and notified them of the penalty.” Zhang Yifeng reported proactively.

“Mm, got it.” Chen Yansen wasn’t concerned.

He wasn’t afraid of business development staff quitting—someone left, an editor stepped in.

After all, besides selecting products and setting commission rates, editors handled the most daily communication with merchants.

From setting commission percentages to finalizing main images and product titles—all were coordinated by editors with merchant operations.

If a business development rep quit, the editor could retain at least 90% of the merchant resources.

At month-end, Chen Yansen would promote two or three new team leads and hire a few assistants.

Officially, assistants helped leads—but in reality, they diluted the leads’ authority, letting him tightly control the entire business development team.

“Boss, after Zhuang Rui’s crawler email went live, the number of merchants listed simultaneously on Meilishuo, Mogujie, and SuperReturn has dropped to almost nothing. We’ve got traffic and first-mover advantage—we’ll crush these competitors.”

Yuan Wei smiled.

“Have business development check competitor sites daily—prevent sneaky merchants from using different links for the same product or joining promotions through other platforms.”

Chen Yansen nodded, casually reminding him.

“Understood. That’s standard business development work,” Yuan Wei replied confidently.

“March is still half over. I hope everyone hits Q1 targets. This is FoxTao’s first quarterly bonus—money’s ready. Don’t let me down.”

Chen Yansen tossed out a sweet carrot, smiling.

“No problem!” The team leads broke into wide grins.

Quarterly bonus was one to three times monthly salary—minimum one full month’s pay. Everyone except business development was thrilled.

Chen Yansen smiled, said “Meeting dismissed,” and walked out first.

Meanwhile, Wang Teng had just returned to Dongguan and immediately submitted his resignation.

His department manager didn’t take it seriously—after OPPO announced its entry into smartphones, funds from the Bubugao project meant they weren’t short on talent.

Wang Teng expected at least a month’s notice, but his last day was set for next week—he felt a pang of disappointment. After three years at OPPO, he had some attachment.

But then he remembered: this month he’d start earning 36,000 yuan a month. His lingering unease vanished instantly.

At the same time, Xu Dan received Wang Teng’s hiring plan and continued recruiting based on R&D needs.

Chen Yansen spent generously—generous subsidies, benefits, and quarterly bonuses—soon luring a batch of system engineers from Xiaomi, OPPO, and Meizu.

Another ordinary weekend. Chen Yansen had just woken up when Cao Dahua called.

“Interview? Now? Fine.”

Chen Yansen hung up, dressed, got in his car, and drove to an off-campus restaurant.

Interviewing at a restaurant wasn’t new to him—he’d often interviewed female streamers in hotels and villas in his past life.

(End of Chapter)