Chapter 145

The drinking session ended, on the way back.

Chen Yansen and Gao Weilin talked about Zhou Shouzhi; Gao Weilin, who understood human nature deeply, immediately realized the boss wanted to poach him.

“Boss, how about next time I use a cooperation talk as an excuse to sound him out for you?”

Gao Weilin asked with a knowing smile.

“No need! Him staying at DST benefits Orange Tech’s development more.”

Chen Yansen waved his hand, rejecting Gao’s suggestion.

Elite men like Zhou Shouzhi may seem mild-mannered, but in truth they’re arrogant and high-minded.

Not even if Orange Tech invited him—let alone if Leiyi Army personally asked—would he consider it; he’d wait two or three years, only accepting Xiaomi’s CFO role after Xiaomi’s valuation surpassed 20 billion.

After Xiaomi went public, he immediately switched to ByteDance.

To men like him, whether Xiaomi or ByteDance, both are just stepping stones.

Business, after all, is mutual exploitation.

“Director Li wants to schedule Xiaomi’s exclusive event for August 28th. Should we allocate resources as before?”

Song Yuncheng nudged Chen Yansen with her elbow and asked quietly.

“Fox Tao ’s mobile app is already live, right? I remember it has 300,000 daily active users. Let’s give Xiaomi a boot screen too—I’ll gift it to Director Lei.”

Chen Yansen leaned back in the car seat and spoke softly.

“Huh!?” Song Yuncheng froze slightly; she’d intended to ask whether to reduce Xiaomi’s resource allocation, since Xiaomi and Orange Tech were competitors.

She hadn’t expected Chen Yansen to not only refuse cuts but actively increase Xiaomi’s traffic.

“Think bigger! They paid 10 million in advertising fees half a year ago. No need for petty tricks. If I’m scared of Xiaomi, how will I ever compete with Apple and Shanxing?”

Chen Yansen clenched his fist and tapped her head.

“Oh, got it. I’ll coordinate with the event team and send the plan to Li Wanqiang ASAP.”

Song Yuncheng winced, pouting and shooting Chen Yansen a fierce glare.

Gao Weilin, sitting in the front passenger seat, remained invisible, silent as a ghost.

The next morning, the sky turned pale with dawn.

Chen Yansen opened his eyes, checked his phone—it was 4:50 a.m.—his sleep had been shortened again.

He sighed, got out of bed, walked to his desk, picked up a copy of “Electromagnetism,” and sat down to read.

Behind him, Song Yuncheng lay on her side under the covers, a sliver of pale skin exposed, sleeping soundly.

Only at 9 a.m. did the three of them leave the hotel and head to the 798 Art District.

Lei Zong had spent years in the internet industry, with deep and wide connections; both the Shenzhen Ma and Hangzhou Ma showed up, along with Zhou Hongyi from 360, Zhang Zhaoyang from Sohu, Wang Zhidong from Sina, Ding Lei from NetEase—nearly all the top figures in the industry had accepted the invitation.

After all, when Lei Zong was general manager at Kingsoft, Ma Liyun was still an English teacher in Hangzhou; Little Ma had just graduated, and QQ’s first line of code hadn’t been written yet.

And when Lei Zong became Kingsoft’s CEO, Zhang Zhaoyang had just returned to China to found Sohu.

In terms of seniority, Lei Zong was unquestionably among the first generation of internet entrepreneurs.

Li Wanqiang, as Xiaomi’s marketing director, naturally stood at the conference hall entrance, greeting guests.

“Boss Chen, let me show you to your seat,” Li Wanqiang called out as soon as he spotted Chen Yansen.

“Thanks for the trouble.”

Chen Yansen smiled and followed Li Wanqiang into the hall.

Xiaomi’s launch venue was more luxurious and much larger than Orange Tech’s; plenty of media and fans had arrived.

As soon as the entrepreneurs entered, cameras flashed nonstop.

The moment Chen Yansen walked in, the media section erupted in noise.

In terms of fame, Chen Yansen far surpassed Wang Zhidong, Ding Lei, and others.

Back then, the “internet celebrity entrepreneur” trend hadn’t taken off; Chen Ou of Ju Mei had considered it, but Chen Yansen beat him to it.

At this point, Chen Yansen’s Weibo followers numbered just over 10 million; his account was managed by colleagues in marketing. Previously, he posted daily life photos and Super Return previews; now it was all about Orange phones, greatly boosting his online popularity.

Many college students looked up to him as a role model!

Li Wanqiang led Chen Yansen to the front row, seating him between Zhou Hongyi on the left and Ma Wenteng on the right.

Fuck.

Who the hell arranged this seating? Chen Yansen muttered inwardly.

“Boss Chen, good to see you again. I haven’t had the chance to thank you yet—for angel round to Series A, you’ve made Tencent a fortune.”

Ma Wenteng glanced at Zhou Hongyi, ignored him, and turned to chat with Chen Yansen.

Tencent had invested 150 million in Fox Tao ; at a 16-billion valuation, that investment had already earned nearly 1.5 billion.

Even with Ma Wenteng’s current net worth, he wouldn’t call 1.5 billion in potential gains “pocket change.”

Ma Wenteng looked at Chen Yansen and grew fonder by the moment.

“I should thank you first, Ma Zong. Without Tencent’s support, Fox Tao wouldn’t have grown this fast.”

Chen Yansen smiled, replying calmly.

If Ma Wenteng hadn’t approved, Fox Tao ’s zero-price discount links would’ve been shut down long ago—how could they now attract over 300,000 new customers daily?

Aside from a few directors from Beijing, only a dozen entrepreneurs remained in the front row; Lei Zong seated him here not to flatter him, but because the guests in the second row were far behind him in wealth and influence.

“The investment circles are all talking—you want to sell Fox Tao as a package? Are you really that confident in phone manufacturing? Even abandoning your first company?”

Ma Wenteng teased with a smile.

“Sell the first, there’s always the second. Le Tian and Augusta are both interested. Don’t worry—I’ll sell it for a high price, so Tencent makes a killing.”

Sell the first one, there’s still the second—LeTian and Augusta are both interested. Don’t worry, I’ll get a high price and make Penguin a fortune.

“You’re truly different from other young people,” Ma Wenteng nodded slightly, offering direct praise.

As an investor, he’d met many entrepreneurs—some treated their companies like children, others clung to equity like their lives, utterly failing to grasp the strategic value of fundraising.

Chen Yansen was the complete opposite: he felt no attachment to his own companies, cared only for profit; investing in such people often yielded higher returns.

They didn’t talk long before Lei Zong took the stage.

This was Chen Yansen’s first time watching a Xiaomi launch live; years later, Lei Zong’s iconic lines from this event would be edited into viral meme videos.

The most famous were “Your competitors are idiots” and “Are you OK?”

But today, Lei Zong was under immense pressure—before Xiaomi’s sales figures came out, no one knew whether users and the market would accept it.

Especially since Orange phone had already launched, putting great pressure on the “Master Lei.”

Before speaking, Lei Zong glanced at Chen Yansen and began his opening remarks.

After his greetings, applause erupted from the audience.

Chen Yansen watched Lei Zong and clapped lightly; his Mandarin was imperfect, but in this setting, it felt warm and genuine—a strength.

It felt as if the man on stage was a relative, teacher, or friend—radiating deep familiarity.

In contrast, Ma Liyun spoke flawless Mandarin and fluent English, yet created a sense of distance from users.

Chen Yansen already knew Xiaomi’s price: still 1,999 yuan, but buyers using Fox Tao would receive 20 to 100 yuan in cashback.

In principle, this made Xiaomi’s channel price 20 yuan lower than Orange phone’s.

It was easy to predict: neither Xiaomi nor Orange phone would sell poorly; now it was a race to ramp up production, lock in users early, and capture more market share.

Meanwhile, far away in Shenzhen, the Orange phone factory was working overtime.

The first batch of over 600 employees finally experienced the joy of maxed-out overtime pay.

Daily base salary plus overtime capped at 180 yuan;

Weekend overtime capped at 240 yuan.

Like Brother Zhu, last week he worked seven days—pre-tax salary: 1,380 yuan.

In his old factory, he’d earned at most 800–900 yuan a week, and had to work two extra hours daily.

“This is fucking awesome! Next month’s Mid-Autumn Festival—overtime pay alone is 360 yuan a day! One day’s work equals four days before!”

This is fucking awesome! Next month there’s the Mid-Autumn Festival—overtime pay alone is 360 yuan a day; one day’s work equals four days before!

“Brother Zhu, Meng who quit last month failed his interview yesterday—he’s kicking himself.”

A coworker joked during a break.

“He’s stupid! Such a great factory—he walks away to work 14-hour days for less than 150 yuan? Anyone who finished middle school wouldn’t be that foolish.”

Brother Zhu neatly placed tested phones into boxes, adding manuals, chargers, and earphones, speaking proudly.

“Orange phone is great, but limiting overtime is annoying—I can screw in 16 hours straight, yet they force me to stop at 12.”

The Orange phone is great, but limiting overtime every day is annoying—I can screw in 16 hours’ worth of bolts, yet they force me to stop after 12 and go rest.

At eighteen or nineteen, these kids feared no all-nighters; he’d once worked 30 hours straight without stopping.

After the second round of hiring, Orange factory’s workforce reached 1,200, contributing over a thousand strands of humanistic energy to Chen Yansen each month.

After completing the second round of hiring, the Orange Factory’s workforce reached 1,200 people, contributing over a thousand strands of humanistic flame to Chen Yan.

The logistics department packed phones in shock-absorbing foam, sealed them in cardboard boxes, and affixed courier labels.

SF Express vans arrived twice daily—morning and evening—to haul full loads to sorting centers, shipping them nationwide and abroad.

While Chen Yansen attended Xiaomi’s launch in Beijing, tens of thousands of buyers had already received their Orange phones.

For 1,999 yuan, customers got flagship specs: large screen, high-performance processor, smooth AuroraOS system—nearly zero negative reviews.

Some users complained about poor battery life—they had to charge daily.

No choice: the Snapdragon MSM8260 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 4.5-inch screen drained power fast—but the experience was truly thrilling.

Whether gaming or watching videos, the experience was full and satisfying.

Chen Yansen was flooding the market before Apple and China’s top-tier phone makers released their autumn new products.

Chen Yansen rushed to ship out massive quantities before Apple and China’s top-tier and second-tier smartphone manufacturers launched their autumn new products.

At the same price point, Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, and Lenovo were utterly uncompetitive, offering mostly mid- to low-end chips, small screens, and sluggish entry-level devices.

Users who had long suffered from knockoff phones and expensive, low-quality smartphones finally got something good.

By the time Chen Yansen returned to Xucheng, pre-orders for Orange Phone had reached 1.3 million units.

Industry insiders were predicting whether Orange Phone could break 2 million sales in its launch month.

That was nearly the factory’s total output for four months.

“Boss, the head of the branding department started today. Should I call her in?”

Chen Yansen sat in his office on the fifth floor when the HR officer knocked and asked.

“Have her come right in.”

Chen Yansen was reading a book, not looking up, and gave the order casually.

“Tap-tap-tap—!”

Not long after, Ye Qiuping stepped out of the elevator and walked slowly in high heels.

She wore a beige short-sleeved shirt and cotton-linen nine-inch pants, her skin pale, her figure plump and full, the shirt buttons straining tight.

At twenty-seven, Ye Qiuping exuded the scent of full ripeness.

Her attire differed from their last meeting in Yancheng; she had adopted a new style.

Ye Qiuping stopped before the office door. Though it was open, she still raised her hand and tapped twice, her gaze flickering quickly over Chen Yansen.

He was bent low, holding a book, flipping pages at incredible speed.

He wore a white shirt, tall and upright, his profile sharply defined, his short spiked hair neat and clean. From afar, he looked more like a bookish college student than a billionaire boss.

His long, strong fingers brushed across the pages, producing a soft rustling sound. Seeing this, Ye Qiuping involuntarily swallowed.

For some reason, she felt Chen Yansen had changed in a way she couldn’t quite name since their last meeting.

“Come in.”

Chen Yansen didn’t look up, speaking calmly.

(End of Chapter)