Chapter 148

The next morning, in the Orange Factory dormitory.

Zhu Ge, still half-asleep, heard the noise in his ears, struggled to open his eyes, saw the clock read 8: 0, and instantly jumped up, grabbing his toothbrush cup and sprinting for the bathroom.

"Zhu Ge, it's your day off—why get up so early?"

A fellow worker lying on his bed, scrolling on his phone, asked curiously at his frantic rush.

Li Yunzhu, just reaching the door, suddenly stopped, remembering he'd worked seven straight days and was now forcibly mandated a day off by his team leader.

"Fuck! I was half-asleep—I thought I was still at Big Strawberry Factory. What were you guys just chattering about?"

Li Yunzhu slapped his own head, suddenly realizing.

Big Strawberry Factory was his previous job, where he twisted screws for ten yuan an hour, with overtime pay always ten yuan, whether weekend or weekday.

To earn five thousand a month, you really had to risk your life.

"Of course we're talking about wages—damn, pay's coming on the 1st, this boss deserves to get rich!" the worker grumbled even as he praised.

Li Yunzhu turned, walked to his bed, set down the toothbrush cup, picked up his Big Pineapple knockoff phone, and opened his messages.

Sure enough, one unread message from 8: 5: Your account 4178 received 5136. 0 yuan on September 1 at 08: 5; current balance 42846. 0 yuan.

After deductions for social insurance and housing fund, he took home just over five thousand.

Last month he worked twenty-seven days, rested only four—but this five thousand was far easier to earn than at Big Strawberry Factory.

At Big Strawberry's base pay and overtime rates, Li Yunzhu would have had to work eighteen hours a day to earn this much.

"Zhu Ge, how much did you make last month?" the worker asked, smiling as he noticed Li Yunzhu staring blankly at the message.

"Not much—definitely under ten thousand," Li Yunzhu smiled, slipped his phone into his pocket, and didn't tell the truth.

Honestly, Orange Factory's pay was only a thousand or so higher than other factories, but the workload was nearly halved.

The young guys hung around the dorm a bit, then agreed to head into town for a stroll.

They used to work sixteen hours a day, with no energy left to go out—now, with shorter hours, they were slowly regaining the vitality of youth.

Li Yunzhu and the others walked out, chatting and laughing.

Outside the Orange Tech Factory gate, a long line still waited for interviews.

"Zhu Ge, wasn't the second round of hiring already over? Why are people still lining up?"

The worker scratched his crotch, puzzled.

"Probably the boss wants to expand capacity. I heard we've sold over two million Orange phones—last month we shipped only 400, 00. With just our current staff, when will customers even get their orders?"

Li Yunzhu thought quickly and spoke sweetly, always cozying up to his team leader—he had better info than ordinary workers.

"True! More sales mean more job security."

For line workers like them, they feared empty orders more than the boss did—no orders meant machines stopped, and they earned nothing.

…

…

Chen Yan sat on the sofa and summoned the system panel.

August's Human Dao Flame had 1, 47 strands, plus 19 remaining from July, totaling 1, 63 strands.

After synthesizing 19 strands into Divine Dao Flame, he poured all of it into his Spirit attribute.

The familiar sensation washed over him—a relaxing warmth like soaking in a hot spring; the burning ache in his mind vanished.

These recent attribute boosts had left him increasingly clear-headed and refreshed.

Seeing his Spirit value rise to 10. 9, Chen Yan sighed, feeling the pace was too slow.

Though Orange Tech had grown from sixty to two hundred people, and the factory had hired six hundred more, the rate of Human Dao Flame gain remained unsatisfactory.

"I've never once thought low labor costs could be a bad thing."

Chen Yan let out a quiet, weary laugh.

An Orange phone priced at 1, 99 yuan—even fully compliant with labor law on overtime—gave each worker just twelve yuan per unit.

Less than one percent of the retail price!

"No good—I need to raise wages. As my employees, earning so little makes it look like Orange Tech can't make money."

Chen Yan frowned, then decided.

He acted immediately, calling Cao Dahua: "Hey, Lao Cao, from September, raise worker hourly wage to twenty yuan."

"What?" Cao Dahua, just entering his office, thought he'd misheard.

"Overtime pay rate is adjusted from fifteen to twenty yuan," Chen Yan repeated.

Last month, labor costs for Orange Factory, including R&D, Marketing, Branding, and E-commerce, totaled only 13 million.

Gross profit from 400, 00 Orange phones reached over 66 million; additional software revenue (ads, game partnerships, tech licensing) added at least 80 to 100 million more.

Overall, Orange phone gross margin hovered around 20%.

Chen Yan insisted he didn't want to make so much.

"That'll raise factory labor costs by 40% this month—you're sure?"

Cao Dahua did a quick calculation and warned seriously.

So little?

A 40% increase meant only two or three hundred more Human Dao Flame strands.

"Do as I say. Also, how's hiring going at Factory Two?"

Chen Yan's tone was firm, then asked.

Factory One's output clearly couldn't keep up with Orange phone sales—so when pre-orders broke one million, Chen Yan had ordered Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu to begin preparing Factory Two.

"About three hundred hired so far—we limited overtime hours, or more would've applied. But with hourly wage at twenty yuan, we'll fill all spots in three days."

Cao Dahua thought Chen Yan was wasting money, but said nothing.

Twenty yuan an hour, full overtime pay per labor law, meals and lodging included—this was heaven on earth in Shencheng; workers would fight over it.

"Alright, that's it." Chen Yan hung up.

"I knew this kid was a spendthrift—paying twenty yuan an hour with full overtime? The workers in Huaqiangbei will probably worship him as a god of wealth."

Cao Dahua shook his head, smiling.

After giving instructions to Cao Dahua, Chen Yan walked straight downstairs toward the Innovation Park.

The campus was full of new students and parents; driving was inconvenient, and the distance was only a few hundred meters.

Chen Yan arrived at the park in two or three minutes; from afar, the entrance was packed—Song Yuncheng stood aside, unable to squeeze in.

"What's going on?" Chen Yan asked, approaching.

Song Yuncheng turned, saw him, quickly pulled him aside to the dormitory front, waited until no one noticed, then exhaled: "These are all this year's freshmen—they came straight to the Innovation Park after registering."

"Visiting? FoxTao?" Chen Yan understood.

"Yes, lots of younger students came to study at the School of Humanities just because of you."

Song Yuncheng looked at Chen Yan, a flicker of admiration in her eyes.

Chen Yan was a year younger than her, yet in just one year, had built FoxTao from nothing to a hundred-billion-yuan valuation.

Even she, employee #1, felt like it was a dream—let alone those prospective students outside.

"Alright, I get it." Chen Yan shook his head, called Security Chief Zhan Guowei, and told him to bring people over.

Visiting the Innovation Park and FoxTao was fine—but not if it disrupted operations.

Zhan Guowei, hearing the situation, agreed immediately.

Within minutes, Zhan Guowei arrived with a team of security officers.

"What are you all doing here? Break up!"

Zhan Guowei shouted through a loudspeaker.

He had a square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, had served in the military—his voice carried authority.

The freshmen, seeing the display, obediently parted a path.

Chen Yan finally saw: the first-floor lobby was packed, and people still queued for the second floor.

The staircase was narrow—if a stampede happened, Zhan Guowei would be the first to suffer.

Zhan Guowei instantly realized the danger and shouted: "Which department? What major? Everyone—get out now! Or you'll get a major demerit!"

A few girls had resisted, but hearing "major demerit," they instantly obeyed.

People upstairs also began filing out.

Zhan Guowei's face turned grim—he hadn't realized so many people had flooded the park.

Fortunately, Chen Yan's timely warning prevented chaos.

Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, and others sighed in relief as the crowd finally dispersed.

"Are you Senior Chen Yan?"

A girl in the crowd stared at Chen Yan for a few seconds, then stepped forward to ask.

Chen Yan was 186 cm tall—even from a distance, he was recognized.

"Senior Chen!"

"Wow! He's even hotter than his photos!"

"Senior Chen, can we take a photo with you?"

"Senior, I want to join FoxTao—where do I sign up?"

A group of girls swarmed around him, chattering excitedly.

The crowd surged, threatening to swallow Chen Yan whole.

"Break up! Want a demerit?" Zhan Guowei roared.

"Everyone, quiet! Stay where you are. I'm Chen Yan. If you're interested in FoxTao, contact our website customer service and book a visit under your class name."

Students interested in part-time jobs, please check the website's job board, the notice board at the startup park entrance, and the campus BBS forum.

Chen Yansen said loudly.

Because there were too many people, Chen Yansen could only decline each request for photos and autographs.

But he smiled throughout, speaking warmly; the girls who were turned down didn't mind much.

At the urging of Zhan Guowei and Chen Yansen, most people gradually dispersed along Yixing Bridge.

"Senior, I'm one of the first users of Orange Phone—can you sign your name on the back cover?"

At that moment, a young girl approached with a pen and an Orange Phone, clearly prepared.

"Uh, okay."

Chen Yansen smiled and agreed—he simply couldn't refuse a loyal user of Orange Phone, especially a junior.

Chen Yansen took the phone and signed his name on the silver back cover.

"Thank you, Senior! My name is Ge Hui—Ge as in 'stop the spear,' Hui as in 'wisdom.'"

Ge Hui's eyes crinkled into slits; she was overjoyed inside.

Over these three summer months, she had gone from a longtime Fox Tao user to a new Orange Phone user, and she was deeply curious about this senior who was just one year older than her.

After getting the signed phone, she felt as if she'd successfully chased a star.

"Hello, thank you for supporting Orange Phone," Chen Yansen replied vaguely.

"Don't you want to ask what major I'm in?" Ge Hui countered.

"Ask next time."

Chen Yansen gave a faint smile, tossed out "Maybe next time," and walked toward the second floor, Song Yuncheng following closely behind.

"Senior Chen, you finally showed up! These kids are treating our place like a tourist attraction—some are even taking photos, it's insane!"

Xiang Pengfei, seeing Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng arrive, couldn't help complaining.

Chen Yansen thought to himself, what's this? In ten years, people would still squat with their hands on their heads outside the Police Inspector's office taking photos.

One generation just lived more abstractly than the next.

"Tell Xu Dan to gather all team leaders in one hour to discuss salary adjustments for the second half of the year."

Chen Yansen instructed, gesturing for Xiang Pengfei to find Xu Dan.

Fox Tao didn't open salary adjustments in the first half of the year; most people were still earning the same monthly salary from the end of last year, except for a few promoted.

"Senior, I'm on it! By the way, you look really handsome today."

Xiang Pengfei paused for a moment, then sprinted toward the door; at the threshold, he added with a grin.

"Get lost!"

"Got it!"

Chen Yansen laughed and cursed.

Gao Weilin had already been in talks with LeTian, SoftBank, Ali, and Augusta—this might be his final chance to adjust Fox Tao 's salaries.

From the start, Chen Yansen never intended Fox Tao to be a long-term project.

Now that a suitable buyer had emerged, he could use this opportunity to step away and focus entirely on the phone industry, opening a new frontier.

(End of Chapter)