[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp":3,"chapter-i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-156":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Get Stronger Every Payday—With One Billion Employees!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2264369,4419,"Chapter 156: Zhang Xuhao: Blew It, Lost 100 Million in Funding (Seeking Monthly","i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-156",156,"\u003Cp>Chen Yansen returned to Building 8 and took the elevator to the fifth-floor office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the desk sat the administrative lunch order: five dishes and one soup, with four sets of bowls and chopsticks, plus several drinks delivered by the cafeteria.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old Gao, get Ye Qiuping over, and bring Wang Xueting from HR too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen sat down, didn’t pick up his chopsticks yet, and called Gao Weilin and others to join him for the meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eating was secondary; he mainly wanted to discuss Orange Tech’s expansion and the recruitment progress at Pinbei Tech.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, Gao Weilin, Ye Qiuping, and Wang Xueting arrived together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boss!” the three greeted at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Come in, let’s eat while we talk.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen rolled up his sleeves and gestured for them to sit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you, Boss,” Gao Weilin replied, sitting down first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Qiuping and Wang Xueting exchanged glances, then sat beside Old Gao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Xueting graduated from Tongji University’s Human Resources Management program and previously worked for years at a Shanghai telecom company, recruited by Chen Yansen with a monthly salary of over 40,000 yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Cong and Zhou Ze, two giants in industrial design, were hired by her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How’s Pinbei’s recruitment going? First, help me build the HR framework—focus on developers and business development staff for now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen picked up his chopsticks, took a shrimp into his mouth, and turned to Wang Xueting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We have two suitable HR manager candidates: Xiong Li from JD and Zhang Junjie from Suning—both have rich e-commerce experience, and Xiong Li also has business operations background.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Xueting answered immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ye Zong, do you know these people?” Chen Yansen turned to Ye Qiuping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She’s the recruitment head for JD’s small appliances—very capable, understands both HR and business,” Ye Qiuping thought briefly, then gave a positive assessment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Schedule interviews quickly; if they’re suitable, hire both.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen nodded and made the decision on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood, Boss,” Wang Xueting replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Orange Tech and Pinbei Tech’s recruitment is slower than I expected. Draft an internal referral bonus system—bonus amounts equal to headhunter costs—and hand it to me before quitting time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen paused, then added.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take Orange Tech, for example—most employees came from OPPO, Xiaomi, Huawei, and ZTE.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Encouraging internal referrals would greatly speed up hiring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, they know Orange Tech’s benefits and work environment, making their outreach to former colleagues far more persuasive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Got it, Boss,” Wang Xueting replied instantly. The HR department, including her, had only six people, and interview slots were fully booked every day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Orange Tech’s total staff still numbered only around 200.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t because the pay or benefits were poor—it was because Orange Tech was growing too fast; their hiring couldn’t keep up with demand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old Gao, did you transfer the equipment payment for the Orange phone factory?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen set down his chopsticks and asked Gao Weilin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thirty-four production lines total—the equipment funds were wired directly to the supplier’s corporate account, totaling 1.37 billion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Weilin had traveled with Chen Yansen several times and knew his habits—he answered casually, eating as he spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was why most phone manufacturers chose contract factories: before any phones were made, equipment alone cost over a billion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for Chen Yansen, this money was well spent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once operational, the factory could house over 5,000 employees, generating 4,000 strands of human Dao fire per month for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Monthly production capacity could rise from 500,000 to 3 million units!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The netizens on Weibo who mocked him as a clown would finally quiet down for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From August to early October, the factory shipped about one million phones, but pre-orders totaled 3.5 million—70% of orders still unfulfilled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite Chen Yansen’s popularity, impatient users flooded his comment section demanding delivery, and many cursed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How’s the branding team? What’s the online sentiment and user feedback?” Chen Yansen turned to Ye Qiuping, silently marveling at her composure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even after being thoroughly investigated, she still calmly stayed at Orange Tech, sitting across from him eating lunch as if nothing happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Xueting looked tense and uneasy; she, however, relaxed as if at home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aside from insufficient production capacity and poor signal due to the aluminum alloy back cover, user feedback shows Orange Phone’s positive review rate far exceeds Xiaomi’s; the data team’s sales model predicts that if production is resolved, monthly sales could triple.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ye Qiuping looked up slowly as Chen Yansen called her name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait another month—until Shencheng finishes hiring and equipment calibration.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen spoke calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The aluminum alloy back cover did hurt signal reception, but it improved structural strength and heat dissipation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Xiaomi phones, Orange Phone’s fluidity and user experience were clearly a step higher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, after Xiaomi’s pre-orders surpassed 700,000, online criticism exploded—many joked it was hot enough to fry eggs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without Orange Phone, users might have tolerated Xiaomi’s overheating and lag for its extreme value.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But with more choices, who would settle?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After lunch, Gao Weilin, Ye Qiuping, and Wang Xueting left the office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen put his feet on the desk and pulled out his phone to check the news.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ali increased the annual technical service fee and breach deposit for Taobao merchants, angering small and medium sellers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These merchants flocked to big sellers’ stores to place orders, cancel them, and bomb them with negative reviews to vent their frustration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In plain terms, Ma Liyun thought the sheep were fat enough for slaughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the small sellers didn’t see it that way—last year, Ali quietly adjusted search algorithms to funnel traffic toward big brands, slashing their income and building up long-held resentment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This unilateral price hike enraged them completely; over a hundred merchants even protested outside Ali’s headquarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let them riot—the messier the market, the better!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen muttered to himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who was Ma Liyun?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if he temporarily compromised, he’d eventually crush them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Zhang Yong, he believed that as e-commerce and the economy grew, user demand and average order value would steadily rise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, he abandoned the six-trillion-yuan lower-tier market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But three years later, Pinduoduo emerged out of nowhere, upending the e-commerce landscape and forcing Ali to launch Taotao and Taogongchang, while JD was tricked into launching Jingxi and Jingxi Special Sales.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too late—the tide had turned. Pinduoduo’s “Refund Only” feature gripped users tightly, surging forward to become one of the top three e-commerce platforms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen’s Pinbei borrowed Pinduoduo’s business model, aiming to take over the small and medium sellers abandoned by Ali and JD.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take the phone industry: a 1,999-yuan phone is just mid-range for many, yet many still can’t afford it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Functional phones and knockoff phones priced at 299, 499, or 699 yuan never lacked users.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Existence is justification!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A six-trillion-yuan lower-tier market naturally birthed an e-commerce crocodile—perfectly normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen merely needed to ride the tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He scrolled to the second headline: news of Apple CEO Jobs’ death—Apple was entering the Cook era.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other news focused on fierce competition among group-buying sites: Lashou, WoWoTuan, Nuomi, Dazhong Dianping, and Meituan were locked in battle—poaching staff, offering massive subsidies, all fighting for market share.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Chen Yansen’s surprise, this timeline’s Lashou and Nuomi were unusually strong, excelling in online marketing—even Meituan’s prized ground teams couldn’t outmatch them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this rate, the “Thousand Group-Buying War” would take a long time to resolve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen frowned—after selling Fox Taobao, his influence in the group-buying industry had dropped to zero.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t care who won the group-buying battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, from 2011 to 2013, whether in group-buying or food delivery, it was all money-losing ventures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even after Ele.me secured a 1-million-yuan funding round at the start of the year, it stirred no ripple in the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Venture capitalists seemed to have forgotten the food delivery sector—no investment, no follow-up funding at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, Chen Yansen called Old Gao and told him to try contacting Zhang Xuhao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On one hand, he wanted to invest early—when Ali or Meituan eventually acquired Ele.me, he’d make a fortune; on the other, he wanted to participate in Ele.me’s daily operations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To prepare for the next step.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Weilin immediately agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After joining Senlian Capital, he thought his job would be buying and investing—but instead, he became CFO at Orange Tech, occasionally helping the Boss pay off car and house installments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t look like an investment firm head—he was Chen Yansen’s butler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, he could use his expertise—but after learning about Ele.me, he was stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who came up with this ridiculous business model?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was zero chance of profit!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The platform alienated both buyers and sellers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sellers raised online prices to cover packaging, delivery, and platform commissions; buyers refused to pay more, feeling the platform passed costs onto them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In its two-and-a-half years, Ele.me had received only one funding round, with daily orders around 3,000—after deducting management and tech costs, it was perpetually losing money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Weilin wanted to advise Chen Yansen, but finally sighed and chose to trust his Boss’s vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In business, ten of him weren’t a match for the Boss—just do his job well; overstepping might just anger the Boss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two days later, Zhang Xuhao received Gao Weilin’s call.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll give you 100 million. Senlian wants 30% equity,” Gao Weilin said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“USD?” Zhang Xuhao asked tentatively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hua Yuan,\" Gao Weilin sneered, thinking the guy was overthinking it—just hungry? Even at this scale, a $200 million valuation was already too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xuhao fell silent; for some time now, he’d been pondering whether to rename the product.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ele.me?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was genuinely hungry now!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the past two years, apart from the $1 million in funding from Jinsha Venture Capital, he hadn’t received a single cent from any other venture capital firm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wanted to expand the market, but he had no money!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This damn name was like a curse!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wanted the $100 million, but he couldn’t bear to give up 30% equity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After thinking it over, Zhang Xuhao said he’d consider it, hung up the call, and immediately looked into Senlian Capital’s background—only to discover its backer was Chen Yansen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xuhao immediately devised a plan: he took Senlian Capital’s offer and approached Jinsha Jiang Venture Capital, Sequoia, and Hillhouse Capital separately, using it to inflate his valuation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This puzzled Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital—he had previously studied Ele.me’s business model and frankly, hadn’t been impressed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his view, Chen Yansen’s business acumen wasn’t poor; logically, he shouldn’t have been interested in Ele.me at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Zhang Lei called Chen Yansen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only then did Chen Yansen learn of Zhang Xuhao’s trick—he laughed and denied it: “I’d invest in group buying before I’d invest in food delivery.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After exchanging pleasantries, Chen Yansen internally sneered: Zhang Xuhao looked honest, but he was actually so cunning. He understood Zhang Xuhao’s tactics, but being manipulated still annoyed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He instantly abandoned the idea of investing in Ele.me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, anyone who left their name during the internet’s golden decade was no ordinary player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Chen Yansen himself was amoral, he preferred to work with partners who upheld ethics—someone like Zhang Xuhao, with too many schemes, was better left to Meituan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, Zhang Xuhao realized he’d messed up—he’d offended Senlian Capital and missed a funding opportunity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1870,"2026-06-19T19:17:18.227Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4d67b07ec3a06361117136ab365880604b19a1937a65dbad759aac0a200ca5d8","i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-157","i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-155",387,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-cover.jpg"]