Chapter 158: I

That afternoon, after preliminary discussions with Gao Weilin, Liao Wei returned to Yancheng.

He needed to prepare financial, asset, and business contract documents for Gao Weilin, which required professional evaluation to determine the final acquisition price.

Chen Yansen offered him a 3% equity option, with 1% vesting annually—if his performance satisfied Chen, he could stay; if not, he'd be fired—barely qualifying as a bet agreement.

Liao Wei wasn't worried. In the past, he'd failed because he lacked capital and orders—in plain terms, he had no powerful backer.

Now that he'd aligned with Chen Yansen, he had neither money nor business shortages—if he still failed, he'd quit on his own before Chen even opened his mouth.

Chen Yansen's days returned to the cycle of reading, designing Pinnbei product architectures, and conducting interviews.

Following Wang Xueting's earlier mention, Xiong Li and Zhang Junjie joined successively, followed by six dedicated HR specialists to assist them in Pinnbei's recruitment efforts.

Once the HR department's framework was established, recruitment accelerated noticeably.

By late October, Pinnbei Tech's employee count rose from 14 to over 70.

To minimize trial-and-error costs, Chen Yansen focused recruitment primarily on Taobao, Jingdong, Yihaodian, Yixun, and Suning.

After all, Old Ma had said he enjoyed supplying society with top talent.

Chen Yansen could poach a few more—he doubted the man would mind.

Xiong Li, recruited from Jingdong, specifically targeted former colleagues, since Jingdong's compensation in the e-commerce giant tier was mediocre at best—poaching was always successful.

Only after meeting him did Chen Yansen realize Xiong Li was actually a strikingly beautiful woman.

Yet within four years at Jingdong, she rose to head of recruitment—her capability was evident.

Zhang Junjie, who defected from Suning, simply told his former department's frontend and backend developers, "Pinnbei pays overtime according to labor law," and immediately attracted over twenty engineers.

On their first day of onboarding training, one item was learning the internal referral positions and bonus rules:

Sales positions: successful referral, after three months of employment, bonus of 5, 00 yuan;

Design positions: bonus of 5, 00 yuan;

Category positions: bonus of 8, 00 yuan;

Product positions: bonus of 10, 00 yuan;

Technical positions: bonus of 10, 00 to 15, 00 yuan depending on role;

Several sharp-witted new hires immediately pulled out their phones to contact former colleagues, casually hinting at Pinnbei's benefits during idle chatter.

"Yeah, yeah, I just joined—new company pay's average, and we're always working overtime, dead tired. Last Saturday I worked a full day and got only 2, 00 yuan in overtime pay—pathetic."

"What?! You said how much? Your salary jumped to 40, 00?"

"Nope! Weekend overtime is double pay—I'm only paid 15, 00 base, but this month, with overtime, I'll clear about 30, 00 before tax."

"Are you crazy? Sleeping at the office every day?"

"This company has a six-hour workday—anything beyond counts as overtime, weekdays paid at 1. x."

"Oh right, what's the company name again?"

In this way, a backend developer who'd only been hired days ago ended up recruiting all his former colleagues.

Three months later, he alone earned over 100, 00 yuan in referral bonuses.

The day after Liao Wei returned to Yancheng, Zhou Shouzhi called to say DST's boss, Yuri, wanted to visit Orange Tech.

Chen Yansen then remembered that since he'd rejected Zhou Shouzhi's 36-billion-yuan valuation offer, the man hadn't contacted him again.

He'd assumed Zhou Shouzhi had given up—never expected he'd brought Yuri himself.

Chen Yansen knew little about Yuri, only that he was DST's founder, a super-rich man from North Ice Country, and in his past life, a major investor in Xiaomi.

But after comparing Orange Tech with Xiaomi, Yuri and Zhou Shouzhi clearly favored Orange Tech.

Especially after Xiaomi's phones flooded the market and received poor user feedback, Yuri weighed his options and decided to abandon Xiaomi, turning his attention to Orange Tech.

Chen Yansen didn't hesitate—he readily agreed.

DST's supply chain advantages intrigued him; though he could have Zu Hongyu negotiate partnerships individually, Orange Tech's current procurement scale couldn't secure the best prices.

After setting the visit date with Zhou Shouzhi, he handed reception arrangements to Ye Qiuping.

Meanwhile,

As soon as Liao Wei returned to Yancheng, he ordered Yunsu Express's finance and data departments to compile materials.

Two days later, Yunsu and Senlian Capital began negotiations.

In just one day, both sides agreed on an acquisition price of 260 million yuan.

In reality, Yunsu's fixed assets consisted of only 100 heavy trucks, 300 medium trucks, 17 distribution hubs, 9 regional transit centers, and 4, 00 employees.

Gao Weilin personally traveled to Yancheng to complete the acquisition.

In investment circles, a 260-million-yuan acquisition caused no ripple.

In the courier industry, Yunsu had always been obscure; its acquisition drew no attention.

But Yunsu's employees, upon hearing their new boss was Chen Yansen of Orange Tech, immediately felt hopeful.

After all, whether Orange Tech or the Orange Phone Factory, their benefits were famously excellent.

Chen Yansen's first task for Liao Wei was to convert franchisees and courier stations into Yunsu's direct operations.

In plain terms, all Yunsu employees must not sign third-party contracts.

Five insurances and one fund, monthly 20% base-salary housing subsidy, commissions, and bonuses—all must be provided.

"Boss, this will at least double our monthly labor costs," Liao Wei cautiously reminded over the phone.

"For now, I don't expect Yunsu to turn a profit immediately—first, keep your people fed. These people brave wind and rain every day—do you have the heart to see them old and destitute with no safety net?"

Chen Yansen demanded.

This was a direct reference to Liao Wei's past failure to pay five insurances and one fund for couriers.

"Boss, everyone in the industry does this—except SF Express, Jingdong, and Bond," Liao Wei defended.

"Just because everyone does it doesn't make it right," Chen Yansen's tone turned cold.

"Boss, I'm wrong—give me a week, I'll fix everything," Liao Wei, sensing Chen's displeasure, quickly agreed.

It wasn't that Chen Yansen wanted to be charitable—he knew Liao Wei, that bastard, had dodged responsibility by registering couriers under another corporate entity.

Yunsu's couriers were, in plain terms, all outsourced!

They got not a shred of human dignity!

He could tolerate not making money—but he couldn't tolerate denying them human dignity.

After hanging up, Liao Wei instructed the marketing department to communicate individually with station managers: either exit Yunsu, or convert to direct operation—future rent and staffing costs would be borne by headquarters.

Meanwhile,

At a Yunsu courier station in Yanjiao,

Upon learning of Yunsu's changes, the owner didn't hesitate—he sold the station directly to headquarters.

Honestly, since joining Yunsu, he'd endured constant criticism—his wife blamed him, his parents scolded him, friends mocked him for being foolish, choosing Yunsu over the "Three Passes and One Reach."

He had to deliver and pick up packages daily, exhausted, earning only six or seven thousand a month.

The station had only two couriers—he couldn't afford more, so to save money, he delivered packages himself.

Now that the new policy was out, he didn't think twice—he dumped the mess onto Yunsu headquarters.

"Sheng, so now my salary and Xiao Zhan's will be paid by headquarters?"

In the station, a thirty-something man in a Yunsu courier uniform asked curiously.

"Exactly! Heard the new boss is rich. After signing the contract, your base salary rises to 3, 00 yuan, plus 20% of your salary as housing subsidy—that's about 3, 00 yuan total. Commissions for deliveries and pickups stay the same."

Wang Sheng, smoking a cigarette, replied casually.

His own base salary dropped to 4, 00 yuan, but he breathed easier—under Yunsu's new policy, he'd still earn six or seven thousand monthly, with lighter work and less pressure.

"This boss is great—he raised our pay by 1, 00 yuan right away," said another courier, Xiao Zhan, smiling.

"Heard there's also heat and cold subsidies and performance bonuses—we'll know details in a few days. Pay's up, but expectations are higher too."

Wang Sheng glanced at them, exhaled smoke, and said sternly: "From now on, packages must be delivered to the door. If customers complain, you'll be fined or fired—watch yourselves."

Wang Sheng knew all too well how Yunsu Express used to operate.

One phone call, if unreachable, just dump packages at the building entrance or front desk—no responsibility for lost items.

Deliver to the door? Don't even dream of it!

"What? Deliver to the door? I used to leave them with the guard." The older courier looked troubled—he felt his pay rose but his workload increased.

Wang Sheng smiled but said nothing.

Meanwhile,

Liao Wei, while cleaning house, used the 500 million yuan injected by Senlian Capital to aggressively expand in the East China market.

He rented transit warehouses, opened courier stations, and accelerated courier recruitment.

Actually, he didn't need to worry much about recruitment.

Couriers from TianTian, Guofeng, and Yunda, hearing Yunsu offered a 3, 00-yuan base salary, five insurances and one fund, bonus subsidies, and order-pushing rewards, immediately jumped ship.

Before, they had no choice—now with better options, they fled fast.

Soon, couriers from the "Three Passes and One Reach" began slowly draining away—resignations were everywhere.

Chen Yansen, upon hearing this, was speechless—he'd set Yunsu's base salary low, even without overtime pay, yet it proved wildly attractive.

He'd thought he himself was ruthless enough!

But compared to his peers, he now looked like a saint!

When other courier company bosses heard of Yunsu's changes, they sneered, secretly cursing Chen Yansen for spending his first earnings foolishly.

The courier industry can't be built by throwing money around!

But Chen Yansen didn't care.

To him, the courier company was a fast track to human dignity—he'd accept it as long as it didn't lose money.

To him, the courier company was a quick path to acquiring the torch of human compassion; as long as it didn't lose money, he could accept it.

This is like JD. om's strategy for books—they never expected books to be profitable.

After all, JD. om still has core categories like 3C digital goods, major appliances, and home goods.

But websites like Dangdang, which rely on books as their core business, are in trouble—JD's no-profit approach can directly drive them into a corner.

Chen Yansen is doing something similar.

Once Pinpei launches, he'll hand over Orange Tech's orders to Yunsu, and push Yunsu's express delivery service to KA merchants—first lowering the minimum delivery fee to under three yuan.

(End of Chapter)