Chapter 166: Don't Switch! This Is Exactly the Vibe I Want (Subscribe Please)

Chen Yansen tossed Cloud Speed Express directly to Liao Wei to run.

With ample funding and no need to worry about profitability, if Liao Wei still couldn't get Cloud Speed off the ground, he would kick Liao Wei out of Cloud Speed without hesitation.

Before getting off work.

Chen Yansen opened the data backend to check Pinbei's sales figures.

That day's orders were nearly 3 million, sales of 230 million; from the growth trend, the rate of increase was already showing signs of slowing.

After all, Pinbei currently has few enrolled merchants and limited choices for users; they had to speed up the pace of brands and white-label merchants joining, and expand the scale.

Next, he logged into the merchant CRM database to check the new brands that had recently joined: GXG, Koukoufu, Lins Furniture, Supor, Vatti, OPPO, Kans, etc.

The joined brands were concentrated in segmented categories like apparel, nuts, and small home appliances.

Seeing Lins Furniture, OPPO, and Vatti join, Chen Yansen was a bit surprised; checking the merchant recruitment lead, it was indeed Song Yuncheng.

These were all merchant resources she had accumulated at Fox Tao; being able to bring them to Pinbei depended partly on her own ability, and partly on Pinbei's sales results winning over the brands.

Chen Yansen thought for a moment, then called Song Yuncheng and told her to contact Xiaomi's Li Wanjiang and invite Xiaomi to join Pinbei.

"I talked with Li Wanjiang before; he said Xiaomi uses an internet direct-sales model and doesn't join third-party platforms."

Song Yuncheng explained.

In fact, at this time Xiaomi had no third-party sales channels besides selling on the Xiaomi Mall; it hadn't even joined Taobao or JD.

"I see, then forget it." Chen Yansen replied.

In his view, Xiaomi was not indispensable.

From the platform's positioning, mid-to-low-end models from OPPO, Meizu, Ku Sect, and ZTE fit Pinbei's tone better.

"Have you eaten dinner? I'd like to treat you to a meal." Song Yuncheng, hearing that Chen Yansen was about to hang up, hurriedly asked.

"Won the lottery?" Chen Yansen was stunned, then asked with a smile.

Song Yuncheng had indeed treated him to meals before, but those were all under his coercion; her taking the initiative today was a first.

"No, I just simply want to thank you." Song Yuncheng stood on the balcony holding her phone, looking toward the office on the fifth floor across the way.

After becoming Pinbei's Key Account Director, when communicating with subordinates from Taobao, JD, and Yihaodian, she realized that everything Chen Yansen had taught her was solid industry and workplace know-how.

She had thought she wouldn't be up to the director position, but discovered that these elites from the major e-commerce companies were no better at negotiation and problem-solving than she had been half a year ago.

Only then did Song Yuncheng realize that the methodologies Chen Yansen had tossed off so casually were in fact priceless.

"Last night at 0418, didn't you already thank me?" Chen Yansen walked to the window, waved at Song Yuncheng across the way, and teased with a mischievous grin.

"Chen Yansen, you have the nerve to bring that up — you're a man without credibility!" Song Yuncheng's cheeks flushed as she cursed him indignantly.

"Meet on the first floor."

Chen Yansen laughed and hung up the phone, then walked out of the office.

Passing the finance department, he saw Meng Jie still at her workstation intently organizing data; he didn't go over to disturb her and went straight into the elevator lobby.

When he reached the first floor, Chen Yansen got into the driver's seat of an Aston Martin Rapide; just as he was about to urge Song Yuncheng downstairs, he saw her sneaking over.

"Click—!"

Song Yuncheng pulled open the car door and hurriedly got in.

"Looking all guilty like a thief — be honest, did you steal something from the company?"

Chen Yansen looked at her and teased playfully.

"No way! Just treating the boss to a meal, why would I feel guilty?" Song Yuncheng tilted her chin up and said stubbornly.

A few minutes passed; seeing Chen Yansen still not driving, Song Yuncheng grew anxious: "Let's go! It'll look bad if someone sees us in a bit."

"Pop!"

Chen Yansen raised his hand and gave her a flick on the head: "You're treating, and you won't even say the address — you think I can tell fortunes?"

"Huh!? I didn't say it?" Song Yuncheng laughed apologetically.

"From now on don't call me your master; I don't have such a dumb apprentice." Chen Yansen shook his head and said.

"Downtown, Fengbo Zhuang." Song Yuncheng reported the destination with a silly grin.

Chen Yansen started the car and headed toward the city center.

"Pinbei's merchant recruitment difficulty is more than ten times that of Fox Tao; brands like Estée Lauder, Armani, Clarins — the moment they hear the name Pinbei, they won't even give us a chance to talk."

Song Yuncheng unconsciously brought up work, her tone somewhat deflated.

"Compared with offline counters and supermarkets, e-commerce has a huge gap in volume and profit margin; it's normal for these international big brands to look down on us. They haven't even joined Taobao. Once online sales surpass offline, they'll be begging to join."

Chen Yansen gave a light snort and explained slowly.

Even the mighty Mama Ali only established partnerships with brands like Estée Lauder and Clarins after 2014.

"Got it." Song Yuncheng nodded.

Drawing on her Fox Tao project experience, she knew perfectly well that a platform couldn't just sell 5.9-yuan navel oranges; it needed high-AOV beauty and apparel brands to boost user value.

Outside the window the night was ink-black; a few neon signs flickered in the distance.

Song Yuncheng leaned back in her seat, said nothing more, and quietly watched the streetscape flashing past the window.

Ten-odd minutes later, Song Yuncheng sensed something was off, confirmed the direction was wrong, turned and asked: "To get to Fengbo Zhuang, we don't need to take this road."

"I switched to a pricier one." Chen Yansen grinned, stating it as if it were the most natural thing.

"…" Song Yuncheng opened her mouth, then finally squeezed out a smile.

The car drove on for another ten minutes and pulled into a magnificent restaurant.

Old-style Huizhou mansion architecture — gray bricks, dark tiles, clear water, small bridges; the cars parked at the entrance were all Mercedes, BMW, Audi — one look told you the per-person spend wasn't low.

"Telecom's Zhao Maolin brought me here before; the ambience is so-so, but the food's not bad."

Chen Yansen got out of the car and said to Song Yuncheng.

So-so?

Song Yuncheng took in the palace-like restaurant before her and rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Chen, the private room has been reserved for you. Please follow me."

The two had just stepped into the main hall when a beautiful woman in a phoenix-tail silk skirt came up to greet them with a smile.

Chen Yansen gave a slight nod and said nothing.

Song Yuncheng looked around and noticed that all the servers in the courtyard were wearing period costume, like some large-scale cosplay, and quite a few guests had changed into long gowns and silk skirts as well.

"Want to give it a try?" Chen Yansen had no interest himself, but seeing Song Yuncheng staring at someone else's long skirt, he asked with a smile.

"Forget it." Song Yuncheng shook her head.

"Take her to pick one out." Chen Yansen instructed the woman leading the way up ahead.

"All right, I'll take you both to the private room first." The woman agreed with a smile.

Seeing this, Song Yuncheng didn't refuse any further.

The two walked into a private room redolent of classical charm; every piece of furniture inside was rosewood, with soft cushions on the chairs.

After sitting down, through the cracks of the glazed window, they could see a few performers in long skirts dancing gracefully on a stage not far away.

In 2011, to be able to run the restaurant business to this level in a third- or fourth-tier city — the owner is quite the expert too.

Song Yuncheng followed the restaurant's staff toward the changing room.

Chen Yansen picked up the teapot and poured hot tea into a cup.

"Buzz-buzz-buzz—!"

The phone in his pocket suddenly started vibrating.

"Chen Yansen, are you off work? I sent you a message and you didn't reply." Meng Jie stood on the first floor of the tech park, asking in a wronged tone.

"Yeah, I had some socializing with the telecom side just now and didn't check my phone." Chen Yansen casually made up a reason.

In his heart, though, he thought: The 'Mingli' restaurant Zhao Maolin recommended really is quite good — I'll bring Meng Jie here tomorrow to try it.

"Oh, then I'll head back to school after work. Bye-bye." Hearing that Chen Yansen was socializing, Meng Jie obediently hung up.

Chen Yansen smiled, and just as he was about to put down his phone, Gao Weilin called: "Boss, I just spoke with the person in charge at Jingdongfang. The other side has no intention of selling their equity. Looks like the route of a block trade or agreement-based transfer won't work — we'll have to buy slowly from the stock market."

Three days earlier, Chen Yansen had sent Gao Weilin to Luzhou, hoping to take advantage of Jingdongfang's low share price to buy in 5%–10% of the equity and secure a foothold in what would become the country's top screen supplier.

"Arrange people to buy from retail investors in the secondary market. 5% will do."

Chen Yansen's tone was flat — taking a stake in Jingdongfang was only meant to strengthen the supply chain, so the form it took didn't matter.

Clearly, the capital behind Jingdongfang in Yanjing and Luzhou was very bullish on it; they wouldn't even part with a mere 5% stake.

"Understood, boss. One more thing to report — there's a takeout project in the Luzhou University Town called Kuaipao. Its founder wants to meet you, seeking funding."

Gao Weilin said.

Kuaipao?

Chen Yansen had never even heard of it.

Around the same period as Ele. me, there were quite a few takeout platforms on the market, but most didn't survive the early development stage — they folded before they even figured out a profit model.

This Kuaipao was probably one of them.

But knowing Gao Weilin's temperament, this project probably had some potential, otherwise he wouldn't have brought it up.

"Then let's meet them." Chen Yansen said indifferently.

Gao Weilin understood in his heart: although last time they'd been outmaneuvered by Ele. me, his own boss's desire to invest in the takeout track had still been exposed.

Gao Weilin hadn't wanted to bother, but the moment he heard it was the takeout track, the thought of taking a look arose.

"Got it, I'll arrange it." Gao Weilin replied.

The two finished discussing work and hung up.

At this moment, Song Yuncheng, wearing a peony-embroidered hezi skirt, walked over slowly, radiant and captivating; the ornaments on her head swayed lightly, giving off a clear, silvery tinkling.

"Do you like it?" Seeing Chen Yansen staring at her, Song Yuncheng asked with a smile, a secret thrill rising in her heart.

"Can I buy this outfit?" Chen Yansen didn't answer, but countered with a question.

Song Yuncheng's words warmed his heart.

Most girls would ask "Does it look good?" — but she asked "Do you like it?", placing herself very low, wanting only to make him happy.

"I forgot to ask, hee-hee." Song Yuncheng replied.

She had an oval face, paired with a pretty, striking makeup look — for the first time, Chen Yansen felt a sense of being dazzled by her.

The two stayed at Mingli until half past eight, then drove to the Sky Garden.

When they left, Song Yuncheng was still wearing that hezi skirt.

As soon as they entered the hotel room, she was about to change into her own clothes when she heard Chen Yansen say: "Don't change! This is exactly the feeling I want."

The next morning.

Chen Yansen first drove Song Yuncheng back to her dormitory, then turned around and headed back to the faculty apartment, changed into a clean set of clothes, and only then drove to the tech park.

At this moment, in the reception hall of Building 8, Kang Guodong was waiting, his heart full of anxiety.

(End of chapter)