Chapter 207: Boss, You Don't Know How Many People Want to Run You Over with a Car

The next morning, Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng flew to Shencheng.

Xiao Li drove alone, returning Chen Yansen's Bentley to Xucheng.

In first class, before takeoff, Chen Yansen scrolled through Weibo, looking at a photo of Liu Qiangdong in a red robe riding a delivery tricycle, and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Is he imitating you?" Song Yuncheng glanced over and asked with a smile.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence."

Chen Yansen shrugged, making an excuse for Brother Dong.

After all, in the end, he had learned this trick from Liu Qiangdong; he just hadn't expected Liu Qiangdong to turn around and learn it back.

Song Yuncheng pressed her lips in a faint smile, not believing it at all.

Such an obvious thing, who couldn't see it?

At this moment, Liu Qiangdong sat in his office, looking at the Weibo trending search, and was momentarily stunned.

He also hadn't expected that after Chen Yansen attended the Yunsu Express annual meeting, he would rush off to Luzhou to deliver food.

One delivered food, the other delivered packages.

Netizens joked that these two e-commerce tycoons must have planned it together, collaborating to stir up hype.

Liu Qiangdong read a few highly-upvoted comments, his heart extremely complex.

The good news was that, with the boost from this trending search, JD. com's platform natural traffic rose by 6 percent.

The bad news was that most netizens felt he had stolen Chen Yansen's techniques, imitating KuaiPao's hype tactics.

Although this was the truth, should the truth be spoken?

Liu Qiangdong was just about to close Weibo when he saw another news item: On January 18, Mama Ali's B2C platform, Taobao Shangcheng, was officially renamed 'Tianmao Shangcheng'.

"Damn, this is aimed at me!"

Liu Qiangdong instantly smelled danger; it looked like just a name change, but it was actually Ma Liyun's clever play to shape the brand image.

This way, they could jump out of the C2C quagmire rampant with fakes, fully focus on building the B2C platform, and use Taobao. com traffic to feed the higher-quality and better-service Tianmao Shangcheng.

In fact, Liu Qiangdong guessed exactly right.

Since last October, when Taobao Shangcheng announced an upgrade to its merchant management system, the traffic allocation mechanism had favored large sellers more.

Coupled with adjusted search rules restricting Taobao C-store product exposure, this caused a massive drop in traffic for a large number of small and medium sellers, with orders plummeting.

Now, they weren't even pretending anymore; the official launch of Tianmao Shangcheng was undoubtedly a major move Mama Ali made before going public.

At the same time.

Many Taobao-series C-store merchants discovered their traffic had been halved again; searching for keywords of their own products, which usually appeared on the first or second page, now required flipping to the fifth page to find the corresponding items.

Yet those Tianmao identical items with even lower sales were all ranked at the front.

Even a fool understood that Taobao had changed the search rules again.

Someone in the merchant exchange group asked Mama Ali customer service, and the reply was: The search weight now includes the store's product descriptions, the seller's comprehensive evaluation, and the seller's service quality.

And the Tianmao stores, which paid an annual technical service fee of 60,000 yuan, obviously possessed more 'service quality'.

Upon learning this news, these small sellers were so angry they wanted to grab shovels and go to Hangcheng to dig up Old Ma's ancestral grave.

Mama Ali was clearly not giving them any way to survive!

"I'm closing my shop tomorrow! Ma Liyun treats us like toilet paper, tossing us aside after use; this is too damn outrageous!"

"No choice; Mama Ali dominates alone. If we don't do Taobao, where else can we go?"

"I don't think so! Pinye Shangcheng is great, and they even have their own delivery company; the per-order rate for reserved warehouse space is as low as one point five yuan!"

"No more Taobao! Any bosses going to Pinye together?"

Small and medium sellers from all corners of the land cursed nonstop in the group, with some even suggesting opening shops on Pinye.

Although compared to Taobao, Pinye's entry threshold was higher.

But in the last two months, stories of wealth creation had circulated endlessly in the circle: someone got on the Billion Subsidy channel, bought a BMW in a month, and bought a villa in two months.

This made many hearts flutter; although Pinye's penalties for inferior fakes were fierce, driven by the profit of earning hundreds of thousands a month, countless small sellers still flooded into Pinye.

The investment promotion department was so busy their feet didn't touch the ground; on that day, newly added merchants reached over 300, and simply preliminarily reviewing application materials kept them busy until past one in the morning.

Mama Ali's move sent a steady stream of small sellers to Pinye.

The reason these merchants didn't go to JD. com was that JD. com POP store traffic, compared to Taobao C-stores, was not much different.

On the other side.

Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng had just gotten off the plane and walked out of the arrival gate when they saw Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu, accompanied by seven or eight security personnel, waving at the two of them.

"Old Cao, isn't this a bit exaggerated?"

Chen Yansen joked with a smile.

"Exaggerated? Boss, you don't know how many bosses in Shencheng want to run you over with their cars!"

Cao Dahua said with a straight face.

Sister Chengzi Phone Number 3 Factory is about to start production, with a workforce of up to twelve thousand employees.

Every time Sister Chengzi Phone Factory recruited workers, the bosses of surrounding electronics factories would curse.

Facing an hourly wage of 20 yuan and overtime pay up to three times the rate, those experienced assembly line workers would leave without even saying goodbye when they ran away with their buckets.

As for the wages withheld in the factory, some simply didn't want them anymore.

Compared to the work at Sister Chengzi Phone Factory, those two or three thousand yuan were just like medicine money for the boss's whole family.

"Are you bluffing me?"

Chen Yansen rolled his eyes and said in a bad mood.

"Hehe, I knew I couldn't scare you, but indeed, someone has threatened to break my two legs."

Cao Dahua said with a chuckle, showing no sign of panic or fear on his face.

"So, you hired five, six, seven, eight... eight bodyguards?"

Chen Yansen looked at him with a half-smile.

"They're mainly here to protect Old Zuo, and just incidentally to protect me too. Boss, don't get the wrong idea."

Cao Dahua waved his hand and hurriedly explained.

Chen Yansen looked at Zuo Hongyu, saw his helpless expression, and couldn't be bothered to keep shooting the breeze with Old Cao. He took Song Yuncheng and got into a Mercedes SUV.

"The doors and glass are reinforced — bullets can't get through."

Cao Dahua knocked on the car door with his hand, beaming proudly as he showed it off.

"Who's trying to break my teacher's legs? Tell me — who's got the nerve to act so arrogant?"

Chen Yansen suppressed his smile and asked with genuine concern.

"The boss of Guanxing Electronics, Song De. But he can't cause me trouble anymore now."

Cao Dahua said slowly and deliberately, dangling it in front of Chen Yansen.

Zuo Hongyu saw what was happening, gave his old friend a kick, and helped fill in: "Two weeks ago, Song De was slashed across the throat by a worker who came to demand his back pay. By now he's probably already finished his bowl of Meng Po's soup."

Chen Yansen paused slightly, looked at Cao Dahua, and asked: "Why didn't you tell me on the phone or in work emails?"

"I didn't think it had much to do with work, so I didn't report it." Cao Dahua replied.

"Old Cao, you've really worked hard. Look at you — your belly's shrunk a whole size."

Chen Yansen reached right out and patted Old Cao's round belly.

Cao Dahua sighed. In half a year, Sister Chengzi's phone factory had gone from a workshop of just over ten thousand square meters to over a hundred thousand square meters, and the headcount had grown from two people to over ten thousand.

Just thinking about it tells you how much effort that took.

"Last week, three electronics factories in the Saige Tech Park went on strike demanding higher hourly wages. To put it bluntly, this whole thing was started by us. So even though Song De's dead, I still have to be careful when I go out."

Cao Dahua explained slowly.

The unspoken meaning: he, Cao Dahua, was also a pariah in Shencheng's manufacturing world — everyone wanted a piece of him.

Sister Chengzi's phone factory paid an hourly rate of 20 yuan, while many similar electronics factories didn't even offer 10 yuan, let alone overtime pay in accordance with labor law.

Ever since the oddball that was Sister Chengzi's phone factory appeared, factory bosses everywhere had been under enormous mental pressure.

Raise workers' wages — it hurts the heart;

Don't raise workers' wages — it hurts the head.

"Can't the Secretariat's Secretary Shi cover you?" Chen Yansen frowned and asked coldly.

Sister Chengzi's phone factory provided over ten thousand jobs with social security contributions, and its annual total industrial output exceeded twenty billion yuan. If Shencheng couldn't be relied on, he might as well move the factory to East China, or shift production capacity to Luzhou.

"Secretary Shi has been very supportive of Sister Chengzi's phone factory."

Cao Dahua answered concisely, while glancing at the driver and bodyguard up front.

"Introduced by Secretary Shi?" Chen Yansen asked.

He saw in these two men a bearing similar to Xiao Li's, and guessed they were most likely veterans.

Cao Dahua smiled and nodded: "Secretary Shi put in a word for us. These security personnel, on one hand, can keep the factory safe; on the other, they can stop some people from doing something desperate."

The equipment in the factory was worth several billion — one bump or knock and the losses would be enormous.

Originally, the Zhongsha Village Industrial Park had no inspection station, but after Sister Chengzi's phone factory's output broke three million units, the Secretariat set one up in the park in the shortest time possible.

Chen Yansen hummed in acknowledgment and felt relieved.

The convoy sped along Binhai Avenue, passing the Shencheng Convention and Exhibition Center and Tian'an Digital City along the way, before finally reaching its destination.

From a distance, you could already see a tall Sister Chengzi Tech logo standing on the factory's facade.

Cao Dahua took Chen Yansen on a tour of Factories 1 through 3. The group rode a shuttle, and it took over an hour.

Chen Yansen had only been here once when he was leasing the factory. This time, his impression was that Sister Chengzi's phone factory, under Cao Dahua's management, was indeed well-organized and looked to be thriving.

Workers passing by occasionally greeted Old Cao warmly and curiously sized up Chen Yansen.

With great pay and benefits, these workers practically wanted to worship Cao Dahua as their godfather.

"The year-end party here at the factory is pretty simple — we just hired some local village cooks. The food is no worse than a star hotel."

Cao Dahua pointed at the team of chefs bustling about on the plaza.

"The quarterly bonus system for Yunsu and Kuaipao has been adjusted. Starting in 2012, Sister Chengzi's phone factory will stay aligned with headquarters."

Chen Yansen said.

"Understood. Either way, this is just the one year-end bonus, paid out together with January's wages."

Cao Dahua nodded in response.

To be honest, ordinary workers only had a base monthly salary of 2,640 yuan, and most people's year-end bonus was only three or four thousand yuan.

Once the quarterly bonuses were announced, they'd be guaranteed at least ten thousand yuan more per year — no wonder the employees below might start treating Cao Dahua like their own father.

The sky gradually darkened, and bright floodlights rose over the plaza one by one, illuminating the dining area and stage as if it were broad daylight.

As factory director, Cao Dahua announced promptly at 18:00: the Sister Chengzi phone factory year-end party officially begins.

After a brief New Year's address, he handed the microphone to Chen Yansen.

Chen Yansen walked onto the stage and looked out — below sat a sea of workers.

"That's the big boss? So young!"

Li Yunzhu looked at Chen Yansen on stage and couldn't help exclaiming.

Chen Yansen knew what these people below cared about most: what prizes were in tonight's lucky draw, and what time dinner would be served.

So he didn't give a long speech, but directly announced that starting from Q1 of 2012, Sister Chengzi's phone factory, just like the headquarters staff of Sister Chengzi Tech, would have four quarterly bonus evaluations every year.

Chen Yansen's words were simple, but the response from below was exceptionally strong.

These ten-thousand-plus people immediately remembered Chen Yansen.

An extra 10,000 to 40,000 yuan in bonuses per year — hard not to get excited.

Ten minutes later, Chen Yansen stepped off the stage, walked to a table next to the stage, and sat down. At the same table were Song Yuncheng, Cao Dahua, Zuo Hongyu, Zhang Jing, and others.

At year's end, Chen Yansen's schedule was packed solid.

In truth, for him the year-end gathering was secondary; the core was inspecting the recent progress of each project, and whether the middle and upper management below were scheming behind his back.

Relying on his extraordinary powers of observation and spiritual perception, Chen Yansen spoke one by one with the senior executives of Sister Chengzi's phone factory, and in just over ten minutes he had grasped the general situation of the factory.

The next morning.

Chen Yansen met again with Secretary Shi of the Central Bureau, and they chatted until noon before he rose to take his leave.

In the afternoon he returned to Void City.

Xiao Li drove, picking Chen Yansen up from the airport and delivering him straight to the Sky Garden in the city center, seamlessly connecting him to Sister Chengzi Tech's year-end gathering.

At this point, only three days remained until the New Year.

(End of chapter)