Chapter 221: Pei Yi: Give Me a Month, I

Chen Yansen sat in the Beijing Mayor's private room, sipping tea as he waited.

"Boss, I don't think we need to do OEM for Xiaomi. If you're worried about excess capacity, just reduce overtime hours for workers—our Orange Phone factory workers' monthly pay could drop another 30% and still remain competitive in Shencheng."

Gao Weilin sat beside him, whispering his advice.

"Yuncheng, what do you think?" Chen Yansen smiled and turned to Song Yuncheng.

"We could produce peripheral products—earphones, phone cases, data cables, power banks—to absorb some of the surplus labor and capacity."

Song Yuncheng blinked, thought for a moment, then offered a new proposal.

Currently, all official Orange Phone accessories are supplied by third-party vendors.

"That's a good idea. Tomorrow I'll mention it to Lao Cao—but we'll still do OEM. Since Xiaomi won't agree, we'll approach Meizu. I'm sure Huang Zhang would be happy to license our fast-charging, battery management, memory cleanup, and camera algorithms."

Chen Yansen smiled.

Though he praised Song Yuncheng aloud, he'd already discussed this exact solution with Cao Dahua last week.

"Boss, why didn't you mention any of this earlier?" Gao Weilin asked, puzzled.

In his view, Chen Yansen had only brought up memory cleanup algorithm licensing—if he'd added a few more tech patents as leverage, Leiyi Army might have agreed.

"Because it wouldn't have mattered."

Chen Yansen smiled faintly.

Leiyi Army had resisted his proposals twice despite his spiritual sense influence—this proved it wasn't about insufficient preconditions, but deep-rooted resistance to this partnership model and excessive suspicion.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in a navy blue suit and a down jacket walked over.

He first glanced at the room's name, confirmed it three times, then interrupted the three: "Mr. Chen, I'm Xiao Jun."

Xiao Jun had intended to introduce himself as COO of Gaode Maps, but then remembered he'd been sidelined by Cheng Congwu and lost that position over half a year ago.

Chen Yansen turned to look, sizing up Xiao Jun.

The man was in his early forties, average build, with a hint of disappointment in his brow—but his gaze was open and sharp.

This was a man with drive!

Chen Yansen silently assessed.

He'd already researched Xiao Jun's background: bachelor's in Radio Electronics at Yancheng University, master's in Business Administration at Tsinghua—technically skilled, management-savvy, but lacking experience in power struggles.

"Sit down! Today I invited only you, Mr. Xiao. Let's chat casually."

Chen Yansen smiled, pushed the teacup toward Xiao Jun, and poured him a steaming cup himself.

"Mr. Chen, I can pour my own." Xiao Jun quickly gripped the cup, showing respect.

He looked at Chen Yansen, warmth rising in his chest.

"I heard you were the one who chose the name 'Gaode'?" Chen Yansen set down the teapot and opened the conversation naturally.

"Yes! Originally, Gaode was a division of Datong Industries. We spun it off to compete with Sivision for Toyota's pre-installed navigation system.

As for why we called it Gaode—just a friend owned a shell company with that name. We used it to save time and simplify procedures…"

Unaware, Xiao Jun freely recounted Gaode's entire founding story to Chen Yansen.

"You hold 3% equity. At $12. 0 per share, once Sunlian Capital completes the acquisition, you'll receive over a hundred million in cash. What are your plans afterward?"

Chen Yansen lifted his teacup, sipped, then asked.

"I might become an investor. Domestic internet development is moving fast—there are plenty of opportunities."

Xiao Jun thought carefully before answering.

"Take a look at this."

Chen Yansen picked up a file from his right side and tossed it onto Xiao Jun's lap.

Xiao Jun said nothing, picked it up, and flipped through it casually.

It documented secret investment projects between Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu from 2010 to 2012, including the cultural tourism development of Fenghuanggucheng.

Xiao Jun's scalp prickled—he felt like he'd been plunged into ice. Exactly as Chen Yansen had described over the phone.

Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu had never truly fallen out!

Their goal was to push him out of Gaode Maps' management.

"People with finance backgrounds always do this—once the product launches and operations mature, they target the most capable person. Mr. Xiao, do you want to retake control of Gaode?"

Chen Yansen teased lightly, then asked directly.

In his view, Xiao Jun was exceptionally capable, deeply familiar with products and operations, unlike Cheng Congwu's empty rhetoric—he could manage and drive product and tech upgrades.

Making him CEO of Gaode Maps was the perfect choice.

Perhaps Yu Yongfu, CEO of UC Browser, was also a good candidate—but after weighing all factors, Chen Yansen chose Xiao Jun.

If he didn't meet expectations, he could always be replaced.

"So you're asking me to become CEO of Gaode Maps?"

Though Xiao Jun had suspected, he still looked startled when Chen Yansen said it aloud.

"Exactly! Don't you find it amusing?" Chen Yansen smiled back.

Xiao Jun laughed too.

Yes—Hou Jun and Cheng Congwu had conspired to drive him out, and now Chen Yansen was bringing him back.

The thought of their future shock made Xiao Jun's smile impossible to suppress.

"Mr. Chen, you don't mind I'm the loser of Gaode's internal struggle?"

After holding back for a long time, Xiao Jun finally asked.

"Internal struggle? That's because Hou Jun never protected you. Besides, once Sunlian Capital acquires Gaode, as long as you don't make mistakes, I'll back you fully."

"When you work, if your boss supports you, everything flows smoothly. If not, you won't get anywhere. Don't you understand that?"

Chen Yansen smiled in return.

As for Xiao Jun's weak internal struggle skills, he saw it as a plus.

He didn't want a CEO who'd split the company into factions, wasting time on palace intrigues instead of business.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen, for seeing potential in me." Xiao Jun stood abruptly after thinking it through, bowing deeply to Chen Yansen.

"Welcome back to Gaode," Chen Yansen rose and gently pushed him back into his seat.

He knew that with Xiao Jun in charge, Sunlian's takeover would proceed smoothly.

Gao Weilin, seeing the deal settled, waved to a server outside the door.

Soon, exquisite dishes arrived.

The group exchanged drinks, and a bottle of baijiu was quickly emptied.

"Mr. Xiao, Gaode Maps is yours. Once Mr. Gao finishes the acquisition process, I want your first task to be: announce a free strategy targeting low-end individual users."

Chen Yansen set down his glass, speaking with solemnity.

Free?

Xiao Jun's eyes widened—Gaode's revenue was already slim; if they rolled out a full B2C free policy, wouldn't profits keep sinking?

"Boss, this will cut revenue by at least 6% to 8%!"

Xiao Jun's face turned grim, brows knotted, offering earnest advice.

He was sharp—he'd already switched his honorific quickly.

"I can absorb that loss. I want you to flip the B2B and B2C revenue ratio within two years."

Chen Yansen continued.

Last year, Gaode's total revenue was $127 million: vehicle navigation accounted for 65%; mobile and internet location services brought in $27 million, or 21%, with personal navigation making up 6. % of total revenue.

Xiao Jun didn't fully understand why Chen Yansen would willingly sacrifice profit—but since he'd accepted the CEO role, he no longer questioned or argued after his new boss reiterated the demand.

"Understood, Boss." Xiao Jun nodded.

Chen Yansen was thinking: rather than wait for Baidu Maps to force Gaode's hand with a free strategy, it was better to strike first—winning goodwill and securing market share ahead of time.

The dinner ended at 9: 0.

Gao Weilin, hearing his boss was returning to the hotel, instantly relaxed—he could finally go home and rest.

Halfway back, Leiyi Army called.

After a brief chat, Chen Yansen hung up. Though puzzled by Leiyi Army's sudden shift in stance within hours, he didn't care—as long as the outcome was positive.

"Boss, did Leiyi Army agree?" Gao Weilin, having caught a few words, ventured to ask.

"Another burden on you, Mr. Gao. Tomorrow, have the Legal team draft a contract. I'll assign Cao Dahua to handle it, but you must closely monitor the signing."

Chen Yansen grunted, then gave orders.

"Got it, Boss." Gao Weilin agreed readily.

Half an hour later, the car pulled into the Marriott's parking lot.

"Tired these past two days?"

Back in the room, Song Yuncheng pulled Chen Yansen onto the sofa and began massaging his shoulders and neck.

Tired?

Chen Yansen scoffed—he hadn't felt fatigue in a long time.

"Let me massage you too."

After enjoying it, Chen Yansen switched positions with Song Yuncheng—but his hands, as he rubbed, unconsciously slid lower.

Song Yuncheng's cheeks flushed crimson, her eyes glistening. She turned to him and whispered: "Your massage technique isn't proper."

"Can't help it," Chen Yansen chuckled, lifting her up.

They lay on the sofa, watching Beijing's glittering night skyline.

"Not here—let's go to the bedroom," Song Yuncheng whispered, legs tightly crossed, her neck also flushed pink.

Chen Yansen ignored her, simply pulled the curtains shut.

A few minutes later, two small palm prints appeared on the glass.

…

…

At dawn the next day, the distant sky turned pale with the first light.

Chen Yansen climbed off the sofa, picked up a pair of shorts from the floor, slipped them on, while Song Yuncheng still slept soundly.

He walked to the living room in slippers, turned on the computer, checked the work reports from all subsidiaries, then glanced at the total sales figures for the Orange D1 and Orange C2 phones—just one step away from four million units.

For the preparation of Factory No. 4, Cao Dahua selected a group of personnel from Shenzhen's upper management to go to Lucheng, handling preliminary business registration and recruitment.

Zuo Hongyu was busy contacting equipment suppliers to assemble the new production line.

On the other side, KuaiPao cleared EleMe out of Xuhui District in just five days.

EleMe, unable to match KuaiPao's pricing or delivery speed, was quickly abandoned by users.

After all, the core logic of food delivery is fulfilling offline orders placed online.

The stronger the fulfillment capability, the higher the user evaluation.

Seeing he couldn't beat KuaiPao on delivery speed, Zhang Xuhao limited the number of orders each rider could take—but while speed improved, hourly wages plummeted.

Who would want to stick with EleMe if they couldn't earn money?

Even after Zhang Xuhao restructured rider compensation, people kept jumping ship to KuaiPao!

"Boss, give me one month—I'll take over Shanghai's market."

Pei Yi vowed this in a work email.

Chen Yansen smiled faintly, thinking to himself: acquiring KuaiPao was the right move—if we'd started from scratch, we'd never have built the team before EleMe had already taken root.

By then, crushing it would have cost ten or a hundred times more money and effort.

Now, even though EleMe had secured Ali's investment, Ali hadn't gone public yet, and how much capital or traffic resources it would commit to EleMe remained uncertain.

At nine a. ., Chen Yansen left the hotel.

Under Gao Linwei's guidance, the car pulled up in front of an office building on Zhichun Road in HD District.

"Byte's office is on the 14th floor—about thirty people are currently working full-time on Lingxi Browser."

Gao Linwei whispered.

Chen Yansen glanced out the window and saw Zhang Yiming approaching with a round-faced, bald young man.

(End of Chapter)