Chapter 225: Zheng Shengyu Steps In to Mediate! Pinbei Employees Arrested!

That afternoon, Chen Yansen learned Fan Junyan had already headed to Hangcheng, and merely nodded slightly without saying more.

Pinbei and Orange Tech's operations had long stabilized, their management systems mature and robust; even without his intervention, both companies could maintain healthy growth.

Yet as Pinbei's performance surged, its partnership with Jingdong gradually grew delicate.

Liu Qiangdong noticed that most of Jingdong's KA suppliers had migrated to Pinbei.

At first glance, nothing seemed amiss—but 3C electronics and major appliances are categories with extremely low repurchase rates; every extra item Pinbei sold meant one less item Jingdong sold.

Left unchecked, Jingdong's moat risked breaching.

But both platforms had just passed their three-month honeymoon period, and Pinbei still contributed over one billion yuan in monthly sales to Jingdong, while Zhang Jindong was watching him like a hawk.

For now, Liu Qiangdong truly didn't want to break ties with Chen Yansen.

Otherwise, if Pinbei fully backed Suning, he'd face a two-on-one scenario—and he'd be genuinely nervous.

Added to that, he was preparing Jingdong's 618 E-commerce Festival, planning a surprise attack on Suning and Gome, so he naturally didn't want more enemies; he forcibly suppressed his discontent.

Chen Yansen had no idea what Liu Qiangdong was thinking; Pinbei's current performance focus remained on fast-moving consumer goods, and even excluding Orange Tech, 3C and major appliances accounted for less than five percent.

So even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

Near five p. ., Xiong Li from Pinbei's HR department urgently sent a report and asked for his opinion: "Boss, how should we handle these two?"

Lin Jiaming from Food Group's business development and Zhou Yang from Category Operations held merchant resources and authority over second-tier category page product rankings, respectively.

From December 2011 to February 2012, they collectively collected 1. 3 million yuan in "slot fees," only uncovered after an anonymous tip to the Risk Control Department.

Chen Yansen opened the report, which detailed exactly how Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang had embezzled funds, including every transfer amount.

In just two months, they'd stolen nearly two million.

"If we hadn't revised the billion-yuan subsidy rules this month and reclaimed control over resource slots and product placement from operations, we might never have discovered it."

Chen Yansen chuckled softly under his breath.

In his past life, he'd used similar methods to earn his first startup capital—but his techniques were far more sophisticated than Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang's.

Simply put, Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang abused their control over second-tier category page rankings to force-feed paying merchants traffic and charged them "priority fees" for the billion-yuan subsidy program.

Because the billion-yuan subsidy channel had high traffic, high output, and many applicants, numerous merchants waited endlessly for approval after applying.

When they asked, they were told there were too many applications and they had to wait in line.

Among the merchants, plenty were shrewd; they privately reasoned: if there's a queue, there must be a way to jump it—just pay extra.

Once their product entered the billion-yuan subsidy channel, daily guaranteed sales reached at least 200, 00 yuan; for merchants, spending 100, 00 or 80, 00 yuan was negligible compared to potential gains.

Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang's luck ran out—they happened to hit the moment when the billion-yuan subsidy raised the daily output requirement per slot from 200, 00 to 300, 00 yuan.

One instant noodle factory's sales had just barely hit the 200, 00-yuan threshold.

After the policy change, their product could no longer qualify for the billion-yuan subsidy.

But the factory owner didn't see it that way—he believed Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang had taken his money and were obligated to deliver, otherwise his 100, 00 yuan was wasted.

But Zhou Yang's authority had been revoked; their argument escalated until they broke ties.

Thus, the identity of the anonymous tipster was worth pondering.

It certainly wasn't the involved merchants—because if they reported Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang, they'd end up in jail too, doing time under the "parasol" and sewing machines.

So only two possibilities remained: either a Pinbei employee tipped off, or a competitor did.

"Call the police. Hand over the list of involved merchants to the Police Inspector's office."

After brief thought, Chen Yansen decided to follow company bylaws.

If he let Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang off, every future business development and operations staff would gamble: steal first, worry later—after all, the boss wouldn't pursue it.

Over time, even those who held to their principles would be dragged in, triggering a vicious cycle of bad money driving out good.

"Understood, Boss. I'll notify Legal immediately," Xiong Li replied.

Chen Yansen then sent a message to Chen Peng, director of Risk Control: "Submit a revised merchant onboarding process and data audit protocol tomorrow. If Pinbei staff can only be caught through anonymous tips, what's the point of your Risk Control Department?"

"Yes, Boss."

On the other side, Chen Peng, upon receiving the message, turned ashen, wanting to kick Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang to death.

He knew his Q1 bonus was gone.

Though the issue stemmed partly from unreasonable allocation authority, Risk Control's complete failure to detect it was equally to blame.

Chen Peng gathered his team and walked into a conference room.

Meanwhile,

The Police Inspector's office in Xuyuan District also received Pinbei's Legal Department's emergency call. For other companies, they might not have taken it seriously.

But this was Pinbei!

It was under Senlian Capital, registered even in Xu Zhenhui's records!

The involved amount reached two million yuan!

Soon after, three Police Inspector vehicles pulled into Zhuxianzhuang Tech Park.

At that moment, Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang were still at their desks, communicating with merchants about onboarding details and the required campaign intensity and inventory for the billion-yuan subsidy program.

Then, over a dozen uniformed inspectors, showing credentials, walked into the Merchant Operations office area and called out loudly: "Who is Lin Jiaming? Who is Zhou Yang? Please come with us."

Zhang Yifeng, Yuan Wei, Chen Xu, and others exchanged glances, unaware of what was happening.

"Could they have gone to buy love together?"

Li Hui muttered under his breath.

"Probably not. If it were buying love, they'd get a phone summons and pay five thousand yuan in fines."

Zhang Yifeng shook his head.

Yuan Wei and Chen Xu exchanged a glance, then squinted: "Yifeng, you've got experience, huh?"

"I just read about it online—don't misunderstand," Zhang Yifeng blushed for once and hurriedly defended himself.

"Oh, really?" Chen Xu teased with a smirk.

When Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang saw the inspectors and heard only their names called, their bodies trembled like leaves in a storm.

Cold sweat instantly soaked their shirts; their eyes brimmed with unmistakable panic.

Every moment of joy from taking bribes turned instantly into boundless terror.

The lead inspector smiled faintly, followed the crowd's gaze, stepped over to Lin Jiaming, and asked calmly: "Are you Lin Jiaming or Zhou Yang?"

"Lin… Jiaming," Lin Jiaming stammered, his teeth chattering.

"You are suspected of accepting massive bribes. You are hereby detained under law. Come with us."

The inspector announced outright.

Bribes?

The word exploded like a bomb through the entire Merchant Operations department!

"They took bribes? From merchants?" Yuan Wei gasped.

"Massive amount—three to ten years! Damn, how much did they take?" Li Hui shot up, stunned.

Zhang Yifeng gave them a long look; all three of them, as top business developers, had countless merchants offering bribes—hundreds, if not dozens.

But they'd earned decent salaries, so they never dared take a single cent—even gifts over 100 yuan were reported to the company.

Minimum three years, maximum ten!

After Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang were led away, the remaining Merchant Operations staff snapped back to reality; many who'd entertained similar thoughts suddenly felt a chill of dread.

Stealing felt good—but seeing the consequences firsthand, everyone fell silent.

You can steal, but you can't spend it.

"Lin Jiaming and his girlfriend's wedding was scheduled for May Day."

Someone suddenly spoke up in the crowd.

"Girlfriend? By the time he gets out, the kid'll be someone else's."

Another scoffed, delivering the final blow.

"I say they deserve it! The company pays well—base salary, housing allowance, meal subsidy, transport subsidy, quarterly bonus—how could they betray Boss Chen like this?"

Li Hui spat out.

Others nearby quickly nodded in agreement.

That night, every department at Pinbei discussed the incident.

The inspectors' raid sent a powerful shockwave through the staff.

…

…

On a stone bench beside Liuxi Creek in Xuyuan,

Song Yuncheng sat quietly beside Chen Yansen, holding beer and snacks, staring at him intently.

"Are you okay?" Song Yuncheng asked, concerned.

She'd heard Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang had colluded to steal two million.

In her view, Chen Yansen treated employees so well—how could his business developers and category staff still steal behind his back? As boss, Chen Yansen must be upset.

"What's wrong with me? I called you out just to have you keep me company in the breeze."

Chen Yansen shrugged; he wouldn't let Lin Jiaming and Zhou Yang's actions affect his mood.

As someone who'd lived it before, he recalled his own embezzlement days—and he only regretted how little he'd taken, which left him with a small equity stake when founding Feiyu Tech; after several funding rounds, his share had shrunk to just 28%.

If he could do it again, he'd steal as much as humanly possible.

"But it's freezing outside," Song Yuncheng shivered, watching Chen Yansen wear only a turtleneck and suit jacket—internally grumbling: this bastard really is cold-resistant.

"Then let's go home."

Chen Yansen grinned mischievously.

Go home?

Song Yuncheng quickly realized Chen Yansen was referring to Meng Jie; she set down her beer and snacks and waved her hand. "I'm not going."

She mainly feared running into Meng Jie.

"By the way, come with me to Husheng on a business trip tomorrow," Chen Yansen called over his shoulder.

"Delivering takeout again?" Song Yuncheng stopped walking and asked with a light laugh.

Chen Yansen smiled but said nothing.

This business trip had little to do with KuaiPao; it was mainly because the four bosses of Tongda Group pulled a stunt, forcing Zheng Shengyu of the Postal Association to step in.

They spearheaded a small courier industry exchange meeting in Husheng.

The core goal was to halt the courier war between SanTong YiDa and YunSu!

The next morning.

Xiao Li drove, carrying Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng, speeding toward Husheng.

Gao De was too busy handling the acquisition of Gaode Map to join them this time.

They passed through Jin Ling briefly for a rest; by the time Chen Yansen arrived in Husheng, the sky outside the car window had grown completely dark.

"First stop: KuaiPao headquarters, 200 Longcao Road."

After exiting the highway toll station, Chen Yansen instructed Xiao Li.

Xiao Li nodded, entered the destination into Gaode Map, and continued driving.

(End of chapter)