[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp":3,"chapter-i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-248":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Get Stronger Every Payday—With One Billion Employees!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2264461,4419,"Chapter 248: 600 Million U.S. Dollars? Are You Taking Me for a Fool?","i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-248",248,"\u003Cp>“The inevitable has come!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After learning the news, Chen Yansen sighed faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this life, the market landscape of the group-buying industry had undergone a earth-shattering transformation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meituan, which should have won the Thousand Group Battle, stubbornly remained the perennial number two; had it not been for that infusion of capital from Ali, Meituan would have been dead long ago—perhaps Wang Xin had already launched a new startup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lashou.com, which should have collapsed long ago, had clung stubbornly to the top spot in the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is the work of either Meituan or Dazhong Dianping, or perhaps Nuomi.com or WoWoTuan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen was certain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Timing it perfectly at the critical moment when Lashou was pushing for its IPO, they had nearly severed Lashou’s path to listing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Financing? Lashou couldn’t even dream of it anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Offering fake data to investors? They’d be lucky if they weren’t murdered for it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next morning, news of Lashou.com’s failed IPO push was widely reposted by China’s mainstream media; CCTV’s noon news even gave Lashou.com a fifteen-second special report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, Meituan, Dazhong Dianping, WoWoTuan, and Nuomi.com celebrated!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the increasingly fierce industry competition, losing investor trust was no different from waiting to die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could Lashou.com, with no money and no supplies, compete with them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Bo tossed and turned all night; as soon as dawn broke, he called every investor one by one—but all received the same message: “Sell Lashou.com quickly so we can cash out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone knew Lashou.com was doomed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Xiaopeng of Jinsha Capital was so furious he hadn’t slept a wink; he’d long thought Wu Bo was unreliable. Last year, Ali had even considered investing in Lashou.com.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wu Bo, young and arrogant, insisted Ali halt its JuHuaSuan launch plan and throw all support behind Lashou.com.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who was Ma Liyun?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t even bother with him—he turned right around and poured money into Meituan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, if anyone else had been sitting in Lashou.com’s CEO seat, Meituan wouldn’t have had a chance to stand up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jinsha Capital, Maidun Investment, and Rennet Fund had collectively invested nearly two hundred million U.S. dollars; if Lashou.com died, their money would vanish into thin air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Xiaopeng and the others moved swiftly, convening a shareholders’ meeting and ousting Wu Bo from the CEO position, replacing him with Maidun Investment’s chairman, Qiu Junping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They simultaneously issued a statement acknowledging Lashou.com’s lax auditing, promising to investigate and punish fraudulent merchants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But anyone with eyes could see this evasive statement was no real response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short: the operations team and merchants colluded to fake orders; the company knew nothing, understood nothing, and participated in nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blame had been successfully dumped—but it enraged the grassroots expansion staff in East China.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people braved wind and rain, trudging the streets in all kinds of weather to secure merchant resources for Lashou.com.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And now the company had sold them out!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I make only two or three thousand a month, and faking data doesn’t earn me commissions. If my superiors didn’t order it, I’d never bother faking sales figures, falsifying business qualifications, or inflating purchase numbers…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lashou.com’s field promotion staff, facing reporters’ cameras, laid bare their hearts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Low pay, heavy workload, and taking the blame—let whoever wants this job take it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just two days, over five hundred employees from Lashou.com’s East China region resigned en masse; before leaving, they kicked Lashou.com one last time, fully confirming the fraud allegations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of these people, eighty percent joined KuaiPao, swapped their uniforms, and became KuaiPao’s field promotion business managers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The remaining twenty percent mostly went to Meituan and Dazhong Dianping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 2012, holding offline merchant resources meant you could easily land a business job at any group-buying or food-delivery website.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jinsha Capital, Maidun Investment, and Rennet Fund all leveraged their personal networks to seek new buyers for Lashou.com.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though there’s a famous saying in investment circles: never plan to cheat others, never hope some fool will take the baton—but when it’s your turn to take the baton, you can’t smile anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Zhu Xiaopeng called, Chen Yansen, grimacing, asked: “Mr. Zhu, do I look like a fool?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you take over, Jinsha Capital, Maidun Investment, and Rennet Fund will invest an additional fifty million U.S. dollars.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Xiaopeng chuckled dryly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were investment firms, not professional managers; they were good at investing money, but their startup skills might be worse than Wu Bo’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After much deliberation, Zhu Xiaopeng stared at his phone contact list for a long time, then finally dialed Chen Yansen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reputation speaks louder than words—Boss Chen’s name in the business circle was as solid as gold and stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huozi Tao, Chengzi Technology, Pinbei Mall, KuaiPao, Kuaide Taxi, and Toutiao—every project he touched, from offline to online, from e-commerce to O2O local life, had never failed once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Xiaopeng had not a single doubt—that was the power of reputation!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the price?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen smiled and asked casually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lashou.com’s Series C financing valued it at $1.1 billion; if the price exceeded $200 million, there was no point discussing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Frankly, Chen Yansen had some interest in Lashou.com—its service coverage spanned over four hundred cities, with nearly six thousand employees nationwide; if he swallowed it, he could not only accumulate massive merchant resources for KuaiPao, but also drag Meituan and Dazhong Dianping into the mud of group-buying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Give KuaiPao two or three more years, and when 4G and mobile internet arrived, with Chengzi Technology, Toutiao, and Pinbei funneling traffic, even if Wang Xin had three heads and six arms, he couldn’t match Pei Yi’s fully grown strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he accidentally crushed Meituan, then in this life, Meituan’s food delivery product would never exist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Six hundred million U.S. dollars,” Zhu Xiaopeng ventured cautiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mr. Zhu, I have a morning meeting. I don’t have time to joke with you,” Chen Yansen shot back without mercy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Six hundred million U.S. dollars?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Were they taking him for a fool?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jinsha Capital, Maidun Investment, and Rennet Fund wanted someone to take the baton, yet refused to cut their losses—still hoping to make a profit on the side. How could such a thing exist?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Minimum four hundred million. You know Lashou.com raised $170 million in total financing. I know the current public opinion environment is bad for Lashou, but its market share still exists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Xiaopeng pleaded patiently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re right, Mr. Zhu. I wish Lashou.com well under Qiu Junping’s leadership.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen said this, then hung up the phone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let Wang Xin of Meituan and Zhang Tao of Dazhong Dianping beat Lashou.com into submission first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, Zhu Xiaopeng and the others still hadn’t faced reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Damn it! This little brat’s always playing games!” Zhu Xiaopeng muttered into the dial tone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, he contacted Liu Zhiping of Tencent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Zhiping didn’t hesitate—he flatly refused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tencent’s joint venture with Groupon, GaoPeng.com, had already fallen out of the top ten; QQ Group Buying was barely holding on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Wenteng was considering merging the two websites to cut operational costs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, asking Little Ma to spend money buying another group-buying site had near-zero chance of success.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With no buyer in sight, Jinsha Capital, Maidun Investment, and Rennet Fund had no choice but to force Qiu Junping to take the helm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In mid-April, the group-buying market simmered with hidden currents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiu Junping ramped up promotional efforts to please users and merchants, while leveraging Rennet Fund’s connections in the United States to quell the accounting scandal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Lashou.com could successfully IPO, the crisis would vanish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Meituan, Dazhong Dianping, WoWoTuan, and Nuomi.com gave Lashou.com not a single moment to breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Lashou.com intensified its promotions, each competitor promptly launched their own marketing campaigns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meituan abandoned its agent system, fully adopting direct field sales to rapidly expand merchant resources, launching $1.99 movie tickets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dazhong Dianping rolled out electronic coupons, online reservations, and membership cards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>WoWoTuan shifted toward an e-commerce model, combining group-buying with online retail to emphasize differentiated competition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nuomi.com partnered with over fifty top-tier merchants nationwide to launch best-seller lists for movies, dining, KTV, and more—and handed out five million yuan in cash vouchers all at once, further squeezing Lashou.com’s survival space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the morning of April 13th.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as Chen Yansen arrived at his office, Wang Teng came over with a grin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boss, about 100,000 Macs have been infected with the Flashback virus—even a few hundred Macs at Apple’s headquarters were hit, causing iPhone 4S sales to cool.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Teng explained cheerfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the connection between Macs and iPhones? Can this virus even infect phones?” Chen Yansen sat down, curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Domestic users don’t care about that. Apple being infected is a fact. Ignoring key details is a perfect way to strike a rival—why not?” Wang Teng replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Users would simply believe Apple’s claims of security were nonsense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing Wang Teng’s full account, Chen Yansen learned that last July, a Dutch engineer had discovered a major Java vulnerability and alerted Oracle—the holder of Java’s core patents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oracle and Microsoft quickly developed patches for these security flaws.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Apple, ever arrogant, insisted on developing its own Java patch—and lagged behind, leaving itself exposed to hackers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Partial truth is still truth, right? Any change in our sales?” Chen Yansen smirked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Compared to yesterday’s same time slot, sales rose 12.7%. Excluding traffic fluctuations and other factors, we estimate a 10% increase.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Teng answered immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen pulled out his phone—Weibo was flooded with curses: Apple users raged at Apple, Android users mocked Apple users, and every smartphone maker jumped in to trash Apple’s security.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next trending topic was the news that 360 had sued Tencent, demanding 150 million yuan in damages; Tencent countersued, seeking 125 million yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Old Zhou’s lost his mind. He’s suing Tencent in Shenzhen? He’ll win? Ha!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen sneered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he remembered correctly, Zhou Hongyi hadn’t gotten a single cent—he’d actually paid Tencent five million yuan in compensation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only now did the 3Q War finally come to a close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Continue optimizing the AuroraOS 1.38 system; once Zhou Chuangxi and Daniel’s voice interaction engine goes live, we’ll have completed half of our autumn product.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen patted Wang Teng on the shoulder and encouraged him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Understood, boss, I get it,\" Wang Teng replied with a nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen waved his hand, signaling Wang Teng to return to work, then took the elevator to the floor housing Orange Tech’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Boss, regarding your previous request to add natural language processing and speech synthesis to the Yuxi module, Daniel and I have discussed it—it’ll take about another month of development.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chuangxi spotted the boss and stepped forward to report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then calling it a voice recognition tool won’t be appropriate anymore—let’s rename it the Yuxi Interaction Engine.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yansen smiled faintly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that point, Yuxi will have full-chain capabilities for voice recognition, natural language processing, and speech synthesis; with enough voice data training, we can create a real-time intelligent voice assistant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This might seem ordinary five or six years from now, but in 2012, it would be a groundbreaking product.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, Chen Yansen is building development tools and an ecosystem: first, he can profit from technology patents; second, he can leverage data access channels from other smartphone manufacturers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Got it,\" Zhou Chuangxi opened his mouth, then closed it again and agreed readily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He really wanted to suggest the boss change the name of “Yuxi,” but after a moment’s thought, he dropped the idea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuxi is merely a development tool for an intelligent voice interaction engine; what it’s called doesn’t matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the boss names the future intelligent voice assistant something equally ridiculous, he’d definitely speak up in protest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Chen Yansen called Daniel over, and the three of them entered the office for a technical symposium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Privately, Daniel referred to the weekly “technical symposium” as class, because he always learned something new—Chen Yansen consistently offered him fresh insights into programming languages, development frameworks, and database structures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just before quitting time, Zhou Hongyi, whom he hadn’t contacted in a long while, called.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2000,"2026-06-19T19:17:19.606Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","da59000895cbb23cd77ac775ce2cd9b488b14202988e0f85f553c022ed047282","i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-249","i-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-chapter-247",387,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-get-stronger-every-payday-with-one-billion-emp-cover.jpg"]