Chapter 61: An Absurd Rumor That Turned Out to Be True!

The next evening, a young man and woman stepped out of a taxi and walked toward the east gate of Xucheng Academy.

"This is the key to 0418. Help me put the suitcase in the living room. I'm heading back to the startup park first."

Chen Yansen instructed Song Yuncheng.

"I'm not your personal assistant…" Song Yuncheng glared at Chen Yansen, cheeks puffed with anger. Just as she was about to refuse, she faintly read the words 'dock your pay' on his lips, and immediately forced a smile. "Sure thing, boss."

At the intersection, one headed toward the faculty apartment while the other strolled slowly toward the startup park.

The moment Chen Yansen stepped onto the second floor, Wang Zihao seemed to sense it and turned his head toward the stairwell.

"Sen-ge!" Wang Zihao sprang to his feet, waving his arm and shouting.

"Sen-ge!" ×9!

"Boss!" ×9!

Hearing the commotion, the others set down their work and unconsciously gathered around.

"Sen-ge, did Penguin really invest 10 million in us?" Zhang Wenbo pushed up his glasses, asking excitedly.

"Yeah, 10 million."

Chen Yansen shook his head lightly, looking dissatisfied.

"We're rich!" Zhuang Rui grabbed Chen Yansen's arm and laughed broadly.

A senior this year, by rights he should have been doing his off-campus internship by now, but his stint at Fox Tao made him feel that staying might lead to a brighter future.

"Everyone quiet! I have two announcements. First, Fox Tao has received Penguin's first angel-round investment of 10 million yuan, expected to arrive within three business days. Second, increase the inventory for the zero-yuan bargaining event tenfold, and raise the daily budget for the external ad team from 40,000 to 100,000!"

Chen Yansen announced loudly, standing in the middle of the crowd.

"Yay! Class monitor, so badass!" Xu Xingxing hopped and jumped with excitement, fists pumping, shaking her head around so wildly that everyone instantly fell silent in alarm.

Every pair of eyes turned to her at once.

"Uh… aren't you guys happy?"

Xu Xingxing stuck out her tongue and quietly slipped back into the crowd.

"Alright! Payday!"

Chen Yansen spoke up to ease Xu Xingxing's embarrassment. He hoisted a bag of cash and tossed it casually onto the table.

"Zhang Wenbo!"

Chen Yansen called out. Since Song Yuncheng wasn't around, he started handing out pay starting from employee number two.

"Salary, overtime, and bonus—6,000 in total." Zhang Wenbo counted it the moment he got it, secretly stunned.

"Humanity's Spark +0.6!"

A familiar string of characters flashed before his eyes. Chen Yansen thought: this is probably the last time we'll pay out in cash. Once Penguin's finance staff come in, everything has to go through proper channels.

Fox Tao is no longer a ragtag operation!

Compared to last month, the headcount had doubled, but the total payroll was only 70,000, because half the new hires were customer service reps with low salaries.

"System! Give me some points!"

Chen Yansen focused his will on the Constitution column. A biting chill surged through him again, as if every sinew, bone, and drop of blood in his body were greedily devouring the white mist.

In the blink of an eye, the Constitution value became '1.49'. According to the system, 3 was the limit an ordinary human could reach. Chen Yansen was now close to halfway there, and he had indeed noticed clear improvements in strength, endurance, and stamina.

"Department leads, go home tonight and think it over. Submit a hiring plan tomorrow and consolidate them for Xu Xingxing. Also, at the investor's request, we need to compile a list for social insurance and housing fund contributions. Seniors who aren't planning to take the civil service exam or sit for grad school entrance exams can give their names to their team leads."

Chen Yansen added, pausing for two seconds before continuing: "Before this Friday, I'll do an overall salary adjustment based on everyone's October performance, and I'll confirm it with each of you individually. Please prepare your work summaries in advance."

"Class monitor, what's a work summary?" Xu Xingxing raised her hand. A few customer service reps shared her confusion.

"Simply put, it's talking about what you did in October, your highlights and shortcomings, and any suggestions for optimizing your role's workflow. Fox Tao is growing fast. I hope you'll treat it as a promising career, not just a part-time gig."

Chen Yansen said with a faint smile, his tone sincere.

A salary adjustment!

Social insurance and housing fund contributions!

A 10-million-yuan investment!

One bombshell after another left everyone dumbfounded. Zhuang Rui, Hu Li, Zhang Wenbo, and the others felt Chen Yansen's words most keenly. They understood in their hearts that, after graduation, other companies would almost certainly not offer better pay and benefits than Fox Tao.

And Fox Tao only required six hours of work a day!

Overtime pay for anything beyond that!

Their conviction to build Fox Tao into something great was even stronger than Chen Yansen's.

Meanwhile.

After delivering Chen Yansen's luggage to 0418, Song Yuncheng dragged herself back to the dorm, utterly exhausted. Flying from Shencheng to Peng Cheng, then taking a cab back to Xucheng—she hadn't walked much, but the weariness in her heart was especially heavy.

She dropped her backpack. She didn't even have the strength to climb onto the bed, just plopped down and lay limply across the desk.

"Little Chengzi, back from your business trip! Was Shencheng fun?"

The roommate by the balcony turned her head and asked.

"Oh my! Little Chengzi, that outfit is Ports' new fall collection—one set costs 5,000!"

Another roommate leaned over, about to speak, but caught sight of the brand logo on the back of Song Yuncheng's collar out of the corner of her eye.

"How much did you say?"

Song Yuncheng jolted upright, instantly shedding her fatigue. Her mouth fell slightly open as she repeated in disbelief.

Chen Yansen had clearly told her the outfit only cost a few hundred yuan.

"Look, the Ports website lists the price—4,999 yuan. And you're wearing their inner layer too—that one's another grand, easy."

This roommate usually loved studying mid-to-high-end women's fashion design, planning to study fashion design further in the future, so she recognized it at a glance.

"Chen Yansen, you spendthrift! How much better if you'd just given me the cash!" Song Yuncheng was so angry she nearly fainted, her little face turning white with heartache.

One outfit for 6,000 yuan—that was two months of her salary!

Wait!

There's also a pair of white leather shoes — they must be pricey too!

"Little Chengzi, you definitely didn't buy these yourself, right?" her roommate probed carefully.

In the past, Song Yuncheng often ate rice soaked in the cafeteria's free soup, pinching every penny in half — how could she possibly afford such an expensive suit?

"Chen Yansen bought them. He said I was going to the Penguin headquarters, and my clothes would embarrass him." Song Yuncheng lowered her head and answered honestly.

"Come on, tell us! What was it like at Penguin?" The other roommates crowded over too — in their eyes, Penguin was a super giant of the internet industry.

"Actually, there isn't much to tell. We first met the president of Paipai Net, then we ran into Ma Wenteng, and also someone named Liu Zhiping — Chen Yansen called him Martin."

Song Yuncheng was still fretting over the price of that outfit, so she kept her account very brief.

"You met Ma Wenteng?!!" the roommates cried out in unison.

"I looked it up — Liu Zhiping is also one of Penguin's founders, a big shot among big shots. Little Chengzi, I'm so jealous of you!" one roommate said, holding her laptop.

"Oh right, Little Chengzi, is your Fox Tao still hiring? Bring the rest of us in too — aren't you the team lead for customer service and operations?" someone asked with a fawning smile.

"The decision is in Chen Yansen's hands. What I say doesn't count." Song Yuncheng was a little embarrassed by her roommates' request, but seeing their disappointed faces, she added: "If Fox Tao has any openings later, I'll let you know right away so you can send in your résumés."

"Hehe, knew Little Chengzi was the most loyal." The roommates laughed.

*Ding—*

Song Yuncheng pulled out her phone and tapped open the message: "Remember to wash my shirt properly. Tomorrow, give me a hiring plan for the design team, the operations team, and the customer service team."

"You can start preparing your résumés!"

Song Yuncheng lifted her head and reminded them with a light smile.

……

……

The autumn breeze was faintly cool, rippling the surface of Pearl Lake.

Under the night sky, Xucheng Academy had a few dim yellow streetlamps glowing. Five or six shirtless boys, borrowing the weak light, were battling it out hot and heavy on the basketball court.

*Swish! *

A three-pointer — nothing but net!

"Nice one, bro! Another!" The guy standing under the hoop froze for a second at the sight, then tossed the ball back to Chen Yansen.

*Swish! *

Another three-pointer!

Seeing the other guy still wanted him to keep shooting, Chen Yansen pointed at Meng Jie beside him and shook his head gently.

"I'm Zhang Yifeng from the Business School, senior year. What's your name, bro? Let's add each other on QQ, play some ball together when we have time."

Zhang Yifeng nodded as if he understood, but seeing Chen Yansen's tall frame — a beast on the boards — and his terrifying three-point percentage, he couldn't help himself and stepped up eagerly to chat.

"Class of 2010, Journalism. Chen Yansen."

Chen Yansen added the guy's QQ, gave a brief self-introduction, then waved and pulled Meng Jie toward Willow Creek.

He had only just left when Zhang Yifeng suddenly realized, turning to his friends: "Holy crap! That guy just now is a legend at Xucheng Academy, and I didn't even recognize him! One of my roommates works part-time at his Fox Tao — guess how much he makes a month?"

"Two or three thousand, right? I heard someone say that before." someone in the crowd replied.

"Four thousand, weekends off, six-hour shifts every day." Zhang Yifeng waved a hand in denial, then said, syllable by syllable.

He had been planning to go to the interview tomorrow, but he hadn't expected to run into Chen Yansen tonight.

"That much?" Someone didn't buy it. College students might be naive, but they weren't fools — when a job posting says 2000–4000, the actual pay is 2000.

"Anyway, Fox Tao is hiring soon. I'm going to give it a shot." Zhang Yifeng said with a firm look.

At the same time, the news that Chen Yansen had secured 10 million in funding from Penguin also spread without legs, flying fast among students and teachers.

"10 million in funding? From Penguin?"

Guo Dongchen, who was at home preparing for his doctoral exams, was completely dumbfounded. His first reaction was that it was fake news, but then he tracked down a few students working customer service at Fox Tao to ask around, and finally confirmed that this seemingly absurdly fake piece of news was actually true!

Please keep reading——

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(End of chapter)