Chapter 98: Q1: 60 Million New Customer Target, 20 Million Options (Seeking Votes)

"If it weren't for you, relying solely on part-time jobs at the library and cafeteria, I'd struggle to support myself, let alone earn money to take care of my brother."

Song Yuncheng sat in the chair, swinging her small feet, and sincerely thanked him.

"Have you never thought about how to repay me?" Chen Yansen lifted his tea cup and took a sip.

"Good people don't use kindness as leverage to demand repayment," Song Yuncheng said with a smile.

"You said that about good people; I'm not one," Chen Yansen put down his teacup and took Song Yuncheng's small hand.

It was soft and squishy, yet the palm held rough calluses, clearly marks left from previous part-time jobs.

Song Yuncheng pulled back with force, but it didn't budge; she could only let Chen Yansen play with her hand, her heart pounding like a drum.

"I don't want to be stuck between you and another girl; if you ever break up with Meng Jie, you can come find me anytime."

Song Yuncheng was helpless; meeting Chen Yansen's direct gaze, she truly couldn't bring herself to say she disliked him. After saying those words, she felt as if she had exhausted all her strength.

"Find you for what?" Chen Yansen traced circles on her palm with his thumb, asking with a half-smile.

Song Yuncheng was about to speak when she heard movement outside the door and hurriedly said, "Auntie is back, let go quickly."

"Kiss me, then I'll let go," Chen Yansen acted shamelessly; his skin was thick enough that he wasn't afraid of Song Yuncheng's aunt discovering them.

"Smack!"

Chen Yansen was stunned; he had expected Song Yuncheng wouldn't agree, but this time, she really kissed him.

The action was so fast he hadn't even had time to react.

This was the first time Song Yuncheng had kissed him!

"No feeling, do it again," Chen Yansen puckered his lips and leaned forward.

"Chen Yansen, you're too much, you have no integrity!" Song Yuncheng struggled twice; hearing footsteps getting closer, she couldn't help but mutter in a low voice.

"Heh, is this the first day you've known me?" Chen Yansen retorted.

Song Yuncheng gritted her teeth, planning to give another light peck.

Chen Yansen was prepared; how could he let Song Yunching escape so easily? When Song Yuncheng leaned in to kiss, he lowered his head too, gently biting her lips as if holding a piece of jelly.

In that instant, Song Yuncheng was stunned.

Her limbs went weak, her heartbeat suddenly accelerated, her cheeks flushed, and the familiar, light woody scent from Chen Yansen's body drifted into her nose.

"Ahem! Ahem!" Just as the auntie reached the doorway, seeing this scene, she immediately coughed loudly twice, blocking the two children behind her.

Song Yuncheng suddenly snapped back to reality, hurriedly stepping back, her face flushed as she looked at the auntie; her lips moved, wanting to explain but not knowing what to say.

"Xiao Yun, Xiao Yu, call her Sister!" The auntie, seeing them separate, pushed the two children in front of Song Yuncheng.

"Sister Chengzi!" ×2

"This is Sister Chengzi's boyfriend; you call him Brother," the auntie said with a smile, looking at the two little ones and staring curiously at Chen Yansen.

"Hello, Brother! You're so tall!" Wang Yu raised his hand to measure above his head; he only reached Chen Yansen's waist and said with a bold, innocent look.

"Wait a few more years, and you'll be as tall as me," Chen Yansen said with a smile, rubbing his head.

"Go do your homework first; finish it and have Sister check it. Mom is going to cook," the auntie instructed.

Although she said she was picking up the children, she returned carrying large and small bags of groceries.

"Auntie, go ahead and get busy; I'll watch them," Song Yuncheng steadied herself and said to the auntie.

The auntie acknowledged with a sound and walked into the kitchen carrying the bags.

Song Yuncheng turned to look at Chen Yansen, glaring fiercely at him; the other party grinned, not caring in the slightest.

She snorted, led the two children and Song Yunuo, and the three of them leaned over the table doing exercises together, while the workbook in Song Yunuo's hand was for first grade.

The funds from the Series A financing are expected to arrive next week.

With the Spring Festival approaching, express delivery services are about to suspend operations, and user shopping demand is also declining.

Whether expanding the scale of advertising or optimizing the zero-yuan bargaining activity, both can only be discussed after the New Year.

"Have each team leader arrange work during the Spring Festival; control the number of brand groups launched to thirty per day, striving to complete the schedule before New Year's Eve."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yansen sent a message to Xu Dan.

His meaning was that once the schedule was finished, everyone could take a holiday and wouldn't need to stay at the company.

At the same time, Chen Yansen instructed Xu Xingxing to add a new item to employee benefits: the company would reimburse employees' return travel expenses during the New Year based on their ID card addresses.

Considering price differences between different modes of transport, he also set limits: trains limited to first class, and planes limited to economy class.

Chen Yansen understood human nature too well; if he didn't specify this, later someone would take first class and business class for both the outbound and return trips.

It wasn't that he was stingy about this money, but rather that some people lived nearby and could get home on a thirty-yuan bus, and comparing that to someone taking a several-thousand-yuan first-class flight would cause psychological imbalance.

People don't fear scarcity but rather inequality; over time, even the best benefits would become distorted.

Upon learning about the freshly issued transportation subsidy for the project team, everyone in the group chat started flinging praise from afar.

The 560 million raised in Series A made them realize that working at Fox Tao had risen to a level equal to their studies.

After finishing these tasks, Song Yuncheng's auntie happened to bring dishes to the table: red-skinned duck and Lujiang rice dumplings, clearly specially purchased cooked foods.

In addition, there was beef hot pot, stir-fried pork, oil-burst shrimp, steamed sea bass, plus a pot of golden, oily old hen soup.

Chen Yansen glanced over and immediately felt a bit awkward; he had intended to just grab a casual meal, but he hadn't expected Song Yuncheng's auntie to treat him like a first-time visitor, preparing both chicken and fish, showing extra importance.

"Xiao Chen, do you usually drink alcohol?" the auntie asked.

"I don't touch a drop of alcohol," Chen Yansen answered with a smile.

Song Yuncheng almost laughed out loud; Chen Yansen's mouth had a lie content of 99.9%, but since he was the boss, she couldn't expose him to his face.

"Then eat more vegetables; I'll go get drinks for you," the auntie said; hearing he didn't drink, she felt even more satisfied.

During the meal, the auntie couldn't help but ask about Chen Yansen's family situation.

Learning he was from Chunshen, his father ran a bookstore, and although it was a single-parent family, her own niece had no grounds to be picky.

"By the way, when you came back, did you see who parked their car at the entrance?" the auntie suddenly asked.

That BMW at the entrance wasn't blocking the road, but parking right in front of her house without so much as a greeting—wasn't that bullying?

"Little Aunt, that is my car," Chen Yansen said.

"Ah!?" Little Aunt looked shocked; although she didn't understand cars, she recognized it as a BMW, and just from its appearance, she knew it was worth a fortune.

"Little Aunt, Chen Yansen is the big boss of Fox Tao," Song Yuncheng explained, putting down her chopsticks.

"Ah!?" Little Aunt froze again, suddenly remembering that two hours ago she had scolded Chen Yansen to his face; instantly, she was so embarrassed she wished she could crawl into a crack in the ground.

"Little Aunt is right; in the future, there will be very little work for Little Chengzi," Chen Yansen said jokingly.

"That won't do!" Song Yuncheng disagreed; she was still thinking about working hard to earn money.

"Little Aunt won't meddle in your young people's affairs," Little Aunt said with a satisfied smile, secretly relieved; no wonder this kid had shown no reaction when she told him about Song Yunuo earlier.

This meal lasted over an hour; the sky grew dark, and it was already 7:30 PM.

"Little Aunt, thank you; I'll come see you again next time," Chen Yansen said, as he still had to return to Xu City; the employee stock options hadn't been finalized yet, and he needed to go back to handle them.

He stood up, said his farewells, walked out to the driver's seat, and came down again in less than a minute, holding two red envelopes in his hand.

"Little Aunt, for the two little ones," Chen Yansen stuffed the red envelopes into Wang Yu's hand, gesturing for him to give one to his sister.

Wang Yu looked at his mother, his eyes full of inquiry.

"Little Chen, you are their peer, not a New Year or festival; giving red envelopes isn't appropriate," Little Aunt glanced at the red envelopes, estimated their thickness to be several thousand, and hurriedly refused.

"We go by age, not seniority; let them take them. If Little Aunt doesn't accept them, I won't dare come again next time."

Chen Yansen said with a smile.

"Chen Yansen, take them back," Song Yuncheng blocked in the middle, pushing Chen Yansen's red envelopes back toward him.

She wasn't Chen Yansen's real girlfriend; even if she were, she couldn't accept them.

"Alright," Chen Yansen pondered for a few seconds, stopped insisting, and thought he could pick out a few sets of big-brand cosmetics and toys from the sample room later and have Song Yuncheng bring them back.

Chen Yansen got into the car, waved to Song Yuncheng, started the engine, and sped northward.

"Little Chengzi, this boyfriend of yours is not bad; his words and deeds are like those of a grown-up; he must be serious about you," Little Aunt said, standing in place, addressing Song Yuncheng.

"Forget him; let's talk about it later," Song Yuncheng replied; she had intended to tell Little Aunt that Chen Yansen wasn't her boyfriend, but the words caught in her throat and she swallowed them back.

Xu City and Lu City were over two hundred kilometers apart; Chen Yansen took the highway, entered Xu City's urban area by 10 PM, and didn't return to apartment 0418 until 10:30 PM.

After a simple wash, Chen Yansen lay in bed and, as usual, sent messages to Meng Jie and Song Yuncheng separately.

There was no choice; he typed fast, chatting with one girl meant waiting for a reply, so chatting with two at the same time was just right.

The next morning, Sunday.

Chen Yansen arrived at the startup park; the first floor was empty, and not even Song Yang's courier station had anyone.

After the winter break began, Song Yang experienced the feeling of pain mixed with joy; every day, hundreds of parcels, all big and small luggage bags, required the courier company's transport trucks to make several trips.

After making a huge profit, he happily returned to Qingdao.

At this time in the school, besides a handful of faculty and staff, only a few cat seniors remained, still running around the school, meowing wildly.

"Brother Sen!" Xiang Pengfei, with sharp eyes, spotted Chen Yansen coming up the stairs at once.

Chen Yansen looked left and right and found that everyone was basically there, including more than a dozen new recruits hired from outside.

Some of these people rented rooms in the faculty apartments, others rented houses in the village opposite the school; after getting familiar with a few of them, they often went to the nearby river to cast a fishing rod.

"How far has the optimization on this search side progressed?" Chen Yansen walked forward, patting Xiang Pengfei's shoulder, and asked.

"It's estimated to enter the testing phase before the New Year; now we need Hu Yun's side to cooperate in building user profiles; by analyzing search, click, purchase, and other behavioral data, we can achieve personalized search results..." Xiang Pengfei reported item by item.

"The technical framework for the search engine must also be set up; I hired so many algorithm engineers at high salaries; you must make use of them for me," Chen Yansen specifically instructed.

"Brother Sen, I understand," Xiang Pengfei grinned.

Recently, he had been working extra hard, studying and improving even after work.

Although he was still the head of the backend team, the newly hired engineers, whether in technical level or project experience, were streets ahead of him.

He didn't want to be removed from the team leader position by Chen Yansen one day; losing the job would be fine, but losing face would be unbearable.

The situations in the other teams were similar; the externally hired new recruits, like the catfish effect, forced the team leaders to study and improve.

In the short term, Chen Yansen wouldn't adjust the team leader positions, but over time, for those who couldn't keep up with the project pace, he could only say sorry.

"Call the remaining few over; have Zhang Yifeng and Yuan Wei from the investment promotion team come; let's hold a morning meeting."

Chen Yansen said to Xiang Pengfei.

Now that the Fox Tao team was nearly a hundred people, gathering everyone for a big meeting as before was no longer appropriate.

Chen Yansen waited a while; Xu Dan, Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, Wang Zihao, Meng Xibo, and others gradually walked into the conference room.

"Brother Sen!"

"President Chen!"

The group greeted him one after another.

"Zihao, the pre-New Year placement plan remains unchanged; before the holiday, submit a Q1 quarterly placement expenditure plan to me."

Chen Yansen nodded slightly and instructed Wang Zihao.

"Zhuang Rui, come up with a new 'old brings new' scheme; keep the CPA cost under 5 yuan; coordinate well with Zihao; before the end of Q1, I want to see our cumulative registered user count break 100 million."

Chen Yansen looked at Zhuang Rui, gestured for him to come closer, and then began to assign tasks.

"Okay, Brother Sen," Zhuang Rui readily agreed; he roughly calculated that acquiring 60 million new customers in two and a half months meant an average of 800,000 per day; it seemed difficult, but after breaking it down, it wasn't an impossible task.

Currently, over 400,000 new customers came daily from the 'old brings new' program, zero-yuan bargaining, and placement channels; now that funds were sufficient and technology more mature, there was no reason it couldn't be done.

Chen Yansen assigned tasks one by one, setting Q1 performance targets for this group in advance.

Finally, he brought out the main event: "Next week, we will issue stock options to everyone, with a total value of 20 million."

(End of this chapter)