Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 45: Chapter 44: Eve of the Launch, First Meeting

Chen Yansen had no desire whatsoever to be the vice class monitor. Since Guo Dongchen hadn’t approached him, he just pretended he knew nothing about it.

Over the next few days, he remained busy with recruitment, refining the development plan with Zhuang Rui and the others, and identifying the most urgent requirements for the initial development phase.

The team in Rooms 206 and 208 of the Innovation Park had also quickly expanded from the original seven members to eleven, and the development process was advancing steadily.

”Song Yuncheng, create another optimized version of the website’s brand logo. Also, make three versions of the icons for user registration, login, the homepage, the cashback list, and order details. We’ll review them together next Monday.”

Chen Yansen tapped on the table as he spoke to Song Yuncheng, who was sitting across from him.

”Okay, boss!”

Song Yuncheng’s face fell, but she nodded in resignation.

She had assumed that once recruitment was over and she was back at her UI design post, her work would get easier. She never expected Chen Yansen to demand three versions—A, B, and C—for every single request. For a moment, she felt like quitting and going back to serving food in the cafeteria.

”Pengfei, how many more weeks will it take to develop the registration, login, personal information management, and cashback withdrawal features?”

”Wenbo, browser compatibility issues. I’m giving you three days. If you can’t fix them, don’t bother coming back.”

”Zhuang Rui, is this the requirements document you wrote? You haven’t even figured out the logic for how cashback is credited. If this happens again, you’re fired!”

Chen Yansen’s roars echoed throughout the second floor of the Innovation Park.

Seeing this, Song Yuncheng secretly felt a wave of relief. ’At least Chen Yansen has never yelled at me like that.’

Chen Yansen had a forceful personality and zero tolerance for errors before a project went live. However, he didn’t just relentlessly push his team; he would occasionally pull a few of them aside to work through difficult development problems together.

Other times, he would treat them to meals to strengthen their team bond.

He had lived through the golden decade of the mobile internet and witnessed the splendor of the e-commerce empire. He knew exactly what kind of product he wanted to build and what it would take for that product to gain a foothold in the market and make a name for itself.

”After the project goes live, I will re-evaluate everyone’s salary based on their performance during development. Anyone who doesn’t meet the standard will be let go.”

Chen Yansen said, his face cold and his expression grim.

After he finished speaking, he turned and headed downstairs. He walked in a slow, deliberate pace across Yixing Bridge and stood in the shade of a tree by the basketball court, eating an ice cream bar as he watched the squads of students doing their military training.

”ONE, TWO, ONE! ONE, TWO, ONE!”

The sound of synchronized marching filled the air as dust kicked up from the ground.

September in Hubei was still muggy and hot. Before long, some of the boys were already drenched in sweat under the scorching sun.

Chen Yansen squinted and spotted a miserable-looking Wang Zihao in the distance.

The moment their eyes met, Wang Zihao immediately read his lips: ”Enjoying yourself?”

’Sigh, I shouldn’t have tried to act so tough. It’d be so much more comfortable to be back in the dorm with a fan, holding a doctor’s note.’

Wang Zihao lowered his head, a pang of regret washing over him. Beads of sweat trickled from his forehead down his neck, and his chest was unbearably itchy.

The itch made him want to scratch. But the moment he lifted his hand, he heard the drill instructor roar, ”Second row, sixth column! Fall out! Twenty push-ups!”

”Sir, I...”

Wang Zihao began to explain.

But the instructor cut him off, glaring as he barked, ”Thirty!”

’Damn it, Brother Sen really had the right idea!’ Wang Zihao thought, feeling helpless. As the class monitor, he couldn’t really argue with the instructor. In the end, he could only fall out of formation obediently and start doing push-ups.

Chen Yansen watched him gloatingly for a while, only turning to head back when his phone rang.

The two air conditioners he had bought had arrived!

In the entire Innovation Park, besides Cao Dahua’s office, all the other startup spaces had to rely on fans for cooling. It was barely tolerable in the summer, but the winters in Hubei were frigid. No heating would be absolute torture.

”Over here!” Chen Yansen waved to the two deliverymen and led them up to the second floor.

”This building doesn’t have pre-installed mounts for AC units. We’ll have to put a couple of brackets on the exterior wall...”

one of the men, a skinny guy, said after opening the window and inspecting the wall outside.

”Money isn’t an issue. Just get them installed as quickly as possible.”

Chen Yansen waved his hand, cutting off the man’s preamble.

”This boss doesn’t mess around! Lao Liu, let’s get to it!”

The skinny guy grinned, deftly unboxing the indoor and outdoor AC units and signaling his partner to begin.

”Brother Sen, you’re getting us air conditioning?” Xiang Pengfei abandoned his keyboard and trotted over eagerly.

”Yeah, the whole office smells like your sweat!”

Chen Yansen shot him a look and teased with a laugh.

”Hehe, Brother Sen, can I ask you something? What if I bring a sleeping mat and just sleep here in Room 206 from now on?” Zhuang Rui squeezed in, asking with a cheeky grin.

The dorms at Xucheng Academy had no air conditioning, which made the summers unbearable.

”Suit yourself.” Chen Yansen couldn’t care less about the small increase in the electricity bill, so he replied nonchalantly.

”Thanks, Brother Sen! I want to sleep here too! I happen to have a camp bed,” Zhang Wenbo, ever the opportunist, quickly chimed in after hearing Chen Yansen agree.

The others clearly had the same idea.

Chen Yansen hadn’t realized it at first, but his simple act of installing air conditioning would greatly increase their development speed.

Feeling too embarrassed to just freeload off the Wi-Fi and air conditioning, the group of eighteen- and nineteen-year-olds would bring their bedding over at night and end up coding together instead.

Around noon, just as Chen Yansen was about to head downstairs for lunch, he saw Wang Zihao and Meng Jie coming up from the stairwell.

”Holy shit! Brother Sen, when did you get air conditioning? Oh man, this feels fucking amazing!”

Wang Zihao pushed open the glass door to Room 206, and a blast of cool air hit him in the face. Before he could even finish his sentence, he dashed under the AC unit, humming with pleasure as the cold air washed over him.

”Not bad, Chen Yansen! I thought you’d just have a handful of people here. I didn’t expect you to have an operation of this scale.”

Meng Jie stood on her tiptoes and patted Chen Yansen on the shoulder with the air of a grown-up.

”Not bad, right? If you get tired from military training, you can come over and rest anytime. I’ll buy a fridge later and stock it full of your favorite cold drinks,” Chen Yansen said with a smile, his eyes full of affection.

”Brother Sen, I want some too!” Wang Zihao shouted, turning his head with a grin.

”Everyone, let me introduce you. This fatty is my brother from another mother. If you see him sneaking in to steal popsicles next time, just try not to mistake him for a real thief.”

Chen Yansen said, pointing at Wang Zihao with a playful grin.

”You son of a... Brother Sen, you’re making us sound like strangers. Hello, seniors. I’m Wang Zihao, the monitor for the E-commerce Class of ’10. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

Wang Zihao was about to curse, but when he saw the room was full of Chen Yansen’s employees, he swallowed his words and gave a magnanimous self-introduction instead.

”And this,” Chen Yansen said, taking Meng Jie’s hand and introducing her with a serious tone, ”is my girlfriend, Meng Jie.”

When Meng Jie heard this, it felt as if countless fireworks had exploded in her mind. Her heart pounded in her chest. She lifted her head and instinctively looked at Chen Yansen. He had a roguish, teasing smirk on his face, yet his expression as he spoke had been exceptionally solemn.

This was the first time Chen Yansen had ever formally introduced her as his girlfriend to anyone.

’Girlfriend? So he has a girlfriend.’

In the crowd, Song Yuncheng’s expression froze. A bitter smile flickered across her lips before vanishing just as quickly, replaced by a gentle, warm expression.

An indescribable ache bloomed in her heart. Over the time they had worked together, Chen Yansen’s every action had, bit by bit, left a deep impression on her.

There was that time he was eating shrimp and had deliberately bitten his own finger.

She had never been in a relationship, but to say she didn’t have even the slightest crush on a roguish guy like Chen Yansen would be lying to herself.

But now, that fledgling feeling had been utterly crushed by his words.

’Good thing I didn’t fall for it. Chen Yansen is just a player,’ Song Yuncheng told herself, taking a deep breath.

”This is our Senhai frontend engineer, Zhang Wenbo; backend, Xiang Pengfei; product manager, Zhuang Rui; and UI designer, Song Yuncheng...”

Chen Yansen introduced the current members of Senhai to Wang Zihao and Meng Jie one by one.

”Senior Song, you’re here too?”

Wang Zihao said, looking a little surprised. He shot a questioning glance at Chen Yansen before making polite conversation.

”Oh? Zihao, you know Senior Song?” a hint of curiosity flashed in Meng Jie’s eyes.

”Uh, yeah, the first time we met...” Wang Zihao instinctively started to tell Meng Jie the story of how the three of them had first met.

”It’s nothing special. Song Yuncheng was our campus card agent,” Chen Yansen said, cutting in and shooting Wang Zihao a look.

”Hello, Senior Song. I’m Meng Jie from the Accounting Class of ’10. It’s nice to meet you.”

Meng Jie stepped forward with a friendly and open demeanor, extending her hand.

”Hello.”

Song Yuncheng replied curtly, unable to stop herself from secretly sizing Meng Jie up.

The girl was petite, not even five-foot-three, a good half a head shorter than her. She wore the blue-and-white military training uniform and rimless glasses. Her face was delicate and palm-sized, with small, exquisite features. But the most striking thing about her was her short hair, which barely reached her earlobes.

She had a spirited expression and a carefree, uninhibited personality, which made her seem almost boyish.

’She’s not even that much prettier than me!’ The thought popped into Song Yuncheng’s head out of nowhere, but she immediately found it ridiculous and squashed it.

After the pleasantries were exchanged, the group headed to the cafeteria, chatting and laughing along the way.

...

...

In the days that followed, Song Yuncheng never said a single unnecessary word to Chen Yansen outside of work matters at the Innovation Park.

Every time he took a step closer, she would take a step back. Their relationship instantly reverted to the distant one they’d had back when she was just a campus card agent.

Chen Yansen didn’t think much of it and paid it no mind, instead throwing all his energy into his work.

September 17: The user login system went live, supporting email and phone number verification.

September 19: The Wealth Treasure API integration was successful, and the cashback withdrawal function went live.

September 24: The order system launched in beta, integrated with the Taobao Network API to synchronize order data.

September 29: The product library module went live. Its data source was the Alibaba product pool, and it allowed for one-click publishing with the ability to modify main images and titles from the backend.

With that, the first phase of Chen Yansen’s development plan was complete. The core merchant management system was slated for phase two.

All that was left before the official launch was a proper name for the product.