I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 177 Telecom Contract Phone, Chen Nian Under Immense Pressure (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Inside a private room on the top floor of the Sky Garden on Huishui West Road, Xucheng.

Zhao Maolin raised his glass and clinked it with Chen Yansen's. His face was flushed and he was already slightly tipsy. He laughed and said, "Brother Chen, after this drink, let's go to the next one. Galaxy Star has a lot of new Russian girls from the North. Their figures are...tsk tsk..."

"Congratulations on your promotion, Brother Zhao! Cheers!"

Chen Yansen smiled slightly, not responding to Zhao Maolin's words, since Song Yuncheng was still standing there.

"If you ever need anything from your brother, just let me know."

Zhao Maolin tilted his head back and downed the wine in one gulp, patting his chest heartily.

He was promoted from general manager of Xucheng to general manager of Huian Province. Naturally, his resources and power increased accordingly, and he spoke a little louder.

Chen Yansen is the founder of Pinbei and Orange Technology, running mobile phone and e-commerce businesses, and has close ties with Tencent. He has neither a shortage of money nor a shortage of connections.

Moreover, Chen Yansen amassed a fortune of tens of billions in just over a year, and his status will only rise higher in the next few years.

I might need Chen Yansen's help in the future.

Zhao Maolin spoke with great bravado, but his mind was racing with scheming.

"What a coincidence, I do have something to trouble you with, Brother Zhao. Orange Technology is planning to release two new products during the Spring Festival. One is the Orange D1, which is priced at 1000 yuan, and the other is the flagship Orange C2. They want to boost sales through the telecom channel."

Chen Yansen turned the wine glass upside down, shook it downwards, and said slowly and deliberately.

"Contract phone or joint marketing?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Maolin instinctively pressed for an answer.

The former refers to customized phones launched by China Telecom in cooperation with Orange Technology. They are sold to China Telecom users through the form of "buy a phone and get free talk time" or "top up your talk time and get a phone free". They are usually tied to a fixed package with a two- to three-year contract period.

The latter involves selling goods through a sales network of telecom service centers, online platforms, and franchised sites, with the telecom company taking a cut.

"I want it all."

Chen Yansen said, enunciating each word clearly, "Only children make choices."

"No problem! Also, I think Pinduoduo could add a new entry point for phone credit and data top-ups."

After Zhao Maolin readily agreed, he took the opportunity to express his own ideas.

"Okay, I'll arrange it later."

Chen Yansen nodded in agreement.

Relationships last only when there is give and take.

For Zhao Maolin, co-marketing contract phones with mobile phones was just a matter of a word; and for Chen Yansen, adding a recharge center to Pinduoduo was also a simple task.

"Great! Have another drink!" Zhao Maolin rolled up his sleeves, tugged at his collar, picked up the bottle, filled his own glass first, and then poured one for Chen Yansen.

With a "ding," the two clinked glasses.

Zhao Maolin's assistant watched from the side. He wanted to help his boss avoid drinking, but as soon as Zhao Maolin entered the private room, he ordered that he would drink and that his assistant should just drive.

Song Yuncheng looked at the three empty wine bottles on the table and quietly tugged at Chen Yansen's sleeve, worried that he had drunk too much.

Chen Yansen turned to look at her, shook his head slightly, and indicated that he was alright.

Zhao Maolin glanced between the two men and immediately understood why Chen Yansen had pretended not to hear him when he mentioned Galaxy Star earlier—it turned out he had his girlfriend with him.

He knew Song Yuncheng; back when he was at FoxTao, Song was the person who handled the cooperation with the telecommunications company.

"Brother Zhao, have you ever considered moving the sale of phone cards online?"

Chen Yansen asked.

"You know?" Zhao Maolin's face showed great surprise, and he thought to himself: Could it be that Chen Yansen has other connections within the telecommunications company besides himself?

A month ago, the head office upgraded the online business hall and is planning to launch the public beta version of the new China Telecom portal tomorrow. They've even changed the domain name and added services such as reserving premium numbers, ordering phone cards, and broadband application to the existing services.

Upon seeing this, Chen Yansen immediately guessed the gist of it.

Previously, telecommunications companies did not pay much attention to online channels because online banking and payment tools had low penetration rates. However, driven by e-commerce platforms, not only were users' payment problems solved, but telecommunications companies also realized the importance of online channels.

Taobao's sales during the Double Eleven and Double Twelve shopping festivals totaled 100 billion yuan, which is far more astonishing than the 5000 billion yuan figure ten years later.

Before this, no one had ever imagined that the scale of e-commerce business could reach billions of yuan a day.

Seeing Chen Yansen smile without saying a word, Zhao Maolin slapped his forehead and asked, "Brother Chen, how do you want to cooperate?"

"Consider the telecommunications company as a store that allows users to top up their phone credit, purchase phone cards, and subscribe to broadband services."

Chen Yansen said directly.

Now that the telecommunications company already had an online SIM card sales business, persuading Zhao Maolin and his boss was much easier.

For telecommunications companies, it's simply another channel.

"There's no precedent for this, but I don't think it'll be a big problem. I'll get back to you once I've finalized it."

Zhao Maolin answered seriously.

"Thank you, Brother Zhao. Let's have another drink." Chen Yansen filled his glass and raised it.

Amidst the clinking of glasses, the fourth bottle of Moutai was quickly emptied.

"Xiao Li, go get two more bottles." Although Zhao Maolin felt he was nearing his limit, seeing Chen Yansen's clear-headed appearance, he felt he hadn't done enough and needed to go for two more rounds.

"Brother Zhao, a little buzz is better than getting drunk. Do you really want to drink me into the hospital?"

Chen Yansen joked with a smile.

His words gave Zhao Maolin a way out.

“That’s right, then I’ll let you off the hook.” Zhao Maolin laughed, thinking to himself: Drinking with Chen Yansen is so comfortable, I can drink well and have a good time.

Song Yuncheng immediately stood up, apologized, and walked outside.

"Xiao Li, go settle the bill." Although Zhao Maolin was feeling unsteady, he could still see what Song Yuncheng was thinking. "This is a farewell banquet, and also Brother Zhao's promotion banquet. I have to come today."

Chen Yansen stopped Zhao Maolin and said with a smile.

Xiao Li looked at his boss, waiting for further instructions. After a while, Zhao Maolin sighed and stopped insisting.

He plopped down and said to Chen Yansen, "I'll arrange the next match."

"My girlfriend is with me," Chen Yansen made an excuse.

"Is Director Song really your girlfriend? Look at the mess this has made. Luckily, I didn't mention what Galaxy Star is."

Zhao Maolin chuckled dryly and pulled Chen Yansen aside to complain.

"Get Brother Zhao home safely in a bit. Call me if you need anything."

Chen Yansen smiled and looked at Xiao Li, giving him some instructions.

"Okay, Mr. Chen," Xiao Li quickly replied.

Zhao Maolin felt a warmth in his heart. He put his arm around Chen Yansen's shoulder. Their previous relationship was somewhat fake, nothing more than a shady alliance based on mutual interests.

But at this moment, Chen Yansen's explanation made him feel particularly comfortable; the other party truly treated him like an older brother.

In reality, this was because Chen Yansen's mental strength was too high. The simple words he spoke sounded sincere and heartfelt, even moving the old fox Zhao Maolin.

Chen Yansen keenly noticed Zhao Maolin's unusual behavior, and after a moment's thought, he understood the reason.

So mental power has this kind of wonderful use? Isn't this a skill exclusive to 'succubi'?

Chen Yansen chuckled to himself. After Song Yuncheng returned from paying the bill, the group took the elevator to the first floor.

After finishing his drink, Zhao Maolin was hit by a cold wind and immediately collapsed, muttering incoherent, drunken ramblings.

After helping his boss into the car, Xiao Li politely said goodbye to Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng, and then drove away.

"How are you? Do you want to go upstairs and rest?"

Song Yuncheng asked.

Chen Yansen and Zhao Maolin each drank two bottles, which is almost the limit for an average person. In Song Yuncheng's memory, her father also drank alcohol, but he could only drink two or three cups at most before he would get drunk and pass out.

"Yes! I bought you a gift, so you can try it on."

Chen Yansen nodded immediately, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Is it clothes? Thank you, boss," Song Yuncheng replied with a smile.

Three minutes later.

Inside the hotel room, Song Yuncheng stared at the Spider-Man cosplay outfit on the bed, her face darkening.

"Chen Yansen, what is this? I'm not wearing it," Song Yuncheng refused.

"How about trying this Black Widow outfit?" Chen Yansen pulled another garment out of the bag.

……

……

Vancl headquarters is located on the East Third Ring Road in Yanjing.

Chen Nian held the business report, looking at it expressionlessly.

As of yesterday, Vancl's total sales for 2011 were only 34.3 billion yuan, still a long way from its sales target of 100 billion yuan.

The boasts made at the beginning of the year have now been slapped in the face.

He couldn't help but think of Chen Yansen, who, after selling FoxTao, created Pinbei.

I learned from having dinner with Lei Yijun last time that Pinbei's cumulative sales exceeded 50 billion yuan in less than a month after its launch.

Why is doing e-commerce so difficult?

Chen Nian looked depressed.

Back when he and Lei Yijun founded Joyo.com, they didn't have enough funds and felt that e-commerce was too expensive, so they sold the project to Amazon.

Later, with more funds available, Chen Nian founded Vancl with investment from Lei Yijun, hoping to rekindle his e-commerce dream, but reality proved to be far more cruel.

Vancl worked hard for a year, but its sales were still lower than Pinduoduo's sales in just over twenty days.

The difference was too great, and Chen Nian couldn't accept it. He also didn't want to admit that his abilities were inferior to Chen Yansen's.

After all, when they first met, he had just received investment and didn't take the other party seriously at all.

In less than a year, the other party resold FoxTao and instantly became worth over 10 billion yuan, while he didn't even achieve 10 billion yuan in sales.

"Mr. Chen, I heard that JD.com joined Pinduoduo and achieved sales of 2 million yuan on Double Twelve. Should we...?"

Seeing Chen Nian's furrowed brows, the assistant whispered words of advice.

Vancl's blind expansion, with a large number of new product categories and SKUs, has resulted in performance falling far short of expectations, leaving its warehouses with 14.5 billion yuan worth of inventory.

Chen Nian once laughed at Zhou Jiancheng of Metersbonwe, but when he himself repeated the same mistake and fell into the same pit, he realized that this feeling was not pleasant.

Given Vancl's current sales level, the inventory turnover cycle in its warehouse is as high as 6 months, which has undoubtedly become a huge burden on Vancl.

“You come... never mind, I’ll call Chen Yansen myself.”

Chen Nian sighed and said helplessly.

But he called several times, and no one answered.

At this moment, Chen Yansen was still playing a game of Wolverine versus Black Widow with Song Yuncheng, and had no time to pay attention to Chen Nian.

(End of this chapter)