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

Chapter 231 Chen Guobin: I am the father of the God of Wealth!
Monday, April 2th.

Youku and Tudou jointly announced that they signed a final agreement on February 24 to merge through a 100% stock swap. Tudou will be delisted, and Youku will become the leading video website.

Sohu Video ranked second in the industry with a market share of 13.3%.

iQiyi, LeTV, and Tencent Video ranked third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.

This is vastly different from the market landscape more than a decade later. Youku, which was at its peak at that time, had become the smallest player in the industry by 2026, and even its monthly active users were not as good as Mango TV.

Chen Yansen glanced at the news, a faint smile on his lips. He had no interest in long-form video websites.

Just then, the cell phone on the table suddenly rang.

Chen Yansen picked it up and saw that it was Zhang Chaoyang. Without thinking much, he pressed the answer button: "Hey, Charles, let's make it clear first, drinking is fine, but filming is out of the question."

After he became familiar with Zhang Chaoyang, he originally called him "Old Zhang," but Zhang Chaoyang said, "The gatekeeper at Sohu is called Old Zhang," so Chen Yansen had no choice but to call him by his English name.

Last week, Zhang Chaoyang called to say that Sohu Video was preparing to film a sitcom called "Diao Si Nan Shi" (literally "Men's Diary"), and the director wanted Chen Yansen to play the role of a doctor.

If it were any other director or any other short drama, Chen Yansen might have agreed.

This way, they can repay Zhang Chaoyang's favor and also get some free advertising for Orange Phones—a win-win situation.

But he knew in his heart that once this short drama was filmed, it would become an indelible dark history.

So he came up with a compromise and pushed Wang Teng forward.

After all, Wang Teng has hosted the launch event for Orange Mobile's new products, and his position as the general manager of Orange Technology, along with his 130 million Weibo followers, can also serve as a good promotional tool.

"You weren't even in Yanjing for drinking! I'm not going to beat around the bush with you. When will Kuaidi Dache launch its Series A funding round? Macquarie Capital is extremely optimistic about the development prospects of the ride-hailing industry."

Zhang Chaoyang explained with a smile.

Macquarie Capital is Sohu's third-largest shareholder and had previously communicated with Gao Weilin, but Chen Yansen rejected his financing request.

Of the six venture capital firms initially screened by Senlian Capital, apart from DST, the remaining five were all local investment companies, which was also a result of his intentional control.

However, he still owed Zhang Chaoyang a favor, so Chen Yansen naturally couldn't refuse outright when the other party brought it up.

After thinking for a moment, he laid it all out: "I don't plan to bring in too much foreign investment, so even if Macquarie Capital is shortlisted for the Series A round, I will strictly control the number of times it participates in subsequent financing rounds."

Zhang Chaoyang was a smart man, and he immediately understood Chen Yansen's financing plan. So he replied, "I'll just pass on a message. Whether this cooperation succeeds or not, I won't care."

Chen Yansen smiled and readily agreed, "Since you brought it up, it's no problem to give it a spot to participate."

"By the way, are you coming to the Beijing Internet Conference in September? I'll introduce you to some new friends there."

Zhang Chaoyang nodded in satisfaction, then asked another question.

"Then you should prepare a few more bottles of good wine," Chen Yansen joked.

“No problem, that’s settled for now. Next time you’re in Yanjing on a business trip, just come and find me,” Zhang Chaoyang replied directly and decisively.

After exchanging pleasantries, the two hung up the phone.

"Old Zhang is living a comfortable life. He's not even fifty yet, but he's already enjoying a retirement lifestyle of drinking, going to bars, and practicing yoga."

Chen Yansen put down his phone, opened the doors and windows, and let the cool air in.

He took a deep breath and thought of the second news item he had just seen: the Securities Association of America had approved Vipshop's IPO application.

Unfortunately, the IPO plan was destined to fail. Before the market opened, the offering price was lowered by 23.5%, the financing scale was reduced to 7000 million US dollars, and the total market value barely exceeded 2 million US dollars.

Vipshop's painful IPO has undoubtedly cast a shadow over domestic e-commerce companies, while also sending a signal that investors across the ocean are not optimistic about China's e-commerce industry.

However, this incident did not have much impact on Pinbei, but Ali was caught in the crossfire. Ma Liyun originally planned to immediately launch an IPO after completing the share repurchase plan.

However, Vipshop's initial public offering (IPO) was met with a lukewarm reception, forcing Ma Liyun to become more cautious. After careful consideration, he instructed Cai Xin to postpone the IPO and wait for the right opportunity.

Around noon, Chen Yansen went downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch.

Along the way, they met Zhou Chuangxi and Daniel, who traveled together, chatting and laughing.

"Daniel, are you settling in well in the virtual city?"

Chen Yansen asked casually.

“The water’s a bit hard.” Daniel pushed up his glasses, then ruffled his hair, leaving a dozen or so brown strands in his palm.

"I suggest you drink mineral water," Chen Yansen said with a smile.

"Thank you for your concern, Boss. I placed an order for a water dispenser on Pinduoduo yesterday and hope to receive it soon."

Daniel shrugged and said that with Zhou Chuangxi's help, he quickly adapted to life in the virtual city and learned how to shop on Pinduoduo.

"When will the language analysis be available online?" Chen Yansen asked seriously.

"Around mid-March, iFlytek's speech data standard should be completed by tomorrow. At that time, Daniel will incorporate Gaussian mixture and neural network models to further improve the training efficiency of the acoustic model," Zhou Chuangxi replied.

“Speech analysis is just the first step Orange Technology has taken into the field of artificial intelligence. The second step will be to develop an advanced artificial intelligence interaction engine using speech analysis.”

Chen Yansen said in a calm tone.

Daniel nodded slightly. He had seen the speech recognition framework and underlying code of the speech analyzer, and in terms of technical skill, he felt that Chen Yansen's abilities far surpassed his own. This was also why he was willing to stay at Orange Technology. On the other hand, he was also very satisfied with the research environment at Orange Technology.

As the three walked and talked, Zhou Chuangxi suddenly added, "Daniel and I are still visiting professors at the Virtual City Academy."

Chen Yansen was taken aback upon hearing this, and couldn't help but laugh out loud. Tang Qingshan certainly knew how to pull in resources and build connections.

Although Johns Hopkins University is not a traditional Ivy League member, its academic strength and global influence are in no way inferior to those of Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

Although he was very skeptical about how many students could understand Daniel, who didn't understand Chinese, Chen Yansen didn't ask, seeing Daniel's radiant expression. Perhaps this job allowed Daniel to rediscover the feeling of teaching at Johns Hopkins University in his spare time.

Some people are born with an extremely strong desire to output and express themselves.

The three of them entered the cafeteria, and after looking around, Chen Yansen realized that he did not recognize half of the employees.

Pinbei, Orange Pay, and Orange Technology have as many as 40 to 50 new employees joining every day. It's not that he can't remember them, but that he's so busy that he doesn't even have time to get to know them one by one.

After Chen Yansen finished queuing to get his food, he had only taken two steps with his tray when he saw Wang Teng waving at him, with Wang Zihao sitting next to him.

Then, he led Zhou Chuangxi and Daniel over there.

at the same time.

Hundreds of kilometers away in Chunshen, more than 300 employees are working hard in a warehouse of a company called Shaobei Grain and Oil.

First, pack the 5-pound and 10-pound bags of rice into foam packaging bags with shock-absorbing features, then seal them tightly with tape, and then send them to the next step.

The two young men pasted the waybills on one by one.

A Yunsu Express truck was parked at the entrance, and forklift operators from the factory were constantly loading packaged parcels into the truck.

The factory owner stood on the second floor, watching this bustling scene. His mouth stretched almost to the back of his ears, and he was beaming with pride.

"Boss Zhu, how many orders did you sell yesterday?" Zhao Siyuan, the chief secretary of the Central Secretariat, asked.

"43,000 orders for 5-jin packs and 25,000 orders for 10-jin packs, a significant drop compared to early February." Zhu Debao said this, but his face was full of smiles.

After deducting labor costs, he can earn a net profit of over 100,000 yuan per day.

A bag of rice only yields a little over one dollar in net profit. It may seem small, but the quantity is huge!
Thinking of this, Zhu Debao turned around and said to Zhao Siyuan, "Secretary Zhao, I owe everything I have today to you and Boss Tang."

"We must ensure quality. Mr. Chen has given you the opportunity to make money. If you mess up, no one can help you."

Zhao Siyuan chuckled lightly, not forgetting to give another word of advice.

As far as he knows, there are quite a few merchants on Pinduoduo who have been punished for selling counterfeit and shoddy products. Some of them not only had all their payments deducted, but also received lawyer's letters from Pinduoduo's legal department.

Zhao Siyuan didn't want Zhu Debao to make a mistake!
The Guangshaobei Grain and Oil Factory alone has provided more than 300 jobs. Although they are low-end jobs, they have indeed increased the income of the surrounding residents.

"Secretary Zhao, don't worry. I understand the principle of being full at one meal and then being full at every meal."

Zhu Debao patted his chest and assured him.

In the past, in order to open up sales channels, he would beg and plead with everyone, eating, drinking and laughing with them, and making sure that all the grain and oil wholesalers, supermarket and convenience store owners, farmers' market stall owners, as well as purchasing managers of restaurants, hotels, school canteens and company canteens were comfortable before he could have a prosperous year.

Now it's much easier, I don't have to ask for help anymore!
With a net profit of over 100,000 yuan a day, if this momentum continues for two or three years, his influence in the county will rise by at least several levels.

To be honest, he did consider selling new and old rice together, which would have earned him an extra 0.5-1 yuan per bag, but after careful consideration, he didn't dare to do it.

The main problem is that Pinduoduo's penalty rules are too harsh!
They'll impose a tenfold penalty for fakes anytime!

"Remember to come to the county later. Boss Tang will personally host the agricultural and rural product exchange meeting. Don't forget."

Zhao Siyuan said.

Pinduoduo has supported 37 businesses like Shaobei Grain and Oil Food Factory. In terms of sales volume, Shaobei Grain and Oil Food Factory can only be considered at a medium level.

In Shanjue Town, there is a large-scale livestock farmer who can sell 2 million yuan worth of goods every day through Pinduoduo's 10 Billion Subsidy channel. The main products he promotes are ducks and geese, including both fresh goods transported by cold chain and cured meat products.

Extremely popular in the eastern market!
Tang Lixin and Zhao Siyuan initially thought that this agricultural product support plan was just an excuse Chen Yansen used to appease them. However, when they saw that these thirty-plus companies could generate an extra 1000 million yuan in sales every day, they were shocked to realize the influence of Pinduoduo in the e-commerce industry.

Achieving 3 to 4 billion yuan in revenue a year is actually quite possible!
During this period, while Chen Guobin was working at the bookstore, he was frequently visited by wealthy businessmen driving BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes, carrying large bags of gifts.

Some people looked more than ten years older than Chen Guobin, but they kept calling him "Uncle Chen" and were incredibly enthusiastic.

Chen Guobin was speechless. After making inquiries, he found out that it was Chen Yansen who was behind it.

These prominent figures in Chunshen all regarded Chen Yansen as their god of wealth.

Then Chen Guobin is naturally the father of the God of Wealth!
At some point, a patrol post was set up at the entrance of the State Guest House, ostensibly to protect the students of Chun Shen Middle School.

But this patrol post is still three or four hundred meters away from the school!

Are you trying to fool me?

In a short time, Chen Guobin's name gradually became well-known in the local tyrant circle of Chun Shen.

Whether you're in the legal or illegal world, just don't mess with the owner of Guobin Bookstore!
When Chen Guobin found out, he was both amused and exasperated, thinking to himself: "So, I'm getting ahead because of my son?"

(End of this chapter)