"A six-hour workday, and full overtime pay? Brother Hua, this..."

Zuo Hongyu put down his phone, his face still a picture of disbelief as he looked at Cao Dahua.

He felt the salary Chen Yansen was offering was too high, drastically increasing their labor costs.

"His company, FoxTao, has had a six-hour workday since it was founded. I thought it was just because all the employees were university students. Now I see he’s had this planned for a long time."

Cao Dahua said calmly, sitting in his chair.

He had started businesses, managed factories, and received a decent education, yet he’d never once thought of changing the working hours or wage system for ordinary workers.

Back then, whatever the market rate was in Shencheng City, that’s what he paid his workers.

The countless fingers crushed on the assembly line had never moved him much.

At this moment, Cao Dahua was suddenly struck with guilt. ’I’ve lived for decades, yet I’m not even as good as a nineteen-year-old kid.’

In the corner, Zhou Jinling’s expression also changed abruptly.

When he was a boss, all he thought about was using the lowest possible wages to create the highest possible output.

If a worker made a mistake and had a finger or arm crushed by the machinery, he would curse them out, pay a few tens of thousands in compensation, and have the agent kick them out.

Now that he was a frontline worker himself, he finally realized just how ruthless the base salary and overtime rules he had set for the Ouhan Mobile Phone factory truly were.

He didn’t quite understand Chen Yansen’s methods and even thought the young man was a bit foolish, but his heart felt warm.

’Maybe the reason I have nothing today is because I’ve done too many wicked things.’

The image of a boy, not even eighteen, who had two fingers crushed, suddenly flashed through Zhou Jinling’s mind.

He had been around the same age when he first came to Shencheng City to make his way. He remembered tossing that boy thirty thousand yuan and having him thrown out of the factory that very night.

"He’s the boss, so what he says goes." Zhang Jing, the former HR manager from Ouhan, shrugged with an air of indifference.

As she spoke, she glanced at Zhou Jinling.

She couldn’t help but sigh. Life was full of ups and downs. Six months ago, Zhou Jinling had been a big boss worth hundreds of millions, and now he was just assembling screws at Orange Technology.

The four of them reached an agreement and began the recruitment process.

As the HR manager, Zhang Jing had contact information for many workers, in addition to her connections with agencies.

She had only contacted a few people before news of Orange Technology’s hiring in Hong Kong spread throughout Huaqiang North and the entire Zhongsha Village Science and Technology Park.

A base salary of 1,980 yuan, a six-hour workday, and two days off per week. For any work beyond six hours, the overtime rate was 22.5 yuan per hour on weekdays, 30 yuan per hour on weekends, and 45 yuan per hour on public holidays.

Free accommodation was included, along with a 300 yuan monthly meal allowance and contributions to the five social insurances and one housing fund.

When the news broke, over ninety percent of the assembly line workers thought it was a scam.

They had been working in Shencheng City for years and had never seen a job offer with benefits like these.

After all, in this day and age, many factories didn’t even provide the "three insurances and one housing fund," let alone the full "five insurances and one housing fund."

"Manager Zhang, I heard you went to a new company where they pay overtime according to the labor laws. Is that true?"

Former colleagues from Ouhan contacted Zhang Jing one after another, asking if the news was real.

Zhang Jing confirmed it for each of them. She had expected direct recruitment to be a hassle, but she ended up receiving over 300 phone calls without even having to visit a single labor market.

Most of these workers had families in tow—husbands and wives, brothers, sisters. They were all skilled workers from Huaqiang North, very proficient at assembling screws.

There were people for assembly, testing, packaging, quality inspection, and management.

The next day, a long line formed at the entrance of the Zhongsha Science and Technology Park.

A massive, dark crowd of two to three hundred people had gathered, pushing suitcases, carrying bedding, with buckets full of toiletries and sleeping mats.

Zhang Jing sat at the entrance to Area A3, with an HR specialist next to her helping with registration. There were also a few people maintaining order in the line—all of them former production managers and workshop supervisors from Ouhan.

"Manager Zhang, will they really pay the overtime as promised?"

a worker who was registering his ID information asked repeatedly, his face full of doubt.

"The boss of Orange Technology is the founder of FoxTao. He’s worth over ten billion. You think he’s going to stiff you on a little bit of overtime pay?"

Zhang Jing retorted irritably, pursing her lips.

She had been around Huaqiang North for seven or eight years and knew the temperament of these assembly line workers all too well.

If you were gentle with them, they’d take a mile when you gave an inch. But if you were tough, they wouldn’t dare to cause trouble.

Sure enough, upon hearing Zhang Jing’s disdainful tone, the workers didn’t get angry. Instead, they grinned and said they had found a "god-tier factory."

It didn’t matter what FoxTao was. They had heard the key phrase: the boss was a billionaire and wasn’t short on cash.

"So can I work 16 hours of overtime a day?"

A young man in the crowd asked. He looked younger than 18 but had already worked in Huaqiang North’s mobile phone factories for over three years. He’d been through several factories, was street-smart and bold, and his coworkers all called him ’Brother Zhu.’

"You want to die? Go do it somewhere else! Orange Technology has strict rules on overtime hours: a maximum of four hours on weekdays, and a maximum of eight hours on weekends and holidays."

Zhang Jing frowned, snorted coldly, and yelled at ’Brother Zhu.’

Sixteen hours of overtime a day, on top of the base six-hour shift? That wasn’t coming to work; that was coming to die.

"Hahaha..."

The crowd roared with laughter. Everyone wanted to make money, but nobody actually wanted to work 16 hours of overtime in a day.

’Brother Zhu’ wasn’t stupid, he just didn’t like to study and had dropped out of school early. He did a rough calculation: he could make at least 5,000 to 6,000 yuan a month here. At other factories, you’d work yourself to death for just a little over 4,000 yuan.

"I’ll do it!"

Having been scolded, Brother Zhu grinned foolishly. He felt reassured and gripped his water bucket even tighter. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

After her tirade, Zhang Jing went on to explain the importance of the five social insurances and one housing fund to the crowd.

When they heard that over 300 yuan would be deducted each month, the workers lining up to enter the factory immediately became unhappy, clamoring to ask if they could opt out.

It wasn’t that they lacked foresight; rather, in the environment of 2011, many people couldn’t even take care of the present, let alone think about what would happen decades later.

"If you don’t want to contribute, then you can leave. This is a rule at Orange Technology."

Zhang Jing said with a grim face.

Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, the few troublemakers in the crowd quieted down and obediently returned to the line.

As for leaving?

They weren’t idiots. Even just working casually at Orange Technology, they could take home four or five thousand a month.

Only a fool would leave!

Through word of mouth, Orange Technology’s recruitment offer quickly became well-known throughout the Futian District.

After hearing about it, many bosses cursed dismissively, "Crazy!"

In their view, proactively giving workers a raise—what was that if not stupid?

However, Orange was supposedly only hiring a few hundred people, so it wouldn’t have a major impact on them. Thus, no one came looking for trouble.

「One week later.」

Chen Yansen received a report via phone call from Cao Dahua, who said the first batch of over 600 employees had been hired.

Cao Dahua asked if they should take on some contract manufacturing orders to calibrate the equipment, since so many people were waiting to start work.

"You can, but only accept orders that can be completed within two months."

Chen Yansen specifically instructed.

"Don’t worry, I can handle it." Cao Dahua seemed to have rediscovered the entrepreneurial passion he’d had years ago, promising with a laugh.

Chen Yansen acknowledged him and didn’t ask when Cao Dahua would be back. Besides, Tang Qingshan had already assigned a new mentor for the Innovation Park.

After they finished speaking, they hung up.

The mobile phone factory in Shencheng City was now preliminarily set up. However, its financial accounting and capital management needed to be integrated into Senlian Capital’s unified management system to prevent misuse of funds and financial risks.

Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu might be trustworthy, but people’s hearts can change, and no one can guarantee they’ll stay the same forever.

’Why should I trust them unconditionally?’

’The correct approach is to start with the management system and eliminate potential risks.’

Chen Yansen walked out of the office building. His car was parked on the ground floor. After getting in, he drove toward Xuyuan.

Over the past half-month, he had actually gotten back into the feeling of clocking in and out of work. He would occasionally go to the Innovation Park for morning meetings with a few team leaders, but most of his time was spent at the Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.

He was pushing forward the industrial and hardware design work for the Orange Mobile Phone.

So far, they had only finalized information like the phone’s dimensions and external shape, which would make it easier for Zuo Hongyu to communicate with suppliers and select suitable screens, batteries, and other components.

「Fifteen minutes later.」

Chen Yansen returned to the Innovation Park. Just as he parked his car, he saw a familiar figure standing on the ground floor, talking with Song Yuncheng.

"What’s he doing here?"

Chen Yansen wondered aloud.