The next morning, in the Orange Factory dormitories.

Brother Zhu’s eyes were heavy with sleep. Hearing a commotion, he forced them open. The clock read 8:20 AM. He shot out of bed on pure reflex, grabbing his toothbrush cup and rushing toward the washroom.

"Brother Zhu, it’s our day off. What are you doing up so early?"

A coworker lying in bed playing on his phone asked curiously, seeing his frantic hurry.

Li Yunzhu stopped dead in the doorway. Only then did he remember that after seven straight days of overtime, his team leader had forced him to take a day off.

"Fuck! I was half-asleep. Thought I was still at the Big Strawberry factory. What were you guys just chattering about?"

Li Yunzhu slapped his forehead as realization dawned.

The Big Strawberry factory was his previous job, a place where he’d just tightened screws. The pay was 10 yuan an hour, and the overtime rate—whether on a weekday or a weekend—was also just 10 yuan.

If you wanted to make 5,000 yuan a month there, you really had to work yourself to death.

"Talking about our pay, of course. Damn, they paid us on the 1st of the month! This boss deserves to make a fortune!" the coworker praised, with a hint of a curse.

Li Yunzhu turned back to his bed, put down his toothbrush cup, and picked up his "Big Pineapple" knockoff phone to check his messages.

Sure enough, there was an unread message from 8:05 AM: "Your account ending in 4178 was credited with 5,136.40 yuan at 08:05 on September 1. Your new balance is 42,846.70 yuan."

After deducting social insurance and housing fund contributions, his take-home pay was just over five thousand.

He had worked 27 days last month with only 4 days off. Still, earning this 5,000 yuan felt much easier than at the Big Strawberry factory.

Under Big Strawberry’s pay structure, Li Yunzhu would have had to work 18 hours a day to make that much.

"Brother Zhu, how much did you get last month?" his coworker asked with a smile, seeing him staring at the text message.

"Not much. Less than ten thousand, anyway," Li Yunzhu said with a small smile, not telling the whole truth as he slipped the phone into his pocket.

To be honest, the pay at Orange Factory was only about a thousand yuan more than at other factories, but the workload was nearly half as much.

After hanging around the dorm for a bit, the group of young men decided to head into the city.

They used to work 16-hour days and had absolutely no energy to go out. Now that their hours were shorter, they were gradually regaining their youthful vitality.

Li Yunzhu and his friends walked out, chatting and laughing.

In front of the main gate of the Orange Factory, a long line of people was still waiting for interviews.

"Brother Zhu, didn’t they say the second round of hiring was over? Why are there still people here for interviews?"

One of the coworkers asked, scratching his crotch in confusion.

"The big boss probably wants to expand production capacity. I heard our factory’s phones have sold over two million units, but we only shipped 400,000 last month. With just us, how long will customers have to wait for their phones?"

Li Yunzhu’s mind was quick and he was a smooth talker. He often tried to get friendly with the team leader, so he was a bit more in-the-know than the average worker.

"That’s true! The more we sell, the better. It means our jobs are secure."

Assembly line workers like them feared a lack of orders even more than the boss did. No orders meant the machines would stop, and they wouldn’t make any money.

...

...

Chen Yansen sat on the sofa and summoned his system panel.

He had 1,947 wisps of Human Dao Fire from August, plus the 19 wisps left over from July, for a total of 1,963.

After synthesizing 19 wisps of Divine Dao Fire, he allocated them all to his Spirit attribute.

A familiar sensation washed over him, making Chen Yansen feel as relaxed as if he were soaking in a hot spring. The burning feeling in his brain was completely gone.

These last few attribute increases had left him feeling increasingly refreshed and invigorated.

Looking at his Spirit value, which had now become 10.49, Chen Yansen sighed. ’The rate of improvement is too slow.’

Although Orange Technology had expanded from over 60 people to 200, and the factory had hired another 600, the rate at which he acquired Human Dao Fire was still not ideal.

’This is the first time in my life I’ve ever thought low labor costs aren’t a good thing.’

Chen Yansen let out a soft, helpless laugh.

For a 1,999 yuan Orange Mobile Phone, even with overtime paid in full accordance with labor laws, a worker only earned 12 yuan per unit.

That wasn’t even 1% of the selling price!

’No, I have to give them a raise. They’re my, Chen Yansen’s, employees. If they’re earning so little each month, people will think Orange Technology isn’t making any money.’

Chen Yansen frowned, his mind made up.

He was a man of action. Chen Yansen immediately called Cao Dahua. "Hey, Old Cao, starting in September, raise the workers’ hourly wage to 20 yuan."

"How much?" Cao Dahua had just gotten to his office and thought he’d misheard.

"From now on, the standard hourly wage for production work will be adjusted from 15 yuan to 20 yuan," Chen Yansen repeated.

Last month, the total labor cost for the Orange Factory, plus the R&D, Market, Brand, and E-commerce departments, was only 13 million yuan.

The gross profit from over 400,000 Orange Mobile Phones reached more than 66 million yuan. Subsequent profits from the software side—ad revenue, joint game operations, technology licensing, and so on—would be at least another 80 to 100 million yuan.

All told, the Orange Mobile Phone’s gross profit margin was around 20%.

’I don’t really want to earn that much,’ Chen Yansen thought.

"If you do this, the factory’s labor costs for this month will go up by 40%. Are you sure about this?"

Cao Dahua reminded him seriously after a quick calculation.

’Is that all?’

’A 40% increase would only be an extra two or three hundred wisps of Human Dao Fire.’

"Just do as I say. Also, how is the recruitment for Factory Number Two coming along?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Chen Yansen’s tone was firm as he asked another question.

The production capacity of the first manufacturing base clearly couldn’t keep up with the sales speed of the Orange Mobile Phone. So, when pre-orders broke one million, Chen Yansen had Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu begin preparations for Factory Number Two.

"We’ve hired about 300 people so far. The main reason we don’t have more applicants is that we limit overtime hours. But after the hourly wage increases to 20 yuan, I estimate we’ll be fully staffed in three days."

Although Cao Dahua felt Chen Yansen was wasting money, he knew better than to say more.

An hourly wage of 20 yuan, overtime paid according to labor laws, and room and board included—in Shencheng City, a dream job like that was bound to cause a frenzy.

"Alright, that’s all for now." Chen Yansen hung up.

"I knew this kid was a spendthrift. An hourly wage of 20 yuan, plus full overtime pay... the workers in Huaqiang North are probably going to start worshiping him like the God of Wealth."

Cao Dahua shook his head with a laugh.

After giving his instructions to Cao Dahua, Chen Yansen went straight downstairs and walked toward the Innovation Park.

The campus was full of new students and their parents registering for the semester, making it inconvenient to drive. Besides, it was only a few hundred meters away.

Chen Yansen reached the Innovation Park in two or three minutes. From a distance, he could see the entrance was packed with people. Song Yuncheng was standing off to the side, unable to squeeze through.

"What’s going on?" Chen Yansen walked up and asked.

Song Yuncheng turned, saw him, and quickly pulled him over to a nearby dormitory building. Seeing that no one was paying attention, she let out a sigh of relief. "These are all this year’s freshmen. As soon as they finished registering, they came to the Innovation Park with their roommates for a tour."

"A tour? Of FoxTao?" Chen Yansen understood what Song Yuncheng meant.

"Yeah. A lot of the underclassmen came to study at Xuyuan specifically because of you."

Song Yuncheng gazed at Chen Yansen, a trace of admiration flashing in her eyes.

Chen Yansen was a year younger than her, yet in just one short year, he had built FoxTao from nothing into a company with a valuation in the tens of billions.

Even for her, employee number one, it felt like a dream, to say nothing of the prospective university students at the door.

"Alright, I get it." Chen Yansen shook his head and called Zhan Guowei from the security department, asking him to bring some people over.

Touring the Innovation Park and FoxTao was fine, but it couldn’t be allowed to disrupt normal operations.

After Chen Yansen explained the situation, Zhan Guowei readily agreed.

Within minutes, Zhan Guowei arrived with a group of security personnel.

"What are you all doing crowded around here? Disperse, now!"

Zhan Guowei yelled into a megaphone at the crowd.

He had a square face, thick eyebrows, and large eyes. As a former soldier, his voice carried an imposing authority.

Seeing the display of authority, the freshmen obediently cleared a path.

Only then could Chen Yansen see clearly that the first-floor lobby was packed, and many people were lining up to go to the second floor.

The stairwell was narrow. If a stampede were to occur, Zhan Guowei would be the first one to be in trouble.

Zhan Guowei immediately realized the gravity of the situation and started shouting with his men, "Which department and major are you from? Everyone get out now! Otherwise, you’ll all be given a major demerit!"

A few of the girls were initially unwilling to comply, but as soon as they heard about the major demerit, they immediately fell in line.

The people on the second floor also began to file out.

Zhan Guowei’s face was ashen. He was shocked to realize just how many people had been crammed inside the Innovation Park.

Fortunately, Chen Yansen had notified him in time, and no major incident occurred.

Seeing the crowd finally leave, Zhang Wenbo, Xiang Pengfei, and the others let out a long sigh of relief.

"Are you Senior Brother Chen Yansen?"

A young woman in the crowd stared at Chen Yansen for a few seconds before walking up to ask.

Chen Yansen was about six-foot-one, so even though he was standing a bit far away, he was still recognized.

"Senior Brother Chen!"

"Wow! He’s even more handsome in person than in his photos!"

"Senior Brother Chen, can we get a picture with you?"

"Senior Brother, I want to join FoxTao too! Where do I sign up?"

A flock of chattering young women swarmed around him.

The crowd surged, threatening to engulf Chen Yansen.

"Everyone back off! Do you want a demerit?" Zhan Guowei roared.

"Everyone, please be quiet! Stand still and don’t move around. I’m Chen Yansen. If you’re interested in FoxTao, please go back and contact customer service on our website to schedule a tour as a class."

"For students who want to work part-time, please keep an eye on the recruitment section of the website, the bulletin board at the entrance of the Innovation Park, and the campus BBS forum."

Chen Yansen announced loudly.

Because there were too many people, Chen Yansen had to turn down all the requests for photos and autographs.

However, he kept a friendly smile and a warm tone the entire time, so the young women he turned down didn’t seem to mind too much.

Persuaded by Zhan Guowei and Chen Yansen, most of the crowd gradually dispersed along Yixing Bridge.

"Senior Brother, I was one of the first people to buy an Orange Mobile Phone. Could you sign the back of it for me?"

Just then, a young woman approached with a marker and an Orange Mobile Phone, clearly well-prepared.

"Uh... alright."

Chen Yansen agreed with a smile. Faced with a loyal Orange Mobile Phone user who was also a younger female student, he really couldn’t refuse.

Chen Yansen took the phone and signed his name on the silver back cover.

"Thank you, Senior Brother! My name is Gao Hui. The ’Gao’ is for stopping conflict, and the ’Hui’ is for wisdom."

Gao Hui’s eyes curved into crescents as she smiled, her heart filled with joy.

Over the past three months of summer vacation, she had gone from a long-time user of FoxTao to a new owner of an Orange Mobile Phone. She was full of curiosity about this senior, who was only a year older than her.

After getting her signed phone, she felt the successful thrill of a fangirl meeting her idol.

"Hello. Thank you for your support of the Orange Mobile Phone," Chen Yansen said perfunctorily.

"Aren’t you going to ask what my major is?" Gao Hui retorted.

"I’ll ask you next time."

Chen Yansen offered a faint smile. With a parting "Maybe next time," he walked toward the second floor, Song Yuncheng close behind.

"Brother Sen, you’re finally here! These little brats are treating our place like a tourist attraction. Some were even taking pictures. It’s ridiculous!"

Xiang Pengfei couldn’t help but complain when he saw Chen Yansen and Song Yuncheng come upstairs.

’This is nothing,’ Chen Yansen thought. ’In a dozen or so years, people will be squatting with their hands on their heads in front of the Inspection Institute just to take a souvenir photo.’

’You can only say that each generation lives more and more absurdly.’

"Go tell Xu Dan to gather all the team leaders in an hour. We’re going to discuss salary adjustments for the second half of the year."

Chen Yansen instructed, motioning for Xiang Pengfei to find Xu Dan.

FoxTao hadn’t had a salary review in the first half of the year. Except for a few who were promoted, most people were still on the same monthly salary from the end of last year.

"Brother Sen, I’m on it! By the way, you look really handsome today."

Xiang Pengfei froze for a second, then dashed for the door. He paused at the doorway to add the cheeky comment with a grin.

"Get lost!"

"You got it!"

Chen Yansen cursed with a laugh.

Gao Weilin was already in contact with Lotte, SoftBank, Ah Li, and Augusta. This might be the last time he would be adjusting salaries for FoxTao.

From the very beginning, Chen Yansen never intended for FoxTao to be a long-term project.

Now that he could find a suitable buyer, it was the perfect opportunity for him to pull out and focus on the mobile phone industry, pioneering a new track.