Chapter 181: Chapter 167: Cracking Open the African Market! A Man Has His Lows and His Days of Glory.

The Orange F1 was a smartphone model launched by the Orange Phone Factory specifically for the African Market.

It supported quad-SIM standby, had a 3.7-inch screen, a 512MB+8GB memory configuration, a large 2320 mAh battery, and ran on the Aurora OS 1.1 system.

In terms of specs, it absolutely crushed the Mountain Star S5300 and the Huawei Ascend Y100.

But it took Zhou Jinling and his team two months to barely sell out the first batch of 50,000 units, which left Chen Yansen rather dissatisfied.

After all, from the design stage, he had instructed the R&D team to optimize the battery capacity, back cover material, and camera algorithm, and even to swap in a wide-aperture lens—all specifically to meet the practical needs of the local users.

"Zhou Jinling says that Abysinnian isn’t as backward as we imagined. He suggests we upgrade and release a modified Orange C1 into the African market to be sold alongside the Orange F1."

Cao Dahua reported truthfully.

"Okay, I got it. Have the factory produce another 100,000 units," Chen Yansen instructed Cao Dahua after a moment of thought.

’It makes sense when you think about it. Even the poorest places in the world have rich people. It seems I underestimated the Abysinnian consumers’ spending power for electronics.’

Judging from the work report submitted by Zhou Jinling, the Orange Mobile Phone had already made inroads into the local market.

"Alright, I’ll arrange it," Cao Dahua replied with a smile.

After the cumulative sales of Orange Mobile Phones surpassed eight million units, Cao Dahua resigned from his teaching position at Xuyuan.

He was now focused on working for Chen Yansen!

His wife complained a little, but Cao Dahua shut her down with a "Are you telling me how to do my job?"

As long as he worked hard under Chen Yansen, given Orange Technology’s investment in its own factory, he was destined to become a major figure in the mobile phone industry.

He had left Shencheng City in disgrace back then. This time, he had to seize the opportunity no matter what and realize his dream of soaring to success.

A man can lose a hundred times, but he must win once.

Chen Yansen then asked about the production schedule. Based on the current total monthly sales from Orange Mall, the Taobao flagship store, and Pinbei Mall, they would have to switch to in-stock listings on all platforms before mid-December.

The current sales pace clearly couldn’t keep up with the production speed.

"I’ve spoken with the production manager. After December 20th, we will reduce employee overtime and control our production capacity."

Cao Dahua said.

Chen Yansen understood. To alleviate this situation, he either had to open up new channels or launch a new model.

Sales in the African market had not met expectations, which in turn was dragging down the Orange Factory’s expansion progress.

’Maybe I should talk to Old Lei and take over Xiaomi’s manufacturing orders?’

After hanging up the phone, Chen Yansen mused to himself.

It wasn’t until the employees of Pinbei and Orange Technology began leaving for dinner one after another that Chen Yansen snapped out of his thoughts. He glanced at the time—it was already 5 p.m.

’Forget it. With Xiaomi’s meager order volume, it wouldn’t even be enough to keep the Orange Factory busy.’

Chen Yansen took the elevator to the third floor, gave some brief instructions to Zhang Cong and Zhou Ze, and then headed for the first floor.

After getting in the car and waiting for a few minutes, he saw Meng Jie approaching, carrying her laptop bag. She quickened her pace and slid into the passenger seat with a smile.

"Last time Zhao Maolin treated me to dinner, we went to a restaurant that had a great atmosphere and good food. I’ll take you there to check it out."

Chen Yansen explained with a smile, looking at Meng Jie.

The restaurant he was talking about was, of course, Mingli. He wanted to see how Meng Jie would look in a Tang-style Huzi Skirt.

"Then let’s go early and come back early. I have a Tax Law class tomorrow morning. The professor is super strict—they call him the ’Roll Call Killer.’"

Meng Jie said with a grin.

"No problem," Chen Yansen agreed casually. He had already booked a hotel room and had no intention of letting Meng Jie go back to school.

With that said, he drove off, speeding toward the city center.

After his Spirit broke through 11, his Car Driving skill on the panel had soared to Three-Star Professional (17/100) in just half a month.

This proved that his strategy of not wasting Kindling Value on useless skills was correct.

After his physique and Spirit reached their peak, Chen Yansen found it incredibly easy to learn new things, making progress by leaps and bounds.

Even with the Eight Vajra Skills, he had only practiced it a few times, and his experience points had already risen to One-Star Introductory (91/100).

However, Chen Yansen felt that with his 10-point physique, this Cultivation Technique wasn’t very useful, so he didn’t pay much attention to it.

「Meanwhile.」

On a bustling street corner in Abysinnian, East Africa, an open Orange Mobile Phone store was packed with people.

Zhou Jinling was communicating with customers in his broken English.

His English proficiency was decent, but his accent was quite thick, and the words came out one by one, much like Liu Qiangdong’s style.

"Brother Zhou, there are only 20 units left in the warehouse. I don’t think they’ll last until tomorrow."

A salesperson said helplessly, holding an empty box.

"Fuck! It’ll take at least half a month for headquarters to ship more stock. Tomorrow, we’ll go back to painting walls. We can’t be idle."

Zhou Jinling cursed while collecting money, a cigarette butt dangling from his lips.

Sweat stains soaked his white shirt, making it stick clammily to his skin, but he was buzzing with excitement.

In his month in Yasbeba, he had first gotten a feel for the market, then opened a specialty store at a marketplace intersection, and after that, he started pitching the Orange F1 phone to nearby businesses.

The collaboration model was simple and crude: Zhou Jinling gave the reseller bosses a wholesale price of 89 US Dollars. They would earn the difference, and he would buy back any units they couldn’t sell.

But ever since the "four consecutive explosions" incident with domestically produced phones, sales of the Orange Mobile Phone had plummeted.

They used to sell twenty to thirty units a day, but now they were down to only three or four.

Just as Zhou Jinling and his two team members were worrying, Cao Dahua called and laid it out plainly: "If sales don’t pick up, the big boss is going to replace you."

"Replacing you" was just a euphemism. To put it bluntly, it meant he’d be fired.

Zhou Jinling had no way out. If he returned to Shencheng City, he would have nothing and would be ridiculed by others. But if he fought for it, he might still have a chance.

He was used to a life of luxury. He couldn’t bear the thought of tightening screws on an assembly line for the rest of his life.

So, he grabbed his two remaining team members, found a local advertising company, and went to the surrounding cities to "paint walls."

To be blunt, it was the kind of wall-painted advertising common in Chinese towns and villages. Zhou Jinling had brought the playbook of China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom to Africa.

A three-meter-high, eight-meter-wide wall ad wasn’t expensive, costing only 30 US Dollars including labor.

Zhou Jinling painted over 100 walls in one go. The ads featured an image of the Orange F1, its specifications and price listed in English, and a special emphasis on the free extra battery with every purchase.

To his surprise, the method was remarkably effective.

The stock in the warehouse sold out quickly, so they transferred another 500 units from stores in other cities.

But in just three days, those were sold out completely too.

After learning about Zhou Jinling’s method, the dozen or so other market teams also started putting up wall ads in their own areas.

For a time, eye-catching slogans for the Orange Mobile Phone could be seen everywhere in Yasbeba’s commercial districts.

US Dollars!

A smartphone with a 3.7-inch large screen, quad-SIM standby, two batteries, and a massive 8GB of memory!

The phonetically translated brand name of the Orange Mobile Phone, ’Orange,’ instantly became a hot commodity.

"No No No! Sold out! Sold out!"

After selling the last Orange F1, Zhou Jinling shouted to the customers.

"Shit!" A few people who didn’t get a phone glared resentfully, still crowding around the counter and cursing.

Zhou Jinling paid them no mind. He just waved his hands, shook his head, and kept repeating that they were sold out, telling them to come back in two weeks.

After the customers left, Zhou Jinling ran back to the warehouse to confirm the stock count again. At this point, he only trusted himself.

"Brother Liang, I heard Lao Zhou used to be a big boss in Huaqiang North. That’s not just bragging, is it?"

A salesperson named Jin Xu asked Qi Liang, who was across from him.

Jin Xu had just moved to Shencheng City to make a career for himself when he was recruited by Orange Technology and subsequently sent to Abysinnian.

Qi Liang was different. He used to be an employee in the Ouhan Mobile Phone Market Department and had worked under Zhou Jinling for several years.

"Bragging? What do you know! A year ago in Huaqiang North, Brother Zhou rode in a Mercedes S-Class wherever he went. When he hired hostesses at KTVs, the tip was never less than 1,000 yuan. He ate abalone and sea cucumber like they were rice."

Qi Liang retorted with a sneer, a look of disdain on his face.

It was true. The old Zhou Jinling had been riding high, and everything went smoothly for him.

"Damn! He was that awesome?" Jin Xu was dumbfounded.

And what was Zhou Jinling like now?

He wore a shirt that cost a few dozen yuan, smoked the same cheap cigarettes as everyone else that cost a dozen or so yuan, and half his hair had turned white. He looked for all the world like a fifty-year-old man, with none of the air of a big boss.

"You’ve only seen Brother Zhou when he’s down on his luck, but he also had his glory days, earning over a hundred million a year. Don’t look down on people. You call him Lao Zhou so casually, but maybe one day he’ll make a comeback. When that time comes, you might want to call him Brother Zhou, and he might not even give you the time of day."

Qi Liang advised him earnestly.

At that moment, Zhou Jinling, who had just reached the doorway, stopped in his tracks. The light in his eyes dimmed for an instant, but then it flared brightly again.

’I will fucking get back on my feet,’ Zhou Jinling swore to himself.

"Fine, I’ll be more polite to him from now on," Jin Xu said nonchalantly.

"President Cao and President Zuo are both old friends of Brother Zhou. I heard it was President Zuo who introduced Brother Zhou to get him into Orange Technology," Qi Liang added, glancing at Jin Xu.

"What the hell! Why didn’t you say so earlier!" Jin Xu was stunned. He had no idea Zhou Jinling had those kinds of connections.

’If I’d known earlier, I wouldn’t have been calling him Lao Zhou all day.’ 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"AHEM!" Zhou Jinling coughed pointedly twice, then walked out.

"Brother Zhou, I was ignorant before. Tonight, let me treat you to a foot massage as an apology."

Jin Xu sidled up with a cheeky, fawning smile.

"Forget the foot massage. They’re all so dark-skinned, I couldn’t bring myself to bite. Anyway, the stock’s sold out, so let’s all go for a drink tonight."

Zhou Jinling slung an arm around Jin Xu’s neck and said nonchalantly.

He knew in his heart that Jin Xu’s attitude had changed because of Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu, but he didn’t care.

This three-man team was his foundation for making a comeback at Orange Technology. He had to win over each of them to have a chance at rising again.

Otherwise, a greenhorn like Jin Xu might not be able to offer much help, but if he decided to drag them down or sabotage things, Zhou Jinling definitely wouldn’t be able to stop him.

"Brother Zhou, I heard from the locals that there are some lighter-skinned ones too. Why don’t we go for drinks first, and then go for the foot massage after?"

Jin Xu grinned, chuckling slyly.

"White on top or white on the bottom?" Qi Liang chimed in.

"You two take it easy. Don’t go and catch some disease," Zhou Jinling refused, shaking his head.

If any of his old acquaintances saw this scene, they would definitely be astonished.

After all, the old Zhou Jinling had been a seasoned veteran of the nightlife scene; there wasn’t a debauched game he wouldn’t dare to play.

Clearly, after suffering such a major blow, Zhou Jinling’s mindset had long since changed.

「On the other side.」

Chen Yansen and Meng Jie left Mingli Restaurant and drove toward the Sky Garden.

"This doesn’t seem like the way back to school, does it?" Meng Jie noticed something was off and asked curiously.

"It’s too late. Don’t go back to school. Just stay in the city for the night."

Chen Yansen said casually.

Meng Jie glanced at the time. It was only 8:30. How was that late?

But she didn’t voice her objection. Images that made her heart race flashed through her mind, and she silently lowered her head.

’No wonder Chen Yansen insisted on buying me that Tang-style Huzi Skirt. So he had bad intentions all along.’

Meng Jie looked at Chen Yansen, her eyes glistening.