Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The core of the FoxTao 2.0 plan was to transition from a tool-based shopping guide website to a brand flash sale service provider, while solidifying search and shopping rebates as the product’s foundational features.

Chen Yansen saw three benefits to implementing this plan. First, he could work directly with brands, reducing his dependency on e-commerce platforms. Second, the business model would put them ahead of the curve, alleviating pressure from competitors. Third, it would increase profitability and generate more diverse partnership revenue.

Take the recent Meiters brand event, for example. In addition to the commission spread, he could also earn a considerable sum from advertising slot fees.

Furthermore, security deposits also held potential revenue. It would all add up; once they had several thousand participating merchants, with each paying a 100,000 deposit, the total amount could reach hundreds of millions.

"Brother Sen, the front-end and back-end are all set. Once the Meiters brand event ends and goes offline, we can switch to version 2.0 and show our users the all-new FoxTao."

Zhuang Rui stood up and replied upon hearing Chen Yansen’s instructions.

"At midnight on December 3rd, switch the UI style on schedule. We have less than five days. Hu Li, Xu Kun, the limited-time flash sale items for the first Super Rebate event must be fully prepared. My minimum requirement is 100 items."

Chen Yansen nodded. After speaking to Zhuang Rui, he walked over to the operations team and gave them firm instructions.

"Okay, Brother Sen." Hu Li said hesitantly after a moment of thought. "The current problem is that most of the categories are concentrated in apparel, general merchandise, and small home appliances, so we lack variety. Can we just use some items from the general pool to make up the numbers?"

"No!" Chen Yansen shook his head, rejecting the proposal. "Items for the Super Rebate event must go through our selection and sample submission process. You have to be the gatekeeper for quality on behalf of our users. That’s the only way they’ll come to trust FoxTao."

"Alright, I understand," Hu Li nodded in acknowledgment.

The workload was indeed immense. With Chen Xu and Zhang Yifeng still away on business trips, the operations team was down to just four people. They had to select and promote products, handle merchant recruitment and outreach, and negotiate brand event collaborations—they were so busy they were practically run off their feet.

"Don’t worry," Chen Yansen said, reassuring her gently. "I’ll have Xu Dan post a job opening in a bit. From now on, the new hires will handle product selection, and the business development team will take over merchant relations. You and Xu Kun will be in charge of reviewing store and brand credentials to select the highest-quality event products for our users."

Xu Dan was the HR specialist they had hired previously. She had majored in human resource management, had long wavy hair, and her usual sophisticated style was a big hit with the guys in the tech department, so Chen Yansen had kept her on.

Back at his desk, Chen Yansen opened the FoxTao homepage and looked at the Shopping Rebates section. It currently only featured Taobao, Jingdong, and Paipai Network. Although FoxTao had gained some fame, in the eyes of major e-commerce platforms with tens of billions in annual sales, it was still just a pipsqueak.

The only ones who came knocking to discuss partnerships were all niche e-commerce sites like Meng Basha and Mai Baobao. Their annual sales didn’t even match FoxTao’s, yet they had the gall to open with an offer of a 1% commission rate.

’Were they taking him for a fool, or just trying to fob him off like a beggar?’

Chen Yansen didn’t give those people the time of day. He could earn less, or even nothing at all, but he would absolutely not earn it on his knees. Earning it while lying down, however, was an exception.

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ—

Just as he was spacing out, the phone on his desk rang. He picked it up and saw it was an unknown number. After a few seconds of thought, he answered the call.

"Hello, is this President Chen Yansen? This is Hollis from Amazon’s channel department. I’d like to discuss a shopping rebate partnership with your company."

The person on the other end of the line got straight to the point.

’Amazon?’

In 2010, Amazon’s scale couldn’t compare to Taobao or Jingdong, but it was still dozens of times bigger than the likes of Meng Basha and Mai Baobao.

Hearing this, Chen Yansen’s interest was piqued.

"What’s the commission rate?"

Chen Yansen asked bluntly. His patience had been worn thin by the business reps from the previous companies; if the offer didn’t meet his expectations, he had no intention of wasting his time.

"Uh... President Chen, the specific commission rates are determined by category, but I can guarantee a minimum starting rate of 3%."

Hollis was taken aback, not expecting Chen Yansen to be so direct. He paused for a moment before continuing.

A smile crept onto Chen Yansen’s lips. ’A 3% rate was workable. On 100 million in sales, that’s 3 million in commission. Give half back to the users, and he’d still make 1.5 million. Add in the new customer bonuses, and he could still secure a gross margin of two percentage points.’

With money to be made, the tone of Chen Yansen’s voice softened.

The two talked for over ten minutes, and he only hung up after they had finalized the details for a meeting.

After the other party sent over the contract template, Chen Yansen had the legal staff review it. Once he confirmed there were no hidden traps, he tapped on his desk, looked at Song Yuncheng sitting opposite him, and said, "We’re going on a business trip to Yanjing. We leave tonight."

"I’m a UI designer, not a... Yes, Boss. I’ll go back to my dorm and pack right away."

Song Yuncheng had been about to argue, but then she saw Chen Yansen’s mischievous smile as he quietly muttered, "Dock your pay." She quickly changed her tune and agreed with a pout.

"But you don’t look too happy about it. How about I have Xu Dan hire an assistant for me during this recruitment round?"

Chen Yansen said with a half-smile, raising an eyebrow.

"Boss, there’s really no need! I can do two jobs by myself and save you a salary!" Song Yuncheng said with a hollow laugh.

Previously, she had served as the head of both the customer service and operations teams. Chen Yansen had raised her salary from two thousand to three thousand, and then to thirty-five hundred at the beginning of the month. Including overtime pay and bonuses, her monthly income was nearly five thousand yuan.

She was genuinely afraid of Chen Yansen docking her pay.

Chen Yansen smiled and called Xu Xingxing over to book his plane tickets. After giving her the details, he turned and went downstairs, heading toward room 0418.

Xu Xingxing watched Chen Yansen’s retreating back, then glanced at Song Yuncheng. ’There’s something unusual about their relationship,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, why would he take her on every single business trip?’

Of course, Chen Yansen’s excuses were always reasonable enough.

The first time he went to Penguin, he said he needed a female assistant who understood the product, and Song Yuncheng was the only one who fit the bill—Xu Xingxing had just joined back then. The second time, he’d claimed Song Yuncheng was "experienced." And this time, he had specifically requested her again.

Xu Xingxing felt indignant. ’How could one business trip make her "experienced"?’

「One hour later.」

Pulling a suitcase behind him, Chen Yansen walked off campus while checking the sales progress for Meiters on his phone.

In the 30 hours from the 28th to 4:00 p.m. on the 29th, the total revenue generated by the Meiters brand event reached 29.47 million.

Compared to the previous day, the growth rate had slowed significantly. By the end of the three-day event, the final sales figure would likely just break the 30 million mark.

But that figure was already explosive for the 2010 e-commerce scene, as evidenced by the endless stream of calls with partnership proposals.

’Once FoxTao 2.0 is launched and the Super Rebate sales figures stabilize, I can just hand off these high-level partnership negotiations to a channel manager,’ Chen Yansen thought to himself.

Liang Youzhi from Paipai Network, for example, was quite capable. His last negotiation with Zheng Chunbin had fallen through, but he had stayed in touch with Liang Youzhi.

He had learned in a casual chat that Liang Youzhi, who looked to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight, was actually thirty-three.

He had held positions in business development and channel partner acquisition at eBay and Amazon. Considering that China’s "e-commerce era" had only begun eleven years prior, Liang Youzhi was a bona fide first-generation e-commerce veteran.

Chen Yansen wanted to poach him, but it was practically impossible. For one, Penguin paid well, and for a middle-aged man, supporting his family was the top priority. For another, FoxTao’s business model had a low ceiling; a guy like that wouldn’t give it a second look.

The plotline you see in novels, where the protagonist makes a few grand promises and people follow him with blind devotion, simply didn’t exist in reality.

At least, Chen Yansen had never encountered it.

Human nature was universal. If you really wanted to recruit talent, offering enough money was just the bare minimum. The project’s potential and its future returns—those were the key factors.

When he reached the school gate, Chen Yansen hailed a taxi. After stowing his luggage, he got into the back seat.

"Sir, could you wait a moment, please? There’s one more person. We’re going to Peng City Airport."

Chen Yansen explained to the driver, glancing back toward the campus.

The taxi driver was about to snap, ’Yeah, right,’ but when he heard the destination was Peng City Airport—over a hundred kilometers away—he quickly broke into a grin. "Alrighty, no rush."

Before long, Song Yuncheng appeared in his line of sight, carrying that mustard-yellow backpack of hers, her face slightly flushed.

"Couldn’t you just buy a suitcase?" Chen Yansen asked.

"My backpack isn’t broken. I can still use it," Song Yuncheng replied.

"Get in."

Chen Yansen sighed and instructed the driver, "Head to Huamao first."

"There’s no need to waste time. This is fine," Song Yuncheng said, waving her hand in refusal.

Chen Yansen ignored her, tapping the driver’s seat to signal that he should follow his instructions.

The driver smiled, assuming the two were a couple, and stepped on the gas, driving them to the entrance of Huamao.

Chen Yansen got out and told the driver to wait at the corner.

He led Song Yuncheng into the ground floor lobby, spent three minutes picking out a white suitcase, then walked over to a mobile service counter. Turning to Song Yuncheng, he said, "Give me your phone."

"What are you doing?" Song Yuncheng asked, looking puzzled.

"Getting you a new phone! Are you really planning to pull out that knock-off tomorrow when we’re exchanging contact information for a business deal? You’d be embarrassing *me*."

Chen Yansen snatched her phone, tossed it on the counter, and said to the employee, "Could you please cut this SIM card for me? Thanks."

As he spoke, he also placed an Apple iPhone 4, which had been sitting unused for several months, on the counter.

The iPhone 4’s SIM card slot was different from the mainstream models in China; the card had to be trimmed down to fit.

The employee nodded, took out a tool to cut the card, and finished the whole process in less than thirty seconds.

Chen Yansen picked up the SIM card, inserted it into the phone, and handed it to Song Yuncheng.

"Thanks." Song Yuncheng was at a loss for words. She knew that while his reason seemed somewhat plausible, at the end of the day, he had just given her a new phone worth 6,000 yuan.

"Don’t be silly. It’s a work phone. You have to give it back the day you resign," Chen Yansen huffed, raising an eyebrow.

Afterward, the two left Huamao and got back in the car. It was a bumpy ride, and they didn’t arrive at Peng City Airport until eight in the evening.

They checked in, went through security, and had dinner at the airport before sitting down in the waiting area.

Standing before the glass curtain wall, Chen Yansen called Liang Youzhi. Since Liang Youzhi had previously worked in Amazon’s channel department, he would at least have some insight into the current person in charge.

Gathering information on his negotiating counterpart in advance would naturally be advantageous for the next day’s meeting.

After the conversation, Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on the distant taxiway. ’No wonder they reached out,’ he thought. ’They’re looking to fleece me like a fat sheep.’

If he went through their channel to get access to Amazon’s shopping rebates, FoxTao would have to give the channel department manager a five-percent cut. For every 1 million in rebates, the manager would take 50,000; for 10 million, they would take 500,000.

Chen Yansen sneered but wasn’t too bothered.

A five-percent cut was within his tolerance. It was practically an unwritten rule of the industry. As long as they delivered, he was willing to pay to make it happen.