by <unknown>
Chen Chen intentionally picked a warehouse in the middle of nowhere to serve as his base of operations. He was not sure how Xia Yin had managed to find it. Judging by her troubled expression, she was debating whether she should contact him or not.
"Why, though?"
Chen Chen sighed. There was just no winning with her…
After an hour, Chen Chen finally got back to the warehouse. He was all burned up by the scorching sun even with the wind blowing while he was riding the scooter.
To Chen Chen's surprise, when he made a turn at the junction into the warehouse, he saw a red Mercedes parked by the road.
At the same time, Xia Yin, who was sitting in front of the warehouse, looked up and turned toward his direction as well.
Xia Yin was wearing a white t-shirt and blue denim shorts. Due to her being in a seated position, her shorts were pulled back. The outline of her long, slender legs was showing.
At this moment, if someone asked him what was special about Xia Yin, Chen Chen would give a definite answer: her leg.
When Chen Chen saw the girl who was teeming with youthfulness, he shook his head and became almost speechless. "You're still here."
"What do you mean?"
Xia Yin immediately got up. She complained while patting the dust off her butt. "I just got here."
Chen Chen parked his scooter beside the warehouse and took out his key. "How did you know I was here?"
"Brother Wei told me."
Xia Yin smugly ran toward her car and threw up a peace sign. "I'm just here to brag, you see this new ride?"
"Those are some nice legs you got there… Oh wait, I mean nice car." Chen Chen intentionally made a suggestive joke.
Xia Yin's cheeks turned rosy red as she quickly interrupted. "My dad gave this car to me as a gift for having the thesis published on Cells."
'I f**king knew it!'
Chen Chen turned around to open the roller shutter door without a change of expression. "Aunty, I'd like to continue working hard on my business, why don't you go find some other young bloke."
"What aunty? Am I that old?"
Xia Yin puffed up her cheeks and went on angrily. "I'm only three grades above you. Plus, I started a year early so technically, I'm only two years older than you!"
"Come on, you're obviously a fifty-eight-year-old aunty alright?"
Chen Chen walked into the warehouse. He dug up a bottle of water from under the bed and downed half of the bottle before stopping. "Aunty, do you want me to make you some cappuccino?"
"What cappuccino, I don't even drink coffee," Xia Yin replied with a blank face.
"Look, you don't even know what that means. And that's why I say you're an aunty," Chen Chen voiced with disdain, "Do you know brother Kai?"
Xia Yin shook her head.
"You know Qiao Biluo, her royal highness?"
Again, Xia Yin shook her head.
"If you don't know anything, then it's time to start studying. Always postgraduate this, postgraduate that, you've post yourself into becoming an idiot!"
Chen Chen tossed a bottle to Xia Yin and said in a disgusted tone, "Get out, you and I aren't the same!"
"What's your problem?"
Xia Yin finally erupted. She smashed Chen Chen's head with the water bottle. "I came out here to see you and this is how you treat me? What have I ever done to you to deserve such treatment from you all the time?"
Chen Chen rubbed the spot where she had hit him and retorted, "This is what I don't like about you, this entire *ss-kissing thing. Stop being an *ss-kisser."
"You…"
Xia Yin's cheeks became flushed red. She took a deep breath. "I wouldn't choose to be an *ss-kisser if it weren't for the crush I have! Besides, I have already given up on the postgraduate!"
Chen Chen was taken aback. He looked up and asked, "Why did you suddenly give up? Didn't you submit the specialized postgraduate recommendation?"
"I thought about it afterward and changed my mind in the end."
Xia Yin lowered her head. "I suddenly had an epiphany. Why bother with it if I wasn't going to go down the path of biology in the future anyway? Also, the sole reason I did it in the first place was because of my dad. Now that things are getting a bit better between me and my dad, there's no reason for me to continue."
"That's true. I'm just a poor boy from the slums. I'll never understand the mindset of pampered rich girls like you." Chen Chen touched his chin and nodded thoughtfully.
"…"
[ol][li data-annotation-id="6e6a9c69-17a0-4679-eaa6-621c4ef87777"]this is a play on the Chinese phrase "special" which shares a similar meaning with "long"[li data-annotation-id="c6759516-9d20-94e8-fdf1-8bd42506f5c6"]a running online joke that young men who did not want to work hard anymore will turn to a sugar mommy[li data-annotation-id="7df74039-4712-55a9-100f-da5c5860aaa4"]a popular streamer[li data-annotation-id="fa9adc82-59c0-4446-89ec-e22e7e01bb53"]another popular streamerz[/ol]
Chapter 41: The First Employee |
"Why don't I join your company?"
After their quarrel, Xia Yin blurted out this suggestion.
Her words caused a shift in Chen Chen's heart.
It was true. He had to start selecting employees.
Blacklight Biotechnology Ltd. was founded a long time ago. All along, Chen Chen had been a lone-wolf commander, without even someone to fetch him tea or water.
There was a contract to be signed in a few days. Surely he must not always be the one who would go alone?
The great X himself, personally visiting other companies to sign the contract. The others would be groups of four to five lawyers, accompanying three or four high-level personnel while he would be by himself. Was that not a little demeaning?
Now that he thought of this, Chen Chen replied pensively, "And what will you do?"
"I can be your secretary." Xia Yin opened a bottle of mineral water and glanced around, only to find that, apart from Chen Chen's computer desk, the large warehouse did not even have a stool.
Xia Yin ended up plopping her butt down onto Chen Chen's foldable bed. Her two slender, well-proportioned legs dangled before Chen Chen's eyes.
"Secretary work – are you able to do it?" Chen Chen intentionally emphasized the phrase "do it".
"Of course."
Xia Yin said matter-of-factly. She did not get Chen Chen's innuendo at all. "Each summer and winter break, my dad would make me an intern at his company. It's not just secretary work; even managing an entire company would be a piece of cake for me!"
"But don't you hate managing companies?" Chen Chen smirked. He could still remember how Xia Yin had to rely on him just to rent a laboratory.
"I don't really hate it. I just don't want my father smothering me. If it's your company, I'll do a good job of it!" Xia Yin looked at Chen Chen expectantly.
Chen Chen pondered about it silently. Although he had not known Xia Yin for long, they did work together every day for three months after all. The only thing they had not done was to share a bed. Chen Chen already had a clear grasp of Xia Yin as a person from her personality to her abilities.
To put it simply, perhaps due to the influence of her family, Xia Yin had a certain aptitude for management and planning. Although she was not an exceptionally quick learner, she was clear-headed, logical, and meticulous, rarely making mistakes when she took things seriously.
The only problem was her socializing skills, but that was something that could be trained.
Moreover, even if Chen Chen had recruited professional managers through a headhunting company, their loyalty would be another issue.
With this in mind, Chen Chen raised his head and said solemnly, "If your father doesn't mind, I'll let you do the work of the human resources department. Use your father's connections to recruit a team of employees for me. I'll also send you our first product that was just released. Try pitching it to your father and see if he has any plans to invest. If so, I can grant him favorable terms."
"Sure, sure!" Xia Yin nodd
ed happily.
When Chen Chen saw how excited Xia Yin was, he suddenly doubted his rationale in hiring her.
He had not been completely serious in saying that, but he did not expect Xia Yin to sell out her father without the slightest hesitation. Did this idiot have a brain…
…
In any case, the first employee of Chen Chen's company was hired under such circumstances.
What Chen Chen did not anticipate was that, in less than two hours after Xia Yin had sent Little X Translation Assistant to her father, he immediately reached out to Chen Chen.
Xia Yin's father was named Xia Hui. His company was named "Sparkle Entertainment Information Technology Ltd.". It was an IT company as well but their main business was in the web game industry.
In simple terms, it was the kind of game company that would start off a meme like "I'm Nick Cheung, if you're a brother, cut me down; this is a brand new game you've never played before".
Although Sparkle Entertainment was not as famous as the game company that gave rise to that meme, it had produced many popular web games. Even in Mainland China, Sparkle Entertainment was among the top thirty web game companies.
By the next day, Xia Yin's father had already rushed to Shangdu on a plane. In Xia Yin's presence, both of them had negotiated for a long time before finally drawing up a contract.
The contract roughly stated:
"Xia Hui, under his own individual name, will invest in Chen Chen's Little X Translation Assistant project with a capital of twenty million, owning four percent of the project's shares.
"At the same time, without revealing the artificial intelligence algorithm of Little X Translation Assistant, Chen Chen must embed an intelligent system of NPCs in a game under Sparkle Entertainment. In return, Chen Chen will own fifty percent of the web game's dividends."
Nonetheless, Chen Chen was not interested in the game's dividends mentioned in the second clause. Instead, he directly cashed this in for ten million in cash.
By this point, Chen Chen had successfully exchanged ten percent of Little X Translation Assistant's shares for fifty million in cash. He could pay off his business loans as a student as well.
At the start, this loan was signed by Professor Wang Xi. In the past months, Chen Chen had rented a factory and paid for electricity, yet the Industry and Commerce Bureau as well as the bank had never investigated Chen Chen's financial situation. This was because Professor Wang Xi had been shielding him from that pressure.
Now that Chen Chen had abundant funds, naturally, he would not trouble Professor Wang Xi any longer.
The thirty million from Xia Yin's father was paid to Chen Chen almost immediately after the contract was signed. It was not even paid in different installments.
Over at the company, Chen Chen directly handed over the management of the funds to Xia Yin, asking her to rent a floor of an office building. Meanwhile, she also had to ask her father for a few capable assistants to round up their team.
After all, they had to sign another contract with Zhan Fei and the other two in a few days.
As for the involvement of Xia Yin's father in the company, Chen Chen was not worried in the least.
Once the office location was set and the local area network was built, X would be able to take over the entire company's network. None of the employees' actions would go unnoticed by X.
Chen Chen could then become a boss who sat back and did nothing.
As long as he tossed out a scrap product derived from Oasis every year or so, the money would keep rolling in.
For instance, the "simultaneous translator" that was developed at the same time as "Little X Translation Assistant" was just an ordinary translation program. Even so, when it was supplemented by artificial intelligence, it would immediately revolutionize an industry.
This was the power of technology.
In truth, Chen Chen could release the "simultaneous translator" and "Little X Translation Assistant" together, but after some consideration, this seemed to be too outrageous.
A person who had designed a product that transcended eras might be described as "a sword that had taken ten years to sharpen" or simply "a genius".
However, if he came out with two such products at once, those with wild imaginations might come to strange conclusions like "He's using a cheat code", "He's hacked the system", or "He's been reborn", and so on.
Thus, to avoid being too flashy, Chen Chen had given up on doing that.
Chen Chen still maintained a clear head. His goal was not to become some dreamy, domineering CEO, playing house in the workplace all day. This would be missing the forest for the trees.
What was a company worth? Chen Chen's true foundation was the USB drive.
As long as he had the USB drive, Chen Chen could start up a thousand or ten thousand companies. Even if he failed countless times, he could get back up over and over.
Even his dream of immortality would have to be realized through the USB drive.
[ol][li data-annotation-id="5544dba6-19d5-0c7e-1d21-e4dcf0ec4ce3"]This refers to a meme that went viral when, in an advertisement for a web game, Hong Kong actor Nick Cheung's imprecise Mandarin pronunciation became the butt of various jokes and puns.[/ol]
Chapter 42: Negotiating With Facebook And Twitter |
A few days later, a company named "Blacklight Biotechnology" quietly took root in the city of Shangdu.
The company's office space was located on the 45th floor of an ordinary office building in Central Shangdu. Thus, its appearance did not attract anyone's attention.
After all, small companies like this were founded every day. At the same time, they vanished into oblivion as well. Their emergence and collapse did not cause the slightest ripple.
It was akin to how, among the living beings of this world, how many were there who could leave even a faint mark in the long river of history?
Once the company had settled down, it immediately entered the recruitment process. Xia Yin, who had taken on a leading role at this crucial point, was busy all day. Fortunately, she had brought in a few employees from Sparkle Entertainment, which allowed the company to keep things going.
After the company had hired its first batch of workers, Xia Yin sent those employees back. After all, they still had to avoid suspicion.
The first batch of employees included only five departments for now: customer service, technical, planning, publicity, and human resources. In total, there were fewer than twenty people.
In terms of publicity for Little X Translation Assistant, Chen Chen let the company take care of it. Xia Yin used whatever tools that web games used such as dissemination campaigns, advertorials by the Water Army, webpage pop-ups, and so on. She stopped short of getting Ng Man-tat to shoot a few rustic commercials for them.
The technical department was only responsible for the website's operation for now. They would not be involved with software development and updates at all. Thus, there would be zero risk of the source code being leaked.
Currently, Chen Chen was lounging in the chairman's office in a suit.
As the company was newly founded, Xia Yin had strongly requested that Chen Chen put in an appearance. This was the first time Chen Chen had shown up ever since the company was established.
"At present, our products are still in the free promotion stage. We might need to keep this up for a while. If that still doesn't cut it, we can run ads to prevent losses."
Xia Yin was standing before Chen Chen. At the moment, she was wearing a black OL outfit and she was more capable and experienced than she was a month ago.
"There's no need for that. Our products don't need to rely on other advertisers."
Chen Chen shook his head, gently twirling the gel pen in his hand. "Every company has its corporate image. If possible, I'd like for our company and products to give people a 'clean' impression. This is more important than those petty profits.
"After all, word-of-mouth will proliferate swiftly."
"Then, when do we s
tart charging for our product?"
Xia Yin asked, then added, "Last month, we spent over ten million in advertising costs. If we go on like this, the company will have no funds left."
"In truth, among the people of Mainland China, there won't be much demand for our product."
Chen Chen thought about it for a while. "After all, you should know that Mainland China has a dense population that's comparable to that of several continents. Thus, their need for cross-border communication isn't as urgent as other continents. As such, the focus of our market should be other, more culturally complex continents outside of Mainland China. For instance, Europe has multiple languages and our neighbor, India.
"In particular, those continents that use Facebook and Twitter," Chen Chen added.
"Chairman, Manager Xia."
Just then, the voice of a middle-aged woman came from outside the door.
"Come in!" Chen Chen beckoned with one hand.
"This is my assistant, Sister Ye." Xia Yin introduced her to Chen Chen. "With Sister Ye's help, I can make up for my lack of experience in managing a company."
"Manager Xia, you're giving me too much credit."
The middle-aged woman addressed as Sister Ye smiled faintly. "Chairman, the representatives of Facebook and Twitter have arrived downstairs."
Chen Chen looked up abruptly. "They came together?"
"It appears… That way." Sister Ye did not seem to catch Chen Chen's drift and stammered, "Is there a problem?"
Chen Chen smiled lightly. "They only came after a month. It looks like they couldn't crack the code of my program."
When Sister Ye heard this, she broke out into an awkward smile. "Chairman, will you be receiving them at the door now?"
"Receive them?" Chen Chen made a puzzled face. "Don't they have legs?"
"Uh…" Sister Ye choked momentarily. "Then, shall I send them to the conference room directly?"
"That's right, let them wait in the conference room. I'll be over soon."
As he watched Sister Ye leave, Chen Chen twirled his pen and observed her departing figure with a thoughtful expression.
