Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 134 Rapid Expansion (Part 2)
Expansion with great force, and reforms with sweeping measures.

This seems to be the exciting part of every scripted success.

But it is easy to do but difficult to do.

After making his decision, Chen Xuebing began to plan how to maintain everything.

The A-share index has been declining recently. Last Wednesday, the index reached a high of 1210. Today is also Wednesday, and the index has dropped to around 1150, a correction of nearly 5%. Indiscriminate selling has occurred, and anyone who enters the market is likely to suffer losses.

The market has not yet reached the low entry point of 1100 indicated by Chen Xuebing. With the New York 45 short position stabilizing and the market in a correction cycle, it is unlikely that there will be any profits in the coming period.

He needs to raise 2000 million yuan to invest in the fund within a month, and there is still a shortfall of 150 million yuan.

He recently spent nearly 100 million yuan, all of which came from Shenzhen. He only has less than 50 yuan left in Shenzhen's reserves, and he only has about 30 yuan on him.

Liang Hui said he had 400 million, but he only gave 300 million in cash. The remaining 100 million was the balance after the bridge construction site settled accounts. Chen Xuebing promised Liang Hui that this money would be left to the labor service company, but it hasn't arrived yet.

Of the 400 million yuan, 156 million yuan was spent clearing out the Luo family's site, and the rest was barely enough to keep the construction site running smoothly.

There is also a surplus of about 100 million yuan in Furong Village, but optimistically it will be delayed until New Year's Day.

In other words, although he seems to be doing very well right now, there is still a shortfall of 150 million. His income from Shenzhen in the next month, plus his reserves, will be just enough to make up for the 2000 million shortfall in the fund.

The Long March No. 1 Fund operates with a one-year closed period and a five-year lifespan, after which it is open for redemption.

Once the account is locked, he cannot withdraw the 2000 million yuan principal during the one-year lock-up period. Only the dividend distribution period is flexible, with dividends distributed every three months or six months, depending on his decision. He can withdraw money through dividends.

In short, he is short of money in the short term.

The best strategy is to not spend any money, stay quietly, and wait for the fund to operate, the stock market to surge, Huaqiangbei to make money, and the construction site to collect payments.

But this kind of waiting is just a waste of time.

If it weren't for this bull market, would he have stopped doing business?

He mentally separated the fund business from other businesses and began to focus on them.

What would he do without the stock market?
...

On September 23, a black BMW drove into the construction site.

"Mr. Chen!"

The three got out of the car, and a middle-aged man with a strong presence reached out his hand to Chen Xuebing from a distance.

"Mr. Jiang, hello! It's kind of you to make this trip in person!" Chen Xuebing said with a beaming smile.

This was the first time Chen Xuebing had met this person, although they had spoken on the phone several times. His name was Jiang Yunzhou, the vice president of Emerson Headhunting Company.

Chen Xuebing checked the headhunting forums and online communities. This company ranked in the top 5 in the national industry in terms of scale and business, but it also had a lot of negative news and was not very friendly to its employees.

The headhunting industry is very complex. Their work goes far beyond simply poaching and recruiting people. They have extensive networks and a strong ability to gather information. Their high-end services are hacker-like. They have a lot of insider information from various industries and provide services such as helping companies break into supply chains, gathering insider information, and "customized" services like industry and company personnel lists, which are also part of their income.

They appear high-end, but they earn meager wages. Their service is extremely shady, and sometimes they even send female employees to date someone in order to poach a mid-to-high-level manager.

An industry where moral standards and income are inversely proportional.

Currently, the highest-priced orders in this industry mainly come from the finance, pharmaceutical, and IT sectors.

After their team visited New York 45 and learned about the strength of Long March Capital, the person in charge was changed from the group leader to this vice president.

"President Chen, this is Director Tang, and this is Dean Zhang!"

Jiang Yunzhou shook hands with Chen Xuebing and then introduced the two people behind him with a smile.

"Welcome, both of you!"

Chen Xuebing shook hands with each of them warmly, and their appearances matched the qualifications he had in mind.

Wearing glasses, with his hair combed back, and a fair complexion and slightly plump figure, is Tang Qiankun, the former director of the General Engineering Office of Chongqing Expressway Group.

A road and bridge, tunnel expert, one of the first generation of highway engineers in Chongqing, around 50 years old.

The tall, upright man with short, half-gray hair is Zhang Qingzhong, the former director of the Northwest Survey and Design Institute of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power. He was born in 39 and is 66 years old this year.

This person has extensive experience, is a senior economist, and is proficient in large-scale civil engineering design and surveying. He led the design of hydropower, wind power, thermal power, water conservancy, and even the intelligent building of the Three Gorges Project Management Center. He has a great ability to organize large-scale projects.

The headhunter has already negotiated the salary based on the position he offered.

Tang Qiankun was appointed as the chief engineer, with an annual salary of 22 yuan and a company car.

Zhang Qingzhong serves as a consultant with an annual salary of 16 yuan. Because he is from out of town, he only needs to be on-site for three months each year to provide guidance on key projects and attend four expert work discussion meetings. He can work remotely from home for the rest of the time, and all travel and miscellaneous expenses will be reimbursed.

In addition, 30% of the headhunter's annual salary, totaling around 120,000 yuan, will be paid. The commission will be split 30/70. More than 30,000 yuan has been prepaid, and the remaining 70% will be paid in four quarters throughout the year. If the two headhunters leave the company midway, the commission payments can be stopped.

Both men had served as leaders in state-owned enterprises; Zhang Qingzhong had even been a chairman. The two men were quite informal with each other. After exchanging a few polite words, Chen Xuebing asked Liang Hui and Tan Hailiang to take them to the construction site.

Tan Hailiang looked a little uneasy.

He had always been in charge of this construction site. Although he always complained about the hardships, he was also very arrogant. Now that two great experts had come, he didn't know how to behave. He looked at Chen Xuebing with some pleading eyes.

Chen Xuebing ignored him, waving his hand and telling him to adapt on his own.

What the hell are you thinking?

They're the company's chief engineer, or even the group's chief engineer and consultant. You'd be lucky to even get a project manager position.

The others left, but Chen Xuebing remained where he was.

Jiang Yunzhou also stayed behind, smiling, and immediately saw through Chen Xuebing's thoughts.

"Mr. Chen, are there any other tasks?"

Chen Xuebing grinned: "Your company has a wide range of businesses; you can even poach experts and leaders from state-owned enterprises."

Jiang Yunzhou's expression was inscrutable: "Headhunting is an offensive profession. When clients have talent needs, we create demand for the corresponding talent."

"Mr. Jiang, you seem very confident. You think you can meet all my needs?"

"Please feel free to speak, Mr. Chen."

"I heard you have quite a few branches across the country?"

"Yes, our headquarters are in Shanghai, and we currently have seven regional branches and thirty-eight offices."

Chen Xuebing glanced sideways: "Do you have a company in Shenzhen?"

"We have offices in Guangzhou and Shenzhen."

"Overseas."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yunzhou began to understand the implication, and his heart pounded wildly.

Shenzhen these days has certain labels: an electronics technology industry base, and also a hub for overseas talent…

"The only overseas office is in Canada, but you know, that place is actually a talent transit point for the United States. There are many restrictions on high-tech talents from the United States coming directly from the United States to work."

Chen Xuebing then revealed his purpose: "I need a lot of talent, in the fields of mobile phones and semiconductors."

"Oh?" Jiang Yunzhou's eyes lit up.

He's definitely an IT talent.

The salaries for talent in this field are not low, so the service fees are naturally not low either. Judging from what Mr. Chen said, it seems that he wants to offer a package deal.

"Could you be more specific?" Chen Xuebing shook his head and said calmly, "I do need a powerful headhunting firm for comprehensive cooperation. I guarantee that this business will exceed the scale of your branch office. However, the people I need must work for me long-term, with five-year contracts and non-compete agreements. In addition, 70% of the service fee must be paid in installments over two years. Our talent list must not be leaked, and no one may inquire about our trade secrets. Otherwise, once we obtain evidence, we will not only terminate the cooperation, but I will also stop paying all your installment service fees. These things must be written into the master agreement. If Mr. Jiang can do this, then we can talk."

Jiang Yunzhou's expression brightened when he heard the first part, but the harsh conditions that followed made his heart sink.

These conditions are too easy to violate. If the other party doesn't want to continue paying, they can just make up any excuse.

However, his expression remained unchanged.

"Mr. Chen, major clients naturally have their own service standards. The security and stability of talent information are our basic principles. This is not a condition, but rather the terms and agreements you mentioned. We need to define a threshold through the legal departments of both parties, otherwise it is easy to turn into a pocket agreement."

This is the level of language proficiency a headhunter possesses.

He clearly felt it was harsh, but said it was a basic principle, simply pushing everything onto the legal department.

After saying that, he observed Chen Xuebing's expression again, and seeing that the other party did not intend to refute him, he continued:

"Can we talk first?"

Chen Xuebing thought for a moment and said, "In terms of hardware, there are hardware engineers, capacitive touch screen technology, circuit engineers, appearance designers, and quality assurance engineers. In terms of software, there are chip designers, system developers, and UI (visual) designers."

Jiang Yunzhou heard a hissing sound.

It's dazzling!

"This means... they want all the IT engineers?"

Chen Xuebing shook his head and repeated the key point: "No, the chip design focuses on the ARM architecture, and the software and hardware also include mobile phone aspects. The touch screen technicians mainly research and optimize capacitive screens, and we don't need people who work on resistive screens."

The ecosystem of early iPhone generations was not mature, and the biggest difference between it and Android was its responsiveness.

In addition, Nokia's insistence on using resistive touchscreen technology in its Symbian phones was also a major reason for their rapid decline. Users had to press the screen hard, resulting in less smooth operation and severely impacting the user experience.

Ensuring the smoothness of the operation was his first priority.

He plans to outsource all the hardware, focusing solely on capacitive touchscreen technology and leveraging the global supply chain to create the smoothest possible hardware solution.

Although he needs a wide variety of technicians, almost all of them are there to solve operational and learning difficulties.

UI interaction determines the visual experience of the interface.

The degree of software and hardware compatibility determines the smoothness of operation.

Developing an independent system would certainly be better. Currently, the smart system ecosystem is still in the HarmonyOS stage, and the competition among the seven major smartphone systems has not yet begun. Symbian still dominates at present, and it has a few more years to experiment and learn from its mistakes.

The software ecosystem problem does not yet exist. Although developing an independent mobile phone system is difficult, it is not as difficult as chip etching, which is so difficult that it cannot be continued.

To develop a system with better performance and compatibility, you need to design your own chips.

Mobile phone chips are definitely more energy-efficient with the ARM architecture.

Of course, the research and development cycle is long, and an independent system does not necessarily have to be used in the first generation, but it is necessary to start early.

It was through this step-by-step process that the aforementioned needs came about.

These engineers are so hard to find; ordinary recruitment methods simply can't solve the problem.

Huaqiangbei provided him with excellent workers, but it couldn't provide him with high-level design engineers.

"Mr. Chen, are you planning to develop your own mobile phone? Would you like us to come up with a talent support plan for you?"

While Jiang Yunzhou was still pondering the benefits and difficulties of this matter, he had already habitually sought deeper cooperation.

Seize any opportunity first.

Chen Xuebing couldn't help but laugh.

"You don't need to waste your time researching solutions. Everyone has their own expertise. I will provide you with my specific requirements. Once you meet my requirements and the finished product is ready, I will send you twenty units."

Jiang Yunzhou pulled a Nokia 3310 out of his pocket and smiled:
“Actually, we had provided services to a mobile phone manufacturer before. They gave me a sample phone with many functions, but it broke down after a short time. This phone is more convenient, has a stronger signal, and is more durable.”

Chen Xuebing also pulled out a 3310.

"What a coincidence, I use the same one too. I've been too lazy to change it, but the phone I'm going to make will definitely change your mind."

Jiang Yunzhou stared blankly at the gold phone in Chen Xuebing's hand.

"Why is it gold? I don't remember seeing this..."

"Hehe, custom-made in Huaqiangbei, what color do you want? I'll make one for you."

Jiang Yunzhou had a dry cough.

"A pirated machine? Mr. Chen, you hired people here... to make pirated goods?"

Chen Xuebing smiled but did not answer.

In a sense, yes.

A pirated copy that hasn't even been born yet.

……

Although the Taohuaxi construction site is not small in scale, it was not very interesting for the two experts.

After they had looked around and examined the overall blueprints, Chen Xuebing led them all to New York 42.

The labor service company's office on the 42nd floor is 110 square meters, with workstations and sofas. The only separate room is used as a meeting room, and the decoration style is conventional.

However, both experts were quite satisfied.

The main reason is the good location. Both of them used to work in relatively independent, large compound-style workplaces that were far from the bustling city center.

Tan Hailiang was also visiting for the first time. He was surprised to find that the company actually had an office in this top-of-the-line building in Jiefangbei. He kept standing by the window and marveling at it.

Chen Xuebing, however, looked at the small conference room with dissatisfaction.

“This office is probably not enough. In addition to civil engineering, our future work will also focus on real estate. After the acquisition of qualifications is completed, we will establish a construction company and a real estate business group, which will require an office that can accommodate at least 200 people. This office can be left for the labor service company.”

Upon hearing this topic, Liang Hui could not hide his excitement.

Because Chen Xuebing had mentioned to him that he would be going to Shenzhen to get involved in real estate.

"Boss, should we move to Shenzhen?"

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "Let's talk about it when we're capable of winning over Chongqing. Dean Zhang, Director Tang, if we go to Shenzhen in the future, would you two be willing to go?"

Zhang Qingzhong hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Okay."

Although he was rather quiet today, he still exuded leadership qualities in every move he made, and when he nodded, it had a hint of giving instructions.

It's obvious he's never worked before.

However, Chen Xuebing didn't mind that this person was both an advisor and a highly respected senior expert.

Tang Qiankun laughed heartily, clearly understanding his position: "President Chen has grand ambitions, and I can still work hard for a few more years. But which construction company are you planning to acquire? Although the qualifications are valid nationwide, it's quite difficult to relocate the company's location across provinces."

Chen Xuebing nodded slightly, feeling that these procedures were a bit complicated for him.

"Well... if the two experts have no objections, Liang Hui will process your employment contracts first. After the formalities are completed, he will take you to the 45th floor for a meeting."

(End of this chapter)