September 3rd, 2:00 PM.
In the open space in front of the Xuyuan library, a small, twenty-square-meter stage had been set up, with a massive poster standing behind it.
"Xucheng Academy Class of 2012 New Student Meet-and-Greet and Orientation Assembly."
A dense crowd of freshmen stretched from the academic buildings and labs all the way to the library. The scene was chaotic. No one was shouting, but with several thousand people gathered together and whispering, the resulting noise was still tremendous.
Tang Qingshan, sitting in the front row, leaned over to Chen Yansen and whispered, "You’re up as soon as I’m done."
Chen Yansen glanced around at the dozen or so deans from various schools and departments. ’By the time this bunch finishes rambling,’ he thought, ’it’ll probably be dark out.’
He didn’t object to Tang Qingshan’s arrangement, however.
Giving a speech to the new students offered him no benefits. Tang Qingshan had asked him several times, and he had refused just as many, only reluctantly agreeing when he could no longer put him off.
After saying his piece, Tang Qingshan walked onto the stage.
"To the new students of the Class of 2012, hello, everyone! I am Tang Qingshan, the president of Xucheng Academy!"
Once he was in position, Tang Qingshan faced the more than three thousand freshmen and delivered his opening remarks with a smile.
In an instant, the murmuring from the audience vanished completely.
This was partly out of respect for Tang Qingshan’s position, and partly because the student counselors were standing off to the side, watching them.
No one wanted to get a lecture from the president or their counselor on the very first day of school.
"In this golden September, we gather on the campus of Xucheng Academy to witness one of the most important moments of your lives.
On behalf of all the faculty, staff, and students, I extend the warmest of welcomes to the 3,491 new students who have come from all corners of the country!
Congratulations on enduring ten years of arduous study. You have opened the gates of Xucheng Academy with your wisdom and sweat!
The motto of Xucheng Academy is: ’Friendly, Erudite, Pragmatic, and Enterprising.’ As your president, there are three expectations I would like to share with you all. First, establish yourself through learning and be a pragmatic pursuer of truth..."
Tang Qingshan took out his script and began to read with heartfelt emotion.
Perhaps because he had an extra decade or so of life experience, Chen Yansen actually found himself listening with great interest.
Although Tang Qingshan’s speech was full of empty, high-sounding boilerplate, its core message was crystal clear: an exhortation to study.
College is the end of the entrance exams, but the beginning of your life.
If you waste your time and muddle through these four years, you’ll most likely wake up in the middle of the night a few years from now, filled with regret.
But in the eyes of a young person, ’is it still college if you don’t have fun?’
Tang Qingshan’s speaking pace was steady and unhurried, his voice firm and powerful. His delivery was quite captivating. After all, he frequently attended meetings, so his public speaking skills were well-honed.
Ten minutes later, Tang Qingshan brought his speech to a close. "I hope that one day in the future, you will be the new pride of Xucheng Academy! Next, let’s have Chen Yansen—an outstanding student of Xuyuan, president of the Huian Province University Student Entrepreneurship Alliance, and founder of Senlian Capital—share his academic and entrepreneurial experiences with you."
The moment his voice fell, a deafening round of applause erupted from the audience.
Among this year’s freshmen, regardless of gender, at least a third used an Orange Mobile Phone, a third had shopped on Pinbei, and a third had used Kuai Pao Delivery, Fast Taxi, or Cloud Speed Express services.
Most people have a tendency to admire the strong, and Chen Yansen—who at only twenty years old had become a billionaire worth tens of billions after just two years of entrepreneurship—was clearly one of the best and brightest.
"Wow! I heard this is the first time Senior Chen Yansen has spoken at the new student assembly."
"The Class of 2011 didn’t get this treatment!"
"I’m majoring in e-commerce. After I graduate, I’m going to interview for an operations position at Pinbei."
"I’m studying software engineering. I heard the pay and benefits at Orange Technology are even better than at Ah Li, Penguin, or Qian Du. I’m definitely going to work for Senior’s company in the future."
A buzz of discussion immediately swept through the audience.
Chen Yansen walked unhurriedly to the center of the lectern.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Chen Yansen. Just like all of you, I’m an ordinary Xuyuan student. I like the hand-pulled noodles from Cafeteria Three, the pork-chop rice from Cafeteria Two, and taking walks by Liu Xi when the autumn air grows crisp. I also like sitting by the Pearl Lakefront with the girl I love, enjoying the evening breeze."
Chen Yansen smiled faintly, his tone gentle and calm, as if he were a familiar friend just chatting with them.
’An ordinary Xuyuan student?’
’What kind of Xuyuan student dares to skip class every single day?’
Tang Qingshan’s face darkened, and he gave a helpless smile.
The dozen or so deans also broke into smiles, especially the head of the School of Communication and Culture. Others might not know the truth, but how could he not?
This "ordinary" Xuyuan student, Chen Yansen, had a grand total of zero attendance for every single one of his major courses, every semester.
Anyone else would have been expelled eons ago!
When the freshmen heard Chen Yansen mention "sitting by the Pearl Lakefront with the girl I love," the boys shared a knowing smile, a flicker of anticipation in their eyes.
Upon hearing this, the girls couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment. So, Chen Yansen already had someone he liked. That meant they didn’t stand a chance.
"Next, I’ll share three personal insights on studying and entrepreneurship. First, learning isn’t the ultimate goal. What’s more important is mastering the methodology of how to learn..."
Chen Yansen paused for a moment before continuing.
Having lived two lives and started multiple businesses, he had far more experience than his peers when it came to setting a direction in life.
Five minutes later, Chen Yansen had already finished his speech. It seemed a bit perfunctory, but it contained some solid advice, such as: pay attention to recruitment apps to get an early understanding of the job market, career paths, and necessary skills for your major.
As for entrepreneurship, his advice was that it was worth supporting and encouraging, but one had to consider their own abilities, resources, and circumstances. They should choose the most suitable industry and enter through the business model they were most familiar with.
Stick to what you know, not what you don’t. And as for business models you can’t understand, stay far away.
As for whether the people below listened or not? ’Not my fucking problem!’
"Teacher Tang, I have a weekly meeting back at the company, so I’ll have to excuse myself," Chen Yansen said in a low voice after returning to his seat.
"Go ahead. Thanks for coming," Tang Qingshan replied with a nod.
Chen Yansen stood up, walked around the stage, took the small path north of the library, crossed Yixing Bridge, and headed straight for the Innovation Park.
He had parked his car here for a quick getaway.
Then, he got into the driver’s seat and sped off toward the Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park.
He hadn’t been lying to Tang Qingshan. Every Monday afternoon, he held a brief weekly meeting with the senior management of Orange Technology, Pinbei, Today Technology, and Orange Pay to get an update on the development status of each project.
Xuyuan and the Science and Technology Park were less than ten kilometers apart. Before long, Chen Yansen had driven into the park.
He glanced at his watch. It wasn’t even three o’clock yet.
He walked into Building 9, took the elevator to his office, and specifically summoned Zhang Yinjia before the weekly meeting began.
The former general manager of Wealth Treasure’s business intelligence department had, since joining Orange Pay, built upon the foundation of barcode payments. Following Chen Yansen’s guidance, he combined it with QR code technology to develop a QR code payment and collection function, which was set to be released in Orange Pay version 2.1.
Furthermore, half a month ago, thanks to the connections of Huake, Huaxin, and Investment Attraction in the financial world, Orange Pay had easily obtained a "Securities and Futures Business Operation License" and a "Consumer Finance License."
In other words, Orange Pay was no longer just a simple electronic payment tool. From now on, it was also a financial management tool.
This was hugely significant for Orange Pay. It could now expand aggressively through channels like Pinbei, Orange Mall, Cloud Speed Express, Fast Taxi, and Kuai Pao, earning substantial returns from the interest spread on fund distribution.
"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—!" A knock sounded from outside the door.
"Come in!" Chen Yansen called out.
Zhang Yinjia pushed open the door, pulled a chair over, and sat across from Chen Yansen, looking ready to receive instructions from his boss.
"Is the internal testing for Orange Pay 2.1 complete?" Chen Yansen asked casually.
"It still needs another week. Mr. Huang has already helped me with the coordination. When the time comes, we will add a ’scan to pay’ option for users paying on the PC version of Pinbei Mall."
Zhang Yinjia replied quickly.
"There aren’t many online use cases for QR codes. Their greatest function should be connecting to the offline world. For example, Kuai Pao’s Group Buy voucher verification process. Merchants have to manually enter the voucher codes, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. I’ll set up a coordination group chat later. You and Kang Guodong can come up with a plan to embed QR code technology into the voucher verification module."
Chen Yansen leaned back, speaking in a slow, deliberate manner.
Although this was a small problem, it had a huge impact on the user experience. Otherwise, whenever a merchant got slammed with orders, verifying vouchers would be a major headache.
Verifying them one by one would make customers impatient.
If merchants adopted a method of taking a photo first and verifying later, it would create a time lag in redemption. Users trying to take advantage could then secretly request a refund after they’ve already consumed the service.
"From a technical standpoint, it’s not difficult," Zhang Yinjia answered confidently.
"The offline promotion can be handled by Kuai Pao’s ground team. I’ve already spoken to Pei Yi about it," Chen Yansen added.
"Thank you, Boss," Zhang Yinjia replied hastily.
Pushing offline QR code payments in 2012 might seem ahead of its time, but in reality, both the technology and the necessary equipment were already mature.
Besides, Orange Pay wasn’t the pioneer.
Two years ago, Wealth Treasure had launched a barcode payment function, and a year ago, they followed up with QR code payments.
The only question was whether the Banking Regulatory Commission would recognize its legitimacy.
The higher-ups hadn’t forbidden it, but they hadn’t explicitly supported it either.
To put it bluntly, both Orange Pay and Wealth Treasure were crossing the river by feeling for stones.
However, Chen Yansen’s approach was more aggressive than Ma Liyun’s. While Ah Li was still focused on promoting scan-to-pay on PC, he had already set his sights on the offline payment market.
At this point in time, WeChat Pay and WeChat Red Packets had not yet been launched.
Although Ma Wenteng saw the potential of the mobile internet, he hadn’t yet realized that "scan" would become the magic weapon connecting the online and offline worlds.
And scan-to-pay would become one of the most important moves in Senlian Capital’s O2O strategic layout.
"It’s time for Orange Pay to move. The layouts in Building 7 and Building 5 are both good. Pick one yourself," Chen Yansen said with a smile.
By now, Orange Pay had over 600 employees. Squeezed into Building 9 with Orange Technology, their office space had become a bit crowded.
"Let’s go with Building 7, then," Zhang Yinjia said after a moment’s thought.
Chen Yansen nodded slightly, indicating that the administration and finance departments would help him coordinate the move.
It wasn’t until three o’clock sharp that the two of them left the office and went to the conference room on the eighth floor together.