Meal stipends, housing subsidies, and work bonuses.

Most importantly, Yuanfang Company’s compensation was a full 50% higher than other companies!

When many people posted their pay stubs, the entire internet was drooling with envy!

Hang City, despite being a pseudo-first-tier city, is the birthplace of e-commerce in the country.

But,

the salary level for an average worker wasn’t actually that much higher, and the cost of living in Hang City was genuinely high.

So, when news of Yuanfang’s salary and benefits got out, it first sparked envy among the workers in Hang City.

Yuanfang’s employees found their WeChat blowing up all night.

Friends were asking if Yuanfang was still hiring.

Friends of friends were asking through mutual acquaintances.

Some people were even willing to use an Apple 15 as a door-opener just to get an introduction to Yuanfang Company.

Unfortunately, the hiring authority rested with the three store managers and Sun Qiang.

And these four were all striving to become founding members of Yuanfang, so how could they possibly bring in a bunch of random people at a time like this?

But the matter didn’t just stay within Hang City; it quickly started brewing and spreading online.

On TikTok and Weibo, a new topic quickly formed.

That night, Yuanfang Company’s email inbox practically exploded.

Countless emails poured in from all directions.

The most interesting development was in GY’s official livestream channel.

It originally had only a few thousand viewers online, but after this incident blew up, the viewership quickly soared to over one hundred thousand.

Furthermore, most of the new viewers were professionals from the e-commerce industry.

These people were, on one hand, sniffing around to see if Yuanfang was still hiring, and on the other, offering all sorts of suggestions to the livestream.

At first, Ma Yiming didn’t pay it much mind, but later he discovered that some of the suggestions were quite insightful. So, he simply posted a message in the livestream.

“You can submit a resume along with an operations plan.”

This demonstrated Ma Yiming’s strategic thinking, which was why Gao Yuan valued him.

However, because of this incident with Yuanfang Company, another voice also emerged online.

Some bloggers and influencers posted videos claiming that Yuanfang’s actions constituted malicious wage increases, deliberately disrupting market order, and amounted to malicious competition.

As soon as these videos were released, they immediately sparked public outrage among netizens. They were already resigned to being cogs in the machine, taking home pitiful salaries each month while doing the work of several people.

Now that Yuanfang Company was giving its own employees good benefits, how could someone actually say something like that?

In an instant, these short-video influencers became the primary target of public condemnation. Not only did they lose followers in droves, but they were also criticized in videos by another group of influencers who loved to stir up drama.

At this point,

the situation had finally blown up!

It was no longer just a small group of people discussing it; the topic instantly became a nationwide online debate.

More and more people got involved, especially the vast armies of e-commerce workers from all over. With the boom in the e-commerce industry over the years, the number of people working in it was by no means small.

Moreover, in e-commerce, it’s common for one person to do the work of several people. In large companies, especially, overtime was the norm.

The salaries might seem higher than in some other industries, but it was all at the expense of their health.

Five hours.

In just five hours, the discussion about Yuanfang Company’s compensation had already reached the number one trending spot on both TikTok and Weibo.

This time, there was no traffic boost from TikTok; it was all driven by the spontaneous discussions of the vast online community.

「The next day.」

Gao Yuan found out about the situation when he got up to work out. He didn’t have strong feelings about it, though. ‘It’s my money, I can spend it however I want.’

Besides, it wasn’t him spending it directly; he was just improving the compensation for his employees.

However,

Gao Yuan had still underestimated the situation.

After breakfast, he discussed their startup plans with Lin Wanyu and Li Mengqing. Once they decided on developing a traditional Chinese medicine product for pre-conception care, he took the two of them out to look for a suitable location.

He hadn’t expected that after just a short while of being out, he would get a call from Ma Yiming, who hoped he could come to the company.

The reason was that the company was now surrounded by a crowd of reporters and influencers.

On one hand, everyone wanted to know if Yuanfang’s compensation was really as high as the rumors online claimed.

On the other hand, the reporters also wanted to interview the boss of Yuanfang Company, Gao Yuan.

As for the influencers, they were there to ride the wave of popularity, hoping to tour and film inside Yuanfang Company.

Gao Yuan initially didn’t want to go back, but considering that Ma Yiming and the others couldn’t handle this sudden incident and that the crowd was genuinely disrupting normal business operations, he drove back.

This time, he went upstairs alone. Just as Lin Wanyu was about to follow him, Li Mengqing pulled her back.

With so many reporters and influencers upstairs, it probably wasn’t a good idea for the two of them to go up.

Gao Yuan strode out of the elevator. He had only taken a few steps when someone recognized him and immediately called out, “President Gao, what are your thoughts on your company trending online?”

Gao Yuan didn’t stop, instead walking straight toward the company’s office.

He was walking, but everyone else who heard the voice instantly swarmed around him.

Gao Yuan couldn’t move. The path ahead was completely blocked.

Not only were many people holding up their phones and cameras to take pictures, but a reporter’s microphone was shoved right up to his mouth.

“Why don’t you all let me get back to the office first, and then we can arrange your interviews.”

Gao Yuan felt a bit helpless with these people. ‘I guess I’m getting the celebrity treatment now.’

However, the crowd was reasonably polite. After Gao Yuan spoke, they parted to make a path for him.

Gao Yuan walked to the company entrance, said something to Sun Qiang who was standing at the door, and then went inside.

Sun Qiang then turned to the crowd standing outside and said, “Please wait a moment, everyone. I’ll go arrange a conference room.”

Soon, the crowd that had been gathered at the entrance of Yuanfang Company followed Sun Qiang away.

Gao Yuan handled some company matters, and after giving his instructions, he also headed toward the large conference room in Century Center.

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