A cool breeze circulated through Room 206 on the second floor of the startup park.
A dozen young people sat in a casual circle—some in white tees and shorts, others in button-downs and jeans, a few even in slippers—each holding an ice pop.
"Brother Sen, I've got an idea! 'FoxTao'! It aligns with our website's brand image and immediately communicates we're an e-commerce platform,"
Zhuang Rui said, adjusting his glasses with sudden inspiration.
"Arui, that's good! I agree!" Xiang Pengfei frowned in thought for a moment, feeling Zhuang Rui's suggestion was indeed solid.
"Song Yuncheng, what about you? As the UI designer, haven't you named your brand character?"
Chen Yansen wrote 'FoxTao' on the whiteboard, then fixed his gaze on Song Yuncheng.
"I've thought of two. One is 'Little Fox Saves Money'—friendly and cute, directly highlighting the product's money-saving function. The other is 'FoxNet,' similar to Zhuang Rui's concept,"
Song Yuncheng replied calmly, already prepared.
By now, over a dozen candidate names were scrawled on the whiteboard: Fox Xiaohui, Fox Treasure, Fox Society...
"How about a vote?" Zhang Wenbo suggested.
"Brother Sen, which do you think is best?" Xiang Pengfei asked, and everyone turned to Chen Yansen.
"How about this—we'll host a voting event on the website. List all these candidates, determine the result by vote count, and users who participate will share the prize pool,"
Chen Yansen thought for a moment and gave an unexpected answer.
This approach had two advantages: first, it promoted the website through the event, attracting the first batch of seed users at low cost and efficiently completing the product's cold start; second, college students understood internet trends well—their choices would be more contemporary.
Everyone quickly grasped the cleverness of Chen Yansen's method and responded enthusiastically.
"Wenbo, Pengfei, how long will it take?"
Chen Yansen clapped his hands, addressing the two.
"No technical hurdles. We can use an existing template, set up data tracking to record user IDs and voting actions—definitely live by end of day," Xiang Pengfei stated without hesitation.
Zhang Wenbo nodded in agreement.
"Prize pool tentatively set at 10,000 yuan, but will adjust based on participant numbers. We'll start promotion at Xucheng Academy—at least let everyone understand how cashback shopping works,"
Chen Yansen nodded slightly, announcing loudly.
"Okay, we'll get right on it," Zhang Wenbo clenched his fist, looking highly motivated.
"Not so fast—salaries first!"
Chen Yansen smiled slightly, pulled a black plastic bag from the chair behind him, and with a thud, several thick stacks of cash tumbled out.
For college students, cash was convenient, cheap, and practical. Trying to pay social security would just annoy them.
Recent graduate status was extremely important—crucial for future job applications, household registration, and civil service exams.
"Brother Sen, you miscounted—you gave me a thousand extra!" Zhang Wenbo was first to receive his salary. After counting, he instinctively spoke up.
"You guys come to the office every night, mooching Wi-Fi and air conditioning—you think I'm blind? The extra is overtime pay."
Chen Yansen glared, scolding irritably.
Overtime pay?
Zhang Wenbo was stunned, then grinned. Five thousand a month—no one would believe it.
"Thank you, Brother Sen!"
"The boss is generous!"
"..."
After receiving their wages, everyone rushed to flatter him. Basically, everyone received 'overtime pay' and 'bonuses'—including Song Yuncheng.
"I hope we have a successful launch!" Chen Yansen waved his hand, addressing everyone—though also speaking to himself.
The prompts *'Humanitarian Spirit +0.5', 'Humanitarian Spirit +0.4', 'Humanitarian Spirit +0.3'* kept flashing before his eyes. Soon, the Humanitarian Spirit column on his panel had increased by 4 points.
Chen Yansen focused his mind on his physique stat. A familiar chill swept through him. In an instant, his physique value became '1.42'.
The sensation wasn't as intense as last time, but he could still feel his physical strength slowly increasing.
Once I make money, I'm definitely entering the food delivery and ride-hailing industries. I'll provide full social insurance, housing fund, commercial insurance, and supplementary pensions. With millions of employees, I'll be set for life!
Chen Yansen thought to himself, anticipation rising within.
The morning passed quickly. Chen Yansen slowly stood, stretched, glanced at Song Yuncheng across from him, thought for a moment, and said, "Now that you've got your salary and bonus, shouldn't you treat me to a meal?"
"Here's my meal card. Buy whatever you want."
Song Yuncheng said expressionlessly, taking out her meal card and placing it on Chen Yansen's desk.
"What if I want you to eat with me?" Chen Yansen looked around, ensuring no one was watching, then said softly.
"Mr. Chen, don't forget—you have a girlfriend."
Song Yuncheng warned through gritted teeth, enunciating each word clearly.
"Don't you have a boyfriend too? I don't mind." Chen Yansen continued joking.
"But I do mind!"
Song Yuncheng pocketed her meal card, turned, and walked away decisively, her angry demeanor resembling a bristling kitten.
Chen Yansen shook his head, then called Zhang Wenbo, Zhuang Rui, Xiang Pengfei, and others. The group marched toward the cafeteria.
Along the way, they attracted considerable attention.
A month ago, Chen Yansen had become quite famous at Xucheng Academy. As he focused on website development, the buzz around him gradually subsided. However, many still kept an eye on him, betting on whether his startup could survive until year-end.
"Brother Sen, the product is about to launch. Should we hire an operations manager proficient in SEO and advertising?" Zhang Wenbo asked as they walked.
He had the most project experience and knew what Chen Yansen needed at this stage. Seeing his boss hadn't made moves, he proactively reminded him.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing,"
Chen Yansen replied with a light laugh.
The 2010 internet ecosystem was vastly different from over a decade later. Those without money focused on SEO and keywords; the poorest promoted via QQ groups and campus forums; only the wealthy bought keyword rankings on Baidu and Google.
Chen Yansen understood traffic's importance, but with limited funds, he could only employ cost-effective methods initially.
For example, private domain operations—commonly known as QQ group advertising.
Before WeChat dominated social software, QQ was undoubtedly king, with all kinds of groups: classmates, interests, friends, etc. Instead of spending on Baidu ads, investing in social platforms was better.
In his previous life, the universally criticized Pinduoduo had ridden WeChat's wave, starting with viral discount campaigns.
I'll have Pengfei and Wenbo prioritize developing the group-buying discount function, Chen Yansen secretly planned.
After lunch, most returned to Rooms 206 and 208 to enjoy air conditioning—after all, free drinks and ice cream beat dormitory torture.
At 4 PM, the voting plugin officially launched after passing testing.
Activity rules were gradually refined through discussions between Chen Yansen and Zhuang Rui.
The prize pool floated—an additional 10,000 yuan added for every 3,000 new users participating. Winners shared the pool, with prizes randomly ranging from 2.8 yuan to 888 yuan. Prizes were credited to user account balances, withdrawable to Alipay.
To improve user retention and first-order conversion, Chen Yansen set a 5-yuan withdrawal threshold, forcing winning users to place another order to withdraw.
After confirming no bugs, Chen Yansen shared the website link in the freshman exchange group:
"@everyone Fellow students, our new product developed in Startup Park Room 206 is about to launch! It's a discount website where Taobao shopping earns cashback. The product name isn't decided yet—please help vote for the most suitable one! Participants share a minimum 10,000-yuan cash prize pool, up to 888 yuan per person..."
Prize pool at least 10,000 yuan! Individuals can get up to 888 yuan!
Driven by profit and bolstered by Chen Yansen's influence among freshmen, platform registrations surged.
He copied and pasted the message, forwarding it to the campus card agent group and his high school class group.
Xiang Pengfei, Zhang Wenbo, Zhuang Rui, and others also helped spread the word.
"@Chen Yansen This the website you built? Looks legit. Starting a business?"
"@Chen Yansen Heard you're Xucheng Academy's campus card general agent. Must've made bank!"
"@Chen Yansen So rich! 888 yuan for one vote?"
"@Teacher Zhang Could it be a virus? Was Chen Yansen's account hacked?"
Beep beep beep—!
Chen Yansen's high school class group exploded, former classmates heatedly discussing.
"The activity is real and valid. Draw in three days. Maybe you'll win 888 yuan!"
Seeing Chen Yansen hadn't replied in the group, Meng Jie stepped up to vouch.
"Brother Sen's in a meeting. What Sister-in-law says is as good as Brother Sen's word!" Wang Zihao suddenly popped up.
"@Wang Zihao You damn rat, asking for trouble! Delete that now!" Meng Jie angrily retorted.
Sister-in-law?
Chen Yansen and Meng Jie are together?
Instantly, old classmates nationwide showed surprised expressions.
They'd thought Chen Yansen would end up with Zhou Keyuan in university—the outcome was unexpected.
"@Meng Jie @Chen Yansen Congratulations! Dating's fine, but don't neglect studies. Your teacher wishes you both the best."
After a while, homeroom teacher Zhang Li replied.
Zhou Keyuan, watching the screen, turned pale then red. From the messages, she could tell Chen Yansen was doing well in university—campus card general agent, starting his own company.
If I'd known... I wouldn't have ignored him. Zhou Keyuan felt regret, simultaneously resenting Meng Jie: You can't take what I discarded.
Chen Yansen's links, targeting university students and campus towns, spread nationwide. It wasn't
until user registrations surpassed 30,000
that Chen Yansen realized he'd severely underestimated QQ's dominance in 2010.
By then, the prize pool had swelled to 110,000 yuan!
Freshmen, e-commerce startup—hundreds of thousands in prize money for their first promotion!
These combined keywords immediately became focal points for self-media and gossip bloggers.
Even corners of the three major portal sites—Sohu, Sina, and NetEase—featured reports about Chen Yansen and his startup project.
Registrations began skyrocketing!