"Brother Sen, the front-end verification is fine," Zhang Wenbo said, looking up after typing for a while.
"The code requesting data looks normal too," Xiang Pengfei added, staring at the screen. "Hu Yun, are there any problems with the IDs and IPs of the users who helped with the price cut?"
"The IDs and IPs are normal, but the numbers don't match," Hu Yun reported. "The other party only invited 17 old users and 3 new website customers."
Zhuang Rui's eyes flashed with panic, his tone serious. "Is there really a bug?"
Chen Yansen frowned slightly, rubbed his temples, and took a deep breath to force himself to calm down.
After organizing his thoughts, he addressed the team. "The other party probably exploited a loophole in network transmission. They're replaying the normal price-cutting request multiple times to fool the server. Quickly add a timestamp for the price-cutting validity period and set a random number to fix the bug!"
He had encountered this situation in his previous life and knew exactly how to prevent it.
"Okay, Brother Sen," Xiang Pengfei hurriedly agreed, his eyes red with a mix of anger and regret.
The 0-yuan price-cutting event had only been online for two days and had already exposed such a major design flaw. As the head of the backend team, he felt responsible.
"Should we take the event offline?" Song Yuncheng asked, her expression worried as she grasped the seriousness.
"No," Chen Yansen said, standing up without hesitation. "Users' trust is fragile. Even a temporary shutdown will make them suspicious."
Once the seed of doubt is planted, it's extremely difficult to remove.
Time passed. Even though it was noon, no one thought about eating.
Half an hour later, Xiang Pengfei shouted, "Brother Sen, the bug is fixed! My colleagues and I have verified it's strong enough to prevent attacks like packet sniffing."
"Go live," Chen Yansen nodded, saying nothing more.
"Brother Sen, I've reviewed the data again," Hu Yun reported. "Only this one user's price-cutting behavior is abnormal."
"Brother Sen, what should we do with this user who exploited the vulnerability?" Xiang Pengfei asked, walking up with a grim face, ready to take the blame.
"Call him," Chen Yansen said after a moment's thought. "Say that to thank him for discovering the system vulnerability for FoxTao, we'll send him a brand new MP4 player. Then ban his account."
"What if he causes trouble?" Xiang Pengfei hesitated.
"If he's unreasonable, seal his price-cutting request data and transfer him directly to the inspection station. Let him experience what jail is like," Chen Yansen said coldly, enunciating each word clearly.
He turned to Song Yuncheng. "Issue a notice later explaining that this user exploited a system loophole to steal a phone purchase qualification that should have belonged to another user. Their account has been banned."
"Okay," Song Yuncheng nodded and turned towards the operations team. Hu Li, a senior Chinese major, was more skilled at writing such notices.
"Brother Sen, I'll go call the user," Xiang Pengfei said, reaching for his phone.
"Wait. You're not suitable," Chen Yansen stopped him, concerned Xiang Pengfei's anger might lead to an argument.
"Class monitor, let me make this call?" Xu Xingxing, standing to the side, suddenly spoke up.
"Are you confident you can handle it?" Chen Yansen looked directly at her. Seeing her confident expression, he chuckled.
"Give me ten minutes. I guarantee I'll get it done," Xu Xingxing said, giving an OK sign.
"Pengfei, send the phone number to Xu Xingxing," Chen Yansen instructed. This call was meant to give the user a way out. If he didn't take it, he couldn't blame Chen Yansen for what followed.
Xiang Pengfei initially wanted to insist, but seeing Chen Yansen's displeasure, he reluctantly handed over the number and stood stiffly before the desk.
"What are you standing here for? Go back to work," Chen Yansen said, amused and annoyed.
"Brother Sen, I'm the backend team leader. I didn't consider everything thoroughly when designing the underlying logic..." Xiang Pengfei gritted his teeth, proactively admitting his mistake.
"Alright, your bonus for this month is gone," Chen Yansen said helplessly, seeing the other's stubborn need for punishment.
"Thanks, Brother Sen! I'll go back to work right now!" Xiang Pengfei grinned and scurried back to his workstation.
Damn it, what a jerk! Chen Yansen shook his head, muttering inwardly. He understood Xiang Pengfei's student mindset—feeling entirely at fault and believing punishment was necessary to stay.
He turned to Xu Xingxing. She stood by the window, smiling as she spoke. It looked less like an argument and more like a pleasant conversation.
A moment later, Xu Xingxing hung up and strode over. "It's done! He's a college student too. A few threats and warnings, plus the MP4 player, and he apologized."
Her lively, agile manner was appealing. Before Chen Yansen could speak, Xiang Pengfei suddenly stood up. "Junior, you're amazing!"
"Brother Sen, Xu Xingxing is wasting her talents in administration. She should be in public relations!" Zhuang Rui teased.
"That's a good suggestion. I'll think about it," Chen Yansen smiled. "Pengfei, use the bonus I deducted from you this month to make it up to Xu Xingxing."
"No problem. I'd be too embarrassed to keep that bonus anyway," Xiang Pengfei said, the weight lifted from his shoulders.
"Brother Sen, someone else has completed the price-cutting task for the iPhone 4!" Zhuang Rui shouted, then quickly clarified. "The data is all normal. This guy is amazing! He got 379 old users and 803 new customers to help him. I don't know how he did it!"
"Xu Xingxing, I'm giving you a task," Chen Yansen said, crossing his arms. "Call this user for a simple follow-up. Wang Zihao will be in charge of the case. Use his experience to create materials and analyze the campaign's effect."
He beckoned Wang Zihao over and instructed them both.
Wang Zihao readily agreed and led the campaign team to confirm the script with Xu Xingxing. Xu Xingxing seemed to have something to say but swallowed her words.
With the first free iPhone 4 shipped, user participation soared. Some felt the iPhone required too many invitations and opted for the Nokia 5230, Shanxing I8000, or 1,000 yuan cash instead.
Fruits, tissues, and laundry detergent were also popular.
Chen Xu and Hu Li were busy selecting products and manually exporting shipping addresses to place orders on Taobao and JD.com. When tracking numbers arrived, they had to manually import them into the backend.
Fortunately, the volume was manageable for the two of them.
The daily real-time user registration speed only slowed after 9:30 PM.
"Brother Sen, yesterday's new customer growth was 27,000," Hu Yun reported, holding his laptop. "Today, 71,000 new users have registered through the '0 yuan discount' activity so far, with 4% from advertising channels."
"Zhuang Rui, get your lottery plan ready," Chen Yansen said, patting his shoulder. "New customers get a double cashback card, and the first order commission is fully refunded. Bringing in new customers is just the first step. Retaining them is real success."
"Tomorrow, I'll coordinate with Pengfei and Wenbo on the requirements," Zhuang Rui responded. "It's just a small plugin. We'll try to get it online within two days."
Chen Yansen glanced at the time—almost 10 PM. He stood and urged, "Go home early, or we'll be sleeping on the floor."
Looking at the twenty-odd young people, he felt a pang of guilt. They worked overtime every day. Who said the post-90s generation was lost and hated overtime?
Pay them enough and respect them, and they'd fight to stay.
"Brother Sen, today's gross profit broke 30,000, and the order volume is 6,109!" Hu Yun laughed, excited. "Our first small goal is only 40% away!"
"Yes, yes! If gross profit breaks 300,000, will you never sleep?" Chen Yansen kicked him playfully.
"I've gone without sleep for a week. If it gets us to 300,000 gross profit, it's worth it!" Hu Yun chuckled.
"Whether you all leave or not, I'm going back to sleep." Chen Yansen ignored him, called Wang Zihao, and led the way downstairs.
"Brother Sen, you haven't told me the news you found out this morning?" Wang Zihao asked as soon as they left the park.
"You really remembered?" Chen Yansen stopped, looking at him strangely.
"Tell me quickly!"
"Well, the good news is, Ms. Liu doesn't have a boyfriend." Chen Yansen sighed, hesitating.
"And the bad news?" Wang Zihao's face lit up expectantly.
"The bad news is, Ms. Liu has a fiancé." Chen Yansen finished speaking and ran off.
"That son of a bitch Chen Yansen! He's messing with me again!" Wang Zihao's smile froze. He gave chase, cursing loudly, disturbing even the campus dogs.
People peeked out from nearby dorms, thinking there was a fight.
"Which class are you from? Making such a racket at night instead of sleeping?" A stern voice called from behind.
Damn it! Security!
Chen Yansen glanced back and immediately ran towards the teachers' apartments.
Wang Zihao, a practiced runner, slipped into the student dormitory in a blink.