104: Reject 996, starting with Red Star.

"Mr. Chen, I've followed your instructions and purchased 8 mi 3 phones."

"Among them, 3 are from the snapdragon 800 platform, and 5 are from the Nvidia Tegra 4 platform."

Shen Rou reported to Chen Chen.

"Was this done discreetly?"

"Rest assured, Mr. Chen," Shen Rou replied. "The sellers have no idea who was buying them at a premium."

"I arranged for people to go to Langcheng for offline transactions. They drove back to the company after the deals were done, so it's unlikely anyone will discover we were the ones acquiring them."

"Mhm, very good."

After hearing Shen Rou finish, Chen Chen nodded repeatedly.

He had said long ago that Shen Rou was definitely a talent; having her serve only as his assistant was truly a waste of her potential.

Chen Chen never underestimated the capabilities of this generation's netizens. Even the slightest clue might allow them to dig out who was pulling the strings behind the scenes.

If all the buyers were their own people, and if someone's mouth wasn't tight enough and exposed the matter, it would be a huge blow to Red Star's brand.

"Once the phones arrive, send them to Dr. Zhou immediately. Actually, never mind—come with me to see Old Zhou."

Chen Chen thought about it and decided to go to the lab. It was better to give Dr. Zhou his instructions in person.

Arriving at the Red Star Laboratory, he pulled Dr. Zhou into an office and said:

"Dr. Zhou, Shen Rou will have someone deliver several mi 3 generation units tomorrow. Can you find the flaws in the mi 3 Mobile version within three days?"

"Mr. Chen, three days? This..."

Dr. Zhou didn't dare give a guaranteed affirmative answer.

Since a phone was on the market, it must have undergone a series of internal tests before being released.

Trying to find design flaws and shortcomings in a phone in just three days was a bit too rushed. After all, the lab needed to conduct experiments to identify a phone's pros and cons.

Chen Chen had calculated that three days was enough to test the mi 3. Then, he would use a week for online public opinion to ferment. Finally, when his own red star 3 was released, even if Lei Jun guessed that Red Star was behind it, he would be helpless.

I'm not spreading rumors; I'm just telling the truth. What, is your waist thicker than everyone else's, Lei Jun? Are people not allowed to mention it if a phone has flaws?

Moreover, he wouldn't have any evidence.

"Three days is enough."

"You don't need to do overly detailed tests. Just record the data and find the issues with the mi 3's processor."

"I have a few experimental directions for you: start with heat generation, network standards, and application compatibility."

"You don't need to do basic tests. Things like calls will definitely pass."

"Especially the heat generation during application usage—the data records must be detailed."

Hearing Chen Chen say they only needed to test those few aspects, Dr. Zhou was no longer worried about the time. These were a piece of cake. If they had to start from the most basic tests, three days definitely wouldn't have been enough.

"No problem. I can definitely get the data to you in three days, Mr. Chen."

"At worst, I'll have the employees work some overtime."

Of course, Dr. Zhou didn't say that out loud. Instead, he was more curious about why Chen Chen seemed to have been targeting Dami Company ever since he took over Red Star.

"Old Zhou, it's fine for employees to work overtime, but the overtime hours must be recorded properly. Red Star cannot give them a single penny less in overtime pay."

"Oh, oh, okay, Mr. Chen."

Dr. Zhou was puzzled. He had just been thinking about making his employees work overtime, and Mr. Chen immediately said the overtime pay couldn't be shorted. Could he read minds?

Chen Chen didn't know anything about mind reading. He didn't really understand much about building morale or charisma. It went back to the same principle: just give the employees enough compensation.

To make company employees work with total devotion, you have to hand out money!

Therefore, Chen Chen was never stingy when it came to bonuses.

Before he transmigrated, he had worked like a beast for his company, doing overtime to meet deadlines and finish projects, only to end up with a salary of 3,500.

As for overtime pay? Don't even think about it. When he resigned, they even deducted all his bonuses. Who wouldn't curse eight generations of such a company's ancestors?

Since he was the boss in this life—and the boss of a large group at that—he certainly couldn't be stingy with his employees. If they worked overtime, there had to be overtime pay!

"Shen Rou, take a note. From now on, unless it's an exceptionally urgent project, the company strictly forbids making employees work overtime."

"Also, regarding the people at Starlight OS, tell them that even voluntary overtime is not allowed. Our self-developed system project won't succeed overnight. Tell Zhao Zhijie that if I find his people working overtime again, I'll dock his bonus!"

"Understood, Mr. Chen. I've noted it down."

"Mr. Chen, what about me? Does being on standby at all times count as overtime?"

Shen Rou smiled and cracked a joke with Chen Chen.

"Haha, you don't count. This is your job description, and your bonus already covers all of that."

After he said that, they all laughed.

Chen Chen thought to himself that he wasn't President Pei. If he had President Pei's money-losing system, he would have doubled the employees' benefits long ago.

996 is a blessing—although Jack Ma was the one who said this, he wasn't actually the first to implement 996.

Lei Jun had said in an interview that his early employees all worked 996 "voluntarily."

Yes, "voluntary" indeed. When a mass email is sent out calling for it, the employees naturally can only be "voluntary."

In fact, Red Star wasn't the only one testing the mi 3. Companies like Huawei, Meizu, and OV were all conducting intensive tests.

Except for Mr. Huang of Meizu, whose motives were unclear, and Chen Chen, who already knew the Nvidia Tegra 4 had issues, the other companies were all testing to see how the Tegra 4 processor actually performed.

If the performance and power consumption were acceptable, it would mean another choice for their own phones.

Furthermore, the Tegra 4 was cheaper than the snapdragon 800, and its on-paper performance was stronger than MediaTek's.

Because the mi 3 was sold as in-stock items this time, the first batch of devices quickly reached many users.

Unboxing and review videos were also being released by various phone bloggers.

Among the current phone circle bloggers, it might be hard to rank the most popular one, but the top few were definitely An Old Fish, Number One in the Phone Circle, and a new blogger called Dabai Talks Tech.

There used to be a blogger called Old Zhang Talks Tech, but it was unknown if he had overstuffed himself with free meals or what, as he had basically vanished.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hao Yang. Today, I'm going to talk about my thoughts on the mi 3 generation."

"First is the appearance of this phone. It's definitely thin and light. Dami has changed its previous design, and the whole device is full of a strong business vibe."