68: Chapter 68 Procurement of Office Supplies

Hearing Qiao Linlin's words, a flash of understanding crossed Chen Fan's eyes.

He had still underestimated the attraction of a 4,000 yuan salary to workers in Chang'an in 2010.

For a student who had just finished their junior year and was still in the internship stage, this figure was indeed enough for her to let go of her obsession with finding a job directly related to her major.

After this brief communication, he had a pretty good understanding of Qiao Linlin's situation, and Chen Fan decided to choose Qiao Linlin for the administrative position.

It was mainly because of her excellent resume and her knowledge of English; her beauty was secondary.

"Alright, I understand your situation. I want to ask one last question."

"Please go ahead~"

"If you pass the interview, can you start today?"

"Today?"

"Yes. As you can see, I'm the only person in the company right now. Various things haven't been purchased yet, so I need an administrator to handle that."

"Of course. President Chen, starting today is no problem at all."

"Alright, I've got the gist of your situation." Chen Fan looked at her. "I don't have any more questions."

He paused, his tone softening slightly. "How about you? Is there anything you want to know about the company?"

She thought for a moment and asked tentatively, "President Chen, what is our company's main business?"

"Game development," Chen Fan answered briefly.

Qiao Linlin nodded thoughtfully and asked again, "Then... what is the current scale of the company?"

"It's just what you see." Chen Fan smiled. "Right now it's just me, but I'll be hiring more people over the next half month. All the basic positions will be filled."

Qiao Linlin nodded, hesitated, and then asked a more practical question: "President Chen, I want to confirm... the salary and benefits... everything written on the recruitment website will be honored, right?"

Chen Fan was amused by her bluntness. "4,000 yuan, weekends off, the five social insurances and one housing fund—not a single thing will be missing. Three months probation, and after you become a permanent employee, your salary will increase by 500."

A visible look of relief appeared on Qiao Linlin's face, but then she showed a hint of embarrassment. "One more question... it might be a bit forward."

"Go ahead."

"The company was just founded, and I'm the first employee... I want to confirm if the company's funding is... stable?"

Chen Fan glanced at her, not feeling offended.

"Rest assured about that. Although it's a startup, the registered capital is one million yuan, fully paid-in. There won't be funding issues in the short term, and more capital will be injected later if needed."

Qiao Linlin's eyes widened slightly.

She had originally thought this was just a small company cobbled together with whatever money could be found, but she hadn't expected the boss's backing to be much more substantial than she imagined.

With one million in paid-in capital, at least she didn't have to worry about the company being unable to pay her salary.

"President Chen, I have no more questions."

"Alright, in that case," Chen Fan paused, and under Qiao Linlin's expectant gaze, he spoke slowly: "Congratulations, you've passed the interview."

"Thank you, President Chen!" Qiao Linlin's tone was full of pleasant surprise.

"Then I'm officially an employee now, right?"

"Yes. Since you've already started, I happen to have something I need you to do."

"What is it?" Qiao Linlin sat up straight.

"Go buy some paper, pens, folders, and other office supplies—basically whatever the office is missing. Just buy them all. I'll reimburse you later."

Qiao Linlin nodded, but hesitated again, asking tentatively, "President Chen... how much should I buy? Is there a budget? Also, do I need to get an official invoice?"

"No need for an invoice; it's only a few hundred yuan worth of stuff. Here," Chen Fan took out his wallet and counted out five 100-yuan bills. "Take this 500 yuan. Use this first, and just give me back whatever's left when you're done."

"President Chen, this... there's no need to give me money upfront. I can pay for it myself first and get reimbursed later."

"Just take it." Chen Fan handed the money forward. "It's your first day on the job; it wouldn't be right to make you pay out of pocket."

"Alright then, President Chen, I'll go buy them now."

"Mhm, go ahead. Take the office key with you."

As Chen Fan spoke, he handed her a key.

After Qiao Linlin left, Chen Fan also left the office.

He was going to purchase computers.

He had originally thought about letting Qiao Linlin handle the purchase, but after thinking it over, he felt it wasn't appropriate.

After all, it was tens of thousands of yuan worth of equipment; he wasn't comfortable letting a girl handle that.

Furthermore, girls generally didn't understand computer configurations.

So Chen Fan decided to go buy them himself.

He knew a bit about computer specs. In his previous life, he had assembled his own computer—a legendary machine with a Jingyue CPU that only cost him 1,000 yuan in total.

After arriving at the computer mall, in less than an hour, he had negotiated a price at one of the shops.

Ten office computers at 3,100 yuan each, equipped with i5 processors and 4GB of RAM—enough for the programmers and artists to use for now.

His own machine was higher-spec, with an i7 processor and a dedicated graphics card, costing over 8,000. Adding an all-in-one printer and copier, the total came to just under 40,000 yuan.

He would buy these few for now and add other configurations once the rest of the staff were hired.

Because the company was making games, different positions required different computer performance.

Chen Fan didn't know much about the specific performance needed for game development either; he would just let the relevant personnel provide the required specs once they were hired.

...

It was just past 1 PM.

Chen Fan returned to the company.

He had already arranged with the computer mall to have the computers delivered and installed shortly.

He leaned back in his office chair and closed his eyes for a short nap.

Qiao Linlin pushed open the office door and walked in.

Chen Fan opened his eyes and looked at her.

At this moment, after several hours of running around outside, Qiao Linlin's hair was slightly messy, a thin layer of sweat remained on her face, and her chest was heaving slightly.

"President Chen, I've bought the office supplies." She placed the bags on the desk. "Paper, pens, folders, staplers, glue, sticky notes... See if anything is missing, and I'll go buy it this afternoon."

Chen Fan glanced into the bags. She had bought a comprehensive set of items, more detailed than he had expected.

"Good work." Chen Fan nodded with satisfaction.

Qiao Linlin pursed her lips and smiled, then suddenly remembered something and pulled a piece of paper and a stack of change from her pocket.

"President Chen, these supplies cost four hundred and thirty yuan in total," Qiao Linlin said as she pulled the remaining money and a receipt from her pocket and handed them to Chen Fan. "Here is the remaining seventy."

Chen Fan took the money and nodded. "Okay."

"Then I'll go tidy things up first." Qiao Linlin pointed to the office supplies on the desk.

"Go ahead."

Qiao Linlin picked up the bags, turned, and left the office.

Soon, the merchant from the computer mall delivered and installed the printer and computers.

Of the ten i5 computers, one was placed at the front desk, the rest were in the office area, and the one costing over 8,000 was naturally installed in Chen Fan's office.

By the time all the computers were installed, it was already 2:30 PM.

In another half hour, Chen Fan would begin interviewing again.

...