Lin Feng checked the time and decided to return to the dorm.
"You're back," Li Jun said as he walked in. "I was just about to call you. What happened?"
"I just went out to eat and lost track of time," he explained.
They all sat down for their daily meeting.
After getting everyone's reports, they got to work.
When it was time, Lin Feng left to make his deliveries, then joined up with Chen Ming afterward to go through the contracts. They were finalizing the last details before they needed to launch the following day.
Zhang Wei was also busy looking for any possible issues on the deliverers' end of the app, as well as checking to ensure the points system was working properly.
Lin Feng also finalized the contracts with themselves. Now, each of them would be receiving a thousand yuan salary per month.
"It's quite small for our positions," Lin Feng admitted. "But we'll have to deal with it for now."
He continued.
"For extra money throughout the month, anyone can also sign an independent contractor contract and pick up orders like regular deliverers. You'd get paid the same way they do."
He paused.
"Now, the important issue. Taxes."
The others listened carefully.
"At the moment, we're registered as a small-scale VAT taxpayer," he explained. "Our VAT rate is 3%. Surcharges are 12% of VAT. And the CIT effective rate is 10%."
He looked around the room.
"To be honest, we don't have to worry too much about taxes right now. For the part-timers, we'll cut some money from each payment they receive as withholding tax. We'll do the same for our own salaries - the 1,000 yuan I mentioned is after the withholding tax."
He continued.
"This withholding will be filed monthly, all at once, covering the part-timers and ourselves. Of course, it'll be filed alongside VAT and surcharges."
He held up a finger.
"VAT will be 3% of profit after all expenses - including paying ourselves. Of that 3%, surcharges will be 12% of it."
He leaned back.
"As for the remaining money, we'll mostly just reinvest it into the business for the next month."
He paused.
"For CIT, it only matters at the end of the year. When the year ends, we'll count all the profit after all expenses. Of that money, 10% will be our corporate income tax. After that's filed, the amount left will be our real profit."
He looked at each of them.
"From that, 70% will be kept in the business. We'll take 30% and distribute it among ourselves as dividends. After 10% tax of course"
"What do you guys think?" He asked.
They all nodded.
"It sounds reasonable," Li Jun said.
Chen Ming scratched his cheek.
"Everything sounds good, but... the salary..."
Lin Feng sighed.
"At the moment, there really isn't anything we can do about it."
He paused, then offered them a reassuring look.
"That said, looking at how our business is growing, I don't think it'll be long before we can start earning more money and increase our salaries."
He leaned forward.
"By the end of the month, we'll have expanded into the other year groups. And if we make enough money, we might even expand locally within the next three months."
His voice grew more confident.
"When that happens, while we'll be spending more overall, our income will also increase greatly. Then we can pay ourselves even more."
He looked at Chen Ming with a smile.
"Why don't you do some research on the other year groups? And also look into the local market so we can start preparing early for our entry into the real world."
Chen Ming saluted.
"On it, boss."
…
After that, Lin Feng returned to working on the contracts.
When it was time, they had their coding lesson.
It had been exactly three weeks since he had started learning, and he felt his skills had improved quite a bit. Now he could make small projects on his own - and even more complex ones if he put his mind to it.
Another thing - it was as if he had unlocked something in his mind.
Now, although he had only learned Python, seeing other code surprisingly didn't leave him clueless. He could follow the logic behind the language.
He felt he should be able to easily pick up other languages.
Now he shouldn't have any trouble talking with Yu Shen about algorithms.
Well, he might still have some trouble there. But he should be able to understand the core principles.
…
Zhang Wei cleared his throat.
"I've taught you mostly everything you need to know about this language," he said. "Along with some core programming principles."
"Now that we have that out of the way, you can specialize in what you want. With this knowledge, you can easily branch into different areas - whether it's hardcore software, machine learning, web apps..."
He looked at them.
"What do you want to specialize in?"
Li Jun responded instantly.
"Game development."
Zhang Wei turned to Lin Feng.
"And you?"
Lin Feng thought for a moment.
"I don't really have anything I'm particularly interested in, to be honest," he admitted. "I just wanted to understand the core principles, and I have."
He shrugged.
"That said, learning something new isn't bad. There's no need to split our class into two due to different specializations. I'll just learn game development with Li Jun so everything stays the same."
Zhang Wei nodded.
"To be honest, I don't have much knowledge of game development," he said. "And if you wanted to develop a game, the best choice would be to use a popular game engine."
He looked at Li Jun.
"But looking at you, it doesn't seem like you're interested in that."
Li Jun shook his head.
"I want to make my own game the way I want. From the ground up. Without any engine limitations."
Zhang Wei nodded again.
"While I don't know much about game development, I do know quite a bit about C++, which is used to make most of the popular game engines."
He paused.
"I can teach you the core language and best practices. From there, you can figure out how to turn that into a game on your own."
Li Jun nodded.
"Alright then," Zhang Wei said. "First, let's talk about compilers..."