Chapter 138: The Linchuan Forum is in a Bit of a Panic

“Boss, how could you do this? They were being so sarcastic and mocking us earlier. But you’re still participating in their event?”

“Don’t talk about it in the street. Let’s discuss it back at the base.”

Jiang Qin stopped everyone’s complaints with a wave of his hand and led the team from Room 208 back to the entrepreneurship base from the campus store.

It was deep autumn these days. With the windows open in 208, the temperature inside felt a few degrees cooler than the corridor.

Everyone returned to their workstations, ready to hear the boss’s counterattack plan.

Damn it, they copied our painstakingly organized event and reaped the fruits of our labor, and they’re still so arrogant about it. Who can tolerate this?

Remember, when we first held the campus queen pageant, many team members worked late nights preparing for it.

Especially Dong Wenhao, Pang Hai, and Lu Xuemei, students from the East Campus—it was very inconvenient for them to commute, so they sometimes just slept in the office after working on revisions.

The Linchuan Forum has it easy, just taking what we created and using it. Is there no law and order?

Su Nai was still fuming, slamming her chair down aggressively, making the entire office creak and groan.

Hot-blooded college students tend to want to get involved, even in trivial matters. When someone else’s actions hit so close to home, who could stay calm in the short term, except for veteran social recluses like Jiang Qin?

“Boss, if we’re smashing their place or throwing paint, I’m first in line!” Lu Feiyu shouted as soon as he sat down, baring his teeth.

After hearing his suggestion, Yang Shuai rejected it. “Smashing won’t do any good and will just cause trouble. Here’s what we’ll do—I’ll boil some water right now, and we can go pour it on their money tree later!”

Jiang Qin raised an eyebrow. “Good idea. I’ll send you two as the vanguards Genkidama and Galickgun. Don’t worry, I’ll handle the pressure from behind.”

Lu Feiyu’s expression froze. “Boss, what I said earlier was mostly just bluster.”

“Yeah, Boss, I was just talking big too.” Yang Shuai smiled wryly as he sat back down.

“See, you don’t need to act like a bunch of street toughs. Their event will probably fizzle out soon enough. No need to make too big a deal out of it.”

“Why’s that?”

“There’s an essential difference between choosing a campus queen and choosing a top student. Which girls are pretty is something college guys naturally pay attention to in daily life. It has strong entertainment value, just like how guys in dorms discuss girls every night. It’s an active interest. But do guys in dorms ever discuss studying every night?”

After hearing Jiang Qin’s words, Lu Feiyu and Yang Shuai fell into thought.

Discuss studying in the dorm every night?

“That guy xxx has such an amazing problem-solving approach.”

“Being able to solve problems isn’t that useful. It’s xx who has the really strong study habits, never putting his books down. I’m so envious.”

“Do you guys know about xxx? That little girl goes to the library to study every morning and doesn’t come back to the dorm until after she locks herself in at night.”

“Guys, since we can’t sleep anyway, why don’t we have an English poetry recitation session?”

“I have a highlights video of Professor xx’s lectures here. Lock the door, and we can sneak a peek.”

“I bought a postgraduate entrance exam guide yesterday. It’s so well-written, and it even has illustrations!”

“Holy crap, that’s way too much. What kind of dorm is that for people to live in?”

“I get it now. Without discussion, there’s no traffic. Without disagreement, there’s no heat?”

Jiang Qin nodded, then added, “Also, the campus queen is chosen because people have different concepts of beauty, which is easy to cause disagreements. But studying is objectively measured by exams. How can you choose a top student through a website vote?”

Su Nai blinked. “Can’t you?”

Lu Xuemei could understand. “Every year, each department at Linchuan University has scholarship winners and students who win various competitions. It would be hard to choose a ‘study star’ through voting that everyone would accept.”

“Then why are they holding this competition?”

“Pure marketing, I suppose, just to attract attention. But they’re probably overreaching if they think studying can attract attention too. What an international joke.”

Su Nai paused, then opened her laptop. “But Boss, there are already dozens of people signed up on the forum, and they haven’t even handed out flyers yet.”

After pondering for a moment, Lu Feiyu spoke up. “Linchuan has a pretty strong academic culture. Even if it doesn’t have the same heat as the campus queen pageant, people will still participate in this event since winning awards helps with further studies and career prospects. It won’t be a total failure.”

Lu Xuemei nodded too. “The website says this is Linchuan’s first public school-wide academic competition. It must carry a lot of weight.”

“What if they don’t offer any credits?”

“…”

“What if it’s not an official honor recognized by the university?”

“…”

“What if no one even knows about it outside of here?”

“…”

Lu Feiyu paused. “But they can’t possibly not offer any credits, right? This sounds like such a prestigious honor on the surface.”

Su Nai couldn’t help chiming in. “Yeah, Boss, the campus forum is founded by four major universities. For an academic competition, they have to at least offer credits.”

Jiang Qin sighed. “I’ve told you before to look past the surface and see the essence. Let me test you now—what’s the real nature of this event?”

Yang Shuai pondered coolly before confidently answering, “Essentially, it’s a competition.”

Jiang Qin spat at him. “How is that any different from me being handsome? Anyone with eyes can see that. Next!”

“It’s a… commercial event?”

“Right, Xuemei got it. The real purpose of this competition is a commercial event, meant for promotion and attracting customers. If voting for milk tea gets you more credits, how is that different from buying credits with money? Do you think the real top students would agree to that? If this blows up, who would take responsibility?”

Lu Feiyu’s mouth twisted. “Holy crap, so there are no credits, no official recognition, and after making such a grandiose name, claiming it’s the first school-wide academic competition, the real prize is just a discount on driving school?”

Su Nai pursed her lips. “Then why are people still signing up?”

“Because everyone is like you and assumes the old forum is serious and proper. Suddenly holding a competition must mean it’s a huge honor, at least offering a lot of credits to earn. As long as they get people to misunderstand that, attracting customers for the campus store and driving school, their goal is achieved. As for the results, they don’t care, just like how we don’t care who the campus queen is.”

“Holy crap, they’re so evil, like animals!”

Jiang Qin’s face darkened. “Don’t insult people like that. I suspect you’re talking about me too. Our campus queen pageant didn’t even offer a driving discount.”

Lu Xuemei disagreed. “But the campus queen title carries a halo effect. I’ve heard people in the cafeteria discussing the first and second campus queens. Guys can say they helped choose Linchuan’s campus queen. But what’s the point of being a ‘study star’ that’s just voted on? The winner might not have even won any scholarships. They wouldn’t be able to show off about it, right?”

“Xuemei, you’re actually comforting people now. You really have grown up and become a proper lady.”

Lu Xuemei scoffed. “You used to say I was just a naive young girl who couldn’t see straight. I didn’t expect you to actually praise me.”

Jiang Qin immediately changed the subject, his sharp gaze sweeping across everyone’s faces. “As new-era college students, can we just stand by while our classmates are being scammed like this?”

Su Nai shook her head. “No, we have to tell them the truth!”

“Right, so we need to make everyone realize this competition is worthless and pure marketing.”

“How do we do that?”

“Since they’re deliberately being vague with promises like it being the ‘first school-wide competition’, we need to make them come out and admit themselves that they’re offering nothing, that this so-called ‘honor’ might not even be recognized by the school, and that they’re only doing this for marketing purposes.”

“But that’s so hard. Why would they listen to us?” Su Nai couldn’t figure it out.

Jiang Qin smiled slightly and opened his laptop, starting a new discussion thread on the official forum.

‘Shocking! It’s said the Study Star Competition offers huge rewards—the top ten can get direct postgraduate recommendation letters! Sign up now!’

After making the post, Jiang Qin turned to the others. “Everyone, reply to the thread with the following comments based on what I say.”

“No way, the postgrad recommendation is fake, but insider info says this competition definitely carries as much weight as a provincial-level competition!”

“The guy above just left the internet cafe. I heard the top ten Study Stars will become important criteria for professors selecting students?”

“It’s not that exaggerated, it’ll just heavily influence scholarship allocation.”

“The Study Star winners will be interviewed by the Linchuan Youth Daily. That newspaper has a big impact and can really help with further studies and career prospects.”

Jiang Qin imitated various tones of voice, each one confident and elegant.

“???”

Although confused by this scene, the team in 208 still followed orders, not only leaving comments but also driving traffic from their own forum.

Half an hour later, in a certain comprehensive office, the admin managing the old forum noticed Jiang Qin’s thread and immediately panicked after opening it.

“Who said you could get postgrad recommendations?”

“And scholarships and newspaper interviews? Are these students crazy?”

“What fantasy world are they living in to dream up stuff like this? No sane person would believe it!”

But the uninformed students were extremely excited, especially those who didn’t study well and never dared to dream of scholarships before. Yet this time, they might be able to get one just by voting, and even get postgrad recommendations? Who wouldn’t be thrilled?

Countless messages poured in, asking if these claims were true.

Naive and hot-blooded college students were easily led to stir up a frenzy under this kind of guidance.

The admin’s scalp started to tingle. When they originally planned the event, they deliberately didn’t clarify these details, specifically to ensure student participation.

But…now the impact was growing more and more exaggerated. If they didn’t clarify it, there was likely to be backlash later.

“Mr. Li, Mr. Li, come take a look at this! Someone is spreading rumors saying our competition can get you postgrad recommendations.”

“Huh?”

The Linchuan Forum was co-founded by four major universities, and the person in charge at Linchuan University was this Mr. Li.

He glanced at the thread’s content, his eyelids twitching.

“Quickly issue an announcement clarifying that the postgrad recommendation thing is a rumor! This is just a competition organized to promote an academic atmosphere and motivate everyone to study harder. It has no other meaning!”

“But…then no one will participate, right?”

“Even if no one participates, we still need to clarify it. What if someone demands a postgrad recommendation after the competition ends? If we don’t explain it now, we won’t be able to explain it later!”