Chapter 139: Jiang Zhihua Has an Ominous Premonition

Though the Linchuan Campus Forum was co-founded by four major universities, its status has always been rather awkward.

It didn’t fully belong to Linchuan University, Linchuan University of Science and Technology, University of Technology or Normal University. Plus, its low traffic meant its current treatment was just a burden brought by its stepmother.

It had no right to set school awards or control credit allocation, so it was very cautious in every aspect. The only thing it could use was the “official” gimmick.

Why did it cooperate with Tonghang Driving School and the Academy Supermarket on an event?

On one hand, it was to gain some traffic. On the other, it was to get operating funds from the two big partners.

But it absolutely dared not deceive students or use things like postgraduate recommendations or scholarships to lure people into commercially-tied activities.

Such things were not something a small forum like them could handle. If any bad impact occurred and they were held accountable, Mr. Li would lose even his job.

So within half an hour after the thread, the Linchuan Campus Forum issued a clarifying announcement.

It said this competition had no special meaning, only aiming to boost university students’ enthusiasm for learning and cultivate a good academic atmosphere within Linchuan University. As for postgraduate recommendations, those were absolutely groundless. The forum reserved all final interpretation rights regarding this event.

“Teacher, we’ll at least get credits, right?”

“Um… no.”

Hearing this reply, students scattered, cursing that they were lied to. If there weren’t any credits, they should have just said so clearly. They made everyone misunderstand.

It was like taking off their pants only to show them Teletubbies.

“Mr. Li, twelve students just deregistered their accounts.”

“It’s okay…”

“Should we notify the Academy Supermarket and Tonghang Driving School?”

“No need. Pretend we don’t know. Let’s get the event funds first, this lousy idea was proposed by that Jiang guy anyway. It won’t fall on us.”

“But… What if Manager Jiang and Manager Niu ask to see the backend data?”

“Temporarily hide it. Tell them the situation is great no matter what.”

Mr. Li replied calmly, but inwardly cursed, wondering who was the bastard spreading such rumors.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qin was sitting in Professor Yan’s office, asking him to write two introduction letters, one for connecting with the University of Technology and one for the Normal University.

After the University of Science and Technology’s campus queen pageant ended, the group-buy operation would start trial runs at Linchuan University.

At that time, the team’s focus would shift from promotion to monetization.

And after the trial run ended, the fragrant winter break would soon arrive. This window wasn’t suitable for new promotional activities, because unlike National Day, winter break was too long and any event’s traffic would definitely drop.

But idling wasn’t Jiang Qin’s style. He planned to use this interval to build connections and tap into social networks.

If he could win over the people in charge at the University of Technology and Normal University first, he could directly promote activities there in the spring, which would accelerate the forum’s growth to some degree.

Although Ye Ziqing’s words were a bit impractical, one line was worth pondering.

If promotion was held back by monetization, then he could only make money in a small scope later and absolutely wouldn’t be able to keep up with internet trends.

So monetization had to be done, but promotion couldn’t stop either.

“Professor, you write the introduction letters first. I’ll pour you some tea!”

Professor Yan took off his reading glasses and looked at him expressionlessly. “I feel like I’m just a tool for you now.”

Jiang Qin grinned and brought the teacup over. “How can you say that, Professor? You’re my godfather now.”

“Nonsense. I’m old enough to be your grandfather!”

“Grandfather definitely won’t work. Being called godfather could get me beaten. You’re a teacher, so it’s reasonable to call you a father figure for life.”

Professor Yan thought this was all nonsense. “Alright, just go back. I’ll have someone send the letters to you once they’re done. No need to keep coming by and blinding me.”

“Okay then, but be sure to use the phrase ‘work-study program.’ Don’t write it wrong!”

When Jiang Qin returned from the general office, he heard cheering even before entering. He basically knew the Linchuan Campus Forum must have taken some action.

“Boss, they really issued a clarifying announcement.” Su Nai looked incredulous.

Jiang Qin wasn’t surprised at all. “Impacting postgraduate recommendation results and deciding scholarship allocation, that hat was too big for them. Things they didn’t have to clarify before now must be clarified.”

“So what should we do now?”

“Sign up to participate!”

“Huh?”

Jiang Qin glanced at Wen Jinrui. “Jinrui, don’t you still lack a driver’s license? No one’s probably going to participate in this event anymore. You can’t miss this half-price driving school opportunity!”

Wen Jinrui realized it. “Oh right, I still need to get my license. I can learn driving at half price!”

Yang Shuai froze for a moment. “Damn, I think I also don’t have a license.”

“Everyone without a license, sign up. Later, Nai can see if she can make an auto-registration program to brush votes or something, just to be safe.”

After speaking, Jiang Qin also logged onto the Linchuan Campus Forum, completed the registration form he hadn’t finished, and uploaded a handsome photo.

Su Nai watched confusedly. “Boss, don’t you already have a driver’s license? Why are you participating too?”

“Yeah, I have one, but I also have a mother who dares to hit me.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Jiang Qin sighed. “To be honest, I’m probably going to fail calculus this semester. It’s not good to go home for New Year’s without an explanation, but if I have a ‘Study Star’ trophy, wouldn’t that be better?”

Su Nai stared blankly after hearing this. “You’re using one thing to scam multiple groups of people?”

Jiang Qin corrected her tone, “Let’s not use the word ‘scam.’ I’m just trying to let my dear mother have a good New Year’s.”

Su Nai replied, “Oh.”

“Also, having an exclusive milk tea cup would be so cool. I wonder how Auntie Jiang would feel facing my milk tea cup every day? She’d probably be delighted.”

Su Nai’s scalp went numb after hearing this, thinking, “Boss, your heart is so dirty. If I were Auntie Jiang, I wouldn’t even want the shop anymore!”

At this moment, Lu Feiyu couldn’t help but chime in, “Boss, who knows, maybe Auntie Jiang will fall for you after looking at it for a long time. Then you won’t have to start a business, you can just be a kept man.”

“?”

Jiang Qin gave him a look full of cold laughter and scorn.

Just for opening a supermarket on campus, you dare call her a “little rich girl”? You must be lowering the standards for that term. A real little rich girl would give you an ice-cold stare if she heard that.

…

The next morning at dawn, the autumn wind was chilly and the weather turned cold.

The owner of the Academy Supermarket, Jiang Zhihua, hired some students to hand out flyers at her supermarket’s entrance.

The flyers advertised things like the “Study Star Competition” and “Linchuan University’s First School-wide Competition.”

These ads were made by someone she hired. The Academy Supermarket’s name and logo were the biggest and most eye-catching, aiming for an impactful advertising effect.

But after handing them out all morning, very few students were willing to take them. Some even pushed the distributors away after seeing the content.

At the same time, Niu Shangtian was also handing out flyers at an intersection ahead with his staff. His ads were printed by the driving school itself, also with Tonghang Driving School’s logo and name being the largest, but they were also rejected.

“Seems like we’re having a hard time here, Manager Jiang. Are your flyers easy to hand out?”

“Not easy at all. Even if they take it, it gets thrown away quickly.”

Manager Niu was puzzled. “Is it because we didn’t make them into fans? I remember Jiang Qin handed out fans before. Should we try making advertising fans?”

Jiang Zhihua immediately shook her head. “But look at the weather, winter is almost here. Hand out fans?”

“But it shouldn’t be like this. The driving school ads I printed before didn’t even have pictures, just red paper and black text, but they weren’t this hard to hand out. Some people even took them and immediately threw them in the trash.”

“Never mind, let’s just keep having them hand them out. Let’s go to Mr. Li’s place first and check the data.”

After discussing it, Jiang Zhihua and Niu Shangtian dumped all the flyers on the part-time student workers, then went to the office in charge of the campus forum.

Mr. Li wasn’t there at the moment. There was only a student admin monitoring the backend data in the room.

“Xiao Jin, how are the backend numbers?”

The admin deeply remembered Mr. Li’s instructions from yesterday to say “the situation is great” no matter what when asked about the backend data.

Jiang Zhihua raised the corner of her mouth, thinking “great” was good. The event had just started, so university students’ acceptance rate was probably still low, but it would likely improve in a couple days.

However, Manager Niu was fixated on seeing the data. Although he didn’t know if he could understand it, he still wanted to have a grasp on the numbers.

“No need to look, Manager Niu. The situation is great!”

“Oh, okay…”

In the end, neither of them saw what the backend data actually looked like. After hearing “the situation is great,” they were slightly reassured and returned to the streets to continue handing out flyers and building hype.

Jiang Qin happened to be driving by. When he reached the roadside, he couldn’t help rolling down the window and waving at the two of them. “Manager Niu, Auntie Jiang, handing out flyers? Give me one to take a look!”

“…”

Niu Shangtian and Jiang Zhihua glanced at each other, not expecting this young university student to have such thick skin. After they spoke so harshly yesterday, he was still able to smile.

“President Jiang, you should also support our competition.”

Jiang Qin immediately nodded. “No problem, I’ll have my classmates pass it around and take a look later!”

Manager Niu’s gaze was a bit dazed, thinking university students were quite good people.

“Oh right, Auntie Jiang, are you in charge of the materials? Be sure to make the trophy look impressive, best if there’s a certificate with an official seal.”

“?”

Jiang Zhihua looked at him, suddenly feeling an ominous premonition rising from the depths of her heart.

What did he care how good the trophy looked?

Weirdo!