Chapter 154: The Boss Buys, Buys, Buys

“Let’s go, it’s delivery time. Let’s go take a look too.”

Jiang Qin returned from the entrance gate waving at the office. The team hurried to put on coats. With umbrellas they headed to the academy road.

Witnessing the delivery riders with yellow caps rush into campus was a unique sight for them.

Seeing others leave Cao Xinyue, Hong Yan and Tang Lin joined following the crowd stepping through soft snow heading north.

Snowfall lightened. Tree branches, rooftops and roads blanketed in white. A trail of shallow footprints led down the snowy path between trees.

The cold wind couldn’t dampen their excitement.

“Look over there, there’s a lot of people.”

Passing dorms Wen Jinrui pointed towards what seemed to be a medical school female dormitory.

Many clustered at the entrance glued to phones waiting.

This first online order had some concerned about being scammed, others curious about group-buying. A crowd gathered at the entrance in anticipation.

Lu Xuemei adjusted her camera focused on the school gate ready for the right moment.

As time passed the crowd grew restless. Suddenly a yellow blur appeared at the gate, then another, and another…

Over twenty group-buy delivery riders wobbled in on tricycles.

Like a lively yellow stream flowing through the snowy school road branching in every direction.

“Wow, that’s so exciting!” Su Nai clenched her fists.

“Xuemei, take pictures! Use those paparazzi skills on me. I’ll use these for the promotional booklet.”

“When did I ever take sneaky pics of you?” Xuemei replied clicking away.

“You snapped me climbing that love tree right? Do a good job or I’ll hang you from it.”

Jiang Qin chuckled recalling the intro to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with people peddling red vehicles handing out flyers. A sight to satisfy any entrepreneur.

Such a scene could only deeply satisfy an aspiring entrepreneur.

“What’s going on downstairs? Snow shoveling volunteers?”

“No, it’s Jiang Qin from our department. He recently started a group-buying site for campus deliveries. Those are his riders.”

“Heh, quite a sight. This Jiang Qin is interesting…”

The Finance Department head gazed out the window. The scattered yellow caps looked like busy ants breaking off at each intersection despite no rehearsal but an orderly beauty.

Surrounding staff gathered biting their lips seeing the grand advertisement grander than their previous school idol contest.

No one expected Jiang Qin to pull off such a feat so soon after the billboard ads.

The riders soon dispersed through the dorm roads.

Whether buyers or onlookers all stepped outside to the building entrance.

“Here they come, the group-buy?”

“Must be, their caps say so right?”

“The quilt I ordered is here, nice and toasty in my room!”

“Damn, they really deliver snacks from the food street?”

“Best part is how cheap it is. I bought slippers for 12 yuan, but 9 with the group discount!”

“Why’s that yellow cap pedaling so slow?”

Looking over they saw one rider lagging far behind loaded down with far more packages than the others.

Not because he lacked effort but his delivery mostly for the Finance dorms, overwhelming for one person.

Dammit this won’t work!

After today he’d need them to re-assign his area.

“Still need to buy more…”

Wearing a white down jacket the beautiful Feng Nanshu stood downstairs peeking from her fur-lined hood, bright eyes shining as she exhaled misting ordering more on her phone.

Her slender jade-like fingers slightly reddened by cold didn’t stop her filling her cart.

“Nanshu, I get it’s Jiang Qin’s group-buy but we’re going to run out of space!”

Gao Wenhui snatched her phone away drawing a confused look.

“Wenhui give it back, just one more order!”

The little rich girl had awoken at 6am to order the second the group-buy went live, silently supporting Jiang Qin with reckless spending.

Though concerning to Gao the cramped dorm could hardly fit more.

“What was that term Jiang Qin used? Spending recklessly? Yeah, you keep that up and I’ll tell on you.”

Nanshu glanced back coldly, “I’m not afraid of him.”

“So you don’t mind if he stops bringing you around, holding your hand or letting the 208 guys call you ‘Boss Lady’?”

“……”

The rich girl’s lips parted in shock, wisps of vapor escaping.

Just then Gao noticed an incoming call from the listed ‘Handsome Bear Honey Thief’.

Tsk, lovebirds everywhere.

Probably Nanshu’s favorite sight.

“Phone call, it’s your boyfriend.” Gao handed it over.

Nanshu coolly answered, “Jiang Qin, I’m hungry let’s get lunch.”

“Before that, why’d you order so much stuff?”

“How’d you know?”

“I can see your number in the backend!”

Nanshu glanced aside emotionless, “Wenhui ordered that stuff.”

Jiang Qin didn’t press, “Doesn’t matter who, don’t order anymore! I’m discounting so the more you buy the more I lose!”

“Oh… then I won’t order anymore.”

“Don’t be a mindless consumer! Why’s there a razor in your cart? Planning to shave your legs?”

Nanshu fell silent dazed, thinking Jiang Qin preferred legs even more than feet.

…

By 12:30pm all deliveries arrived. Dorm aunties began distribution collecting payments.

Not complicated, just requiring care matching orders and collecting fees.

Actually the auntie position tends to be relaxing, passing time sitting around bored. Now interacting with students while earning some side cash wasn’t too burdensome.

“208, two quilts.”

“305, two cases of cola and a box of instant noodles.”

“…”

For the first group-buy most opted for dorm-sized bulk orders simplifying the aunties’ tasks.

Some clever aunties just piled it in the management room letting students fetch orders themselves while collecting money at the door one-by-one.

In any case the first group-buy launch went pretty smoothly without major issues.

Half an hour later Tan Qing and the marketing team arrived to collect payments double checking for missed orders.

Luckily these first-time online shoppers were eager without issues or missed orders.

Though the ‘Boss Lady’ spending was pretty intense…

Over 500 yuan basically a student’s whole monthly budget!

Tan Qing eyed the receipts shaking her head in disbelief.

Rumors around 208 of the rich girl family weren’t unfounded.

Truly a little angel unconcerned with money.

Tan Qing secured the cash bag returning to 208 to reconcile accounts with Xu Yu going over order data and cash totals.

“Boss, the first batch’s total earnings are 6850.5 yuan.”

“How much was lost?”

“A loss of 1078 yuan.”

Jiang Qin nodded. The initial promotion aimed to drive registrations and adoption requiring discounts despite buying inventory at cost from the campus and food street stores. But rider bonuses, wages and auntie commissions all added up to losses.

Not even counting 208 staff salaries yet.

Still, that small change was a drop in the bucket for Jiang Qin able to withstand a few more waves.

“Get ready for tonight’s orders everyone. Lots were watching but now that some have tried it volumes will steadily increase. Expecting a small peak tonight.”

“Got it boss.”

“Wenhao, Feiyu, make a forum post inviting people to share their group-buy experience. Collect some feedback. The rest of you keep hyping us up there.”

“Got it boss.”

As Jiang Qin finished the office filled with typing as 208 sprang into action.