Chapter 352: I Want a Mother-in-Law

Around ten at night, the night grew increasingly hazy.

Yuan Youqin, along with Feng Nanshu and her dorm mates, enjoyed a delicious meal, strolled down the pedestrian street, and even caught the newly released movie “The Founding of a Nation.” Afterward, she escorted them back to their dorm, truly feeling the joy of having daughters.

College girls aren’t used to this kind of attention, and they were utterly charmed by Jiang Qin’s mom.

That night, back at the dorm and under Gao Wenhui’s organization, the five girls delved deep into the topic of “What kind of mother-in-law do I want in the future?”

I want a mother-in-law like the refreshing wind of the mountains, like the warm light of an old city, from morning till night…

Only Feng Nanshu repeatedly emphasized with a puffed-up face that it was her best friend’s mom they were talking about – so don’t slip up! The thing her big bear feared most was this topic, so they shouldn’t scare him.

Thus, the night chat in Room 503 shifted to “What kind of mom do I want for my future best friend?”

What bad intentions could college girls have? They just like to daydream.

Feng Nanshu sat on the bed, listening to the discussion, her expression like a cute calico cat, her beautiful eyes shimmering with strange colors.

On the other side, Cao Guangyu, regretting his actions after drinking, followed Jiang Qin everywhere – balcony, toilet, bed, inseparable, not content until he was called uncle, otherwise, he felt the money was wasted.

Damn scoundrel!

No wonder he kept toasting my dad, aiming to become my uncle, huh? Serves you right for paying!

But then again, it was originally planned by the family to treat the roommates to a meal, making the roommates pay seemed a bit unreasonable, so Jiang Qin told Cao Guangyu, call me uncle and I’ll refund your money.

“Uncle.”

“Good nephew.”

Cao Guangyu retrieved the lost money, gazing out into the night, lost in thought.

What did I gain after all this effort? Well, I gained an uncle.

“Cao bro, remember this moment. I’m eating your treat every day, even I feel embarrassed,” Zhou Chao muttered while clipping his nails.

Cao Guangyu was furious, thinking there was another who got lucky and acted clever: “You think I wanted this?”

“……”

The next morning, Jiang Qin left the dorm early, taking Su Nai to the city to meet with the technical director and engineers of Lingxi Web, discussing and finalizing some technical services for a third-party aggregated payment platform face-to-face.

Just as Su Nai said, these tech guys are cheeky, asking high prices with no humanity.

Why else do you think post-2009, anyone with an internet-related company can make money lying down? Because if you’re not in the know, you wouldn’t know how to bargain, just assuming the more expensive, the higher the quality.

But Jiang Qin didn’t care about that, slashing prices in half according to the small commodity city’s bargaining habit.

“Thirty.”

“Fifteen.”

The person across hesitated for a long while: “How about this, twenty-eight, a friendly price for President Jiang, introduced by President He, we can’t ask for the sky.”

Jiang Qin thought for a moment: “Fourteen.”

“Why do you lower your price as I lower mine?”

“Cutting the price in half is my usual tactic outside, you can call Old He if you don’t believe me.”

“But logically speaking, as we drop a little, you should raise a bit. We compromise gradually on each other’s terms, reaching a median that everyone accepts, and the deal is done.”

Jiang Qin thought they were incredibly tedious: “Alright, then you call a new price.”

The person across huddled, whispering for a moment: “How about this, a bundled price of thirty-two, and we’ll add some post-maintenance services.”

Jiang Qin hesitated for a long while: “I’ll still offer fourteen.”

“Didn’t you start by cutting in half? Why won’t you raise your offer as we raise ours?”

“That’s all the money I have, it’s all out, how can I raise it?”

Jiang Qin said, turning to his prized programmer: “Do you have anything left? Help me out here.”

Su Nai: “……”

At eleven in the morning, Jiang Qin and Su Nai left the Lingxi website, driving back to Linchuan University. Jiang Qin still felt he hadn’t bargained hard enough; ideally, they’d start at thirty and he’d cut it down to fifteen.

In the end, his heart softened, and they settled on eighteen, a loss of thirty thousand yuan.

“Su Nai, do you think they would have agreed if I had stuck to fourteen?

Su Nai pressed her lips together: “Boss, why don’t you just kill them? I’ll go buy you a knife, and we can make another trip. You threaten them to work, and after they finish, you make them pay.”

“Sounds thrilling, but sadly, the law prohibits.”

Jiang Qin stopped the car at a traffic light, staring at the countdown timer suddenly spoke up: “But this reminded me, the bigger we grow, the more essential it is to build our professional tech team or we’ll suffer losses.”

“What should we do then?”

“Let’s do some social recruiting. Although Pintuan is still in its lurking phase, many things need early preparation. At worst, I’ll support them for half a year, just toss a small project their way to build some team chemistry.”

Su Nai pressed her lips together: “What about the office location?”

“The Pintuan division at Wanzhong isn’t that ready-made?”

“Wanzhong’s division is already at full capacity. Didn’t Tan Qing mention last time, the Business Department and Marketing Department expanded by about forty percent?”

Since the ground promotion of Zhihu began, Jiang Qin hadn’t been to Wanzhong for a long time, almost forgetting about this matter. But no worries, solutions are more plentiful than problems.

“Old He is now based in Shanghai permanently. A local official is better than a distant one, get it? It’s still my call at Wanzhong now. I’ll find time to clear out Old He’s office for our use.”

Su Nai held her breath: “Boss, if we follow your plan, the employee count for Pintuan and Zhihu will continue to increase, especially once Pintuan reaches the ground promotion phase. We’ll probably need to double our manpower.”

Jiang Qin paused: “What are you trying to say?”

“You can’t possibly keep emptying Wanzhong Mall, bit by bit.”

As Su Nai spoke, she visualized a scenario where as the team expanded, with each new wave of people, a Wanzhong merchant’s shop got cleared out for office space.

Well, within a couple of years, Wanzhong Mall would need a name change.

Jiang Qin only shared his website membership with Su Nai, not the visions in his head. Otherwise, he would have been excited.

“Lanlan is currently at Wanzhong. I’ll let her arrange things, coordinate with her schedule. When the time comes, you recruit a team for immediate use.”

“Okay.”

After finalizing the third-party payment matters and preparing for the formation of the tech team, Jiang Qin dropped Su Nai back at the entrepreneurship base Room 208, then drove to his parents’ hotel.

Yuan Youqin and Jiang Zhenghong were out picking outfits for a wedding today. It wasn’t that they valued this wedding so much; it was primarily an occasion for relatives to meet, and maintaining a façade was necessary.

Once, they all lived in the same village. Later, some who went out to work developed well and moved to Linchuan. Although interactions weren’t close, comparing whose life was better during festivals had become the norm.

Especially for the family getting married today, they liked to show off. It’s said the bride’s family was also into business. Given this, the old Jiang family, although not pretending to be wealthy, dressed up reasonably well.

Jiang Qin parked the car, entered the hotel, and immediately saw Jiang Zhenghong trying on tomorrow’s banquet attire, with a particularly conspicuous LV belt catching Jiang Qin’s prolonged gaze.

“Dad, which street stall did you buy this belt from? It’s quite stylish, isn’t it?”

“What street stall? It’s a gift from Nanshu.”

Jiang Qin was startled: “A gift from the little rich girl, really?”

Jiang Zhenghong had no knowledge of luxury brands: “Isn’t a belt just for holding up pants? Is there even a real or fake?”

“Belts are like shoes; they also have branded goods. But why on earth would the little rich girl randomly give you a belt?”

“Didn’t you ask her to bring a CD back for me as a gift when you were home last holiday? I wasn’t keen, but she watches it daily at home, so I gave her the CD, and later she bought me this belt.”

As Jiang Zhenghong spoke, he suddenly remembered the little golden man at the car’s hood, his actions briefly pausing: “This belt wasn’t expensive, was it? If so, I really can’t accept it!”

Jiang Qin pursed his lips: “It wasn’t very expensive, just a few hundred yuan. Just use it, otherwise, she might feel bad about her gift.”

Yuan Youqin came over: “We’re going to the wedding tomorrow and will return to Jizhou afterward. Do you want to come with us?”

“I’ll see if I have classes tomorrow. If I do, I’ll go with you to look around.”

“？”

The couple exchanged glances, thinking their son misspoke. Shouldn’t it be if he doesn’t have classes, he’ll go with them? With such intelligence, they wondered how he managed to start a company.

As they were talking, a knock came from the door. Jiang Qin, who was closest, went over and opened it, finding a cool-looking little rich girl standing there.

She stood on the hallway carpet, her hands clutching the straps of her shoulder bag, embodying the aloof demeanor of a wealthy young lady.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know, probably got the wrong room. I don’t know whose pretty little girl got lost, she’s quite beautiful.” Jiang Qin teasingly held back.

Feng Nanshu squinted her eyes: “Stop it, or I’ll get shy.”

“Why are you shy? You’re my good friend. Besides, I haven’t even asked you how you found this place?”

“I was here last night.”

Jiang Qin leaned on the door frame, looking at her: “How come every time my mom comes, you follow her around and don’t call me out anymore? Got a bit of a wandering heart, eh?”

Feng Nanshu looked at him aloofly: “I wanted to hug you, but you’re always running around.”