Chapter 413: Complex Connections: Seeking Monthly Tickets!

“How has my dad been feeling lately?”

“Not bad, he can down two KFC family buckets in one go without breaking a sweat.”

“He can eat that much?” Liu Yin widened her eyes, “Then I’m relieved.”

At this moment, Jiang Qin turned to look at Ye Ziqing and found her looking back, but she appeared tired and much more haggard.

Suixin Group recently faced extremely adverse conditions; they split a 10 million investment into two phases, investing the larger portion in the Shanghai market and the smaller one to hold the fort in Shanghai.

The end result was that they couldn’t make it work in Shanghai, and their market position in Shanghai was gradually eaten away.

Actually, it’s a simple matter of addition and subtraction.

Combined, Nuomi and LaShou received 30 million in financing; now, these two joining forces makes competing against them seem even easier than child’s play.

Ye Ziqing felt like she was riding a bicycle downhill, continually going downhill, but with brakes that had failed, leaving her no choice but to keep moving forward, hoping to eventually go uphill.

But when a company can no longer seek solutions internally and must look externally, it’s no longer under their control.

However, what struck Ye Ziqing the most wasn’t just the current hardships but the group-buying food festival a while ago.

Like hungry wolves, competitors invaded her turf ceaselessly feeding off the market she had worked hard to build, and she could do nothing to retaliate, leaving her in constant anxiety.

In contrast, these “hungry wolves” were beaten back when they entered Jiang Qin’s territory, retreating like defeated dogs.

The stark contrast really highlighted the gap between them.

Although Ye Ziqing spent time reassuring herself that it was okay, the college town environment was different from the national market, and this didn’t mean she was less competent, just that the situations were different.

Yet, at the moment she saw Jiang Qin, she still felt inferior to him.

Many crises and troubles had made her realize only after facing them, how she shouldn’t have acted in certain ways.

Reflecting on two years ago, when she was persuading Jiang Qin to make a move, he had already advised her against it.

Meaning, the person she thought was short-sighted was actually the one with a far-reaching vision, while her idea of long-term development repeatedly led to dead ends.

Although Jiang Qin had the geographical advantage of the college town and didn’t plan to enter the national market, just from the perspective of vision, she already felt slightly inferior.

Ye Ziqing, as a riche, didn’t lack money. What drove her wasn’t a desire for wealth but a thirst for success.

She wanted to rise from where she had fallen, to surpass her past self and prove her worth to those who doubted her, especially Jiang Qin.

Initially, she had humbly and earnestly urged Jiang Qin to enter the national market, only to be repeatedly rejected. He even told her she made a good vanguard, but not a good leader.

So, she really wanted to expand Suixin Group, to make Jiang Qin regret his stance.

But looking back, she realized that along the way, she hadn’t made Suixin Group larger or stronger but instead gradually proved how right Jiang Qin had been.

“Jiang Qin, Suixin Group is at a critical phase of development. Could I ask for some advice?”

“…”

As she finished speaking, except for Tan Qing and Jiang Qin, who remained unperturbed as if it were expected, the rest of the student entrepreneurs were bewildered.

“Asking for advice is too much, because I can’t teach, but discussing is possible,” Jiang Qin responded, his words implying that while he couldn’t cure her problem, he could tell her when it might end.

“Could we change the location?”

Ye Ziqing glanced at the nearby student entrepreneurs. This strong woman could allow herself occasional admissions of failure but wouldn’t let others know.

Jiang Qin put down his wine glass and motioned Tan Qing and three others to move from the southeast corner of the gathering to another corner.

At this, the student entrepreneurs breathed a sigh of relief, their stiff postures slightly relaxing.

The business scene is also about relationships. Even if those within similar industries aren’t directly connected, they are certainly not strangers.

The circle works exactly on this principle.

Consider a situation where a sugar seller dominates the market for a long time, making a fortune. When people’s mindset shifts to health consciousness, suddenly an insulin seller appears and also makes a fortune.

A deeper investigation might shockingly reveal, “Damn, these two enterprises are actually related! All this suckers’ money has gone to them.”

Thus, from ancient times, those who first make contact with new industries are always from the same circle.

Even so, no one would have thought that the woman walking hand in hand with Ye Ziqing would suddenly call Jiang Qin “uncle.”

And she did so very naturally, without any discomfort, Jiang Qin responding as if it were completely natural, as if it should be that way.

What’s most astounding is that Suixin Group, currently the third-largest group-buying site, and Ye Ziqing having to ask Jiang Qin for advice was unimaginable.

At this moment, to these college students, Jiang Qin seemed like a millennium-old tree in the group-buying industry, with deep roots and a complex, intertwined network of relationships, and very high seniority.

Realizing this, Song Yaqian blinked lost in thoughts, staring at Jiang Qin not far away.

Meanwhile, Guo Feng secretly picked up Jiang Qin’s wine glass and sprinkled a bit onto the table.

Because of the lace design of the tablecloth, the cola poured on it easily foamed up.

This scene left everyone speechless, thinking, “Jesus, it’s just cola. If he hadn’t mentioned it, they’d have thought his glass was poisoned!”

“That Jiang Qin…”

“Founder of Pintuan, Linchuan University’s first ‘Study Star,’ a Linchuan young entrepreneur, the Linchuan chamber’s leader, boss of Zhihu Campus…”

“?”

Everyone followed the sound and saw Zhang Wenchao holding his phone, displaying a full screen of news updates.

Hearing those titles didn’t evoke much feeling, but when they heard he was also the boss of Zhihu Campus, the impression changed entirely.

They are all college students, and in these years, if anything is popular in the colleges, it’s surely Zhihu Campus.

These older students were somewhat okay since Zhihu wasn’t around when they were in college, but the juniors behind them rely entirely on Zhihu.

In fact, many have shifted their social circles from real life to Zhihu. They aren’t very close with their classmates but consider fellow Zhihu users as close confidants.

“Is it the same person?”

“Yes… uh, or maybe not.”

“So is it or isn’t it?”

“Don’t know, why does this news write ‘beast’ as ‘bird’?”

“…”

The gathering didn’t last long. After all, the main event, the industry exchange conference, was the next day, so before ten, some bosses began to leave.

Song Yaqian, Guo Feng, and Zhang Wenchao also followed the crowd out and saw several dapper bosses striding out, supporting each other’s arms, saying they were going to get a foot massage.

Foot massage?

Hearing this delightful keyword, Guo Feng and Zhang Wenchao couldn’t help but perk up their ears.

“Is President Chen treating?”

“Why not, if I’m treating, I’m treating.”

“Since President Chen is treating, I must order the most expensive one, haha!”

They were standing at the side of the banquet hall entrance making way for the departing bosses when they heard this and exchanged looks.

So, ordering the most expensive item when someone else is treating is the top social etiquette in this circle, no wonder when Song Yaqian invited them for milk tea, Jiang Qin immediately ordered the most expensive one.

They were actually responding with high-class social etiquette, and they, being naive, didn’t catch on and even doubted whether his watch was fake.

Damn, society is really too complicated.

Meanwhile, Song Yaqian suddenly saw Jiang Qin and Ye Ziqing’s group walking out of the hall, waving goodbye at the door. After Ye Ziqing left, Kang Jingtao and Liao Dong also came over to say something but were dismissed with a wave of a hand.

Seeing this, Song Yaqian pursed her lips, wondering whether to ask for a contact number.

On the other side, Ye Ziqing, Cui Yiting, and Liu Yin reached the underground garage and saw Zhou Zhenhao squatting and smoking.

Although every member of Suixin Group was under great pressure, Zhou Zhenhao felt it the most.

He had been fighting alone in the Shanghai market, often without a chance to even discuss issues with others. This stress was something he could only shoulder alone, which is why he had taken the opportunity of the industry conference to come and clear his mind.

“Zhenhao, shall we go?”

“Where were you guys? I looked around for a while and didn’t see you.”

“We went to see Jiang Qin to ask for some advice on how to escape our current situation.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhenhao was taken aback and his expression darkened.

In a pride of lions, there can only be one alpha male, and for Zhou Zhenhao, he was the only real man in their trio, standing tall and proud.

He found it hard to believe that when faced with trouble, the two women didn’t consult with him but sought advice from another man, which to him was almost an insult.

“The college student market has natural barriers, any dog could manage it. What could you possibly learn from consulting him?”

“Large and small scales are completely different business models, plus our market environments are different. If he’s so capable, why doesn’t he dare to try the national market?”

“You really panicked.”

Zhou Zhenhao unbuttoned his suit and took a deep breath: “So what did you learn from consulting?”

Ye Ziqing sighed, “Jiang Qin suggested we sell.”

“Sell? Is that supposed to be advice? If we were willing to sell, we wouldn’t need his suggestion, would we?”

Actually, the mindset of Ye Ziqing, Cui Yiting, and Zhou Zhenhao were similar—Suixin Group was still among the top three group-buying sites, many sites were not even close to their level, yet they still struggled to advance. How could they easily give up now?

Jiang Qin, indifferent whether they listened or not, swayed back to the hotel to wash up and planned to hit the gym to work on his abs.

After a sweaty session, he returned to the eighth floor and found Song Yaqian, Guo Feng, and Zhang Wenchao’s group of fourteen just back from a late-night meal, obviously having just eaten.

“Jiang Qin,” Song Yaqian called him with a smile.

Jiang Qin, wiping his sweat, approached, “Hello.”

“There was nothing to eat at the gathering, so we went out for a bite. We tried to call you, but nobody answered your door, and we don’t have your contact info.”

“No worries, I’ve already had dinner.”

Jiang Qin cracked a slight smile, thinking it was just as well he hadn’t gone. Today, one wave after another came to show off, and if he had gone, he’d probably have ended up footing the bill.

At that moment, Song Yaqian pulled out her phone: “Can I have your contact info? Um… maybe we can have dinner together sometime?”

Sogou’s input method was becoming increasingly unusable, so I switched to Xunfei, but many phrases are missing, leading to frequent typos. Please bear with me, correct them as you find them, and I hope I can shape Xunfei to my needs soon.