Chapter 450: Back to School!

“Running out in the middle of the night, isn’t your mouth cold?”

“?”

After bidding farewell to Song Yaqian and others, Jiang Qin headed to the eighth floor, nearing their room, he looked at his dormmate who was adept at checking in on his friends, then suddenly asked a bizarre question, seeming quite serious.

The little rich girl was taken aback, about to say she wasn’t cold, when she got gently pressed against the wall and received a tender kiss.

Then she turned into a puddle, breathless with a trace of saliva on her lips when they parted.

“Still cold.”

“That warm-up should be enough.”

For some reason, thinking about the little rich girl learning to check in made Jiang Qin quite pleased, he couldn’t help wanting to tease her.

Especially remembering her feigned composure and her eyes wandering everywhere, he found her irresistibly cute.

Boys generally don’t like when friends check in; why is it so adorable when his friend does it?

Jiang Qin pinched her cheek, suddenly noticing her smooth, pale ankles: “Hmm? Why aren’t you wearing socks? Aren’t your feet cold?”

Feng Nanshu: “?”

“…”

The next morning, Monday marked the end of the holiday.

Feng Nanshu climbed out of bed, glanced at her feet, then got up to wash and dress, dragging her luggage along with Jiang Qin to the Shanghai station.

Everyone hugged Tan Qing goodbye at the station, planning to meet again, but Jiang Qin immediately suggested they meet at their peaks instead.

No other reason, just superstition.

Ye Ziqing, meanwhile, bought a bag of tea leaves, handing it to Jiang Qin, hoping he would take it back for Professor Yan.

She was in Shanghai managing Tan Qing’s affairs, integrating well, relying on the network she had built in the city which turned out quite beneficial for their team.

The people she brought were shifted by Jiang Qin to Shanghai, integrating into Sun Zhi’s team for market layout.

On one hand, these people were originally prepared for the Shanghai market.

On the other hand, they were old members of the Suixin Group, Jiang Qin wouldn’t allow them to form cliques.

Ye Ziqing understood his reasoning and wasn’t bothered.

She joined the team eager to see how Jiang Qin would reclaim his losses using a team with a similar background, rising from the ashes of Suixin Group.

The market presence and aura established by the team underscored Jiang Qin’s powerful strategy.

Ye Ziqing deeply felt the gap between them and was even more eager to see how far they could go.

In such a chaotic, enthusiastic, and warped market, how would a twenty-year-old young man handle opponents backed by capital?

These thoughts brought her back to her days of starting out in college, a feeling she never had with Suixin Group.

A surge of enthusiasm, a readiness to leap into action.

Almost everyone at the Shanghai station felt this way.

Driven by this feeling, everyone diligently worked each day, even field promoters were energetic, thinking about grabbing market share every day, unstoppable even by the boss.

If this is an essential quality for a team, why didn’t the Suixin Group have it?

Management is truly a complicated matter, Ye Ziqing could only credit it all to Jiang Qin.

He was the spiritual leader she once aspired to embody, maintaining a professional image daily, but hadn’t quite reached it.

Instead, this carefree junior, despite his casual attitude and fondness for playing cards during salary time, inspired blind faith.

What the boss said was law, and if the boss was wrong, then so was the world.

“Tan Qing, we’re heading out, remember to arrange for the market study session,” Jiang Qin reminded.

“Sure, boss. I’ll set it up this weekend.”

Ye Ziqing puzzled, looked at Tan Qing: “What’s this task about studying market strategies?”

Tan Qing explained, “Recently partnered with an adult school, boss liked their marketing class and suggested our team audit it. Interested parties can attend night school at a company-subsidized rate.”

“Oh.”

“The boss also said we can’t always be confrontational; we need to win people over with virtue, resort to other measures if that fails.”

Ye Ziqing laughed suddenly feeling surreal: “It seems many of our promoters can barely read.”

Tan Qing nodded: “Boss said it’s alright if they don’t recognize a word, they can still listen and ask questions. It’s about willingness; he just leaves an option open without dictating the outcome.”

“That’s good to know.”

“You might not be aware, but the boss hardly attended classes in school, acted like a complete truant, skipping five days a week. Yet now, I think awarding him as the top student wasn’t a mistake.”

Tan Qing pointed out: “A big part of why people love our team is the hope here. Unlike other sites that hesitate even to provide basic contracts to low-tier promoters.”

“We didn’t sign contracts back then either… knowing the coupon war would end eventually.”

Speaking, Ye Ziqing remembered a dinner in November when Cui Yiting said they were the true entrepreneurs shaping the era while Jiang Qin just chased money, merely an opportunist of his time.

On reflection, thinking about the short-lived Suixin Group, she found it amusing.

They spent heavily on recruiting and expanding the team seemingly more akin to fast money chasers.

Contrastingly, Jiang Qin, who often declared a desire for quick profits, seemed to cast the shadow of an era’s architect.

In the afternoon, as the plane landed in Linchuan, the biting cold air struck them dumb.

While cold in Shanghai, it couldn’t match Linchuan, the huge temperature difference discomforted everyone.

Gao Wenhui and Wang Haini thought of quickly catching a cab, but as they left the station, rows of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Land Rover cars appeared, both black and white, not neatly ordered but imposing.

These were the local bosses’ cars arranged perfectly by Jiang Qin.

Despite their wealth, the fleet wasn’t uniformly arranged as they were personal vehicles from different brands.

“President Jiang, welcome back. You’ve worked hard.”

“President Liu, long time no see. How are the sales for Jiadoji now?”

Liu Jiaming puffed up his chest: “Our sales last quarter took the lead by a large margin.”

Jiang Qin nodded with a smile, then teased Gao Wenhui, “Feeling low? Even thinking of taking a cab. Haven’t seen the world, and now snitching.”

Gao Wenhui: “?”

Wang Haini giggled quietly, “President Jiang really holds a grudge.”

“Feng Nanshu, you betrayed me.”

Feng Nanshu immediately turned and waved her hands, “I didn’t tell him, but sometimes he’s just too smart.”

Jiang Qin: “?”

Liu Jiaming interjected, “I came on behalf of others waiting for updates. Let’s meet up? Bring your spouses, along with President Wei, President Dong, President Su, and President Lu to share the light.”

Jiang Qin declined, “I’ll pass. We can meet in a few days at the meeting. How about this, Lanlan and the others, you go and chat with them. Also promote our achievements in Shanghai.”

“Sure, boss.”

Jiang Qin turned to Liu Jiaming, “Been out almost a month, some things to handle at school. We’ll talk more on Wednesday. I’ll treat everyone.”

Liu Jiaming invited a few more times before nodding, “Alright, I’ll arrange cars to take everyone. I’ll take care of President Wei and others.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Qin watched Wei Lanlan and the others get into cars, then couldn’t help but smile.

While these guys seemed like naive college students in his eyes, in Linchuan, they were certainly prominent figures.

Especially Lu Feiyu, dammit, getting called President Lu nearly made him swell with pride.

Afterward, Jiang Qin and his group returned to Linchuan University.

This time, he brought back many local specialties, some kept in the car to give to the faculty who cared about him and some brought back to the dorm to share with his roommates.

Pushing open the dorm door, a warm feeling greeted him, though the air had a bit of that bachelor pad scent.

Cao Guangyu was gaming, Ren Ziqiang was knitting a scarf, and Zhou Chao was working out, his face noticeably thinner.

“Guys, I’m back!”

Ren Ziqiang looked up, “Bro Jiang, you were gone quite a while.”

“Too busy in Shanghai, stayed a bit longer. Come on, have some pear paste. It moistens the throat and alleviates coughs.” Jiang Qin began distributing bottles on the table.

Meanwhile, Cao Guangyu took off his headset and looked over as Zhou Chao put down his dumbbells, “Bro Cao, Careful with your words, Bro Jiang’s been in Shanghai so long.”

Cao Guangyu swallowed and glanced at Zhou Chao. He knew Jiang Qin had much to share and he couldn’t afford to slip up or it would blow up right there.

Living in such a den, caution was indeed necessary.

“Old Jiang, you…”

“Right, just bought a villa. Do you have clairvoyance? Even knowing that? Damn impressive.”

Cao Guangyu held his breath, put on his headset, gripped a camouflaged Desert Eagle, and charged fiercely, then got sniped and died spectacularly.

His family owned a villa too, a costly decorated Chinese courtyard, but that belonged to his dad.

But now, ‘Old Jiang’ owned his villa, utterly unscientific.

Jiang Qin chuckled, thinking if ‘Old Cao’ were missing from school, these three years would have lacked much fun, then he personally stuffed a piece of butterfly pastry into Cao Guangyu’s mouth.

Old Jiang, you can’t always be this awesome!

Cao Guangyu tearfully bit into it, feeling both humiliated and delicious, and shouted for another.

Should we eat mutton, dumplings, or sticky rice balls for the Winter Solstice celebration today?