Chapter 493: Beauty Queen Controversy

After the talent poaching saga ended in Shanghai market, Group-Buy had gained control of two major cities, moving from the tail of the first tier straight to a dominating position.

During this time, Jiang Qin’s phone was almost bursting from all the calls.

No one expected a once obscure university group-buying site to grow so immensely in just half a year.

Thus, it became one of the hottest companies in the internet commerce sector.

Many venture capitalists would call to casually say hello before hinting at a meeting to discuss big ventures and prospects for a bright future.

These capitalists had all taken part in the earlier expensive wars of group-buying, especially Alibaba, which had deeply partnered with LaShou, but who knew that in just half a year, Jiang Qin was almost tearing it apart.

Now, LaShou was in an awkward position, neither here nor there.

To say it’s trash, it still holds some status amid group-buy sites, but to say it could win, few believed that anymore.

Alibaba always avoids putting all their eggs in one basket, so they were sure to pick another hero.

They are into e-commerce and can’t abandon the group-buying channel as e-commerce combined with group-buying will be a dominant business model in future internet commerce ecology.

But Jiang Qin doesn’t see himself as a horse. You think to ride on me? I’d like to ride on you too.

So Jiang Qin kept dodging, never giving them a chance to meet.

“Old Jiang, your phone is ringing again!”

“Check who it is for me, I’m busy doing laundry and can’t come to the phone!”

Cao Guangyu put down his headset, picked up Jiang Qin’s phone, and was somewhat suffocated.

It was Mr. Pang from Alibaba.

Damn, he didn’t know how many calls he had screened for Jiang Qin that morning, all from renowned corporations and their bosses.

Looking back at his own contacts – just the local fruit stall and the couple-hotel booking hotline…

“Damn, this is too annoying!”

An irate Cao Guangyu exclaimed, “Done, it’s Mr. Pang from Alibaba!”

Jiang Qin’s voice came from the balcony, “Just leave it, I’ll get back to it. Oh right, don’t buy this rose-scented laundry detergent anymore.”

“Why not?”

“My friend doesn’t like this scent.”

“?”

It took a moment for Cao Guangyu to realize that damn Jiang Qin was again using his detergent without permission.

In frustration, Cao Guangyu took his phone, added “10086” in the contacts, and renamed it as Bill Gates.

He even put a dot between Bill and Gates, making it look real – Bill·Gates.

Then, he received a “message” from the world’s richest, Bill·Gates, about a low balance warning, asking him to top up his phone credit or face service suspension.

“Gates, give me a few days grace. My funds are tied up right now.”

“Waiting for Mr. Cao from Heng Tong Cargo to send me money. I’ll close this shortfall immediately.”

“We’ve been partners for years. I absolutely won’t default on my debts. Trust me once more. I won’t let you down.”

Cao Guangyu, mimicking Jiang Qin’s phone manner, sent a pretend message to Bill·Gates (10086) like a young tycoon dealing internationally.

Funds tied up meant he had run out of money for living expenses this month.

Mr. Cao from Heng Tong Cargo is actually his own father who sends him living money each month.

Partnered for years just meant he had always been a loyal customer of the mobile service.

Not defaulting meant he wouldn’t break his SIM card to avoid fees like others do.

Chao once played a “beauty link” game on his mobile WAP and lost fifty yuan, then broke his card and got a new one, becoming debt-free and fancy-free.

But Cao Guangyu, as a wealthy second-generation, couldn’t accept such conduct.

Meanwhile, Jiang Qin came back from the balcony, wiped his hands, and called back Mr. Pang from Alibaba.

“Mr. Pang, I was doing laundry. The soundproofing on the dorm balcony is too good, sorry about that.”

“Ah yes, I’m still at the men’s dorm in school where I have to do my own laundry.”

“Meet? Sure, but there are some company issues to handle recently, and I have a math competition at school. How about during the summer holidays?”

“Alright Mr. Pang, let’s meet during the summer holidays then.”

After hanging up, Jiang Qin looked at Cao Guangyu, “I am going to Hangcheng this summer. Mention it to your dad, say your sworn brother has business prospects.”

Cao Guangyu held his breath, “Get lost!”

“Look at that naive nephew face, so adorable.”

“…”

“Also, the detergent issue, make sure to get one with a kumquat scent. My friend likes that.”

A gritted Cao Guangyu, “Old Jiang, you’re worth billions, why can’t you buy your own detergent?!”

“Buying it myself lacks the thrill of getting it for free.”

Jiang Qin pocketed his phone, changed into a sweatshirt, and left the dorm. Then came a stream of cursing from inside, about dogs biting and the dorm being uninhabitable.

After leaving the dorm, Jiang Qin went to the School of Finance, took Feng Nanshu out for a meal in the cafeteria.

His friend was recently down with a cold, a stuffy nose making her speak muffledly, not as boldly and loudly as before, instead, she seemed rather pitiful.

“Told you to dress warmly, did you listen? Now you’re suffering, right?”

“I did, but still caught a cold.”

Feng Nanshu hugged her cup, sipping water in small gulps, her cheeks flushed giving her a dazed but cute look.

She usually maintained a cool, goddess-like image, sometimes silly, but showing this delicate frailty was a first, making Jiang Qin can’t help but want to dote on her.

Jiang Qin touched her forehead, “Fever gone?”

“Yeah, no more fever.”

“Still feeling dizzy?”

Feng Nanshu shook her head, “Just a little.”

Jiang Qin offered a piece of beef brisket, but ‘little rich girl’ dodged saying, “It might be contagious.”

“You weren’t worried about contagion when we kissed yesterday.”

Little rich girl muttered shyly, “I was too dazed to think when we kissed.”

Jiang Qin switched to a clean pair of chopsticks, “Two chopsticks will do.”

“Then let’s do that.”

The rich girl with a stuffy nose struggled with differentiating sounds and opened her mouth to eat the beef brisket, then a bit of snot came out.

Jiang Qin pulled out a tissue and wiped her, “Still claiming to be the beauty queen when snot’s dripping.”

“I am not a beauty queen.”

“Then who are you?”

“I belong to Jiang Qin’s house,” Feng Nanshu whispered.

The Zhihu beauty queen contest was still ongoing, at its most intense stage, and the Finance School had been mocked again.

Departments like Computer Science and Civil Engineering lack goddesses due to fewer girls, truly hindered naturally, but Finance School with a high female ratio, their lack of goddesses was easily ridiculed.

They had all pinned their hopes on Qi Qi to vindicate the Finance School, but recently, someone had uploaded her makeup-free photos online, severely damaging Qi Qi’s reputation.

The narrative that the Finance School lacked beauties became popular again, enraging everyone, hence a thousand students petitioned Jiang Qin, urging his friend into the fray.

The person replacing Jiang Ming was Cui Xia, the current president of the Finance School’s student council, who had specifically talked to Jiang Qin about this.

But Jiang Qin, being extremely stingy, refused to let others see his good friend.

In the end, Cui Xia secretly took a snapshot of Feng Nanshu’s profile during class and registered her under the name “Feng Nan-shu” for the competition.

Jiang Qin knew about it but didn’t stop it.

Otherwise, others might think he enjoyed monopolizing his good friend.

Overnight, “Feng Nan-shu” surged to the top ranks, tying with the top contender from the Literature Department, “Xu Jia-rou.”

Hence, Jiang Qin recently liked calling her the beauty queen.

Although Feng Nanshu preferred the moniker “boss lady” or “Jiang Qin’s girl,” she wasn’t thrilled by the beauty queen title.

The final decision on who the top beauty of Linchuan University would be remained uncertain.

Because although ‘little rich girl’ was well-known within the Finance School, she wasn’t as recognized outside due to her rarely appearing in public, creating a mystique.

Appearance is a difficult thing to explicitly imagine based purely on descriptions.

Like female leads in novels, just reading the text can lead a hundred people to imagine a hundred different appearances.

Additionally, with “Xu Jia-rou” having uploaded a set of professional portraits while “Feng Nan-shu” was just an impromptu snapshot, their rankings continued to fluctuate closely contested.

Moreover, Linchuan University having three campuses, the Literature Department in the east campus, naturally had people feeling dissatisfied with “Feng Nan-shu’s” ranking.

“Who is Feng Nan-shu? Never heard of her, definitely stuffing the ballot box!”

“How can someone not recognize how beautiful junior Xu is?”

“The Finance School didn’t even make the finals last time, are they trying to win by cheating this time?”

Discussions like these were common in the Literature Department’s chat groups almost daily.

Xu Jia-rou, fearing she might lose her top spot, had been actively campaigning, gaining many fans, scared of losing to “Feng Nan-shu.”

Little did she know her biggest rival, “Feng Nan-shu,” hadn’t even opened the contest page and was utterly uninterested.

If they renamed the contest to Jiang Qin’s contest, she would perhaps even sell a Rolls Royce to win votes.

“Jiang Qin, eat more.”

“You little glutton! They say you lose your appetite when you have a cold, and here you are, happy as can be. I’ll take you for an injection later.”

Feng Nanshu opened her mouth for the morsel Jiang Qin offered and was thrilled until she heard about the upcoming injection, her face instantly froze in fear.