Chapter 580: Friendships Affecting Studies

Final exams were fast approaching, and no college student felt like wasting time over these five days. Each seemed tired yet pensive.

Some quite dull, temporarily gave up mingling. They performed well in every subject.

Some nursed their luck as though they knew nothing, yet acted convincingly.

Some young masters had minds filled only with dreams of armor combining…

Meanwhile, Hungry Yet and Fast Order both were busy recruiting delivery riders, rapidly expanding beyond their initial cities.

Wei Dajun, who moved from his hometown to Hangcheng to work, was an employee at a rental company, but it closed down early last month due to poor management. He has been jobless since December.

With the rent hard to make, he felt extremely anxious.

Later, through a random opportunity, a friend from his hometown introduced him to Hungry Yet, and he registered as a part-time delivery rider.

Initially, Wei Dajun refused because he felt delivering takeout was beneath him.

After all, he was a genuine college graduate. Wouldn’t such a job demean his status?

With the Chinese New Year nearing, how could he face going home?

Did you find a job?

Yes, I’m delivering takeout now.

If this got out, the villagers would likely say, “Look, all they did was farm from dawn to dusk to send him to university. And he still ended up doing this kind of work.”

Nevertheless, Wei Dajun eventually took the job, not least because the landlord started hurling insults.

And Hungry Yet was indeed paying quite handsomely…

“Get an electric bike, best to have an extra pair of batteries. Leave them to charge at the store,” he was advised. “Oh, and do you have any friends who might want to join? Bring them along.”

“Still short on people?”

“We are, desperately. Bring someone in, and there’s a hundred bucks in it for you as referral.”

Wei Dajun swallowed hard and messaged his company group chat: “Anyone interested in part-time work? With a bit of diligence, you can make around four to five thousand a month.”

This figure—four to five thousand—was what Wei Dajun calculated after a day’s work by multiplying his daily earnings by thirty.

This was where Hungry Yet was clever.

Unlike Fast Order, it didn’t offer a base salary but high delivery fees instead.

Reporting earnings in real-time in the backend system truly motivated the riders, making them see a promising future.

“Four to five thousand? Dajun, stop boasting. What kind of part-time job pays that much?”

“Delivery rider…”

“You mean like a mover, tiring, isn’t it? I’ve never done hard labor.”

“It’s not that tiring, and no, it doesn’t involve moving stuff. Just a bit of exposure to sun and wind.”

Actually, their regular salaries ranged from three-five thousand, so hearing about part-time work making four-five thousand immediately sparked interest.

Out of seventeen in the chat, apart from three who had found jobs, the rest were very keen.

Until three minutes later, when their former boss posted a question mark in the chat, suddenly silencing everyone.

Despite having resigned, the boss’s authority lingered, making Wei Dajun, a man of few words, suddenly nervous upon seeing his former boss.

“Big bro Jun, what part-time job is this? Can you hook me up too? I’m damn near becoming a defaulter.”

“……”

And so, by offering referral bonuses, the team of riders in Hangcheng began to form.

Hungry Yet then turned its focus to Jinling, initiating a two-front push.

Fast Order, on the other hand, started from Kyoto, building a team before moving south.

This stage saw the savage growth inherent in the industry’s beginnings maximized.

With the large domestic market, it meant the opportunities, or “cake,” were vast, and the meal delivery industry wasn’t likely to face many direct competitors in the short term.

So, expanding externally was as smooth as Dove chocolate.

During this period, college students and office workers tremendously contributed to the industry’s growth phase.

According to Hungry Yet’s statistics, these two demographics accounted for eighty percent of all orders.

Moreover, a platform catering specifically to night snacks, after succeeding initially, began to delve into delivering all three meals.

Other platforms focusing on office workers and students also worked hard to expand their services, awaiting investment capital.

However, the takeout industry didn’t witness the overnight proliferation of thousands of competitors as seen with coupon websites.

Because, compared to group buying, the entry barriers for the takeout industry were relatively higher.

With group buying, anyone could start just by setting up a website. As long as they attracted enough merchants and negotiated low prices, they could grow big.

But launching a takeout service required hiring a significant number of riders and building a dedicated team first.

And so, the free-for-all melee seen in group buying didn’t occur.

Throughout this time, Mr. Jiang diligently followed the industry. He even registered an account “Peerless Merchant” on the Headlines app, sending out daily interest pieces on the sector.

【The potential in the takeout industry is huge; the number of riders will be key to future development!】

【Multiple players in the takeout industry; market share in the top cities will determine success or failure!】

【Another internet boom is upon us; urban expansion is the path to growth!】

【In internet commerce, spending money to speed growth is the basic rule; fear of spending is the only obstacle to standing out!】

His articles, quickly promoted, had an aggressive tone all about fighting, grabbing, and burning cash.

Soon, these articles were rapidly reshared by Baidu News, UC Headlines, Tencent News, and Sina Weibo, further shaping a booming atmosphere for the nascent takeout industry.

“Damn, these old foxes…”

Jiang Qin pushed away his keyboard, knowing big players were now eyeing this sector.

Otherwise, his mildly provocative articles wouldn’t have been shared so swiftly.

This did indeed point to a growing interest in heating up this industry.

As Jiang Qin predicted, even though Hungry Yet’s proposal didn’t pass with Ali’s new investment manager, Li Changming, eventually, with extensive promotion by the Headlines, it caught Mr. Ma’s interest.

He had been looking for a fresh breakthrough to enter the local lifestyle sector and considered pooling resources.

Seeing the potential in the takeout sector, he felt the time might be right.

Li Changming, clever as he was, immediately retrieved the discarded Hungry Yet development proposal upon seeing his boss’s interest.

“Boss, I’ve actually been paying attention to the meal platform industry for a while now!”

“Have you contacted any suitable companies?”

“Not yet, I’ll get on it as soon as I return.”

Time flew, news continued to emerge, and the takeout industry grew increasingly vibrant.

Some office workers gradually developed a dependency on takeout.

This was closely tied to the typical “benefits” of workplaces in China.

Despite having a lunch break, many might have only two hours or even less—after dallying and attending meetings, less than an hour remained.

Including time to eat lunch, taking a nap then became a challenge.

Many experts online stated that 45 minutes is the ideal nap time, but to most office workers, this seemed laughable.

Forget 45 minutes—some were so mentally exhausted that even an hour and 45 minutes wouldn’t suffice.

Under these circumstances, the routine of ordering takeout in advance, eating right after work, and quickly going to sleep became their new normal.

This micro-trend was called habit forming.

On the macro level, the articles penned by Jiang Qin indeed had an impact. Fast Order began targeting the Shanghai market, ready to contend with Hungry Yet. This was called setting a development direction.

Then, it was a matter of waiting for the market’s conflicts to begin.

Jiang Qin believed that markets couldn’t grow to their full potential without competition, as it was only through rivalry that platforms would aggressively burn cash, thereby growing rapidly.

Much like the wild days of the coupon wars, consumer habits were quickly formed and the industry expanded greatly, eventually converging into a mature market.

“Old Jiang, you don’t really need to sit exams, so why sport such a serious demeanor all the time?”

“I am guiding the growth of an industry, changing your lives.”

“……”

On January 17th, final exams finally ended.

The school was flooded by students, now free, surfing the net, booking private rooms, sleeping for 24 hours straight—a collective revenge for the preceding tough week.

Meanwhile, Feng Nanshu sprinted after Jiang Qin, whose expression remained cool.

Today, she wore tight-fitting high-waist black jeans, accentuating her lithe figure and pert backside.

Yet, the aloof Jiang Qin barely glanced her way, appearing like a morally upright gentleman, squinting as the little rich girl scampered in front of him.

“Studying alone is fine, don’t need good friends. Good friends affect studying.”

“Brother, I won’t study anymore after this.”

Jiang Qin seriously glanced at her, “I look so good, aren’t you afraid someone might befriend me in these past two weeks?”

Gao Wenhui and Wang Haini watched from behind, thinking to themselves how childish they both seemed.

Childish they might be, but they were quite the couple to ship.

Previously, each had their own busyness, and with distance between them, they hadn’t really missed each other that intensely.

Like Jiang Qin, sometimes away on business or in meetings, and Feng Nanshu, previously in Shanghai for her grandmother’s birthday feast—too far apart to meet often.

But this time was different.

Being at the same school yet restraining from meeting really wore them down.

These past few days, all of Feng Nanshu’s sleep talk involved calling out to Jiang Qin.

The four of them walked up to the cafeteria, and there Jiang Qin continued to explain to Feng Nanshu how risky it was having a good-looking friend and not keeping an eye on them.

The more the little rich girl listened, the more scared she became, eventually pouting and shifting the blame to Gao Wenhui for being too strict a supervisor.