Chapter 64: Promotional Progress

New things spread quite quickly among college students. After fermenting for two days, the blue advertising fans could already be seen everywhere on campus, and the number of registered users on the forum also broke 3,000 and was still trending upward.

The next day at military training, as soon as Jiang Qin arrived at the training field, he saw many freshmen already using the “Zhihu” team fans.

One, two, three, four… Each squad had an average of four to six fans, and they would start waving them around as soon as there was a break.

Because the base color was bright and the font had a sense of movement, it was very easy to attract the attention of those around when shaken.

Why?

Because when something suddenly appears and everyone else has it except you, this bandwagon effect is the most attractive. Simply put, this is the power of trends.

“Where’d you get that fan?”

“What forum?”

“Is it fun?”

“Holy shit, you can find dates on there?”

“No way? Someone on the forum exposed that Huang Panpan from the flight attendant department has two boyfriends?”

And so, the discussion about the forum began to grow more and more intense.

Jiang Qin took off his hat and sat on the scorching field, listening to the discussions beside him, his expression gradually becoming pensive.

In 2008, smartphones weren’t widespread, Wi-Fi was something never heard of, and the price of mobile data from telecom companies was also extremely expensive. Watching videos on phones wasn’t practical, and you could only play Snake or Bubble Bobble for games. So naturally, text-based forums were the top entertainment choice for college students.

Just like Zhou Chao. He liked watching soccer but wasn’t willing to go to internet cafes to watch live streams. So every time, he would read text-based soccer on his phone.

xxx shoots but doesn’t score.

xx dribbles past opponents, first getting around xxx, then xx, with unpredictable steps and unmatched speed, finally successfully kicking the goalpost.

xxx scored the second own goal of the match.

The entire soccer match was live text broadcasted on 3G news, without any video or even pictures. But Zhou Chao could still watch it with boiling passion. This kind of thing would be unimaginable in the future dominated by short videos, but in this era, it was the most convenient and quick way to be entertained.

Jiang Qin knew that as long as the promotional effects continued to spread, the number of active users on the forum would see an explosive growth after National Day.

And once he gradually gained control over the discourse in the college town and dominated media communication, then no matter what he did in the future, everyone would respond to his call.

Just then, Jiang Qin suddenly felt an unusual breeze blowing from behind, in bursts, making his back feel cool and refreshed.

“Is it cooler?”

Song Qingqing had come up behind him at some point, a faint smile on her face as she fanned an advertising fan at him, working herself into a sweaty mess.

“Not cool, you can stop.”

Jiang Qin furrowed his brows slightly and picked up his hat to fan himself a few times. But not only did Song Qingqing not stop, she actually increased her strength and speed. The fastest few waves could rival an electric fan.

He found it very strange.

What kind of creature are girls?

If you’re nice to her, she ignores you. If you ignore her, she pesters you in various ways to get your attention. When you give her a couple stern rejections, she starts trying to please you in all sorts of ways. It’s really something else.

Jiang Qin turned his head to glance at her. “Classmate Song Qingqing, you don’t need to fan me. Fan yourself.”

“It’s fine, I’m not tired.” Song Qingqing wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and continued waving with both hands gripping the fan handle.

Ren Ziqiang and Zhou Chao watched from the side, cursing and swearing. They didn’t even call for Jiang Qin when they went to pee.

After a while, a flirtatious figure walked over from the field, slouching and dragging his legs, hands holding a watermelon, looking very pleased with himself.

“Old Jiang, military training huh? Hehe, hot? Want some watermelon?”

“Not hot.”

“You just can’t admit it. Would it kill you to envy me a bit?”

Cao Guangyu giggled and squeezed past the surrounding students. He was just about to sit down next to Jiang Qin when he saw Song Qingqing huffing and puffing as she fanned Jiang Qin, covered in sweat, looking just like a little maid.

Seeing her like this, who would remember that she was the best-looking girl in Finance Class 3?

Who could recall her icy demeanor and cool attitude on freshman move-in day?

Cao Guangyu’s face paled and his heart trembled. His butt had already squatted down to horse-stance position, but relying on his strong willpower, he stood back up. Then he dragged his legs and walked off the field, the light gradually fading from his eyes.

In that moment, he couldn’t help but wonder if his circumcision was the right choice or not.

Yes, he didn’t have to do military training anymore. But he also lost the chance to rapidly develop relationships with female classmates.

If, let’s just say if, if he hadn’t gotten circumcised, hadn’t run away, would he be the one sitting there today enjoying a beauty fanning him?

Forget it, he’d go back and find Weiwei. Everyone in the world loves Jiang Qin, only Weiwei has discerning eyes.

If he works a bit harder, Weiwei should reply soon.

At 11:30 in the morning, after military training ended, Jiang Qin went to the cafeteria.

He wasn’t in a rush to get food, but casually strolled around the cafeteria, gaze locking onto those people who were eating while playing on their phones.

Many of them were chatting on QQ, quite a few were reading news, and only a small portion were playing on his forum.

No matter, let the bullet fly a bit longer.

After all, people need a process to go from knowing to accepting. This process varies from person to person, some fast, some slow. It can’t be rushed during the promotion stage.

“Boss!”

Just then, Jiang Qin suddenly heard a familiar voice call out from behind. Turning to look, it was Su Nai. She wore black overalls and had only eaten half her meal so far.

Jiang Qin walked over and sat across from her, asking about the experience value titles.

“This is a bit difficult to do. It’s very tiring for me alone, Boss.”

Jiang Qin silently thought for a moment. “You can also find a few people to help. There should be many computer science students, right? Don’t you have to design small programs for class assignments? Why not form a team?”

“Finding people is easy. Boss, can you give me some recruitment funds?” Su Nai’s eyes lit up when talking about money.

“My financial situation has been quite difficult recently. Are there any college students who love to help others? Find me two of those?”

Su Nai opened her mouth slightly, her spoon clattering into the tray with a “clang”. “Boss, you want to freeload for this too?”

Jiang Qin couldn’t help rubbing his nose. “We’re in the initial startup phase right now. I’ve been burning money the whole time without any revenue. My pockets aren’t exactly full either. I do kind of want to freeload a bit.”

“I… I feel like I’ve fallen into a pit. A big, deep, dark, round one too.”

Jiang Qin’s voice softened a bit. “Don’t be so dejected. Have you heard this song? Wind and rain, rainbow, rose…”

“…”