Chapter 138

The next day dawned, crisp and clear.

Jiang Zhou headed to the Administration for Industry and Commerce and registered a company.

The name wasn’t important, he just called it Xingzhou Investments.

It would serve mainly as a platform to receive investments.

Later, it would merge into Ganfanren and spawn subsidiaries across other industries.

Now, Jiang Zhou wouldn’t have to negotiate as a mere university student.

He was President Jiang of Xingzhou Investments!

Sure, it was just an empty shell of a company, but damn, it felt good.

After finishing up, he returned to campus, only to be summoned to the principal’s office by Yan Weimin.

“Yesterday, we heard from the venture conference. You secured ten million in investment?!

“Such an important matter, why didn’t you report it right away?”

The director of academic affairs, the principal, and the vice-principal all sat lined up like three Buddhas, eyes burning with intensity.

But their gazes weren’t stern, they were full of admiration.

“Leaders, I didn’t speak up immediately because… well, I was embarrassed.”

“What? Why embarrassed?”

“Because I feel like I failed. Ganfanren only secured ten million. I’ve let you down.”

The principal almost fainted. “Our highest estimate was five million!”

Jiang Zhou sighed. “But my target was twenty million. Who knew there’d be complications?”

Cough cough!

Yan Weimin flushed on his behalf. “Tone it down a bit. Ten million already far exceeded expectations. What complications?”

“I didn’t even attend in person yesterday. If I had gone and used my looks to sway them, I could’ve bagged thirty million easily.”

Buzz!

All three administrators shot to their feet, eyes misty.

He didn’t even go… and still got ten million?!

If he had gone, who knows how much more he’d have pulled in?!

For years, Shangjing’s universities had been weaklings in student entrepreneurship.

But now, finally, they had crushed the competition!

Jiang Zhou… what a prodigy.

And he was only a freshman. Who could predict where he’d be in four years?

“Jiang Zhou, get back to work and keep building. One day, you’ll be a star in our alumni hall of fame!”

“Thank you for your encouragement, leaders. I’ll keep striving! Today, I am proud of Shangjing University. Tomorrow, Shangjing University will be proud of me!”

Hearing this, Principal Qin felt his scalp tingle.

What a timeless line, it made even him shiver.

Today, I am proud of Shangjing University. Tomorrow, Shangjing University will be proud of me!

Perfect. It had to be printed in the freshman handbook.

Jiang Zhou really is a student full of surprises!

Thinking about it this way, the last time he got tricked didn’t feel so painful anymore.

“Go on, go on. If you need anything, just ask!”

“Thank you, Principal. Thank you, Vice-Principal. Thank you, Director!”

Jiang Zhou thanked them repeatedly, then walked out of the principal’s office.

Ah, sometimes putting on a bit of a show really did feel refreshing.

But now that the show was over, the real workload would only get heavier.

Promoting city-wide meant they couldn’t rely on small tricks like handing out flyers.

First, he’d run ground promotions, and then put an ad on TV.

After all, with ten million in investment, why not make use of it?

So Jiang Zhou immediately posted part-time job listings around the university district. It was high-paying recruitment for Ganfanren’s ground promotion team!

Each worker would receive a six-digit promo code.

Every time a new user registered and placed an order through their code, they would earn a 20 yuan commission.

The more they worked, the more they earned. No cap!

And so, a large-scale ground promotion campaign kicked off in the early winter.

This season was extremely favorable for Ganfanren.

The weather was getting colder by the day, and no one wanted to go outside for fun.

Who wouldn’t prefer staying tucked in bed and having takeout delivered straight to them?

—

Before long, it was already late December.

Over the course of that month, Ganfanren’s orders skyrocketed.

Part of the surge came from the success of ground promotion.

But on the other hand… many people probably had two phone numbers.

That kind of thing was impossible to completely prevent. Losing a bit of money was just part of the game.

Jiang Zhou figured, as long as Ganfanren could break out of the university district, this little cost was nothing but a drop in the bucket.

“Boss, our offline promotion numbers are in.”

“Oh? What’s the highest number of successful referrals from a single code?”

Su Nan looked a bit stunned. “Over a thousand? That averages to thirty-three people every day!”

Jiang Zhou thought he misheard. “Every day? Thirty-three people per day?”

“Yeah. Every single day there were users registering and ordering.”

“What the! Could our statistics program have a bug? Who has time to promote every single day?”

Su Nan shook her head. “Probably not. We tested it dozens of times already.”

Jiang Zhou leaned over. “Check what times those users registered.”

“Mostly between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.”

Six to eleven?!

That meant this person was only working five hours a day.

And they were closing six orders per hour!

Seeing this, Jiang Zhou’s heart couldn’t help but race.

With numbers like that, could it be a hidden sales genius?!

Why would someone like that waste time on part-time work? I should hire them outright!

“Xiao Nan.”

“Mm?”

“Get in touch with this person. Tell them I want to meet.”

Su Nan nodded and immediately dialed the number.

But as soon as she lifted the phone, her expression began to stiffen.

It was… an invalid number.

“What happened?”

“Boss, the prompt says this is an empty number.”

Jiang Zhou’s eyes widened slightly.

Promo codes were bound to phone numbers.

The part-time salaries were also paid based on those numbers.

This person had generated over a thousand orders in a month, that was more than twenty thousand yuan in commissions.

And yet, they left the wrong phone number?

Good heavens, was there really such a thing as doing good deeds without leaving a name?

Twenty thousand might not be much.

But this is 2009!

What kind of trick is this?

Could it be… a hidden master at play?

A fisherman casting bait like Jiang Ziya waiting for kings?

“Check the info they left behind. Let me know if you find anything.”

Su Nan nodded. “Okay. I’ll ask the people who registered under him, maybe someone knows.”

Jiang Zhou nodded back and left Ganfanren.

Christmas was around the corner.

Another season of white albums.

Having earned so much, it was time to buy gifts for his little girls.

After making his plans, Jiang Zhou drove out of Shangjing.