Chapter 90: The Eleven-Day Holiday
TL: Etude
On a splendidly bright morning, the eleven-day holiday began.
Early in the morning, Zhou Chao, who lived the farthest from Linchuan, hurried to the airport with his luggage, more eager than anyone to return home.
Modern college students are peculiar in this way. When choosing universities, they prefer those farthest away, seeking freedom and self-expression in unfamiliar territories. However, during holidays, their enthusiasm dwindles as they face long journeys and costly travel expenses. Confronted with this situation, they spare no mercy in cursing their own foolishness.
Freedom, it seems, can be experienced even in neighboring provinces, yet they choose to traverse half the country to places where others have long since grown weary.
Zhou Chao, for instance, lived frugally on regular days, spending all his savings on plane tickets during holidays.
“Guys, I’m off!”
“Old Zhou, remember to take out the trash!” shouted Cao Guangyu from his bed.
Grumbling, Zhou retorted, “Damn, early in the morning and you’re already annoying!”
“Safe travels then.”
“If it’s too smooth, the plane might fall!”
Jiang Qin, also up by now, dressed leisurely, slowly opened a pack of yogurt, sipped it unhurriedly, and began his morning routine at a relaxed pace.
Zhou Chao, with one hand on his suitcase and the other holding a trash bag, looked on enviously.
This Brother Jiang, you have to admire him. He chose a university close to home, which seemed uninteresting at first, but now he basks in a sense of superiority every holiday.
“Old Jiang, I’m leaving!” Zhou Chao raised his voice, hoping for Jiang Qin’s blessing.
Jiang Qin, toothbrush in mouth, grinned, “Scram, and bring back some local specialties. If you don’t, I won’t let you in.”
“One tells me to take out the trash, the other wants specialties. Damn, you guys are something else!”
Cursing, Zhou Chao opened the door and hauled his suitcase and trash bag out.
Later, Jiang Qin finished up and stepped out of the dorm. His train was in the afternoon, so he wasn’t in a hurry. He planned to have breakfast with Feng Nanshu, the ‘little rich lady,’ then go to the administrative office for some paperwork, set up holiday tasks in Room 208, and meet Guo Zihang at the train station.
Feng Nanshu wore a long skirt that day, exuding a youthful charm with her slender, fair legs peeking out, highlighting her rare purity and vitality.
“Jiang Qin, is my boss certificate ready?”
“We’ll ask after breakfast.”
Jiang Qin looked at her radiant face, tempted to pinch it but restrained himself.
Damn, the impulses of youth are strange, strongest when waking up and before bed. Everything seems pinchable at these times, which could spell trouble.
“Sure,” Feng Nanshu said, following him to the cafeteria. Her skirt fluttered with her steps, drawing numerous glances.
“When are you heading home, little rich lady?”
“My train leaves at three in the afternoon,” Feng Nanshu replied, biting her chopstick.
“Shouldn’t you leave earlier? Uncle Gong is driving you, right?”
Feng Nanshu silently gazed at him. You’re leaving at half-past two.
Jiang Qin offered her a piece of beef brisket, “I heard from Uncle Gong that you’re visiting a mister in Shanghai during the holiday. Who is he?”
“My dad,” Feng Nanshu replied, accepting the beef with shimmering eyes.
“Then why do you study in Jizhou? Shanghai has far better educational resources. You weren’t really sent away from home, were you?”
Feng Nanshu paused, her soft voice revealing, “Because Jizhou is my mother’s hometown.”
“So, you won’t be returning to Jizhou this holiday?”
“I want to go back as soon as possible, but I don’t know when I can.”
Jiang Qin didn’t press further, sensing her lack of enthusiasm for the visit. He fed her twice more, brightening her mood again.
He glanced at his chopsticks, then at a poster on the opposite wall. The slogan suggested that sharing chopsticks with others was unhygienic and advocated for the use of serving chopsticks.
Jiang Qin casually cleaned his chopsticks, thinking that this made them sanitary now.
While they were eating, Gao Wenhui arrived at the cafeteria. After getting her meal, she sat down but, unlike before, was unusually quiet. She kept glancing back and forth between Jiang Qin and Feng Nanshu, her eyes filled with curiosity.
How does he restrain himself?
Fan Shuling had labeled Jiang Qin as a scoundrel, but Gao Wenhui had her doubts. To her, he seemed more like a gentleman with a peculiar fondness for feet.
“Gao Wenhui, you keep staring at me. Aren’t you afraid of getting rice up your nose?” Jiang Qin glanced at her.
Gao Wenhui’s smile faded, “I knew it, being the third wheel never ends well!”
After breakfast, Jiang Qin took the little rich lady to the Entrepreneurship Center to get her certificate, but it ended disastrously.
Cao Xingyue pointed out an error in the previous application, asking Feng Nanshu to correct it.
“Junior, you can’t write that the startup funds are provided by Jiang Qin, and the purpose can’t be to become Boss Jiang Qin’s wife.”
Feng Nanshu’s eyelashes trembled slightly, the joy Jiang Qin had fed her earlier quickly dissipating.
Meanwhile, Jiang Qin headed to Room 208 to call a meeting with everyone.
The campus beauty contest was at its halfway mark, and the excitement was peaking. With the holiday and students leaving campus, the traffic was bound to decline.
Their only task for these seven days was to maintain the traffic. The content team needed to keep supplying material, dispersing the contest traffic to confession walls, anonymous forums, and other interest areas to drive conversions.
After the holiday, when the contest results were announced, they expected a small spike in traffic. However, the retention rate post-spike was uncertain. They needed to be prepared for both scenarios: one, planning another event if the traffic continued to decline, and two, pursuing business collaborations and expanding into the larger university town if retention rates were high.
“Boss, we’re short on manpower here.”
Wei Lanlan spoke up, as the number of merchants to negotiate with was increasing, and the external market team, consisting of only her and Tan Qing, was overwhelmed.
“We’ll recruit more people after the holiday. The university is full of potential recruits, preferably those with electric bikes for longer distances.”
Jiang Qin concluded the meeting and noticed Su Nai staring at him, “Boss, your membership has expired.”
“When did it expire?”
“Last night.”
“Do you check it daily? You knew as soon as it expired?” Jiang Qin looked disgusted.
Dong Wenhao curiously looked at Su Nai, “What membership expired?”
“It’s nothing, just a video subscription for site building,” Su Nai adjusted her glasses.
“You guys in the tech team are really hardworking, huh? Coding by day and studying videos at night?”
Su Nai and Jiang Qin chuckled insincerely, leaving Dong Wenhao confused, wondering if he said something wrong.
After the meeting, Jiang Qin went downstairs, planning to find the little rich lady at the administrative office. He found her standing by a window, holding an A4-sized certificate, looking cold and dazed.
“Got your certificate?”
“Yeah, but it’s the wrong one. It’s not a boss lady certificate, it’s a self-employment certificate.”
The boss’s wife certificate and the self-employment certificate were entirely different. Feng Nanshu’s unhappiness was evident, her cold demeanor carrying a certain pressure.
“It’s not a mistake. Consider it a probation period.”
“?”
Jiang Qin took the certificate, “Like making friends, you need to reach a certain stage to become good friends, just like us.”
Feng Nanshu looked at him expressionlessly, thinking to herself that he must think she’s naive.
…
AN: Keep reading! Keep reading!
TL: Su Nai is a fucking p*rn addict lmao…
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