Chapter 464: Damn it, it

Facts proved that Li Heng had not misjudged the person.

In just over ten days, Li Ran had actually managed to put together the preliminary framework for the New Future Tutoring School.

Not only were the personnel and venue ready, but even the essential equipment like desks, chairs, benches, blackboards, and telephones were all prepared.

Honestly, even if Li Heng had done it himself, he estimated he wouldn't have had this level of efficiency.

The venue was located on the edge of the Second Ring Road, bordering the Third Ring Road; she had rented a primary school. The school had built a new campus, and the teachers and students had moved there, leaving the old campus vacant, still containing over 700 relatively old desks and chairs.

Li Heng inspected the place and found that many parts of the playground were overgrown with weeds, some as tall as a person. Overall, it was quite crude, but it had the advantage of being spacious, well-located, and convenient for transportation.

Surprisingly, the surroundings were quite quiet.

Li Heng climbed to the roof to get a better view and found that the surroundings were entirely residential areas. He asked her, "How did you find this place?"

Li Ran replied, "My mother's classmate told me. They are all in the education industry, so they basically know about any movement in the field."

Li Heng asked, "Why weren't all these desks and chairs moved away?"

Li Ran replied, "They have government funding, so they look down on these. I asked a carpenter to look at them; these desks and chairs can still be used after some repairs. Since our business is just starting, we should save where we can."

"The third floor will serve as our tutoring school's office space. The landline phone in the principal's office is already there, which saved me a lot of trouble."

Seeing him listening intently, she continued, "I've calculated that over 700 sets of desks and chairs should be enough. If enrollment exceeds expectations in the future, we'll just ask the carpenter to make new ones. This stuff is simple; it won't cost much anyway."

Li Heng agreed and asked, "What's the rent?"

Li Ran said, "1,600 per month. I originally only wanted to pay six months' rent, but the school required a full year's payment upfront. I thought about it and felt it wasn't a bad thing, so I paid for a year."

Li Heng was most concerned about teaching qualifications. "Have the teaching qualifications been approved yet?"

Li Ran said, "It's under review. The preliminary stage has passed, and the follow-up won't be that fast, but Professor Sun said that as long as the money is in place, there won't be any problems. We can start teaching while we wait."

At this point, she said, "By the way, Big Boss, I have a suggestion."

Hearing the title "Big Boss," Li Heng rolled his eyes, then let her be. "Go ahead."

Li Ran said, "I've inquired around. For this kind of teaching qualification, although national policy encourages it, it wouldn't be possible to obtain it without the right connections, and it wouldn't be settled with just 80,000 yuan. Professor Sun helped a lot this time."

"I suggest giving him a nominal position as vice-principal, paying him a monthly salary. This can deal with inspections from above, serve as a way to repay his kindness, and also act as a backup. If there are any issues in the future, we can still ask Professor Sun to help us probe the situation."

Li Heng readily agreed.

With the venue and equipment taking shape, the two moved on to discuss teaching content and teachers.

Li Heng handed the textbooks he had written and some others he had bought at the bookstore to Li Ran and Yang Yingwen. "This is the core secret of our tutoring school. In some places, I've only listed an outline; wait until the teaching and research group is established, then let them fill it in. I will continue to write the follow-up textbooks when I return to Shanghai, and I'll hand them to you then."

Li Ran flipped through them, unable to make heads or tails of it.

Yang Yingwen flipped through them carefully and was immediately filled with admiration for Li Heng. "Li Heng, you really are an all-rounder. You know all of this; it's truly amazing!"

It was rare to hear Old Mabu praise him like this. Li Heng felt a bit floaty and laughed happily. "I told you long ago, I don't fight battles I'm not prepared for. Do you think I've been eating for free for the past six months?"

Later, he said, "Now everything is ready, except for the teachers. At 1:00 PM, have those teachers come over, and I will interview them personally."

Yang Yingwen agreed.

Li Ran said, "I'll go hire some laborers to pull out these weeds and clean up these classrooms."

Li Heng nodded. "Go ahead."

Once Yang Yingwen and Li Ran left, the large primary school was left with only Li Heng and Chen Zijin.

Chen Zijin walked half a circle around the primary school and praised, "This Li Ran is truly capable; she actually managed to get this done in such a short time."

"Yes, she's worthy of being someone who has roamed the world; she's swift and decisive," Li Heng replied.

Before long, Li Ran returned with about 20 laborers. They were all nearby residents, men and women. Hearing that they could get 20 yuan just for pulling weeds and cleaning, they all swarmed in, fighting to be hired.

Because there were too many people, Li Ran had no choice but to personally select 20 residents who looked honest and had sturdy builds.

In less than 4 hours, the primary school took on a brand-new look. Not only were all the weeds on the playground cleared, but even the leaves and dust were swept clean. As for inside the classrooms, it went without saying; although the walls, desks, and benches were old, they were spotless.

Around 1:00 PM, Yang Yingwen brought a group of teachers.

Li Ran also brought an accountant and a logistics person for errands.

Li Heng first asked the accountant some questions, felt it was acceptable, and decided to keep them for the time being.

As for the logistics person, his name was Liu Jingye, in his early 40s. He was a steady man with three daughters, one son, and elderly parents to take care of. He was extremely eager for this 150-yuan-a-month job and was very careful and cautious when answering.

After chatting for a while, Li Heng asked him, "Is your home far from the school?"

Liu Jingye replied, "Not far, I live nearby."

Li Heng asked, "What if I give you an additional 30 yuan a month to work part-time as the school's security guard, watching the school gate and such? What do you think?"

With money to be made, and a large sum of 30 yuan at that, Liu Jingye happily agreed. "Boss, don't worry. I'll move my bedding to the school and keep a close watch here. I guarantee nothing will be lost."

Li Heng smiled and said that was fine.

With the accountant and logistics settled, the next top priority was the teacher interviews.

Beyond expectations, Yang Yingwen had invited 14 teachers this time, six men and eight women. This included two foreign women.

It seems the salary of 28 yuan per class was quite attractive. Li Heng thought to himself, and then, under everyone's gaze, he sat down in the center of the first row of the classroom with a bold and unconstrained posture.

At this moment, Li Ran introduced him to everyone appropriately: "Teachers, let me introduce you. This is our school's Big Boss, Li Heng."

"If you have watched the Spring Festival Gala, you might recognize him."

Among the 14 teachers, 9 indeed recognized him.

For no reason, due to the celebrity effect of him having been on the Spring Festival Gala, his credibility in the hearts of the teachers soared, and they even gained some confidence in the "New Future" Tutoring School.

Ella, the blonde, stared at Li Heng for a while and asked Yang Yingwen privately, "The boss looks like a rich man. Does he have a girlfriend?"

Yang Yingwen was between laughter and tears, thinking that Li Heng, despite his decent appearance, was too good at attracting women. "Yes, the one in brown clothes by the window is."

Ella looked at Chen Zijin, and the flame flickering in her eyes immediately extinguished by half. "So beautiful. How is their relationship?"

Yang Yingwen said, "The relationship is very good; they've been together for six or seven years."

Alright, hearing this, the flame in Ella's eyes went out completely.

Once Li Heng was seated, Li Ran arranged for the teachers to introduce themselves one by one.

Six male teachers. One was a teacher from Beihang University, one was a teacher from Beijing Normal University, another was a teacher from the Agricultural University, and the remaining three were from vocational schools and key high schools.

Besides the two foreigners, there were six other female teachers. One worked in translation and was here for a part-time job; one was a teacher from Renmin University, one from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, one from Beijing Institute of Technology, and the other two were also from vocational schools and key high schools.

After everyone finished their introductions, Li Heng, fearing time was short, didn't talk much and went straight to the point: "Teachers, let's start the trial lectures now. 15 minutes each. Please follow the order of the self-introductions just now. Male teachers first, please."

As he spoke, Li Heng looked at the names he had just recorded on the paper and read the top one: "Teacher He Wen."

He Wen was from Beihang University, looking to be about 37 or 38 years old, wearing glasses and looking scholarly. Unexpectedly, his lecture was very vivid and had a lot of personal character.

Once the 15 minutes were up, Li Heng drew a circle behind his name.

Li Ran, standing nearby, peeked at the "circle" on the paper and couldn't figure it out for a moment. Was Teacher He Wen hired? Or eliminated? Or wait-listed?

Li Heng didn't offer any explanation and continued to call the next name: "Teacher Li Zhong."

This teacher was older, estimated to be over 45. He originally thought the class would be quite dull, but unexpectedly, it was also quite good. After the trial lecture, Li Heng drew a triangle behind his name.

Circles and triangles—Li Ran was dumbfounded.

For the subsequent interviews, because it concerned his own entrepreneurial future and his wallet, Li Heng listened very carefully, giving the teachers comprehensive scores from various angles.

14 teachers, each with a 15-minute trial lecture, without a break, took over 5 hours to finish.

Out of the 12 teachers (6 men and 6 women), Li Heng weighed them and kept 5 male teachers and 5 female teachers, only eliminating one man and one woman.

It was technically over the limit; one more person was hired than expected.

But there was no help for it; the candidate's trial lecture was genuinely excellent, and Li Heng was quite satisfied. Considering the need to continue hiring as the scale expands in the future, he simply decided to keep one extra person now.

As for the two foreigners, he only kept Ella. The other one was completely there to make up the numbers, and the lecture content was rather hollow, so he decisively cut them.

Once the three rejected candidates left, Li Heng gathered the remaining 11 teachers for a formal meeting. He used the success philosophy of later generations to instill a wave of "chicken soup for the soul" in them and painted a massive picture of the future.

They were teachers, after all, and most were university teachers who were themselves adept at motivating students, yet they were still successfully hoodwinked by Li Heng.

However, he didn't rely entirely on glib talk to boast about his strength; instead, he led with money, giving each person a red envelope as a greeting gift, with 100 yuan inside.

That wasn't all; he also gave each teacher 600 yuan as a salary advance to demonstrate his strength, which served as a reassurance for them.

The aim was to tell everyone present: follow me, Li Heng, and work hard, and you won't have to worry about not getting paid in the future.

What is this called?

This is called using money to establish initial trust.

Otherwise, everyone is an adult with a family; no matter how impressively you, a young lad, brag, it's completely useless.

Money is the courage of a hero; money is the panacea.

Money! Only money is the real, tangible benefit that can make people believe in you.

He wasn't afraid of people taking the money and running off either; it was just a mere 600, after all. If you want to run, then run; you'll regret it later.

Sure enough, the look in the eyes of the teachers who received the money when they looked at Li Heng changed. At this moment, their hanging hearts settled, and they felt that the young man before them wasn't just acting on a whim, but was genuinely and sincerely wanting to build a great enterprise.

The effect of money was incredibly potent, better than an hour of flowery boasting. From then on, no matter what Li Heng said, everyone listened with full attention and focused intent.

After pondering for a while, Li Heng organized He Wen, Li Zhong, and four other university teachers from prestigious schools into a teaching and research group, asking them to perfect the course content as soon as possible before recruitment. The subsidy was as previously discussed: members of the teaching and research group would receive an extra 250 yuan per month.

This was a grand gesture; this subsidy alone was much higher than their monthly salaries. Who wouldn't be envious? Who wouldn't be jealous?

If the scale expands later, and if the textbooks sell well, there would even be dividends.

In an instant, the teaching and research group became the most sought-after spot.

Li Heng announced that as long as one is willing to work hard, everyone has a chance to enter the teaching and research group; there would be an assessment every term, and those who pass would be approved for entry.

With everything settled, the group discussed and set the recruitment date for September 7th, the day the New Future English Tutoring School would hold a free trial class.

The free trial class would have three short sessions, each 15 minutes long, covering three topics:

The first session, taught by Teacher He Wen, would introduce the process of going abroad; he had applied to go abroad three times and failed, so he had very rich experience.

The second session, taught by the foreign teacher Ella, would cover British and Western culture, customs, and local conditions.

The third session, taught by Teacher Zhao Li from Renmin University, would discuss how to learn English well? How to get high scores in English? How to cope with exams like the TOEFL?

Setting each session to 15 minutes was the result of Li Heng's careful consideration. Because he feared that if the time were too long, the students coming for the trial would become restless, and if it were too short, it wouldn't achieve the desired effect.

And following the trial class, the recruitment activity would immediately ensue; those who paid and enrolled on the spot would get a 5% discount.

For example, for the intensive class, 400 yuan with a 5% discount would save 20 yuan; this is half a month's salary for an ordinary worker, which would likely tempt quite a few people.

With the money effect, everyone at the meeting spoke enthusiastically, offering many good ideas in a flurry of discussion.

For example, the recruitment advertisement: New Future English School, fulfilling your dream of going abroad.

Or other advertisements: New Future, good teachers! Good English! Good service!

At the meeting, the teachers all expressed that they would put aside their work during this period and spontaneously come to the school to help.

After 7:00 PM, Li Heng paid out of his own pocket to treat everyone to a meal at a restaurant outside; it was lively, and they drank and ate for over an hour before dispersing.

After seeing all the teachers off, Li Heng said to Li Ran and Yang Yingwen: "I have already told you how to handle the recruitment advertisements; don't be stingy with money.

Television, newspapers, and flyers must be in place; go all out. Whether the tutoring school can take off in the future depends on these next ten days or so."

Li Ran patted her chest and said: "News and publicity are practically my old profession; you can rest assured."

Li Heng nodded, "I will leave Jingcheng tomorrow. I will come over again when I have time later; if I don't, you can call me anytime if you have anything."

Now that all the paths were paved, Li Ran was quite confident.

Li Heng finally instructed: "The interaction in the trial class is crucial; you must hire a few shills in advance, give these shills the questions that people going abroad are most concerned about, have them raise their hands and ask them at the meeting, and you answer them one by one."

Li Heng had already written down these questions and answers and given them to Li Ran; the specific operation would be handled by them.

Li Ran agreed.

Li Heng reached out and took Chen Zijin's hand, saying to Li Ran and Yang Yingwen: "Then that's it; Zijin and I are leaving first. Contact me if anything comes up."

"Okay."

Li Ran and Yang Yingwen didn't plan to leave tonight; they would stay at the primary school because the coming days would be very busy, and they didn't want to bother going back and forth.

On the way back, Chen Zijin kept staring at him.

Li Heng felt puzzled, "Wife, what's wrong?"

Chen Zijin said with emotion: "I'm wondering, how do you know so much?"

Li Heng squeezed her palm: "If I didn't know anything, how could I be your man?"

Chen Zijin smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder; the two spoke intimately and finally arrived at the Sihe Academy before dark.

As soon as the two entered, Tian Run'e said to Li Heng: "Manzai, your classmate Sun Manning and Yu Laoshi both called for you this afternoon; you should call them back."

Li Heng handed Zijin to his mother, strode into the room, and began to make calls.

The first call was to Yu Laoshi.

The call went through after one ring.

Yu Laoshi asked on the other end: "Li Heng, the pure music album is ready; when are you returning to Hushi?"

Li Heng calculated the days and said: "I'll be there the day after tomorrow; Teacher, please help me buy three plane tickets from Changshi to Hushi."

Hearing that it was from Changshi to Hushi, Yu Shuheng immediately guessed who the three people were and agreed immediately.

Then he asked: "Has Zhou Shihe come to the school?"

Yu Shuheng looked at the receiver and asked with a half-smile: "Why? After leaving Hushi, you've seen three great beauties in a row, and now you're missing Zhou Shihe again?"

"Teacher, don't tease; after all, she is also a participant in the album recording; I am just showing her respect," Li Heng said.

Yu Shuheng looked at Zhou Shihe in the attic diagonally across through the window, "She came early; she only stayed at home for a week."

"Good, I'll fly back to Changshi tomorrow morning; please also help me get a ticket, Teacher," he said shamelessly.

"Hmm."

Knowing there were other women around him, Yu Shuheng didn't say much more to him, finished the business concisely, and hung up the phone.

The second call was to Sun Manning.

After it connected, Li Heng asked: "Comrade Manning, when did you return from Dongting Lake?"

Sun Manning said: "The day before yesterday afternoon; Mai Sui has already come to Shaoshi. When are you coming back? We are still waiting for you to return to Hushi together."

Li Heng said: "I'll arrive tomorrow."

"Alright, then hurry up; we've waited so long for you that the food is getting cold. By the way, is there anyone around you now?" Sun Manning asked.

Li Heng glanced at Chen Zijin, who had just entered the doorway: "Zijin is here."

Sun Manning glanced at Mai Sui on the side and said with a giggle: "Then let your wife take the phone; I haven't talked to her for a long time."

Li Heng smiled and handed the receiver to Chen Zijin: "Manning wants you."

"Okay."

Seeing Zijin chatting with Manning, Li Heng didn't listen on the side; he first went to take a shower and then started packing his luggage. He was leaving tomorrow morning, and his habit was always to prepare things in advance to avoid being in a rush and leaving things behind.

That night, Li Heng and Chen Zijin had a "mountain-climbing battle" in bed; although they were tired from the frequency, the two enjoyed it immensely and didn't rest until very late.

Li Heng stroked her smooth back with his right hand and asked proudly in her ear: "Are you satisfied?"

"Hmm, I'm stuffed." Chen Zijin's face was flushed, like peach blossoms in full bloom; she squinted and curled up in his arms, as obedient as a kitten.

After the intimacy, Chen Zijin, who couldn't bear for him to leave, didn't close her eyes all night and kept pulling him to chat.

The two had a tacit understanding; neither mentioned the matter of visiting the Chen family.

Li Heng didn't mention it because he had a psychological knot and didn't want to go yet.

Chen Zijin didn't mention it because she knew her mother still had quite a few opinions about him and also knew he didn't want to go to the Chen family; the two were at odds, so she simply pretended not to know and ignored it.

The next day, just as the sky was brightening, Li Heng climbed out of bed and rushed to the airport.

Before parting at the airport, he ignored the presence of his family and Chen Xiaomi, pulled Zijin into his arms, held her tightly for a long time, then let go and said: "I'm leaving; I'll come to see you during the National Day."

"Okay, be safe on the road." Chen Zijin looked at him with reluctance, and the corners of her eyes moistened unknowingly.

Li Lan came over, blocked her shoulder with her right hand, and said: "Stop looking, he's gone; come on, go to the cake shop with your second sister."

PS: The laptop keyboard is broken.

Posted first, edited later.

(End of this chapter)