Chapter 48: The Posturing Expert

In 2002, few university students owned mobile phones; otherwise, Yang Tianxing wouldn't have constantly tried every possible way to show off his phone in the classroom and dormitory.

Today, Yang Tianxing also played the part of such a "stinky, posturing youth" for once, but truth be told, it actually felt quite satisfying.

This kind of posturing came from another dimension, unrelated to position or seniority; Long Fuxin couldn't even come up with a single word of rebuttal.

Another female vice-chair of the student union, Jiang Minling, hurriedly smoothed things over, telling everyone to compose themselves and prepare for the meeting. As Long Fuxin walked toward his seat, he pulled out the white shirt he had tucked into his trousers, quietly covering the pager at his waist.

"Calling everyone here today is mainly to discuss the preparations for the freshman gala."

Vice-chair Wen Xiubo said: "The freshman gala is a long-standing tradition of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. Especially since this year marks the 50th anniversary of the school's founding, there might even be college leaders coming to observe, so everyone must prepare even more diligently."

Yang Tianxing really hadn't known about the 50th anniversary of the school's founding. No wonder the school had been increasing its green space, repairing rockeries, and cleaning the artificial lake a while ago; there might be leaders from the education system coming to visit then.

"Since it's the 50th anniversary of the school's founding, the school must have celebratory events too, right?"

Yang Tianxing said quietly to Zhang Wei: "Will it conflict with this freshman gala?"

"It will definitely conflict. We might just finish holding the freshman gala at the university activity center, and the college's founding celebration will follow right after," Zhang Wei said, feeling depressed.

At this moment, Long Fuxin said sternly: "What is going on with the External Liaison Department? We are holding a big meeting up here, and you are holding a small meeting down there. Do you have any sense of organizational discipline at all?"

Zhang Wei was a steady university student who handled things well; such people usually had their own ideas. She pursed her lips, stood up, and said: "Just now, Vice Minister Yang and I were discussing a problem: the college will definitely have celebratory events for the 50th anniversary of the school's founding. Will we have a conflict?"

"Are you suggesting we suspend this year's freshman gala?"

Wen Xiubo asked, somewhat displeased.

Zhang Wei shook her head: "I think the department's freshman gala this year should be kept simple and not waste too much time, because we might still need to contribute effort to the celebratory events later."

The three vice-chairs exchanged glances on the stage, each with their own thoughts.

Jiang Minling agreed with Zhang Wei's opinion, while Wen Xiubo felt it was best to maintain the original standards. Long Fuxin glanced at Yang Tianxing and found him fiddling with his phone with an indifferent expression.

Long Fuxin sneered: "I don't think we can keep it simple; we must raise the standards. If we are sloppy, how will the college leaders evaluate our department?"

Zhang Wei shook her head silently. Long Fuxin was settling a personal score under the guise of public duty. With a casual "raise the standards," the External Liaison Department would be the ones suffering in the end, having to go out and act like beggars again.

Zhang Wei glanced at Yang Tianxing. If this "troublemaker" could stand up and refute him face-to-face, it might have the effect of a surprise attack. Unfortunately, Yang Tianxing seemed not to have seen the look Zhang Wei sent his way at all.

In fact, Yang Tianxing had already noticed, but he had his own considerations. From the moment his startup project launched, he was no longer a simple university student.

Wen Xiubo had been hesitating, but now that he heard Long Fuxin's support, he immediately said: "Even if the standards cannot be raised, they at least cannot be lowered. Now, let's distribute the responsibilities for each department. The External Liaison Department is mainly responsible for soliciting sponsorships..."

Yang Tianxing didn't really listen to the content that followed. The final task for the External Liaison Department was to raise 3,500 yuan in sponsorship, and this 3,500 yuan needed to be solid, not like the 200-yuan banner plus 300-yuan coupons that Zhou Yang had done.

After the meeting adjourned, Zhang Wei said to Yang Tianxing: "The External Liaison Department has finished recruiting new members. Do you want to meet them?"

Although Yang Tianxing was a vice minister, Zhang Wei hadn't let him help with the interviews when recruiting new members. Of course, Yang Tianxing didn't care either, and he shrugged, saying: "Meeting them is fine."

The External Liaison Department was generally the department with the most people in the student union. This year there were 11 people; besides the minister and vice ministers, there were 3 sophomores and 5 freshmen.

They had all heard of Yang Tianxing but had never seen him. Actually, he wasn't hard to identify; the only male student in the activity room leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed and smoking should be him.

"Minister Yang, these are all the members of our External Liaison Department." Zhang Wei walked over and introduced them.

Yang Tianxing nodded in greeting. His image actually matched his reputation; he was too lazy to even put out the cigarette in his hand while saying hello.

Next, Zhang Wei brought up the business: "The department student union's task for our External Liaison Department this time is 3,500 yuan in sponsorship. I, as the minister, am responsible for 1,500 yuan, and the two vice ministers will each claim 1,000 yuan. The others will assist from the sidelines and accept coordination. Does everyone have any questions?"

Xun Can said with a bitter face: "Even if we have questions, there's nothing we can do. That's just the fate of the External Liaison Department."

Zhang Wei ignored Xun Can's complaint and turned to Yang Tianxing: "And Minister Yang?"

Yang Tianxing blew a smoke ring lightly: "3,500 yuan, I have no problem with that alone."

The corners of Xun Can's mouth twitched. He had originally wanted to say "bragging," but because he had witnessed Yang Tianxing's methods for getting money with his own eyes, he swallowed his words.

Zhang Wei nodded. Actually, her feeling was about the same.

Even though she had no confidence in completing her own 1,500-yuan task, she had an inexplicable confidence in Yang Tianxing. This was probably the reason why she had strongly recommended Yang Tianxing to serve as the vice minister of the External Liaison Department in the first place.

"Next, let's assign the members. It will be based on voluntary choice. Everyone can choose to follow whichever vice minister or me."

Zhang Wei said after composing herself.

However, what she didn't expect was that, apart from the two sophomores who followed Xun Can and one person who followed Zhang Wei, the other five freshmen all wanted to follow Yang Tianxing.

Yang Tianxing was also surprised; he had originally thought he would be a lone commander.

In the end, one freshman felt embarrassed and re-selected Zhang Wei, so there were four freshmen in Yang Tianxing's team, two boys and two girls.

Zhang Wei didn't dawdle after assigning the tasks; she reminded each team to finish their tasks early and then left.

"Minister Yang, are we going to ask merchants for money tomorrow?"

A female student named Hua Xiaoyu asked.

"Tomorrow?"

Yang Tianxing had things to do tomorrow, so he waved his hand and said: "Tomorrow is the weekend. Everyone should sleep, go online, and go on dates as usual. If there are any problems, we'll talk about them next Monday."

Several freshman members looked at each other, but since Minister Yang had decided this, they couldn't say anything.

……………

On the way back to the dormitory, Yang Tianxing took out his phone and made a call to his mother.

"Hello, who is this?"

Gao Meilan's voice came through the receiver.

"Your good son. I bought a mobile phone recently, the number is 133XXXXXXXX. Call me on this number if you need anything in the future."

Gao Meilan got anxious as soon as she heard: "How much is this phone? Where did you get the money to buy a phone? What have you been doing lately?"

Facing Gao Meilan's three soul-searching questions, Yang Tianxing curled his lips, held the receiver a bit further away, and then said loudly: "Hello, Mom, can you hear me? Hello, the signal is bad, I'm hanging up first..."

"Beep, beep, beep."

On the other end, Gao Meilan listened to the busy signal and stared blankly.

Yang Jianjun was washing dishes; noticing the commotion, he walked over and said: "Whose call was it?"

"Who else but that dog of a son? He said he bought a new phone, but he wouldn't say where he got the money, and in the end, he even hung up on me."

The more Gao Meilan talked, the more worried she became. Finally, she slapped her thigh: "No, I'm feeling all unsettled. I must go to Chang'an to see this kid."

Yang Jianjun was also a bit uneasy. A mobile phone cost several thousand yuan now. He and Gao Meilan were still using PHS phones, yet their son was already using a mobile phone.

"Although Tianxing has a somewhat wild personality, he still has a sense of proportion in what he does; he shouldn't do anything illegal."

Yang Jianjun was analyzing it slowly, but seeing his wife Gao Meilan's unkind gaze, he hurriedly changed his tune: "But I also agree with going to Chang'an to take a look. After all, we still don't know which university he's at, but we can't go tomorrow either. Let's just take some annual leave and go to Chang'an to have a good time for a few days."

Gao Meilan felt this was a good idea, and there would be no need to rush back and forth.

Yang Tianxing was completely unaware that his parents had already planned a surprise inspection; he was still leisurely calling Liu Jiaoyue.

"This is my mobile number 133XXXXXXXX; call this number when you want to find me in the future."

"Speak, speak a little slower, I want to go get a piece of paper."

"Go quickly, go quickly."

Yang Tianxing said impatiently.

"Oh, oh, you wait a moment."

After Liu Jiaoyue finished speaking, she ran off to get paper. Perhaps worried about being scolded again for being slow, she accidentally knocked something over, and there was a "clatter" sound from the receiver.

After a long while, Liu Jiaoyue's voice reappeared in the receiver: "Are, are you still there?"

"Did you just bump into something?" Yang Tianxing asked.

"Mm..."

Liu Jiaoyue admitted in a small voice.

Yang Tianxing sighed: "So clumsy, did you hurt yourself?"

"No, it's fine, it was just the washbasin that tipped over."

Liu Jiaoyue explained stammeringly.

Only then did Yang Tianxing set his mind at ease; he repeated the number again and urged her to keep it in mind.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Jiaoyue first read the phone number on the paper to herself three times, then folded it up and tucked it into a book, and carried the washbasin to the bathroom.

However, before turning on the water, she ran out again to take out the slip of paper and recite it once; before taking off her clothes, she recited it again; after showering, with her hair still dripping wet, she hurriedly took out the slip of paper to recite it once more.

Not until she had completely memorized it did she feel at ease tucking the slip of paper back into the book for safekeeping.

The content of the call between Yang Tianxing and Tan Zhizhi was much more lighthearted.

"Little Yang, did you really buy a mobile phone?"

"What's so strange about that."

Yang Tianxing said dismissively.

"Then bring it for me to see tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, huh."

Yang Tianxing was just about to tell Tan Zhizhi about this: "I have to go to my counselor's house tomorrow; I have some things to discuss with him."

Yang Tianxing planned to have Xie Yu'an serve as his project advisor, and he intended to buy some fruit to discuss it with him, although Xie Yu'an certainly wouldn't object.

Tan Zhizhi was a bit unhappy: "You already promised to go shopping with me."

"I have things to do, that's settled then." Yang Tianxing prepared to hang up the phone impatiently.

"Then I'll call my dad in a moment and tell him you kissed me, and I'll tell Auntie Gao too."

Yang Tianxing sighed: "Then let's go to the counselor's house together tomorrow."

"That works, see you tomorrow morning."

Tan Zhizhi said happily, but then she remembered something else.

"Little Yang, was I the first person you called after changing your phone?"

"That's for sure, I haven't even had time to call my mom. Alright, no more talking, I'm going to report to my mom."

After hanging up the phone, Yang Tianxing muttered: "Women are really troublesome."

Tan Zhizhi was in a good mood on her end; she opened her wardrobe to pick out an outfit for shopping tomorrow, and her roommate asked from the side: "Little Zhizhi, have you confirmed your elective course?"

"Mm, confirmed, Business Law."

"Why choose Business Law? International Trade majors should be choosing a minor language."

Tan Zhizhi smiled: "It doesn't matter, I want to understand a bit more."