Chapter 51: Business and Business

Hua Xiaoyu is a freshman majoring in Business Administration in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and also a new officer in the External Liaison Department.

Actually, she hadn't originally planned to join the External Liaison Department; she was just drawn to Hejiaying by the commotion that day, watching in a daze as Yang Tianxing overwhelmed the former deputy minister of the External Liaison Department, Zhou Yang.

Later, Hua Xiaoyu went to run for the External Liaison Department, successfully advancing after two rounds of strict interviews by Zhang Wei, and in this fundraising activity for the freshman gala, she followed Yang Tianxing as she had wished.

However, it was not quite what she had imagined; this deputy minister didn't seem to manage much. Zhang Wei and Xun Can were busy soliciting sponsorships in Hejiaying, while Yang Tianxing couldn't even be seen.

Hua Xiaoyu joined the External Liaison Department to hone her abilities, and the others had the same mindset; if their abilities couldn't be honed, they might as well be enjoying themselves in the Organization Department.

On a morning in November, just after class, Hua Xiaoyu was preparing to go eat lunch when she happened to see Yang Tianxing coming out of the Youth League Committee office, holding a bunch of keys in his hand.

She hurriedly called out loudly: "Deputy Minister Yang Tianxing!"

Hearing someone call his name, Yang Tianxing turned his head to look.

A petite girl with short hair brushing her ears, her temperament somewhat reminiscent of He Yulin, but quieter than He Yulin, and her features were even prettier.

"Who are you?"

Yang Tianxing felt she looked a bit familiar, but couldn't recall who she was, so he simply asked directly.

"I'm Hua Xiaoyu, a new officer in the External Liaison Department, your team member!"

The petite girl said, somewhat angry.

"Oh~"

Yang Tianxing suddenly realized: "No wonder you look familiar. Have you eaten?"

"No."

Hua Xiaoyu replied, feeling unhappy.

"Alright then, let me treat you to a meal."

Yang Tianxing said generously.

Hua Xiaoyu shook her head and said urgently: "Eating is a small matter; I just want to ask when we are going to solicit sponsorships. I heard that Senior Xun Can and Senior Zhang Wei are almost finished with their fundraising."

"What, what sponsorship?"

Yang Tianxing stared blankly at Hua Xiaoyu, and only after a while did he react: "I completely forgot about this."

Upon hearing this, Hua Xiaoyu was almost on the verge of tears: "Then what should we do? It's 1,000 yuan, and the time for the freshman gala is almost here!"

"What's the rush?"

Yang Tianxing said with a smile: "With me here, it's all a small problem."

Watching Yang Tianxing's confident appearance, and recalling this deputy minister's glorious record of instantly securing a 2,500-yuan sponsorship, Hua Xiaoyu felt slightly relieved.

"Does classmate Xiaoyu have anything else? I have some other things to do here; if you aren't eating, then see you later."

Yang Tianxing dusted off his backside and prepared to leave.

Seeing that Yang Tianxing was about to ditch her again, Hua Xiaoyu hurriedly said: "I don't have anything else here; I'll just follow Minister Yang to learn and help out."

Yang Tianxing didn't mind her and went on his own to the first floor of Teaching Building Z, where there were many weeds, and not far away, a large area of bicycles was parked in a jumble, all ridden by students attending class.

The two abandoned utility rooms assigned by the Youth League Committee were right behind these bicycles and weeds. After Yang Tianxing took out the key and opened the door, a musty smell from long-term lack of ventilation immediately drilled into his nostrils.

Each utility room was about seventy square meters, with thick dust piled on the floor, along with some old desks, chairs, and teaching equipment, and brooms and mops scattered in the corners.

Yang Tianxing took out a cigarette and lit it silently. After a while, he said to Hua Xiaoyu: "Call the other three officers over. I'll lend you my phone; do you know how to use it?"

"I do, my family members have phones too."

Hua Xiaoyu took the phone and walked out, returning shortly after to say: "Everyone has been notified."

Yang Tianxing looked up: "Do you have their dormitory phone numbers?"

Hua Xiaoyu took out a small notebook and said: "Minister Zhang Wei said everyone should exchange QQ numbers and dormitory phone numbers to make it convenient to notify each other if something comes up. I've written them all down."

Yang Tianxing gave an "um" and took back the phone. If this was a leader's first test for a subordinate, Hua Xiaoyu had already passed.

The other three arrived quickly: Xiong Jiayi from the English major, Zhu Bin from Chinese Language and Literature, and Ma Yuansong from Architectural Design.

Zhu Bin must have been eating lunch, as there were still rice grains on his lapel. The group ran over panting, but there was no dissatisfaction on their faces.

Yang Tianxing was the biggest troublemaker in the Student Union of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences; one couldn't get by following such a deputy minister without some awareness.

Seeing that the few were still a bit nervous, Yang Tianxing said with a smile: "Don't be nervous, I don't eat people, nor do I engage in that sort of formalism."

Seeing Yang Tianxing's gentle expression, the three relaxed slightly. Yang Tianxing then asked: "What is your reason for joining the External Liaison Department?"

"Of course it's to hone my abilities. During the interview, Minister Zhang Wei told us that the External Liaison Department is the hardest-working department in the entire Student Union."

Hua Xiaoyu said, and the others meant more or less the same thing.

Yang Tianxing nodded: "What everyone said is very good, but unfortunately, if you follow me, I'm afraid there will be very few opportunities to hone your skills in the External Liaison Department, but the stage outside the External Liaison Department will be broader."

The few new officers looked at each other, not understanding. Yang Tianxing didn't explain, preparing to take them out to "see the world."

……………

Yang Tianxing and the others arrived at the Chang'an District branch of Shentong Express on Changning Road. The general manager, Zhang Liye, must have just finished entertaining, his face flushed red as he drank tea to sober up.

Seeing Yang Tianxing, he waved his hand and said loudly: "Manager Yang, come over here. The commission standard has already been set."

Yang Tianxing said to Hua Xiaoyu and the others: "You wait for me downstairs."

Zhang Liye couldn't be bothered to ask about the others' identities, taking a document out of the drawer and handing it over: "Take a look at the content."

Yang Tianxing opened the agreement. The general idea was that the current commission was 0.8 yuan per piece; if the daily collection volume of each school reached 200 pieces, the commission would be 1 yuan per piece.

Currently, Wang Jundong's daily collection volume was only about 60 pieces. This agreement was equivalent to more than tripling it; this dog-day Zhang Liye's heart was truly black enough.

Yang Tianxing finished reading silently and handed the agreement back to Zhang Liye.

Zhang Liye frowned, spraying alcohol fumes as he said: "Is Manager Yang dissatisfied with the price on the agreement?"

Yang Tianxing shook his head: "I don't think the price can be changed; I just have some questions about this format."

"What questions?"

"Since I am the general agent for Finance College, Foreign Languages, Normal University, Political Science and Law, and Posts and Telecommunications, it makes no sense to calculate the schools separately. Manager Zhang, why not bundle these schools together and set a general standard?"

Zhang Liye had played a word game in the agreement, requiring each school to reach a daily collection of 200 pieces before increasing the commission, but each school had a different number of people, and the difficulty of collection was also different.

For example, the Chang'an campus of the Finance Institute only has 6,000 to 7,000 people, but the branch campus of the Foreign Languages Institute has nearly 15,000, while the University of Political Science and Law has fewer than 2,000 because it is only a graduate student branch.

The situation at each school is also different; for instance, the campus agent at the Normal University is currently focused entirely on preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam, so the daily collection volume is only about 30 packages.

Therefore, if we really were to divide it by school according to the agreement from Zhang Liye, it would be truly difficult to implement.

"How about I go back first and wait for Manager Zhang to draft a new agreement?" Yang Tianxing asked.

Zhang Liye stared at Yang Tianxing for a moment, then waved his hand with a grin and said, "No need, I was just drunk from drinking and forgot; actually, I had originally calculated two versions, and the other one is the overall collection standard for all five schools."

Zhang Liye handed over another document from the drawer.

This son of a bitch had actually drafted two versions from the start; if Yang Tianxing hadn't discovered the word trap in the first one, he probably would have been stuck working himself to death at the standard of 0.8 yuan per package.

Since Yang Tianxing discovered it, he just pretended to be drunk and forgot.

This is business; Zhang Liye giving Yang Tianxing a mobile phone is business, and playing word games in the agreement is also business.