Chapter 1406: Li Nana's Invitation

"Listen, Qin Li Chuan stated it clearly—he doesn't like me at all. Don't tease me anymore; this kind of joke isn't funny at all. It's made me eat and sleep poorly these past few days."

In the magazine company outside campus, Xie Da Qiao was heartily devouring the boxed meal left for her; it smelled delicious.

Yet no one responded.

Xie Da Qiao noticed the eerie silence and couldn't help but look up at everyone in the room: "Wait, why are you all staring at me? Qin Li Chuan himself said that if we were to live together, our lives would be ruined. Speak up! Don't just stare like that; you're scaring me."

Wang Yan smiled: "Just for this matter, you specifically called me to bring you back here?"

"Ah." Xie Da Qiao nodded. "Then this whole thing was stirred up by you. You drove me over here, so we might as well listen together. Don't make random jokes like this in the future, really; these past few days have been so miserable I've wanted to die."

Xu Lin stood with her mouth slightly open, staring at Xie Da Qiao: "Wait, you actually believed it?"

"Qin Li Chuan said it himself; why would he lie to me? What is there to believe or not believe?" Xie Da Qiao spoke as if stating the obvious. Seeing everyone remain silent and continue staring at her, she added, "Wait, don't tell you think Qin Li Chuan is saying one thing but meaning another? Like is like, and dislike is dislike. Oh, I beg you, spare me! Can you stop looking at me as if I'm an idiot?"

Wang Ying glanced at a certain someone and sighed: "Have you considered that Qin Li Chuan might just be sick?"

Wang Yan clapped his hands and said with a smile: "Alright, comrades, since Qin Li Chuan has spoken so clearly, let's leave poor Comrade Xie Da Qiao alone."

"Pah, isn't it all your fault?" Wang Ying glared.

Lu Qianran chimed in immediately: "Exactly, you were the one who started it."

Xu Lin wore an expression of pure disgust: "You stirred up the trouble, let it develop to this point, and now you're playing the good guy?"

"What's going on?" Wang Yan slapped the table. "Is this how you speak to your boss? What kind of attitude is this? Don't make me deduct your wages."

"Oh, give me a break. Deduct wages? You'd have to pay us first before you could deduct anything. The five of us sisters have been working day and night here, essentially working for you for free. Oh, wait, Qianxi does get a salary; you couple are partnering to earn venture capital money off her."

"Good sister, you truly have no conscience," Wang Yan laughed heartily, then added, "Just keep working. Once you produce the first issue of the magazine, I'll issue you all subsidies."

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that." Xu Lin waved her hands repeatedly. "I was just speaking my mind. I'm actually very grateful to you, good brother. Who else would dare to put up several million to let us build a magazine from scratch? Money doesn't really matter; this experience is incredibly precious. Plus, we get meals every day, and the food is good. I'm more than satisfied."

"Let me tell you something to give you some motivation: starting next month, you'll each receive a subsidy of one thousand yuan. If the magazine does well, there will be bonuses too. Good sister, work hard."

Xu Lin looked around and discovered with sorrow: "I'm the only one who's poor..."

Xiao Qianxi currently earns ten thousand a month, with meals and car expenses fully reimbursed. Wang Ying, Xie Da Qiao, and Lu Qianran are all native Jingcheng residents; their families may not be exceptionally wealthy, but they are certainly not lacking. Only she herself comes from a rural family—not a herder family with grasslands, but an ordinary farming household.

"No need to be depressed; happiness must be created by oneself. Look at me; didn't I build my current fortune from nothing? Rest assured, given our relationship, I will definitely lead the poor to prosperity after becoming rich myself, guaranteeing you a life of luxury."

"You have no choice but to lead me anyway. I've already decided: for the rest of my life, I'll cling to you couple's coattails and live off your generosity," Xu Lin said triumphantly.

"Excellent. With such understanding and attitude, I am very gratified." Wang Yan nodded satisfactorily. "You probably didn't realize it just now, good sister. Say it again now and show me your determination."

"Huh?"

Xu Lin shook her head with a lament: "Sorry, Qiaoqiao, I might be getting bought out. Actually, this whole thing is my fault for having a loose tongue. My good brother was just joking with someone, but I had to elaborate and spout nonsense to you."

"Xu Lin, you are so shameless," Xie Da Qiao said, looking at her with disgust.

"Indeed, once a person lets go of certain things, they gain endless happiness," Lu Qianran murmured softly.

"Such as?" Xie Da Qiao asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lu Qianran glanced at Xu Lin.

"I broke my back, but what I gained was far more than just five pecks of rice," Xu Lin laughed heartily.

After some lively banter among the group, Wang Yan took his leave and drove away on his own.

He had been called over by Xie Da Qiao; along the way, she wouldn't say a word no matter what he asked, wearing nothing but a happy expression, only revealing the matter upon arriving at the company.

Clearly, Xie Da Qiao truly had not realized that Qin Li Chuan was saying one thing but meaning another.

It seemed Qin Li Chuan had accurately gauged Xie Da Qiao; the moment she opened her mouth, he knew she was coming to reject him. To preserve dignity for both parties and ensure they could remain in contact afterward, Qin Li Chuan flatly denied his feelings for her.

Except for Xie Da Qiao, everyone else saw through this; they all felt the sorrow overflowing from Qin Li Chuan and silently offered their condolences to the pitiful man...

They perhaps thought that Qin Li Chuan must have already died in despair, and that what lived now was merely a soulless shell.

However, Wang Yan did not think so. After all, in the original story, even after Xie Da Qiao started dating Yangcheng, Qin Li Chuan still lingered by her side, never abandoning her. Although Xie Da Qiao had now expressed her lack of interest, she was still single; this situation was clearly better than her being with Yangcheng.

People know how to comfort themselves; perhaps Qin Li Chuan would think that Xie Da Qiao not liking him now doesn't mean she won't like him in the future—it's just that they are too familiar, and Xie Da Qiao hasn't yet discovered the affection within her own heart...

Wang Yan first drove to the external company branch, where over one hundred newly hired staff were already working; this was just for the Zhiwo Network. In the same building, there was also a branch for the Youxiang Network, where Liu Qiangdong had also rapidly expanded recruitment, adding over fifty people to work there in a short time.

The headquarters is in Jingcheng, where the staff count is naturally even higher. The difference lies in the fact that the external offices are business departments, while the headquarters must house various functional departments: unified procurement, warehousing, logistics, human resources, customer service, and so on. Even if regional branches are opened in the future with similar departments, the headquarters will always have more personnel because it must oversee the entire operation.

After securing funding, both Zhiwo Network and Youxiang Network were expanding even faster, changing every day, with Zhiwo Network inflating even quicker than Youxiang Network.

In this environment lacking explosive hot topics, the fervor surrounding Wang Mou, the top star of Beiqing University, had not yet dissipated; newspapers across the country continued to report and dig deeper, even excavating details from Wang Yan's hometown.

At that time, the municipal leaders of his hometown had even called him to express their condolences, though more importantly, to express their hometown's welcome for him to return and invest in construction, and so forth.

Simultaneously, nationwide reports mentioned both Zhiwo Network and Youxiang Network; the advertising effect was quite good, causing registered users to skyrocket. The most intuitive feeling was that the number of high school and middle school alumni records had increased significantly. Coupled with another campus beauty voting event, about eighty percent of newly enrolled university students had basically registered accounts.

Zhiwo Network's registered users were truly surging wildly toward twenty million registered users and ten million monthly active users.

Although Youxiang Network lagged far behind, it had still made a name for itself; furthermore, due to market expansion and the continuous boost of precise ad push notifications from Zhiwo Network, its registered users were also increasing sharply, and sales had soared, breaking through two hundred million.

As mentioned earlier, Zhiwo Network possessed a comprehensive forum and an excellent, highly credible public review system; when people wanted to understand products before buying, they only needed to search on Zhiwo Network, and the Yan Suan Fa would automatically match and recommend advertisements for related products.

Although not as forceful as later systems that push ads hard just by speaking to a phone, the current push advertisements were still quite precise and efficient; transaction volumes were considerable, sales were growing by leaps and bounds, and the situation looked extremely promising...

After touring the company, solving some problems on-site, and meeting with several scheduled clients, Wang Yan finally drove back to the company in the Technology Park.

After parking the car and walking into the office building, he saw Li Nana sitting in the lounge area of the lobby.

She also spotted Wang Yan, waved happily, and jogged over, saying: "Oh, Wang Yan, you are truly busy; it's so hard to see you. I've been waiting here for over an hour."

"Can't be helped; I handle every big and small matter, so I'm stretched too thin," Wang Yan replied with a chuckle, then asked, "Is something the matter?"

"As you know, activities for various clubs and our various departments basically all happen around this time. Our Drama Club is performing three days from now in the afternoon; I specifically came to ask you, our sponsor, if you have time to come watch."

Wang Yan thought for a moment, then shook his head apologetically: "Really no time; my schedule for the day after tomorrow is already full. I have to meet six clients and also communicate with the bank side; I'll be busy until evening."

He was speaking the absolute truth; not to mention in this era, even twenty years later, handling business requires a full package deal. Especially since he was dealing with the bank side, he had specifically scheduled it for the evening, as it would be convenient to move things along after dinner...

"Is that so..." A look of regret appeared on Li Nana's face. She then said, "Then do you have time today? Let me treat you to dinner. This is the time our Drama Club has received the most sponsorship and had the easiest run; no matter what, I, as the club president, must express my gratitude."

"There's no need, also..."

"I'm really especially grateful; let's just have a meal together. It won't take up too much of your time."

Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, Wang Yan still nodded: "Alright, in two hours."

"Great, then I'll head back first and come find you later. I know a restaurant near our school that's especially delicious. Oh, and it has extremely high ratings on Zhiwo Network."

"Sure, I'll head up first. See you tonight."

Wang Yan acknowledged, entered the elevator, and went upstairs.

Li Nana watched the elevator doors close; in the reflection of the polished doors, she saw her own image and smiled at herself...

In the blink of an eye, two hours passed. When Wang Yan came downstairs, he saw Li Nana waiting in the lobby.

She looked no different from their previous meeting, except for a pink coat; it was already late September, and the night air was still somewhat chilly.

"Sorry to keep you waiting a while; you haven't been waiting too long, have you?"

"I only just arrived a moment ago," Li Nana said, uttering words that conformed to social norms, then beckoned, "Let's go; I already called ahead to reserve a table."

"Let's go." Wang Yan nodded, led Li Nana to the car, and drove out of the campus.

Watching the students walking outside, Li Nana turned to ask Wang Yan, who was driving one-handed with his hand resting on the gear stick, "Are you always this busy?"

"No, just recently. Zhiwo Network completed its second round of financing and secured substantial funds; additionally, quite a few competitors have emerged in the market. We need to expand the company, stabilize our core base, capture more market share, and spend all the money as quickly as possible."

"Whoa, I thought you were counting every single cent when spending."

"Speed and waste are two different things. Investors aren't freeloaders either; my company has more accountants than anything else, and they're all counting every penny. Otherwise, think about it: as someone worth two billion, shouldn't I at least be driving a Mercedes-Benz 'Bull's Head'? Yet here I am, still in this Santana."

"Isn't that just a matter of time?" Li Nana said with a laugh. "Moreover... I feel you might simply not have such a strong desire for consumption."

"How do you feel that?"

"The car you provided for your girlfriend is better than your own; furthermore, your mobile phone isn't the latest model, your watch is a Shanghai brand rather than a foreign one, and the clothes you wear aren't those luxury designer labels. Therefore, I think you don't place much importance on these things."

Wang Yan nodded noncommittally: "You observe quite meticulously and know quite a lot."

Li Nana said, "Your girlfriend drives within the campus; everyone at the school knows. As for the brands and such, I learned about them occasionally by reading magazines."

Seeing Wang Yan nod, she asked again, "Then what is it that you pursue?"

"What is Zhiwo's slogan?"

"'Make life even better'?"

"It is 'Make the lives of the people even better.' I am dedicated to improving life's convenience; in this process, I have provided jobs for employees, solved sales channels for factories, and influenced hundreds of thousands of people across the upstream and downstream sectors. Recently, Youxiang Network launched a campaign: group-buying. Among the items were many unsold fruits and other agricultural products from impoverished regions, which sold quite well. Isn't this poverty alleviation? Isn't this driving regional development?"

Wang Yan said with a chuckle, "This is what I pursue."

Li Nana stared blankly at Wang Yan; seeing his serious expression, she couldn't help but believe his words.

Yet she still could not comprehend Wang Yan's state of mind; after all, being young and immensely wealthy clashed terribly with the statement he had just made.

She pressed further: "That counts for the company, but what about you personally? What aspirations do you have?"

"The company is mine; my pursuit is the company's pursuit. However, I understand what you mean. If I must say, it is that one day I can devote myself wholeheartedly to photography, drive the vigorous development of the entire photography industry, and enhance photography's influence in society. To be more specific, it is to be able to act according to my own wishes without worrying about expensive equipment or precious time—to shoot however I want, whenever I want."

Li Nana couldn't help but nod repeatedly: "I can understand this; everyone knows you love photography. What you mentioned earlier was still too grand; my level of awareness can't keep up, I wouldn't even dare to imagine it."

"Industrial society is constantly refining the division of labor; as long as one does one's own part well and shoulders one's own share of responsibility, that is sufficient."

"You speak with such profound insight." Li Nana suddenly exclaimed "Ai!" and pointed down the road with her finger, "Turn right, turn right; it's not far past here."

Wang Yan slammed on the brakes, turned in the middle of the intersection, and endured a barrage of honks...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who generously donate, cast monthly votes, submit recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their tremendous support!

? (End of Chapter)