Chapter 10: Boss Jiang, You Wouldn't Want

"When I was hired, it was written in black and white on the contract: 'Finance Assistant.'"

Lin Jingyi slammed the delivery boxes onto the table, ripping the tape with a loud screech. "And now? The finance system needs me to maintain it, the inventory data needs me to check it, even the customer service voice messages need me to record them—Boss Jiang, want to give me a Best Employee Award while you're at it?"

After hearing her complaints, Jiang Ming knew he was in the wrong. He hurried forward to steady the tottering mountain of packages, then with a sheepish grin handed her a milk tea he'd bought on the way over. "Calm down, calm down, my Director Lin—I'm hiring! Today! Campus groups, confession walls, cafeteria bulletin boards—I'll post everywhere!"

As for the salary issue, Jiang Ming waited for her to stand up, then leaned over and made a gesture.

The money talk—we'll discuss it privately later!

No choice. If this hardworking, low-paid, all-purpose assistant quit, where would he find another college student workhorse this capable, demanding only a three-thousand-yuan monthly salary?

She could handle finance, juggle assistant duties, manage logistics, and when things got busy, she could even occasionally moonlight as a sweet customer service girl, telling customers, "Dear, all the products in our shop are brand-name goods, quality and quantity guaranteed."

The reason he agreed to hire so readily was partly because entering S3, with LOL being promoted through all kinds of Tencent tournaments, was making the game increasingly popular, and the shop's traffic genuinely needed more staff. Another reason was that part-time jobs like packing were very cheap among the college student demographic.

Basically 10 to 15 yuan per hour—nowhere near comparable to Lin Jingyi, this multi-talented talent the online store couldn't do without.

Complaints aside, looking at this slippery underclassman in front of her, Lin Jingyi got so angry she ended up laughing.

Who could blame her? The guy really did have the ability. While peers his age were still stressing over CET-4 and CET-6, Jiang Ming had already led their group of part-timers to transform a school warehouse originally stuffed with broken desks and chairs, through gaming video promotion, into an online store mall shipping 500+ orders daily.

The few freshman underclassmen doing part-time work nearby also showed respect on their faces. Toward this legendary second-year senior from their own School of Management, they felt both envy and curiosity.

Daily sales in the tens of thousands of yuan, monthly that's hundreds of thousands, minus costs, that's a million in annual revenue.

An ordinary second-year college student, starting from scratch with just a bit of school funding support, earning a million a year... confirmed with a glance—this is someone you can't envy no matter how hard you try.

"I'm not kidding. Our shop's daily order volume keeps growing, and with just this many people, we simply can't handle it all."

She pulled out the inventory sheet and slapped it on the table. "Also, customer service shifts need to be split into morning, afternoon, and evening slots, and the warehouse team must have two guys for moving goods. The most critical thing is..." The pen tip jabbed heavily at the booming sales curve. "If we don't expand the warehouse, tomorrow the two of us will be squatting on the sports field packing orders!"

"Boss Jiang, you don't want your online store packing and shipping out in the open, do you?"

Ahem, this Japanese upperclassman, please tone it down a bit.

Jiang Ming kept nodding, noted everything down one by one, then said gratefully, "Sorry for the trouble, senior. This time I'm prepared to handle all these matters together."

"All talk and no action is just empty posturing. You're young—don't just know how to draw big pies." Lin Jingyi shot Jiang Ming a look. "Our relationship being good is one thing, but I'll fight for what I deserve. Don't think you can freeload off me."

"Haha, of course not."

……

Agreeing is one thing, but beyond the raise, the other issues regarding gradually improving the shop's structure still need to be tackled step by step.

College student entrepreneurship has its pros and cons. The upside is the school provided him a sum of startup capital, plus two extra-large basement floors as the online store's warehouse. The previous storefront was just placed there for the leaders to inspect at any time, to prevent him from using his Jin Ling University identity to sell some weird stuff that would damage the school's reputation.

After all, snacks, esports peripherals, clothes—those are fine. But if he ended up selling some specialty product from Guanyun, Lianyungang, the dean couldn't afford to lose that face.

The problem lies here: university support varies in scale, and the college's resources can't all be given to him. Once one or two warehouses aren't enough, does he move the online store off campus, or apply to the school for a few more?

What about the employees?

After all, people from society aren't like in-school college students. When it comes to wages...

Mm, Jiang Ming confessed—he just couldn't bear to part with these motivated, cheap leeks, his fellow students.

"Hope this proposal 'Operations of Esports Clubs under the Emerging Esports Industry...' can move the advisor."

He weighed the thick manuscript in his hands.

Jiang Ming felt a bit uncertain inside. If he were at an ordinary university, or even a second-tier school in some small city, then convincing the school leadership to expand their entrepreneurial support for him would absolutely be no problem. After all, for an ordinary second-tier school, a student who could build a 'company' with annual revenue over a million in his second year—that's the kind of achievement they'd beg on bended knees for.

But this was Jin Ling. Although it still couldn't compare to the Imperial Capital and Magic Capital, those two top-ranked old bullies, in cultural heritage, national attention, and economic development, it was in no way inferior. And Jin Ling University, as its landmark premier institution, meant his million-yuan online store was actually not much different from small-time tinkering.

However, if he could tie it to an emerging industry about to rise, one that could leverage a market worth several billion, then the meaning would be entirely different.

Economics was secondary. For the school's leaders, what could be more attractive than keywords showing they had excellent industry-supporting vision, encouraging everyone to study hard and strive to get into the relevant departments?

Regarding the team's future development and funding, Jiang Ming already had a plan. This time he wasn't actually thinking about coming to the school for money.

What he wanted more was the Jin Ling University brand—a talisman that could greatly help him after founding the esports club and joining the LPL.

Having someone backing you versus having no one backing you—those are two completely different difficulty levels.

The King of Hell is easy to deal with, but the little devils are hard to handle. An ordinary person like him naturally chose to cling tightly to his alma mater's thigh.

What bad intentions could Jiang Ming possibly have? He just wanted to help the school solve more of its future employment rate.

He just wanted to secure for himself a Jin Ling University Outstanding Graduate title, and to give his teacher the reputation of an outstanding entrepreneur mentor, that's all.

Oh, and along the way, present his alma mater with the title of a pilot base for research and pathfinding in a brand-new field...

After thinking it through, Jiang Ming's steps quickened. He picked up the tea leaves he'd picked up on the road and headed toward his teacher's office.

"Knock knock!"

"Come in!"

After two knocks, the middle-aged man sitting at the desk raised his eyes slightly, a barely perceptible smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he called out.