Chapter 21: 020 Safety First

Three clubs jointly organized an event, and the three top leaders of Guiai Network gave it their all.

Yu Xing racked his brains, Zhong Zhiling pondered deeply, and Lu Haiying… happily enjoyed herself.

When Yu Xing finished checking the customer registration book and counting the money received, he turned around and found the second-in-command laughing and chatting outside the classroom with another girl.

He didn’t intrude abruptly, only listened quietly at the door, hearing the two enthusiastically discussing the popular Korean drama “The Wife’s Temptation.”

“What are they talking about? Let’s pack up.” Zhong Zhiling stuffed everything into his backpack, ready to call his girlfriend back.

“They’re talking about a TV drama where a woman turns evil after her husband’s betrayal and launches revenge.” Yu Xing introduced this year’s hit Korean drama.

Zhong Zhiling casually retracted his steps and complained to his senior: “Brother Xing, stop being so sarcastic all the time!”

“It’s really that plot—go ask her yourself later if you don’t believe me.” Yu Xing shrugged.

After a while, Zhong Zhiling waited until his girlfriend waved goodbye to the other girl with a smile, then asked casually: “Is that a customer? Did she sign up?”

“No, she didn’t sign up,” Lu Haiying grinned, her eyes crinkling, “but we exchanged numbers. She said she’ll bring her whole dorm sisterhood tonight for the survey, plus the Korean drama squad from the next dorm—oh, and the ‘Witch Party’ from our major!”

Yu Xing and Zhong Zhiling exchanged a glance. This…

Zhong Zhiling couldn’t help asking: “What’s this ‘Witch Party’?”

“Oh, we all watched a Korean drama where the female lead turns into a witch to revenge her ex-husband.” Lu Haiying explained briefly, then refocused on work. “So, how many did we get today?”

Zhong Zhiling quickly answered: “Forty-two! We got forty-two orders!”

With a hundred or two people showing up today, securing forty-two orders for the romantic contract was an exceptionally high conversion rate!

“This is inherently a couple’s event—once someone signs up or queues, it easily triggers herd mentality.” Yu Xing was genuinely pleased, summarizing the event’s success. “Very good. Okay, let’s split the money.”

Zhong Zhiling paused, thinking his senior was offering a labor bonus, and politely declined: “Brother Xing, we only worked half a day—no need, really.”

Yu Xing didn’t even look at his junior. He carefully counted out 8,400 yuan, confirmed the amount, then said: “Go, reconcile the registration book with the clubs. This 8,400 is their commission.”

Zhong Zhiling stared at the money in his senior’s hand, then at the noticeably thinner pile beside it, and felt a pang in his chest—200 yuan commission per order was really high…

He sighed, calmed his emotions, grabbed the registration book, and went to divide the money among the three clubs.

By the time everything was done, it was mealtime.

The three went to the cafeteria. Yu Xing added extra chicken legs and drinks, a small celebration for the second- and third-in-command.

Halfway through eating, Zhong Zhiling couldn’t help saying: “Brother Xing, each order is only 299 yuan. Our commission structure is crazy—almost 70% goes to them, we only get 30%!”

Yu Xing glanced at Lu Haiying, signaling her to speak up.

Lu Haiying hesitated.

Yu Xing gave one word: “Honesty.”

Lu Haiying opened up, smiling unconsciously: “We still have over 4,000 yuan left—this 30% is actually a lot!”

Yu Xing nodded, took a bite of food, then pulled out the 4,158 yuan earned from these orders from his bag and placed it on the table.

He pushed the stack toward his junior and said simply: “I said you’d manage the money. Take this. 4,158 yuan total. Record all expenses and usage.”

Zhong Zhiling was stunned. His hand instinctively touched the money, but he hesitated: “I manage the money? You’re serious?”

Though he’d heard this before, he thought it was just talk. Managing money was a huge responsibility—if the business truly took off, this wasn’t just 4,158 yuan—it could become 40,000, even 400,000.

A thought slipped through his mind: Could Brother Xing really trust him? Didn’t he fear he’d run off with the money? His family owed 430,000 yuan… oh, 430,000 plus 15,000…

“Yes, I said you’d manage it, so you manage it. We’ll formalize later.” Yu Xing confirmed this, then pointed at the second-in-command. “He handles the money. Xiao Ying, you supervise him. Can you do that?”

Lu Haiying answered with full energy: “Yes!”

Zhong Zhiling didn’t know if he’d been bewitched, but he felt his senior had subtly wielded his “control” and “honesty”—and it actually created a closed loop!

His fleeting thought vanished completely. With a slightly sarcastic tone, he said: “She supervises me, Zhong Zhiling—then who supervises you, Yu Xing?”

“You manage the money, she’s your girlfriend, and you two handle all club contacts.” Yu Xing spread his hands. “Why would I need to supervise?”

Zhong Zhiling paused. Hmm… that made sense.

"Once the company documents and seals arrive, we’ll sign contracts with today’s customers." Yu Xing had told the clubs the company needed to complete internal procedures. "I’ve reached out to intermediaries, Tieba, and campus networks. In a few days, we’ll meet all of them, then expand to other universities. Whether this succeeds depends on this period."

Today’s club event was just a trial run. The upcoming employee outreach is the company’s core foundation.

At this point, Lu Haiying stood up and went to the restroom.

Seeing the second-in-command leave, Yu Xing finally addressed the third-in-command’s earlier hesitation: “Zhiling, we haven’t really talked in days.”

Zhong Zhiling sighed: “Brother, we’ve never really talked—haven’t you just been poking my heart all along?”

Yu Xing ignored the small jab and said thoughtfully: “Don’t think the money we gave away is too much. Our biggest task now is to expand the operation—everything else is secondary. We’re two debt-ridden men sitting at a gambling table. We can’t expect to keep winning—we must turn our chips into cash safely.”

“Alright, Brother Xing. I just got a bit dazzled seeing the money.” Zhong Zhiling nodded. “I don’t really object. I’ll hit up other campuses’ clubs again, then bring on our first batch of interns.”

Yu Xing grunted: “Good. That puts my mind at ease. In this era, we must move fast.”

He added: “Not just our first batch of interns—we must also turn them into our second batch of users.”

Zhong Zhiling’s eyes lit up, imagining his senior’s likely strategy: “So these ones all have girlfriends?”

“To better facilitate and understand Xiangjiang Company’s social survey, I insisted the intermediaries target only college students with boyfriends or girlfriends.” Yu Xing replied.

How could someone without romantic experience properly understand this?

So Yu Xing added this small filter.

Zhong Zhiling marveled: “Only Brother Xing could think of this.”

“Oh, and when you do accounting, record everything—money received and customer counts—in two sets.” Yu Xing added. “One is the real, normal version—keep it hidden. The other reduces the numbers by one decimal place—use this one for daily purposes.”

Zhong Zhiling’s eyes showed slight confusion.

“The mainland subsidiary hasn’t been established yet. Strictly speaking, our current actions aren’t fully compliant.” Yu Xing put down his chopsticks. “In this world, safety first. Being cautious never hurts.”

The world is dangerous. Stay safe.