Yu Xing had planned to have Zhong Zhiling split up with him to probe the market separately, but given his junior's abilities, he decided to keep him by his side for the first wave, lest the young man be at a loss when it was his turn to act.
The soon-to-be-established "Gui Ai Wang" (Precious Love Net) needed to set targets for the team about to be assembled, and the current step was to survey the dating situations of college students and recent graduates, then further assess the potential user base in Jinling as a city—and, to a certain extent, the broader domestic population it represented.
As for whether the data would be rigorous or not...
Yu Xing figured the targets they came up with just needed to not be too outrageous; there would be some leeway left anyway.
"Counselor Qiu Zhaoming, male, 31, gets along well with students, gossip-prone personality."
"I used to think he was too gossipy. Now I see, he's gossipy in just the right way."
On the way, Yu Xing briefed his junior on the first target of the trip—his undergraduate counselor.
He bought two packs of cigarettes from the campus convenience store, tossed one to Zhong Zhiling, and printed out several presentable-looking questionnaires.
When they arrived to meet the target, before Zhong Zhiling could even react, he watched the two walk out of the office and find a stairwell where they lit up and puffed away.
Seeing his old counselor, Yu Xing felt somewhat sentimental, and inevitably exchanged more pleasantries than usual.
"Hey, hey, why did you light another one?" Qiu Zhaoming looked at the half-finished cigarette in his own hand, then at Yu Xing lighting up yet another, and asked in surprise, "Do you smoke that heavily now?"
Yu Xing chuckled: "The pressure's been a bit much lately. Oh right, business. Come on, Zhiling, hand over the questionnaire."
Qiu Zhaoming took one and saw the title on it—Huaxia College Students' Dating Survey Questionnaire.
He read it carefully and asked, puzzled: "This is the business you mentioned? I thought you wanted me to set you up with a girlfriend."
"Setting me up with a girlfriend is more important than this?" Yu Xing said with a smile. "I'm helping out some buddies. They're doing a campus survey, and I think they're even hoping to get sponsorship from some big companies. I thought it over and over—when it comes to understanding students, you've got to find someone capable and responsible like Brother Qiu."
"Setting you up with a girlfriend is more proper." Qiu Zhaoming looked at the questionnaire, pulled a pen from his pocket, and muttered, "'Brother Qiu when there's business, Old Qiu when there's not,' is that it?"
Yu Xing just laughed.
Qiu Zhaoming looked the questionnaire over carefully—it wasn't complicated.
—What proportion of college students do you think have dated?
—How many current students are in relationships?
—What is the dating rate among recent graduates?
—What proportion of college couples do you think end up marrying after graduation?
"You dated yourself, didn't you? Why ask me?" Qiu Zhaoming held the pen, and though he said this, his mind was already churning over proportions that matched his impressions.
Yu Xing smiled and went straight to the first question: "The classes you've supervised these past few years—how many of them have dated?"
Qiu Zhaoming had already read through the questions and pondered carefully. Having dated meant regardless of whether they'd broken up since...
His pen tip hesitated between two options. He looked up and said: "Quite a lot have dated. College students, you know—suddenly going from high school to such a relaxed environment, parents not around, surrounded by peers their age. Some genuinely fall in love, some just follow the trend. I'd say at least 70%. The four classes I supervise now have nearly 200 people—hmm, maybe 140 or 150 of them have dated. But they get together fast and break up fast too."
"Then just pick one," Yu Xing said, injecting no opinion of his own, only wanting to see the counselor's actual perception. "You can also write in your own number—75%, 78%, whatever."
Qiu Zhaoming chose 70%–80%.
Then he volunteered: "Those still dating now... probably not even half. No—30%. Hmm... wait, let me work this out."
Qiu Zhaoming muttering names under his breath—Luo Maobin, Jiang Jianhe, Jin Xinhui, Shang Linlin—no, not her, she broke up...
Zhong Zhiling couldn't help casting a glance at his senior. This counselor really was gossipy.
After a good while, Qiu Zhaoming, using the 200 students under his supervision as a sample, arrived at a number that surprised even himself: "The proportion still dating now might only be 25%—about 50 people."
Yu Xing nodded slightly and asked: "The graduates next month—their rate should be even lower, right?"
"It seems..." Qiu Zhaoming thought it over and shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it would differ by much."
He said hesitantly: "I'd estimate a drop of about 5%. Some will break up, but more should break up after graduation."
"Five points, that's not a little. So among the graduates, there'd still be 40 people in relationships." Yu Xing asked a question that could test probability: "Based on your experience, of those 40 couples, how many do you think will actually end up married?"
Qiu Zhaoming fell into deep thought.
Yu Xing didn't rush him; he waited for the answer.
"For marriage, we definitely can't count the students currently under my supervision—this would be the earlier ones..." Qiu Zhaoming said hesitantly. "Going by a total of 200, down to 40 by graduation... roughly 1 couple."
Yu Xing was taken aback: "1? Just 1 couple?"
"Even if they married and then divorced, does that count?" Qiu Zhaoming asked.
Zhong Zhiling, listening nearby: "..."
Yu Xing was silent for two seconds, then said firmly: "It counts!"
Qiu Zhaoming nodded: "Then, 1 couple."
Yu Xing: "..."
Still 1 couple. One out of 40. A marriage rate of 2.5% among campus couples.
"After graduation, you run into too many problems. On campus you're naive, but out in society, it's no longer two people—it's two families." Having thought it through, Qiu Zhaoming also felt the number was rather low, and sighed with emotion. "Parents, making a living, buying a house, personality, work—too, too many factors."
As he spoke, he answered the last question with his pen.
Yu Xing took back the questionnaire Qiu Zhaoming handed over, gave it a quick scan, then took five more from his junior and said with a smile: "Brother Qiu, do me a favor—have the other counselors fill these out too."
"What's the point of filling these out, anyway?" Qiu Zhaoming shook his head, but accepted them.
"I'll treat you to lunch tomorrow, all right?" Yu Xing handed him another cigarette with a smile.
Qiu Zhaoming waved it away and admonished: "No more for me. You should cut back too—there's nicotine in those."
Yu Xing agreed with a smile, thanked his counselor once more, and left with Zhong Zhiling.
When they got downstairs, he asked his junior: "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"No..." Zhong Zhiling nodded first, then said, troubled, "But isn't that because you two know each other?"
"Let's go, we're heading to the tourism college next door." Yu Xing didn't argue, simply laying out his thinking. "We need to make good use of our student status. That identity can greatly reduce the cost of communication in campus activities."
Zhong Zhiling reflexively let out a confused sound: "Huh?"
"He's just a student, what can he do?" Yu Xing shrugged. "That's roughly the feeling."
Zhong Zhiling couldn't help smiling, then said: "Out of 200 people, only 1 ended up married?"
"Only 1 couple made it from campus love to a real marriage," Yu Xing corrected, then asked casually, "Will you be that 1?"
Zhong Zhiling fell silent.
After they walked out of the campus gate, he suddenly said: "Xiaoying is at the company now too. If we broke up, would it affect work?"
Yu Xing stopped in his tracks, glanced at his junior, said nothing, and just gave him a thumbs-up.
He didn't answer questions like that. As they walked into the neighboring school, he explained the ultimate goal of today's survey: "We need a rough number so we know how far our operations in Jinling can go."
"A small boat turns easily. If there are 1,000 potential client couples, we might set a conversion rate of 30%."
"Based on that performance target, we can then consider what team size we need—how many people to do this work."
"Campus activities are relatively simple. Once we build up the early experience, everything after is similar."
Yu Xing asked his junior: "Understand?"
Zhong Zhiling nodded, then asked: "Where will the team members come from?"
Yu Xing pointed at the school: "We do this first. That's not hard either."
He added: "Also, I'm going to use the sample from this survey of ours to publish a 'Huaxia College Students' Dating Survey Report.' Once the team has some initial experience and results, it'll earn us some extra name recognition."
Hearing that impressive-sounding title, Zhong Zhiling was somewhat skeptical it would come from the hands of two medical students.
Perhaps writing a "Huaxia College Students' Health Report," or a "Mental State Assessment Report," would be more fitting...