Yu Xing's second survey trip with Zhong Zhiling went just as smoothly as the first.
In fact, this trip was even faster than the one to find his own academic advisor.
When Yu Xing arrived at the office, he politely identified himself as a student and courteously sought the advisors' help. Aside from one advisor who was busy with other matters, everyone else in the office gathered around, and one female advisor even discussed the topic with great enthusiasm.
"Hey, that pair of students who did the public proposal last year—did they get their marriage certificate?"
"No, not yet. I've been lurking in the group chat. I heard they're in a cold war."
"Who checked the 70%-80% box? I'd say it's more like 80%-90%."
"Maybe even higher. Over 90% of students must have been in a relationship! I'll stop estimating—let's just write 92%!"
The discussion in the office was lively. This kind of talk was far more fun than work.
Full of enthusiasm, proactively cooperative, chattering away, and still wanting more.
By the time Yu Xing and Zhong Zhiling walked out of the office, they could still hear the discussion behind them. The two exchanged a glance, each seeing disbelief in the other's eyes.
This wasn't a hard task, but this was a bit too easy!
"Miscalculated. We shouldn't have brought fruit—we should have bought sunflower seeds!" Yu Xing reflected on his mistake.
Zhong Zhiling couldn't help scratching his head. "How are the advisors... uh, I don't even know how to put it."
"Advisors are people too. It's no different from you guys in the dorm talking about girls in your class, girls in the next class, or which teacher is pretty," Yu Xing said. "Alright, let's get to work. You take the schools around here, and I'll head to the Nanjing University side."
He thought for a moment and laid out the plan. "We'll take two or three days for the survey. There's not enough time today. Tomorrow I'll bring a few more people in, and the day after we'll hand the materials over to Sister Ying. We'll aim to officially launch this week."
Zhong Zhiling clutched the stack of survey questionnaires and nodded vigorously.
Soon, when he truly set off on his own, he discovered he was still a bit nervous, and his speech was a little halting.
But the nervousness and stammering didn't affect the progress of the work much.
Sometimes advisors would ask which school he was from or what the survey was for, but after a couple of sentences of explanation, no one pressed him harshly.
Once, twice, and then it became familiar to Zhong Zhiling. He didn't finish his survey journey until evening.
The Jiangning university district had fifteen institutions of higher education in total, including well-known national universities like Southeast University and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Today's survey covered five schools by bicycle, plus his own school and the neighboring one, making seven altogether.
After a full day of work, Zhong Zhiling was covered in sweat. As he waited to meet up with his senior, he flipped through the survey questionnaires, clicking his tongue in amazement.
So this is what a survey campaign is?
It really isn't all that lofty and grand.
It wasn't until seven o'clock in the evening that Zhong Zhiling finally met up with his weary-faced senior.
"Xing-ge, how did it go?" Zhong Zhiling quickly handed over a bottle of mineral water.
"Went to the Xianlin area and covered eight schools." Yu Xing gulped down half the bottle. "How about your side?"
Zhong Zhiling reported his results: "Covered five, plus the two we did together—that's fifteen schools in total now!"
Nanjing had roughly fifty universities overall, meaning they'd covered 30% already!
"Hmm, no need to hit every single one, though. Looks like with a few more helpers tomorrow, we'll be able to put together the report," Yu Xing said, wiping his sweat and taking today's achievements from his junior to review them carefully.
He flipped through two pages, then casually pulled one out and set it on the table.
Zhong Zhiling picked it up, puzzled. "What's wrong with this one? Is there a problem?"
"We don't include the ones that are too low in the statistics. Have you never watched TV? Drop the highest score, drop the lowest score," Yu Xing said casually. "That one has the relationship rate checked at only 20%-30% on the first question. Which school? Probably made it up!"
Zhong Zhiling had some memory of this questionnaire: "I think it was a civil engineering advisor. He even asked me about other people's answers."
Yu Xing gave an "mm." "Civil engineering? Not surprising then. Huh, wait—unless he inflated it to save face for civil engineering?"
Zhong Zhiling blinked, roughly figuring out the situation. "In that case, we don't need to go over there again in the future."
"No, quite the opposite. It's not that civil engineering guys don't want to date—it's that there are few girls. The numbers are low to begin with. And if they do get a girlfriend, you think they'd be stingy about spending money?" Yu Xing shook his head. "Not only will we go there, they'll be our high-conversion-rate target."
Zhong Zhiling could only sigh in admiration: "Damn..."
Yu Xing finished his water and had roughly finished reviewing the questionnaires.
Before he could start tallying the statistics, Zhong Zhiling received a call from his girlfriend, reporting that she had secured two customers and obtained 598 yuan, and requested to come join them.
By the time Lyu Haiying arrived, Yu Xing's tallying was nearly complete.
"I haven't even written up the contracts yet! I remember Zhiling was holding the contracts before, and they didn't even ask me for them!" Lyu Haiying was delighted the moment she arrived. "Smooth, right? Smooth! I've got talent, don't I?"
"Talented, yes. From now on, you handle the marketing work, and Zhong Zhiling manages the money." Yu Xing was quite optimistic about this third-in-command who had no psychological burdens. "Our project will inevitably involve contact with many female students. You're well suited to communicating with them."
Lyu Haiying stood tall and proud.
"Come on, let's look at today's results—the preliminary statistical conclusions from fifteen universities across Nanjing." Yu Xing finished his calculations, picked up his notebook, and announced the day's findings.
—The proportion of college students who had been in a relationship was 80%, but the proportion currently in one was 32%. Among graduates, the relationship rate was 21%, and the marriage rate after entering society was 1.5%.
In other words, the marriage probability at the core of the love contract roughly matched reality.
Also, based on this data, of Nanjing's 115,000 graduates this year, there would be at most 24,150 couples—but accounting for overlaps, the actual number of graduate couples would certainly need to be reduced.
"We can shave off the remainder," Yu Xing reasoned. "So, twenty thousand graduate couples."
He continued: "Remove those in long-distance cold wars, say 3,000 couples."
Zhong Zhiling and Lyu Haiying couldn't help exchanging a glance.
Yu Xing picked up his pen again: "Remove those on the verge of breaking up, say 3,000 couples."
That left 14,000 couples.
"Remove the ones just going through the motions who'll break up immediately after graduation, another 3,000 couples." Yu Xing made another deduction.
11,000 left.
Yu Xing raised his hand again, about to speak.
Zhong Zhiling had no choice but to speak up, almost pleading: "Xing-ge, stop subtracting!"
For some reason, he just felt uneasy.
Yu Xing looked up. "Oh? Have we covered all the factors? Fine. Based on today's rough statistics, out of 100 couples, about 2 can get married after graduation. That's pretty high, actually."
The expression on Lyu Haiying's face stiffened a little.
"Alright, we'll continue the survey tomorrow. Since we're doing this, let's do it thoroughly." Yu Xing was quite satisfied with the day's work. "After removing the effects of various factors, this year's 11,000 graduate couples will be our potential customer base. Forget a 30% conversion rate—even if we only manage 10%, that's... 1,100 couples."
"1,100 times 299—that's 328,900."
"Round down—300,000 in revenue."
Yu Xing looked at his second and third in command. "Depending on the actual conversion of our early work, if we can push it up to 30%, then we're looking at a million in revenue."
Zhong Zhiling and Lyu Haiying nodded silently.
"Right, I'll write up a data sheet for you both to review. Think more about the work we're about to start—find the gaps and fill them in." Yu Xing pulled out another sheet of A4 paper.
Everything done, they wrapped up for now.
Zhong Zhiling and Lyu Haiying left with the rough draft of the couples survey report, neither in much mood to talk on the way.
When they reached the dorm entrance, the two young people embraced, both hearts trembling.
Today they had verified reality with their own hands.
"Do you think we can make it to the very end?" Lyu Haiying asked softly.
"Yes, absolutely." Zhong Zhiling knew what he should say at a time like this.
But he couldn't help recalling scenes from the day's surveys—different advisors answering the last question on the questionnaire with different tones and different expressions: "Marriage? Ah, that proportion is way too small."
Just after parting with his girlfriend, Zhong Zhiling received another call from his senior.
"Oh right, almost forgot one thing. We need to apply for a Taobao store. Register it with your ID card—name it Gui'ai Wang," Yu Xing said. "It'll come in handy later. Once we publish this report, there'll definitely be online traffic."
Zhong Zhiling asked: "Me again?"
"Yes. Or Lyu Haiying could do it—talk it over between you two. It doesn't really matter either way," Yu Xing said.
Zhong Zhiling thought of his girlfriend, who had been curled up soft as a kitten in his arms just moments ago, and sighed: "I'll do it."