Zhong Zhiling had spent the whole day running around for the investigation, and he was exhausted, but the thought of continuing the grind the next day actually filled him with motivation.
As the data was compiled and summarized into proportions, combined with the figures gathered from earlier inquiries, he watched with his own eyes as his senior fellow apprentice roughly circled out the scale of potential customers!
Originally, this project had existed only in talk, but once concrete numerical targets appeared, the project itself seemed to take on a solid outline, just like the numbers.
This feeling...
Even though Zhong Zhiling still felt some anxiety about his relationship, that night turned out to be the most sound sleep he'd had in recent days.
However, when he arrived at the meeting classroom his senior had designated after breakfast, he was surprised to see three strangers.
"Just the two of us running around is too tiring, and the data might not be thorough enough. Today we'll have more people working together." Yu Xing arrived right on his heels, explaining the situation. "Let's try to finish it all today. Tomorrow, Ying-jie and I need to have a talk about this too."
Zhong Zhiling nodded. His senior had mentioned this yesterday, but he hadn't expected Brother Xing to have such good connections, managing to drag people over first thing in the morning.
Yu Xing introduced the new additions.
Zhong Zhiling listened and realized—one was surnamed Bao, one surnamed Kao, and one surnamed Guan: Baoyan A, Kaoyan B, and Guanxi C.
All three were junior apprentices—Baoyan A seeking advice on securing recommended graduate admission, Kaoyan B wanting tips for the graduate entrance exam, and Guanxi C wanting information about Professor Liu. He had no idea how his senior had managed to rope them in.
Oh, he could probably guess how...
Zhong Zhiling had barely sorted out the situation when another person walked into the classroom.
He greeted him in surprise: "Liao-ge, what brings you here?"
The newcomer was Liao Shipeng, a senior fellow apprentice of Brother Xing's cohort who usually worked in the neighboring lab.
"Liao-ge is here to help out," Yu Xing said, then a moment later revealed this senior's current name. Having promised to give him the reagents, consumables, and other reimbursable items they'd have no use for later, the man was now called Baoxiao D.
Looking at this lineup of A, B, C, and D, Zhong Zhiling felt his emotions were rather complicated. Brother Xing hadn't been idle at all last night...
His own ability was only 8.6% of Brother Xing's, but he still wasn't as hardworking as him...
Yu Xing briefed the A, B, C, and D—each with their own agenda—on the investigation tasks, shared his insights from personally taking action yesterday, and then made assignments. They would follow yesterday's model: he and his junior would each take two people to get familiar with the situation first, then each carry out the work independently.
"Brother Xing..." Zhong Zhiling was studious at heart, and at this moment his mind was full of insights to verify. He found a chance to quietly ask his senior, "Is this also 'using people to control people'?"
Yu Xing was taken aback. "Controlling what people?"
Zhong Zhiling indicated A, B, C, and D with his eyes.
Yu Xing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Zhiling, don't think everything is about controlling people. This is just doing normal work. If you insist on labeling it, this is treating people with sincerity."
Zhong Zhiling: ????
Treating what? Sincerity? Who?
You??
He said in disbelief, "Brother Xing, how are you being sincere? I'm the one you've been controlling!"
"Didn't I tell you?" Yu Xing shook his head. "Actually, I kind of regretted it that night when I got back. If I hadn't said those four words, 'using people to control people,' would you have picked a fight with me?"
He patted his junior's shoulder. "But then I thought, if I could teach you something so you could better face our situation, that would be a good thing too."
Zhong Zhiling found himself, somewhat difficult to accept, actually sensing some degree of "sincerity" at this moment.
"Let's get to work. Let's try to cover all the universities in Jinling today, so we'll have a clear picture." Yu Xing turned his attention to the day's tasks and added, "Oh right, later, print out a few copies of your insights on recommended admission and your study notes—that can count as payment."
Zhong Zhiling said blankly, "I don't really have any insights on recommended admission."
Yu Xing glanced at his junior and instructed, "Then write one for them."
He then added, "Write it sincerely."
Zhong Zhiling: "..."
It's not like I was planning to fudge it. My character is perfectly good...
In any case, Yu Xing, Zhong Zhiling, and the A, B, C, and D quickly began their market research.
Having had a day of experience—even just one day—Zhong Zhiling was much more composed today. He could even confidently offer pointers to Baoyan A and Kaoyan B, who seemed rather nervous in his view.
"It's fine, no need to be nervous. Counselors are people too. Just be polite." Zhong Zhiling instructed Baoyan A as they were about to split up. "Even if you get rejected, it's okay. There are lots of schools and lots of counselors."
Baoyan A said earnestly, "Alright! Senior Brother Zhong, you're really amazing—great at studies and quick with work."
Zhong Zhiling didn't think it was anything special, but seeing the faint admiration in this junior's eyes, he suddenly froze a little. He was sincere? Why did it feel a bit childish...
But wait—if he looked at Baoyan A this way, did Brother Xing look at him the same way?
Zhong Zhiling set off on his solo rounds carrying these thoughts. However, today didn't seem as lucky as yesterday—his first few questionnaires met with rejection from three counselors in a row.
He was drenched in sweat in the stuffy hot weather, his mood growing restless.
After finishing a bottle of water, Zhong Zhiling sat on the steps and took deep breaths, thinking about how to do his work well.
Suddenly, inspiration struck, and a thought surfaced in his mind.
Think about what Brother Xing would do?
Zhong Zhiling rolled his eyes around, and strength seemed to flow into his body. Seeing a female student passing by, he quickly stood up and hailed her, saying in a refined and courteous tone, "Hi, hello, could you help me out with something?"
The passing girl stopped and sized up the unfamiliar young man with a pleading look on his face. "What kind of help?"
"Well, it's like this—I'm a new graduate student at Nanjing Medical University this year, and I'm working part-time to support myself." Zhong Zhiling spoke gently. "I'm trying to get some counselors to fill out a questionnaire. Do you know any counselors you're familiar with?"
The girl hesitated.
Zhong Zhiling added a touch of cajoling to his voice: "Come on, help me out, okay? Your eyes are so pretty—you can tell at a glance I'm not a bad guy, right?"
As he spoke, he pulled out his student ID.
The girl couldn't help but laugh. "Fine, fine, let's go. I'm free right now. So you're in grad school now? That makes you a senior—why are you working part-time?"
"I got in through recommended admission. I figured it would ease the burden on my family and let me get some experience at the same time." Zhong Zhiling was papering over a small lie.
The girl was surprised. "Wow, you got recommended admission? That's impressive. Senior, I'll help you, and you help me too—share some study tips and leave me your phone number, okay?"
Zhong Zhiling smiled. "No problem."
The two of them chatted and laughed as they walked upstairs.
With the survey completed so smoothly, Zhong Zhiling's work for the day seemed to switch modes, and his progress sped up dramatically. Of course, this was also because he'd gained an extra pair of enthusiastic helping hands—the pretty-eyed girl, E—who helped him knock out several questionnaires.
At eight thirty in the evening, they gathered again in the same classroom as that morning.
Hearing the sound, Yu Xing looked up and saw his junior arriving late. He asked, "Why so late? We're just waiting on yours."
Zhong Zhiling saw that his girlfriend, Lü Haiying, was also there. He hesitated for two seconds and answered, "I had dinner out somewhere. It was pretty crowded."
"Alright, come on, let's tally it up. This should count as a 'Jinling College Student Romance Survey Report' with relatively little padding." Yu Xing didn't press further and tallied the last two questionnaires.
Lü Haiying set down her laptop, smiled at her boyfriend, and took today's questionnaires from his hands, looking forward to the results of two days' work.
Zhong Zhiling coughed and took his girlfriend's hand.
"It looks like the numbers shouldn't deviate much from yesterday's." Yu Xing calculated as he spoke. "If that's the case, using this data to estimate the potential customer base in cities like Shanghai and Hangzhou shouldn't be too far off. After all, we've already built in a lot of margin for error."
About fifteen minutes later, the Jinling College Student Romance Survey Report was complete. As expected, the results didn't differ much from yesterday's data.
Yu Xing, as before, copied two sets for the Second-in-Command and Third-in-Command, then assigned work, reminding them to bring their IDs when they all went to take care of the kids together tomorrow.
The Second-in-Command and Third-in-Command, carrying their data results, strolled back home as usual.
"Zhiling, before you came, I asked Brother Xing whether he would actually honor the deal if too many people ended up redeeming." Lü Haiying chatted idly. "He said he trusts the data, but if things really did exceed expectations, he'd also trust his own character."
Zhong Zhiling recalled his earliest conversations with his senior and sighed. "He said his character was just so-so."
Lü Haiying burst out laughing. "That's just modesty! Who with so-so character would come right out and say it? Only the ones whose character is truly so-so, truly bad, are the ones who brag about how great their character is. How dense can you be!"
Zhong Zhiling: "..."