The morning sun came out, but by afternoon there was another burst of light rain; the air and everyone's mood seemed stuck together, damp and heavy.
Yu Xing spent the better part of the day running around with Zhong Zhiling, and came away with one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that Zhong Zhiling's girlfriend had found a client who thought the "Love Contract" was a really interesting idea, which might bring in another 500 yuan.
The bad news was that registering a company cost money.
Registering a company cost money…
Yu Xing had been stunned when he heard it at the Administration for Industry and Commerce, and only then did it sink in: the paid-in capital system was still in effect, meaning you had to put up real, hard cash to register a company—revised in January of '06, the new Company Law stipulated a minimum registered capital of 30,000 yuan for a limited liability company.
Thirty thousand up front!
However, there was a support policy for university student entrepreneurs: those who started a business within two years of graduation, with registered capital under 500,000 yuan, could pay in installments—the first payment no less than 10% of registered capital, bringing the paid-in total above 50% within one year, with the remainder payable over three years.
By that calculation, they only needed 10% of 30,000—just 3,000 yuan.
Yu Xing felt the warmth of government policy on the spot, pooled money with his junior schoolmate immediately, and after scraping together 2,000, kept pooling with the junior's girlfriend until they finally had 3,000 yuan exactly.
But just as Yu Xing and Zhong Zhiling were happily preparing to pay up and name the company, the clerk pointed at the 3,000 yuan and politely refused to let "Gui'ai Network" be born, then gave them a detailed explanation of the policy.
"The registered capital does indeed come with the 10% support, but that 10% cannot be less than 30,000 yuan. In other words, only if your registered capital is 300,000 can you enjoy this policy." The voice from behind the window was unhurried.
The policy allowed installments, but the first payment could be neither less than 10% nor less than 30,000 yuan in actual cash.
Zhong Zhiling, squeezed in beside him, immediately got anxious: "Hey, why didn't you say that earlier! If we had 30,000, why would we need the 10%?"
The voice behind the window sounded innocent: "You never asked."
"If you'd said so earlier, we wouldn't have queued at all! We queued for ages, and now you're telling us we need 300,000!" Zhong Zhiling was thoroughly displeased.
"You didn't ask, so how was I supposed to tell you?" The voice slipped out from the window. "Who'd have guessed you're opening a company without even 30,000?"
Zhong Zhiling's face flushed red, and he was ready to have it out properly with the woman behind the window.
"All right, all right." Yu Xing grabbed his junior's arm. Seeing the security guard already prowling over with a hostile eye, he said simply, "Let's talk back at the dorm."
Zhong Zhiling was pulled away unwillingly and left the Administration for Industry and Commerce with his head hanging.
Yu Xing didn't take the little episode to heart, but after mulling it over a while and finding his junior still seething, he could only offer this consolation: "Think about the field you're studying. How good do you expect the service attitude to be?"
Zhong Zhiling: "…"
Senior brother, you…
As expected—there are no classes that betray their interests, only individuals who betray their class.
Still, not all the support policies were things they could see but never touch. Besides the infuriating capital threshold, corporate income tax could be exempted for two years.
Yu Xing figured that "Gui'ai Network," still in its budding stage, should count as qualifying for the information industry—at the very least it had something to do with the internet.
What's more, student entrepreneurs could also get loan support!
The loan amount was around 20,000 yuan, with a maximum term of two years, and at the end of it, you could apply for one extension.
How to put it…
All in all, the trip left Zhong Zhiling sheepish and deflated.
One look at his junior's face and Yu Xing knew the guy's mind was drifting back to his little blue-pill schemes, so he shattered the notion with one sentence: "Selling the little blue pill takes capital too."
Zhong Zhiling jolted awake. Right! Why had he been obsessing over that dead end?
"Xing-ge, I wasn't thinking about that anymore." He denied it while gloomily asking his senior, "What do we do now? We don't even have enough money to register."
"If we don't have enough, we earn it." Yu Xing answered directly. "If we can't even earn the registration fee, there's no point doing any of this. Tomorrow we go talk to Lao Liu about the deferred enrollment, and the day after, we hit up the student clubs on campus and see if we can pull in a few more clients."
When Zhong Zhiling heard this, it did make sense—if they couldn't even come up with the starting money, there really was no point in the rest.
But the moment he heard they'd be seeing their advisor, his whole heart shrank.
"Professor Liu… Professor Liu's side… that can wait, can't it?" Zhong Zhiling said hesitantly.
"I'm going to talk to him about my own business first anyway. You can put yours off. Also, I want to borrow some money from Lao Liu." Yu Xing reasoned it through. "We need to work the student population using our identity as students. Later, whether we're dealing with clubs or the student union, we can use sponsorship to get them to help us pull in new clients."
Zhong Zhiling asked, "Is the money we borrow from Professor Liu for the sponsorships?"
Yu Xing rolled his eyes at the jinx: "Of course not. Each client is 500 yuan. For every one they bring in, we give them a 100-yuan sponsorship."
Zhong Zhiling was stunned. Ah—the wool comes off the sheep…
He thought about it for a moment, then suddenly said, "Xing-ge, what if some club just cuts us out? What if they sign the contracts directly with the couples themselves?"
Yu Xing gave his junior an approving look. Finally getting the hang of it.
He nodded. "That's certainly possible. But their identity is rooted in the club world; they can't do this as a dedicated operation. And students worry a lot about the risks involved. Besides, we already have first-mover advantage—the scale isn't the same. We already have a thousand orders' worth of clients, we're seasoned and confident, while they'd still be deliberating and hesitating."
Zhong Zhiling pondered. "We have to wait until we've found a thousand clients before approaching them? That'll take forever."
"We already have them." Yu Xing looked at his junior and smiled. "Out in the world, your credentials are whatever you say they are. Same with your track record."
Zhong Zhiling: "…"
"Not only do we already have a track record, we've done detailed market research and are already in talks with investors. Our future target is the national market." Yu Xing said earnestly. "That's us—'Gui'ai Network.'"
Zhong Zhiling said carefully, "Gui'ai Network hasn't even been founded yet."
"Exactly. Gui'ai Network hasn't officially been founded yet and it already has results like these. Once it's officially established, imagine then?" Yu Xing flipped the angle.
Zhong Zhiling felt like he was almost being conned. His senior brother's tone was so certain.
"In any case, this month we have to try to spin up the project quickly across every university in Jinling. If it doesn't work this month, we immediately find another way out." Yu Xing paced, saying gravely, "Zhiling, I'm not joking. Starting from today—if I don't see hope by this day next month, we shake hands and go our separate ways."
Zhong Zhiling felt panic bubbling up in his chest: "Xing-ge, why does it have to be a month? No need to cut it that fine…"
"No. It's the market that's only giving us this much time." Yu Xing said quietly. "The universities in Jinling all start summer break next month."
No matter how lingering and tender the romance, the arrival of the July summer break would objectively siphon away student couples' attention—some going home, some to jobs, some into long-distance. A scene this concentrated on campus wouldn't come again for another two months.
Hearing his senior say this, Zhong Zhiling felt the tension and dread of the great college entrance exam battle years ago.
Thirty days of decisive battle!
What would things look like after thirty days…
He didn't quite dare think about it. He only knew that for now, he'd follow Xing-ge.
That night Zhong Zhiling lost sleep again. When he saw his senior the next morning, he was blankly holding his phone and said, a little strangely, "Xing-ge, I might… I might…"
"What's wrong? You don't have to come today if you don't want. I'm the one talking to Lao Liu first anyway." Yu Xing assumed his junior still had doubts about the deferred enrollment, which was fair enough—everyone had their own thoughts.
"It's not that. My girlfriend texted me, and I just have zero desire to reply." After blanking for a few seconds, Zhong Zhiling sighed. "Xing-ge, I think my dopamine's stopped secreting!"
Yu Xing was speechless. In any case, this couple had never been going anywhere. Who knew how it would turn out this time.
He had some ideas of his own, but now was not the time to act on them. He just focused on buying fruit and drinks, then brought his junior to call on their advisor, Liu Jingrong.
Yu Xing had never graduated under his advisor's supervision—but that hadn't been the advisor's fault; if anything it was his own, for refusing to listen to advice no matter what.
This time… he'd still been hesitating, but his mother's words had left him nothing to waver over.
Only, when the two knocked on the door, it wasn't the advisor they'd arranged to meet who opened it, but his daughter Liu Zhishan, who was in first grade.
"Auntie, Auntie, it's the big brother, it's Yu Xing-gege!" Liu Zhishan opened the door and called back crisply, "Auntie, Papa and Mama aren't home yet!"
"Shanshan, your dad's not home?" Yu Xing knew the professor's daughter well; ever since his first year of grad school, he'd often picked her up and dropped her off.
Yu Xing was his advisor's founding disciple at Jinling Medical University. In other words, Liu Jingrong wasn't that old—he'd done his undergrad at SUSTech himself, then gone to America for his master's and doctorate, returned to his alma mater to teach, and only last year made associate professor and started taking graduate students.
As the senior disciple, Yu Xing had always felt apologetic that he'd never graduated under Lao Liu.
But now he had to feel even more apologetic… because this time he might well abduct a junior disciple along with him.
"Papa went to pick up Mama, and they're buying groceries!" Liu Zhishan ran toward the living room, talking over her shoulder. "Auntie's here, Auntie's here!"
A cartoon was playing in the living room. Yu Xing, who had just set down the drinks, glanced over and caught sight of Shanshan's aunt rising from the sofa—this "shigu," whom he'd never heard mentioned before, was unexpectedly young and beautiful. What struck him most in that fleeting glance was her pretty, sensual lips, and only after that her graceful figure.
Yu Xing had never heard that his teacher had a younger sister, and had assumed she was some distant relative, but the moment she spoke, that notion dissolved.
"So you're the senior disciple under my big brother. He's mentioned you on the phone several times—said you work quite hard." Liu Wanying sized up the two who entered the living room: one composed, handsome male college student, and the other… also a male college student.
She worked out which one was the founding disciple her brother had mentioned, then introduced herself with a smile: "I'm Liu Wanying. I work in Hong Kong, normally."
Though Yu Xing was about to "defect" from the master's school, calling someone "shigu" was no problem—except that this one being so young made him hesitate.
He noticed her gaze drift toward his junior. Seeing the jinx had no intention of speaking, he reached out his hand first: "That's right, I'm Yu Xing. This is Zhong Zhiling, a junior of mine who got recommended straight into grad school this year."
Yu Xing felt it would be awkward to place Liu Wanying through his teacher, so his thoughts turned and he smiled from the child's angle instead: "I really never heard Shanshan mention she had such a refined, knowledgeable aunt."
Liu Wanying beamed, a little surprised at Yu Xing's mature manner of speaking, then reached out and affectionately ruffled her niece's hair. Shanshan wasn't even eight yet, so such topics naturally wouldn't come up.
Introduced by his senior, Zhong Zhiling was still somewhat awkward, greeting her hesitantly: "Hello, Professor Liu."
Just then, Liu Zhishan, watching TV, looked up at the unfamiliar big brother and asked her aunt, puzzled: "Auntie, Auntie, why is he calling you 'teacher'? Are you a teacher?"
Liu Wanying gestured for the two college students to sit, and said with a smile to her niece: "Auntie's not a teacher, of course. Mm, this new senior brother of yours should probably call me…"
She blinked, also slightly stumped. Having two grown young men call her "auntie" would be truly bizarre, but if they called her "big sister," she'd instantly be demoted to her niece's generation. So better to go by her brother's master-disciple line after all.
Smiling, Liu Wanying solicited their opinion: "Technically, you two should call me 'shigu' or 'shishu,' hmm. Yu Xing, what do you usually call Rong-jie?"
"I usually…" Yu Xing answered truthfully, "call her shiniang."
Just as Liu Wanying had said, he "used to" work quite hard indeed, and got along very well with his teacher's family. If the teacher said to call her shiniang, then naturally he did as the teacher said.
Only, coming back now, with the teacher still not even forty, his mentality was completely different.
Liu Wanying nodded and smiled: "Pour your own tea, and pour a cup for your shigu while you're at it."
Yu Xing nodded in return, then directed the tongue-tied Zhong Zhiling: "Pour the tea. One for shigu and one for your senior brother."
Just as Zhong Zhiling, having accepted his station in life, was about to get to work, a sweet, childish voice suddenly rang out—"Pour one for the shimei too!"
Liu Zhishan, seizing the gap as that episode of the cartoon ended, joined the conversation.
The living room instantly filled with laughter, and even Zhong Zhiling felt less stiff.
Only, midway through his laughter, Zhong Zhiling suddenly remembered the purpose of today's visit, and his heart turned bitter, sinking back into agonized indecision. His senior brother was here to ask the teacher about the deferred enrollment—should he bring his up together with him… or wait for next time...
His mood plummeted, and his gaze went dull by three degrees.
Liu Wanying noticed the introverted college boy seemed to be staring blankly at her, and smiled faintly: "Zhong Zhiling, that's an interesting name of yours. Thinking about what shade of lipstick to buy your girlfriend? Want a recommendation?"
Zhong Zhiling snapped out of it, hastily lowered his head, and took a shy sip of tea.
Yu Xing figured the jinx's heart must be pounding, and broke the tension with a smile: "We actually did talk about lipstick on the way here—though not for a girlfriend. We were thinking about little gifts to prepare for our clients."
Liu Wanying asked, curious: "Little gifts for clients?"
"Yes. Some of our clients are women, so…" Yu Xing called her shigu anyway. "I don't know anything about this. Shigu, could you recommend which ones are good?"
Liu Wanying looked at the college boy and said with a smile: "My brother says you hole up in the lab all day—how come that's not the impression I get? There's a whole world of know-how in lipstick. The shade I'm wearing now is Estée Lauder's Dry Maple 333. It flatters every skin tone, reads both lively and high-end, and because it's a matte velvet finish, it takes on a misty look once it dries."
She gave another example: "Then there's the classic I also love to use, Dior 999—a pure, passionate red, but incredibly versatile."
Liu Wanying casually drew the lipstick from the exquisite little bag on the sofa, smiling: "Even bare-faced, the moment you put it on, your whole complexion lifts—as if it could ignite the passion of the entire world."
She held forth at length, then, seeing the two college students' blank faces, couldn't help laughing: "This is all beyond your syllabus, isn't it? Well, anyway, different lipsticks have different characteristics and different standards for use."
Yu Xing remained as much a stranger to this domain as ever, but at those words he immediately spoke up: "No. All lipsticks answer to only one standard."
Liu Wanying's interest sharpened: "Oh?"
"A lipstick that makes a woman look more beautiful is a good lipstick." Yu Xing was both flattering and telling the plain truth. "Your Dry Maple 333 is a good lipstick by that standard."
Liu Wanying gave a charming smile. She didn't object to roundabout compliments, but this really was different from what she'd imagined her brother's disciples to be.
No—actually, the sullen one beside him fit the image perfectly.
Hearing his senior's words, Zhong Zhiling couldn't help noting them down mentally—tonight he could try complimenting his girlfriend like this.
"Shigu, you really have studied lipstick. Our project knows absolutely nothing about this area, so I hope we can ask you for advice often in the future." This time, Yu Xing meant it too.
Liu Wanying hadn't thought there was anything odd about being called "shigu," but after chatting with Yu Xing a while, hearing him keep using the term struck her as increasingly off.
She offered: "Don't call me shigu. My brother's much older than me anyway—let's each keep our own accounting. Just call me Ying-jie."
Yu Xing adapted instantly: "All right, Ying-jie."
Zhong Zhiling hesitated over whether to switch his form of address too, but before he could speak, the shigu had already asked another question.
"My brother says you're buried in the lab—how do you have some project too, one connected to lipstick? Are you two working summer jobs?" Liu Wanying was getting into the small talk.
Yu Xing mulled it over a moment, then put it tactfully: "Zhiling and I are trying out more possibilities. It's graduation season, you see, so we've put together a 'Love Contract' project. A couple pays us 500 yuan to sign, and if they get married three years later, we give them 999 roses."
Liu Wanying stared at the two college boys in astonishment, then asked, half laughing, half incredulous: "You're serious?"
Yu Xing didn't answer that, continuing instead: "According to our research, the probability of a college couple making it to marriage after graduation is 1.5%. That reality is precisely the foundation on which this project of ours keeps growing."
Liu Wanying asked offhandedly: "Is your research scientific? It's that low? Only 1.5%?"
Hearing the challenge, Zhong Zhiling held his breath, not daring to answer. Scientific? What science? What research?
Faced with the challenge, Yu Xing was unhurried: "Why else do they say graduation season is breakup season?"
Then he laughed, a little sheepishly: "Ying-jie, the rate actually isn't that low—I exaggerated. In our sample data, it's really 6%."
Liu Wanying nodded thoughtfully. Four times. 6% was four times 1.5%. Though the exaggeration was large, the absolute figure was still low—meaning out of a hundred college couples, only about six would make it to the altar.
By that math: recruit a hundred clients, earn 50,000 in revenue, and in the end only have to honor 999-rose contracts for six of them. If they partnered with a rose supplier, the cost of six contracts could be pressed down to 15,000–20,000, or even lower.
Watching the shigu actually believe it, Zhong Zhiling's scalp went numb. There wasn't a word of truth in his senior brother's mouth.
He stole a glance at his senior's earnest face and suddenly couldn't quite tell—could there really be research like that out there?
Then Yu Xing took a sip of water and immediately overturned what he'd just said, laughing: "Ying-jie, I made up those figures just now. We don't have the capability to do market research yet, so we can only judge the project's viability on instinct."
Liu Wanying raised an eyebrow and laughed despite herself: "You made them up?"
"Yes. Because we've only just set out, and we have neither the energy nor the resources right now." Yu Xing leaned forward slightly, saying sincerely, "So, to build consensus more effectively, I made up the data."
Liu Wanying thought for a moment, glanced at the bewildered Zhong Zhiling, her red lips curving up: "Making up data to build consensus?"
"When I quoted a shockingly low figure for how many college couples go from graduation to marriage, Ying-jie, you were only slightly skeptical before accepting it." Yu Xing smiled and said with great certainty, "At that point, the exact number no longer mattered. People quickly believing data out of their understanding of reality—that act itself is already the foundation of this business's viability."
The two college students in the living room cut wildly different figures—one mature and confident, the other bewildered, even faintly stricken…
Liu Wanying, who had been lounging lazily, fixed Yu Xing with a look. She was on vacation, yet she suddenly felt a bit as if she were back at the office. She sat up a little straighter on the sofa. This college boy really was something else.