Ye Linchen came out of the police station, glanced at his watch, and realized that there was less than an hour left before the afternoon meeting.
She rushed back to her rented room.
I didn't have time to go back to school for lunch, so I ordered the quickest option: shredded pork fried rice at a small restaurant downstairs.
The owner deftly packed the food into a white styrofoam container and handed it to her; the container was still piping hot.
Back inside, Ye Linchen quickly finished the greasy lunch, feeling a bit more at ease.
Just after finishing lunch, before even throwing the lunchbox into the trash can, the sound of Lin Xuemei and her two companions chatting and laughing came from the doorway.
"Knock knock knock!"
"Xiao Chen, open the door, we're here!"
As soon as the door opened, Li Hongying and Zhao Yutong quickly entered the house, while Lin Xuemei lagged behind.
Lin Xuemei's face was flushed, and her eyes held a mixture of shyness and joy that she couldn't hide.
Zhao Yutong was the type who couldn't keep a secret. As soon as she entered the room, she grabbed Ye Linchen's arm and started talking mysteriously.
"Senior, senior, guess what? Senior Lin has a boyfriend!!"
Ye Linchen was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up.
"Really? That's wonderful news! Tell me quickly, who is this person who has captured Xuemei's heart?"
Lin Xuemei blushed and said, embarrassed by the question, "He's from the same hometown, from the School of Information Technology at our university."
"Fellow townsman?" Ye Linchen quickly asked, "Which fellow townsman? I've never heard you mention him before?"
Li Hongying, who was standing next to her, immediately chimed in: "That's right! They kept it a secret so well! If Yutong hadn't caught them huddled together reading a book this afternoon at the library entrance, their heads practically touching, we'd still be completely in the dark!"
"Oh dear!" Lin Xuemei was both embarrassed and flustered by what was said. "I just felt that the relationship wasn't quite stable yet, so I was thinking of telling you when it was more stable..."
"Still not stable?" Li Hongying raised an eyebrow, giving her a "you can't fool me" look. "You two have been together for almost a year! If this isn't stable, does it have to be until you get a marriage certificate to be considered stable? Lin Xuemei, that's not fair of you. Such a big thing, and you're treating us like outsiders!"
Seeing this, Lin Xuemei knew she couldn't escape, so she quickly raised her hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay, I was wrong, I was wrong, alright? Sister Hongying, another day, no, this weekend! I'll treat you to 'Shuxiangyuan' as an apology. Please be lenient and forgive me this time!"
"That's more like it." Li Hongying snorted, and only then did she let her go.
Ye Linchen watched them bicker with a smile, tidied up the table, clapped his hands, and said, "Alright, alright, stop joking around. Gossip time is over, hurry up and get to the meeting, business is more important."
As soon as she spoke, the three people who had been laughing and joking immediately became serious, pulled out chairs, and sat down at the small square table.
"You've all seen the information on the three companies we shortlisted last time," Ye Linchen said, getting straight to the point and pushing several handwritten documents to the center of the table. "Today, our task is to select our next client from these three companies. As usual, the minority will obey the majority, and we'll decide by voting."
Three analysis reports were spread out on the table, each detailing the advantages and disadvantages of the candidate companies.
After a brief first round of discussions, a platform that sells local specialty foods was the first to be eliminated because logistics and quality control were too difficult to manage and not suitable for their current small team.
What remains are two completely different companies.
One of them is a clothing design studio called "Early Summer".
The founders are two female college graduates who have just graduated from fashion school. They have a little money and a lot of enthusiasm, and their design style leans towards the literary and fresh.
The other one is called "Jinggong Mold Software Studio".
The founders are two engineers who resigned from old state-owned factories and specialize in developing customized 3D mold design software for manufacturing companies.
This software was cutting-edge technology at the time, highly specialized, and the average person had never even heard of it.
"Alright, now it's just these two, 'Early Summer' and 'Precision Craftsmanship.' Everyone, please consider them and then vote by raising your hands," Ye Linchen said.
After a brief silence, voting began.
"Raise your hand if you agree with 'early summer'."
Zhao Yutong and Lin Xuemei immediately raised their hands.
"Raise your hand if you agree with 'Seiko'."
Ye Linchen and Li Hongying raised their hands.
Two to two, a tie.
Ye Linchen lowered his hand, looked at Zhao Yutong and Lin Xuemei opposite him, and said, "Since it's a tie, it means that both sides have their merits. How about this, we'll use a persuasion system, each of us will state our reasons, and see who can convince the other."
Zhao Yutong spoke first, and her reason was very straightforward.
"Is there even a question? It's definitely the clothing studio! I've seen pictures of their dresses, they're gorgeous, they're sure to be a hit. We'll help them prepare a business report, find sales channels, and the results will be immediate! How great is that!"
She paused, frowned, and pointed to another document: "That 'Precision Engineering' thing, mold software? What is that? Just hearing about it gives me a headache. The clients are factories, and we have to deal with all those factory managers and directors. It's such a hassle."
"Besides, the market for this kind of product is so small. Even if we do a great job, how many sets can we sell? If we don't see any results, won't it all be a waste of time?"
Lin Xuemei nodded in agreement: "Yes, I also feel that the clothing studio is more approachable and easier to get started with. As for that software... I don't even really understand what it does."
Ye Linchen shook his head, disagreeing.
"The large size of the clothing market further illustrates the fierce competition."
"To put it bluntly, when we help 'Early Summer,' we're essentially floundering in a red ocean. Whether their products succeed and whether sales increase depends 70% on the talent and luck of the designers and 30% on our business planning. Our role is too easily replaceable."
She pointed to the information about "Jinggong Software".
“Precision machining software is different. Molds are the mother of industry. Currently, China’s manufacturing industry is undergoing transformation, and the demand for precision machining is increasing.”
"Their software has a very high technological barrier, and the market is currently completely blank, making it a blue ocean. Although the market is narrow, the customers are precise and the value is high. If we can help them win one or two big clients and create a successful case study, it will be more convincing in the report."
Ye Linchen's analysis was logical and well-founded, making it more convincing than Zhao Yutong and Lin Xuemei's decisions based solely on intuition.
Lin Xuemei nodded repeatedly, somewhat wavering.
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