Chapter 145 Launching Field Promotion

Su Yingxue did not fully grasp Li Mu's reservations, but upon deeper reflection, she figured Li Mu probably still wanted to keep a low profile, especially since they were still college students. She also felt that if a freshman directly registered a company and began promoting its business on campus, it would indeed be a bit too ostentatious.

However, setting aside the question of incorporation, Su Yingxue agreed that the significance of 3321 was extraordinary. Currently, enrolled students lacked a proper environment for part-time work, and parents of high school seniors had not yet realized the point Li Mu had raised: the most suitable tutors for high school seniors preparing for the college entrance examination were not the school's subject teachers, but university students who had recently achieved exceptional scores in those very exams.

Li Mu had noted that this was merely one advantage of university students.

Traditionally, when parents hired tutors for their children, the conventional model required finding a separate teacher for each subject. Since most teachers held tutoring classes in their own homes, students inevitably had to travel all over the place. Now, however, a high school senior studying liberal arts could directly find a freshman majoring in liberal arts at Peking University, achieving a virtually perfect match.

Moreover, the age gap between students was small—just a year or two—meaning they shared a common language, and having the tutor's own success as an example would yield far better results than a traditional teacher.

There was yet another benefit: institutional and major alignment.

Local candidates in Beijing naturally tended to favor local institutions in Beijing. For instance, if a child aimed to be admitted into the English Department of Beijing Second University of Foreign Studies, finding a freshman from that exact department to serve as a private tutor offered countless advantages.

Upon hearing this, Su Yingxue felt a budding sense of admiration for Li Mu for the very first time. Feeling admiration for a peer was an unprecedented experience for her, but Li Mu had truly impressed her today. His vision, his train of thought, his logic, and his mastery over the 3321 project all opened her eyes to something entirely new.

Without a moment of hesitation, Su Yingxue promised Li Mu that she would do everything in her power to help promote 3321. Zhao Kang also chimed in excitedly, "Although I'm an absolute slacker when it comes to studying, I'd love to help those top students from 985 and 211 universities secure employment ahead of time! Count me in!"

Li Mu thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, Kangzi, come to our school on Saturday. You, me, Yingxue, and maybe one or two guys from our dorm room—we will be in charge of the promotion here at Renmin University."

...

On Saturday morning, student-like figures appeared in the dormitory areas of four universities in Beijing. They set up folding tables and erected pull-up banners on either side. The headings on the banners were eye-catching: one side read, "Work as a part-time tutor for 3321, starting at fifteen yuan per hour"; the other side read, "Register now and receive a twenty yuan cash subsidy."

A decade later, various promotional giveaways and cash envelopes would become dime-a-dozen, and people would long have become immune to such "register-to-receive" headlines. For instance, during Taobao promotional events boasting hundred-billion-yuan discount distributions, every user was promised thousands in super savings, yet netizens frequently mocked them, joking that the coupons won were usually things as absurd as a 500-yuan discount voucher for a Maserati.

However, in this era, the sheer drawing power of such a headline was beyond description.

Once these slogans were put on display, their appeal to students was irresistible. Consequently, every single table was surrounded by crowds of students consulting and inquiring.

For today's promotional campaign, Li Mu divided his forces into four paths. He stationed himself at Renmin University alongside Zhao Kang, Su Yingxue, and Liu Ning. Xue Jianfeng and Hu Zhengdao accompanied their respective girlfriends from Peking University to Tsinghua University. As for Zhao Ziqiu, the revered goddess of Peking University, she remained stationed at her dorm with three other girls, assisted by Li Yawei, who made a special trip to support the promotion at Peking University.

The remaining dorm members—dorm leader Sun Jian, Li Mu's fellow hometown native from Haizhou Dou Xueli, and a friend of each—headed to Beijing Normal University.

Aside from Renmin University and Peking University, the other two groups were heading to unfamiliar campuses. Fearing that they might face harassment from security guards, Li Mu allocated five hundred yuan in public relations funds to each small team to bribe guards and dormitory managers.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, Li Mu called the heads of each promotional post and received reassuring reports that everything was going smoothly. In particular, freshmen across the universities showed immense interest in 3321. Not only could 3321 help them precisely pitch their personal information to parents, but the novel online bidding model also sparked their imagination. With a minimum wage of fifteen yuan per hour, just how high could the average wage climb if a bidding frenzy truly erupted?

Because of the 3321 business model and Li Mu's promotional strategy, a vast quantity of flyers was distributed that morning.

Li Mu then called Kong Lingyu. Ever since 3321 went live, Kong had remained stationed in front of his computer, monitoring the backend. From nine o'clock, when everyone split up, until now—a span of two hours—the backend statistics showed over six hundred registered users, and these users were progressively completing their profiles.

Li Mu was extremely satisfied with this efficiency. If they could attract over three thousand registrations across the weekend, the backend could vet a thousand qualified candidates by Monday, allowing them to directly enter high schools and residential communities to promote the service to parents the following week.

At his own promotional post, dozens of people constantly crowded around to consult and take flyers. While quite a few might have come purely because of Su Yingxue, the moment they examined the specific operational models detailed on the 3321 flyers, they were instantly hooked by the content.

This was precisely the effect Li Mu wanted. As long as these college students were interested, everything else would fall into place, and he would naturally find ways to pitch the idea to the parents of high school seniors.

Or perhaps it wasn't a pitch so much as an eye-opener, letting parents know they actually had a superior option—one they had never considered simply because no one had ever integrated these resources for them before.

Meanwhile, at Peking University, Han Xiaoxiao looked at the dense crowd and whispered to Zhao Ziqiu beside her, "Li Mu is truly incredible. How on earth does his brain work? If this 3321 succeeds, just how many Beijing university students will it benefit?"

As Zhao Ziqiu handed flyers to the countless outstretched hands, she whispered back into Han's ear, "Judging by this momentum, the market space is definitely massive. Just think about it—there are plenty of Beijing university students, and even more high school students. If this can really enable college students to earn fifteen yuan an hour, it won't just cover their living expenses; if they work hard enough, they might even earn enough to cover their entire tuition."

"Indeed." Han Xiaoxiao glanced at Li Yawei, who was busy nearby. Making sure he couldn't hear her conversation with Zhao Ziqiu, she quietly murmured, "Li Mu is just too amazing. He's so handsome, sings so well, exudes such masculine charm, and is so capable. You simply must seize this opportunity. Honestly, if I were still single, I'd be tempted to throw myself at him."

Zhao Ziqiu's face flushed a deep crimson as she playfully scolded, "You're the most shameless one here! How can a proper girl proactively throw herself at someone?"

Han Xiaoxiao giggled with amusement. "If Chen Jia heard you say that, she'd definitely snap at you. Back then, she was the one who practically threw herself into Xue Jianfeng's arms, and that's how they ended up together..."

Zhao Ziqiu quickly clarified, "I didn't mean to mock Jiaojiao at all, don't go twisting my words!"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing. But you really need to take what I told you seriously. I'm telling you, before long, once Li Mu gets this 3321 platform off the ground, he's going to be a celebrity in Beijing's entire college student circle!"

Zhao Ziqiu nodded gently and said, "By the way, Li Mu specifically told us to find a way to sign up the top scorers of the college entrance examination from every province, noting that Peking University has the highest concentration of top scorers. Help me cross-reference the list of provincial top scholars enrolled at Peking University this year. If any of them haven't registered by tonight, we'll go pay them a visit in person."

Han Xiaoxiao sighed in amazement, "Oh my goodness, you're taking this way too seriously! Are you treating this project as if it's your own family business?"

Zhao Ziqiu rolled her eyes at her. "Is Li Mu not paying us wages? Five yuan an hour! You can earn forty yuan today alone, so you better put some actual effort into it!"

"Fine, fine, fine," Han Xiaoxiao nodded repeatedly. "There are a total of 38 top scorers from the national college entrance exams at Peking University this year. Send the list to Li Mu so he can check the registration records, and for whoever hasn't signed up yet, we'll hunt them down one by one."

"That's more like it."

...

Wu Shuai had not been in a very good mood lately. Over the past couple of days, he had instructed the student union to nitpick room 606 on multiple occasions—inspecting sanitation, checking for high-power electrical appliances, and inspecting for smoking and fire hazards. Despite putting them through the ringer several times, they utterly failed to find a single flaw in room 606. The failure left him cursing and venting his temper in his dorm all day long. Knowing that he had been hit hard by the incident involving Su Yingxue, the other five roommates wisely avoided provoking him.

Today was Saturday, and Wu Shuai slept straight through until late morning. Had his phone not rung persistently for ages, he wouldn't even have been willing to drag himself out of his dreams.

Checking the caller ID, he saw it was Sun Tan, the vice president of the student union. Wu Shuai instantly perked up, answered the call, and immediately apologized, "Vice President Sun, I'm terribly sorry, I didn't hear your call just now."

Sun Tan was Wu Shuai's mentor and patron; it was Sun who had originally brought him into the student union. As a native Beijinger, Sun Tan possessed substantial connections within Renmin University, and rumors circulated that he had relatives among the university's senior leadership. Were it not for the fact that the current student union president boasted formidable political backing, Sun Tan would have long since secured the presidency.

Fortunately, the current student union president was only interested in accumulating preliminary political capital within the university's student union and cared little for trivial administrative affairs. Meanwhile, the immensely popular Senior Sister Dong ignored student union matters day in and day out. Consequently, although Sun Tan held the title of vice president, his de facto authority was already infinitely close to that of the president.

Wu Shuai had always acted as Sun Tan's proxy. Whenever Sun found it inconvenient to step forward personally, Wu Shuai would handle the matter and resolve it for him. Even the lucrative side hustles through which Wu Shuai made money via the student union were provided by Sun Tan—Sun supplied the schemes, connections, and resources, while Wu Shuai was responsible for execution and implementation.

Whether it was sending part-time workers off-campus, leading students to participate in paid events just to pad attendance numbers, or even hawking computers, cell phones, and portable music players to students—anything that could generate a profit—Wu Shuai was always the face running the operations.

Normally, Wu Shuai could strut through Renmin University unchallenged, barring encounters with two specific people: Dong Ai and Sun Tan.

Right now, having missed several calls from Sun Tan, Wu Shuai felt an anxious flutter in his chest, terrified that Sun might reprimand him.

Sun Tan's tone indeed carried a hint of displeasure as he cold snorted, "You still have the leisure to sleep away the day? My 'Student Aid Alliance' project is on the verge of collapsing!"

Wu Shuai jolted awake, instantly sitting upright in bed. "What went wrong with the Student Aid Alliance project?"