Chapter 149: Nursing a Grievance

“Is your university student tutoring service one-on-one?”

The aunt hesitated for a moment, then asked expectantly.

Li Mu nodded immediately. “Absolutely one-on-one tutoring, and it’s home visits with timely billing.”

The aunt nodded and then asked, “Is it really the top scorer from Yanda University? You’re not trying to trick me, right?”

Li Mu smiled and explained, “Auntie, here’s the situation: on our 3321 platform, over six thousand university students have registered. Nearly two thousand of them have completed their profiles, and we have personally verified and certified about fifteen hundred students. We continue to verify those who haven’t completed their profiles by visiting schools. So you can rest assured, all the data we provide is authentic and reliable. When the student comes for tutoring, they will also show you their student ID and original college entrance exam score report.”

The aunt felt relieved and, clearly interested, quickly said, “How much do the top scorers charge? I want to book a science top scorer from Tsinghua University, and it has to be a provincial champion!”

Li Mu smiled and asked, “Do you have a computer at home?”

“Yes, my husband uses it for stock trading.”

Li Mu nodded and handed her a flyer for 3321, saying, “Auntie, when you get home, have your husband log onto this website. We have information on over a thousand certified university students there. You can choose the suitable student in advance. This Friday at 8 p.m., we will officially launch the auction function, and you can bid on the students you’ve selected.”

The aunt frowned, “Is it that complicated?”

Li Mu laughed, “Not at all, auntie. Since your husband knows how to trade stocks on the computer, this will be very easy for him. This is a big deal that affects your child’s entire senior year and college entrance exam results. A little inconvenience like this is nothing. Besides, the best students are always in high demand. Good ones get picked first, especially top achievers. Don’t you think so?”

The aunt nodded, quickly understanding. What Li Mu said made perfect sense. Parents today would do anything for their children’s education and to get them into a good university, no matter how much trouble it caused. This little thing was nothing in comparison.

She carefully folded the flyer Li Mu handed her and put it in her pocket, then asked, “What about the fees? It won’t be too expensive, will it?”

Li Mu smiled gently. “Our certified students are all from top universities—985 and 211 institutions. The one-on-one tutoring fee starts at fifteen yuan per hour.”

“Fifteen yuan? That’s not expensive at all,” the aunt said, relieved. This price was nothing to her. She had hired a physics teacher for her son before, a well-known local teacher who charged three hundred yuan a month for just two hours every Saturday afternoon. That was about forty yuan an hour, and the worst part was that he taught over thirty children at once—not even close to one-on-one tutoring.

As she was leaving, Li Mu reminded her, “Auntie, our auction will run from Friday night at 8 p.m. until Saturday at noon. The tutoring hours are sold to the highest bidder. Remember to pay promptly after winning the bid because our system holds the reservation for only two hours. Your husband can check the website for details; everything is explained there.”

After seeing the aunt off, Li Mu returned to the stall at the community entrance. Su Yingxue smiled gently and said, “You’d make a great salesperson—you had that auntie completely captivated.”

Li Mu smiled faintly. “I’m just telling the truth.”

At that moment, Zhao Kang came back after introducing 3321 to another aunt, laughing as he approached the stall. “Actually, parents seem quite interested once they hear the introduction. I’m beginning to think this is really important. You can tell by their happy expressions how much they care about their children’s studies.”

Li Mu nodded and laughed, “Honestly, I’m more concerned about the university students who have registered on 3321. The better the school, the more students from modest backgrounds there are. It’s not that poorer children necessarily study harder, but they are more determined to change their fate through education. Among the over a thousand students with complete profiles, more than sixty percent come from rural areas, and the remaining thirty-something percent are from small towns. Life in Yanjing is tough for them, and their families face financial pressure. If 3321 succeeds, these students can support their own tuition and living expenses and even help their families sooner. That would be truly meaningful.”

Su Yingxue heartily agreed. “Starting at fifteen yuan an hour, even at the lowest rate, if they tutor two hours a day, that’s thirty yuan daily. That income is significant.”

...

Meanwhile, similar promotional efforts like Li Mu’s were happening simultaneously at the entrances of twenty or thirty neighborhoods across Yanjing. With a wealth of excellent students, a precise business model, and targeted marketing, 3321 quickly won the trust of parents. Some senior high students were also very interested in the model; they even took the initiative to learn more details and then told their parents about 3321 at home.

That very night, 3321 experienced another surge in registrations, with over six hundred new parent accounts signing up.

By the following evening, that number had risen to over fifteen hundred.

With three days left before the official auction launch on Friday, Li Mu gathered twelve people from dorm 606 and Zhao Ziqiu’s dorm. His current promotion team had mostly been assembled with the help of those eleven people, and moving forward, they would rely on them to spread the word among their friends and classmates.

They reserved a private room at the restaurant where the two dorms often had group meals. The boys from 606 arrived a few minutes earlier, and soon Zhao Ziqiu and five other girls came in cheerfully.

Upon seeing Li Mu, Zhao Ziqiu asked, “Li Mu, how many parents have registered on 3321 now?”

“Over fifteen hundred,” Li Mu replied.

Zhao Ziqiu’s eyes widened with joy. “So fast! In a few days, won’t it break five thousand?”

Li Mu nodded with a smile. “Breaking five thousand won’t be a problem, but I hope we can reach ten thousand or more. Ideally, we want to attract all the senior year parents in Yanjing who can afford tutoring. That way, it will trigger a bidding frenzy.”

Zhao Ziqiu said solemnly, “You can definitely do it. I believe in you.”

While they were talking, Han Xiaoxiao approached and asked Li Mu, “Mu-ge, I haven’t seen you in the past couple of days. Have you been promoting with your high school classmates every day?”

Li Mu replied, “Both of my high school friends are helping, so we just formed a group of three.”

Han Xiaoxiao said, “We’re helping you too, but you don’t seem to pay any attention to us. Do you know how many Yanda top scorers Ziqiu has helped you secure?”

Li Mu hurriedly said, “I’m not ignoring you guys. Look, I’m inviting all six of you beautiful ladies to dinner to thank you!”

Han Xiaoxiao pouted unhappily, feeling it was unfair to Zhao Ziqiu. Since the start of 3321’s university promotion, Li Mu had never actively partnered with Zhao Ziqiu. If it were just due to scheduling conflicts, that would be understandable. But he always stuck with that one high school female classmate. What did that mean? Zhao Ziqiu was so dedicated and hardworking, yet Li Mu’s behavior struck her as heartless.

Li Mu could sense the implication in Han Xiaoxiao’s words and looked at Zhao Ziqiu with some guilt. Zhao Ziqiu hadn’t expected Han Xiaoxiao to say such things in front of Li Mu. Seeing the slight guilt in Li Mu’s eyes, she knew he understood. Although Han Xiaoxiao was speaking up for her, Zhao Ziqiu felt these matters shouldn’t be made known to Li Mu.

Often, she treated their vague feelings for each other like a fragile flower bud, carefully protecting it for fear that a misstep might harm their delicate relationship.

Though she was certain she had fallen for this exceptional and handsome young man, she lacked confidence in how Li Mu viewed her. Moreover, learning of Su Yingxue’s presence—a remarkable woman—made her even more uncertain of Li Mu’s feelings. Under these circumstances, Zhao Ziqiu did not want to rush things; she only wished to preserve the tender ambiguity between them, afraid that rushing would cause even that to vanish.

Li Mu understood but felt somewhat confused about his own feelings. In his past life, Su Yingxue had been his lifelong dream but unreachable. In this life, she seemed closer than ever, yet he couldn’t quite define the nature of his feelings for her. As for Zhao Ziqiu, he admitted she stirred his heart—her thoughtfulness and gentleness made him overly cautious, fearing that rashness might hurt her.

After much thought, Li Mu shook his head silently. Matters of the heart weren’t easily untangled, and it wasn’t his forte anyway. For now, he would focus on getting the job done.

He skillfully brushed off the topic with Zhao Ziqiu and Han Xiaoxiao as everyone took their seats at the table. Li Mu said to the group, “Thank you all for your hard work. We have three days left before the official online auction launch. The promotion tasks remain heavy during this time, so I hope everyone can grit their teeth and push through. We’ll do one final promotion on Friday night and then see how the online bidding goes on Saturday.”

Li Yawei asked Li Mu, “Mu-ge, I think we’ll definitely close a lot of tutoring deals, but how do we ensure the safety of students who go out for tutoring?”

The others looked to Li Mu with concern.

(To be continued.)

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