Chapter 101: Searching For The OfficeLin Jiali failed to react to the situation at first, but as a celebrity, her well-trained mentality told her to accept the notebook and pen from Su Yang and sign it.
After giving him her autograph, Lin Jiali’s mind calmed down and she started to process the situation.
‘He’s helped me before but doesn’t recognize me?’
Lin Jiali took a peek at Su Yang and saw his infatuated expression as if he was a hardcore fan looking at his idol. He did not look like someone who knew her real identity.
She heaved a breath of relief. She wanted to keep her identity under wraps since she had spoken about many sensitive topics to Su Yang. Her cover would be blown if he recognized her. Should he or someone else screenshot the chat history and post it to Weibo, it would spell trouble for her.
Despite chatting with Su Yang with an alternate account for the sake of safety, she was not willing to try her luck.
With that in mind, her smile looked brighter, which complimented her beauty. She passed the pen and notebook back to Su Yang and asked, “Which drama of mine do you like?”
“‘Carat Love’, of course,” said Su Yang.
Maybe because Lin Jiali did not expect Su Yang to say ‘Carat Love’, she was slightly surprised.
Su Yang then said, “People said you were bad in the drama, but I feel your skillful acting was great. The others don’t know how to appreciate you.”
Lin Jiali smiled even brighter.
…
After chatting with Lin Jiali, Su Yang managed to return to the lecture hall without blowing his cover. He tossed the notebook onto his table and smiled brightly. ‘My acting is really good. I can even fool an actress!’
He had gotten Lin Jiali’s autograph purely for fun.
It was just a way of life. People always did meaningless but happy things. If everything required meaning, life would be tiresome.
Besides, Su Yang might need the support of the celebrities to promote his app in the future, so it was necessary to increase their fondness of him beforehand.
The morning flew by in the blink of an eye. Han Yi and Lin Jiali’s arrival made the campus a lot livelier but crowded at the same time. Outsiders started to flood the campus because they heard that there were celebrities visiting. Even people from outside Shanghai City traveled halfway across the states just to have a look at them.
Shanghai University was suddenly filled with many unfamiliar faces.
Of course, the situation had nothing to do with Su Yang. He skipped the afternoon class and went searching for an office near the campus with the housing agent. His company’s business was growing, thus it was time for him to expand to a real office and recruit more employees.
After searching for a whole afternoon, Su Yang shortlisted three choices. All the units were commercial and residential units, hence the price was cheaper. However, since it was not situated in a commercial area, all kinds of people lived in the area, and frankly speaking, it was a little messy.
It was the environment that made him hesitate.
Just when he was having a hard time choosing, Chu Xia called him.
“Hey, where are you?”
Su Yang looked around and said, “I’m under a tree.”
The good thing about Chu Xia was that no matter how lame Su Yang’s topic was, she was able to continue the conversation. “Then, you’d better be careful. The weather is turning windy. Lightning might strike you if you stay under the tree.”
‘This girl really has a vicious tongue…’
Su Yang stopped joking and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Of course there is a matter. Someone skipped class again, so I’m calling by way of procedure to ask whether this someone has a valid reason,” she said sarcastically.
Speaking of playing truant, Su Yang instantly sounded softer because he was guilty. He said, “I’ve something to do…I mean, I’m sick.”
“Where’s the doctor’s letter then?” asked Chu Xia.
He said, “I…Come on, my friend, don’t push it!” He got tired of lying and admitted, “I’m expanding my company, so I’m searching for an office.”
Chu Xia squealed in shock on the other end of the phone. “Your company is expanding? It looks like you are doing great!”
Su Yang went under the shade and continued, “Right? So, it’s something big that I have to take care of. Think about it, having a friend who is the founder of the top 500 companies in the world, or a giant in the local I.T. industry, or even the pioneer of the elite enterprise in the country. How cool would that be? When you talk to your friends, I’m sure you will be proud as well!”
Chu Xia pondered about what Su Yang said on the other end of the phone. “Hmm, sounds legit.”
Su Yang continued building his castle in the sky. “I’m also making our university proud! When I become successful and famous, people will know that I am from Shanghai University, am I right? I might become the best alumnus by then!”
Chu Xia quickly stopped his fantasy from taking off. “Okay, okay! I get it! I’ll just tell the lecturer you are sick!” After that, she added, “So, did you find any suitable place?”
Su Yang sighed. “Not yet. I don’t think they are suitable after all.”
Some thoughts later, she said, “I might know a place.”
His eyes gleamed, “Where is it?”
Chu Xia hesitated for a moment. “I’ll have to ask for more details first. I heard my family mention something about a new high-tech industrial park in the area. Have you heard of it?”
“Yeah, what’s up with it?” He did not just know, but he had even been there before because that was where Junqing Intermediary was.
“I heard the place is opening a new building for business incubation. The committee of Baoshan District actually plans to promote the building to attract more university students to move in. The rent is cheap there, and since you are a student from Shanghai University, you can also apply for tax exemption and rent reduction.”
‘Business incubators…Hmm…’
Su Yang had actually done some research on it. Frankly speaking, the government was trying to encourage people to start their own companies and they segregated a portion of the national funds to support the new entrepreneurs by subsidizing the rent, water, and electricity bills, etc. It was not only in Baoshan District but all over the place.
It was just that Baoshan District did not have this project before this, thus Su Yang did not consider the option at all.
Now that Chu Xia mentioned it, it seemed to be a great choice!
With that in mind, he said, “I see. Can you help me ask around? If possible, can you recommend me to apply for an office or something?”
Chu Xia promised him, “Of course, I’ll let you know later in the evening.”
At night, she called Su Yang with a positive answer. Baoshan District’s high-tech industrial park was really accepting new tenants and she had called them for confirmation beforehand. She even promised to accompany Su Yang to visit the high-tech industrial park tomorrow to have a better look.
Su Yang happily agreed.
As expected of a local! Chu Xia had connections in almost every field, so she was clear about government projects, policies, and whatnot. All she needed to do was ask about and she could get more information than Su Yang.
When he planned to start a company, he never thought it would be this difficult, and now with one leg in the boat, he realized that he had been too naive back then.
Starting a company was easy, but having a good start was difficult. It was even harder if he wanted his company to change the country or even the world!
However, with the help of the system and all kinds of special items and little monsters, Su Yang believed he would be able to become one of the elites.
One day, when seven billion people in the world realized they could not live without a company named Jiadian1, it would mean that Su Yang had reached the peak of his achievements.
After he finished fantasizing, Su Yang realized his ideals had swelled. When he had been poor and wanted to make money, he would have done anything for 20 yuan. Now, with some money in his pocket, he did not want to just make money, but he also wanted to realize his life goal and change the world!
‘Maybe this is the so-called ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’. Or did I eat too much during dinner?’
…
The next morning, after he woke up, washed up and ate breakfast, he had a little time on hand before he had to head out, so he planned to continue experimenting with Pool’s special ability.
He refused to believe that he could only get seahorses from the Inequivalent Exchange.