pjbooks Chapter 130 Rewarding Merit
Chapter 130 Rewarding Merit
Chapter 130 Rewarding Merit
On the second day after Lin Xiaoqiang was hospitalized, Lin Feng invited Wu Wenjie and Lin Xiaowen to visit him at the hospital.
Lin Xiaowen was carrying a thermos. Inside was bone broth she had prepared before dawn, with ginseng and red dates added.
Wu Wenjie didn't say much along the way. He was at the scene the night the stall got into trouble; Lin Xiaoqiang was injured while protecting the stall for him, and he saw the whole thing clearly.
Upon arriving at the hospital, the three went upstairs and found their ward.
The door was half open. Lin Xiaoqiang was sitting on the hospital bed with his left forearm in a cast and resting on the blanket. His ear wound had been stitched up and covered with a square gauze.
Zhao Yong and Tan Zhao were also there; one had a thick bandage wrapped around his right hand, and the other had gauze on his brow bone, with the bruise around his left eye still lingering. Their injuries weren't serious, and Lin Feng ordered them all to be hospitalized for treatment and observation.
When Lin Feng and the other two entered the ward, Zhao Yong gestured with his left hand to recall the scene from that day, while Tan Zhao smiled.
Upon seeing Lin Feng arrive, the three of them greeted him in unison as "Boss."
Lin Xiaowen placed the thermos on the bedside table and unscrewed the lid. Steam rose out, carrying the rich aroma of bone broth. She took a bowl and ladled a bowl of soup for each of the three patients.
"Brother, drink it while it's hot."
Lin Xiaoqiang took the bowl, held it with his uninjured right hand, and took a sip.
Lin Xiaowen asked when the cast would be removed, and Lin Xiaoqiang said in two weeks. She then asked about his ear, and he said it would be fine once the stitches were removed. His tone was casual, not wanting his sister to worry.
She'd known her brother was stubborn since she was little. Seeing his left forearm swollen like that broke her heart.
Wu Wenjie placed the fruit on the counter and thanked them, saying, "A-Qiang, Zhao Yong, and Tan Zhao, I remember everything about the stall. Without your selfless protection of the stall, it would have been completely smashed that day."
"They're all brothers, it's only right to protect them," Lin Xiaoqiang said.
"Yes! We're family!" Lin Feng said. "Not only do Ah Jie and I remember this, but the company does too."
In the hospital room, Lin Feng announced: "Effective today, Lin Xiaoqiang is promoted to Manager of the Company's Field Sales Department, Tan Zhao is promoted to Manager of the Company's Administrative Department, and Zhao Yong is promoted to Supervisor of Field Sales. Each of you will receive a two-level salary increase. Your salary will be paid in full during your recovery period, without any reduction."
"Thank you, boss!" Lin Xiaoqiang, Tan Zhao, and Zhao Yong were so excited that they thanked him repeatedly, having long forgotten their pain.
"You took the fall for the company, so the company can't let its own brothers down. Focus on recovering, and you can come back to the company when you're fully healed."
Lin Xiaoqiang was so grateful that his ears turned red, but he couldn't say a word.
He served in the army for several years, then returned to his hometown to farm for two years after his discharge. After that, he went to Shenzhen to drive an unlicensed truck. He worked in all kinds of weather, but no one ever appreciated or promoted him.
Within six months of joining Lin Feng's company, his salary increased two levels, and he became a manager.
His younger sister, Lin Xiaowen, graduated from high school and had no formal education, but she followed Lin Feng and became the quality control supervisor.
The fates of the brother and sister were completely changed after they met Lin Feng.
Lin Xiaowen stood at the foot of the bed, tightened the lid of the thermos, and glanced between Lin Feng and her brother.
Her brother changed completely after working with Lin Feng for less than half a year. Before, when he was driving an unlicensed taxi, he had to get his car repaired once a month, barely made any fares, and ate instant noodles and junk food every day.
Now he's the first one to arrive at the office every morning. Actually, he doesn't need to clock in at all. He takes the new sales promoters out to the streets and records everything in his notebook when he gets back in the evening.
All of this was to prevent people from saying that he got the job because of his sister.
She looked at Lin Feng with her big, watery eyes. She wanted to say thank you, but felt those two words were too inadequate.
The three people stayed in the ward for a while. The nurse came in to take their temperatures. She frowned when she saw a room full of people and wanted to shoo them away. After taking their temperatures, she told the patients to rest more and then left.
Lin Feng and the others didn't stay long. Before leaving, Lin Xiaowen put the thermos and empty bowl into a cloth bag, saying that she would bring soup again in the evening and replace it with pork ribs and yam stew.
After leaving the hospital, Wu Wenjie said he needed to go back to his stall to check on the newly installed surveillance equipment, and then left.
Lin Feng and Lin Xiaowen stood at the hospital entrance for a moment. Two streets to the east of the hospital was the west gate of Shenzhen University.
Lin Xiaowen glanced in that direction and said, "Let's go."
The two walked along the sidewalk. Although winters in the south are not as harsh as those in the north, the wind felt quite pleasant on their faces.
The two walked side by side on the sidewalk, the banyan tree covered with fallen leaves, which rustled underfoot.
"Brother Feng," Lin Xiaowen looked up at Lin Feng, "thank you."
"What are you thanking me for?"
"You're so kind to me and my brother!" She turned her gaze back to the fallen leaves at her feet.
Lin Feng didn't reply, but reached out and took her hand. Lin Xiaowen's hand was very soft, and she slowly closed her fingers around his.
The two of them walked hand in hand along the sidewalk.
Upon entering the west gate of Shenzhen University, you are greeted by two rows of tall banyan trees.
Several boys were playing soccer on the playground, and the bulletin board along the road was covered with posters advertising recruitment for CET-4 and CET-6 tutoring classes and postgraduate entrance exam cram courses, with posters piled up one after another.
The two walked to the tree-lined path and sat down on a bench beside the lawn. The grass was a withered yellow in winter, and the sunlight felt warm on their faces.
Lin Xiaowen took out her MP3 player from her pocket, untied the headphone cord, straightened the tangled ends, and handed one of the earbuds to Lin Feng.
Lin Feng took it and put it in his ear.
The intro is playing. Electric guitar chords, Faye Wong's voice flowing from the earphones.
It was a song from Faye Wong's new album, "To Love." He glanced at Lin Xiaowen. She was fiddling with the MP3 player's remote control, and as if sensing his gaze, she looked up.
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. This song is quite nice."
Lin Xiaowen smiled sweetly and leaned her head on his shoulder.
Lin Feng put his arm around her shoulder. Her shoulders were thin, and the weight of her leaning against him was very light.
Birds chirped in the banyan tree, a ball was kicked into the playground, and several boys hugged each other and shouted "Good shot!" Then everything fell silent again, leaving only Faye Wong's song playing in my headphones.
The two of them sat there and listened to several songs. A group of students with badminton rackets appeared on the lawn, some people spread out picnic mats under the banyan tree, and girls rode past them on bicycles.
Lin Xiaowen suddenly sat up straight and took off her headphones.
"Brother Feng, will you remember this afternoon when we listened to music together on campus?"
"Yes." Lin Feng took off his headphones and handed them to her.
She wrapped the earplug back up and put it back in her pocket, then leaned her head back gently against Lin Feng's shoulder. She closed her eyes, savoring every moment with Lin Feng.
The two of them sat on the bench for a long time.
As the sun began to set, the two stood up, took hands, and continued walking along the tree-lined path.
As she passed by the playground, she pointed to the boy in the red jersey and said, "His face turned red when he saw us."
Lin Feng said that the other person was covered in sweat and flushed from running.
Lin Xiaowen laughed, her eyes curving into two crescent moons. The two walked and talked like this.
They walked along the path beside the playground and arrived near the basketball court. Before them was a noisy scene.
The open space between the basketball court and the small playground at Shenzhen University was filled with stalls set up by students.
Old newspapers were spread on the ground, and on top of them were textbooks, postgraduate entrance exam materials, past papers for the College English Test Band 4, a cassette player, and CDs.
CDs, table lamps, electric fans, computer keyboards, tennis rackets, basketballs —
Most of the vendors were senior students about to graduate and begin their internships. Some were squatting behind their stalls reading, some were chatting with classmates, some were shouting at the top of their lungs, "Twenty yuan for a complete set of postgraduate entrance exam math materials!", and others were sitting together playing cards.
Lin Xiaowen squatted in front of a cassette tape stall and pulled out an old cassette tape. It was Stefanie Sun's "The Happiness I Want". She asked the stall owner how much it cost, and the stall owner, a short-haired woman, said three yuan, adding that she had been listening to it for less than six months.
Lin Xiaowen took out three yuan from her pocket and handed it over, then put the cassette tape into her bag. She got up and walked over to Lin Feng, only to find him staring at the entire basketball court.
Lin Feng glanced at the stalls and muttered to himself, "Every year, senior college students set up stalls to sell secondhand goods."
He crouched down and picked up a book titled "Signals and Systems," the cover of which read "Important Exam Points." The seller, a young man in a plaid shirt, was haggling with a buyer wearing glasses.
"This book contains comprehensive notes, and it even predicted four major questions on the final exam," the seller said sincerely. The buyer flipped through the pages, hesitated for a long time, and wanted to lower the price further.
Lin Feng put down the book, stood up and walked to a few more stalls, looking at them and making notes in his mind.
There were forty or fifty stalls, selling a chaotic mix of goods. Textbooks, appliances, and household items were all mixed together.
Buyers bend over and rummage through the items, while sellers sit idly waiting. There's a complete information asymmetry, resulting in very low transaction efficiency. Most students only know to set up stalls on the basketball court and are unaware of any other avenues.
He stopped in front of a stall selling electric fans.
Have you ever sold this fan online?
The stall owner, a young man in sportswear, looked up at him and asked, "Which website?"
"Local Life Network"
"Never heard of it."
Lin Feng nodded without explaining further.
Back on the bench, he mentally categorized all the basketball court stalls: textbooks were textbooks, daily necessities were daily necessities, and digital products were digital products.
Create a special page on the platform for university graduation season, categorized by department and type. Students can post information online in advance, including photos of the items and prices. Buyers can then filter and select their desired items from their dorm rooms and then inspect and complete the transaction offline.
The three drawbacks of traditional flea markets are: short duration, information asymmetry, and low efficiency.
His online secondhand platform model made up for all these shortcomings.
The secondhand channel already has a credit score and verification point system. Graduates who verify their identity with their student IDs are automatically considered trustworthy sellers, and their unwanted items are for personal use, not for resale.
This is much cleaner than the refurbished machine stalls in Huaqiangbei. Although the previous cleanup of Ma Wangcai's joint-owner accounts eliminated inferior supply, it also left a gap.
The college graduation season is the best time to fill the gap.
Upon returning to the Science Park from Shenzhen University, Lin Feng instructed the administration to summon several core members to the conference room.
Wu Wenjie had just returned from Huaqiangbei and was called inside before he could even take off his coat. Zhou Bin, Wei Zejun, Zhang Ming, Li Ying, Xie Xiaodong, Wang Rui, Chen Jing, and others were all present.
Lin Feng excitedly said, "This afternoon I went to Shenzhen University. It just so happens to be the season for senior students to leave campus for internships. There were at least fifty booths at the basketball court just now."
"Senior students deal with unused items before leaving campus. After selling their belongings, they leave. After leaving campus, they still need to rent apartments and find jobs. We handle both of these things."
He wrote three words on the whiteboard: secondhand goods, rent, and recruitment.
"These three needs are interconnected for graduates. Before leaving school, everyone needs to accomplish these three things. We've made it into a special feature: Three steps to graduation season, all handled by our local community website!"
Wang Rui chimed in: "I've been to the Student Affairs Office at Shenzhen University. The flea market is organized by the Student Union's Life Department, and the permits are managed by the Logistics Management Department. The site approval process isn't complicated; it just involves designating areas and limiting the time for setting up stalls."
If we could integrate local online marketplaces as a collaborative platform, it would save student union officers a lot of trouble. They wouldn't need to patrol the basketball court every day to manage the stalls; all product information could be uploaded online in advance, and offline transactions would only be handled directly.
"We need to set up service points offline." Lin Feng circled several locations on the whiteboard. "Shenzhen University and Shenzhen Polytechnic will each set up a few as needed. Set up tables and tents. On-site promoters will help students take photos, upload information, and print transaction vouchers. Students who don't know how to use the internet can bring their items over, and we'll help them put them on the shelves within three minutes."
Lin Feng turned to Li Ying: "The biggest pain point of offline flea markets is information asymmetry. Buyers don't know which stalls have good goods, so they can only browse through each stall one by one. Our online special solves this problem."
Graduates can post their listings online in advance, and buyers can filter by category, department, and price from their dorm rooms.
Think about how to clearly explain the advantages of this online platform in your promotional post. The comparison post you made last time, showing the difference between genuine and fake listings, was quite effective. This time, you could create a visual comparison image: a chaotic scene from a traditional flea market on the left, and a local online search page on the right.
Li Ying twirled her pen: "We'll come up with a sales pitch tonight. I plan to split the graduation season promotion into three phases."
The first phase addressed the three major challenges faced by graduates before leaving school, linking their needs for secondhand goods, rentals, and job postings on the local community website and the Shenzhen University/Shenzhen Polytechnic's BBS.
The second installment focuses on how leaving school doesn't mean leaving Shenzhen, explaining how to use local online rental and job posting channels to navigate the transition period smoothly.
The third phase involves data review and user stories to accumulate material for future replication in other cities.
"Very good!" Lin Feng was very satisfied with Li Ying's idea.
He then turned to the technical director, Zhou Bin: "We need to create a graduation season section on our website. The page requires several functions, including a graduate verification portal. After verification using their student ID number, they will automatically receive a recent graduate label and an initial credit score bonus."
Graduation season exclusive product categories: filtered by school, department, and category. "Oh, and we also need cross-section related recommendations. Users browsing secondhand textbooks will also see rental information near the same school and job postings for their major." Lin Feng added, "By the way, we also need cross-section related recommendations. Users browsing secondhand textbooks will also see rental information near the same school and job postings for their major."
Zhou Bin replied, "No problem. This architecture is consistent with the existing multi-level classification logic. We don't need to change the underlying structure. We just need to add a graduation season template."
Wang Rui added, "The postgraduate entrance exam materials, CET-4 and CET-6 study guides, and textbooks left behind by graduates are exactly what lower-year students urgently need for the next semester. If these items can be precisely matched by major and department, the efficiency will be much higher than offline flea markets. Offline service points can set up a special area for teaching materials, categorized by department."
"Okay! Get it done right away! Wang Rui will take the lead, and all departments will cooperate fully." Lin Feng has always been decisive and efficient, and he gets things done as soon as he says he'll do it.