Can following the rules be called rebirth?

Chapter 164, Section 162: Charging for Talent
"Hahahaha~"

“I know, I know, he told me about it in a WeChat message back then.”

In November, the main road of Jiangcheng University of Finance and Economics is covered with golden ginkgo and sycamore trees, with fallen leaves forming a natural carpet, and a gentle breeze blowing.

Li Zhi and Gu Caiwei walked arm in arm on campus, a sight to behold.

In fact, this era hadn't yet developed to the level of later generations.

These two great beauties from later generations, each with a distinct style, naturally exemplify the concept that one plus one equals more than two.

Even when walking around school, it's easy for enthusiastic boys to stop you and take pictures under the guise of street photography.

There were street photographers in 2014, but they usually carried heavy DSLRs and professional equipment, and mostly camped out in the core areas of developed commercial districts.

So, undisturbed, Li Zhi and Gu Caiwei strolled through the campus, their every smile and movement captivating the attention of countless students.

If the beauty of those internet celebrities is static, then these two are dynamic 3D.

A 360-degree view of reality without any blind spots.

Li Zhi's ethereal profile and Gu Caiwei's soft, sweet voice, melting in the midday breeze, are captivating with effortless charm.

"Oh, I see. He reports really quickly."

The short-haired girl muttered softly.

She had a criminal law class this morning, and after informing Leying Law Firm, she didn't go for her internship.

In fact, since Leying Law Firm and Mingli Company reached an initial cooperation agreement, almost all of the firm's lawyers have benefited.

The benefits of high traffic.

In the first week after Mingli Company officially launched its promotional campaign, the lawyers worked independently and quickly resolved the problem of finding cases that they had previously struggled with.

At the same time, law firms are gradually shifting from vertical management to a matrix structure.

Lawyers are moving away from the traditional "individual case source system," concentrating their previously scattered efforts instead of going to great lengths to find clients, and embracing the new era.

They left the law firm and frequently visited the neighboring Mingli Company to learn from their experience.

We learned from internet operations experts, data analysts, and content creators to form a professional marketing team.

After the campaign was launched, Mingli Company divided itself into several different promotional approaches.

The person in charge, Shi Fangfang, broke the whole organization into three different groups.

The SEO/SEM team is responsible for search engine bidding ranking and keyword optimization; the social media team operates legal popular science content on platforms such as WeChat official accounts, Weibo, and Zhihu; and the information flow advertising team focuses on precise targeting on information flow platforms such as Tencent Guangdiantong and Baidu.

Even Li Zhi's mentor lawyer, Zhuo Luxia, the most outstanding young lawyer in the entire Leying Law Firm, realized that this is an era where efficiency is king.

In this model, top lawyers may be largely unaffected.

However, the traditional model of ordinary lawyers in law firms, who originally combined consultation, case taking, and case handling, can no longer keep up with the efficiency of Mingli Company.

The "people looking for cases" approach of going out to discuss business and conducting on-the-ground promotions is far less effective than the massive traffic of "cases looking for people," which can easily reach millions of views.

How do you fight with cold weapons and firearms?
There's no way to fight.

In just one week, almost everyone was completely won over by Mingli's case conversion funnel model.

Even Zhuo Luxia, who wasn't too concerned about finding cases, repeatedly gave instructions to her assistant, Li Zhi.

Don't rush to do errands and odd jobs at the office. Instead, spend more time at Mingli Company to broaden your horizons and learn new knowledge. That's the real key.

Li Zhi readily agreed.

"Hehe~ I'm fine."

For some reason, Gu Caiwei couldn't help but smile slightly when she heard her best friend's words, feeling a sweet warmth in her heart.

Is he reporting to himself?

To be fair, if you're going to use your everyday photos to lure scammers, even if you've carefully selected them and they don't involve exposing any personal privacy, you should definitely warn yourself beforehand.

In this respect, Zhou Mingyuan is quite conscious of boundaries.

Of course, Gu Caiwei wouldn't mind if her employees impersonated her, as long as they could do a little bit of good deeds to punish evil and promote good.

"I only realized it after he told me."

Gu Caiwei chuckled: "So it turns out your work as law students is so interesting!"

"It's about fighting against romance scammers and intricate schemes within schemes. It sounds so exciting!"

"I thought too much about you."

Li Zhi pursed her lips, neither confirming nor denying.

"I've been in courts and law firms for so long, and this is the first time I've ever seen a fraud case like this."

"Thanks to him, we were able to accurately identify that the other party was a liar full of lies, rather than an investment youth who was fighting for love and had dreams."

"Too."

Gu Caiwei bit her lip, her beautiful eyes darting around, and after thinking for a few seconds, she spoke.

"If it were me, I might also have been scammed."

"you will not."

They stopped in a pavilion near Xiaohu Garden. The bluestone benches were cool and refreshing, and the two girls leaned against each other side by side.

"Why wouldn't I know how?"

Gu Caiwei pouted, her bright eyes filled with confusion: "I clearly like investing too."

"With interest rates so high, maybe I'll invest?"

"impossible."

Li Zhi crossed her arms, met the other person's gaze with a half-smile, and rolled her eyes dramatically.

"How is it impossible?"

Gu Caiwei whispered, "Who isn't love-struck?"

"You're going to be stubborn, aren't you?"

The short-haired girl straightened her back and tidied a stray hair behind her ear with one hand: "Then let me ask you!"

Would you date online using dating apps?

"If you've never even met the person, would you fall in love with them and call them 'husband' so passionately?"

"I"

Gu Caiwei blinked, unsure whether she would answer or not, before Li Zhi interrupted her again.

"You're spending your birthday alone at home, and your boyfriend isn't replying to your messages or answering your calls; he's nowhere to be seen. Can you tolerate that?"

"No, no, I'm not really good at it."

Just imagining such a desolate scene, Gu Caiwei quickly shook her head and waved her hand in denial.

"And Weiwei, you actually rarely admire another person from the bottom of your heart."

Li Zhi spoke calmly and slowly, smiling as she looked at her best friend.

"It's a pipe dream to trick you into investing. Even if someone claims to be an investment expert online, or even if someone offline says they've had several consecutive winning streaks in the stock market, you still won't believe them, right?"

"."

Gu Caiwei blushed instantly, her fingers twirling in her hair, and she fell silent.

A best friend is essentially another version of yourself in the world.

Even his jokes were so deadly.

Just as Li Zhi said, the intelligent and quick-witted Gu Caiwei simply could not trust strangers.

Even someone as casually acquainted as Zhou Mingyuan, with the backing of his best friend, still needs to prove himself through real trading accounts. How much more so for "successful men" online?
"But then again, how do you think Zhou Mingyuan knew this person was a fraud?"

The clouds overhead were swirling around, and Gu Caiwei craned her neck, looking at the sky with curiosity.

"He's just smarter."

Li Zhi couldn't give a reason either, so she could only shrug and give a perfunctory answer.

"That's true." Gu Caiwei nodded, drawing out her words, "How can someone like him have such a brain?"

"It seems like he can do everything."

“Look at him, his legal consulting firm is thriving, his MCN media has received awards from the school, and even the coffee shop he opened with the two of us has managed to create an app!”

"Oh right, what about the Relief Coffee App?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhi also became interested.

"We just started using it today. I asked the barista to put up a QR code in the store. I'll go check the backend now."

Gu Caiwei opened the bag on her shoulder and took out her phone.

"It's only been a few hours, and we already have over 100 registered users! That's fast!"

"More than a hundred cups of free coffee?"

The short-haired girl covered her mouth in surprise.

As everyone knows, the Relief Coffee Shop opens at nine in the morning.

The period from morning to noon is the time with the lowest passenger flow and the fewest people.

How could more than 100 people register in such a short time?

What kind of data would we see in the afternoon and evening when the human-to-human transmission effect officially spreads?
Li Zhi rubbed her eyes, no longer knowing how to estimate the number.

"More than a hundred cups of coffee, that might just be the beginning."

Compared to her bewildered best friend, Gu Caiwei was clearly much more confident.

"We'll have tons of firsthand data soon, so we need to work on our PPT quickly. Maybe after the presentation, we can really take off!"

Hopefully~~~

Li Zhi bent down, picked up a fallen leaf near the stone bench, and took a deep breath.

The air was filled with a unique crispness and moisture, a mixture of scents from the grass and fallen leaves.

The November sun is no longer scorching; it filters through the tall ginkgo leaves on campus, casting swaying shadows on the ground.

As soon as the wind blows, more leaves twirl and fall, carpeting the path around the pavilion.

In the languid afternoon light, the campus radio station broadcasted right on time.

"Zebra, zebra, don't fall asleep!"

"Let me see your injured tail again~"

The sound flowed from those inconspicuous square speakers scattered in all directions.

It began with a light and cheerful guitar intro, like leaping raindrops, which instantly broke the tranquility of the campus.

Then, a clear female voice began to sing.

The song, carried by the cool autumn breeze, echoed and drifted across the empty playground, the quiet tree-lined paths, and the square teaching buildings.

"See? What did I just say?"

Gu Caiwei was immersed in the song.

A minute later, she took her best friend's arm again and shook it vigorously.

"He's even really good at making music."

"Xinyi and Senior Peipei have now transformed into campus celebrities."

Could you have imagined this day would come?

"."

When this topic was brought up, Li Zhi couldn't help but change her expression.

"Alright, Weiwei. I was going to argue with you!"

“I asked him about this, and he said he didn’t buy trending searches or manipulate any rankings; it was all genuine organic traffic.”

"So I also find it very unbelievable."

The short-haired girl didn't know how to express herself for a moment, and after holding it in for a long time, she finally said something.

In early November, the landlord's cat posted a cover video online.

The video doesn't use any sophisticated editing techniques, and the singing doesn't show any signs of audio editing.

It was just a simple song, a simple filming, all done in one take.

Inside the Relief Cafe, two girls sat together.

Peipei played the guitar earnestly, while Xinyi sat in front of the microphone, her voice soft: "I'll be performing a cover of a folk song, 'Zebra Zebra,' by..."

And just like that, a video shot and edited by coffee shop owner Xiao Zhou was shared and liked by many influential figures overnight.

With 600 million views, The Landlord's Cat became a trending topic for the first time.

Their works, published as independent musicians, have also been unearthed by netizens, who have given them likes and positive reviews.

Faced with sudden fame, the landlord's cat received treatment at school that was almost comparable to that of a minor celebrity.

The two were active in all kinds of parties and performances at the school. Their clear and ethereal voices, clean guitar sounds, and melodious tunes made them very popular both on and off campus.

Along with his original song "Next Stop, Chashan Liu," he also climbed to the top of the independent musician charts.

This folk music duo from Jiangcheng, a city in central China, has many songs that have a Jiangcheng flavor.

It's easy for people to resonate with it.

When people mention Jiangcheng, they always think of the cherry blossoms of Jiangnan University, hot dry noodles, and Zhou Hei Ya (a type of braised duck), which become popular every year.

Actually, when you first come to Jiangcheng, you may find it hard to get used to. The traffic jams, the busyness, and the aggressive drivers make you want to leave every day.

Jiangcheng only has two seasons a year, winter and summer, and the weather is always unpredictable.

People rush by everywhere, and buses and subways are always crowded.

If you are in Wuhan, have you ever taken the No. 538 bus on Nanhu Avenue?
If you're in Wuhan, you must have experienced the agonizing traffic jams.

The drivers in Jiangcheng are rude and fierce, and their unique Jiangcheng accent always makes it sound like they're arguing.

Young people who grew up in Wuhan, having experienced unpredictable weather, grown accustomed to the roaring waves of the river, and witnessed the wind blowing through the fallen leaves of the plane trees, will gradually fall in love with this city.

Like the landlord's cat, many people spent their best years of youth in Jiangcheng. As time goes by, their initial feelings gradually change.

"Do you think they don't have time to come to the store to sing anymore?"

The music gradually faded away, replaced by the announcer's clear and gentle closing remarks.

Li Zhi put her arm around Gu Caiwei's shoulder, crossed her legs, and swung her calves in the air.

"of course!"

Gu Caiwei pouted: "Your net worth is different now."

"Before, we paid people ten yuan a song, and it was a pleasant and happy collaboration. Now..."

How can you bring this up now?

"What's wrong?"

Li Zhi, on the other hand, seemed completely unconcerned and said frankly, "The senior students definitely won't refuse, right?"

"It's good to be popular. When people come to sing in our store, they can bring more customers with them."

"it's not good."

Gu Caiwei hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.

"What's wrong?"

The short-haired girl said confidently, "A capitalist like you, whose mind is full of value exchange, is hopeless."

"According to you, how much money should be paid to recognize talent?"

"Zhou Mingyuan didn't even charge them for writing songs for them!"

(End of this chapter)