I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Shen Kang ultimately couldn't resist He Qiuzhu's insistence, and now he had a black magic wand in his hand, and a pink gauze hair tie on his left wrist, clearly giving off a "I'm taken" vibe.

This hair tie was also put on his wrist by He Qiuzhu. She said she had nowhere to put it, so she put it on his wrist first. Later, when they ate, she could use it to tie her hair so that it wouldn't float into the soup because her hair was too long and loose.

Shen Kang glanced at the dozen or so braids she had worn today and thought to himself, "You're right."

Then, with this "I'm taken" look, he followed the group into the hotel lobby.

This hotel is quite grand, with a fountain at the entrance and a spacious lobby with a spotless floor that reflects light.

Other universities have already arrived.

A little past the front desk, several teams, with about twenty or thirty people gathered there, seemingly talking about something.

At the front desk, there was another line checking in, the same line that had come in before them.

After following the large group from Yangke University to the front of the stage, Shen Kang saw someone he recognized in the group: Zheng Changhao.

This team is clearly from Yangcheng Business School.

The teachers from Yangshang University were processing the paperwork, while Zheng Changhao and the other participating students were chatting casually while they waited.

After Shen Kang walked up to them, he greeted Zheng Changhao with a smile: "What a coincidence, Senior Zheng, you're here to participate in the competition too." "Yes, what a coincidence," Zheng Changhao replied with a forced smile.

He gets a headache just looking at Shen Kang now:

After Zhao Jiayuan was exposed and the users of Beiming Community launched a counterattack on Yangbei Forum, he has tried both approaches in the past few days: strict control is not good, and no control is not good either. However, he still cannot stop the continuous decline in the number of users on the Yangbei Forum's Yangke University campus section.

Today, the daily active users of Beiming Community have far exceeded those of the Yangbei Forum's Yangke University Campus section.

The daily active users of the Yangbei Forum's Yangbei University of Science and Technology campus section have plummeted to an unprecedented low.

Essentially, it's fair to say that the Yangbei Forum has lost its foothold at Yangke University. This niche has been completely taken over by the Beiming Community.

Losing an entire university's worth of users has led to a decline in the website's overall data, which will definitely affect Google's fees—in fact, a restaurant that makes chicken hot pot has already noticed this.

The shop owner was quite perceptive and usually paid close attention to school matters. After discovering this, he went to room 305 yesterday and told Zheng Changhao that he wanted to lower the GG fee.

Zheng Changhao was naturally unwilling to lower the GG fee, but promised to quickly regain the lost market share. After making these assurances, he managed to appease the shop owner for the time being, and then quickly came here to lay low for a couple of days. As for how to regain the Yang University of Science and Technology market... Zheng Changhao currently has no clue.

However, there is something to be thankful for: at least Shen Kang has only secured Yangke University so far, right? The campus forums of other schools in Beilu District are still using the Yangbei Forum.

Zheng Changhao even started praying, hoping that Shen Kang would be satisfied with just taking over Yang University of Science and Technology and would stop expanding outwards.

This is why he felt a headache coming on whenever he saw Shen Kang; he always felt that this kid was hiding a knife behind his back, and he might pull it out and cut him at any moment. However, Zheng Changhao immediately noticed the conspicuous black magic wand in Shen Kang's hand, and his spirits lifted.

At this moment, Shen Kang also walked over to him.

Zheng Changhao gave a forced smile: "I didn't realize you liked these girly things, Junior Shen?" He was practically calling him a sissy.

Shen Kang remained calm: "I don't like it, but she insisted that I take it."

Zheng Changhao noticed the pink hair tie on his left wrist again, and then glanced at Shen Kang's stunningly beautiful girlfriend, whom he had seen before, not far away, before falling silent.

Clearly, this was because Shen Kang's girlfriend was afraid he would philander, so she marked him.

This frustrated Zheng Changhao: that girl was so pretty, but her eyesight seemed off. She's so beautiful, why is she so attached to that bastard Shen Kang? How come he gets all the good things?

If he had a girlfriend as beautiful as an angel clinging to him like that… Zheng Changhao felt great just thinking about it, which made him even more depressed, and he didn’t even want to talk anymore.

Shen Kang, however, had something to say: "Senior Zheng, are you here for the challenge match or the practical competition?"

He stood next to Zheng Changhao, acting all warm and friendly. Anyone who didn't know them would think they were close friends.

"A challenge match," Jung Chang-ho replied briefly.

"The Challenger Tournament?" Shen Kang was surprised. "Why aren't you participating in the Practical Tournament?" "Some personal reasons," Zheng Changhao replied succinctly, then changed the subject: "What about you, the Challenger Tournament or the Practical Tournament?"

"Challenge Match".

Hearing that Shen Kang was also participating in the challenge competition, Zheng Changhao became even more frustrated, "Why don't you participate in the practical competition either?"

Shen Kang smiled and said, "It's also due to some personal reasons."

Qian Mingen stood not far away and glanced in their direction.

Seeing that the two hadn't started fighting, he stopped watching and continued to focus on the hotel check-in procedures.

It's good that these two don't fight.

Ma Liang was also watching this side.

He was very unhappy with Zheng Changhao, otherwise he wouldn't have attacked Yangbei Forum in the first place. Now that he saw Beiming Community drive Yangbei Forum out of Yangke University, Ma Liang felt very satisfied, as if he had gotten his revenge.

Seeing Zheng Changhao's current expression made Ma Liang even happier: unlike Shen Kang's genuine brotherly demeanor, Zheng Changhao, though trying to maintain a calm expression, still showed obvious signs of unease. Clearly, Zheng Changhao was quite frustrated in front of Shen Kang.

Ma Liang felt great when he could make Zheng Changhao suffer.

However, Ma Liang quickly stopped paying attention and began to subtly look around. He had heard that some hotels had people secretly slipping small cards under the doors at night, and he wondered if this hotel was like that. Although this hotel was a five-star hotel and looked very professional, who knew? How should he deal with it? ...Wen Chulan and the others were also looking at Shen Kang and Zheng Changhao.

It seems I wasn't mistaken just now, Wen Chulan thought to himself.

When she got out of the car earlier, she saw Zheng Changhao standing there. Then, when she saw Shen Kang get out, Zheng Changhao immediately turned around and left, as if he was hiding.

Adding to the scene he was witnessing now, Wen Chulan became even more curious about the relationship between the two and who the boy really was—he seemed to be more than just a relative of the school leaders.

It was also when the two teams from Yangshang University and Yangke University were completing their procedures here.

Not far away, from the group of university students who had arrived earlier and were gathered nearby talking about something, two people stepped out: a teacher and a student.

That teacher went to see teachers from Yangshang University and Yangke University.

The student then approached the new students and said something: "Classmates, you're all here for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, right?... Oh, so you're students from Yangzhou University of Commerce and Yangzhou University of Science and Technology. Here's the thing, after checking in, we discovered that besides sponsoring our accommodation, this hotel has made some requests..."

After listening to this, Shen Kang and the others understood why these people were gathered there instead of going upstairs to their rooms:

The cost of the hotel accommodations for these participants in the city-level Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was not funded by the competition organizers, but rather sponsored by the Haobo Hotel. The competition venue was also sponsored by the hotel.

However, in addition to sponsoring the contestants, Haobo Hotel also made some requests. This afternoon, everyone had to participate in a presentation held by the hotel in a venue arranged by the hotel, which would last for four hours.

According to the contestant, the hotel described the presentation as "a high-quality exchange platform," "an efficient and informative in-depth experience," and "a feast of ideas with talented young people," among other things. However, in reality, it was just a brand presentation for the Haobo Hotel, where they filmed and recorded promotional materials to enhance the hotel's image and brand connotation.

Many of the contestants had complaints about this: the competition was tomorrow, and they needed to make the most of their last bit of time for the final roadshow rehearsal. It was a waste of time to spend an entire afternoon cooperating with the hotel to record promotional materials.

So everyone hoped the hotel could change the event and cancel it. They conveyed their opinions to the hotel, and now they are waiting for senior management to arrive.

The student came over simply to share this news with everyone and let them know.

After hearing this message from the other side, some students from Yangshang University and Yangke University were dissatisfied.

They were trying to make the most of their last bit of time for final roadshow rehearsals, but this hotel's stunt was really messed up.

It was as if everyone was on the same boat, and they instantly worked together. So they all went over and joined the group of people not far away.

Upon seeing the arrival of these two new groups of contestants, the students who had arrived earlier also turned to look.

Everyone's gazes were unanimous; their first attention was drawn to the very beautiful girl, and they were all in awe. Then, their eyes were drawn to the rather handsome boy, their gazes lingering on the black magic wand in his hand and the pink hair tie on his left wrist, their expressions somewhat strange.

After that, everyone's attention turned to the other people.

This is generally the case, with only one exception.

"Wan Zihao?" Shen Kang was somewhat surprised to see a boy in the crowd. "You're also participating in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition?"

Among the crowd was a boy, Wan Zihao, his high school classmate.

I heard that Wan Zihao attends Yangcheng University of Technology, a top-tier university. The people next to Wan Zihao should be the contestants from Yangcheng University of Technology.

"Hmm," Wan Zihao responded, not really wanting to talk to Shen Kang.

The main reason was that he had been teased by Shen Kang too much during the summer vacation, so he was a bit stressed and always felt that if he talked too much with that bastard Shen Kang, he would get teased again.

Shen Kang and Wan Zihao weren't very close, and seeing that Wan Zihao didn't seem to want to talk, Shen Kang didn't try to force a conversation with him. Instead, he listened with great interest to the conversations of the other contestants around him.

A boy next to Wan Zihao asked, "Zihao, is that your friend?"

"High school classmate," Wan Zihao replied.

The boy who asked Wan Zihao the question is named Miao Changqing. He is a third-year student at Yangcheng University of Technology and the captain of the team from Yangcheng University of Technology participating in the competition.

He met Wan Zihao during orientation and they quickly became friends. Especially after learning about Wan Zihao's family background, Miao Changqing treated Wan Zihao even better, and they soon became close friends. When working on projects for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, Miao Changqing naturally brought his good friend Wan Zihao along.

"A high school classmate?"

Upon hearing Wan Zihao's words, Miao Changqing asked again, "So that girl was also your high school classmate?" Miao Changqing pointed to He Qiuzhu.

Miao Changqing is actually not interested in relationships. He believes that his most important task at this stage of his life is to establish his career. So even though he is a prominent figure at Yangcheng University of Technology and several girls have pursued him, he has never been in a relationship.

He thought he wouldn't date in college, but in that instant, he realized he was wrong—the reason he didn't want to date was simply because he hadn't met the right person!

The moment Miao Changqing saw that girl, his heart skipped a beat. If that girl was Wan Zihao's high school classmate, then he would have a great way to get to know her!

Wan Zihao shook his head: "No, she's from another school."

Miao Changqing was somewhat disappointed, but he quickly began to think about how he should get to know that girl...

Not long after everyone had gathered there, the hotel manager finally arrived.

The man was in his thirties, not wearing a suit, and introduced himself as the Marketing and Sales Director of the Haobo Hotel, named Meng Shaoping.

After listening to the contestants' opinions, Meng Shaoping maintained a friendly attitude and a smile throughout, but he simply refused to agree, repeatedly stating that the schedule was already set and could not be changed or canceled at the last minute. He also kept assuring everyone that this presentation would be a brilliant intellectual feast, an excellent preview of tomorrow's competition, and that everyone would find it worthwhile. In short, he insisted that canceling today's presentation was out of the question.

The university teachers who were leading the team also went up to communicate, but there was no progress.

Some teachers even called the event organizers directly, but hung up shortly after: it seemed they had reached an agreement with the hotel and were showing support for the hotel's proposal—they were sponsors who had spent a lot of money, and it wouldn't be fair not to give them some benefit. Of course, if they could persuade the hotel to change its proposal themselves, the organizers wouldn't object.

So the teachers discussed it further and reached a consensus: they would abandon the idea. After all, it was only a four-hour presentation, and the students could still rehearse their presentations that evening. Besides, everyone had to attend the presentation, so having four less hours of preparation time meant it was fair overall. There wouldn't be any issue of someone having more or less preparation time, so it wouldn't affect the results of tomorrow's competition…

Watching from the side, Miao Changqing suddenly felt that this might be an opportunity! If he could resolve this matter, wouldn't that be the best way to showcase himself and let that girl get to know him?

With that in mind, he walked up to Meng Shaoping, the marketing director, and said, "Director Meng, how about this? Why don't we upgrade this presentation to a 'Brand Co-creation Meeting'? This would free up the contestants' time and allow them to generate more impactful promotional content through their creativity."

Meng Shaoping remained noncommittal, simply uttering an "Oh?"

Miao Changqing felt the eyes of the students around him focused on him, including that of the girl, which energized him even more. He continued, "Here's how to do it."

"Your company has upgraded the venue originally intended for recruitment presentations into a 'preparation area.' Students who want to prepare for the competition can have someone take them there for a half-hour hotel experience before moving to the preparation area. From an entrepreneurial perspective, each student can provide one constructive suggestion for the hotel. After that, they are free to arrange their own time."

"These suggestions can also be compiled and included in your hotel's internal publication to reflect the progressive image of 'listening to the voices of young people'."

The contestants listened from the sidelines and felt that Miao Changqing's suggestion was acceptable to them—it was actually a compromise, not to make it as long as four hours, but to make it half an hour to an hour.

Furthermore, students can offer suggestions, which will be included in the hotel's internal publication, making it even more appealing to everyone.

However, Miao Changqing's story didn't end there.

"Alternatively, some participants can be diverted to visit nearby attractions, and everyone can sign up themselves."

During the conversation among the contestants, Miao Changqing overheard some comments: not every contestant was focused on cramming for their roadshow rehearsals in the final stretch. Some students felt they had already put in the necessary effort, and last-minute cramming wouldn't be very effective; they'd rather go out and relax. "Your hotel provides hats, bags, and other items with your hotel's logo, and arranges staff to take photos, or provides cameras for the students to take their own pictures. Afterwards, you're asked to post these photos on the campus forum and personal social media, creating a heartwarming image of 'Haobo Hotel providing conditions for contestants to relax before the competition.'"

"Among the contestants present were three administrators of campus forums. With their help, these photos will have a wide reach, covering most of the college students in Yangcheng. Isn't that more effective than a simple presentation?"

Hearing this, the contestants who wanted to go out for a walk and relax felt great.

Many students from other schools who didn't know Miao Changqing before now recognized this contestant from Yangcheng Polytechnic University. They thought he spoke logically and offered good advice. They believed he would be a formidable opponent if they met in the competition.

The teachers from several universities looked at each other, all thinking the boy was quite good, while the teacher from Yangcheng Polytechnic felt rather proud.

Unfortunately, Meng Shaoping was like a robot, maintaining his formulaic smile and ignoring Miao Changqing's suggestion. He kept repeating the same old lines, his gentle demeanor subtly revealing a hint of toughness.

Miao Changqing was somewhat disappointed, but not too frustrated.

He simply wanted to show off in front of that girl and get her attention. Although he hadn't managed to convince the hotel, his performance was probably quite good; he should have stood out among the students and caught her eye.

Thinking of this, Miao Changqing glanced casually and saw the girl sitting on a suitcase that she didn't know where she got it from, holding an old Nokia phone and playing with it.

Judging from the frequency of her finger taps, she wasn't sending a text message, but rather seemed to be playing Snake, without even glancing in this direction.

This scene truly frustrated Miao Changqing.

Wan Zihao glanced in that direction, but not at He Qiuzhu; he looked at Shen Kang standing next to her. Perhaps lingering trauma from the summer vacation, Wan Zihao felt that if Shen Kang intervened, he might be able to persuade the hotel to stop with all that nonsense—he really didn't want to sit there like an idiot for four hours; he wanted to go out and have some fun!

However, after thinking about it, Wan Zihao decided not to go and ask Shen Kang if there was any way.

Wan Zihao didn't ask, but Ma Liang, who was next to Shen Kang, did: "Mr. Shen, why don't you go and talk to them?"

After spending time together and watching Shen Kang accomplish one thing after another, driving Zheng Changhao, who had previously defeated him, out of Yangke University, and hearing other things about Shen Kang from Li Su, Ma Liang now has great confidence in Shen Kang's abilities.

Ma Liang didn't want to sit there for four hours. He came here for tourism, not to be tortured.

The other contestants from Yangke University, led by Wen Chulan, were standing next to Shen Kang and the others. They also heard Ma Liang's words and looked over.

Some people were disdainful, thinking that if no one could do anything about it, what could this person with connections possibly do? Others, like Wen Chulan, had noticed Zheng Changhao's unusual behavior towards Shen Kang before, and now they actually felt a little bit of anticipation.

As for Ma Liang calling Shen Kang "General Manager Shen," they weren't surprised at all. For those of them involved in commercial competitions, some liked to address each other as "General Manager X" or "General Manager Y," so there was nothing strange about it.

Upon hearing Ma Liang's words, Shen Kang simply rolled his eyes. "What can I do?"

Ma Liang was still somewhat unwilling, "Is there really no other way?"

There's really no way around it.

Shen Kang comforted him, "It's only 4 hours, it'll pass quickly. We can always go out and have fun again tonight... uh, and prepare for the competition again..." As the two were talking, two men walked over.

The man in front, dressed in a suit, was in his forties with a long face and a stern expression. He walked straight over but did not approach, instead standing on the periphery watching Meng Shaoping resolve the matter.

The horse-faced man glanced at the scene and knew that the matter was almost resolved.

He had come to see what was going on because of the crowd that had gathered there for so long. Now that things were almost resolved, he was about to head back when his gaze suddenly stopped on a certain spot.

After a moment's thought, the horse-faced man left with the person behind him.