I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

"Our school's entrepreneurship base is just ahead."

Shen Kang pointed to a building in front of him and said to Song Zhengping and Shi Qingxiang beside him.

The three of them were walking on the sidewalk next to a side road on campus, with a few scattered students walking around them.

"Our school is quite supportive of college students starting businesses. As long as you meet the qualifications and apply, you may be able to apply for a free activity space in the entrepreneurship base to carry out your entrepreneurial project. Moreover, they don't charge for water and electricity. It's very supportive."

In front of others, Shen Kang never forgets to speak well of his alma mater, which he has been affiliated with for two lifetimes.

Shi Qingxiang chimed in at the opportune moment: "Has Mr. Shen applied to start some new entrepreneurial projects at the university?"

Shen Kang grinned: "Director Shi knows me well. I'm just a born workaholic and can't sit still, so I actually did some projects at the school and applied for two rooms in the entrepreneurship base."

"We've been walking for a while, everyone must be a bit tired, right? Why don't you come sit at my place for a bit, have something to drink and rest?"

Song Zhengping thought to himself, "Finally, we can talk about serious matters," and immediately said, "Okay."

So the three of them walked all the way to the startup base and went up to the second floor.

As they passed Room 211, Shen Kang was still acting as their guide, introducing the two of them: "...This Room 211 is one of the offices for several projects I've been working on at the university. I've hired some employees, all of whom are students from our school. Don't underestimate our university just because it's not a top-tier institution; the students are quite highly qualified, and they are very capable and diligent in their work..."

He subconsciously continued to pat himself on the back of his alma mater, which he had been associated with for two lifetimes.

As he pointed out, Song Zhengping and Shi Qingxiang glanced inside the window facing the corridor as they passed by room 211.

In the center of the room was a long, rectangular desk.

A girl with her back to them, wearing headphones, had a laptop in front of her and was watching a video—a fucking animated one.

Across from the girl, on the other side of the table, two boys were looking at some photos of beautiful women, chuckling lewdly.

In the corner, there was a deck chair, and a girl was lying on it, covered with a thin blanket, sleeping.

"..."

"..."

Song Zhengping and Shi Qingxiang could not associate the people in front of them with "shrewdness and competence," let alone "diligence and hard work."

Both of them glanced at Shen Kang simultaneously.

Shen Kang's thick skin was truly astonishing; he remained calm and composed, showing no embarrassment whatsoever.

Noticing the two men glancing over, he smiled brightly: "Don't let their seemingly unreliable appearance fool you, this project is about the internet. That's how internet companies are; you need to relax to unleash your brilliant ideas. Those unicorn companies in Silicon Valley were all like that in their early stages. Employees would just wear shorts to work, and they'd play video games freely during work hours. That's how it was."

The two thought to themselves, "Fine, say whatever you want."

Leading the two to the entrance of room 211, Shen Kang asked them to wait a moment before going inside himself.

Song Zhengping and Shi Qingxiang stood at the door, exchanged a glance, and both thought to themselves that although Shen Kang had said it was beautiful, he still couldn't help but want to reorganize the workplace.

At this moment, Shen Kang also walked over to the two guys who were looking at photos of beautiful women and chuckling lewdly.

"What photo?"

He leaned closer and asked.

These two people are Ji Chunfu and Xie Xiaoxu.

Upon seeing Shen Kang arrive, Ji Chunfu displayed the photos in his hand: "Photos of the new female guests who have registered for 'If You Are the One.' Boss, want to take a look? There are quite a few beauties this time. It seems our show yesterday was too successful, attracting many more people to register."

"Many of these people had never posted or uploaded photos on the Beiming Community before. Just looking at the previous backend data, you wouldn't know that there are so many beautiful girls in our school."

Shen Kang glanced at him: "You little rascal, you even went to the trouble of checking the backend data to see which accounts had female users?"

Ji Chunfu chuckled dryly: "It's necessary for work, it wasn't intentional."

Shen Kang didn't dwell on the question; he simply pointed to the photos and asked, "Did you have them printed out?"

Ji Chunfu shook his head: "Most of them were brought by themselves when they registered offline."

"Alright, you can take your time looking at it."

After chatting with them for a few minutes, Shen Kang left, went to his own workstation, took the key to the next room 212, and left.

Upon arriving at the entrance, Shen Kang led Song Zhengping and Shi Qingxiang to the door of room 212 next door before opening the door and going inside.

212 This is now a dedicated reception room. The remaining tables and chairs have been piled up in the corner and simply furnished with some green plants, sofas, and a water dispenser in the corner, next to which is a simple cabinet containing some drinks and dried fruit. Overall, it looks alright.

This place is usually used by Lin Mian to receive businessmen who come to discuss business.

Lin Mian isn't here now; he's probably out doing business and promoting GG again.

"Please have a seat, both of you."

Shen Kang led the two to the sofa and had them sit down. He then went to the water dispenser in the corner. "What would you like to drink? We have mineral water, oolong tea, green tea, cola, and sports drinks."

"Mineral water is fine," they both said.

Soon, Shen Kang brought over a plate with three glasses of mineral water and a dish of dried fruit on it.

After sitting down, the three chatted for a while.

Song Zhengping's mind was not on idle chatter.

His purpose in coming here was to facilitate a partnership between Yangcheng Bank and Anjia Household Services.

Previously, Song Zhengping's attitude was quite firm: use this matter to put pressure on Shen Kang. If Shen Kang obediently complied, that would be best, and everyone would be happy. If Shen Kang refused to the end, that was fine too; he could find an excuse to let it go and pretend the matter never happened.

But things are different now; China Construction Bank has also gotten involved.

The involvement of China Construction Bank and Shi Qingxiang's attitude made Song Zhengping keenly realize that this was not just a simple deal worth one or two million.

Song Zhengping was a rational person. After some thought, he made a decision: even if he couldn't handle it, he had to get the deal.

However, there's a bit of trouble now. Shi Qingxiang happened to arrive and sat down next to us.

Find an excuse to get Shi Qingxiang out of the way so that I can have a private chat with Shen Kang for a while...

Shi Qingxiang could roughly guess Song Zhengping's thoughts, so he sat calmly and chatted with Shen Kang, laughing occasionally, determined to be a holdout and not leave.

Shi Qingxiang originally wanted to secure the Anjia Household Services contract, not just for the immediate business volume of one or two million yuan, but for a longer-term goal:

With Anjia Household Services' strong growth momentum and its mysterious boss Shen Kang's background, it's possible that Anjia Household Services will become a provincial or even national-level enterprise in the future. If I start cooperating with Shen Kang from this point on and provide financial support along the way, and then the two parties reach a strategic cooperation agreement with Anjia Household Services using China Construction Bank for its massive funds, I will be the one to make the greatest contribution and will definitely be promoted.

Even if Anjia Household Services doesn't develop like that, with Shen Kang's background, he might be able to get some of Shengyuan Group's financial business transferred from ICBC to CCB? That would be an even greater achievement, and he would still need to move up in rank.

To secure these two enticing opportunities, all one needs to do is close a small deal worth one or two million.

This deal is such a great deal!

Song Zhengping's visit further solidified Shi Qingxiang's determination to close the deal.

Between the two of them, you want to close this deal because of me, and I want to close it because of you; it's almost like trying to step on your own feet to get ahead.

After chatting with the two for a while, Shen Kang noticed they were getting a bit awkward, so he took the initiative and got to the point: "...Director Shi, I wonder how smoothly things are going with the Anjia domestic service loan at your branch of China Construction Bank?"

Shi Qingxiang glanced at Song Zhengping and chuckled, "Everything is going smoothly, and the due diligence is progressing quickly. If nothing unexpected happens, we expect the funds to be released before the end of November."

Shen Kang looked somewhat surprised, "So fast?" This is much faster than the usual loan disbursement speed.

"That's true for a high-quality company like Anjia Household Services," Shi Qingxiang said.

But actually, it has little to do with whether it is high-quality or not. The main reason is that the targets of the four trillion yuan plan have been set, and the higher authorities require that the performance in November should clearly reflect the effectiveness of the general policy.

Therefore, during special periods, many things are handled in a special way, maximizing efficiency.

"Then I really have to thank Director Shi."

"Of course."

Listening to the two discussing this matter in front of him, thanking each other profusely, Song Zhengping couldn't sit still any longer. He forced a smile and said, "President Shen, if I remember correctly, it was Yangcheng Bank that contacted your company first, wasn't it?"

Shen Kang nodded, "Yes, that's true. But Song Xing, Anjia Housekeeping is eager to expand its business scope and grab market share. Time is money, and we really can't afford to delay. I've heard from my subordinates that there are some communication problems between our two companies, and there are disagreements on cooperation, which has slowed down progress."

Shen Kang sighed, "Song Xing, we hit it off immediately, so I'll just say what's on my mind and have something to say to you."

"Seeing your bank's situation, I thought, since it was Senior Sister Song who introduced us, you probably only agreed to meet because of her. But after meeting, you found that our company doesn't quite meet your bank's requirements. However, you are a loving father who cares about your daughter, and you couldn't refuse directly because of Senior Sister Song, so that's why you did this."

"Song Xing, I, Shen Kang, am a man of principle. You used this method to make me back down and save face for me, so I can't be ungrateful. That's why I went to see Director Shi again."

Shi Qingxiang sat to the side, holding a cup, seemingly drinking water quietly, but his ears were perked up, listening intently.

He only now realized that Song Zhengping's daughter was also involved.

Judging from the conversation, it seems that Song Zhengping's daughter found him and asked him to help Shen Kang get the loan.

Goodness, this Shen Kang seems to have a pretty good way with women...

After listening to Shen Kang's words, Song Zhengping said seriously, "President Shen, you're overthinking it. It's really not what you think. I'm the kind of person who keeps public and private matters separate, and I would never mix them up."

"Actually, I emphasized a long time ago that the cooperation with Anjia Housekeeping should be pushed forward as soon as possible. But as you all know, as the branch manager, I am in charge of more things, and it is inevitable that I will not pay enough attention to this kind of specific business. So it was only in the last two days that I found out that the progress was so slow."

Shen Kang suddenly realized his mistake and felt extremely ashamed.

"So that's how it is!"

"Song Xing, I was indeed too naive and misjudged you. I'll punish myself with a drink!"

As he spoke, he picked up the glass in front of him and gulped down the entire glass of water in one go.

"..."

Song Zhengping's eyelids twitched. He thought to himself, "You're just thirsty, aren't you? I've never heard of someone punishing themselves by drinking a bottle of mineral water."

Shi Qingxiang suppressed a laugh, thinking to himself that this President Shen was quite interesting, without any of the aloofness of a mysterious tycoon, and both of their interactions were very friendly.

After putting down his cup, Shen Kang became somewhat worried again: "It's all my fault, but the mistake has already been made. A woman can't marry two men; wouldn't that be bigamy?... Oh, right!"

Shen Kang suddenly clapped his hands, his eyes lighting up.

"Gentlemen, how about this? Your two banks conduct a joint due diligence. If the joint due diligence goes well, then you can jointly issue the loan. Is that feasible?"

Both Song Zhengping and Shi Qingxiang were taken aback upon hearing this.

They certainly know about joint due diligence and joint lending, but this model is generally only applicable to large loans. Banks bring other banks in to participate in this joint action in order to reduce risk and funding pressure.

For a deal worth one or two million, this kind of collaboration was something they hadn't really thought of all along, due to their ingrained way of thinking.

Shi Qingxiang spoke first, his voice hesitant: "This..."

Song Zhengping, however, was more decisive. After thinking for a moment, he spoke directly and frankly, "It is indeed a good idea, I have no objection."

He was originally going to be eliminated from this deal.

Now there's finally a turning point. Even though it's a joint operation, it's better than nothing.

After hearing Song Zhengping's answer, Shen Kang looked at Shi Qingxiang, who seemed somewhat hesitant, and asked, "Director Shi, is there anything else you're worried about?"

Shi Qingxiang glanced at Song Zhengping out of the corner of his eye, thought for a moment, sighed, and then said without further hesitation, "I have no worries. I think this general direction is quite good."

Shen Kang immediately made the decision: "Okay, let's do it that way."

After the general direction was set, the three discussed several key details of the joint operation, such as how to divide the data assets as collateral, how much each party would receive, and so on.