I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

"The provincial capital is really different."

A boy next to Lu Zijian said this.

The boy's name is Yao Shubin. He is Lu Zijian's classmate and also came to participate in the provincial competition of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. He is on the same team as Lu Zijian.

"This hotel really values ​​us; they even lined up to welcome us!"

Yao Shubin said this with some excitement, taking out his phone, "Zijian, don't go in yet, I'll go over first. When I get to the middle, take a couple more pictures of me, I'll upload them to my QQ album later..."

Hearing Yao Shubin's words, the other students were also very interested and started asking others to take photos.

Pingxi City also has five-star hotels, and they have stayed in them all, but this is the first time they have personally witnessed such a welcoming procession at the gate.

Previously, they had only ever seen such scenes on television news when high-ranking officials visited a certain unit to inspect its work. Now that they were enjoying the treatment of a high-ranking official, they naturally had to take pictures to record it and post it on their QQ album to show off.

The line came to a stop for a moment.

The teacher in charge was easy to talk to and didn't stop them when he saw this; he just watched with a smile.

There were four people standing next to them where they stopped.

The two behind were a young man and a young woman, both dressed like corporate slaves, carrying bags in their hands, like lackeys.

The two in front were middle-aged men, both around forty years old, with beer bellies, one with a round face and the other with a square face.

The one with the round face was wearing a suit, and the one with the square face was wearing a jacket. Judging from their demeanor, they both seemed to be in business.

At that moment, the square-faced man looked up at a banner hanging above the hotel.

A warm welcome to the elites of the intelligent manufacturing and high-end equipment industry, gathering together to create a smart future – Haobo joins hands with you to plan for the future!

"Intelligent Manufacturing and High-End Equipment"

The square-faced man laughed and cursed, "Creating the future, my foot!"

The round-faced man chuckled, "Since we've paid, we're bound to exaggerate. Otherwise, would we have written something like a 'Small Workshop Wintering Conference' for us?..."

As the two were talking, the group of college students next to them made a ruckus, and the two overheard their conversation.

Hearing that it was a group of college students, the two middle-aged men assumed that the welcoming line at the entrance was prepared for them, and they found it somewhat amusing.

They hadn't planned to pay any attention and were about to walk over when Fang Lian glanced over and saw a pretty, especially young female student. This made him feel a stirring in his heart, so he stopped and raised his voice a bit: "Boss Niu really put a lot of effort into organizing this meeting, huh? He even specially arranged a procession to welcome us."

Roundface and he had known each other for a long time. Seeing his pretentious manner and then looking at the group of college students, she immediately knew that her old friend had fallen into his old habit again, trying to show off in front of young and pretty girls.

The round-faced man smiled, shook his head, and pulled the square-faced man along. "Let's go."

However, the square-faced man achieved his goal—the group of college students all heard what he said and looked over, including the particularly young and pretty female student.

This pleased Fang Lian greatly, and he puffed out his chest a little more. As he walked, he raised his voice and continued, "I heard it's not just about paying money; they don't even offer that kind of service. It's only because Boss Niu has so much influence that he got it. I'll have a few drinks with Boss Niu tonight and ask him what's going on..."

Lu Zijian and his group then realized that the hotel hadn't actually prepared such a grand welcome for them; it was for someone else, and they had just gotten a free, albeit unofficial, welcome.

……

A minibus drove towards the Haobo Hotel.

The group of people sitting in the car included Qian Ming'en, Ye Jintong, Ma Liang, He Qiuzhu, and Shen Kang. They were one of the teams representing Yangke University during the city-level competition of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.

Just like last time when they participated in the city-level competition, this time, a week ago, Qian Ming'en informed Shen Kang that their competition had won in the city-level competition and advanced to the provincial competition.

As for Wen Chulan's team, unfortunately, they were eliminated.

So Shen Kang and his team are here today to participate in the competition.

At this moment, He Qiuzhu was sleeping soundly in a window seat in the back row.

Qian Ming'en, who was sitting in the front row, called Shen Kang over and whispered to him, "...I really didn't expect that you would actually make it to the provincial competition."

His tone was quite emotional.

After all, Qian Ming'en only let Shen Kang sign up for the innovation and entrepreneurship competition to give him a legitimate reason to skip military training. Who would have thought that this kid would somehow make it to the provincial competition?

After expressing his feelings, Qian Ming'en became more serious: "The project you revised last time was excellent. Compared with the projects of other teams in the city-level competition at that time, I think it still has a good chance of breaking through to the provincial competition. I just don't know if the teams that have made it out of the other cities this time have any strong opponents."

"So you need to put on a good show this time, just like you did in the second half last time, and win over those judges..."

Qian Mingen said quite a lot.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is a national event, and its level was very high from the very beginning, being its inaugural edition. If Shen Kang can represent Yangke University and ultimately reach the national competition, or even win first place, that would be a tremendous honor.

After listening to Qian Ming'en's teachings, Shen Kang went back to He Qiuzhu's side.

Midway through, I saw Ma Liang sitting by the window, fast asleep.

Ye Jintong, sitting by the window in the back row, was much more energetic, turning her head to stare out the window with a look of excited anticipation.

Seemingly sensing Shen Kang's gaze, Ye Jintong turned her gaze from the window and looked at Shen Kang. "Have you finished listening to Dean Qian's teachings?"

Shen Kang hummed in agreement and prepared to walk to He Qiuzhu's side in the back row, but Ye Jintong spoke up again, lowering her voice: "Boss, did you arrange this hotel change?"

For this provincial-level competition of the "Three Innovations" competition, we stayed at the Haobo Hotel again, but it wasn't the Haobo Hotel in Huawan District, but a Haobo Hotel in Tianchang District.

This explains why Yip Kam-tung looked so excited and expectant.

If it were the Haobo Hotel in Huawan District, she had already stayed there before and visited the two nearby attractions, so she wouldn't be so excited and looking forward to it.

"I'll arrange my ass."

Shen Kang casually remarked, "Do you think I own this hotel?"

Ye Jintong nodded in agreement: "I feel like it's about the same as the one you opened. The people at this hotel clearly have a special relationship with you. Besides, if it wasn't your arrangement, why would we suddenly switch to another hotel? And there are two new attractions nearby that we haven't visited before, which makes it convenient to go sightseeing."

Shen Kang retorted, "Do you think I'm the kind of person who would go to great lengths to use connections and change hotels just for fun?"

Ye Jintong didn't say anything, just nodded silently, with an expression that said, "You're just like that kind of person."

"..."

Shen Kang didn't know what image he had in Ye Jintong's mind anymore, and he didn't care anymore. He ignored her and went back to sit down next to He Qiuzhu.

After watching He Qiuzhu's sleeping face for a while, Shen Kang, having nothing else to do, also thought of what Ye Jintong had said about suddenly changing hotels.

Since he had nothing else to do, he simply sent a message to Xiao Bonian, asking if Xiao Bonian knew about the hotel change for the provincial competition of the Three Creations Competition.

Shen Kang didn't ask Xiao Bonian if he would be coming to the provincial competition, because Shen Kang had already asked Xiao Bonian a week ago after receiving the news that he had made it to the provincial competition, and knew that Xiao Bonian would not be a judge in this provincial competition.

Soon after Shen Kang sent out the message, Xiao Bonian called.

After the call connected, Xiao Bonian's voice came from the other end of the line: "I actually know about this. It's a long story, and typing is too slow, so I'll just tell you over the phone. I reckon it's because I mentioned the city-level competition of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition to Zhou Man earlier..."

When the call came in, Xiao Bonian was in his large office.

As he spoke with Shen Kang, Xiao Bonian's thoughts drifted back to that night.

……

That was the night the city-level competition for the "Three Innovations" contest had just ended.

Because everyone had other commitments, the family game time that evening was cancelled.

Xiao Bonian was sitting in that open-plan study, handling some work matters. Around nine o'clock in the evening, Zhou Man returned.

After changing into slippers, Zhou Man walked over to the water bar, poured herself a glass of water, and casually asked from a distance, "Is the match over?"

They exchange text messages from time to time now. She also learned some things about the city-level competition of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition through text messages sent by Xiao Bonian.

"Um."

Seeing Zhou Man return, Xiao Bonian temporarily put down his work, looked up from his computer screen, and smiled. "That kid Shen Kang has gotten himself into some trouble these past few days. It's hard to explain in a text message, so I didn't tell you before."

Zhou Man carried the water over and sat down opposite Xiao Bonian. "Oh?" she said, showing interest. "What is it?"

Xiao Bonian didn't answer immediately, but instead asked her, "Is that Haobo Hotel part of your company?"

Zhou Man nodded, "Mm."

After confirming this, Xiao Bonian recounted the events of the past two days at the city-level competition of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition: "The hotel manager seems to know that Shen Kang is related to you... I heard from the teachers who were there that Shen Kang simply repeated what a classmate had said. It turned out that what the classmate said was useless, but what Shen Kang said worked, haha..."

Zhou Man held her water glass, looking at the handsome and mature face in front of her, and listened quietly.

When she heard something funny, such as "Shen Kang turned into a broken record but it worked" or "Shen Kang brought his own background music when he went on stage," she couldn't help but laugh along with Xiao Bonian.

When Xiao Bonian talked about how "Shen Kang was originally going to give up, but suddenly rose up and proposed a C2B2C model on the spot", Xiao Bonian's expression was somewhat proud, and his eyes were also slightly moved.

Zhou Man thought to herself that the kid was lazy. According to Xiao Bonian's description, he originally went there to slack off. He probably saw that Xiao Bonian had given them a high score on that terrible project, putting them in a precarious situation and risking damage to their reputation, so he did that on short notice and gave it his all.

This sentiment was quite touching, and her quick wit and intelligence made her feel a little inexplicably proud—what other child could have such wisdom?

However, Zhou Man's pride soon turned into absurdity and headache after Xiao Bonian repeated some of the slang Shen Kang had used.

"...Faced with potential competitors, we will quickly launch a combination of 'homage + transcendence,' taking small but rapid steps to build a differentiated product matrix...forming a brand mental moat...occupying the high ground of our niche, and consolidating our market leadership with a 'lower-dimensional attack' approach..."

Xiao Bonian's memory was amazing. Although he couldn't repeat it completely, he was able to repeat a passage of slang that Shen Kang had used at the time.

After saying that, Xiao Bonian burst into laughter.

Zhou Man was also exasperated and speechless: "Where did he learn all this stuff? It's driving me crazy."

Xiao Bonian laughed and said, "It seems like he came up with it himself. It's not the first time I've heard him say it. He said these things to me when he was in my car during the summer vacation, when he went to Yang University to find students to work on projects. Haha... The combination of 'homage + transcendence,' isn't that plagiarism? Hahahaha..."

Zhou Man remained silent, shaking her head repeatedly. The image of Shen Kang's serious yet nonsensical speech seemed to float into her mind, making her laugh.

The two talked and laughed.

Zhou Man quite enjoyed this atmosphere.

The two had common topics, listened attentively when they needed to, and laughed together when they needed to. They were both quiet and lively, and got along very well, with a faint sense of comfort and ease permeating the air.

After Xiao Bonian finished telling his story about Shen Kang, Zhou Man also brought up one of Xiao Bonian's speculations.

"You're probably right, the people at that hotel must have recognized him, which is why they gave him a..."

Zhou Man paused for a moment before continuing, "bm."

She uttered the word with a hint of helplessness.

It's normal for some people to guess her relationship with Shen Kang and then try to flatter her. Zhou Man herself lives amidst all sorts of flattery.

But such flattery is just ridiculous—according to Xiao Bonian's description, this flattery had the opposite effect, making the judges feel disgusted and rebellious.

……

Let's go back to the present.

Xiao Bonian held his phone and spoke to Shen Kang on the other end: "...Zhou Man was probably afraid that something like this would happen again and drag you down, so she specially arranged a hotel for you. Of course, this is just my guess."

Shen Kang's voice also came through the phone: "So that's how it is... Professor Xiao, after listening to your description, I have the same thought as you. This should be the reason."

Xiao Bonian nodded.

Having finished discussing the matter, Xiao Bonian stopped talking about it and changed the subject to the provincial competition, asking, "So, how's it going? Are you confident about the provincial competition?"

Shen Kang's voice sounded listless. "Whether I'm confident or not makes no difference. If this project loses to another one, can I come up with another idea on the spot? Too lazy to think..."

After chatting for a while longer, the two hung up the phone.

Shen Kang put away his phone, turned to look out the window, and realized they had arrived. The Haobo Hotel was right next door, and the car was turning into the open-air parking lot.

at the same time

In the monitoring room of the Haobo Hotel in Tianchang District, all the security guards had been driven out, leaving only one man sitting inside.

On the screens in front of the man were surveillance footage from various parts of the hotel, including one showing the parking lot.