I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Ma Xiaofeng explained the details of the discovery: "Initially, we went to the main square because you said that if the popularity was high enough, posts from branch campuses would automatically appear in the main square. We wanted to see if the popularity had reached that level. Then, we saw some posts like this in the main square, which should be from those students who were also there last night taking pictures. Should we do something about it?"

Shen Kang didn't answer immediately, but first asked, "Have you read the comments under those posts? Did they mention the Dragon Moon Pattern?"

Ma Xiaofeng nodded, "I saw it. Quite a few people are asking about Yuewen in the comments section of those posts."

Shen Kang said, "That's fine then, don't worry about it. This is essentially driving traffic to us. After class, you can log into your account and guide those people through those posts."

"OK."……

More and more people entered the classroom. Seeing that class was about to start, Ma Xiaofeng stopped sitting next to Shen Kang and returned to her own seat.

She was sitting with some of her classmates from the dormitory.

Sitting next to Ma Xiaofeng was a girl named Cai Hui, who was also Ma Xiaofeng's closest friend.

She noticed Ma Xiaofeng when she went over, and as soon as Ma Xiaofeng returned, she asked, "Who is that boy that Long Xingchen brought? Is he also from your village?"

Cai Huijue, that boy is quite handsome.

Ma Xiaofeng shook her head. "No, it's a student from Yangke University named Shen Kang. He came to visit a friend and only met Long Xingchen yesterday."

Upon hearing that the boy was from a second-tier university like Yangon University of Science and Technology, Cai Hui's interest waned slightly. She then asked, "It's Monday today. Why did he come to our school? Doesn't he have classes? By the way, what year is he in?"

Ma Xiaofeng thought for a moment and said, "He's a freshman. He's probably skipping classes? Hey, he's a college student now, skipping classes is pretty normal."

Upon hearing this, Cai Hui stopped asking questions.

It's one thing to get into a second-tier university, but it's only been a freshman year, less than a semester since they started, and they're already skipping classes like this. What will they do in the future? They probably haven't matured yet and actually believe the idea that "you can have fun as much as you want in college." They're brainless.

With that thought in mind, Cai Hui completely lost interest in Shen Kang and withdrew her attention from him—she still preferred those who were both talented and virtuous, and had no interest in someone as brainless as him.

Because of Cai Hui's question, Ma Xiaofeng took the initiative to say, "What, are you interested in him? How about I introduce you two?"

Cai Hui chuckled and said without turning her head, "Never mind."

Ma Xiaofeng looked at Cai Hui and confirmed that she wasn't shy, but genuinely didn't want to get to know her.

This puzzled her a bit: based on her understanding of this friend, Cai Hui had been interested just now, so why had she suddenly lost interest? But since Cai Hui said it was fine, then so be it.

At this moment, the teacher also came in, and Ma Xiaofeng stopped talking and began the lesson.

Just as Shen Kang had thought, this lesson was indeed very effective in helping people sleep.

After listening for a short while, Shen Kang was successfully hypnotized, fell asleep, and had a good night's sleep.

After sleeping through two classes, Shen Kang went to the cafeteria for lunch with Long Xingchen.

After finishing their meal, the two began to make contact with each other. Shen Kang contacted Lai Yuyang, while Long Xingchen contacted the embroiderers he had found.

Finally, around 1 p.m., everyone gathered at the art club's activity area.

……

The Fashion Design Club's activity space is located in Room 316 of the University Student Activity Center at Thousand Minzu University.

This is a rather spacious room, several tens of square meters.

Inside the room, there were tables, chairs, benches, a whiteboard, etc. Now, many of the tables have been moved to the side, and only a dozen or so long chairs have been placed in the middle, forming a semi-circle.

At the very front, there was a whiteboard.

Shen Kang stood in front of the whiteboard, facing the people who were already sitting in a circle.

These people were all college students, mostly girls. Three of them were from the fashion design club, and the other seven were Miao embroiderers recruited by Long Xingchen. Including Long Xingchen, there were eleven people in total.

We've already introduced ourselves briefly.

Shen Kang wasted no time and got straight to the point, starting today's meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I won't waste any more time on pleasantries. The theme of today's meeting is to discuss how to further modernize Miao embroidery. I hope everyone will actively participate in the discussion..."

The meeting lasted quite a long time, a total of three hours.

The meeting also basically determined how to cultivate the "internal skills" of Miao embroidery—simply put, in the initial stage, it is to do a good job of sampling and database construction.

Everyone needs to contribute and record all the Miao embroidery patterns, details, and techniques they know. Combining all these records will create a Miao embroidery archive.

It's not just them.

They also need to visit Miao villages and interview the inheritors of various Miao embroidery techniques, and try to find and record the Miao embroidery techniques they have mastered to enrich this Miao embroidery archive.

Then, they need to summarize, innovate, develop, and implement the Miao embroidery in the warehouse. In the process of development and implementation, they cannot be complacent and need to combine modern aesthetics and modern technology to innovate these Miao embroidery pieces in a modern way, taking Miao embroidery tradition as the foundation and modernization as the surface, to create Miao embroidery works that can be accepted and loved by the general public in modern times... Of course, all of this needs to be done later.

We encountered some problems even in the very first step of sampling and database construction.

This question was raised by Long Xingchen as a representative.

"Shen Kang, it's no problem for us to contribute what we know about Miao embroidery techniques, organize and store them. We're willing and we understand. You're absolutely right."

The phrase "You're absolutely right" that Long Xingchen used was what Shen Kang said when he was persuading them to contribute their Miao embroidery skills.

"...Miao embroidery is already so declining. If you all still act like those old-fashioned people of the past, clinging to the mentality of 'better to die than let others pass it on,' then in the end, you will only face the same fate as countless other ancient crafts that have been lost to the river of history—a dead end!"

"What we need to do now is to establish a 'Miao Embroidery Technology Alliance,' to support each other, establish our Miao embroidery standards, and strive to become the 'spokesperson for Miao embroidery.' We are still too weak and too scattered. Only by concentrating all our strength and working together can we gain an advantage, amplify our voice, and possibly carve out a path to success."

"To forge such a powerful force, everyone needs to temporarily set aside their own small gains for the greater good of the future. Actually, there's not much to set aside small gains, because in the current situation, even if you keep your skills to yourself, you won't actually create much value, so it's better to contribute them..."

This is what Shen Kang used to persuade them.

He encouraged everyone to contribute, to unite and join this grand alliance, to concentrate all their strength and carve a bloody path forward. The spoils would then be distributed when the harvest was complete.

Everyone, including Long Xingchen, was persuaded by Shen Kang.

As Shen Kang said, given the current situation, even if they hold onto their unique skills, they can't create much value. It's better to contribute them, work together, and maybe one day we'll get a share of the pie.

Long Xingchen agreed with Shen Kang's idea.

However, Long Xingchen also pointed out the difficulties involved.

"We are willing to contribute, but according to you, we would also need to visit those villages to collect all their skills and patterns. Putting aside whether they are willing to do so, we don't even have the travel expenses."

After Long Xingchen raised this question, someone else added a question.

"Also, a better camera is needed during the sampling process. I can borrow a camera, but it's just a regular home model. Miao embroidery is too intricate, so I probably won't be able to capture it well, and it would be a waste of time to collect the samples."

This is indeed a problem.

As soon as the topic was raised, several people immediately chimed in, saying "Yes, yes."

Shen Kang, on the other hand, seemed confident and gave them an answer.

"Your two questions are actually about sponsors. As long as we have a sponsor, they can provide the funding for our sampling trips to the villages, and they can also fund the provision of the better professional cameras you mentioned."

"Leave the sponsorship stuff to me."

"Any other questions?"

At this point, someone raised another question: "Sponsors can't just sponsor us for free, right? They always expect something in return, right? But we don't seem to have anything to offer them right now. How are we going to find sponsors?"

Shen Kang reiterated, "I said, leave the sponsorship issue to me. You just need to focus on the specific tasks."

After saying that, he even chuckled, "I don't know anything about Miao embroidery myself. If I can't even help you solve some other problems, then what's the point of me standing here?"

Seeing Shen Kang's confident demeanor, everyone felt much more at ease.

Money is the biggest problem. Since Shen Kang said he has a way to solve it, then everyone is fine with it.

After discussing a few minor details, the meeting came to an end.

This "First Miao Embroidery Conference" was quite modest; the organizers didn't provide lunch, so everyone arrived after lunch. Similarly, dinner wasn't provided either, so everyone left immediately after the meeting.

A group of people left the room one after another.

When they left, many people were quite excited, chattering amongst themselves.

They were all just college students when Long Xingchen found them and had them listen to Shen Kang talk for a long time and hold a meeting for a long time, talking about forming a "Miao Embroidery Technology Alliance", setting standards, seizing the right to speak and so on. He seemed to be all-powerful, which was really novel.

Suddenly, everyone seemed to have stopped being students and started as real business people, discussing something major that would impact the industry.

This feeling is quite new, and it's making everyone quite excited...

After seeing everyone off, Shen Kang spoke with Lai Yuyang for a while before leaving with Long Xingchen.

After the two left the university activity center, Long Xingchen asked as they walked, "Can you really solve the sponsor problem?"

Long Xingchen looked somewhat worried.

In Long Xingchen's view, Shen Kang, like himself, was just a child from a poor family and certainly couldn't afford to spend any money. And since birds of a feather flock together, children from poor families like them would likely have similar social circles, making it highly unlikely that they would know wealthy sponsors.

He didn't want to cause trouble for Shen Kang during the meeting, so he didn't say anything. Only now that everyone had left and it was just the two of them did he bring it up.

"Don't worry, things will work themselves out."

Shen Kang reached out and patted Long Xingchen on the shoulder, while using his other hand to calculate with his fingers, "I've done some calculations, and we'll meet the sponsors soon. Don't worry at all."

Looking at his confident demeanor, Long Xingchen pondered: He's so confident; he seems genuinely sure of himself. Could it be that he actually knows some wealthy person he can bring in as a sponsor?

Long Xingchen walked on, lost in thought.

Shen Kang also walked along, lost in thought.

Finding sponsors isn't really a difficult task for him; there are plenty of areas he can work on. He could contact all the business cards he collected from business owners at last week's industry conference. Even if they themselves don't want to sponsor, they might have friends in related industries who would be willing to.

If all else fails, he could consider sponsoring Anjia Household Services. After all, Anjia Household Services does have uniforms, and combining Miao embroidery with that could be considered somewhat related, right? Of course, this is only a last resort. Before that, he still needs to try to find more suitable sponsors…

After eating at the cafeteria, the two went back to their dormitory and sat for a while. When they saw that it was almost time, they prepared to go to the auditorium.

Tonight, the final of the Top Ten Singers Competition at Qianmin University is being held in the auditorium. Both of them had promised Long Yuewen they would go watch.

Someone in the dorm asked where they were going, and when they heard that the two of them were going to watch Long Yuewen's competition, the student who called Long Xingchen his brother-in-law last night jumped out of bed and stopped reading his novel.

"Count me in!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already grabbed a washbasin and rushed out of the dormitory to wash his hair in the bathroom.

College students love to join in the fun, and seeing this, the others couldn't resist either, and they all started shouting that they wanted to go too.

In the end, it was decided that everyone would go.

So, after the roommate returned from washing his hair, the group set off and headed to the stadium in a grand procession.

Upon entering the stadium, you can see that the event is quite large, with a stage in front and a dense array of plastic benches underneath.

There are quite a few students who like to watch the excitement, and a lot of people have already arrived and taken their seats. The crowd is bustling here and there.

There were also some students who had just arrived before Shen Kang and his group. After wandering around for a bit, they casually picked a place to sit down.

Shen Kang glanced at the group of people, then at the very front of the audience seats—in that very front row, there were what appeared to be student council staff standing guard. In that row sat several middle-aged men who were clearly school leaders; these were obviously reserved seats for the leaders.

Apart from the priority seats for leaders in the first row, it seems that anyone can sit anywhere else.

"Let's sit there." Long Xingchen pointed to an area to the left and front.

That was the area near the front. Any further ahead, it was already packed with people, and there was no room to sit any further. They were all university students who liked to sit at the back in class, but they got excited watching this kind of performance and squeezed forward.

"it is good."

Everyone agreed and hurried over there, managing to get there before the other group and sit down.

Once inside the audience area, the noise became even more noticeable, with students chattering everywhere.

Shen Kang looked around for a moment, then craned his neck to look towards the stage, trying to see if he could see anything.

Just then, a surprised voice rang out from the side.

"Shen Kang?"

Shen Kang turned around at the sound and saw a middle-aged man who he never expected to be there.