I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

This idea is indeed a bit far-fetched.

After all, Long Xingchen had personally witnessed how Shen Kang worked hard with them and cleaned the house. He had also seen Shen Kang's soup-making skills, which only the poor could master. He even personally helped Shen Kang find an empty bed for him to stay in. What company boss would be unable to afford a hotel room and have to beg a stranger to find him an empty bed?

So, is Shen Kang a poor student like them, or a company CEO?

These two thoughts intertwined and clashed in Long Xingchen's mind, leaving him confused and perplexed.

Meanwhile, Shen Kang was still explaining the internal skills of the Miao Embroidery Technology Alliance to Fang Tianming.

After Fang Tianming understood all the details he cared about, he had a basic understanding of Shen Kang's Miao embroidery technology alliance.

"A great idea."

Fang Tianming praised, "If we let them work alone as before, it will indeed be difficult to make any breakthroughs. Concentrating our efforts is the key to accomplishing great things, and this has been proven in many fields."

"Like that area in the depths of winter, it's fragmented and has never been able to gain any real power. Only by uniting as a whole can we possibly change the long-standing situation. But everyone understands this, so no matter which external group it is, they will never give them a chance to unite. If there's any sign of unity, they'll crush it immediately..."

After using the regional situation as an analogy, Fang Tianming returned to the issue of Miao embroidery, saying, "The same applies to Miao embroidery. How can a disorganized group compete with other products that have already been centralized? Your approach of uniting people is excellent."

After praising Shen Kang's idea, Fang Tianming fell silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.

After a brief pause, he spoke: "But to achieve what you're saying, relying solely on the students' ideals and enthusiasm is clearly not sustainable, not even in the short term; it still requires financial support... You know Canon China, right?"

Shen Kang smiled. "Of course I know."

Canon China is actually Canon (China), which is Canon's company in the China region.

Canon is a well-known camera company, how could he not know it?

"Canon China recently has a cultural project," Fang Tianming said. "They plan to conduct data sampling on a series of intangible cultural heritages. Our Qianlin Province has many ethnic minorities and a wide variety of intangible cultural heritages, so it is one of the key areas for their work. They had already contacted us before."

"In some ways, what you're doing is quite similar, so I think they might be willing to sponsor you."

Shen Kang was a little surprised.

He had originally planned to approach the business owners he had met at industry conferences to resolve the sponsorship issue, but unexpectedly, he ran into Fang Tianming today and heard about another possible sponsor.

If Canon China were to sponsor this project, it would be really great, considering they are a camera manufacturer themselves. A major problem for their Miao embroidery technology alliance is the lack of high-precision cameras for sampling. If Canon China sponsors it, they can directly provide professional cameras, eliminating an intermediate step.

As for travel expenses, I believe Canon China can also provide them. After all, it's such a big company, so this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for them.

Overall, Canon China is a very good sponsor.

However, Shen Kang did not immediately agree. Instead, he asked a question first: "Where is the final data collected by Canon China for these intangible cultural heritages stored?"

Fang Tianming seemed surprised that Shen Kang would ask such a question. He glanced at Shen Kang a few more times before smiling gently: "The agreement has not been finalized yet, but according to the current agreement, the data will be stored in our country. They won't take any of the data with them."

Shen Kang then asked, "They agreed to this? Is it really just charity?"

Fang Tianming smiled meaningfully, "They agreed. But it can't really be called charity, after all, our country's market is so big, and if they want to develop here in the long term, it's very important for them to build a good relationship with us. If they lose money on this project, they can recoup it elsewhere."

Shen Kang nodded silently and didn't ask any more questions. He simply said, "If that's the case, and they're willing, then I think this sponsor is quite good."

Seeing this, Fang Tianming said, "I'll arrange for you to meet later."

As a leader in the Commerce Department of Qianlin Province, he was very pleased to see Shen Kang's "Miao Embroidery Project" succeed:

To be honest, Qianlin doesn't have much of an advantage in competing with places like eastern Guangdong and Handong in traditional industrial projects. At most, it can rely on its geographical location to provide supporting services to eastern Guangdong, but it's unlikely to produce large-scale enterprises in this field.

However, Qianlin has an advantage that many places do not have, namely its ethnic culture.

Qianlin is home to a large number of ethnic minorities and is one of the well-known ethnic minority settlements in China.

Therefore, if Qianlin wants to develop its own unique economy, ethnic minority cultural tourism and the export of cultural products are a very worthwhile direction to consider. In fact, this is indeed the key development focus for Qianlin Province in the future.

In 2006, Miao embroidery was successfully registered as an intangible cultural heritage, which was one of the steps taken.

Shen Kang's "Miao Embroidery Project" can be said to perfectly align with the government's development direction.

Thinking of this, Fang Tianming couldn't help but sigh inwardly: This kid always seems to be able to keep up with the direction of development from above.

Anjia Home Services operates on a standardized, employee-centric model, perfectly aligning with the directives from above. Now, this "Miao Embroidery Project" is doing the same thing, closely following the development direction from above. It's hard to say whether to call it keen insight or precognition…

Fang Tianming was lost in thought.

Shen Kang was temporarily free and was craning his neck to look at the stage in front of him, wanting to see how long it would take before it started, when his arm was pulled by Long Xingchen next to him.

Turning his head, he saw Long Xingchen looking at him, gesturing for him to come closer.

So Shen Kang leaned closer and heard Long Xingchen's hushed voice: "Shen Kang, you wouldn't actually be the CEO of some company, would you?"

Shen Kang laughed, "Didn't I tell you this already? You didn't believe me."

Long Xingchen thought silently for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, then asked, "So, who is this Uncle Fang of yours?"

"Oh, a deputy director of the Commerce Department," Shen Kang said casually.

"..."

Long Xingchen's eyelids twitched.

No way? This is even more outrageous than the claim that Shen Kang is the CEO of some company!

If Long Xingchen hadn't overheard some of their conversation, he would have thought Shen Kang was just bragging again. But now... Long Xingchen was genuinely starting to have doubts.

At this moment, Fang Tianming also snapped out of his reverie and looked over at Shen Kang.

Seeing that Long Xingchen was also silent, Shen Kang ignored him for the time being and sat up straight again.

Before the two could speak, another voice rang out from the side, calling out "Shen Kang".

Here comes another one, this time it's Lai Yuyang.

Shen Kang got up, talked to the other party for a while, and then Lai Yuyang left with a few friends.

After sitting down again, Fang Tianming said with a smile, "You said before that there wouldn't be any more, but here comes another one? Luckily, he didn't come when we were talking. Otherwise, we might have forgotten about him while we were talking."

Shen Kang glanced around and said, "This time it's really over."

The competition was about to begin, and most of the people present were already seated. He also calculated that he had basically used all the connections he had at Qianmin University, so there probably wouldn't be any more.

However, no sooner had they finished speaking than another person stood up next to them, just as they were about to continue their conversation.

Fang Tianming sensed something and gave Shen Kang an amused look: What did you just say?

The moment that look was given, a voice rang out.

"Director Fang."

Fang Tianming was sitting on the outside, facing inwards, so he couldn't see the people standing outside, but could sense them. Shen Kang, on the other hand, was sitting on the inside, facing outwards, so he could see the people standing outside.

After the address "Director Fang" was heard, Shen Kang gave Fang Tianming a look: See, this time they're looking for you, it has nothing to do with me.

Fang Tianming found the look amusing, yet also slightly sullen—he was probably a little annoyed by the fact that so many people had come looking for Shen Kang, but none had come looking for him. Despite being such a grown man and holding such a high position, he still felt a vague sense of unease.

Now finally someone has come looking for me.

Even though Fang Tianming rationally didn't want to be recognized in this situation and at this moment, he couldn't help but feel a little comfortable and pleased, as if he had won back a point against Shen Kang.

Then, Fang Tianming turned his head and looked at the person who had come. He saw a middle-aged man wearing glasses standing next to him, followed by a young staff member.

Fang Tianming recognized the person who had come and stood up. "Principal Zhang."

This middle-aged man, who looked to be in his fifties, was Zhang Yiguang, one of the vice presidents of Qianmin University.

"Director Fang, why didn't you call ahead to let us know you were coming? We could have made some preparations..."

Zhang Yiguang was somewhat enthusiastic, but generally maintained a respectful and humble demeanor as he exchanged pleasantries with Fang Tianming. He was quite puzzled, wondering what this deputy director of the Commerce Department was doing at Qianmin University at this time.

If he hadn't happened to know Director Fang, probably no one in the school would have known that such a person had come.

Fang Tianming said, "Hey, I just came to watch the performance, it's just a personal matter. So, according to organizational rules, I won't notify you..."

After exchanging pleasantries, Fang Tianming also helped Shen Kang up and introduced him to Principal Zhang.

"This is a student from Yangke University named Shen Kang, who is also the founder and CEO of Anjia Household Service Company in our city."

"Hello." "Hello."...

After getting to know Shen Kang, Zhang Yiguang wondered a bit about his identity: Was Shen Kang a relative of Fang Tianming? ...

Zhang Yiguang was the highest-ranking school leader present to watch the competition today, which is why he arrived last. He only arrived shortly before the competition began.

At this point, the seats in the first row of leaders were almost full, except for Zhang Yiguang.

Zhang Yiguang's brief pause here, during which he exchanged pleasantries with Fang Tianming, immediately attracted the attention of some people in the leadership positions.

Once one person notices it, a second person immediately notices it, and then a third...

Soon, a school leader walked over from that direction.

Since a colleague had arrived, Zhang Yiguang naturally gave another introduction.

This introduction quickly spread the word, reaching the school leaders, and then a second person came over, a third person came over...

Long Xingchen and the others sat on the side, completely silent, sitting upright and communicating only with their eyes, each one trembling with fear.

Every now and then, he would glance to the side:

Over there, a group of school leaders stood, including Shen Kang's "Uncle Fang" and Shen Kang himself, who were clearly in the center of the crowd.

The group of people were talking.

This was the first time Long Xingchen and his group had been in close proximity to so many school leaders. Oh, and there was also a deputy director of the Commerce Department…

Not only Long Xingchen and his group fell silent, but the two rows in front, the two rows behind, and everyone around them all quieted down.

Only a few students who were already seated further away were watching from a distance, their eyesight good, unaware of what was happening.

Meanwhile, these people were whispering amongst themselves, gradually spreading the news from here outwards.

As a result, more and more students present learned that the deputy director of the Department of Commerce had inexplicably appeared on the scene, and that the middle-aged man who had been talking to the school leaders was him.

Of course, what pleased these students the most was the male college student among the group of middle-aged people.

That guy stood out so much among a group of high-ranking leaders.

However, none of the messages that came through provided any concrete information about the boy.

There are some rumors circulating.

"I heard that the boy is the son of that deputy director."

"That boy is Principal Zhang's illegitimate son."

"Pass it down: that boy is the governor's eldest son."

"Pass it on: that young man is the newly appointed Director-General of the Commerce Department! ...What? You're asking where such a young director comes from? Well, that's because he has incredibly powerful connections!"

In any case, these rumors are getting more and more outrageous. And judging from how outrageous they are, it's easy to tell at a glance that these are just wild rumors.

But these rumors spread very widely.

True news, however, is very difficult to spread.

"I told you, that's really my buddy!"

Yin Mingyang was trying his best to explain to the boy sitting next to him, hoping to convince him, "It's true! He's a student at Yangke University. Just like me, a freshman. Of course, besides being a university student, he also runs some companies..."

The person he was pulling just nodded perfunctorily, "Mmm, mmm," showing no intention of passing on or telling anyone the news.

He said that was his buddy? And that he himself was Qin Shi Huang.