I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Qian Ming'en looked at the boy in front of him with a strange expression.

Why did I think this guy was a mama's boy yesterday?

"After all that talking, are you thirsty? Go get yourself some water."

Upon hearing this, Shen Kang happily grabbed a disposable cup, poured himself a glass of water from the water dispenser, and gulped it down.

"I'm not incapable of being your mentor, but I need to understand your plan first."

Qian Ming'en tapped his fingers on the table, paused for a moment, and asked, "How exactly do you plan to open this laundry room?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Kang thought things were going well and began to speak: "I plan to do it in several phases. In the first phase, I will purchase five 30-kilogram industrial washing machines..."

He explained the equipment, decoration, labor, and pricing, stating that the main business is basic laundry, and value-added services such as drying and ironing are not offered for the time being.

Based on what Shen Kang saw after the self-service washing machines were implemented at Houshiyang University of Science and Technology, the students' biggest need was for basic laundry.

In later years, each dormitory at Yangko University of Science and Technology had 15 self-service washing machines.

Each time, the students would fill a basin with clothes to wash, weighing about 3 kg, and it cost 3 yuan per wash.

Because it's self-service, there are often situations where students finish washing their clothes but the students aren't there, or the clothes are still in the washing machine.

Later classmates could only take the other person's clothes out of the washing machine, put them in what might be the other person's basin, and then wash them themselves. Because of this, it often resulted in clothes being put into the wrong basin, causing quite a few disputes.

Shen Kang's laundry shop will adopt a manual model, with positions for cashiers, sorting and sending laundry, and delivery.

In this way, students only need to bring their clothes in basins, take the corresponding tags, and go to get out of class. They can pick them up again after class. With staff sorting the clothes, they won't put them in the wrong basins.

Regarding pricing, considering the students' psychological price point, Shen Kang decided to set the price at 3 yuan per basin, the same as the self-service washing machines at Yang University of Science and Technology three years later.

With the need to hire workers and the pricing so low, Shen Kang spent a long time calculating last night before finally coming up with a viable business model.

"...In my calculations, the break-even point is 270 customers per day, while the theoretical maximum capacity is 750 customers per day. At that point, we'll start the second phase of the project, but that's something to consider later."

Qian Mingen listened without interrupting, and only asked a question after he finished speaking.

"Let's not even talk about whether it's possible to achieve that. Even if it is, with so many customers every day, can you manage with only 5 employees? After all, you're using industrial washing machines, so you have to collect enough customers' clothes to wash at the same time in order to squeeze out a profit margin."

"If you have 300 customers a day, and all those clothes are washed together, it would be a huge management challenge to figure out which item belongs to which customer. Five employees are definitely not enough; you would need to add more people, which would greatly increase costs, and your pricing wouldn't be able to support it."

As he asked this question, Qian Mingen was also thinking about how he would handle this management problem if he were in that situation.

For the time being, he could only think of one solution: use basins of different colors, 10 of each color, to hold the different students' clothes. Each color would be in a batch, put into a washing machine, and after washing, the workers would use their memory to sort the clothes into the 10 basins of the same color.

This method reduces the number of customers to remember from 300 to 10, greatly alleviating the pressure on employees, but it is still easy to make mistakes and still requires a lot of manpower. Five people are definitely not enough; more than ten are needed, as the cost is too high.

Shen Kang then gave his answer: "I will use 'unitized packaging'."

"Unitized packaging?" Qian Ming'en had a sudden inspiration. "Container?"

"Um."

Shen Kang nodded, "I will order a batch of laundry bags, each with a different number, from 1 to 2000. When each student comes, their clothes will be put into a laundry bag, and they will be given the corresponding tag. Once we have 10 laundry bags, we will start washing."

"The clothes in the laundry bags don't need to be taken out anyway, so they stay in the bags after washing. Employees just need to take these laundry bags to the corresponding shelves, and when the student with the tag comes, they can just give him the clothes from the corresponding laundry bag. Employees don't need to remember anything; it's a foolproof operation."

After listening, Qian Ming'en couldn't help but ask, "How did you come up with this idea?"

Shen Kang chuckled, "My mom owns a hotel, and they use laundry bags everywhere. I often go there, so I thought of that."

Qian Mingen didn't say anything more.

He hadn't even thought of this method, because these days, laundry bags are mainly used in commercial settings like hotels and hospitals, and are rarely used in households. He really hadn't thought of this at all.

If it were a child from an ordinary family, they probably wouldn't have thought of this method. Even if he had the funds of Shen Kang and was allowed to open this laundry, it would likely fail due to the high costs.

Children from families like Shen Kang's are born with an advantage over other children, making them more likely to succeed. It's not just about money, but also about having a broader perspective.

Qian Ming'en thought of the "educational equity" he had just mentioned and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

However, he quickly composed himself and continued, "Since we're using modular packaging, could we innovate further on the digital labels corresponding to the laundry bags to free up human resources and unlock profits...?"

Shen Kang and Qian Ming'en had a long talk, and when they saw that it was almost time, they stopped.

"Dean Qian, our class meeting is about to start, I have to go."

Qian Ming'en nodded, still wanting more: "Then you go."

He felt like he wasn't having a discussion with a freshman, but rather mentoring students participating in a business elite competition.

Finally, Qian Mingen said to Shen Kang, "I will take care of this, but whether it will work out... you need to be mentally prepared."

Shen Kang understood and didn't say anything, after all, he had done what he could.

……

After leaving Qian Mingen's office, Shen Kang hurried as fast as he could, but he was still a little late. He arrived at the classroom at 3:02 and sneaked in through the back door.

Wang Pan and the others saved him a seat, in the last row by the window.

Shen Kang sat down, and Feng Moquan quietly asked, "Have you been studying until now?"

Shen Kang remained expressionless. "Yes, once you start learning, you lose track of time."

Feng Moquan felt even more tormented: he had said yesterday that he would start studying today, but it was already afternoon and he still hadn't started, while Shen Kang had been studying for half a day!

This ruthless academic genius is tormenting his roommates.

Fortunately, Wu Jie immediately started today's class meeting, temporarily ending Feng Moquan's internal strife.

Today's class meeting mainly consisted of everyone introducing themselves to each other.

One by one, the students went up to introduce themselves. Some said a lot, some said little. Shen Kang kept it moderate, neither too much nor too little, trying not to stand out.

It was through her self-introduction that he learned that "Nana" was actually named Ji Feiyan, and that she was not from Taipei, but from Northeast China.

In later generations, her Taiwanese accent was quite authentic; I never could tell.

In addition, he also saw the girl that Jin Chao thought was the prettiest, named Zhong Lin. She did have a large bust and a pretty face, leaning towards the cute type.

After the self-introductions, it was time for the class monitor election.

Thanks to yesterday's groundwork, Wang Pan narrowly escaped defeat and won the position of class monitor with almost all the boys' votes, plus some girls' votes who followed suit. He was so happy that he couldn't stop grinning.

Even Wu Jie glanced at Wang Pan a few more times, seemingly surprised that this boy had such a strong appeal.

However, Wu Jie was quite satisfied with the result: she was a female counselor, and having a male class monitor made her work a bit more convenient, which was pretty good.

After the class meeting, everyone dispersed; military training would begin tomorrow.

Since it might not work out with Qian Mingen, Shen Kang didn't mention borrowing money to He Qiuzhu for the time being.

We can put the matter of borrowing money aside for now; we still need to have dinner together.

Just as Shen Kang was about to go have dinner with He Qiuzhu, Wang Pan, the class monitor, insisted on dragging the whole dormitory out for a nice meal, offering to pay. Especially Shen Kang, the great contributor, absolutely couldn't be absent!

Shen Kang had no choice but to call He Qiuzhu again. He learned that her roommates were also having a get-together, so the two of them decided to split up and go to one side of the room.

Nothing happened overnight, and the next day arrived quickly, with military training officially beginning.