I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

The technician standing nearby also quoted a price: "Assembling 3000 bracelets would cost 4500."

Guo Pinyan, who had been laughing wildly for a while, finally stopped. Hearing this, she waved her hand and said, "Chop some more, chop until you break the bones!"

He wasn't initially too concerned about this matter; he just wanted to make friends with this somewhat capable junior, Shen. But once the bracelet was revealed, he couldn't help but want to see what the future held. He worried that if he asked for too high a price, Shen Kang wouldn't include the bracelet, which would greatly reduce the fun.

With Guo Pinyan's help in lowering the price and a phone call to his father, the deputy factory director, Shen Kang only needed to add 3500 more to get all 3000 IC cards onto the bracelet.

Because they had previously produced similar and more complex products and had readily available boards, Yiyang Electronics said they could deliver Shen Kang's batch of goods in just over a week.

After finishing their business, the two were about to return to school when they went to get their car. However, they saw a group of people gathered around a few people downstairs in the office building, arguing loudly about something.

"My dad told me that the economy is bad right now, and there are fewer orders, so the factory is laying off a lot of people, from top to bottom. These are probably the ones who were laid off."

Guo Pinyan casually remarked before opening the car door and getting in. The factory was laying off workers, but his father's position was secure, so he wasn't too worried.

Shen Kang glanced over there, then got into the car as well.

The impact of the subprime crisis is global. The global economy has shrunk, and this country's exports have plummeted. Electronics factories that rely heavily on exports have been severely impacted.

However, this is just an appetizer. The real winter will arrive when Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt this month, and the importance of domestic demand will become especially apparent then...

In the days that followed, Shen Kang was busy non-stop: communicating with the construction team, designing the store's interior layout, comparing products, purchasing industrial washing machines and laundry bags, recruiting and training employees, and so on. He was busy until late at night every day.

He Qiuzhu was also busy with military training and had to train at night, so the two of them had only decided on the game and hadn't officially started cosplaying yet. They had only managed to meet a few times in between.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days have passed, and it's now Sunday, September 14th.

Around 9 PM, Xiaodong Street

On this street, some shops have already closed, while others, such as the small boutique supermarket not far away, are still open with their lights on, and students are coming and going.

At the end of the road is Shen Kang's laundry room.

With the construction team's expedited work and the school's full cooperation, the shop has been completely renovated, all equipment has been installed, and initial staff training has been completed. It will open tomorrow.

Standing at the entrance, you can see a large double glass door with a signboard on it, which is now covered by a red cloth.

The lights were on in the shop.

Upon entering, on the left is a rectangular counter with a computer, cash register, and card reader. Next to it is a stack of numbered laundry bags, each with a wristband attached to it with a plastic clip—this is the laundry drop-off area.

On the right, there is also a counter, and behind it, against the wall, is a wooden shelf, densely packed with grids. On the inside of each grid, there are numbered intervals, such as the 100 to 110 intervals. Washed laundry bags are placed here according to their numbers—this is the laundry pick-up area.

Shen Kang was standing behind the cashier, checking the computer, inventory management software, card reader, and other equipment, making the final confirmation before opening.

My phone rang; it was a text message. I opened it and saw it was from He Qiuzhu.

"Back to the dorm."

Today is the last day of military training. The military training performance was held in the afternoon. After the performance, He Qiuzhu's class had a dinner party. These are all things that He Qiuzhu told him.

Looks like I'm only just getting back to the dorm.

"Received," Shen Kang replied.

Then they sent it over again.

Are you in the dorm?

"No, I'm at the store, doing final checks."

"receive."

"..."

Shen Kang grinned, wondering where she learned all this from.

Just then, a Volkswagen Polo drove past the door. A moment later, Guo Pinyan walked in, accompanied by a beautiful woman with a full figure. It was hard to tell whether she was a student or a working professional.

"Old Shen, you're still here?" Guo Pinyan greeted him as he came up.

Guo Pinyan has been frequently visiting this area in the past ten days or so, busy with the renovation of his coffee shop. As a result, he often meets and eats with Shen Kang. Over time, their relationship has progressed further, and he no longer calls Shen Kang "junior" or "senior," but rather "Old Shen" and "Old Guo."

"We're opening tomorrow, so let's do a final check."

"You're so thoughtful."

As Guo Pinyan spoke, he introduced the beautiful woman next to Shen Kang, "Liu Jing, my girlfriend, is a junior majoring in Chinese Language and Literature at our school. Shen Kang, my buddy, is a freshman majoring in e-commerce, and he also owns this store."

Liu Jing was somewhat surprised, "A freshman? Opening a shop right after entering university?"

Guo Pinyan chuckled, "That's why I say my buddy's awesome. Opening a shop right after entering school, I've never heard of anything like it before..."

There wasn't much to see in the laundromat, and after her initial surprise, Liu Jing quickly got bored, so Guo Pinyan let her go and browse other shops on her own.

After Liu Jing left, Guo Pinyan chuckled and leaned closer, asking, "How about it? Isn't my girlfriend pretty?"

"Yes, it's quite pretty," Shen Kang complimented politely.

"I'm taking her out to stay tonight, and we just happened to be passing by your place. I saw you here, so I came over to say hello."

After Guo Pinyan finished speaking, he turned around and walked to the door, leaned out and looked outside a few times, then walked back and lowered his voice: "Actually, I have another girlfriend at Yangcheng Business School next door, and she's just as beautiful."

"..."

Shen Kang was speechless and could only give a thumbs up, "Awesome."

Guo Pinyan looked smug.

He had known Shen Kang for less than a month, and he shouldn't have told Shen Kang this kind of thing, but Shen Kang had won the laundry room while he hadn't, which made him feel inferior to the other party, so he retaliated.

Sure enough, the counterattack was successful! Awesome!

"I haven't asked you yet, do you have a girlfriend?" Guo Pinyan asked again.

Shen Kang shook his head. "No. I'm planning to focus on my studies and career during university; I'm not planning to find a girlfriend."

Guo Pinyan then understood: that's what people who can't find girlfriends say, and his roommates are an example of that.

This puzzled Guo Pinyan a bit: "No, Lao Shen, you're actually quite handsome, and you can even manage the laundry room. You have both good looks and inner qualities, so you shouldn't have trouble finding a girlfriend, right?"

"What decent person would date? Even dating addicts don't do that," Shen Kang said casually.

Guo Pinyan nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm not serious, I just love finding girlfriends. Dogs don't date, but I do."

People who can't find girlfriends are like this, talking as if they don't want to find one, Guo Pinyan thought to herself, and then felt even more pleased.

Although I didn't win the laundry room contract, I do have girlfriends, both of them are beautiful, and there are two of them!

By the way, Shen Kang doesn't have a car either. He has a Volkswagen Polo, which cost 118,000 yuan after taxes and fees!

I'm so happy, I'm totally winning!