I suggest you investigate; this person doesn't seem to be a first-time reborn individual.

At 8:30 p.m., in the leasing department on the third floor of Starlight Shopping Center.

After finishing the party, Zheng Qiao, the business development manager, returned to his workstation with a teacup in his hand.

He is a local, thirty-five years old this year, in his prime. He has been in the real estate industry since he graduated from high school in his teens, and has been working in the industry for more than ten years.

Last year, I was recruited by Starlight Shopping Center as a leasing manager, specifically responsible for adjusting the mall's business format and attracting customers.

I've been feeling a lot of pressure lately. Starlight Plaza is located in a university town and is positioned as a young and fashionable brand, but its popularity has always been lukewarm.

He's recently been considering whether to take some time to visit several nearby universities and conduct promotional activities.

The work phone on the table rang. Zheng Qiao rubbed his temples, shaking off his jumbled thoughts, and answered the call.

"Hello, this is Zheng Qiao."

"Mr. Zheng, this is Xiao Wang from the property management department," came a slightly obsequious voice from the other end of the line.

"Old Zhou from XunJie just came to pay the property management fee and mentioned that a student went to his place to print something today, it seems to be some kind of promotional plan for a shopping mall."

"I was thinking it might be related to the investment promotion department, so I came to let you know."

Shopping mall event? Students?

Zheng Qiao quickly picked up on a few keywords.

"What are you printing?"

"Old Zhou didn't go into details, he just mentioned it briefly, it seems to be related to Jin Ding."

Jin Ding Plaza? Zheng Qiao narrowed his eyes.

Jin Ding is Xing Guang's biggest competitor. The two shopping malls are only three kilometers apart and have highly overlapping positioning. Over the years, the two sides have been competing openly and covertly.

"Okay, I understand, thank you, Xiao Wang." Zheng Qiao hung up the phone calmly.

Jin Ding was organizing a large-scale student event, and Zheng Qiao couldn't sit still, so he decided to go downstairs and take a look himself.

Upon arriving at Xunjie Printing and Printing, Lao Zhou had just seen off a group of guests when he saw Zheng Qiao arrive. He quickly greeted him with a smile.

"Mr. Zheng, why did you come in person? You could have just given me a call!"

"It's nothing, just wandering around."

Zheng Qiao leaned casually against the counter and asked seemingly nonchalantly, "I heard some students came to print out their plans today? Are student activities this formal now?"

"Well, you know what! A few young men and women, looking like college students, were making color prints and binding brochures, looking like they were about to start a big business."

"Oh? What big deal?" Zheng Qiao followed up on Lao Zhou's question.

"I didn't see the specifics clearly, but it seemed to be some kind of 'Momo' seven-day couples event. They said over two thousand people participated. You know what, the design was quite impressive..."

Seven-day couples? Zheng Qiao vaguely remembered this event. He'd been hearing Jiangnan University students talking about it a lot lately when they came to shop. It seemed quite popular, but more than two thousand people seemed a bit exaggerated, didn't it?

However, if this is true, it would be a wave of high-quality customers for both Xingguang and Jinding.

"Did they say anything else?" Zheng Qiao tried to keep his tone calm.

"Hey, that young man in charge looks so confident. He's saying that the conditions offered by Jin Ding are good, that their boss likes it, and that he'll go there to finalize the deal right away."

"Oh, right, they also left behind two documents, and a young girl came in a hurry to pick them up."

"Tsk, young people are so impulsive..."

It's about to be finalized! This means that Jin Ding has likely reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with the Momo team.

Zheng Qiao was starting to lose his composure.

"Old Zhou, do you still have the original copies of the documents they printed, or...?" he asked tentatively.

"Oh dear, we can't keep customer information, that's against the rules," Old Zhou shook his head.

Zheng Qiao was somewhat disappointed.

"but……"

"But I don't know if I printed an extra copy, or if those college students forgot one. No one has come to claim it for so long. Could you please take it to the lost and found, Mr. Zheng?"

Zheng Qiao took the warm document from Lao Zhou and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, I'll take the documents with me. Old Zhou, if you need any support lately, just let us know. The mall is always willing to strongly support the development of its merchants."

Old Zhou rubbed his hands a little sheepishly: "It's nothing, it's just that business hasn't been very good lately, so the rent might have to be delayed..."

……

Lin Ran had just returned to his dorm and sat down in front of his computer.

The phone rang; it was a local, unfamiliar number.

He raised an eyebrow, walked to the relatively quiet balcony, and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, I'm Zheng Qiao, the leasing manager of Xingguang Shopping Center. Are you Mr. Lin, who is in charge of the Momo project?"

Lin Ran's heart skipped a beat; the fish had taken the bait faster than he had expected, but he maintained a distance in his tone.

"It's me, Manager Zheng. What can I do for you?"

"Mr. Lin, we understand that your team is planning a very exciting meet-and-greet event. Would you be interested in considering our Starlight Shopping Plaza? We have the largest atrium in the university town and..."

"Excuse me, Manager Zheng," Lin Ran interrupted Zheng Qiao.

"We already have a clear potential partner and do not need any other venues for the time being. Thank you for your interest."

After saying that, Lin Ran hung up the phone decisively without waiting for a reply.

He certainly didn't mean to actually refuse; he was just trying to elevate his stance.

If he takes the initiative to seriously discuss cooperation, he will easily be at a disadvantage and become easy to be manipulated.

Conversely, if the other party is eager for cooperation, then there is much more room for negotiation.

It's all the same old trick; just saying the same thing in a different way can yield drastically different results.

Lin Ran came out from the balcony and found Ding Facai lying on the bed staring blankly at the ceiling, looking utterly hopeless.

"Old Ding?" Lin Ran waved in front of him, somewhat curious. "What's wrong?"

Ding Facai's eyes slowly turned to him. He moved his lips, his voice filled with despair: "Lin Laosi, tell me... what is the purpose of life?"

Lin Ran was taken aback by his sudden question and turned to look at Liu Zhihua, who had just come out of the bathroom to wash up.

While drying his hair, Liu Zhihua glanced at Ding Facai and said unsurprisedly, "Don't pay any attention to him. He's just being sentimental again. You can see what's going on in the class group chat."

Lin Ran always sets all group messages to "Do Not Disturb," so he had never really paid attention to it before. He unlocked his phone and opened the group message that read "Economics Class 3."

It started with a series of question marks from several girls.

Then a girl posted a screenshot of a chat with the caption: 【What's going on? @DingFacai】

In the screenshot, Ding Facai's cool and roguish anime avatar posted a message: "Mom, I don't have enough money for living expenses this month. Could you transfer me another 200? (Poor thing)"

The class group chat exploded instantly.

[Hahaha, Ding Fa, what's going on with you?]

[Wake up, Lao Ding, your mom isn't in the group chat.]

Is this some kind of new form of social interaction?

Immediately afterwards, the second and third girls also sent similar screenshots, all of which showed Ding Facai asking his mother for money.

The way they used emojis was so endearing.

What's even more outrageous is that one of the girls actually transferred 200 yuan to him.

[@Ding Facai, I transferred 200 yuan to you, please check. But I think next time you should ask your real mother instead...]

The farce only ended when Sun Xiaoyu tagged all members to inform them that Ding Facai's account had been hacked.

Lin Ran read through the list one by one, and when he got to the end, he looked at Ding Facai, who was lying on the bed like a dead dog, with pity.

He continued to stare blankly at the ceiling, a stubborn glimmer of light in the corner of his eye refusing to fall.

Ding Facai felt that he had lost not only money, but also dignity.

……

Just then, Lin Ran's phone rang again; it was Zheng Qiao calling again.

He waited for the phone to ring for another ten seconds before slowly answering it, his voice tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"Feed?"