Chapter 512 - 267: Jiang Silu Is Always Trying to Set Up Lu Fan and Jiang Yixia

During the first week after winter break, the campus of Jinling Institute of Technology still had a lingering feel of the Lunar New Year.

Red lanterns still hung by the cafeteria entrance, spring couplets remained on the doors of the dorms, and a few international students who hadn't gone home set off a string of firecrackers on the athletic field. With a series of pops and crackles, the ground was littered with red paper scraps.

Jiang Sifan sat in the studio with three account books spread out before him. Pen in hand, he was scribbling and sketching on a blank sheet of paper.

Wen Wan sat across from him, her computer screen displaying last month's client data. She was checking it line by line, only pausing occasionally to take a sip of water before resuming her work.

"Wen Wan, take a look at these numbers." Jiang Sifan turned the sheet of paper around and pushed it in front of her. "Last month, we had eighteen regular clients. Revenue was twenty-five thousand. After deducting utilities and part-time wages, our net profit was seventeen thousand."

Wen Wan glanced at it and nodded, saying softly, "That's four thousand more than the month before last."

"Mhm." Jiang Sifan leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. "I want to expand the studio."

Wen Wan froze for a moment, then looked at him. "How would we expand?"

"By taking on more clients." Jiang Sifan sat up straight and picked up his pen, jotting down a few lines on the paper. "Right now, all our clients are small businesses. Their bookkeeping fees are low, and the services are simple. I want to move up a level and take on some larger clients. Our revenue could double."

Wen Wan considered this for a moment, then explained, "But we don't have enough staff. It's just you, me, and the part-timers, and our schedules are already full. If we take on new clients, we won't be able to keep up."

"That's why we need to hire more people." Jiang Sifan looked at her, his tone serious. "I want to recruit a few more classmates, train them, and assign the basic accounts to them. The two of us can focus on the core clients."

Wen Wan said nothing. Her fingers tapped on the keyboard a few times, and she pulled up a spreadsheet.

She studied it for a moment before turning to Jiang Sifan. "All right. But our part-timer benefits will have to be competitive, or else no one will want to apply."

Jiang Sifan smiled and chuckled. "You think of the details more than I do."

A faint blush rose on Wen Wan's cheeks, and she lowered her head to continue looking at the screen.

The two of them spent the entire afternoon discussing and meticulously outlining the recruitment requirements, compensation package, and training plan.

Jiang Sifan was responsible for writing the proposal, and Wen Wan was responsible for creating the spreadsheets. They worked in perfect sync; neither had to hurry the other along.

By nightfall, the first draft of the plan was complete.

Jiang Sifan stood up, stretched, and walked to the window to look out at the campus.

The streetlights had come on, casting an orange glow on the stone path. A few students rode past on their bicycles, their bells jingling.

"Wen Wan," he called.

"Yes?"

"How big do you think our studio needs to be before we can say we've made it?"

Wen Wan thought for a moment, then replied, "As long as we don't have to rely on our parents."

Jiang Sifan froze, turning to look at her.

Wen Wan kept her head down, her fingers tapping away at the keyboard, her ears flushed red.

He said nothing, just turned back to continue looking out the window.

The next day, Jiang Sifan posted a message in his class's WhatsApp group.

Jiang Sifan: [Hey everyone, Starry Studio is hiring part-timers! Accounting-related majors are preferred. The position is ten hours a week at thirty an hour. Good performance can lead to a long-term role. DM me if you're interested.]

Less than five minutes after he sent the message, three people had already DMed him.

He replied to them one by one and scheduled interview times.

The interviews were scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Four people showed up: three women and one man.

Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan sat behind the long table in the studio, interviewing them one by one.

"We'll start with a two-week trial period. If you get the hang of things, we'll make the position permanent," he told the four of them.

The four of them nodded, filled out their forms, and quickly left.

Wen Wan collected the forms, placed them in a folder, and turned to Jiang Sifan. "Now that we have our new hires, we need to get the training plan in motion. It'll start next Wednesday, once a week for four consecutive weeks."

Jiang Sifan nodded, picking up a pen and circling a few dates on the calendar.

In the days that followed, Jiang Sifan and Wen Wan were swamped with work.

They attended classes during the day, trained the new recruits in the studio at night, and visited clients on the weekends.

Jiang Sifan divided the clients into two types: he handled the core clients himself, while the regular clients were handed over to the new recruits for practice.

Wen Wan created a detailed training manual that clearly outlined everything, from bookkeeping standards to client communication protocols.

Two of the new hires were quick learners, and after two weeks, they could already handle simple accounts independently.

Jiang Sifan looked over the reports they submitted. The margin of error was small, which put his mind at ease.

"Wen Wan, we can take on five more clients this month," he said, placing the reports on the table with a hint of excitement in his voice.

Wen Wan glanced at them and nodded. "In that case, I'll adjust our price quotes. We can offer new clients a first-month discount to encourage them to sign."

"Sounds good. I'll leave it to you," Jiang Sifan said cheerfully.

Meanwhile, Jiang Silu's design studio at Jinling University was also starting to gain some traction.

The orders for her online shop had increased from two or three a month to five or six. Most were secretly arranged by Xiaoya, but a few were organic clients who had found her on their own.

That evening, she was in the middle of designing a logo for a bed-and-breakfast when her phone buzzed.

She picked it up and saw it was a message from her online shop.

[Hello, do you do brand VI design? We're a new tea drink brand and need a complete visual identity system.]

Jiang Silu froze. 'VI design... a complete system... This is a huge project!'

She quickly replied: [Yes, I can. May I ask what your budget is?]

The other party named a figure, and Jiang Silu almost jumped out of her chair.

'Five thousand! That's more than all my previous projects combined!'

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down before replying: [I can have a preliminary proposal ready for you by tomorrow, so you can see if the style is a good fit.]