Chapter 47: And I Have to Subsidize You?
Chapter 47: Chapter 47: And I Have to Subsidize You?
"So, Assistant Bai, what have you been busy with recently?"
Bai Lu stopped what she was doing and sat down on the reception sofa.
"Well, I’m trying to find partners for a water conservancy project."
’Partners? We *are* your partners!’
"Assistant Bai, if it involves AI, we can definitely work closely together again!"
Bai Lu nodded. As it happened, there was.
"To be honest, Chen Xiao, we haven’t been heavily involved in the water conservancy sector before. But these days, there’s a lot of money and a lot of business there. Plus, much of it concerns public safety, so we can’t afford to be careless."
"That’s why we want to expand in this area. The problem is, other companies are already well-established. If we want to break in, we have to rely on next-generation productivity to replace old, inefficient methods."
What Bai Lu wanted to focus on was safety monitoring for levees, which included inspections during flood season. These were all matters of public safety, leaving no room for error.
Furthermore, traditional companies had been operating in this sector for over a decade. They were mature and stable, making it very difficult for a new enterprise to break into the market.
That’s why she brought up next-generation productivity—offering clients higher quality service for the same price, or the same quality service for less.
The two of them talked for an hour, diving deep into the details.
And in doing so, Chen Xiao identified a massive business opportunity.
First, traditional monitoring mainly involved embedding sensors, but analyzing the vast amounts of data manually was highly inefficient and overly reliant on experts.
Second, levee patrols during flood season required twenty people stationed around the clock for every 200 meters. The investment in manpower, materials, and financial resources was enormous.
Imagine replacing manual labor with intelligent AI analysis and using drones for patrols. The massive amounts of data collected could then be processed by AI.
This would be far more efficient and would also save on labor costs.
Of course, this was all easier said than done. Implementation would be incredibly difficult, involving all sorts of complex scenarios that would need to be overcome through research and development.
But at least it was theoretically feasible. Bai Lu’s ideas and his clicked instantly.
This was an enormous market. Every year, Huaxia invested over a trillion yuan in water conservancy.
Chen Xiao wasn’t a technical expert and couldn’t grasp all the details, so he invited Bai Lu to Dr. Feng’s Robot to speak with Feng Feifei.
This discussion would be a massive undertaking, involving specific requirements and technical parameters for all sorts of complex scenarios.
Bai Lu readily agreed. It seemed their initial collaboration had successfully established a foundation of mutual trust.
With that foundation, future cooperation would naturally fall into place.
"DING! Mission issued: Open up a new business front!"
[Mission Description: Facilitate a close collaboration between Dr. Feng and the Jiangzhou Design Institute on the water conservancy project.]
[Mission Reward: A random reward package will be given based on completion status. The higher the completion percentage, the more generous the reward. (An initial 5 million yuan deal constitutes 100% completion.)]
’Bai Lu is the best! Every time I see her, I get new business *and* a system reward!’
’Bai Lu... her name might mean "White Dew," but for me, she just means "awesome!" That’s right, pure awesome!’
Chen Xiao was cackling internally.
After leaving the Jiangzhou Design Institute, he naturally called Feng Feifei to report the news. This had the potential to become a massive project.
Feng Feifei wasn’t in the office. She said she was out for a meeting and would get back to him later.
’Later? I’m afraid I won’t have time for you. I have to go to a "blind date" after work. Besides, after the date, I’ll be with Zhao Xiangjun. Who has time to talk about work with you then?’
He hung up and went straight back to Bihu Twin Seals. Yesterday, he’d pestered Zhao Xiangjun to hurry up and order all the household supplies for the apartment.
She had found some time during the day to pick things out and had the store arrange for delivery. Since Chen Xiao was free, he went to accept the packages.
He could also rest there for a bit, then pick up Zhao Xiangjun when she got off work and head straight to the "blind date."
Zhao Xiangjun had no idea what was going on. Her store manager was usually polite to her—after all, she was the top seller, bringing in half the store’s revenue by herself.
But today, the manager was fussing over her more than her own mother, asking if she was tired, telling her to take a break, and even—for the first time ever—buying her a Milk Tea.
With so many other people in the shop, she felt awkward being the only one to get a drink. But it would be even more awkward not to drink it and waste the manager’s kind gesture.
For once, she was even allowed to leave on time. The manager said she’d been working too hard lately and should go home early to rest.
Since Chen Xiao was there to pick her up, she didn’t argue. On the ride over, she thought about her manager’s doting behavior and found it hilarious. She hadn’t acted like a manager at all, more like a maternity nurse.
He had arranged to meet "People are more beautiful than flowers" at a café called "Moonlight." It wasn’t as crowded as a Starbucks.
The atmosphere was quieter, better for conversation.
When they arrived, Chen Xiao and Zhao Xiangjun split up. Even though they had come together, he couldn’t let "People are more beautiful than flowers" see them, or it would be too rude.
But when he got to their table, he realized he’d overthought things. "People are more beautiful than flowers" had also brought a male companion!
Zhao Xiangjun, who had already settled into another booth, winked in his direction and gave a mischievous smile.
"Hi, I’m Hua Jiao, and this is my best guy friend, Bai Jie."
’Hua Jiao? As in, the peppercorn? And Bai Jie? What kind of combination is this?’
’Well, you’re certainly dressed spicy enough for a "Peppercorn." But your guy friend here doesn’t really match up.’
"Chen Xiao," he introduced himself and sat down.
Hua Jiao’s real-life appearance didn’t quite live up to her screen name, but these days, as long as a girl is willing to spend money on her face and put on some makeup, she’ll at least be decent-looking. ’Yeah, I guess she’s not ugly,’ he thought.
Seeing that they hadn’t ordered yet, Chen Xiao called a server over.
Hua Jiao said, "Just so we’re clear, we can go Dutch today."
Chen Xiao was speechless. ’Nobody asked you to go Dutch. It’s just a few drinks.’
"It’s fine, I’ll get it."
Hua Jiao scoffed and said to Bai Jie, "See that? That’s what you call putting on a brave front when you’re broke."
After placing their order and paying for it, Chen Xiao looked at Hua Jiao and said, "So, shall we get started?"
"There’s no ’us’ to get started with!"
"..." ’Well, that’s one way to put it.’
"You’re Chen Xiao, right? No need for introductions. Teacher Wang already told me all about you."
The "Teacher Wang" she mentioned was Aunt Wang, a colleague of Chen Xiao’s parents.
"Honestly, if it weren’t out of respect for Teacher Wang, I wouldn’t have come here to waste my time meeting you."
"You’re a salesman, right? And you only started last month?"
’That direct?’ He still nodded. That was correct.
"Your base salary is 8,000, but it’s dropping to 4,000 next month, right?"
Chen Xiao replied, "The 8,000 part is true, but it shouldn’t drop next month."
"Fine, let’s just go with 8,000. Do you have any idea that apartments in Jiangzhou cost at least 30,000 a square meter right now?"
He nodded again.
"Right now you have no car and no apartment. With a monthly salary of 8,000, can you even support yourself?"
’Great. This blind date has turned into a struggle session.’
"And your parents said they could cover a down payment in Jiangzhou? Oh my god. A one-million-yuan down payment means a two-million-yuan loan. Over thirty years, the monthly mortgage payment would be over 9,000."
"So if I were with you, I’d have to support you financially?"