Chapter 101 - A Small Contribution
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations*
Just like this, Lu Zhou ditched Shi Shang.
It was around five o’clock in the afternoon when Lu Zhou went into Professor Li’s car. They drove for twenty minutes before they arrived at the destination.
The Zijinshan hotel was located on the edge of a mountain and it looked really impressive. The scale and surrounding environment were impeccable. One could easily see the mountain and the parasol forest from the parking lot.
Lu Zhou did not know how many stars the hotel was, but it definitely was worth a few hundred million.
After he got out of professor Li’s car, he stood next to his two friends and waited for the opportunity to enter.
Lu Zhou looked at a group of people wearing suits. It was his first time visiting such a luxurious hotel, and he asked, “We really don’t have to change clothes?”
Liu Bo smiled and said, “No need, researchers don’t have to be so formal. As long as your not wearing slippers… Actually, you can probably wear slippers. At most, Professor Li would criticize you a bit.”
Lu Zhou looked at the entrance and said, “Those are the people in the project team?”
Brother Qian Zhongming pushed his glasses and said, “The people wearing casual are, the people in suits aren’t. It’s easy to spot the distinction.”
Lu Zhou asked, “Then who are those people in suits?”
Liu Bo smiled and said, “All types of people. For example, next to Professor Li is Liu Wanshan, Chairman of Zhongshan New Materials. Over there is the general manager of Jin Ling Building Materials, I don’t remember his name. Regardless, they’re all big names.”
Lu Zhou looked at Professor Li’s clothes. It was not casual nor formal. It was a kind of business casual.
Emm…
I guess he’s somewhere in between?
Lu Zhou could not help but ask, “Why is this upper echelon guy coming to a place like this?”
Liu Bo smiled and said, “Our research project is invested by Zhongshan New Materials. Zhongshan New Materials and Jin Ling Building Materials are partners. Have you heard of the Silk Road strategy?”
Lu Zhou nodded.
He was up to date with the news.
“The two material suppliers have large projects with a total value of more than 2 billion in Pakistan infrastructure projects. Our research on the carbon nanotube modified cement-based composites in corrosion resistance and the mechanical performance test has performed quite well. It probably saved them hundreds of millions of yuan,” said Liu Bo with a calm face.
Two billion!
Lu Zhou was astonished.
He did not realize that his scientific research had such a massive capital impact.
Even though his own contribution to the research project was small, he still contributed!
Lu Zhou was in shock.
This two billion…
It would be nice if I got a cut.
Even if I got 0.25%, it would be enough for me to complete the system mission.
Liu Bo patted Lu Zhou’s shoulder and smiled as he said, “Okay, let’s stop talking about this, we’re researchers. Where do you want to travel?”
Brother Qian replied, “I want to go to Chang’an and look at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. I can also visit my old classmates.”
Liu Bo, “F*ck, what’s so good about the mausoleum? How about you go to Southeast Asia with me? Old Li said we still have some research funds left, and we can spend it however we like! What about you, Lu Zhou?”
Lu Zhou said helplessly, “I have exams, I can’t leave.”
“I almost forgot. You’re still studying your bachelor’s degree, right? Busy?” asked Liu Bo with a smile. He then said, “How about you just graduate already? What can undergraduate classes teach you? Come to our materials physics lab. Professor Li is very generous.”
Lu Zhou coughed softly and said, “I’ll think about it.”
Soon after, the group of people at the entrance began to enter the hotel.
Liu Bo patted Lu Zhou’s shoulder and they walked toward the door.
From the hotel room’s second floor, at the second hall, a red carpet paved all the way from the elevator to the hall entrance. It was like a company’s annual meeting, but far more extravagant than Professor Li’s description.
After they walked into the venue, Professor Li Rongen waved to them and gestured Lu Zhou to come over. He looked at the man next to him and spoke with a smile.
“This is the one I told you, the genius from University of Jin Ling’s mathematics department. The one that overcame a world-class mathematics problem. Lu Zhou. He was the one that made our project go so smoothly… Come, Lu Zhou, let me introduce you. This is the chairman of Zhongshan New Materials, Mr. Liu Wanshan.”
“Mr. Liu, nice to meet you,” greeted Lu Zhou as he politely shook hands with him.
“Nice to meet you. So, you’re Lu Zhou. I’ve read the news articles about you. Even Everyone Daily praised you for your achievements,” said Liu Wanshan as he nodded in approval. He then added, “Don’t be so nervous. Speaking of which, I’m an alumnus.”
Lu Zhou asked in surprise, “Mr. Liu, you’re also a graduate of the University of Jin Ling?”
“Department of economics, class of 94,” said Liu Wanshan with a smile. He then added, “Speaking of which, I still remember Old Tang’s advanced algebra classes.”
Class of 94!
Lu Zhou calculated. This guy was at least 20 years older than him.
I didn’t know that Old Tang has been teaching mathematics for more than 20 years!
Since he was an alumnus, they had lots to talk about. Furthermore, Liu Wanshan was also an interesting person.
Even though he had a beer belly, wore a gold watch, and had an angry look on his face, when Lu Zhou talked with Liu Wanshan he found out that he is actually a very cultured person.
At least, his attitude was respectful. In other words, he did not act like a billionaire chairman at all. Lu Zhou was surprised that he could actually have a conversation with him.
However, the pleasant conversation did not last long.
Soon, Lu Zhou hated the topic of conversation.
Liu Wanshan smiled and said, “Oh yeah, I heard Professor Li talking about some entrepreneurship project you’re doing recently? Called Campus Train or something?”
Technically, it was already called Campus Assistant, but they had not released the update yet, so the app name had not been changed.
Lu Zhou had a weird expression as he nodded and said, “Yeah.”
Liu Wanshan smiled and asked, “How is it going?”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Can we not talk about this?
His twelve workers became seven. He only had one programmer left to write the code, and they were far from releasing the update…
Even though Lu Zhou wanted to curse, he had a smile on his face as he said, “It’s okay, the users have grown to one million. According to the feedback, our ticket booking system is working very well.”
As for the three-digit DAU <sup>1</sup> and shrinking loan…
What is that?
Don’t know, don’t know.
“A million sign-ups? Not bad,” said Liu Wanshan as he looked at Lu with surprise. He then asked, “Have you gotten any angel financing yet?”
“Not yet, but we are in contact with a few investors. Should be soon,” answered Lu Zhou perfunctorily.
Fat Wu and Yuan Liwei had been carrying the PowerPoint presentation and attending meetings for almost half a month, but they had not yet gotten any results.
Honestly, Lu Zhou was almost ready to give up on this startup.
He just wrote this app as a practice, but he had no idea that it was going to be so troublesome.
Liu Wanshan raised his eyebrows and asked, “How much do you intend to raise?”
Lu Zhou thought and said, “Around 2 million.”
Liu Wanshan nodded and said, “2 million, isn’t it a bit small? I know a few VC friends. They don’t even bother with 2 million deals. Their minimum investment is 5-6 million.”
Lu Zhou coughed and said, “2 million in angel financing is enough. Our advertising costs are like 200k per month, and we’ve reduced other operating costs to a minimum. I’ll go through a series after our user downloads reach 2 million. After that, we’ll raise a higher amount.”
“Not bad, I guess you already have a plan in your mind,” said Liu Wanshan as he smiled and nodded his head. He thought for a second before saying, “Okay, I’ll invest 5 million.”
“…”
Lu Zhou: ? ? ?
Huh? Did I hear you wrong?
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