Chapter 298: Rejecting the entry of the project

At 9 o'clock in the evening, Zhou Ming returned to the dormitory with all the students in the finance class. Standing on the steps of the first floor lobby, Zhou Ming said as if he were giving a leader's speech: 'Although the restaurant owner shared a lot of information with us today, it's not that I don't trust our fellow citizens, it's just that there are some things we haven't seen with our own eyes seen, and there will always be some deviation in our understanding. So everyone go back and think about it tonight. Tomorrow we will go to each dormitory building to investigate and find out how we can get our dormitory convenience stores into other dormitory buildings. I hope that tomorrow I can hear some great suggestions.'

'Don't worry, teacher, we will definitely try our best to think of ways to do it, and we will definitely not let you down!'

The students assured Ming Zhou like this, and then Ming Zhou let the students go back to their rooms, and of course Ming Zhou went back to his room as well.

After returning to his room, Zhou Ming first made himself a cup of tea, sat on the sofa and stared blankly for a while before looking at the time. He took his mobile phone and walked to the balcony, dialling the area code for Gangcheng.

The phone was quickly answered, and Zhou Ming said, 'Muqing, it's Ming. I had a meeting with the students in the finance class today and we decided on our first entrepreneurial project, which is the dormitory convenience store project.'

Zhou Ming was calling Lin Muqing. Lin Muqing was a little surprised: 'Dormitory convenience store? Does it mean selling things that are normally sold outside inside the dormitory building?'

Zhou Ming replied that it did, and also told Lin Muqing without any hesitation about the advice the restaurant owner had given them while they were eating at the Chinese restaurant. Lin Muqing thought for a moment after hearing this and said, 'I see, if I'm not wrong, Zhou Ming, you must have deliberately chosen this. You probably already knew about the restaurant owner's idea, didn't you?'

'You really understand me!' Zhou Ming exclaimed. 'It's true that I arranged today's dinner, and I knew the restaurant owner's thoughts from the beginning. I asked him to say it out loud today, otherwise, as the restaurant owner, he wouldn't have done it.'

Lin Muqing expressed her understanding. Perhaps as a restaurant owner, he would accompany his guests and chat with them, but if he were to seriously recommend discussing a business project, especially one that he had very strong ideas about, he would generally be reserved. However, this restaurant owner just blurted it out, and then Zhou Ming simply accepted it. When you think about it, it really is a little unbelievable how smoothly it went.

'As a college student starting a business, the dormitory convenience store project is really a very good project. It is simple and easy to operate, and it does not require a lot of start-up capital. Since it sells fast-moving products, the capital cycle is also very short. As far as I know, even at the University of Hong Kong, many students are doing this.'

Lin Muqing then changed the subject and continued, 'But is it really suitable for you to do this, Zhou Ming? After all, no matter how good this project is, there is still a very big problem, and that is its upper limit.'

'There are currently more than 10,000 students enrolled at Harvard. Even if everyone came to your store to buy a loaf of bread every day, and you earned a dollar each time, you would only earn 10,000 dollars a day. This is a lot of money for other people, but for you, it is not nearly enough.' Lin Muqing said, 'And it is also unlikely that all 10,000 students will take care of your business. I think it would be amazing to have an average of 700 to 800 at most in a day.'

'Earning only 700 or 800 US dollars a day, and there are 26 of you in total, which means that each person only earns an average of 30 US dollars a day. This is too little. To be honest, Zhou Ming, this is completely not your style, and you shouldn't be engaged in such a business.' Lin Muqing said.

'Each person earns 30 US dollars a day, which is indeed very similar to the treatment of student workers, but I am also a student, aren't I? A student who is also a teacher.'

Zhou Ming said with a self-deprecating smile. He continued, 'But what I want is not how much money I can give them every day. If I really wanted to, I could simply give them a salary of tens of thousands of dollars by having you, Muqing, bring our Jinming Fund Company to the United States. But that's not what I want. I chose this dormitory convenience store project more in the hope of cultivating their business acumen and getting rid of their condescending attitude.'

'I see. Nurturing the ability to think is indeed hundreds or thousands of times more difficult than teaching general knowledge,' said Lin Muqing. 'But I'm afraid the dormitory convenience store project is not as simple as it seems. After all, it's not just about finding a dormitory and stocking up on goods.'

'That's right. It is said that a soldier who has never been to war will always be a rookie no matter how hard he trains. The same goes for entrepreneurs or financiers. Someone who has never done business for themselves, no matter how much knowledge they have, cannot be guaranteed to be up to the task. 'Zhou Ming said, "Of course, most importantly, I hope they can lose that impetuousness and become more pragmatic.'

'Did something happen?" Lin Muqing sensed something.

Zhou Ming replied, 'It was this evening, when I told them that we were going to start a business. They all said they wanted to set up a fund company or a securities company, and none of them considered our current situation.'

'They're young, and they're all elites carefully selected by the country, and they all have the fervent desire to serve the motherland. Now that they've finally arrived in the United States, they must all want to enter the stock market as quickly and directly as possible in order to best grasp the situation,' Lin Muqing said.

'But this is not good. It's not that I'm afraid they'll lose money for me, it's just that I think I should find a way to make them more cautious,' Zhou Ming said.

'They are really blessed to have a teacher like you,' Lin Muqing sighed, and then continued, 'But if I'm not wrong, you must have an even more important reason.'

Lin Muqing was silent for a while after saying this, and then asked, 'Is it that you don't want to attract too much attention?'

...

Time's up. The next day at noon, Zhou Ming arrived at the Collande College with the class monitor Chen Shuli and the group secretary Ye Ning.

According to Huang Yi's introduction earlier, they all knew that although Collande College was called a college, it was actually just an ordinary student dormitory building. These dormitories all had their own unique names, and behind these names were their different dormitory styles. However, Zhou Ming chose the Cleland College for no other reason than that it was very close to the Department of Economics, which was convenient for them to go after class.

'Teacher, that dormitory building over there with a very strong neo-Georgian style is the Cleland College. Huang Yi said that the teacher in charge of managing here is named Moore, and he is a very serious and old-fashioned person like President Lawrence,' Ye Ning pointed to a very British-style dormitory building in front of them and said to Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming nodded slightly and then said, 'Each Harvard dormitory building has a responsible teacher and two wardens per unit. According to Harvard's dormitory management regulations, no matter what you want to do in the dormitory building, you must apply to the responsible teacher and wardens in advance, and you can only do it after you have been authorised.'

Zhou Ming then turned to Li Yang and Chen Shu and said, 'Li Yang, you were the one who said this was a simple matter, so you are in charge of taking over the first dormitory building. Chen Shu, you and Ye Ning are responsible for organising and analysing the problems encountered.'

'Teacher, you can rest assured, I'll take care of it!'

Li Yang pounded his chest and said, while Chen Shu and Ye Ning just nodded in silence.

Zhou Ming led them from Unit A into the Collande Academy and went straight to the room of the teacher in charge of the dormitory.

Since the dormitory teacher is usually responsible for many problems of the students in the dormitory building, his room is connected to the office and the rest room together. The front one is the office, and the inner one is the private rest room.

Knocking on the door, a thin middle-aged man wearing black-framed glasses walked over. He was the teacher in charge of the Lander College, Mr Moore. He looked them up and down and asked, 'Students, may I ask what difficulties you are having?'

Zhou Ming did not answer Mol's question, but looked at Li Yang. Li Yang nodded vigorously at Zhou Ming, and then walked up to Mol and said, facing his suspicious gaze, 'Hello, esteemed Mr Mol. We have not come to see you because we have encountered any difficulties, but because we need to seek your authorisation for something.'

'Ask for my authorisation? Do you want to hold a party in the hall of the dormitory? I agree with this very much. After all, this is a tradition of our Collande College. Even if you are only freshmen, I still agree and support you. Of course, the prerequisite is that you don't get drunk. I don't want to hear that someone called the police tomorrow, or that the dormitory building is stinking because of you.' Moore said.

Li Yang shook his head and said, 'That's not it, Mr. Moore. We're not having a party. We want to do a dormitory convenience store project and hope to get your permission, Mr. Moore.'

'Dormitory convenience store project?' Moore pushed his glasses a little, and his eyes behind the lenses looked a little confused, obviously not understanding what this was about.

'Mr Moore, the so-called dormitory convenience store project is actually very simple. It involves moving some food from convenience stores outside, such as bread, burgers and sandwiches, as well as daily necessities like notebooks and pens, and selling them inside the dormitories. This is done to make life easier for students, especially at night when convenience stores outside are closed. The dormitory convenience store will still provide sales services, so...'

Before Li Yang could finish speaking, Moore frowned and asked in return, 'Are you also Harvard students? Which department are you in? Who is your class advisor?'

Although it was unpleasant to be interrupted, Li Yang still answered truthfully, 'Of course we are Harvard students. We are in the Department of Economics in the Business School, and we are in Professor Jie La's class.'

'Jelal's students?' Moore looked a little surprised and looked up and down at Li Yang and Zhou Ming a few times and asked, "Are you all?'

'Of course, we are all Teacher Jelal's proudest students!" Li Yang said, "So, Mr Moore, we will definitely do our best with the dormitory convenience store project, and you are welcome to come and inspect it then.'

Moore's surprise subsided, and in the end he shook his head and gave his answer: "I'm sorry, I can't allow this kind of behaviour in my dormitory.'