Chapter 311: It's not as simple as following the trend

Back at his dormitory at Harvard University, Zhou Ming immediately asked Li Yang, 'I remember you telling me last night that there is also a dormitory convenience store on the other side of Adams House, right? Have you investigated?'

Li Yang nodded and said, 'That's right, teacher. I was just going to talk to you about this. I went there today and found out that it was done by someone named Brooke.'

Zhou Mingxin said, 'That's what I thought. Since returning from the Sky Ladder Building, Zhou Ming has actually been thinking about this matter. Because of Danny's last words, "a hunch or a feeling," Zhou Ming doesn't think Danny's words are groundless. He must know something, and after thinking about it, the only thing that can be connected to the company is the dormitory convenience store project.

Because strictly speaking, the dormitory convenience store project is playing a legal borderline game. The United States is a free country where a single legal business is allowed to operate any business you can think of. However, it is also a country with extremely strict business controls, where any business activity must be under the supervision of the law, especially taxation.

There are two jokes about the United States. The first is that the most authoritative intelligence agency in the United States should be the tax department, because it will be the first to know when a new company opens anywhere, even if it is not notified. The other is that when a company pays taxes, the fire brigade will rush to put out the fire when the company has a fire, but when you don't pay taxes, the fire brigade will be the first to arrive at the scene to celebrate with champagne.

Although this is a joke, it also illustrates the attitude of the US government towards commercial activities, and the same goes for the dormitory convenience stores on campus.

However, since the dormitory convenience stores are on campus, they are a convenience organisation set up by students spontaneously. They can be covered up by the name of the student group, so the tax authorities will not come knocking on the door, not to mention applying to the relevant US agencies. This has saved a lot of operating costs and created such high profits.

But this is ultimately a grey area. If nothing happens, it's fine, but if something happens, it's very troublesome. After all, you are not subject to legal supervision, so naturally the law will not protect you.

Now Brook is starting a dormitory convenience store project in another dormitory building, Adams Hall. If it were anyone else, Zhou Ming would still think that he is just following the trend, but Brook, he is the one who started a feud with Huang Yi in the beginning. He is following so closely and starting another dormitory convenience store, his purpose is definitely not as simple as following the trend.

Zhou Ming couldn't tell what he was going to do. After all, he had only just arrived in the United States and didn't know the legal rules very well, so there was no way to think about it.

Zhou Ming thought that all he could do now was to find a way to make himself legally defensible.

Thinking about this, Zhou Ming immediately called his lawyer Alan and told him the situation he was in, while also asking him, 'Is there any way to make my dorm convenience store affiliated with the company, protected by the law, without being out of my control?'

Alan thought about it for a moment and replied, 'I think maybe it can be done this way. Zhou Ming, you can first invest in Wharton and sign a temporary agreement with Wharton, so that you are one of the shareholders of Wharton and have the dominant right in the company's business. Then you can exercise your power and incorporate the project of your dormitory convenience store into the company's operations.'

Alan added, 'But I don't need to remind Mr. Zhou Ming that this method is only theoretically feasible, but in practice it will be very risky, because Mr. Zhou Ming, you will suddenly change from the identity of an acquirer to a shareholder of the company. At this time, if Wharton changes its mind and does not sell the company, things will be very troublesome.'

Zhou Ming pondered for a moment and said, 'I understand. I need you to help me draw up this agreement. I need to become a shareholder of Wharton as soon as possible, and then incorporate the dormitory convenience store.'

'Since you have already made a decision, Mr Zhou Ming, I can only say that I am willing to be of service to you,' said Alan.

Zhou Ming thanked Alan and then hung up the phone and said to Li Yang, 'As soon as possible, you should sort out the accounts of the dormitory convenience store and prepare to incorporate it into my new company at any time.'

Li Yang nodded and said okay, and then immediately went to do it. Just before leaving, he also left Zhou Ming with a last sentence that gave Zhou Ming a headache: 'Teacher, you haven't gone to class for several days in a row, and Teacher Jie La is very dissatisfied with you. She said she will deduct your credits and prevent you from graduating.'

In fact, it is very normal to have your credits deducted for unexcused absences, but Zhou Ming's headache is that Teacher Jie La is probably not simply doing this because of school rules.

Meanwhile, across the Charles River in the Harvard dormitory Anderson House, Jie La was lying on her bed, feeling extremely irritated.

Jie La had attended a foundation meeting in the morning and was very sleepy, wanting to take a nap at noon. However, when she lay in bed, she realised that she simply couldn't sleep. The reason was very simple: the foundation had discussed the phenomenon of the dormitory convenience store that had sold like hot cakes earlier that morning.

'This damned Ming Zhou, damned Chinese, why did you have to set up a dormitory convenience store when you could just study on campus? Is my guidance really that unappealing to you? And if you were going to do it, you should have kept it low-key. You've done such a good job that the university foundation has made this project a topic for discussion.'

Jie La muttered to herself as she sat up, and then she swung her fists and pounded the bed a few times. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and got out of bed to pour herself a glass of water.

Zhou Ming would really be unable to laugh or cry if he knew what Jie La was muttering, because he was unsure whether what he had done was good or wrong.

But when she got to the table, Jie La suddenly noticed the attendance sheet she had put on the table, and her eyes immediately landed on Zhou Ming's name.

'Skipping school again for no reason. Does this guy come to school to rent a room? How come he's hardly ever been to class since the first day of school, except for the first day? He's even worse than those rich kids, he doesn't respect his teachers at all!'

Jie La scolded Zhou Ming, but when she got to the last sentence, she suddenly remembered that day in the corridor, when Zhou Ming had pushed her up against the wall and suddenly bit her earlobe.

Jie La subconsciously reached out and touched her earlobe, suddenly feeling a tingling sensation that made her shiver involuntarily. Her two long, slender legs, which were together, rubbed against each other slightly, and she cursed again, 'This Zhou Ming is really the most annoying villain in the world!'

After scolding Zhou Ming, Jie La seemed to feel a little suffocated, so she went over and opened the window. But as soon as she opened the window, she suddenly heard a shout from below.

'Damn Chinese, I'll make him pay, let him know that I, Brooke, am not someone to be trifled with!'

'Yes, those yellow-skinned bastards only deserve to stay in the dirty slums. Headmaster Lawrence made the biggest mistake by admitting them. Brooke, you must teach him a lesson!'

Jie La looked down the voice, it was a few students gathered there, one of whom Jie La also knew, and that was Harvard's worst student, Brook. Since his father was a Massachusetts senator, he had a lot of influence throughout Massachusetts, so the Harvard administration tacitly agreed that as long as he didn't do anything too out of line, no one would bother him.

Originally, a student like this would not be bothered by Jie La's character, but she heard them talking about the Chinese.

This made Jie La's heart tremble, because isn't Zhou Ming Chinese? Could it be that they were talking about Zhou Ming?

Jie La didn't know, so he had to stick out his ears and try to listen calmly.

'Zhou Ming is an asshole, but his ideas are still pretty good. Just like those little naked yellow-skinned bitches in the nightclub, we followed him and opened the dorm convenience store, and sure enough, we made a lot of money!' Brooke's friend said.

Jie La nodded in silence as she listened. Zhou Ming's dormitory convenience store project was indeed highly feasible. Otherwise, the Foundation would not have brought him up for discussion. But she never expected that Brooke would also follow suit and set up a convenience store. It seems that although he is ignorant and likes to get into trouble, he still has ideas. It's just that his convenience store will never be as successful as Zhou Ming's.

'What's the point of making so little money?' Brooke said. 'Do you know how much money the convenience store at Colland College made? According to the inside information I got, on the first day alone, he made more than 30,000 US dollars, and that's just the net profit.'

In fact, Jie La had already heard this news when she attended the Foundation meeting, but she still felt very proud when she heard Brooke and the others talking about it: this guy Zhou Ming is just amazing, and these little guys must be shocked by his amazing ability to make money, right?

But what Jie La didn't expect was what Brooke said next, which really surprised her.

Brooke said, 'Thirty thousand dollars is not a lot of money, but it's not a small amount either. My father taught me that if you want to do something, you have to strive to be the best.'

'Are we supposed to outdo the Chinese convenience store's income?' Brooke's friend asked. 'But he was the first to open it, and through the previous wine party, people already have a preconceived notion. It's going to be difficult for us to come in now and try to outdo him.'

'I didn't say we had to surpass him now, as long as we can make my convenience store the number one in Harvard, the money will come naturally,' Brooke said.

This made Jie La feel a little confused: how can Zhou Ming's convenience store become the number one in Harvard without surpassing him?

Suddenly Jie La thought of a terrible possibility, which was to use means to get rid of Zhou Ming's convenience store. With only one convenience store, wouldn't he be number one?

Could Brooke be using some despicable means? This seems to be in line with his usual style, so should I go and tell Zhou Ming?

This question troubled Jie La, and she thought that since Zhou Ming was also a detestable fellow, it would be nice to let him suffer at Brooke's hands. Whoever makes you feel that way, they deserve to be punished!

However, at the same time, Jie La was a little torn because she felt that although Zhou Ming was hateful, he was still within acceptable limits. On the other hand, that guy Brook was really bad to the core, and Brook would definitely not deal with Zhou Ming by fair means. Most likely, it would be some disgusting move. As a teacher at Harvard Business School, she felt obligated to stop this kind of thing from happening.

While Jie La was torn between what to do, Brook and his gang had already left downstairs. Watching their backs as they left, Jie La finally made up her mind. She turned around, went back to her room, picked up the phone and dialed a number: 'Is this the Chinese dormitory? This is your tutor Jie La. I need to speak to Zhou Ming...'