Chapter 273 - 233: Xu An’s Little Scheme

Chapter 273: Chapter 233: Xu An’s Little Scheme

Huang Si Zhe was an art student at Hai City University of Technology, majoring in "Architectural and Environmental Art Design"—a major commonly known as the "jack of all trades, master of none."

At first, he thought he was learning a lot. With so many potential career paths after graduation, he was sure he wouldn’t have trouble finding a job. But when he looked for an internship this summer, he was dealt a harsh reality check by the real world.

Design? They had no use for a lowly intern like him. Construction? He was completely clueless—the university really hadn’t taught him that. 3D modeling? By the time he’d finished modeling a throw pillow for the sofa, the full-time employee next to him had already furnished the entire living room...

All signs pointed to one conclusion: if his skills and proficiency were still at the same level when he graduated, he’d probably end up joining the ranks of the unemployed.

Although his two-month internship didn’t improve his design or construction skills, his 3D modeling had reached about half the level of a full-time employee. With a little post-processing, it was more than enough to fool a layman.

Improving design skills required a lot of practice, while improving construction skills required on-site learning.

Huang Si Zhe was just a kid from an ordinary family. Neither he nor his family knew anyone in the construction industry, so he had to give up on improving his construction skills and focus on design instead.

The best way to improve his design skills was obviously to practice more. And if he was going to practice, why not enter a few design competitions? If he made the cut, he’d get an honorary certificate at the very least, or even a cash prize of a thousand or so at best. What was not to like?

And so, after his internship ended and he returned to university life, Huang Si Zhe decided to use the time between the start of the semester and the beginning of his final graduation project to frantically enter design competitions and build his portfolio.

The first step to entering a competition was, naturally, to search for relevant information.

In a single morning, Huang Si Zhe joined seventeen design groups and learned about eight ongoing competitions. After a thorough comparison, he narrowed it down to the three with the most generous prize money.

There was no special reason for choosing those three; it was simply because they offered a two-hundred-yuan prize just for being shortlisted...

Just as he was about to close his messenger app and get to work, an unread message popped up in all seventeen groups almost simultaneously. A moment of silence followed, then an explosion. The number of unread messages grew exponentially, and in less than a minute, they all surpassed 99+!

’Did some huge scandal just drop in the design world?’

Huang Si Zhe randomly clicked on a group and scrolled to the first unread message. It was an image—or, to be precise, a promotional poster for the Xu’s Restaurant Headquarters Design Competition.

"Are you still frustrated that your designs can’t be implemented? Still worried that you don’t understand the construction process? Still anxious that you can’t find your dream job due to a lack of work experience?"

The poster opened with a three-part question that took up most of the space, and every single one hit home for Huang Si Zhe.

’It’s like they’re my soulmate!’ he thought. ’These are literally all the things I’m most worried about right now!’

"Now, Xu’s Catering is here! Xu’s Catering invites you to participate in the design of the Xu’s Restaurant Company Headquarters!"

"You create the design! The best construction team will handle the implementation!"

"The Gold-prize-winning design will be built! Silver and Bronze prize winners will get the opportunity to observe the construction on-site! All shortlisted designers will receive a two-hundred-yuan prize! Twenty shortlisted spots are available!"

"..."

After reading about the design competition initiated by Xu’s Catering, the three competitions he had just noted down suddenly seemed dull and uninspired. Other than the identical prize for being shortlisted, they couldn’t compare to the Xu’s Catering competition in any other aspect.

’This competition... I, Huang Si Zhe, am definitely entering!’

But before he could officially submit his application, he had to choose a faculty member as his advisor; otherwise, he wouldn’t even be eligible to register. One of the competition’s requirements was that all participants must have a design instructor from their own university as an advisor!

Huang Si Zhe opened the "Professors" group in his messenger contacts. His eyes scanned the names, finally landing on a young professor who had graduated from a prestigious university but had only been working for two years and was on great terms with the students. He sent him the poster for the Xu’s Catering design competition, along with a single sentence.

"Professor, I want to enter this competition. Could I possibly choose you as my advisor? (pleading)(pleading)"

As expected of a young professor, he quickly replied to Huang Si Zhe with an "OK" emoji. Immediately after, the poster appeared in Huang Si Zhe’s class group chat.

"This competition looks pretty interesting. Any students who are interested and have the time should consider entering."

「Xu’s Fast Food Restaurant.」

After Xu An gave the order yesterday, Tang Wen wrote the copy. The registration paperwork was submitted yesterday afternoon. The promotional poster was finished this morning. The application was approved at 4:00 PM, and the poster was released at 4:20 PM.

In the one hour and forty minutes until closing time, Wang Fulong’s inbox had already received thirty-seven application emails, all from students at various universities within Haiyang Province.

Initially, Xu An had planned to target both students and working professionals.

But even with a grand prize of six thousand yuan, it wasn’t a strong enough incentive for working professionals. And the chance to observe the construction process, one of the other rewards, wasn’t much of a perk for them either...

Therefore, Xu An had to abandon his plan to include professionals and limited the competition to university students only. However, he added a restriction: participants had to have an advisor from their own university.

This seemingly normal requirement was actually a small, clever ploy on Xu An’s part.

After all, at a university, trying to meet with most professors when you weren’t their student was next to impossible. But on campus, as long as you had a valid reason, most professors wouldn’t refuse a visit.

This was also true for art professors. If you approached one with a design competition, told them you wanted to enter, and invited them to be your advisor, ninety-nine percent of them would agree.

In other words, Xu An had spent the price of bean sprouts and brought home a whole chicken...

As the application forms poured in, the names in the advisor column grew more and more familiar. Three of them were founders of design studios that charged 360 yuan per square meter—names he had seen on the list Xu Dongliang had provided...

「Hai City Disabled People’s Federation.」

Elder Sun stood at the lectern of a somewhat dilapidated auditorium, speaking with force and passion to the expectant disabled people below.

"...To promote employment for the members of the China Disabled People’s Federation, I have applied for some resources from various departments. These resources fall into three categories. The first is factory work, which you are all familiar with. The second is work in the food and beverage industry. And the third is starting your own business, where we will guide you in opening your own shop... Now, please fill out the ballots with the category you are interested in. I will arrange relevant training content based on your choices!"

The moment his voice fell, the sound of pens scratching on paper and hushed whispers filled the auditorium.

Elder Sun had been working at the China Disabled People’s Federation for nearly half a month, and in that short time, he had gotten a thorough understanding of the place. The Federation was a welfare organization that received little public attention and few subsidies. In other words, it had no money and no staff—only a large group of disabled people looking for work.

For disabled individuals from well-off families who had received a good education, finding a job was difficult, but it was much simpler compared to the people before him, who had little education and no specialized skills.

By leveraging his own reputation and calling in favors, Elder Sun had already managed to arrange jobs for most of the former group. Now, only the people in front of him remained, who needed skills training before they could be placed in jobs.

Because of an incident with a vocational training class for the disabled five years ago, Elder Sun had come to realize just how incredibly difficult it was for disabled people to be accepted by the public and find work.

’That vocational training program had been so well-organized! So many companies participated! So many people found jobs!’

But nearly all the disabled people who had found jobs through that "Vocational Training Class for the Disabled" lost them within six months to three years, with most becoming unemployed once again.

Therefore, this time, Elder Sun had included entrepreneurship counseling as one of the options. Perhaps running a small business and being self-sufficient was their best way forward.

The attendees in the auditorium quickly filled out their ballots, which were collected by staff members who began to tally the results.

About five minutes later, the results, triple-checked, were handed to Elder Sun. He put on the reading glasses that hung around his neck and stared intently at the paper in his hands.

Food & Beverage Work: 28 people

Factory Work: 31 people

Entrepreneurship: 0 people

Abstentions: 5 people

Elder Sun recognized the five who had abstained. All five of them had participated in the "Vocational Training Class for the Disabled," and he had personally awarded them their ’Training Completion Certificates’...