20: Chapter 20 Private life

April 3, 2025, Thursday, light rain, 10 to 20 degrees Celsius.

Nine-thirty in the morning.

After talking with Wang Xiao yesterday afternoon, Qiao Yichen officially began his side hustle plan.

Since there were basically no major tasks at the company now, only occasional monitoring of data was required, he had plenty of free time.

He sat at his workstation, opened the WeChat secondary account named 'River,' clicked into several industry groups, and started scrolling through the chat history.

This time, he changed his method.

Instead of publicly posting 'GG' in the group like he did yesterday afternoon, he specifically sought out people who were asking for resources.

In the 'E-commerce Traffic Circle,' he spotted someone named 'Sister Mao' who had posted yesterday afternoon:

'Looking for a wave of precise female users to test a new product. Budget is limited, but results are required.'

Her Moments feed was full of photos of new women's clothing and fabric details; she appeared to be a small boss running her own apparel e-commerce business.

He sent her a private message: 'I saw you were looking for female users to test traffic. I have a slot here, targeting 25-35 female demographics, three-day cycle, with internally verified data.'

...

Friday night, three days before the first slot opened.

After getting off work and returning home, Qiao Yichen sat in his rented room, looking at two signed electronic contracts on his computer screen.

The first deal was finalized yesterday afternoon—the e-commerce boss known as 'Sister Mao.' After seeing the data, she only asked two questions: 'Can you guarantee there's no fake traffic?' and 'Can the payment method be more flexible?'

Qiao Yichen answered very directly: 'I can give you real-time backend access for the data. 50% prepayment is required; that's standard industry practice.'

Sister Mao hesitated for one night, signed the contract Friday afternoon, and the 43,000 RMB prepayment arrived in his account.

The weekend arrived in a flash.

The second deal was closed today. It was a studio dealing in niche aromatherapy brands. The person in charge had been posting in their Moments for half a month seeking 'young users for channel testing.' Qiao Yichen sent them the information for Slot Three, and the other party asked over a dozen questions before finally saying, 'Our budget is tight; we can only offer 35,000 RMB.'

Qiao Yichen calculated the cost; the profit wasn't huge, but it was better than nothing. So, he agreed.

The 35,000 RMB arrived this morning.

For the third education slot, he contacted four potential clients. Two immediately said, 'No need,' one thought it was too expensive, and the last one, after chatting until the end, said, 'Our internal process is too long; we won't make it in time.'

Qiao Yichen didn't push any further.

At three in the afternoon, he sent Wang Xiao the final confirmation:

'Brother Wang, two slots confirmed:

E-commerce Slot: April 8th to April 10th, prepayment received from my side.

Pan-Entertainment Slot: April 11th to April 15th, prepayment received from my side.

However, the third Education Slot hasn't been released yet; it will probably have to wait until next week.'

Wang Xiao replied quickly: 'Got it. Send me the materials and proof of payment.'

Qiao Yichen organized the materials and prepayment vouchers for the two slots and sent them to Wang Xiao.

Less than ten minutes later, Wang Xiao replied: 'Received. Permissions will be activated next Monday, April 7th, in the morning.'

After handling these matters, Qiao Yichen leaned back in his chair, looking out the window.

The setting sun slanted in, casting a patch of warm yellow light on the wooden floor.

The number in his mobile banking app was 78,000 more than a week ago. After deducting the costs paid to Wang Xiao, he could still pocket about twenty to thirty thousand.

It wasn't much.

More importantly, this path was now clear. He had gone through the entire process—from connecting channels to screening clients to signing contracts and receiving payment. The next time a new slot appeared, he knew exactly what to do.

He stood up, poured a glass of water, and slowly drank it by the window.

Just then, his phone vibrated once.

He looked down; it was a message from Sister Mao: 'Mr. Qiao, our materials are ready on our end. We will send you a preview tomorrow.'

He replied: 'Okay.'

Another message popped up, this one from the aromatherapy brand's principal: 'Our landing page is still being optimized... It should take until next week to finalize the draft.'

'No problem. Just make sure to give me your materials by next Thursday at the latest.'

'Understood.'

Business was like this—the money was collected, and only then did the work truly begin.

...

The week turned to Monday.

The atmosphere in the office was noticeably more relaxed. There were no urgent meetings, no last-minute requests, and even the usual morning seminar was canceled. The project had entered a stable execution phase, and everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

At ten in the morning, Wang Xiao's confirmation email appeared in Qiao Yichen's inbox right on time. Qiao Yichen separately opened read-only access for the two slots, attached the operating guide, and then contacted Sister Mao to confirm the final materials and timing.

'Received, I see the backend,' Sister Mao replied quickly. 'All materials have been uploaded. We will launch punctually tomorrow.'

'Good.'

At midnight on Tuesday, the first e-commerce slot started exactly on schedule. Before going to sleep, Qiao Yichen glanced at his phone; the initial data curve in the backend had already started climbing.

The first thing he did upon waking up the next day was check the complete report—click-through rate, conversion rate, user dwell time—all core metrics were within the healthy range, even slightly higher than the benchmark data provided by Wang Xiao.

In the afternoon, Sister Mao sent a message: 'The data is better than I expected. The quality of your internal channel is indeed excellent.'

Qiao Yichen replied: 'Keep monitoring; the next two days are key.'

On Wednesday, the principal of the aromatherapy brand sent the final material package. The landing page was exquisitely designed, the selling points were clear, and the visual tone was highly consistent with the brand. Qiao Yichen quickly reviewed it and replied: 'It's fine. I'll open the permissions for you on Thursday.'

Thursday morning, he opened the backend access for the second slot as promised. The principal logged in quickly to confirm and sent an 'OK' gesture.

Qiao Yichen messaged Sister Mao: 'Overall performance over the three days was good.'

Sister Mao replied: 'It was good. Let's cooperate again next time if there's a chance.'

Friday afternoon, Qiao Yichen glanced at his phone as he walked out of the conference room.

The second slot displayed 'Ready' in the system, with a small line of text noting the activation time: 'Tonight at 24:00.'

Almost simultaneously, a message from the aromatherapy brand principal popped up: 'Materials and page are finally confirmed, waiting for the slot to open.'

Qiao Yichen replied with two words: 'Received.'

He returned to his workstation and didn't immediately shut down his computer.

The data backend for the first slot was still open in one corner of the screen—the curve had smoothly reset to zero at midnight yesterday. Sister Mao's final payment had also arrived this morning, 43,000 RMB, not a penny less.

Now, the money from the first slot was secured.

The second slot was about to begin.

As for the third education slot, he hadn't managed to release it himself, and Wang Xiao hadn't found a successor for it temporarily either.

Close to quitting time, the sound of 'click-clack, click-clack, click-clack' of high heels echoed down the hallway.

Liu Yanran stopped beside his desk, lightly tapping the partition with her finger.

'Busy tonight?'

She asked casually, as if it were just an offhand remark.

Qiao Yichen looked up: 'No.'

'Then let's go together,' she said. 'A friend told me about a really nice wine bar. I mentioned wanting to go last week but never had the time.'

'Sure, I'll go with you.'

The exchange was brief, just three sentences.

Liu Yanran received her answer, nodded, and turned to leave. The sound of her footsteps gradually faded down the hall.

Qiao Yichen shut down his computer and packed his things.

Outside the window, the Friday evening sky was grayish-blue, the edges of the clouds rimmed with the last touch of gold.

He suddenly recalled the time they were trying on clothes in the mall.

He also recalled earlier moments: her pale face in the hospital, the weight of her leaning against him in the bar hallway.