266: Chapter 266 The Interview Begins

When she saw Chen Fan, her eyes lit up. "Hello, student. Who are you looking for?"

"I'm here for the interview. We spoke earlier."

The girl's expression shifted from confusion to realization, as if she had finally matched the face in front of her with the voice on the phone.

Her eyes lit up again, even brighter than before. Stepping aside to let him in, her voice carried a hint of unhideable surprise and warmth. "You're President Chen! Please, come in."

"Just call me Chen Fan. I'm also a student at Jiao Tong University."

"Then... I'll call you Student Chen Fan."

Chen Fan nodded and followed her inside.

The editorial office wasn't large, only about twenty square meters. Half of it was filled with desks and other office supplies,

while the other half had two sofas and some shooting equipment set up, looking like a space specifically cleared out for interviews.

Two boys were tinkering with the equipment nearby. When they saw Chen Fan, a look of surprise flashed in their eyes. So this was the entrepreneurial genius they were interviewing today? He didn't look like a company founder; instead, he looked more like a rich second-generation heir.

The girl led Chen Fan to the sofa and sat down.

Then she poured him a cup of water.

"Student Chen Fan, let me introduce myself first. My name is Song Yutong, and I'm the head of the school newspaper's reporter group, as well as your interviewer today." She sat back down on the sofa, pen in hand. "These two next to us are in charge of shooting and post-editing."

Chen Fan followed her gaze. The boy holding the camera nodded at him, while the boy sitting by the desk raised a hand in greeting.

Song Yutong glanced at Chen Fan.

To be honest, ever since she received the notice that she would be interviewing a freshman game company entrepreneur, she hadn't had very high expectations.

After all, plenty of college students tried to start businesses these days, but very few actually achieved anything.

But when she saw the information on him, her eyes instantly widened.

This freshman's game company was actually the one behind "defend the carrot" and "happy elimination."

She knew that people in her own dorm played both of these games, which showed just how famous they were.

But she never expected that these two games were made by a student from her own school.

She had thought that whoever made such games would likely be an honest, dull tech geek.

But meeting him today, she realized that Chen Fan was actually a bright, handsome guy who didn't look like a tech geek at all.

Snapping out of it, she looked at Chen Fan and asked, "Student Chen Fan, would you like to rest for a bit, or should we start right away?"

"Let's start right away."

"Alright, but before we begin, we need to go over the interview outline first." Song Yutong opened her notebook and ran her finger down the page. "It's just to let you see the general direction of our questions beforehand, so you have an idea and won't be caught off guard by anything."

Chen Fan was slightly taken aback. He had thought this kind of interview would just be a casual chat where they talked about whatever came to mind, not expecting a step like reviewing the outline beforehand.

On second thought, although a school newspaper interview wasn't as formal as a TV station's, they still had to write an article, so confirming the direction in advance was a basic procedure.

He didn't refuse and nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

Song Yutong began explaining the interview process to Chen Fan. After that, she mentioned several directions for the interview:

Having finished, she closed her notebook and looked up at Chen Fan. "Those are the general directions. Is there anything you're uncomfortable talking about?"

Chen Fan thought about it; there was nothing really off-limits.

"Nothing's inconvenient."

"Alright." Song Yutong nodded, then looked at the two male students tinkering with the equipment in front of them.

Liu Yang made an "OK" gesture, indicating that the camera was ready.

She cleared her throat and began slowly, "Welcome to 'Jiao Tong University's Influential Figures.' Our interviewee for this episode is a freshman majoring in Business Administration at the School of Management of Jiao Tong University—Student Chen Fan."

She paused, glanced at the outline she had listed in her notebook, then looked up, her gaze falling on Chen Fan. "Student Chen Fan, thank you for taking the time to be interviewed today. Please start by introducing yourself."

Chen Fan looked at the camera. "Hello everyone, my name is Chen Fan. I am currently a freshman majoring in Business Administration at Jiao Tong University, and I am also the founder of Fanyu Technology."

Song Yutong asked again, "Student Chen Fan, could you introduce your company's core business?"

"Currently, our core business is game development, with no other business for now. We have released three games: 'defend the carrot', 'happy elimination', and a web game that was launched recently called 'archangels sword'."

"How big is the company?"

"Right now, the company has over 130 employees, and the combined monthly revenue of the three games exceeds one hundred million yuan."

Over a hundred million! Song Yutong's pupils dilated instantly. She had thought that if the revenue of the game company Chen Fan founded could exceed ten million, it would already be considered excellent. She never expected it to be over a hundred million.

The two boys next to the equipment also had looks of utter shock on their faces. Originally, they had been somewhat dismissive of Chen Fan, this young boss, thinking he was just lucky to have started a company. They hadn't expected the company's revenue to actually reach over a hundred million.

Actually, Chen Fan was still holding back. Currently, the monthly revenue of the three games didn't just exceed a hundred million; combined, it was nearly three hundred million.

Song Yutong was the first to snap back to reality. Looking at Chen Fan, her tone was slightly steadier than before, but there was still a trace of excitement in her voice that she couldn't fully suppress. "What was the most difficult part during the early stages of your startup?"

Chen Fan thought for a moment and said, "Recruitment, probably. Maybe because I was too young, many interviewees would just take one look and leave, not even bothering to do the interview. Fortunately, through persistent efforts, I still found the people I needed."

Right after, she asked a few more questions, which Chen Fan answered one by one. For instance, when asked where his startup capital came from, Chen Fan truthfully replied that he earned it by writing a novel, revealing the title of his novel.

Song Yutong hadn't read the novel and didn't know anything about it, but the two male students had probably read it, as excited looks appeared on their faces.

"One last question," Song Yutong said, closing her notebook as if she had finished asking everything she wanted to. "What would you like to say to those underclassmen who also want to start their own businesses?"

Chen Fan paused, then shrugged. "I don't think I have any underclassmen yet."

Hearing this, Song Yutong couldn't help but chuckle softly, but she immediately regained her composure. "My apologies, I forgot that Student Chen Fan is only a freshman. But what would you like to say to the upperclassmen who currently want to start a business, as well as the future underclassmen who might want to do so?"

"My advice is to not casually give advice to young people." Chen Fan looked at the camera, his tone flat.

Song Yutong was taken aback by his answer, then smiled.

She looked at Chen Fan. "Then that's all for today's interview. Thank you for your cooperation, Student Chen Fan."

Chen Fan stood up. "When will this interview be released?"

"It still needs to go through post-editing, and after that, it has to be sent to the school leadership for review. It will only be released once they confirm there are no issues." Song Yutong also stood up, looking at Chen Fan with a smile. "But don't worry, once the release date is confirmed, I'll let you know."