102: Chapter 102: Twenty-two years old, six years of work experience

The ballpoint pen stopped on the paper, and the ink bled into a small black dot.

He stared at the words "General Political Department" on the screen, his teeth clinking against the plastic pen cap, making a faint noise.

The ink of the question mark on the sketch hadn't dried yet.

He flipped his phone onto the table. He continued calculating the steel rebar quote.

Three days. This guy had welded himself to the Qingcheng Orphanage.

Drawing, calculating.

By the afternoon of the third day, Li Li stared at the sketch of the resort hotel on the table, which had been revised over a dozen times.

He raised his hand, crumpled the paper into a ball, threw it in a parabola, and it landed precisely in the trash can in the corner.

"Damn."

He leaned back against the chair, staring at the water stain on the ceiling that looked like a map.

His previous self was just a workhorse drawing construction plans for residential buildings, and now he was trying to do a high-end resort hotel? Biting off more than he could chew would just lead to trouble.

Leave professional matters to professionals. Spend money to hire a top design team, and he would only be responsible for stating requirements as the client.

This was the mindset an entrepreneur should have.

Putting aside the obsession with drawing, he pulled out a new grid notebook.

The hotel matter could be outsourced, but the children's matters could not.

With three hundred and fifty children, he couldn't just rely on all of them to get into Tsinghua or Peking University.

He picked up his pen and wrote four big characters in the notebook: Future Planning.

The nib scratched across the paper, making a rustling sound.

Route 1: Those with good grades and sharp minds. Continue to high school, take the college entrance exam. It wasn't easy for someone from Qingcheng Orphanage to become a college student, so he had to support them even if it meant selling everything he owned.

Route 2: Those with poor grades but willing to grind. Support them in attending high school. Get whatever score they can on the college entrance exam; at worst, they go to a vocational college, get a diploma, and have more paths in the future.

Route 3: Those with terrible grades who get sleepy the moment they see a book.

The nib stopped.

This was the bulk of the orphanage.

Go out into society and screw bolts? Deliver food?

He had done that in his previous life; he knew too well how murky those waters were.

He drew a heavy circle in the notebook and wrote four words: Internal digestion.

After graduating from junior high, whether they went to a general high school or a vocational school, they had to get a high school diploma.

By the age of sixteen, the legal working age, they would be directly placed into his own resort hotel as part-time employees.

Serving dishes, making beds, front desk reception.

Work while studying.

The day they got their diploma, they would be promoted to full-time staff.

He knew the hiring logic of international hotel chains like the back of his hand. Those hotel management graduates from vocational colleges or universities still had to start as interns.

These kids from the orphanage, by the time they graduated at eighteen, would already be veteran employees with two years of part-time experience. Work for another three years, and at twenty-one, they would have five years of work experience.

How could a twenty-two-year-old college graduate compete for a position against a twenty-two-year-old supervisor or manager? The latter would be their superior and their superior's superior.

In the service industry, a supervisor or manager with five years of experience is worth more than any diploma.

Later, if they wanted to switch jobs or go to big cities, their resume would definitely be impressive.

It was a bit tough, but it could ensure these orphans had an iron rice bowl, could establish a career, and could start a family.

Even if they didn't become hugely successful, working as a Hotel Manager for thirty years, even in Hebei or Henan, would be enough to support a frugal little family.

That was enough.

Li Li looked at the full page of paper.

"Does this count as cultivating cheap labor in advance?"

He rubbed his chin.

"Forget it, let me be a capitalist then. It's better than them being exploited by others outside."

He picked up his phone and took a photo of the page.

He opened WeChat.

He found the pinned profile picture—a Samoyed wearing sunglasses.

Li Li: [Image]

Li Li: [Teacher Jiang, help me out.]

Li Li: [This is the plan I made for the children at the orphanage. Could you ask your mom to help take a look? She is the Dean of Education in Haidian District, so it is right up her alley.]

Imperial Capital. Haidian District.

Jiang Rumu was lying on the big bed in her bedroom, her fair calves dangling in mid-air.

Her phone vibrated.

She opened WeChat.

She zoomed in on the picture with the messy handwriting.

She read line by line.

From "selling everything to support college" to "shoving them into the hotel to work at sixteen."

Jiang Rumu rolled over and lay flat on the bed.

How much stuff did this man have in his head?

He could fly a fighter jet in the Middle East, tear down internet celebrities upon returning home, and now he even came up with a closed-loop vocational education system for an orphanage.

She shuffled in her slippers, holding her phone, and ran out of the bedroom.

In the living room, Director Wu Xiaomei was wearing reading glasses and grading test papers. Being both the Dean of Education and a high school senior teacher meant a heavy workload.

"Mom!" Jiang Rumu handed over her phone. "Take a look at this."

Director Wu Xiaomei pushed up her glasses. "What is it?"

"Li Li made it."

Director Wu Xiaomei immediately put down her red pen and took the phone with both hands.

She was extremely satisfied with this young man who had protected her daughter in the livestream.

She stared at the screen.

The living room was quiet.

She read for a full five minutes.

Jiang Rumu leaned in. "How is it? Is it a bit too realistic? Letting people work at sixteen."

Director Wu Xiaomei looked up.

"Realistic? This is called being responsible!"

She pointed at the screen. "You people who have never suffered think all children in the world can get into college. Children in the orphanage lack original families and are psychologically sensitive. Compared to ethereal academic qualifications, what they need more are survival skills and a stable rice bowl."

She returned the phone to her daughter.

"This plan is down-to-earth. Especially this step of part-time work leading to full-time employment at the hotel; it directly solves the employment problem for older orphans."

Director Wu Xiaomei paused. "Tell Li Li, if there is a need for academic subjects, I can help them connect with some online tutoring resources here in Haidian."

Jiang Rumu took the phone and ran back to her room.

Her fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard.

Jiang Rumu: [My mom saw it.]

Jiang Rumu: [The Haidian Dean of Education gave a high evaluation and expressed willingness to provide online tutoring support.]

Jiang Rumu: [Boss Li, I could hear your abacus beads clicking all the way here in the Imperial Capital.]

Mount Qingcheng.

Li Li looked at the reply on the screen and laughed.

He typed.

Li Li: [Thank your mom for me. I'll treat her to a good meal another day.]

The message was replied to in seconds.

Jiang Rumu: [Don't be in such a hurry to thank her.]

Jiang Rumu: [I have a question.]

Li Li: [Ask.]

Jiang Rumu: [Your hotel, it must cost at least 200 million to start, right?]

Jiang Rumu: [The land is yours, but what about the money?]

Jiang Rumu: [Don't tell me you are going to take out a 200 million loan from the bank. The annual interest alone would crush the hotel. When on earth would the orphanage get any profit sharing?]

Li Li looked at the words on the screen.

He leaned back in his chair.

This woman, she usually looks silly, but at critical moments, her brain moves faster than anyone else's.

200 million.

His card currently had, at most, plus the advance payment from ByteDance, only about a million left.

Take out a loan from the bank?

Hengtai Construction had just stabbed him in the back, and the local bullies around Mount Qingcheng must be watching him. Whether the bank would dare to approve such a large sum was unknown.

Even if they did, the interest alone would keep him working to pay off debt for the rest of his life.

He threw his phone on the table.

He put his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling.

Make money.

Make money as fast as possible.

Make money over nine digits.

He still had to target Jiang Rumu's future endorsement in Ala Country.

After all, he had a part in it too.

His left wrist habitually turned half a circle.

Click.

His knuckles cracked.

His gaze fell on the national may 1st labor medal on the corner of the table.

Beside it was the sketch that said "August 1st?".

He opened Jiang Rumu's chat box.

Li Li: [As for the money, I have my own plans.]

Li Li: [Get your little treasury ready.]

After sending it, he locked the screen.

Imperial Capital.

Jiang Rumu looked at the sentence "Get your little treasury ready" on the screen.

She kicked the pillow on the bed away.

"Damn poor guy! Targeting this young lady's money!"

She cursed.

She opened her mobile banking app.

She checked her balance.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions, ten millions...

She pursed her lips.

"200 million... This isn't enough either."

She returned to the WeChat interface and stared at Li Li's Samoyed profile picture.

The bulk of that endorsement fee from Ala Country was indeed earned through his life-risking efforts.

She bit her lip and poked the screen twice heavily with her finger.

Jiang Rumu: [How much is missing? Let me see if it's enough to keep you as my boy toy.]

Sent successfully.

She threw her phone aside and pulled the quilt over her head.

Let's see how this poor guy handles this.