Chapter 48: Approaching Zhong Yi for Collaboration

"Mom, husband, aren't we being a little too harsh on Dad?"

Seeing her father leave with a lonely and desolate figure, Nan Li felt a pang of sympathy. After all, her father was quite elderly and suffering from illnesses.

"Harsh? How is that harsh?"

Zhao Na wore a look of utter disdain. "When he treated us the way he did back then, was it not harsh? He sowed the seeds himself, so he must reap the consequences. He has no right to blame anyone else."

Zhou Chen cast a glance at Nan Li, signaling her to say no more. As the parties directly involved, expecting Zhao Na to forgive Nan Jianlong was an absolute impossibility.

"I didn't get enough to eat just now. I'll go reheat the dishes."

***

Nan Jianlong returned home feeling utterly dejected. Seeing him, Cai Juying, who had been waiting anxiously, immediately asked, "How did it go? What did Lili and the others say?"

It was she who had instigated Nan Jianlong to go talk to Zhou Chen and Nan Li, hoping they would use their relationship with Nan Jianlong to help Tian Yulan.

Nan Jianlong raised his head and looked at Cai Juying. "Let them resolve their own matters. An old man like me is useless now."

With that, he collapsed onto the bed, burying his face. Noticing his unusual state, Cai Juying hurriedly followed him into the room.

"What's wrong with you? Why is your complexion so terrible?"

"I'm fine."

Cai Juying reached out and touched Nan Jianlong's forehead, instantly crying out in alarm, "You're running a fever! How can you say you're fine? What on earth happened? Why would you suddenly get a fever out of nowhere?"

When he went out at noon, Nan Jianlong's condition had seemed fine. How could he suddenly develop a fever in just two hours?

"I'm fine. Just let me rest for a bit."

Although his daughter hadn't said anything particularly harsh, her attitude had broken his heart. Even his son-in-law, who had always been so obedient and deferential to him, had completely changed his stance.

This sudden shift caught him completely off guard and proved difficult to accept. On his way back, consumed by despair, his mind had wandered aimlessly, leaving him mentally exhausted and unwittingly bringing on a fever.

"Did Lili and the others refuse? How could she be like this? Lanlan finally managed to crawl her way up to a manager's position. If they don't help her this time, Lanlan is going to lose her job! How is she supposed to survive?"

With that, Cai Juying let out grievances and tears began to flow. "Have we ever shortchanged them over the years? Every time they come over, we treat them to the best food and drinks. We could understand why they refused to help with Ziyou's matter last time, but this time it concerns Lanlan's job and her future! It's just a matter of saying a single word. Why is Lili so unwilling to help?"

Nan Jianlong was already feeling unwell, and hearing Cai Juying drone on endlessly made his head ring with a dull buzzing, rendering him unable to process anything.

"Alright, stop talking. Just let me have some peace and quiet for a while."

Cai Juying wanted to say more, but seeing Nan Jianlong's suffering expression, she ultimately swallowed her words and stopped nagging.

"I know. You get some rest first. I'll go brew some medicine for you, and you can take it when you wake up."

Although deeply displeased, she did not dare to push Nan Jianlong too hard. Though poorly educated, she understood very well that Nan Jianlong was her only pillar of support now.

"Mn."

Nan Jianlong gave a hazy response, then closed his eyes to rest.

Today was Saturday, and Tian Yulan technically shouldn't have had to work, but because tomorrow was the shopping mall's anniversary celebration, she had to work through the weekend.

However, after the events of the previous night, Tian Yulan was in an extremely poor mental state. The issue regarding the household textile storefront remained unresolved, and the promotional materials from Vinet were still nowhere in sight.

Consequently, Tian Yulan was running herself ragged, frantically searching everywhere to find another brand to replace them. Yet at this point, she couldn't find any major household textile brand that could compare to Vinet. On top of that, her superiors kept calling her repeatedly to rush her, driving Tian Yulan to the brink of physical and emotional exhaustion.

Sleep-deprived and emotionally drained, weighed down by the terror of losing her job, this fiercely proud woman suddenly collapsed right there on the job, scaring the mall staff half to death and prompting them to rush her to the hospital.

Zhou Chen naturally had no idea what was happening to Tian Yulan. At that moment, he was having dinner with Zhong Yi at a restaurant.

"Zhong Yi, I hope you'll forgive me for making a fool of myself at the school last time."

Pouring a glass of wine for Zhong Yi, the two of them downed it in one go, and Zhou Chen brought up the incident at the school.

***

Zhong Yi said, "Make a fool of yourself? What's there to laugh at? Honestly, if we're being real, I had it even worse than you. That Tian Yulan got me fired, and when I moved to Zeshue, she still haunted me relentlessly, driving me out of my mind. To be honest, I really didn't want to deal with her anymore, but what can you do? Some people just have the connections and know the right people in high places."

"Still, there's one thing I don't understand, Senior Brother. Isn't she a relative of your family? Why did she throw hands with you and make things so ugly? Why on earth?"

He had heard Zhou Chen mention before that Tian Yulan had some connection to their family. Although the relationship was complicated, it still shouldn't have reached the point of starting a massive brawl right outside the school gates.

"She really isn't much of a proper relative to our family. She... well, never mind, it's all very complicated. You just need to know that she has nothing to do with us now, and she won't have anything to do with us in the future either."

Thinking of Tian Yulan only brought a headache, so Zhou Chen refused to dwell on it and instead went straight to the point of why he had asked Zhong Yi out today.

"Zhong Yi, the reason I asked you to come over today is to discuss something with you. But before we get into that, I want to ask: how are things going for you at Zeshue?"

Zhong Yi furrowed his brow slightly. "Senior Brother, given our relationship, I'll be straight with you. Zeshue is indeed a top-tier tutoring institution, and I'm teaching an elite class. But because I haven't been there long and haven't built up a track record yet, my salary isn't high. Plus, Zeshue has a ton of rules—they strictly prohibit teachers from recruiting private students after class. While the compensation is better than Fanfan Primary School, the pressure is much heavier, and the burden is greater."

Zeshue was indeed the premier tutoring center in their district, with exorbitant tuition fees. But because Zhong Yi had arrived only recently and lacked seniority, even though he taught the elite class, his salary was currently moderate—enough to live on, but nothing special.

Compared to working in a regular school, however, the pressure at a tutoring center was immense. Students came to a cram school specifically to raise their grades, and as the teacher in charge, you had to rack your brain and pull out all the stops to make those improvements happen.

Moreover, these students couldn't be disciplined or scolded the same way they could in a regular school.

As a result, after spending this period there, Zhong Yi's overriding feeling was fatigue—exhaustion of the body, and even greater exhaustion of the mind.

Hearing this, Zhou Chen suddenly asked, "Then have you ever thought about starting your own tutoring school?"

"Start my own tutoring school?"

Zhong Yi shook his head. "Senior Brother, you aren't in this industry, so you don't understand the situation. Opening a cram school is not an easy task. If I were still teaching at Fanfan Primary School, I could still recruit a few students. But now that I've been fired, those parents won't trust me anymore. I have no connections, no capital, no source for students, and I can't afford a good location. It's simply impossible to start one."

"What if you had a guaranteed source of students and sufficient capital? Would you have the confidence to teach the students well and get a tutoring center off the ground?" Zhou Chen asked.

Zhong Yi paused, the wine glass hovering halfway to his mouth. "Senior Brother, what do you mean?"

Zhou Chen nodded and said, "You guessed it. That's precisely what I'm thinking."

Zhong Yi looked at Zhou Chen in disbelief. "No, Senior Brother, aren't you an architectural designer? What made you think of getting into this business?"

Zhou Chen smiled. "Zhong Yi, you probably don't know yet, but I've already resigned."

"Senior Brother, you resigned? Why would you do that? Your job was so good, and so respectable. Why quit?"

Zhong Yi truly found it incomprehensible. He knew Zhou Chen worked as an architectural designer, and quite a prestigious one at that, earning at least tens of thousands of yuan a month. He simply couldn't fathom why anyone would quit such a fantastic job. If he were in Zhou Chen's shoes, he certainly would never have done that.

"No matter how good a job is, you're still working for someone else. And the glamour you see is only on the surface; in reality, it's not nearly as good as you think."

Zhou Chen shook his head. "The reason I resigned is because I want to start something of my own. Recently, because of Huanhuan's grades, I started paying close attention to children's education and school transitions. I noticed that kids nowadays face immense academic and progression pressure, and as a direct result, all kinds of tutoring institutions have sprung up."

Zhong Yi said, "Senior Brother, do you want to get into the tutoring business?"

"Senior Brother, I'm not trying to pour cold water on you, but running a tutoring school is genuinely no easy feat. If you just run a small, casual operation teaching a dozen or so students, it won't even match what you were making at your old job. But if you want to scale up, that's an even bigger challenge—connections, student recruitment, capital, good teachers, and strong management are all absolutely indispensable."

"Take a massive brand like Zeshue, for example; the expenses for teachers and rent alone are terrifying. If you can't enroll enough students, it's a guaranteed money-loser. On top of that, there are cram schools everywhere nowadays. Making yours stand out and grow is no simple task."

Zhong Yi, who had always harbored a strong desire to make money, had actually tried running a small tutoring class in the past. But that was only because he was a regular substitute teacher at a school, which naturally attracted parents to send their children to him—schoolteachers never had to worry about finding students.

However, starting a tutoring institution entirely from scratch, especially with Zhou Chen lacking professional background and credentials in this field, would make the endeavor infinitely more difficult.

"Of course I know it's not easy, which is why I came to you. I want you to come work with me. We'll be partners: I'll provide the capital, and you'll provide the expertise. Nan Li and I have lived here for many years, so we do have some connections. In the early stages, we can definitely pull in some students. But to keep those students, teaching quality is the absolute core, and I believe you have that capability."

"Think about it, Zhong Yi: working for someone else, no matter how well you perform, means you're still an employee. Others make the big bucks while you make crumbs. But if we partner up, I'll give you equity. You won't be an employee anymore; you'll be a boss. What you'll be doing is starting your own business. It might be tough in the early days, but it has infinitely more prospects than being a lifelong wage earner."

"We partner up?"

Zhou Chen's words caused Zhong Yi's expression to shift dramatically, stirring a fierce wave of ambition in his heart. It was primarily the phrase "you won't be an employee anymore; you'll be a boss" that sent shockwaves through his mind.

Coming from a small town, his ultimate desire was to plant roots in this city. His girlfriend, Zhang Xueer, came from a decent background, and though their relationship was strong, Zhang Xueer's family actually opposed their union.

The reason for their opposition was simple: Zhang Xueer's parents felt he hailed from a small town, had no money, and owned no property, making him entirely unworthy of their daughter.

***

Zhong Yi knew this all too well, which was why he was so desperately driven to make money. Yet he was also painfully aware that, given his current earning capacity, saving enough to buy a house would probably take decades.

And how could Zhang Xueer possibly wait for decades?

Zhang Xueer was naive and didn't fully grasp these harsh realities, but he understood them completely. Therefore, the moment Zhou Chen pitched this idea, he was instantly tempted.

He had always envied Zhou Chen. After all, his senior brother came from the exact same hometown as him, yet had managed to marry a local girl from a well-to-do family, secure a prestigious job, and enjoy an affluent lifestyle.

In his eyes, Zhou Chen was his role model and the goal he strived toward.

"Senior Brother, are you being serious?"

Zhou Chen replied, "Of course I'm serious. I've already calculated it carefully. If we start preparations now, we can catch the summer tutoring rush in just over a month—that's the peak season when students are most in demand. In the beginning, we can charge lower fees to gradually build our reputation. As long as parents see their children improving, they become our best hidden advertisements."

"I'm a parent myself, so I know how powerful word-of-mouth recommendations among parents are. The core of a tutoring school is the teachers; we must find reliable educators. Zhong Yi, I believe in your capability. With you as the foundation, we can recruit a few more teachers later on and establish our baseline framework."

"And we don't just have to stick to offline tutoring. Once our reputation is established, we can expand into online tutoring as well."

Having watched the television drama, Zhou Chen was well aware of Zhong Yi's capabilities. Zhong Yi was undeniably a talented teacher; he had managed to raise Huanhuan's failing grades into the top ten of her class over the course of a single summer vacation—something not just any ordinary teacher could pull off.

Furthermore, he knew that a nationwide crisis would strike next year, paralyzing normal schooling and causing online tutoring to skyrocket in popularity.

Among all the business ventures Zhou Chen considered, opening a tutoring institute was one he valued the most.

As for management, he already had a target in mind. Barring any unexpected developments, Nan Li would likely struggle to get promoted to director, at which point he would simply urge her to resign and take over the administrative operations of the tutoring school. Having spent years in corporate management, Nan Li was thoroughly experienced in that realm.

Moreover, Nan Li worked in sales, meaning she possessed a solid network of contacts in the commercial sector. Enrolling students in a tutoring school operated on principles very similar to sales—it was essentially a form of promotion.

With Nan Li's competence, if she threw herself into it wholeheartedly, she would undoubtedly bring in a massive influx of students.

As for acquiring the various licenses and permits to operate a legitimate tutoring center, as long as all paperwork was in order and he pulled a few strings—or spent a bit of money if necessary—securing the credentials shouldn't pose any real problem.

Therefore, in Zhou Chen's eyes, exceptional teachers were the most critical element. Giving a capable, ambitious young man like Zhong Yi a stake in the business would surely make him give the proposal serious consideration.

Of course, a tutoring school wasn't the only business idea Zhou Chen had. If that path somehow fell through, he had backup plans. But in his view, a tutoring institute offered the fastest path to profitability, and it was in the field of education to boot.

Zhong Yi took a deep breath, his voice strained as he said, "Senior Brother, this matter is genuinely monumental for me. I need to think it over very carefully."

Zhou Chen smiled with understanding. "Of course. An important decision like this deserves careful thought. You can also discuss it with your girlfriend. To be honest, I'd actually love to recruit Teacher Zhang as well. I think Teacher Zhang has a wonderful, approachable personality and is an outstanding educator. If she joined us, she could play a massive role in student psychological counseling and mentoring."

This was spoken from the heart. Although Zhang Xueer had a slight tendency to act like a moral savior, that personality trait also brought immense benefits—namely, making it easy for her to connect with students. When students faced crushing academic pressure, Zhang Xueer's genuine guidance could work wonders.

Grades were important, but mental health was equally crucial. Tutoring schools carried immense stress, and having a dedicated teacher to look after the students' psychological well-being would add profound meaning to the education they provided.

Zhong Yi gave a bitter smile. "Xueer probably wouldn't go for it. She's a bit too idealistic, wholly focused on educating and nurturing minds. There's no way she'd want to teach at a commercial tutoring center."

Zhou Chen chuckled. "How do you know unless you try? A tutoring center is still about teaching and nurturing minds. But we don't need to rush to convince Teacher Zhang; let's wait until you've made your decision first. Go home and think it over thoroughly. I'm not joking around with this. In fact, I've already prepared several million yuan in startup capital for the tutoring school."

"Several million yuan in startup capital?!"

Zhong Yi was genuinely startled. He had never seen that much money in his entire life. Did opening a tutoring center really cost that much?

Zhou Chen patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm telling you this not to pressure you, but to show you my determination and to give you peace of mind. But I won't force you either. No matter what decision you ultimately make, it won't affect our relationship."

Zhong Yi replied solemnly, "Senior Brother, don't worry. I will think it over very seriously."

Having already felt tempted earlier, his heart was now pounding with excitement.

In his view, since Zhou Chen had readied millions in capital, this was definitely not some fly-by-night operation. If it really took off, even holding a minor share of the equity would undoubtedly surpass anything he could earn working as an employee at a tutoring agency.