EFB Chapter 54 My Money!
Chapter 54 My Money!
The next day, Chen Che and Xu Zhen cleaned up the rest of the incubation park, and then rode their electric scooter back and forth between the incubation park and the dormitory building several times, moving all the goods they had stored in the dormitory to the incubation park.
In this way, "Fries at Whole Points" now has a formal base and headquarters.
Xu Zhen said with a touch of emotion, "It wasn't easy. Finally, it's starting to look somewhat promising, junior."
Chen Che smiled and said, "Yes, but it's only the first step in a long journey."
"Junior."
"Um?"
"Did they say when the money would arrive?" Xu Zhen suddenly asked.
"What money?"
"It's the funding the school is giving us, the one you mentioned before, which will be provided after the startup application is approved." Xu Zhen rubbed her hands together excitedly.
"No sound." Chen Che thought for a moment. There was indeed no relevant information in the bag of handover materials, and no one had come to contact him about this matter. So he replied.
"Okay," Xu Zhen replied with a hint of disappointment, then suddenly blurted out, "It shouldn't be gone, right?"
"It's not that bad." Chen Che shook his head: "It's clearly written on the school's official website, they wouldn't lie to us. Let's wait for the notification."
Xu Zhen nodded in agreement, "Yeah, that's true. I'll be going now. Call me if you need anything."
"it is good."
With Xu Zhen gone, Chen Che was left alone in the incubator, and being alone, he couldn't help but start to overthink.
Xu Zhen's concerns were not unfounded. If you don't ask and he doesn't tell you, things might really just disappear if you keep dragging it out.
Big problems become small problems, and small problems become nothing; then the problem is solved.
After thinking for a while, Chen Che decided to call his counselor, Zhu Jingdong, to sound him out.
The call was answered quickly, and the other end said "feed" first.
Chen Che greeted her warmly: "Hello, Teacher Zhu, I'm Chen Che."
"Oh, Xiao Chen, hello." Zhu Jingdong's tone was indifferent.
"Hmm, Teacher Zhu, have you eaten yet?" Chen Che didn't ask directly, but instead started with a few small talk to set the stage.
"No, we'll eat in a bit. Just tell me what's on your mind." Zhu Jingdong was obviously much more direct and straightforward than him. Get to the point and don't waste time with nonsense.
Since Zhu Jingdong disliked feigned politeness, Chen Che was too lazy to put on an act either.
"Hehe, it's not really anything particularly important."
"I'd like to ask you something. Did I receive any entrepreneurial support from the school before? There's also a special fund coming up. What's the progress on that?" Although Chen Che got straight to the point, he still maintained a polite attitude.
"Oh, this..." Zhu Jingdong chimed in, but after a long pause without any follow-up, Chen Che sensed that the situation might not be very optimistic.
He wouldn't even bother with a perfunctory "it's going through the process."
After pausing for about half a minute, and perhaps taking another half minute to organize his thoughts, Zhu Jingdong slowly began, "Xiao Chen, as you know, the school takes this project very seriously; otherwise, they wouldn't have approved your application..."
The next two minutes were filled with a barrage of high praise, a vision for the future, encouragement, and support. After listening for a while, Chen Che summarized it all into one sentence: the school would provide all support except for money.
Okay, very good, excellent.
When my buddy becomes successful one day, the school and college will come to him for sponsorship, and Chen Che will definitely cooperate fully and provide all support except money.
"Okay, Teacher Zhu, I understand." Chen Che finished with his usual fake smile.
"Hey, wait a minute." Zhu Jingdong thought for a moment, then suddenly changed his tone from the official jargon to a conflicted one, revealing a hint of sincerity and helplessness.
"Xiao Chen, although I haven't had that much interaction with you, we're all family here. I'm your counselor, and you're still my student, so I'm just telling you the truth. Don't go around telling everyone else."
"Many of the entrepreneurial projects undertaken by college students are either from families with resources or have teachers or professors at the school who endorse them. Even if the school provides some funding, it's just to save face and cultivate relationships. People like you who rely entirely on themselves are very, very rare, if not nonexistent."
"So, the school's Youth League Committee really didn't approve the money." Zhu Jingdong didn't beat around the bush anymore and said this very directly, which made Chen Che feel a sense of honesty.
"However, I'm keeping up with the situation and trying to negotiate with the higher-ups again. I can't guarantee anything, I can only say I'll do my best."
"Okay, I understand, thank you, Teacher Zhu." Chen Che was very sincere, no longer putting on an act.
"Yeah, it's okay. You still have to work hard to make things happen for yourself. Starting a business at your age is already much better than your peers. Don't be too discouraged. This is just a small hurdle in your long career." Zhu Jingdong gave him a heartfelt word of encouragement before hanging up the phone.
After the phone call ended, Zhu Jingdong's heartfelt words helped Chen Che understand his current situation.
The incubation park has been approved, but the funding hasn't.
To be honest, it's already pretty good that we've come this far; at least all our efforts haven't been in vain.
However, this does not mean that Chen Che does not intend to fight for this money. After all, if he can get this money, he will have much more room to maneuver.
Zhu Jingdong was a young, new counselor who wasn't too distant from the students and was quite dedicated to their work, but unfortunately, he lacked authority. Luckily, Chen Che knew someone with significantly more power than him.
Yan Zhengsheng, the deputy secretary of the college, should be able to speak up.
Chen Che reviewed the interactions between the two: the first time was when they met by chance while fishing, the second time was when they got to know each other while giving a report, and the third time was when he reported Bai Mu for abusing his power, which Secretary Yan dealt with immediately.
Unfortunately, they didn't have much of a personal relationship.
Even if they don't have a personal relationship, at least they've become acquainted, haven't they?
Even business conversations can be meaningful. There aren't that many personal relationships in the world; they all need to be built up gradually.
After thinking for a moment about how to phrase it, Chen Che picked up his phone and called Yan Zhengsheng.
"Oh, Xiao Chen, what's up?" Yan Zhengsheng answered the phone quickly.
"Secretary Yan, I have successfully moved into the school's incubation park. I would like to report to you on the overall progress of our 'French Fries on the Hour' project, and I would also appreciate any guidance you may have."
"Is this convenient for you? When do you have time?" Chen Che asked respectfully.
"Hehe, did it go smoothly? That's good, that's good."
"I'm busy today... but tomorrow... maybe tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you in my office at 2 p.m. tomorrow."
"Yes, Secretary Yan."
"..."