Chapter 10: Fifty Thousand

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Li Xiuyuan certainly did not think he was more skilled than the specialized teachers at the interview training classes. He also understood that Qihang Public Exam Education was leveraging his name for their own publicity. But that was exactly his point: he would provide them with some materials, and they could use them for promotion later. Externally, they could claim to have his exclusive secrets—wouldn’t that suffice?

In essence, it was just a marketing gimmick.

And it wasn’t false at all. He had also avoided any risks. They got what they wanted, too.

Assistant Xu Lin didn’t quite understand, but Wang Zhiyuan did. Watching Li Xiuyuan, he revealed a look of keen interest. He hadn’t expected that young people nowadays could be so shrewd. They were born to thrive within the system, truly suited for this line of work.

Exclusive secrets, interview insights—at this point, Li Xiuyuan probably didn’t even have such things. This was a disguised way of agreeing to let them use his name for promotion, while sidestepping all risks.

Within the system, things are “not allowed” in principle, but practically, if you find another approach, it’s possible. There’s no real difference between “allowed in principle but impossible in practice” and “not allowed in principle but feasible in practice.”

In a short while, Wang Zhiyuan’s opinion of Li Xiuyuan shifted three times.

Wang Zhiyuan settled back down and sized Li Xiuyuan up and down. “You’re quite interesting. Tell me, how much do you want to sell this summary of insights for?”

“Teacher Wang, it’s not about how much I want, but how much you think it’s worth,” Li Xiuyuan smiled and tossed the question back, casually switching the form of address.

Previously, Li Xiuyuan had always called him “Manager Wang,” but now he called him “Teacher Wang.”

Since Wang Zhiyuan said he was from an interview training institution, addressing him as “teacher” wasn’t odd at all. More importantly, this made it easier to ask for a higher price.

When negotiating with “Manager Wang,” he was a businessman driven by profit, so he would certainly try to drive the price down from every angle.

But calling him “Teacher Wang” meant it was knowledge for sale. If the teacher thought the insights were too cheap and worthless, that would be disrespecting knowledge. And if you disrespected knowledge, could you still call him “teacher”?

Unintentionally, Li Xiuyuan had propped Wang Zhiyuan up, and Wang Zhiyuan really fell for it. He was originally a teacher by profession, but now everyone called him manager.

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Of course, Wang Zhiyuan understood Li Xiuyuan’s intent clearly, but understanding it didn’t stop him from falling into Li’s trap.

“Alright, ten thousand yuan,” Wang Zhiyuan offered, while his assistant Xu Lin looked on somewhat stunned. She still hadn’t quite processed it.

Why buy a summary of insights? They specialized in interview training and knew interviews inside out. The interview score depended on many factors: ability, luck, state of mind...

What use was buying Li Xiuyuan’s personal insights? Their training materials were the real secrets, suitable for most candidates.

“Teacher Wang, the ramen at my family’s noodle shop is quite good. You came all this way, so I’ll treat you to a bowl,” Li Xiuyuan shook his head, almost wanting to say outright, “Don’t insult me with just ten thousand yuan.”

How could he open his mouth for so little?

“Twenty thousand.” Wang Zhiyuan raised two fingers. This was the highest price he was willing to offer, and he felt it was reasonable.

“If you’re willing to cooperate with promotion and attend classes, fifty or eighty thousand can be negotiated. But this is just a so-called summary of insights. That’s the highest price.”

Li Xiuyuan waved his hand. “Teacher Wang, if there were a top scorer in this provincial interview, it should be me, right? Ninety-seven points means something, doesn’t it? You’re in interview training, so you must understand better than I do.

For such quality, twenty thousand yuan? Honestly, if I sold my insights for that price, I’m afraid even the interviewers would scold me for being wasteful.”

Wang Zhiyuan’s expression darkened. How would the interviewers even know who he was? It was just haggling all along. His audacity was hardly that of a fresh graduate. With this cheek, he could do business and get rich.

This was Wang Zhiyuan’s fourth shift in judgment: “I think you’d be better suited to business.”

Li Xiuyuan smiled and said bluntly, “If Teacher Wang says so, I’m genuinely interested. I’ve thought about doing some small business.

What if I opened an interview training institution in the provincial city? With my high score of ninety-seven, wouldn’t I attract a lot of public exam candidates?”

Wang Zhiyuan was momentarily stumped, caught off guard by Li’s counter. Opening a training class wasn’t that simple, of course, but if Li really did, he could indeed take away some of their students.

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After all, the title of interview champion was right there. Isn’t that why they came here this time?

“Thirty thousand,” Wang Zhiyuan spoke again, cutting off Xu Lin’s attempt to protest.

“Teacher Wang, take it or leave it, eighty thousand,” Li Xiuyuan countered, throwing out a sky-high price, planning to bargain down later.

“Impossible…”

“Teacher Wang, nothing’s impossible. For a class of interview students, your lowest fees are several thousand yuan, and some classes charge even more, several thousand to tens of thousands.

Just recruiting two extra students covers everything. Eighty thousand isn’t much,” Li Xiuyuan said.

Wang Zhiyuan shook his head. “It’s not your kind of math. We have costs, too. If a student fails the interview in a higher-priced class, we have to refund part of the tuition. There’s really no huge profit margin.”

Li Xiuyuan wasn’t sure how much those costs were, but he knew this industry was lucrative—after all, Zhonggong Education even went public.

So the two began to haggle. After several rounds, they each gave ground, settling on a price around fifty thousand, with their expectations close enough.

“Fifty thousand, take it or leave it. If that’s okay, I’ll stay overnight in Huangyuan County, pick up your summarized interview insights tomorrow, and then we’ll do a cash-for-goods exchange,” Wang Zhiyuan said meaningfully.

Li Xiuyuan felt a bit embarrassed and cleared his throat. He truly didn’t have any interview insights on hand and would have to stay up all night to produce a proper set of notes and answer techniques.

“Alright, it’s settled then. Fifty thousand, cash on delivery tomorrow,” Li Xiuyuan finally agreed. Fifty thousand was a fair sum.

Besides, he didn’t have to put in much effort. This fifty thousand yuan carried no risk—it was practically free money.