Study Monster Cultivation System-Chapter 350 - 349 You have to be careful, nowadays when men and women are together they only think about...

Simply checking grades was not worth a trip out for Li Zheng.

This trip, however, had a more important agenda.

At 10:50 AM in the lobby of "Homework King", Zhang Xiaoke was doing her final touch-up in front of a mirror while Li Zheng had already changed into the suit Xiaoke designated, placing his laptop on his lap, taking on the look of a fanatic programmer.

A loose, old T-shirt, very ordinary blue jeans, a pair of slippers, a pair of Bluetooth headphones, and a pair of thick black-framed glasses.

Xiaoke had even deliberately tousled his hair a bit.

"Your sitting posture is not right," Xiaoke reminded while she touched up her makeup, "Slouch more, type more frequently, try to exude that socially inept genius programmer vibe."

"Do I really have to act like this?" Li Zheng slouched more and sat down further, "I still prefer the kind of demeanor that is dignified without anger,"

"No way, we can’t play the normal game against these old foxes in negotiation," Xiaoke put away her makeup mirror and instructed firmly, "Among the few companies interested in learning software, Homework King is the most enthusiastic and the wealthiest. Although they are willing to pay a high price, they definitely have professional negotiators. Standard negotiations will definitely be low-balled, so we must break the usual negotiation patterns, act unreasonably, flip the table if unhappy, and make them tread carefully. Just wait and show complete disinterest in the negotiation, using only the simplest words when you talk."

"Oh."

Not that simple," Xiaoke quickly replied, "You just focus on acting like a genius programmer, and leave the rest to me. I’m confident about hitting the million mark."

"Cheer up, keep pushing."

"That’s too plain, not enough genius, add some English."

be strong,."

"Okay, that should do it," Xiaoke took a deep breath, "I’m still a bit nervous... it’s probably going to be me verbally sparring with seven or eight male managers..."

"Are they all men?" Li Zheng pursed his lips, "You need to be careful then, these men... they’re probably only thinking about one thing with you…"

"????" Xiaoke exclaimed in shock, "Sex...Sex?"

"No." Li Zheng nodded, "It’s GeForce RTX 3090."

"What... what is that? A German technique?"

"You’ll understand soon..."

Just then, a bespectacled man with a crew cut and a working badge walked over smiling.

"Are you Li Zheng and Zhang Xiaoke?"

Xiaoke hastily got up to shake hands, "Director Chen, hello."

"Just call me Chen Rui," the man with the crew cut looked at Li Zheng as he shook hands.

Li Zheng was slumped on the sofa, with headphones on and crotch spread, still blindly typing on the keyboard.

"Ah, sorry..." Xiaoke quickly ran over to Li Zheng, removed his headphones, and whispered something to him.

Li Zheng then slowly got up, closed his laptop, and waved at Chen Rui.

"Nvidia, yes."

Chen Rui was delighted, pushed his glasses up and said, "Teacher Li, have you already placed an order? Which channel?"

Li Zheng smirked and didn’t say much more; after looking around he hurried Xiaoke, "Hurry up."

After that, he put on his headphones again, clasping his laptop in one hand and fiddling with his phone in the other.

Xiaoke immediately squeezed back to the man with the crew cut’s side, "My master is a bit weird in temperament... he gets very irritable after spending half an hour outside his own studio... let’s be quick."

"I understand, genius type irritable syndrome," Chen Rui nodded repeatedly, leading them to the elevator, "Everything is ready, please."

Five minutes later, Li Zheng was slumped over a table in the conference room, continuing to work on his computer impassively.

He wasn’t just messing around; he was actually optimizing old code, something even someone knowledgeable would respect when seeing his screen and typing speed.

Elsewhere, after Xiaoke and various managers and directors had introduced themselves, she opened a PowerPoint and began the final round of explanation.

"The functional design part has been fully covered in the white paper previously given by my master,"

"Today, I’ll mainly focus on learning outcomes."

"Why meet today? Because today is the day of high score announcements, which clearly shows the final grades of all learning software users."

"Please look at this chart."

"We granted learning software access to 55 individuals."

"Among them, 23 people used it for more than half a year and participated in this year’s college entrance examination."

"According to the data I got, for the average student, improving ranking by 5% with tutoring over half a year is considered very successful."

"However, these 23 users saw an average increase of 13% in their ranks."

"Personally, my improvement was most notable, from being ranked in the top 3.3% of the city to 0.26‰, finally achieving 176th place in the city."

At this point, a female vice president raised her hand nearby, "Is there any way to verify the authenticity of these data?"

Xiaoke nodded confidently, "Director Hu, my presence here is the reality."

"But I don’t know what your level was half a year ago," the female director spread her hands, "By the way, call me Michelle."

"Do I need to bring out my score report from the preliminary test six months ago?" Xiaoke chuckled, "Michelle?"

The other people immediately covered their faces to stifle their laughter.

"..." Michelle’s expression stiffened as she waved her hand, "If you have something to say, it’s best to show it."

"Of course I can, but I can’t ask other users to do the same."

Michelle then lifted her glasses and began writing in her notebook, "So, you’re unable to prove the authenticity of these data?"

Zhang Xiaoke felt a sinking feeling in her heart.

She felt like cursing.

Everything had been going well before, so why suddenly make such a request?

Without a doubt, this was the evil price-negotiation specialist.

"Let me reiterate once again." Zhang Xiaoke, exasperated, raised her hand pointing at Li Zheng, "We’re students, not entrepreneurs. This is just something the master thought was fun to make. These materials were also collected just to meet your demands. If you had additional requirements, you should’ve stated them earlier, not pull this stunt today."

"Xiaoke Xiaoke, calm down." Director Chen, the man with the buzz cut who initially rose, hurriedly stood up. "Michelle is in charge of project approvals for the company. She’s not very familiar with your situation. Her questions are just a part of the official process. She needs to fill her judgments on that form."

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"Then you should’ve mentioned it earlier." Li Zheng, tapping on the keyboard, suddenly spoke up, "Knowing there’s such a review process, yet you didn’t tell Xiaoke to prepare the relevant materials. Are you being unprofessional, or is it intentional?"

"..." Chen Rui was instantly at a loss for words.

Zhang Xiaoke secretly rejoiced.

Truly a master!

While he spoke a bit too much, this low EQ but high IQ approach was just right.

The next steps were up to Xiaoke.

However, Li Zheng didn’t stop there.

"Nvidia Yes." Li Zheng glanced at Michelle, pursed his lips, and shook his head, "You No."

Instantly, a flop!

A perfect example of overdoing it!

Fortunately, Li Zheng also realized this in the awkward silence that ensued.

He quickly put his headphones back on and explained while tapping on the keyboard.

"17 minutes to fix it, or we leave."

There it was, the negotiation deterrent!

Refusing a drawn-out battle.

Displaying an attitude of caring less about the issue than the opposing party.

Though partly an act, Li Zheng indeed cared less than the other side.

The atmosphere tensed up again, the deterrent coming unexpectedly swiftly.

The previously established negotiation process was completely disrupted. How could any decisions be made in 17 minutes?

Zhang Xiaoke quickly seized the opportunity to press down on the table: "Director Chen is fully aware of all situations. Handle your so-called process yourselves. If you want to make a deal, talk about the real stuff. Stop employing Michelle’s tactics, and I must give my master an answer within 17 minutes."

"I can responsibly tell you that I am the person with the highest authority here." Michelle raised her glasses slightly, irritated, "If you refuse to answer my questions, you can leave right now."

"Fine." Zhang Xiaoke stood up, put on her backpack, walked over to Li Zheng, patted him, and gave a resigned smile, "Break."

Li Zheng just shook his head and got up, closing his laptop.

Zhang Xiaoke was ready to leave, but the others hesitated a bit.

After all, the element of gamble in her action was rather obvious.

But Li Zheng was sincerely and genuinely ready to leave from the inside out.

Chen Rui immediately stood up and ran to stop them: "No, no, no... there are still 15 minutes, sit for a while longer..."

"What?" Li Zheng expressed confusion.

Chen Rui hastily said to Michelle, "Michelle, you might not know, but Li Zheng is a thorough genius. His time is indeed very precious. Maybe... you could step aside for a bit?"

"???" Michelle stared in shocked anger, "I didn’t want to point this out, but now I’m really curious. This so-called genius, the genius who developed the most advanced learning software, what level is he at himself? I guess he didn’t even take the college entrance exam, right?"

Chen Rui hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "He’s a national champion in informatics competitions... he was admitted early to Ji University..."

"So?" Michelle spread her arms, "What does that prove? Just because someone is excellent in computing doesn’t mean they understand comprehensive learning. Are we supposed to give unanimous positive reviews to whatever you produce based on this skill? The college entrance exam is the only unified standard for assessing learning outcomes. If you don’t even have the courage to take part in it, I really can’t confirm the depth of your so-called learning software."

Li Zheng and Zhang Xiaoke looked at each other and both shook their heads.

If that’s the case...

Let’s satisfy her.

"Master did participate." Zhang Xiaoke sadly looked at Michelle, "Please open your phone and search for ’Jijing Top Scholar’."

"???"

The room fell silent.

Almost simultaneously, everyone reached for their phones.

Then they shouted out together.

Michelle’s face instantly collapsed into an old look.

Amid the astonishment, Zhang Xiaoke patted Li Zheng.

"There’s a saying, it’s not a lie," Zhang Xiaoke said with a light laugh, "no one understands learning better than the master."

"So if that’s the case..." Chen Rui widened his eyes in excitement, "if we can reach an agreement to continue developing this feature, can’t we advertise… that it was personally developed and designed by the top scholar??"

"It’s possible," Zhang Xiaoke nodded, "but you must not use the master’s image for advertising, and it must be noted that he was only responsible for the initial system build; the later maintenance has nothing to do with him."

"We’ll discuss that later!" Chen Rui immediately looked at Michelle, "We’re on a tight schedule, please step out for a moment."

"......." Michelle’s face looked like she had eaten shit as she slowly stood up using the table for support.

God damn it, Chen Rui!

You clearly asked me to come here to help apply pressure!!

This heartless man!

From now on, it’s right to scold him when you see him!

After Michelle left, they finally coaxed Zhang Xiaoke and Li Zheng back and the negotiations suddenly became dominated by Chen Rui.

Initially, it was he who discovered the learning software.

Some users had reflected, asking if it was possible to develop a certain feature from a folk software.

Chen Rui initially thought it was a minor feature and tasked his subordinates to handle it, but they quickly reported back that this wasn’t a job 996 could solve.

The reason was that Li Zheng’s learning software required developers to understand programming and algorithms thoroughly and also fully grasp the content of middle school subjects.

In reality, those who understand programming mostly have forgotten all subjects.

Those who understand middle school education mostly have no clue about programming.

Thus, to develop a system that minutely targets each knowledge point and solving strategies and can assess user situations for personalized problem pushing, a huge team is required, needing top teachers from each subject to collaborate and complete it.

After a thorough assessment, a significant amount of money and a long timeline were required to produce a trial version.

Yet a relatively mature version was already before their eyes.

A version developed personally by a high school top scholar and competition master in five subjects, proven effective by actual results.

Moreover, it included the miraculous "picture judging" feature.

This prototype of the feature was made by Li Zheng while he was taking a shit one day, enabling smart judging through scanning the answer sheet with a smartphone camera, and although the reliability was still less than 70%, it was still a leap in the field of intelligent learning.

It was also the fruit of Li Zheng’s labor sacrificed from countless times he could have been browsing social media or reading news in the restroom.

Eventually, after the Chief Technology Officer had authenticated part of Li Zheng’s code and architecture,

Chen Rui gritted his teeth and threw out a figure to Zhang Xiaoke.

Zhang Xiaoke, without a change in expression or heartbeat, plucked out Li Zheng’s earphone at the last minute and pressed it against him.

"Five... five million..."

Li Zheng’s eyes widened.

Damn, listed companies really are full of crap.

Li Yi might not have seen this number in his whole life.

Thereupon, Li Zheng turned to look at Chen Rui.

"Yes."

Chen Rui instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

People around him stared at Li Zheng full of bitterness.

So... infuriating...

This money was supposed to be earned by us 996ers...

Fortunately, they didn’t know the location and process of Li Zheng’s regular programming. Otherwise, when using their phones in the restroom, they might have felt guilty.

"Oh right." As Chen Rui shook hands with Li Zheng, he asked, "I saw that the co-top scholar is also from your school?"

"Yes." Li Zheng nodded.

"Has she used this learning software?" Chen Rui asked expectantly.

"No." Li Zheng sneered, "Her, I trained personally."

"?"

Zhang Xiaoke laughed and explained, "That’s my wife."

At that moment, the crowd that had been bidding farewell sank again.

Even the hand Chen Rui was holding drooped down.

Chen Rui, at forty-two, had also become quite a figure in the industry.

Why then did he suddenly feel so unhappy…

After seeing Li Zheng off, Chen Rui and his colleagues entered the restaurant with drooping spirits.

They bumped into Michelle.

"Chen Rui! Damn you!"

The friends nearby all rallied to protect Chen Rui.

"Stop cursing, stop cursing…"

"Director Rui has it tough too…"

"He just wanted to create the best learning software!"

…

In the following negotiations, Li Zheng did not participate again, and about half a month later, the signing and transfer were completed.

This was truly an unexpected move that bore fruit.

But if this feature was fully developed and marketed,

there would probably be another brutal internal competition.

Tutors would lose a lot of job opportunities.

What would happen next, Li Zheng didn’t know.

So, he bought several kilograms of books on philosophy, political science, economics, and sociology.

Director Rui was efficient, and the technology transfer fee was deposited into Li Zheng’s account by the end of July.

After tax deductions, Li Zheng paid a significant portion to Zhang Xiaoke, and the rest he invested in stable financial products.

He still remembered from the "Li Yi Quotations" —

[Those who control the economy, control the family.]

Although most of Old Li’s experiences were not advisable, this one was undoubtedly born of blood and tears.

Li Yi pleading in front of Ning’er to buy a model ship set, though pathetic,

but Lin Yujing, kneeling before him, mumbling for pocket money, would definitely look beautiful.

For that moment, Li Zheng chose once again to endure, to restrain himself, not to spend recklessly.

If he had to spend, it would only be Li Yi’s money.

However, Zhang Xiaoke completely missed this point.

That commission instantly turned into a red MINI sedan.

She didn’t even have time to go to driving school before she sat in the driver’s seat taking selfies.

"Oh, I intended to live off my looks, but somehow I became a business person."

"It’s inconvenient to answer the phone while driving, please leave a message for business inquiries, ha."

"Wait… don’t block me! I’m not a pyramid schemer, just let me check the name on the driving license."

Unsurprisingly, she faced setbacks soon after.

"Teacher… the insurance is so expensive…"

"Teacher… I’ve scratched it…"

"Teacher… I can’t afford the gas…"

"A second-hand car, maybe? Teacher…"

"Ahhh… My mom took away my car!!"

That’s how things went.

For Zhang Xiaoke.

Windfalls meant debt.

Li Zheng then put away his phone and looked up.

In front of the austere gates of Jijing University, he set his suitcase aside and stood tall, hands behind his back.

Casually he brushed his slightly longer handsome hair and gave a crooked smile.

[Li Zheng]

[Academic Power: 3577]

My new classmates.

Don’t let me down.