I'm back in 1990

Chapter 171: The Good Guy Card

Huang Xiaochuan recovered quickly after eating something, thanks to his youthful body.

After finishing his two afternoon classes, Huang Xiaochuan was about to return to his dormitory when Sang Weihong came to find him. Huang Xiaochuan then told Wu Duo and the others to go back first.

"Huang Xiaochuan, I need to discuss something with you. Is now a convenient time?"

Huang Xiaochuan smiled and said, "There's no inconvenience at all. Please feel free to ask if you need anything, senior."

Sang Weihong asked directly, "Do you have any suitable business opportunities to recommend to me?"

Huang Xiaochuan was taken aback. This woman didn't seem to be short of money. Why would she suddenly decide to start a business?

He countered, "Senior, do you really need money? If so, I have some here! I'll lend it to you."

Sang Wei glared at Huang Xiaochuan: "Why would I borrow your money? I just thought you're full of tricks, so I wanted to brainstorm some ideas with you. Don't you understand the saying 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime'?"

Then Sang Weihong told Huang Xiaochuan her purpose. Actually, it wasn't that Sang Weihong wanted to do business herself, but that she needed a business to achieve some of her ideas.

Every school has a group of impoverished students, especially in the 1980s and 90s, because the development of some inland areas was slow or even stagnant, making life difficult for a considerable portion of the population.

Previously, there was no tuition fee for university, but tuition fees were introduced in the 1990s. Although it was only a few hundred yuan a year, it was still manageable for urban working-class families, but not for rural areas.

They might not earn that much even after a year of toiling in the fields. Of course, this refers generally to the southwest and northwest regions; the rural conditions in the southeast coastal areas are much better.

During this period, universities were also poor. With so many impoverished students, it was impossible to take care of everyone. The only option was to select the poorest students through a selection process, so that these impoverished students could receive some subsidies.

However, this method is very damaging to self-esteem. It lays bare everyone's poverty and compares who is poorer. Nothing is more embarrassing than this. But at this time, no one will consider this point. They can't even afford to eat, so who has the time to care about your face?

Sang Weihong had thought of this. She thought that instead of letting these students rely on welfare, it would be better to find them a way to make a living so that they could support themselves. This would benefit both the school and the students. However, she didn't know what kind of business would be suitable. A business like Jiang Bixing's would definitely not be suitable. Not to mention the whole school, there were more than twenty poor students in her department alone. If they all went to do small business, how much money would they make? The school is only so big and has only so many students.

A very few with slightly better abilities might think about going out to find a job, doing part-time work while studying, tutoring, or doing manual labor, but they all work alone and can't amount to much.

After much thought, she came up with Huang Xiaochuan. This guy had shared some unique insights on economics at the economic salon, and he was also quite wealthy and supposedly good at stock trading. She figured asking him might give her some advice.

The last time Huang Xiaochuan asked her to find someone to help him queue for the lottery, Sang Weihong did it through the student union, looking for impoverished students all over the school. You get fifty yuan just for queuing up. If you don't take care of those impoverished students, who else would you take care of?

After hearing Sang Weihong's reasons for wanting to start a business, Huang Xiaochuan still admired her. Since that was the case, he really needed to help her think of a reliable way to operate.

Huang Xiaochuan's first consideration was that these impoverished students were only facing economic difficulties, but their intelligence was not a problem. Furthermore, most of them were born into poor families and were able to endure hardship.

After considering many profitable business ideas, Huang Xiaochuan rejected them one by one in his mind. Suddenly, he thought of a business that was tailor-made for these impoverished students.

That is making teaching materials. This industry has not yet taken off on a large scale. It is only recognized in a few educationally developed areas.

These impoverished students at the University of Finance and Economics all emerged from the fierce competition of the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao). They are the most qualified to speak on what to learn in junior and senior high school and how to learn it.

Besides, now the exam papers are standardized nationwide, and the textbooks are the same across the country, unlike in later years when textbooks varied from province to province, and some provinces even created their own exam papers.

Another advantage is that the university has its own printing plant, so typesetting and printing are not a problem.

If this project is scaled up, the beneficiaries will not be limited to impoverished students; everyone from top to bottom will benefit. If the school-run printing plant is profitable, teachers will receive additional benefits and bonuses, and all participating impoverished students will earn an income. It's a win-win situation.

Don't worry about no one buying it. This thing will be sold out as soon as it hits the market. Parents in the Yangtze River Delta region have always attached great importance to education. Besides, the college entrance examination is so difficult nowadays. Having this is like having a secret weapon. Even if it can improve your score by ten or eight points, it will be good!

"Senior, you could use this as supplementary teaching material!"

"Supplementary materials? Aren't they sold in bookstores?"

"It's different from that. Those books in bookstores are published in accordance with textbooks and are for teachers to prepare lesson plans. Students can't learn anything from them except to copy the answers. What I'm talking about is different from that."

Upon hearing this, Sang Weihong exclaimed, "That's true!" She blinked her big eyes, waiting for Huang Xiaochuan to continue.

"Senior, there are quite a few students from impoverished backgrounds, right? They must each have their own special talents, right? Some are good at physics, some are great at math, and there must be some outstanding students in humanities subjects like politics, history, and geography, right? Gather them together, brainstorm ideas, and invite a few teachers and professors to support you. The student union takes the lead, and the Youth League follows up. That'll get it done!"

"To further expand the influence, let's bring in Shanghai Dan University as well. Add Shanghai Dan University's name to the cover of our supplementary teaching materials. Do you think those textbooks would sell well then?"

Upon hearing this, Sang Weihong exclaimed, "Wow! If this works out, I'll not only gain both fame and fortune, but many others will also benefit from it—a win-win situation!" She thought, "How does Huang Xiaochuan think? I really want to crack his brain open and see what's going on."

"That's a fantastic idea! You've said too much today, I can't keep up. Could you please go all the way and write down a detailed plan for me?"

Having been given a "good guy" card, Huang Xiaochuan reluctantly agreed, considering it a contribution to his impoverished classmates.

However, Huang Xiaochuan declined Sang Weihong's invitation.

Sang Weihong believed that Huang Xiaochuan was the one who came up with this idea, so naturally Huang Xiaochuan needed to help with the planning and strategizing. However, Huang Xiaochuan resolutely refused to get involved. He had a lot of things to sort out himself, and he could just start this project. If this thing snowballed in the future, more people would have designs on it, and Huang Xiaochuan didn't want to get himself into trouble without getting much benefit from it.

Even if someone tries to smear him with this matter again in the future, Huang Xiaochuan has made up his mind that he will absolutely not participate in the collective and public ownership economy in his personal capacity before the state lifts the ban on individuals establishing companies in 1995.

Huang Xiaochuan's idea was to run the company under the name of the university's affiliated enterprise. A university-run enterprise is a tertiary industry, a collective economy, and is intended to be a supplement to public ownership. The later famous "Wahaha" was originally a university-run enterprise, but it was developed into a domestic food industry giant by the skillful Mr. Zong. People say that someone like him is worth talking about, let alone someone like Huang Xiaochuan.

Since public ownership is involved, Huang Xiaochuan will only offer suggestions and will not participate in the process, nor will he take a single penny, to avoid future criticism.