Chapter 11: Just Knowing How to Charm People Is Enough!

The next moment, a hand holding some tea leaves stretched out from behind the door, followed by Jiang Ming’s mischievous laughter. “Hehe, teacher, it’s been a few days. Your student has missed you terribly and came to pay a visit.”

The middle-aged man inside the room sipped his tea but didn’t respond, absorbed in his computer, his expression grave as if a matter of great importance demanded his immediate attention.

Jiang Ming knew all too well—his teacher was angry.

He hurried inside, placing the tea leaves he’d picked up along the way on the table and leaning in close.

“Teacher?”

“My dear Professor Yu!”

“The most handsome and beloved Professor Yu of the School of Economics and Management?”

“Pfft…”

Yu Qun nearly choked on his tea, shooting a mock glare at his smooth-talking student. “You’ve got quite the mouth, kid... Spill it, what mischief are you plotting this time?”

“Come on, you busy man, why aren’t you tending to your little shop or that game livestream? What brings you to me now?”

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re struggling in some course and came begging for mercy?”

“Not at all.”

“Besides, can’t you just come by to visit when you’re free?”

“Well, it’s because I missed you! You’re the anchor of our School of Economics and Management, the guiding light for student entrepreneurs...”

“Cut the flattery. Just don’t fail and have to retake courses, and you’ll be doing me a favor.”

“Oh, so you want me to leave now since there’s nothing wrong?”

“No, no, it’s about my entrepreneurship project.”

Yu Qun looked puzzled. “I thought your online shop was doing well—using livestreams to attract attention and turning those fans into store traffic... There’s not much the school can do to help with that.”

As Jiang Ming’s entrepreneurship mentor, Yu Qun had studied his business model thoroughly.

After all, among the usual student startups—milk tea shops, fruit stalls, print shops—this was one of the few ventures in the emerging field of e-commerce. He had even considered applying for a research project. With the store’s income and growth trending positively, Jiang Ming should be swamped perfecting the organizational structure. Why would he have time to come here with problems?

Getting to the point, Jiang Ming wiped off his smile and solemnly pulled a proposal from his bag. “Teacher, please take a look at this.”

“Operation of E-Sports Clubs under the Emerging E-Sports Industry and the Future Prospects of Socialization in E-Sports.”

The moment Yu Qun’s eyes landed on the title, his expression shifted.

...

Time ticked by, second after second.

Only the rustling of pages filled the office.

Inside the mind of the dean of Jinling University’s School of Economics and Management, a storm was brewing. The man continuously tested the feasibility of what he held with the knowledge he possessed.

Yu Qun frowned at times, nodded at others, then exhaled deeply. “What a ‘attention economy’! You’re really trying to make the most of traffic, huh.”

“E-sports!”

“Professionalization!”

“Internet development, youth social platforms.”

“Traffic livestreams... e-commerce!”

One specialized term after another fell from the professor’s lips, while Jiang Ming stood obediently, waiting for his teacher’s guidance.

Yu Qun raised an eyebrow. “E-commerce isn’t unfamiliar to us. The business school established an e-commerce major back in 2001, but from what you’ve given me, those people have studied for over a decade without grasping it as clearly as you do.”

“I used to be a bit confused about the relationship between your game livestreams, video creation, and e-commerce.”

Yu Qun set the proposal down. “Now I get it. To put it in your words, it’s the fan economy.”

“No, fan economy is too simplistic—it’s a combination of attention economy, creator economy, and influence economy.”

Jiang Ming’s eyes lit up. “As expected of you, teacher!”

“It’s influence economy driven by attention!”

Only a true master could see through the essence of e-sports and the commercial operations behind it at a glance.

Yu Qun removed his glasses and rubbed his temples. “Venues, qualifications, talent... those are manageable. But you must realize, the gaming industry in our country is currently a hot-button issue...”

As a professor of economic management, Yu Qun was well informed about this burgeoning new force in the social economy.

“That’s why you need the support of our school of economics and management!” Jiang Ming quickly added. “Imagine when our club gains fame, it’ll be the perfect example of integrating industry, academia, and research...”

“Stop feeding me pie-in-the-sky dreams!” Yu Qun chuckled. “But... this really is a promising research direction.”

“Planning to use it for your graduate student’s thesis early, huh?”

He wanted to toss the proposal at this ungrateful student like a seven-headed wolf. Last year, his heart was clouded by pig fat; after a discussion on an open course issue, he’d even considered supervising this student through master’s and doctoral studies.

He had now earned the title of entrepreneurship mentor, and just as things were taking shape, the student was still leaving him a trap.

“Hehe, that requires practical material first.”

“Maybe in a few years, it’ll be ‘this thesis requires no external references...’”

“Get lost!”

“So you want to deepen the influence you currently hold in game livestreaming and enter the professional sphere, right?”

“Yes, teacher. Overseas, due to earlier internet development, video games have come a long way toward competitive professionalization. At home, it’s still a blank slate, but in the big picture, with technological advances and further internet penetration, our country will eventually step into this field.”

“As far back as 2004, our General Administration of Sports hosted the first National E-Sports Competition (CEG). However, limited internet access, lack of commercial soil, and inadequate management systems prevented further development.”

“Recently, Tencent Games led efforts to launch a professional league based on the game League of Legends.”

“So you want to leverage your strengths to become one of the pioneers, adding a professional title to your content creation influence?”

“Yes, teacher. If I only do game-related derivative content, I’m bound to be limited by this one game. When the game thrives, I thrive; when it falls, so do I.”

“You see it clearly, good. The attention economy comes fast, and sometimes it fades just as quickly. Without crucial traffic, e-commerce failure is all too common.”

“To move from a dependent party to a participant, even a creator, applying what you’ve learned is not wrong.”

“Tell me, what do you need me to help with?”

Jiang Ming was overjoyed. “Teacher, you agree?”

“Agree to what? I have no money to give!”

“No money needed, I can handle that myself.”

“Nonsense. The current average salary for pro gamers is just a couple thousand yuan; your monthly net profit is at least seventy or eighty thousand. Money isn’t the problem.”

“You need venues... The school won’t approve internal spaces for you. E-sports still has an ambiguous reputation in public opinion. But the school can help you find contacts to rent affordable venues.”

“You don’t have to worry about business registration and qualification approvals either. Just prepare the documents and have someone deliver them to me. I have a senior brother working there.”

“For legal and risk control, find a senior law student next door for contract drafting and legal advice. Don’t cheap out and hire outsiders. If you hit serious problems, have those slackers go cry to their own teachers. Other management talents for the e-sports club can be recruited from graduating students nearby. I assume you know all this.”

In a word, it doesn’t matter if you’re inexperienced—as long as you know how to gather the right people!