Chapter 86 - 65: Chang Kai’s Sincerity
Chen Lin was truly dumbfounded.
’Wait, isn’t Chang Kai’s reaction a little too strange?’
’I’m just starting a company, not leading Yannan University to dominate the national academic scene. Is there any need to be this excited?’
Chang Kai also realized he’d lost his composure. He took a deep breath, forcing down the wild joy in his heart, but he couldn’t hide the smile in his eyes.
Looking at Chen Lin’s bewildered expression, he took the initiative to explain.
"Chen Lin, you may not realize this," Chang Kai said, his tone tinged with emotion, "but if you had told me today that your goal was to pursue a master’s degree, then a Ph.D., and follow the path of academic research, there really wouldn’t have been much I could do..."
He gave a wry smile and shook his head. "With a single word from Elder Liang, both the Yanbei School of Mathematics and Huaqing’s Qiu Chengtong Center for Mathematical Sciences would throw their doors wide open for you. Compared to what they can offer, what we at Yannan University have is... well..." He ended with a sigh.
At this, Principal Chang’s tone shifted abruptly, becoming impassioned. "But I truly never expected that you would want to start your own business! That changes everything!"
After all, this wasn’t fifteen or twenty years ago. The percentage of young people in this day and age willing to start a business right after graduation was likely less than one in a thousand.
Chang Kai slammed his hands together with a resounding clap. "Yannan University will absolutely support and protect your new company!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Chang Kai launched into a veritable storm of proposals.
"You mentioned that President Peng from the Modu Design Institute was going to handle your company registration?" He frowned slightly, an expression of deep concern on his face. "How can you entrust something like this to an outsider? What if he buries a legal trap for you in the registration documents? You’d suffer a major setback right from the get-go!"
Without waiting for Chen Lin to reply, he immediately offered a solution. "Here’s what we’ll do. You authorize our university’s Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center to liaise with President Peng’s people. We have dedicated faculty who can help you vet all the documents. Plus, with the university’s reputation backing you, opening a corporate bank account will be green lights all the way. It’ll be infinitely more efficient!"
Chen Lin’s eyes lit up, and his mind began to race with the possibilities. The proposal was incredibly considerate and addressed one of his underlying concerns.
However, this was only the beginning.
Chang Kai gave him no chance to offer pleasantries, immediately moving on to his second proposal.
"Just vetting the documents isn’t enough!" His tone grew deeper and more serious. "I will immediately contact our university’s Legal Aid Center. The people there are the top professors and elite students from our law school. We’ll have them form a dedicated team to review your articles of association, shareholder agreements, investment agreements... all of it. They will go over every single legal document, word by word! We’ll make sure you understand everything perfectly and that there’s absolutely no way you can be taken advantage of in a contract!"
Chen Lin could no longer hide the delight on his face.
He had been planning to ask around after the semester started to see if the university could offer any help. He never imagined Principal Chang Kai would just hand him a "top-tier legal team" on a silver platter—for free!
It was the very definition of a timely blessing!
But Chang Kai wasn’t finished.
"Once the company is founded, you’ll need to raise startup capital, right?" Chang Kai, seeming to see all of Chen Lin’s future needs, upped the ante once more. "I will personally spearhead an angel investment in your company from Yannan University’s own university-enterprise cooperation investment platform! You can rest assured!"
He deliberately lowered his voice, looking Chen Lin in the eye with utmost sincerity. "This investment is purely to support you, not for profit! We’ll have the Legal Aid Center draft an exceptionally generous investment agreement. Once your company is on the right track, you can, at any time, buy back the vast majority of the university’s shares for 110% of the initial investment cost. This will guarantee your absolute controlling stake! The university will retain 5% of the shares at most. Just consider it... a long-term value investment in a future distinguished alumnus of Yannan University!"
Gu Ming, who was standing to the side, felt his eyelids twitching as he listened. A storm was already raging in his heart.
Like the other professors, he had privately discussed the principal before.
The general consensus was that Chang Kai was a smooth operator, a master of networking who spent most of his energy wining and dining with higher-ups and socialites. In contrast, his handling of internal university affairs seemed merely stable and unremarkable.
But not until today, at this critical juncture that concerned the very future of Yannan University, did Gu Ming truly witness the astonishing trump cards Chang Kai was willing to play to keep Chen Lin.
This level of daring, this kind of finesse... it left Gu Ming utterly speechless with admiration.
Chen Lin, for his part, had yet to recover from the pleasant surprise. He had been completely floored by Chang Kai’s one-two punch of proposals.
He hadn’t even had time to fully process the fact that the university would act as an angel investor and then let him buy back the shares at a low price, when Chang Kai added the final piece to the puzzle.
"And finally," Chang Kai said, his signature, composed smile returning, "the hardest part of a new business is breaking into the market and finding major clients. You don’t need to worry about that, either. I’ll help you make the connections. Our Yannan University alumni association is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. We have plenty of alumni who are CEOs and senior executives at major corporations all over the country. I’ll put my reputation on the line to help you land a few big contracts. It’ll be no problem at all to see you smoothly through the startup phase!"
At this point, words could not express the gratitude Chen Lin felt in his heart.
This time, it was absolutely genuine.
Even if he wasn’t familiar with the startup support policies at domestic universities, he could tell intuitively that the package Principal Chang had laid out would be difficult to match even for the top two universities in the country, like Huaqing and Yanbei, let alone for a university at Yannan’s level.
This level of sincerity went beyond just tempting; he was genuinely moved.
However, as someone who had already crossed swords with old hands like Peng Yifeng, Chen Lin was well aware that there was no such thing as a free lunch.
He took a deep breath, calmed his racing heart, and looked at Chang Kai solemnly to ask the most crucial question. "Principal Chang, you’ve mentioned all this help the university can provide for me. So... what does the university need me to do in return?"
Hearing this question, the smile on Chang Kai’s face grew even more satisfied.
’That’s more like it.’
A partner who knew to ask the price was far more reassuring than a good student who would only nod and agree.
’This means my sincerity has at least hit its mark, and we can now move on to the actual negotiations.’
"What the university needs is very simple." Chang Kai dropped his enthusiastic "salesman" persona, his expression turning serious and solemn. "We hope that after you graduate with your bachelor’s degree, you will accept the position of ’Special Appointed Researcher’ offered by the university."
He held up a hand, motioning for Chen Lin to hear him out.
"Rest assured, this position comes with no strict obligations. We will set the evaluation standards for your teaching and research duties to the absolute minimum, so they won’t interfere with you running your company. At the same time, the university will provide you with a personal salary and benefits package at the highest standard."
Chang Kai’s gaze grew profound as he enunciated his ultimate goal, word by deliberate word.
"We’re doing all this for two reasons."
"First, we need the halo of your genius. In the future, you will be the most important calling card for Yannan University’s admissions campaigns—a living, breathing billboard that will attract the nation’s top math prodigies to our school!"
"Second," Chang Kai’s tone grew even heavier, "we need you, as your time and energy permit, to participate in a small number of the university’s research projects. These can be purely mathematical research, or they can be interdisciplinary projects with other science and engineering schools. Chen Lin, as long as we can achieve a substantial breakthrough in any major national strategic field..."
He looked into Chen Lin’s eyes and said slowly, "...then Yannan University’s standing in the national academic and research communities will be elevated to a whole new level!"