Chapter 161: I Want to Be the Principal

"I can take charge of building the online school, Principal Ding. All you need to do is provide the courses and the question bank. By integrating our resources, we can get this off the ground without a massive investment. I will put up 500,000, and you can put up 500,000 as well, but I want the controlling stake."

Principal Ding felt a familiar sensation of being shaken down.

"Xiao Cheng, you put up 500,000, I put up 500,000—a million in total is fine, but it seems you aren't actually putting in a single penny, does it? On top of that, while providing courses and question banks doesn't cost an exorbitant amount, we at Starlight also have to provide the corresponding educational qualifications. You might be the talk of the town right now, but building a website really doesn't cost much even if we hire an internet company to do it. Demanding a controlling stake in the online school under these conditions is simply too harsh," Principal Ding said, looking troubled.

"From a technical standpoint, it certainly isn't too difficult; we just need to properly control access permissions for paying users. My core value doesn't lie in technology."

Another "you know what I mean" expression.

To put it bluntly, there are plenty of education and training institutions out there, and quite a few that could partner with Xiao Cheng, but there is only one Olympiad champion as scorching hot as him this year—Wen Xiaocheng.

Principal Ding felt aggrieved, but she knew in her heart that she didn't have much of a choice.

To be fair, Starlight wouldn't be getting the short end of the stick with this partnership. Without Wen Xiaocheng, launching an online school would require massive promotional expenses, and the results wouldn't necessarily be guaranteed. But now, with the whole country knowing that a prodigy had emerged in Xiangyang City, launching the online school at this momentum would inevitably allow them to rapidly capture the market.

"As for the instructors, we'll have Starlight's teachers provide their own courses and share profits based on sales performance. The better a teacher's lectures and the more listeners they attract, the more they naturally earn. There's no need to shoulder extra fixed costs, and we can even take in teachers from other schools! However, the pricing power and recommendation rights remain in our hands. Aside from video courses, we can also encourage teachers to host live-streamed classes, interacting and communicating with students online..."

Principal Ding swept away her previous despondency as her eyes lit up. Allowing teachers from competing schools to cooperate was undoubtedly a masterstroke of pulling the rug out from under the competition; it was an absolute death blow to their rivals! This move directly shattered the barriers between schools—currently, many small-scale training institutions relied on part-time teachers or even hired freshly graduated university students, paying them per class. Only large institutions like Starlight and Sunflower could afford to maintain their own full-time teaching staff.

"Therefore, it's better for the online school to exist as a relatively independent entity. Obtaining educational and training qualifications isn't that difficult, and if I run the online school as a platform, I won't even need those qualifications at all. So, I hope the online school and Starlight will be partner organizations rather than a subsidiary one. As for whether your 500,000 is invested in the name of Starlight or under your personal name, I don't really mind."

Another heavy dose of persuasion.

Principal Ding was the largest shareholder of Starlight Education, but after all, it was still a venture started alongside several other partners. If it were operated as a subsidiary of Starlight, the earnings would still have to be factored into Starlight's profits. If Principal Ding invested under her personal name, then how much money she made would have nothing to do with the other shareholders!

"I will be responsible for the online promotion of the school, while offline promotion can be outsourced to Starlight for a promotional fee!"

Principal Ding's eyes grew brighter and brighter. Although she would only hold a 49.9% stake, Xiao Cheng's few words had completely convinced her. When it came to running an online school, she didn't possess any major advantages, yet the young prodigy before her seemed to have every detail mapped out logically—and most importantly, the guy had connections! Liu Mang was the very soul of Huaxia's internet! With the backing of Mang Search, searching for Olympiad training would automatically place their own institution at the very top. Once this took off, it could easily be ten times Starlight's current scale, if not more!

"Alright! Let's do it! We each put up 500,000 and build this online school!"

"Hold on." Xiao Cheng was in no rush, remaining entirely calm and composed.

"What other issues could there be?"

"Well, I have one more condition."

"Huh?" Principal Ding felt like her heart went through a roller coaster three times a day whenever she talked to Xiao Cheng. She never knew what kind of unacceptable condition he might spring on her next, and what was most infuriating was that he always managed to convince her in the end.

"Don't be so nervous! Starlight's momentum is so strong this year, you're definitely going to expand your scale, right?"

Principal Ding instantly grew alert. *You brat, don't tell me you're trying to sink your claws into Starlight? This is my foundation, and I will never agree to that!*

"To expand, you'll definitely need to lease new classrooms and venues, including the offices for our online school—all of that interior decoration work must be given to me."

"What?" Principal Ding was momentarily dumbfounded. *Why is he sticking his nose into everything? If an online school is run well, making tens of millions a year might be on the lower end, whereas the profit from interior decoration would top out at a hundred thousand or so at best. Is this some kind of joke?*

"The work has to be given to someone anyway. I just want to look out for a friend of mine."

When Xiao Cheng was making money for himself, he naturally hadn't forgotten that he still had a friend—whose father wielded a sledgehammer, carried bags of cement, and hauled bricks, struggling at the very bottom of society.

***

At that moment, a soft knock came at the door. Rixiang, the assistant, poked her head in halfway and reminded them, "Principal, it's time for us to head over."

Principal Ding and Xiao Cheng had just signed the endorsement contract and hurriedly walked out upon hearing this. Along the way, Principal Ding experienced a whirlwind of mixed emotions. From the moment Xiao Cheng stepped into the office until now, barely a dozen minutes had passed. With just a flick of his lips, he not only walked away with her two million, but also casually started an online school and became its head...

It was entirely foreseeable that this enterprise, with a registered capital of only one million, might grow to be several or even dozens of times the size of Starlight Education in the future.

This was a textbook example of starting a business out of thin air with zero capital!

Meanwhile, in the grand auditorium, all preparations were already complete. The 500 seats were filled to maximum capacity, mostly consisting of parent-child pairs. The parents wore expressions of intense excitement, while the children mostly looked as though life had lost all meaning.

As Principal Ding and Wen Xiaocheng entered, thunderous applause erupted throughout the auditorium, making Xiao Cheng feel distinctly out of place, as if he had just joined some sort of multi-level marketing organization. Mother Yang and Yang Liushan had been seated in the front row courtesy of the school staff, and the young girl waved at him from amidst the crowd.

The so-called opening ceremony was, in truth, remarkably similar to the routine of a pyramid scheme, though it was hosted by teachers whose lecturing competence was actually quite decent. The host began with the usual pleasantries of welcoming this and thanking that, then introduced Starlight Education to the students and parents. Following that came a speech on the significance of Olympiad mathematics in developing the intelligence of adolescents, along with a few tips and tricks for studying the subject.

One had to admit that Starlight possessed genuine substance to be able to stand out in the training market. The host had a formidable grasp of the psychology of both parents and children. For the parents, the focus was on intellectual development and the extra score bonuses that could be gained from competition achievements. For the children, the host dangled some highly engaging mental calculation methods, as if learning them would allow one to instantly stand out among peers, become a universally admired math genius at school, and even win the favor of the campus belle.

As the ceremony progressed step by step, the host shifted the tone to this year's International Mathematical Olympiad and the one and only perfect score in the history of the competition. The crowd instantly erupted in a frenzy; an Olympiad champion carried an inherent aura of brilliance in the hearts of parents.

"Next, let us invite our Olympiad prodigy, Wen Xiaocheng, to the stage to receive his award!"

***

*Did you guys really think Xiao Cheng started an online school just to make money? Who can guess his ultimate goal?*