Rebirth of the Rich Second Generation's Growth Diary

Chapter 143 Take Xiaohe to Negotiation

Eat one bite at a time and do things one step at a time.

Negotiating with the school should also be done in steps.

There are two main aspects of negotiations with the school: one is the library and the other is access control.

In comparison, the library aspect is naturally simpler. After all, there are fewer hardware devices involved.

Li Xu intended to bring Xia Xiaohe along and help her grow up quickly, so when he was doing this, he naturally brought Xia Xiaohe along.

Today is Monday. The campus is filled with a fresh air, and the sunlight shines through the gaps between the branches and leaves, casting fine shadows.

Xia Xiaohe had two classes in the morning. As soon as she finished her classes, she hurriedly crossed the tree-lined campus path and ran to the library without stopping.

Li Xu was waiting for her in front of the library gate.

The sun is particularly bright today, shining brightly on my body.

Fine beads of sweat oozed from Xia Xiaohe's forehead, and her hair was slightly wet with sweat.

She bent over slightly and breathed softly.

Li Xu smiled dumbly, took out a clean white tissue from his pocket and handed it to him, saying, "Why are you running so fast?"

Xia Xiaohe smiled, shook her head and said nothing.

Because Li Xu was waiting for her, she came running.

The two walked into the library, which was filled with the faint scent of books, quiet and peaceful.

Xia Xiaohe followed behind and asked, "What are we doing today?"

Li Xu smiled and said, "Reading."

Xia Xiaohe showed a puzzled expression: "Reading?"

Li Xu smiled without saying anything, with a meaningful look in his eyes.

The two found a brighter spot near the door. The surrounding bookshelves were filled with various books, emitting the scent of ink.

Then Li Xu went to the bookshelf and found a history book.

Xia Xiaohe had a lot of questions, but Li Xu kept her in suspense, so she didn't ask any more.

At first, Xia Xiaohe would look at Li Xu from time to time. After all, they had agreed to go and negotiate with the person in charge of the library, but now he seemed to be doing nothing but reading books here. It was too weird.

Li Xu must have some deeper meaning, but after a while, Xia Xiaohe found that Li Xu was really just reading a book, without even lifting his eyelids.

Xia Xiaohe became more and more confused, but she was a very patient girl, so she didn't ask unless Li Xu said anything.

So, he went to the bookshelf next to him, found a magazine, and sat down opposite Li Xu to read.

The sunlight filtered in through the large glass windows next to it, casting a golden glow over the entire library.

Li Xu in front of him had a golden edge to his facial features gilded by light and shadow, a high nose bridge, a gentle expression, and he was immersed in flipping through a book.

Xia Xiaohe looked at the magazine, and from time to time looked up at Li Xu. Her mood became comfortable. She felt that such a scene was really comfortable.

After a long time, Xia Xiaohe's attention was completely attracted by the content of the book and he was immersed in reading.

At this moment, someone suddenly patted her shoulder gently. She was startled and turned her head to see that it was Li Xu, who had come to her side without her knowing when.

Li Xu said, "You really like the book. Don't forget what we are here for today."

Xia Xiaohe was stunned for a moment, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Ah, weren't you the one who was reading seriously just now?

Of course, these words were not spoken out loud.

She looked at Li Xu with a complicated expression.

Li Xu pointed ahead and said, "Do you see it?"

Xia Xiaohe looked in the direction Li Xu pointed.

I saw that there was a long queue at the front desk, extending all the way to the corridor. Some of the students in the queue were playing with their mobile phones, while others were talking in low voices.

Xia Xiaohe didn't understand what Li Xu meant and asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Xu didn't say anything and walked forward slowly.

Xia Xiaohe muttered, "Disgusting."

Then he stood up and quickly followed Li Xu.

The two of them approached the front desk, where the librarian was flipping through the register with saliva-soaked fingers.

A student at the back came over and asked, "What's going on? Why are you so slow?"

The first one in line was a girl wearing dinosaur pajamas - Peking University and Tsinghua University are so weird, you can even see people dressed like this in the library.

The girl yawned and said, "The barcode scanner is stuck again."

The library has a large flow of book borrowing. Logically speaking, the equipment used in such a top school should be the most advanced, but after all, it is subject to the constraints of the times. For this era, this is already a very advanced solution.

The librarian's barcode scanner returned to normal after a while.

The administrator then picked up the book of the girl in dinosaur pajamas and scanned it. With a "beep", the barcode information of the book appeared on the computer.

There is a small printer next to it. The administrator operates it and quickly prints out a small book barcode.

The librarian put the barcode on the register, which saved the step of copying the barcode and saved a lot of trouble.

Next, you just need to copy down the information of the borrowing students.

The librarian took the Dinosaur Pajama Girl's student card and carefully copied the information on it into the registration book, and filled in the loan time in the borrowing column at the back.

Only then did he return the books and campus card to the dinosaur girl.

This scene was seen clearly by Li Xu and Xia Xiaohe who were standing nearby and peeping.

Li Xu raised his wrist to check the time and silently estimated that it would take more than three minutes for a student to borrow a book, not considering the possibility of the barcode scanner getting stuck.

These three minutes are mainly used to register students' information. You should know that this is still a very advanced solution. At least the book information can be scanned and printed with a barcode scanner. This step saves at least five minutes.

Li Xu said to Xia Xiaohe, "Please help me see how long it takes to borrow a book."

Xia Xiaohe's eyes lit up and she nodded.

Then Li Xu slowly slipped back to his seat and took a cup of coffee from the old coffee machine at the entrance of the library. He drank the coffee while watching Xia Xiaohe work comfortably.

From the moment the queue started, it seemed that the library had entered its peak borrowing period, and the endless queue of borrowing books had not ended until lunchtime.

Xia Xiaohe took a small notebook and took notes carefully while looking at his watch.

Li Xu was watching from the other side and found it funny. This girl was really honest.

Seeing that the line showed no sign of finishing up anytime soon, Li Xu stood up, walked over to Xia Xiaohe and said, "Okay, let's stop here for today. We'll come back tomorrow."

Xia Xiaohe nodded, handed the notebook to Li Xu and said, "Do you think this will work?"

Li Xu took the notebook and glanced at it. Wow, Xia Xiaohe had clearly written down the time when each person started borrowing the books and when they completed the borrowing procedures.

Li Xu returned the notebook to Xia Xiaohe and said, "Well done."

Xia Xiaohe, who had received the praise, smiled shyly. After a moment's hesitation, she asked, "Should we take this directly to the school leaders?"

Li Xu shook his head, took the notebook from Xia Xiaohe's hand and asked, "What is this thing called?"

Xia Xiaohe was stunned for a moment: "Ah, isn't it a notebook?"

Li Xu shook his head slightly and said, "This thing is called a pain point."

Li Xu then said earnestly, "Listen to me, the most important and first step in a negotiation is to find the pain points. Once you've found the pain points, what should you do?"

Li Xu showed a meaningful smile: "That is to poke it. A pain point that has never been touched by anyone is not a pain point. It must be poke by someone and make people feel pain. Only then can it be called a qualified pain point."

Xia Xiaohe showed a thoughtful expression, and she immediately realized that Li Xu was teaching her something.

She quickly followed Li Xu's steps, but she still didn't understand how to poke the pain point, so she asked, "I feel it's already very painful, why do you need to poke it again? The last time I went to borrow a book, I also waited in line for half an hour. Although such queues don't often occur in the library, it makes people feel very uncomfortable every time they queue up."

Li Xu shook his head and said to Xia Xiaohe, "This is only causing pain for us students right now, but the students' pain won't have much of an impact. We need to find a way to shift the students' pain to the administrators' pain. We need to make this pain point not only a pain point for the students, but also a pain point for the school. Only then will the school find a way to solve it."

Xia Xiaohe wanted to ask something, but Li Xu shook his head and said, "Let's go eat first."

In the following few days, Li Xu did nothing else. Whenever he had time, he took Xia Xiaohe to the library and stayed there. He visited several libraries in the school.

The libraries have different styles. Some are modern with glass walls reflecting sunlight; others are simple and elegant with wooden bookshelves exuding the breath of time.

But the management is pretty much the same.

A few days later, Li Xu compiled the data Xia Xiaohe had handwritten into a simple analysis report. However, Li Xu didn't rush to take the report to the director of the Information Center. The library was managed and operated by the Information Center, so the upgrade of the barcode scanner naturally fell under the control of the Information Center.

Although Li Xu felt that there was a high probability of success if he went to find a teacher at the Information Center, Li Xu still chose a safer way.

After asking around, he learned some information about Aunt Liu, a librarian at a library.

On the way to the library, the scenery on campus was still beautiful, and the flowers and plants on both sides of the road swayed gently in the wind.

Li Xu said to Xia Xiaohe, "The most important tool for business negotiations is to understand information. You must always think from the perspective of your customers. This requires you to understand your customers very well. For example, for our book borrowing function, the customer is the information center. However, understanding this alone is not enough. You must also have a more detailed understanding of the information to make the most effective decisions."

Xia Xiaohe nodded thoughtfully, taking it all in. Then, tilting her head, she asked, "So, what's so special about this Aunt Liu?"

Li Xu smiled slightly, then lowered his voice and whispered, "This Aunt Liu is Director Zhao's second aunt from the Information Center."

Xia Xiaohe was stunned for a moment, and her mouth opened slightly.

Li Xu smiled but said nothing.

After all, China is a society based on human relationships. No matter in which field, human relationships are inevitable. Even in places like Peking University and Tsinghua University, such a phenomenon can be found.

Librarians of this era are very different from those in the 1930s and 1940s. To put it bluntly, their job is very repetitive. Basically anyone can do this kind of work, but they just need to be more careful.

Aunt Liu has been employed as a librarian for five or six years. Li Xu learned that Director Zhao has been in office for six or seven years, so it can be basically inferred that Aunt Liu's appointment as a librarian must be related to Director Zhao.

It cannot be said that this is a violation, after all, Aunt Liu also meets the requirements of a librarian.

Instead of going directly to Director Zhao, Li Xu planned to go to Aunt Liu first to do some work.

Today is the weekend. The sunlight shines through the gaps between the branches and leaves outside the library, casting mottled light and shadows. The library is filled with a unique scent mixed with old papers and wooden bookshelves.

Large glass windows allow natural light to pour in, illuminating the rows of neatly arranged bookshelves and adding a sense of tranquility to the entire space.

Although it was the weekend, there were still many people in the library.

People might be quietly searching among the bookshelves, or sitting at a table reading intently, and occasionally the sound of turning pages could be heard.

But books are not available for loan on Saturday mornings, so Aunt Liu is not too busy at the moment.

She was in the front desk work area, surrounded by piles of books waiting to be sorted and stacks of registers.

Aunt Liu carefully sorted out some of the returned books and placed them neatly by category.

Just as I was about to take a break, Li Xu and Xia Xiaohe stood at the front desk.

Aunt Liu said without looking up, "No books are being borrowed this morning."

Li Xu said softly: "Aunt Liu, we are not here to borrow books."

Aunt Liu then raised her head and looked at Li Xu and Xia Xiaohe with some confusion.

Li Xu took out a towel and a pack of toilet paper and said, "I'm Li Xu, a sophomore from the School of Management. I'm working on a project and would like to take a few minutes of your time to do a questionnaire. If you accept, I can give you two small gifts."

Aunt Liu saw the pack of toilet paper and towels in Li Xu's hand and grinned: "Okay, okay."

Although she didn't understand research projects, she had been at Peking University and Tsinghua University for such a long time that she naturally knew that these top students were often conducting various types of research, but she had never experienced it before.

Seeing that Aunt Liu was ready, Li Xu asked, "How much time do you spend on borrowing books every day?"

Aunt Liu was stunned for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "I haven't calculated this in detail, probably a few hours."

Li Xu nodded and said, "Well, half of my time is spent on borrowing books, and the process is cumbersome."

Aunt Liu blinked her eyes. Did she say that?

Xia Xiaohe was also a little confused.

Li Xu continued, "What do you think about our borrowing process? It takes too long and requires manual transcription of student information. It's not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also prone to errors."

Aunt Liu was stunned again. She frowned slightly and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Young man, to be honest, I don't think the problem you mentioned is the same."

Li Xu smiled slightly and said, "Aunt Liu, how long does it take you to copy a student's information?"

Aunt Liu said confidently, "It won't take long, just two or three minutes."

Li Xu asked her, "What if two or three minutes can be shortened to one or two seconds?"

Aunt Liu's eyes widened immediately: "How is this possible?"

Li Xu didn't explain further and continued to ask, "Aunt Liu, can you guarantee that the information you transcribe and the borrowing time are absolutely correct every time?"

Aunt Liu hesitated again. Although a little embarrassed, she still said honestly, "There's really no way to guarantee that. After all, people make mistakes all the time. With so many students borrowing books, it's normal for them to make mistakes occasionally."

Li Xu nodded quickly and said, "It's normal, it's normal."

But then he sighed slightly and said, "Aunt Liu, to be honest, I think you're working too hard. There are so many students borrowing books, and you're the only one here watching over them. You have to copy each student's book for two or three minutes. Your hands must be sore from writing."

Aunt Liu raised her hand and looked at the small callus on her middle finger. Before she could say anything, Li Xu continued, "Copying like this every day is not only tiring for your eyes, but lying down all the time is also uncomfortable for your shoulders and neck."

After Li Xu's words, Aunt Liu gradually believed that her life was indeed very hard.

She just realized how hard it was for her... She sighed, nodded, and said with deep conviction, "You're absolutely right. My shoulders and neck ache all the time. I went to the hospital for a checkup a couple of days ago, and they said my cervical spine has straightened a little. Sigh."

Li Xu echoed a few times, which made Aunt Liu feel even more depressed.

Xia Xiaohe was stunned watching from the side.

Isn't this deliberately creating conflict?

But she also quickly understood the underlying logic behind Li Xu's actions.

As expected, after a heart-to-heart chat with Aunt Liu, and after she poured out all her grievances, Li Xu slowly said, "Right now, a few classmates and I are working on a system. By simply scanning a code, we can record all the student information and library information into the system. It only takes a few seconds at most. Not only that, the information recorded will never be wrong. The time is accurate to the minute and second according to the computer time."

Aunt Liu asked curiously, "So amazing?"

Li Xu smiled and nodded, saying, "We're going to talk to Director Zhao about this in a few days. We can upgrade the campus cards of our students and install a book borrowing system to implement this function."

Li Xu pointed at the computer and said, "You just need to install a card reader here. When students come to borrow books, you put their student cards on the card reader and scan the page number of the book with a barcode scanner. It will automatically enter the data into the computer, clearly showing when the book was borrowed, which book, and which student borrowed it. The same operation is done when returning books. At the end of each month, you only need to import the data, and you can clearly see which college and which student has not returned which book. You don't have to flip through the register page by page to find the student's name."

Aunt Liu was obviously moved by what Li Xu said and couldn't help asking, "When can I use this system?"

Li Xu deliberately remained silent for a moment and said, "I'm just researching right now, because Director Zhao has the final say on this matter. Although upgrading the library's system wouldn't cost much, installing a card reader and a small piece of software would only cost a couple of thousand yuan, I haven't met Director Zhao yet, so I'm not sure if this is a good topic to discuss."

Aunt Liu immediately patted her chest and said, "If this system is really as good as you say, I'll talk to him. Isn't it just a matter of one or two thousand?"

Li Xu blinked, hesitated for a moment and said, "Aunt Liu, are your words effective?"

Aunt Liu snorted, breathing out through her nose, and said, "I was the one who changed that kid's diapers when he was little!"

Then he said without hesitation: "He is my nephew."

Li Xu showed an expression of sudden enlightenment and said, "That's great. Please tell Director Zhao first, and then I will visit him."

When I came out of the library, the sunlight outside was even brighter.

The green trees swayed gently in the breeze, and the leaves rustled.

Xia Xiaohe kept staring at Li Xu.

Li Xu was a little amused and said, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Xia Xiaohe shook her head slightly and said, "You are really amazing. You managed to handle this so easily."

Li Xu smiled slightly and said, "Actually, if we go directly to Director Zhao, we will probably be able to get this done, but I want you to see where to start with this kind of thing."

Li Xu was in a very good mood at this time. This library borrowing function could really help students solve the pain point of queuing. This was its greatest significance, because making the campus card accepted by students was the key to promoting it.

I have to say that Aunt Liu is very efficient. That afternoon, Li Xu received a strange phone call.

The other party directly identified himself and said, "I'm Zhao Qiang from the Information Center. Is this Li Xu? Please come to my office."

Li Xu went to Zhao Qiang's office in the afternoon.

It only took a dozen minutes to successfully convince Zhao Qiang to agree to upgrade the school's library borrowing system simultaneously after the new campus cards were produced.

But this is only the first step in a long journey, and the next highlight has just begun. The two modules of access control system and consumption system are the core keys to the success of this project!
Unlike the library, whether you go to the school's logistics center or negotiate with merchants, you can't just rely on a concept, you must produce the actual thing.

Ye Ruida and Lei Yinbing have only completed one-third of the progress, so they need to wait patiently for a while.

While waiting, Li Xu certainly would not be idle.

On the eve of National Day, Li Xu called Tang Qiaoning and said, "How are the preparations for what I told you before going? Come with me to the bank in a couple of days."

Tang Qiaoning immediately said excitedly, "Great, are we finally going to rob a bank?"

"what?"

"Pfft... I mean, I'm going to negotiate with the bank... What should I prepare?"

(End of this chapter)