Chapter 231 Digging a Grave Circle

After hearing from Xiao Wang that Panda TV's current round of financing plan was independently invested by Qihoo 360, Xie Jingxing made up his mind to hold a banquet that night.

Academician Yin Hui, honorary dean of the School of Life Sciences of Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Ji Chaoyang, vice president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in charge of industry-university-research cooperation; and Ding Hao, vice president of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's school-run enterprise investment group, were present.

With the good cooperation project between Xiyou and Jiaotong University's Institute of Finance as a foundation, and Yu Tong returning to China with a 300 million yuan investment, the atmosphere during the banquet was particularly harmonious.

But Jiaotong University is, after all, the top university in China and it has a certain lofty humanistic style. Even if they are sincere in talking about money-making business, it is impossible for them to get a few beautiful female students and teachers to drink with them.

There is a lack of important auxiliary links. Drink just enough and when the atmosphere is right, remove the food and drink and drink tea instead.

"In the early years, scientific research in our domestic universities was a big pot, with the government paying for everything. Now, funds are distributed to independent research groups and projects, and the efficiency of fund use has improved. Many things are also more clearly divided."

Principal Ji, whose name is full of modern flavor, chatted in a gentle voice: "For example, there are more than a dozen research groups in a research building of the school. In the early years, the school covered all the management expenses such as cleaning and maintenance of this building. Now the state directly pays according to the research group. It is hard to say which research group is responsible for this management expense."

"So now the external funds obtained by domestic universities are all unified into the school account, and then divided according to specific research groups. Many social enterprises have complaints about this, and it is difficult for schools to handle it..."

President Ji has made it clear that no matter which university Yu Tong goes to when he returns to China and how much social donations he brings, they will all have to be approved by the school.

The school's normal practice is to split the donation in half, but a single donation of 3 million yuan will definitely not be implemented according to normal procedures.

You should know that the two favorite universities in Beijing, Peking University and Tsinghua University, have a research budget of more than 3 billion yuan each this year.

A single donation of 3 million yuan in research funds from a social enterprise is not just about money. At least it can push several leaders related to it to take on more important jobs.

"It's not easy for domestic universities. Excellent scientists work hard with less funding than their foreign counterparts. As a businessman, I admire them very much."

Xie Jingxing expressed his respect sincerely. Columbia University's annual research funding is also several billion US dollars, which does not include the billions of funds invested in non-one-time long-term social enterprise cooperation according to annual donations.

In fact, Yunshan Group has invested a lot in scientific research. Animal husbandry and agricultural plant conservation all belong to the category of natural sciences. Spending a few hundred million on its research institutes and major universities every year does not make much of a splash.

Even today, we still have to hold our noses and go abroad to buy the second-generation breeding bulls that have been eliminated.

But what he mainly wanted to talk about tonight was not the hundreds of millions of donations. Saying too much would make it seem like he was threatening others with profit to do something for him.

Xie Jingxing dealt with it with a simple sentence and turned to the main topic: "Principal Ji, President Ding, I mainly want to consult about a project today. Can you two give me some advice?"

"You say."

Ding Hao, the vice president of the school-run enterprise investment group, who has a well-proportioned figure, a mature face and a Confucian businessman's temperament, put down his teacup. Principal Ji tilted his head to glance at Academician Yin, who remained calm and indifferent.

After all, academicians are one level lower than administrators, and scholars still have to maintain their integrity and face. Since he has agreed to help Xie Jingxing to make connections, it is not right for him to force the donation.

"I don't know if you have heard of the 'Eastern Normal University Affiliated High School'. This high school is a key high school in my hometown of Jingyue City. Its teaching results are very good and it ranks among the top ten in the country."

Xie Jingxing talked freely: "Their school has designated support with some middle schools in poor areas, and they often dispatch elite teachers to assist in teaching. In recent years, Yunshan Group has helped provide some educational resources, but the results are not very ideal."

"The teachers at the Affiliated High School of East China Normal University are not energetic enough, and the middle schools that are targeted for assistance also find it difficult to keep up with the pace of education for a long time. I wonder if we can use the advanced 4G Internet resources today to provide long-term online live teaching to carry out assistance work more efficiently."

Principal Ji thought for a moment and asked, "What is the specific format? The teachers at the East Normal University Affiliated High School will teach normally, and then broadcast the classes live to other middle schools. This way, we can not only provide targeted assistance to middle schools with backward educational resources, but all middle schools can also learn from it."

"I am temporarily considering that there may be problems with online teaching and poor interaction between teachers and students. After all, students from middle schools with backward educational resources cannot keep up with students from the High School Affiliated to East China Normal University in many aspects." Xie Jingxing took the initiative to raise the question.

Principal Ji was silent. It was not easy to compare the students in the mountains who did farm work after school with the students in the city who played on computer and drank milk tea after school. The topic of students source had always been cruel.

“Then the positioning of this business model is K12 education products?” President Ding Hao has a different focus.

"It is divided into two parts: live teaching business for ToB school classrooms, and online course education for ToC individuals. The ToB business model takes the technical service route, and the ToC side can carry out some conventional course selling education."

Xie Jingxing nodded: "For example, in the MBA business class of Jiaotong University, many students are not busy with work, so they can buy courses and study online. There are also some free public courses that can be spread through online courses."

Ding Hao's eyes gradually brightened. K12 education investment is now very popular.

There is no need to mention extracurricular tutoring and training for primary and secondary schools. The prospects at the national level are worrying and it is hard to say when a piece of paper will cut its throat. Xie Jingxing cunningly removed this business and replaced it with live teaching on the ToB side.

It is even covered with a layer of political correctness. Key and high-quality middle schools offer live online classes to middle schools with backward educational resources. The platform only charges a certain operating service fee. It costs several hundred yuan to buy an annual membership for office software. This is a typical example of technology changing poverty.

As for adult continuing education businesses such as foreign language learning and business administration, these things are routine revenue-generating operations for universities. The business administration schools of Fudan University and MIT earn hundreds of millions of yuan in tuition fees each year.

Obviously, there is room for imagination in this market.

"Well, Mr. Xie, do you have any business BP in this regard?" Ding Hao coughed lightly and gave a look to Principal Ji, whose mind was full of 3 million yuan in social donations.

Xie Jing Xing fiddled with his teacup and shook his head with a wry smile: "To be honest, there have been some negative discussions about me and the companies I invested in on the Internet recently. I accept the criticism, and I will correct it if there is any, and learn from it if there is none. I am thinking about whether I can use the resources I have to make some positive contributions to society."

"So I initially thought of this business BP. If Mr. Ding has any ideas, I can take the lead in contacting Panda TV and Kuaishou to integrate their underlying technologies for live broadcasting and video recommendation to make this project a reality."

Ding Hao was speechless for a moment. If that was the case, Jiaotong University could do it with any major Internet company, so Panda TV and Kuaishou would have no advantages.

Moreover, this project involves a wide range of government resources, including the education department, cultural department, united front department... Counting on one's fingers, any big shot sitting in any ministerial building in Beijing is qualified to jump out and make comments.

"I have another immature idea. I would like to introduce the propaganda department to jointly demonstrate Internet products among social enterprises, universities, and official propaganda units." Xie Jingxing added softly while picking up his teacup.

Ding Hao was thinking in his mind and nodded in response. Principal Ji suddenly leaned forward, held the armrest of the sofa and said thoughtfully: "Publicity unit... Mr. Ding, I heard that our school-run enterprises have opened official accounts on the Internet, right?" "It is mainly concentrated on Weibo. The scale of other online platforms does not meet the publicity needs." Ding Hao said casually.

Principal Ji smacked his lips and asked directly, "Mr. Xie, can the software you mentioned include some patriotic education functions for students?"

"Of course you can. University campus communications and public institutions' publicity departments can all join in. I want to bring in publicity departments to work together for this reason." Xie Jingxing was well prepared.

Ding Hao came back to his senses in an instant, and spoke before Principal Ji in a slightly impetuous and uncontrolled manner: "According to what you said, the coverage of this project is probably a bit too wide, so it can even form a school alliance!"

"To be honest, it is because I value the strength of Jiaotong University that I am the first to ask you two for advice." Xie Jingxing expressed his attitude.

Ding Hao didn't want to talk anymore. Principal Ji saw the political achievements, but he also saw losses.

It's easy to tell that if the relevant publicity department is involved, this project will most likely be turned into a purely free and commercial product.

As expected of an investment genius with a net worth of tens of billions at the age of 23, capitalism has penetrated into his bones, and even the red propaganda wants to make a fortune.

President Ding was full of praise, and looked at Xie Jingxing with eyes full of admiration. He was simply looking up to a mountain. Jingxing... it was enough to look up to a mountain and worship him, but there was no need to learn from or imitate him.

Jiaotong University really does not have the ability to turn red propaganda into school assets, and cannot take the lead in organizing such huge social resources.

"We certainly don't have the ability to organize all schools and institutions at present, but from CCTV's many high-quality programs for students, such as 'Let's Talk', we can see the significance of the direction of education at the national level."

Xie Jingxing looked at President Ji and said, "I think Jiaotong University has the ability to unite with some universities to build a framework first. It depends on human efforts to determine how far we can achieve in the future."

"You mean to say that the main part of this project should be handed over to us, uh, to start cooperation with the university as the main body?" President Ding suddenly felt that he was up to it.

That's right, Jiaotong University is not big enough to integrate all domestic universities, so the higher-level propaganda departments will not directly intervene and seize it by force. In other words, they just look down on it.

When the project is done in the future, if you want to take it away and incorporate it, you can't just take it for free, right?
It seems that there is still some profit to be made.

"Panda TV and Kuaishou have invested in the technology, and I have invested in the project. The actual control of the project is controlled by Jiaotong University. However, I personally have a small suggestion for the name of this project - Education Power."

Xie Jingxing's answer satisfied President Ding's imagination. He didn't expect this project to make money at all, so it didn't matter who he gave it to.

In the original timeline, "Education Power" was not directly produced by the propaganda department until a few years later, and was built based on the underlying architecture of Alibaba's product "DingTalk".

During the years when students were taking online classes at home during the epidemic, DingTalk's valuation soared to over 100 billion yuan, and it even became a joke for getting low ratings in mobile app stores.

Now that all conditions are not mature, let's make a low-profile mini version first. Whether it is Xiao Wang's paranoia or Zhou Hongyi's servility, all are packaged and mixed in.

He was very much looking forward to what the board of directors of Panda TV would look like on the day when "Education Power" was incorporated. It would be like the stage built for Zhang Xuhao before. Just enjoy it, because this time he would not tear down the stage with his own hands.

President Ding and Principal Ji each had their own stances, and they were both full of anticipation as the big picture outlined by Xie Jingxing came to fruition. In the end, after their bellies were filled with tea, they were still not satisfied and said they would go back and think about it carefully and give an answer after the meeting.

Given the work efficiency of colleges and universities, it is expected that there will be a formal written reply within two to three months.

Xie Jingxing was not in a hurry. He first thought of something. If Jiaotong University didn't work, there was Fudan University. If Fudan University didn't work... even Fudan University didn't work, then he could only think of other ways to dig a grave for Xiao Wang and Zhou Hongyi...

The most important thing at the moment is to actively respond to the Internet Cleansing Campaign and sort out a few positive signature anchors for Panda TV.

Xie Jingxing personally sent Academician Yin Hui home. On the way, they chatted about some simple scientific research issues. He promised to donate 2000 million yuan to the School of Life Sciences of Jiaotong University.

Academician Yin was a little unhappy and felt that he was being humiliated by the money. He explained tactfully that the donation had nothing to do with today's incident and was entirely for Yu Tong to make more friends. No matter which university Dr. Yu went to after returning to China, he would have to make a living in the academic circle.

Academician Yin became even more unhappy now and left in a huff. Half a minute later, he came back and said unhappily that if 2000 million was converted into US dollars, the Institute of Life Sciences would have to purchase equipment from abroad.

Xie Jingxing was very moved. At the level of academician, one can achieve equality for all beings by having no desires or demands in one's heart. However, Mr. Yin had great aspirations and demands.

He had nothing to say but to convert 2000 million RMB into 500 million USD as a sign of respect. After all, donating to scientific research was a disguised form of tax avoidance.

As for Academician Yin, Xie Jingxing had many ways to avoid taxes, but he still showed some intention in choosing to support scientific research. When he returned home, he instructed his disciples to obtain Yu Tong's email address and carefully wrote a long letter to invite her to return to China and join Jiaotong University.

On the other side, Xie Jingxing returned to the hotel and hastily dealt with the work emails that had been delayed in the past few days because he was focused on researching and digging holes. Then he logged into the Panda TV platform with his super administrator account and wandered around the live broadcast rooms one by one to find an anchor who was presentable and suitable to be put on the stage.

He swears all the time and smokes a cigarette every five seconds. He deserves to be put in a dog cage and his live broadcast room will be banned for seven days.

She leaks the ball, dances and tells dirty jokes. She will be banned for three days.

Punishment is based on gifts given. This is amazing. The punishment list even includes pretending to be a ghost in the underground garage in the middle of the night. I’m warning you, don’t get beaten to death in the live broadcast room.

Xie Jingxing frowned more and more as he looked at it. He scrolled to the bottom of the live broadcast recommendation page but couldn't find a normal person.

I clicked into the last live broadcast room as a routine matter. The camera was dark and I couldn't see anything clearly. The comments flashed by actively, most of them were cursing "ugly people are prone to mischief", and the remaining few were sarcastic "When will you become the number one anchor of Panda TV?"

"Mount Tai is known as the most majestic of the Five Mountains. It was the place where the ancient emperors performed Fengshan...Mount Tai is very beautiful. I will take you to the top of the mountain to watch the sunrise. You are welcome to visit my hometown if you have the chance..."

The live camera was shaking, accompanied by a young female voice.

Xie Jingxing raised his wrist to check the time. It was 1:30 in the morning, still early for sunrise.

(End of this chapter)