Chapter 88: I Heard Baiyi Doesn’t Have a Boyfriend, Do You Think I Have a Chance?
The task of building the online store was left to Yang Chenjun.
No matter how many layers of outsourcing he does, as long as he gets the job done for me, that’s all that matters.
At the same time, Lin Yibai found a completely safe place and, with an extremely unnatural expression, he was still in his male body but used a “female” voice.
“Hey, hey, hey~”
When she heard her own delicate voice, Lin Yibai immediately got goosebumps, feeling a bit disgusted, saying, “I feel like a sissy!”
This was a very different feeling from when she practiced voice training. When she was learning voice techniques, at least she knew she was still a guy, not like now, where certain traits were slowly turning into those of a girl.
Even though she was frustrated with this change, it was for work, right?
This project had a 30,000 budget from Xia Changyu, meaning whatever was left could go straight into her pocket.
But Lin Yibai was someone with principles. She couldn’t bring herself to scam people. So, she decided to try her best to make the project run and make a little profit.
That way, she could take the leftover money without feeling guilty.
With that in mind, Lin Yibai dialed the number of a certain love rival. Once the call was connected, she said, “It’s like this, I’ll send you a file later.”
Xia Changyu, who didn’t have any classes that morning and was in the dorm, saw the incoming call and couldn’t help but smile.
But once he realized it was about work, his mood turned down, and he asked, feeling a little disappointed, “What file?”
What file? Is this rival sleeping or what? This is a 30,000 yuan big project!
Lin Yibai switched the call to the background and sent over a file, along with a few puffed-up, pouty, and annoyed emojis.
After seeing the emojis, Xia Changyu thought, If you send me these cute emojis, I’m not sleepy anymore.
But sadly, in just a few sentences, Lin Yibai steered the conversation back to the project. She sent the file and said, "These past few days, I’ve looked at hundreds of national-style specialty stores, including but not limited to porcelain, and I’ve collected over 200 national-style keywords. Also, on TikTok and Bilibili… thanks to their ‘intelligent algorithm,’ my account has already taken on a national-style shape, did you know?"
Damn it!
She had turned into someone else’s shape?
Xia Changyu opened the file on his phone and glanced at it. The next moment, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes. The file had categories, including the most popular keywords, all specially marked.
This would let you respond to the market right away, and it was the true use of “traffic testing.” This kind of data should have been bought with money. But Lin Yibai had done most of it by hand.
As an entrepreneur, Xia Changyu knew the value of this information. But he also had some personal intentions.
Not for the project work, he invited her privately, saying, "Are you free right now?"
Lin Yibai scratched her head and asked, "Why?"
Xia Changyu took a deep breath and finally revealed his real purpose, "I want to invite you to dinner."
Lin Yibai looked at “her” current appearance. And since it would still take some time before she changed back into a girl, she refused without thinking.
You don’t want to see me in my male form, do you?
I don’t want you to see me in my male form either.
After hearing the refusal, there was a brief pause on the other side of the call. Then, Xia Changyu changed his approach and said, "Isn’t it okay, even if it’s for work?"
Lin Yibai asked, "Are you threatening me?"
"Ahaha!" Xia Changyu chuckled awkwardly, then said, "No, no. I just meant that you could come report the work to me. But if you don’t want to, then forget it."
Lin Yibai sighed and said, "It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I really can’t right now, I’m busy."
Xia Changyu asked, "When will you be free?"
Lin Yibai glanced at the ‘female Correction Value’ again and said, "Three days? Maybe five days, I don’t know."
Xia Changyu sounded a little disappointed. "Is that so?"
"Stinky rival... um, I mean, Xia Changyu, why are you so obsessed with seeing me?"
"Is it strange that I want to see you?"
"I'm not your dad... ah, sorry, I meant, I’m not your girlfriend. Why are you thinking so much about it? Aren’t you tired?"
"By the way, you don’t have a boyfriend, right?"
"No, is there a problem?"
"Look at me."
"Look at you? For what?"
"Look at me, do I have a chance?"
"Huh..."
Lin Yibai was really shocked. Wow, you rival, so your thoughts are actually this dirty? You like guys? Ah, I’m a girl now?
Well, nothing’s wrong... just kidding! That stinky rival suddenly said something like this, so there must be something wrong.
It’s like when some boys like girls but only dare to ask in a "testing" way. But, that’s absolutely impossible. Because I’m a guy!
Lin Yibai immediately became serious and started giving a lesson.
"Us guys... oh, I mean, you guys need to focus on the bigger picture, have career goals, and not spend all your time thinking about love and relationships, okay? And besides, even if you ask me about chances, that’s impossible."
Xia Changyu asked, "Ah, why?"
Lin Yibai replied, "Do you think love and liking someone is like buying something in a store? You’ve never pursued me, you haven’t shown any interest, and I don’t have a good impression of you. Then suddenly, like a gambler, you say you like me and ask if you have a chance. Isn’t that ridiculous?"
A small number of boys' way of dating: like, pursue, confess.
Most boys’ way of dating: gambler-style confession.
Lin Yibai thought that his words should scare the stinky rival away.
I just don’t like you, got it? I hope you don’t keep pushing it.
On the other side, Xia Changyu was so happy he almost jumped up. He excitedly responded, "Got it, got it, I really understand now, thanks for telling me. I’ll start by pursuing you!"
Lin Yibai: "?"
Help, what is this guy doing? Didn’t he hear my clear rejection and dislike? We’re both guys, this isn’t possible!
No, wait, this is going off track. I came here to report on the project progress, but how did I end up almost getting myself into this?
Lin Yibai couldn't help but feel frustrated. He scratched his head and said, "Hey, focus! We're talking about work here!"
Xia Changyu's mood suddenly improved, and he asked, "Just tell me, I’m listening."
Lin Yibai said directly, "I think I’ve figured out the traffic and keywords. Next, I want to talk to you about marketing planning."
"Since you've figured out the traffic and keywords, according to that expert, why don’t we just start burning money in China?"
"Are you stupid?"
"?!"
"Now, with Taobao's direct traffic ads or target traffic, whoever buys it is just throwing away money."
"Ah...!!"
"Xia Changyu, you're in charge of foreign trade." Lin Yibai took a deep breath and then said slowly, "I don't blame you for not understanding the current situation in China, but please, don’t waste money."
Is there still a need for Taobao direct ads? The answer is: yes.
But, whoever does it is throwing away money!
I can only say, if money isn’t an issue, go ahead, but if you're short on cash, don’t bother with these useless things.
Lin Yibai still had a lot of ideas to share. If this were a meeting, and if he could make a PowerPoint presentation, and if he could just turn into a girl right now, he’d do much better. Sigh, it’s really annoying.
She felt a bit down and could only say, "I didn’t explain things clearly on the phone, but anyway, my plan is to focus on short videos. A good short video plan can attract much more traffic than just giving money to Taobao."
Xia Changyu nodded and asked, "Is there anything I need to help with?"
"I need to borrow your company’s department for shooting short videos. Also, find a girl who can sing and dance, and is good-looking, to help with the video shoots."
"Is that all?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I’ll get on it right away."
"By the way, also ask Sister Xia to come along."
"Call my mothe... Uh... cough cough." Xia Changyu almost let it slip and quickly reassured, "Alright, I’ll definitely get Sister Xia. She’s been asking about you, hasn’t seen you these past few days, and keeps mentioning you!"
There wasn’t much more to say after that. Yang Chenjun, along with three of the top students from the e-commerce class, managed to get the entire online store set up in less than three days.
They even felt a little embarrassed about the money they received and went ahead and optimized the entire store. They slapped their chests and promised, "Free maintenance for three months."
For just three thousand yuan, having four people, three of whom are top students from the e-commerce department, maintain the online store for three months. How can you say that’s not worth it?
For three thousand yuan, you can’t hire a worker. But you can have four university students help maintain your store for three months.
Yang Chenjun’s part is ready to go. Now, the online store looks like a shopping mall, filled with a variety of products. It’s all set, just waiting for the grand opening.
The success or failure of the grand opening, however, completely depends on Lin Yibai's upcoming marketing and planning.
Lin Yibai took over Yang Chenjun’s laptop and started creating a detailed PowerPoint and related planning proposal on it.
She needed this to convince some opposing parties. "Although Xia Changyu is the boss, the company mainly does foreign trade, and if we shift to doing domestic business, it will definitely clash with the interests of the foreign trade department. That could lead to conflicts, and we don’t want that."
By the time the weekend came, Lin Yibai found another excuse to disappear.
Since her adjustment to the female form was almost complete, she went to a secluded place to take a moment to relax and soon fully transformed into her female body.
"Ah, phew~~"
Lin Yibai wasn’t sure if it was just her feeling, but after changing to her female form, she felt a lot lighter and had a slight sense of happiness.
She didn’t understand this change and could only comfort herself.
"Maybe it's because when I was in my male body, I was almost turning into a monster. Hair? Gone. Skin? It became smoother. Even my Adam's apple is almost gone."
If she still wasn’t considered a monster back then, she must have looked like a very strange person. Anyway, Lin Yibai couldn’t accept her male form.
She thought that if one day even her "banana" disappeared, that would be truly bizarre.
She felt her male body was incomplete. Yes, in Lin Yibai’s view, her male body was gradually becoming incomplete.
But her female body was at least complete. It just felt more reassuring to be in a complete female body.
Shaking her head and not thinking too much about it, Lin Yibai scrolled through her phone and found another hotel near the school to stay at, though this one was a bit more expensive.
It made her feel both distressed and conflicted.
"I really need to find a place to rent. If I stay in hotels for eight days a month, that’s at least a thousand yuan a month. I could totally rent a small, private room in a place near the school, designed for students after renovation."
But, there was no money. She would have to wait a bit longer. Once she finished the project with Xia Changyu, the money earned would be enough to rent a place and buy a computer.
Turning the air conditioning up a little higher, Lin Yibai went to wash up and soon fell asleep, ready to work hard for tomorrow.
The next day, when she arrived at Lin Yibai's startup company again, she couldn’t help but feel a bit dazed.
The last time she came, she was just a part-time worker and still a college student. Now, she was already in charge of a project.
Although that project was just a small one worth 30,000 yuan, it didn’t matter. She had prepared herself well for it.
Xia Changyu also arrived, happy to see his beloved Lin Yibai again. Seeing her serious expression, he smiled and said, “You just need to share your thoughts later. No need to be too nervous.”
Lin Yibai glanced at him and asked, “Just say it and that’s all?”
Xia Changyu replied, “Yes.”
Lin Yibai shook her head and said, “That’s not going to work.”
Xia Changyu was surprised and quickly said, “Baiyi, you really don’t need to be so nervous. Our main business is foreign trade, and the domestic business is just an experiment. So trust me, no one will make things difficult for you.”
Lin Yibai shook her head again.
In a small office inside, the seats were already filled with people.
So, the real issue wasn’t about being made difficult.
She tightly gripped the USB drive containing the PPT. This was the result of almost a week of hard work, and then she took a deep breath and said, “Xia Changyu, haven't you misunderstood something? For you, this might just be an internal business trial, but for me, this project is everything.”
For them, whether it succeeded or failed didn’t matter, but for Lin Yibai, it did.
She placed one hand on the handle of the office sliding door, doing her final emotional adjustment.
Normally, she’d get nervous during PPT presentations in class, but now she was facing an even more stressful situation, and her heart kept pounding loudly.
So useless!
Until a big hand pressed down on the back of her hand.
“What you said made me realize I didn’t think things through, but can you trust me?”
Lin Yibai: “Huh?”
Xia Changyu said, “I proposed this project, so in essence, I’m your strong support. I mean, can I be honored to be your backup?”
Lin Yibai couldn’t help but feel like scolding him. What’s with you pressing on the back of my hand? Let go of your dirty paws, you dog, don’t you know what it’s like to get a punch to the face, huh?
But at the same time, a slight blush appeared on her face.