Yu Xiaxing took one look and realized that, as a megacity and global financial center, Pushi’s arts-entrance-exam prep classes were shockingly expensive.
A semester of fine arts training cost around 150,000 yuan. Vocal lessons were charged by the hour, with each class costing over 1,000 yuan. Even the cheapest media-related courses cost at least 100,000…
How was this industry so profitable?
A few gullible customers were all it took to make the money back!
No, she had to set the prices lower.
Besides, her training program couldn’t rely on making a small profit through high enrollment.
Even if some parents thought the classes were cheap and signed their children up just to give them a try, figuring they had nothing to lose, each class would stop accepting students once it reached capacity. They could still end up losing money!
So she said, “No matter what the subject, set the price at 2,000 yuan per semester. As for the reason behind the pricing… just say it’s our way of giving back to society.”
“…” Lu Yanzhao fell silent.
Yu Xiaxing looked up at him. “What is it?”
Lu Yanzhao wanted to say that this was far too cheap. Even if the teachers voluntarily took on extra students and taught more classes, they still wouldn’t make their money back.
But then he remembered Yu Xiaxing’s rule: under no circumstances was he to question her.
So he said nothing and simply replied, “All right.”
He went to draw up the proposal and submit it to the review committee.
—
After lunch, Lu Yanzhao returned and said, “No good. The review committee rejected our proposal. They said that 2,000 yuan per semester is simply too far below the market average.”
“They also rejected the reason ‘giving back to society.’ They believe that doing this would only disrupt the market, not benefit society.”
Damn it. Their attempt to exploit a loophole had failed again.
Yu Xiaxing rested her chin in her hand and pondered for a moment before making a concession.
“All right, then. We’ll set our prices at the market rate. Ordinary students will pay the standard price.”
“But students from our school will get a fifty-percent discount.”
“If a child with a disability or intellectual impairment wants to study art, they’ll get a seventy-percent discount.”
“And each training program will reserve one community-care spot for a child who is both disadvantaged and talented. That student can attend for free.”
Yu Xiaxing thought this strategy was brilliant and morally unimpeachable. No one could find fault with it.
The program had no competitive advantage to begin with. If students from other schools saw that the teachers weren’t particularly strong, yet the prices were the same as those of better programs, why would they sign up?
As for students from Shengde, over the past few days she had wandered around campus and heard many of them say that they had no interest in teachers like Shen Zhi—old-fashioned and inexperienced.
Now she took out her phone to gauge the parents’ reactions.
Sure enough, she saw that some parents were already discussing the program.
[Parents’ Group]
“Do you think that training program at Shengde is any good? My son is already studying acting, and I’m debating whether to transfer him.”
“Not reliable. I think it’s very unreliable. Celebrity instructors are just a gimmick. Go watch those variety shows like I’m an Actor and see how many celebrities can actually act.”
“Exactly! I’d act better than them! All they have going for them is their looks!”
“Right! I heard they also hired a famous singer. She’s a nationally treasured bel canto singer who has even performed at the Great Hall, but apparently she’s extremely antisocial and likes to berate and belittle people. They actually hired someone like that as a teacher. Does she even know how to teach?”
The more Yu Xiaxing read, the more satisfied she became. She immediately fanned the flames.
Dian Dian’s Mom: “You’re all absolutely right. Shengde keeps coming up with one wild idea after another. They’ve never run a program before, so their first attempt is obviously just using our children as guinea pigs. We shouldn’t sign up on impulse.”
“Agreed.”
“That’s right.”
“+1”
“…”
Haha. This time, no one attacked Dian Dian’s Mom at all.
The more Yu Xiaxing read, the more pleased she was.
As for disadvantaged children with disabilities, she guessed there wouldn’t be many who wanted to study art in the first place.
And even if they did come, their reduced tuition wouldn’t cover the costs.
Yu Xiaxing made her decision. “That’s settled.”
Lu Yanzhao replied, “All right. I’ll make the arrangements.”
He turned and started walking away.
Yu Xiaxing called after him again. “Wait.”
Lu Yanzhao turned around.
Yu Xiaxing reminded him solemnly, “Don’t come up with too much marketing language. We’re a school, not some outside training agency. We don’t need advertising or promotion.”
“Just write this in the enrollment brochure: We do not have experienced teachers. We do not guarantee that you’ll pass the exam. And none of our teachers have connections that can get you the test questions or help you cheat…”
Lu Yanzhao stared at her. “You want me to write that?”
“Yes. Write it.”
Lu Yanzhao was silent for a long while before he understood what Yu Xiaxing was planning.
Recently, Qiao Tang’s training program had made too many promises and given parents unrealistically high expectations. Now it was suffering the backlash, and all the money they had earned through those false promises would have to be paid back.
Yu Xiaxing, on the other hand, was offering nothing but risk disclosures from the very beginning. She made no promises about results, talked only about the courses, and refused to exploit parents’ anxieties.
She was playing the long game and building a reputation.
Lu Yanzhao said, “Understood.”
Half an hour later, Lu Yanzhao reported back, “The review committee approved our pricing. We can finally start accepting students immediately.”
“Great!” Yu Xiaxing said happily.
The entire internet was cursing them right now, and their enrollment copy was so arrogantly blunt that it practically treated students with contempt. The prevailing attitude in the parents’ groups was exactly what she wanted.
There was no way they could still attract students!
—
After leaving the office, Lu Yanzhao went straight to Shengde’s legal department.
“Have you figured it out?”
He had returned from the hospital early that morning because he was investigating the accounts that had been smearing Shengde online and attacking its efforts to suppress outside training institutions.
The legal department replied, “Don’t worry. We’ve almost finished compiling the evidence. The accounts that were attacking us most viciously are, for the most part, network accounts operated by arts-exam training agencies.”
Network accounts…
That explained a lot.
Commercial competition had become truly filthy these days.
Companies would create dozens or even hundreds of coordinated accounts, disguise them as ordinary users, and use them to spread anxiety.
It wasn’t just educational and training institutions. Companies selling all kinds of products did the same thing, spreading videos that said, “If you don’t buy our product, something terrible will happen to you.”
For example, some sellers of children’s sensory-integration toys would use an account posing as an ordinary parent to post:
“My child fell and broke his leg because of poor sensory integration. Our family was already struggling financially, and this made things even worse.”
Then the comments would be filled with people saying, “Oh my gosh! How do you train sensory integration? My child’s sensory integration is terrible too!”
Another supposedly ordinary account would reply, “My child got better after using this toy.”
Then they would sell cheap, shoddy plastic toys at gold prices, luring parents into a scam designed to bleed them dry.
Some sellers of pet dental water used the same tactic. They would have a fake ordinary user post:
“My dog never had proper dental care when he was young. Now that he’s old, his teeth hurt so badly that he can’t sleep. We took him to the hospital for a cleaning, but he died while being anesthetized.”
Another account would respond, “My dog’s teeth aren’t good either, but cleaning is the only option, isn’t it?”
Then a third supposedly ordinary user would promote the product: “My dog drinks this dental water every day. At ten years old, his teeth are just as healthy as a two-year-old dog’s!”
But if you thought about it carefully, you’d realize that this was nothing more than a “pet scam.”
Dental disease was extremely painful. Unlike muscle or skin pain, which could be eased with ointment or a massage, toothache often couldn’t even be relieved by painkillers. The pain came from inside the bone.
If simply drinking dental-cleaning water could replace a visit to the dentist, they would have started using that stuff on people, not dogs. They’re just taking advantage of the fact that puppies can’t speak up even when they’re in pain.
As for “student pig-butchering scams,” there are even more of them.
The class Su Hao and Qiao Tang attended was one example of an arts-exam scam operation.
All those coordinated accounts smearing Shengde online belong to the same major arts-exam training center.
They’re terrified that the Yu family behind Shengde will enter the arts-exam business and become their competitors. They must be panicking right now.
The legal counsel continued, “They saw Qiao Tang’s institution blow up and were afraid that, if the matter attracted too much attention, the entire gray-market chain would be exposed. That’s why they mobilized every one of their coordinated accounts to attack us.”
