Scholar's Advanced Technological System
chapter-97

Chapter 97: You Can’t No-show!

There were five withdrawal applications on the table.

Lu Zhou looked at Fat Wu who was wearing an awkward expression.

Fine.

I guess the twelve slaves have become seven…

Lu Zhou took up the resignation application and glanced at it.

Li Ruizhe?

Emm…

I don’t know him at all.

“This is my fault,” said Fat Wu as he put out the cigarette and threw it in the bin. He sighed, “I just want to get more workers, but I forgot about the internal problems.”

“It’s not entirely your fault, it’s my fault as well,” said Lu Zhou as he put down the withdrawal application. He sighed softly and said, “There are five applications for resignation. I don’t remember four of these names. Also, I’ve been busy with science research, I didn’t care enough…”

As the president of the club, not knowing the names of club members was an ignorant move.

Also, they were not just club members, they were his friends.

Maybe…

He really was unsuitable for doing business.

Lu Zhou asked, “Is the impact big?”

Fat Wu’s smile was a bit reluctant as he said, “The impact is pretty big. The two first years that left was not too big of a deal, but the three others that left were pretty significant. Right now, we only have Rong Hai and a first-year student to do programming…”

The update was about to go live, but suddenly this thing happened. They might even have to postpone the update release.

Also, it was not just about the update.

The blow to morale was even more deadly.

Lu Zhou thought and said, “Call the rest of the people for a meeting… Forget about it, I’ll book a table at the fish restaurant.”

“Okay,” said Fat Wu as he nodded. He then left the office.

…

In front of the school gate, at the fish restaurant…

The same place, but different time. This time, including Wu Dahai and Lu Zhou, there were only nine people.

This time, Lu Zhou poured himself a beer and stood up.

“You might have noticed that we lost five companions.”

“Actually, when I made this club, I already said that if anyone feels out of place, they can leave. We’re all friends here. But I feel that I have not been able to maintain the cohesiveness of this team. As the founder, this is my fault.”

“It has been more than half a month since our club’s establishment. You guys have put in a lot of work for our business. I think that before the new update goes live, I have to say some words.”

“Today I brought everyone here to say one thing.”

“I intend to take 20% of my shares as an equity reward.”

“Of course, right now this equity is worthless. Campus Assistant hasn’t made a profit yet, it also has half a million of debt. Therefore, this 20% of equity will be honored after the round of angel financing.”

“Depending on each person’s contribution, they’ll receive different amounts of shares. I’ll promise a fair judgment.”

Lu Zhou looked at everyone as he said this.

After that, he lifted his glass and drank the whole thing.

…

It was much more difficult to unite a team than to come up with a business idea or make a powerpoint.

Fortunately, relying on “equity” and “angel financing”, the morale of the team increased again.

Next up was honoring these two promises.

After the dinner, Lu Zhou went back to his dorm and as he leaned against the balcony, he stared at the track field and pondered.

He thought about Campus Assistant and was inexplicably annoyed.

It was like he encountered an impossible mathematics problem.

He had not encountered this kind of problem in a long time.

As expected…

Compared to entrepreneurship, he was more suited for scientific research.

Maybe after the round of angel financing, I’ll find an opportunity and cash out the shares.

Lu Zhou stayed on the balcony for a while. He sighed and looked at the stars before he began to talk to himself, “… Is it because I’m burning myself out?”

With the five days of high-intensity research work plus the launch of the Campus Assistant update, he felt burnt out. He thought of Mrs. Yang’s advice and gave it serious consideration.

Perhaps, he should consider the balance of work and rest.

At this moment, the dorm room door was pushed open. Shi Shang who was wearing a jersey walked in with a basketball.

“Zhou, ball? We still need one person.”

Li Tao and Tian Jun stood behind him. They were both wearing jerseys.

Lu Zhou wanted to say he was disinterested, but he changed his mind and blurted out, “Wait for a second, I’ll change my clothes first.”

He turned around and went into the dorm. He then pulled out a jersey from his cabinet. Once he put on his shoes, Lu Zhou followed the group to the basketball court.

…

Run, shoot, dunk…

Okay, Lu Zhou could not dunk. At most, he could grab a rebound.

They were just playing casually, so they did not assign positions.

Lu Zhou was sometimes in the free throw line, sometimes in the three-point line.

For him, the score was unimportant. He just wanted to vent and sweat.

After an hour of playing half-court, the teams were extremely tired. Especially Lu Zhou. It looked like he fell into a pool.

“Midfield! Let’s take a break!”

Shi Shang shouted with the ball and everyone agreed.

Lu Zhou’s sweat soaked through his clothes as he laid on the wooden floors and gasped. He had an indescribable pleasant feeling.

He had not felt this type of pleasure in a while.

Shi Shang bought two bottles of water and sat next to Lu Zhou. He then placed one bottle on Lu Zhou’s head and asked, “How are you, feeling better?”

The bottle almost fell, so Lu Zhou grabbed it and rolled his eyes at Shi Shang. He then took a deep breath and said, “What do you mean by feeling better?”

“Emotionally,” said Shi Shang with a smirk. He added, “Don’t you have some stuff on your mind? Why don’t you talk about it?”

“It’s just that I’m too busy. Emotionally, I’m okay.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Shi Shang as he shook his head.

“… What do you mean it doesn’t make sense?”

As Lu Zhou stared at Shi Shang, he suddenly felt a sense of premonition.

His intuition told him that this guy was about to go on a rant.

Shi Shang laughed and said seriously, “According to my experience, when a guy has your expression, it’s because of a girl.”

Lu Zhou: “…”

Shi Shang saw that Lu Zhou did not respond, so he thought that he was correct. He sighed and said, “We’re still young, who hasn’t been rejected? The road is still long, don’t be so sad about one person.”

Lu Zhou: ? ? ?

F*ck me, Shi Shang’s brain tumor is getting bigger.

Lu Zhou was about to insult Shi Shang when his phone suddenly rang.

Lu Zhou picked up the call and placed his phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

“It’s me!”

Chen Yushan’s voice traveled through the phone.

Lu Zhou adjusted his breathing and asked, “What’s up?”

“Not much. I just wanted to ask if you’re free tomorrow afternoon?”

“I’m free.”

“Oh! That’s great,” said Chen Yushan as she sat in her dorm. Her eyes lit up and said, “I won two movie tickets with my roommate at the school’s entertainment festival. We were going to go together but she stood me up. Do you want to watch a movie?”

Watching a movie?

Sounds good.

Lu Zhou heard that the movie was Nolan’s new work. It was only domestically released recently. Lu Zhou had been looking forward to it since he saw the trailer, but he was so busy that he almost forgot about it.

Perfect, he wanted to relax anyway.

“Okay, I’ll see you at the school gate tomorrow, two o’clock.”

“Be there! Someone already ditched me, you can’t ditch me as well! Also, why are you panting?”

Lu Zhou, “I’m playing basketball.”

Chen Yushan was surprised, “You know how to play basketball?”

Lu Zhou replied, “I’m just playing around casually, talk to you later.”

“Oh, ok. I have to study vocabulary, bye bye then.”

“Bye.”

Lu Zhou hung up the call and stuffed the phone back into his pocket. He stared at Shi Shang and asked, “What were you saying?”

Shi Shang looked at Lu Zhou and was silent. He did not want to talk…