Lu Nianqi stood in front of a vast and imposing skyscraper and trembled in fear. He was a little apprehensive but the boys and girls beside him chatted excitedly. Although this wasn't the headquarters of the Lu Group, it was their skyscraper. This building, which was almost over fifty stories high, only belonged to one person, Lu Chenghe.
The home school teacher once said that only he had never come here. Who would've thought that in yesterday's student union meeting, they said that the place where they were going to ask for sponsorship would be here?
A girl hooked her arm around Lu Nianqi's neck and joined him in gazing up at the skyscraper. She was dressed up maturely yet also had the freshness and prettiness of a schoolgirl. She sighed, "If I can work here after I graduate that would be good regardless of whether we can successfully grab a sponsorship!"
By the side, a boy who had a completely handsome and elite appearance despite wearing glasses, laughed as he spoke, "Drawing the sponsors shouldn't be hard. This Chief Lu also graduated from Teng University and can be considered our upperclassman."
A short-haired girl clutching a pile of papers also followed them in making a motion of looking up hopefully at the skyscraper, yet she said with some doubt, "But according to the previously organized data, it seems as if the student union hasn't drawn in the Lu clan's sponsorship before."
The girl with her arm hooked around Lu Nianqi, Xiao Yin, released his arm and was very ambitious, "Not drawing it in now and not drawing it in before are two different things. Last time we proposed to a company like theirs it was different because most people wouldn't consent and wouldn't look at it. A big boss who has been photographed with who knows how many different countries' prime ministers, now that is someone we rookie students can get in touch with. As soon as you mention the Lu clan, most people don't make an attempt before backing down. How do you know if it will be unsuccessful if you don't even try?"
The handsome Qing He with the glasses beamed, "If we succeed today, it could be considered as establishing a precedent. But to be honest, I am also not very optimistic. I feel that we're afraid that we won't even be able to see the person. After all, that kind of person that is occupied with important matters, and as one of the nation's leading companies that is part of the top hundred in the world, if they met anyone who asked, then they wouldn't need to do anything else for the rest of the day."
The short-haired girl saw that Lu Nianqi was keeping quiet and laughed as she said, "Don't be nervous QiQi, this is a great experience. Later on, you only need to follow us. Just remember to keep a smile on your face."
Lu Nianqi heard what she said and nodded his head, smiling, "Rest assured, senior, I promise I won't get in your way."
The short-haired girl, Song Ping, replied, "I think our hopes this time are rather big. I heard that Chief Lu's family raises a dog and also dotes on it. Since Chief Lu should be someone who loves dogs, our plan should still have a high chance of success."
Lu Nianqi thought about the little Samoyed back home. Little Pudding had to eat dog food mixed with caviar at least once a week and was fed a different type of pork chop and chicken every day. Every time he saw Little Pudding playing with the caviar as it ate, scooping food with one paw and pushing the caviar out of its bowl with the other, then pressing down on it to crush it, he felt pained. That tiny little scoop of caviar cost about several tens of thousands of US dollars; every year there was even a limit set on the quantity and it was just squandered like this for someone to play with. Furthermore, his second oldest brother never scolded it either and just let it go. Lu Nianqi thought silently that this should be someone who loves dogs very much, right?
Four students were brimming with youthfulness and passionately stepped into the iconic building. Even though the older sister at the reception desk saw some youths who did not seem to be society's public figures, she still smiled wholeheartedly, "Hello, how may I help you today?"
Only Xiaoyin was a third-year university student among them. Lu Nianqi was a newbie freshman and the other two were both sophomores. Therefore, it naturally came to her to step forward. Xiaoyin took the student ID on her and handed it to the receptionist to look at, smiling, "We are from the Teng University student union. We are holding an event soon, and don't know if it's possible to request your company's support."
This wasn't the first time the receptionist had come across such a request for sponsorship. They were mostly some in-campus events. Whichever company gave money would be equivalent to a sponsor and would be advertised at the campus. Later on, they would attract some students to work at their company. So she linked the matter to the publicity department and told them which floor to go to.
When they got into the elevator, everyone unconsciously let out a sigh of relief. It was good as long as they weren't refused permission to enter. What was left would depend on their skill in negotiating. Only Lu Nianqi was somewhat disappointed, but thinking about it, how was it possible for a few students to immediately meet the boss after they found a sponsor.
The elevator stopped in the middle and a man dressed in Western clothes came in. The man waited for the few university students to reach their floor before pressing the button for the top floor. After he sent the dispatched data into the office, Qi Wei said, "Sir, I saw your younger brother when I came up just now."
Lu Chenghe thought he was talking about Lu Chenghan, and looked up at Qi Wei with some doubt. If Lu Chenghan came, he would have come directly to the office.
Qi Wei replied, "Sir, it was your younger brother that had just come home not long ago. Looking at the things in their hands, they probably came here to ask for sponsorship. In the past, Teng University always had an event for helping stray dogs. However, this seems to be the first time a Teng University student came to the Lu clan for a sponsor."
As Lu Chenghe's assistant, he was highly skilled and naturally had to be very clear on the changes in the Lu family's personnel. This was why he was able to recognize Lu Nianqi with just a glance earlier in the elevator. Although he recognized him, Qi Wei hadn't spoken a word. When he saw them going to the publicity department's floor, he knew that Lu Nianqi probably hadn't said anything about his relationship with the boss, so he naturally wouldn't speak out of turn.
Even though Lu Chenghe had graduated from Teng University, he hadn't been part of the student union. He knew major events going on in the school but he wasn't very clear on this type of independent, spontaneous public welfare society of the student union. Hearing the assistant speaking like this, he just asked without thinking too deeply, "Stray dog? The school has a dog kennel?"
Qi Wei discovered that recently the boss seemed to pay more attention to dog-related matters. He had even once asked him which snacks for dogs were better and had him especially bring a couple of bags. However, there hadn't been any further development after that. Maybe because his family's dog hadn't liked them very much.
Now hearing his boss ask, he laughed, "The school doesn't have a dog kennel, but this also isn't the first time they've had this kind of public welfare service. Therefore, they all have appropriate cooperation units. Every once in a while students volunteer for things like helping stray dogs. If they don't have funds, then the students will gather volunteers on the campus and go help out at some dog kennels and shelters that they have collaborated with before. If they have funding, then they might buy some supplies like dog food, vaccines, etc. to donate."
Compared to those organisations that undertake public welfare, this kind of service done by students in schools may be better. They might lack some experience but they will use every cent of the money donated for the public good. Of course, one also can't say that other public welfare organisations are no good. After all, they are also a business and must also make a living out of it. The hearts of some, however, have too much disorder and their investment is not proportional to what they achieve after donations.
Therefore, the Lu clan has set up a public welfare department itself and purchased large amounts of supplies to directly donate to elementary schools in the mountains every year. However, in the area of stray dogs and cats there seemed to be a blank.
Upon hearing this kind of remark by the assistant, Lu Chenghe directly said, "Make a call downstairs. If the plan doesn't have problems, then just give them funds."
Qian Wei laughed as he nodded his head. As for the reason behind letting him make a phone call to greet them, it was hard to say if it was because of his younger brother, or because he also had a dog at home and was moved.
At a large corporation, every bit of funding had to be justifiable and have proof and evidence. Although the Lu Clan allocated a budget to the publicity department every year, it was still impossible for them to give money to every person who came to ask for a sponsor. Looking at this not quite a mature project which also had no standard plan for the allocation of funds, it was also not possible for the publicity department to give money. One cannot just ask for an amount without thinking it through. They didn't even know how much of box of vaccines was or how many boxes they wanted to buy. They just directly expressed a request for funding in exchange for promoting the company name.
But since they were students, planning out this sort of case would not be fully comprehensive. Therefore the manager treated it as a kind of teaching, a rare opportunity to help them with every clause.
The student also knew deep down that they wouldn't succeed. But due to the few lines of advice given by the manager, they also discovered that the plan that they had made was very vague. At least the manager didn't directly reject them, they could still go back and revise it before coming back.
At this moment, the manager received a phone call. Their eyes lingered on the students for a bit before hanging up and smilingly said, "You guys have pretty good luck."
The students were puzzled and glanced at each other. They still did not quite understand.
The manager smiled and said, "The boss knew your intentions for coming so he personally said to give you a sponsor. You guys have also come at the right time. The boss recently started owning a dog so he is a little more attentive of things in this area. If you guys were here today to grab a different sponsor, I'm afraid it definitely would not be as smooth."
From receiving the hundred thousand cheque to standing at the entrance of the skyscraper, the students were still not able to return to reality. The whole afternoon was like a rollercoaster ride, it was too much like a drama. And this 100,000 was the biggest amount that the student union had handled. Usually, if they were lucky enough to get a bit of sponsorship, they would hope to cooperate with the school and would go directly through the school process and not with the student union. But today, it was directly given to the student union and they had full responsibility.
They didn't expect that they could achieve such a great victory in the beginning. They were so excited that they were in high spirits all the way and itched to skip as they walked. On the side, they were unable to stop sighing that Chief Lu was a very good person who was full of kindness. Lu Nianqi smiled as he followed behind the others. For others, he was the Chief Lu that was hard for others to even get a glimpse of his face. However, for him, he was the second oldest brother that he could see every day when he went home, so the feeling was completely different. Hearing the others complimenting his older brother so much, he also felt very happy along with them.
After they returned to the school, they hadn't even had time to register the funds when they heard a whimper from within the underbrush. When they pried open the bushes, they immediately saw a little dirty puppy with filthy fur stuck together lying miserably in a cardboard box.
It looks like this little guy was a mixed-breed dog. It looked like a golden retriever, but parts of his fur were black. They weren't sure if it came from a wild breed. It was such a little thing, if they left it here like this, it might not even live past the day. The weather was so cold that a dog as tiny as that wouldn't be able to stand it and would freeze.