Qu Yi's family lived in a new residential community next to the school. The entrance of the community was spacious enough to allow four cars to enter and exit simultaneously. The imposing facade of the gate had the words "Xiangfu New Residence" written on it. I thought to myself how nice it would be if my family could also live in such a house someday. Qu Yi came to the door to greet me wearing her home clothes. I was dressed in my school uniform, trying to look as decent as possible. I figured that since I was the top student in the grade, as Qu Yi said, her parents probably wouldn't dislike her hanging out with the top student. Unexpectedly, as soon as we entered the door, Qu Yi said, "Dad, Mom, this is Xue Fan, my best friend!" I looked at her in surprise. "Oh, I'm so tired of hearing about you!" A plump and beautiful woman came over with a smile and helped me take my schoolbag. "Come in and have a seat. My child talks about you all the time. I finally get to meet you today." Qu Yi's father walked out of the kitchen holding a fruit tray. He was wearing a dark blue set of home clothes, tall and sturdy, and he and Qu Yi's mother really looked like a couple. Qu Yi's mother said with dissatisfaction, "You two men have no sense of propriety. You didn't even change your clothes before receiving the guest!" I quickly said, "It's okay, it's okay." Although it was my first time visiting Qu Yi's home, I felt as if I were an old acquaintance of theirs. We sat on the sofa and chatted about school matters for a while. Then Qu Yi's father mentioned, "I heard that you're running a video account?" Qu Yi answered eagerly, "She has a huge number of followers and even makes money by promoting products for others!" The parents didn't seem surprised at all. It was obvious that Qu Yi had praised me a lot at home. I said, "I got scolded by people because of the advertising. So I've recently changed my operation strategy." Qu Yi's father was very interested. "Oh? Tell me more in detail." I had done my homework in advance. The video platform developed by Qu Yi's father's company had just started. It was innovative, recommended content according to tags, and the webpage was relatively fresh, which was suitable for content related to product recommendations and planting the "seeds" of desire for certain items. I came well-prepared and brought a 72-page PPT on a USB flash drive to introduce myself. I borrowed Qu Yi's laptop and vividly explained my account plan and monetization strategy with both pictures and texts. Even the person asking the questions didn't expect such detailed explanations. "Is this something that the school teaches?" Qu Yi's father asked. I said, "No. I want to start a side business to help my family, so I've put in a lot of effort." "Well, you've really put in a great deal of effort." I thanked him for his encouragement, and Qu Yi's father emphasized that he was speaking from the bottom of his heart. "Actually, I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it's feasible." While Qu Yi's mother was cutting fruits for us, I told my plan as if I were telling a story. This was the embryonic form of an MCN. I would share my operation strategy with several new accounts, and the platform would give recommendations. The profits from these accounts would be divided between me and the platform. In this way, it could not only attract traffic to the platform, but also I wouldn't have to actually produce the content myself. I tried my best to recommend myself to Qu Yi's father. Even if the plan failed, it would be good if I could get some recommendations through connections. Qu Yi's father said politely, "You're still a high school student. It's very visionary of you to come up with these ideas." But he didn't say whether he would give me support or not. He just nodded thoughtfully. Then we switched to talking about other things. When seeing me off, Qu Yi winked at me cunningly and said, "Don't worry. That expression of his means he's seriously considering it."
