I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Seeing Zhao Linyuan say this, Li Chen was not surprised. On the contrary, he became even more certain that Zhao Linyuan thought so too.

He understands completely now.

If a front man were to come in and want to do this project, Zhao Linyuan's vision of "a touch of green amidst a sea of ​​red" is actually quite possible, and not at all blindly optimistic.

If it really comes to that, their "little green spot" at the National People's Congress will probably become a joke.

"Understood."

Li Chen didn't continue the conversation on the topic, but simply nodded, "I have no more questions."

He sighed inwardly for Xiao Yi. He thought, "It's not that your uncle doesn't want to help you, it's just that the opponent is a bit too strong..."

After leaving Zhao Linyuan's office, Li Chen went straight back to his own office.

As soon as he sat down, he took out his phone and made a call.

The radio waves were transmitted to a residential area near Qianmin University.

In a two-bedroom apartment, a young man was surfing the internet on the computer in the living room, playing World of Warcraft and raiding.

The young man's name was Li Tianyi. He was about twenty years old, slightly chubby, and wearing headphones. He was communicating with his team members via voice.

Since everyone had run this raid many times and was already very familiar with it, they didn't discuss the raid itself. Instead, they chatted in the voice chat, talking about the hottest topic among World of Warcraft players right now – when will Wrath of the Lich King be released?

On the 13th of this month, the new expansion for World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, was officially launched on overseas servers, but there is still no accurate information on when Wrath of the Lich King will be launched on the Chinese servers.

Instead of the release of "Wrath of the Lich King," The9 officially announced some new news today—the Chinese server exclusive expansion "Echoes of the Apocalypse" will be launched on December 12th.

"Holy shit, they inexplicably created 'Echoes of the Apocalypse,' using level 80 talents to fight level 70 dungeons. I can't believe The9 came up with that!"

"Could it be true, like the rumors from a few months ago, that The9 and Blizzard have broken up and Wrath of the Lich King is not coming out?"

"Didn't the official NineCity website already refute the rumors, saying they were all false?"

"If all else fails, it seems I'll have to play on foreign websites. Does anyone have a good VPN?"

Listening to the team members' lively conversation through his headphones, Li Tianyi, while controlling his game character to heal, also joined in with a few complaints, feeling quite frustrated.

Seeing that players in other places have already started playing the new content, while they don't know when their new content will be available, they can only look on with envy. It's really frustrating.

As he was complaining, Li Tianyi noticed that the phone on the table lit up and vibrated.

He glanced at the caller ID on his phone, quickly took off his headphones, answered the call, turned on speakerphone, and continued playing his game character.

"Uncle."

"Xiao Yi, there's something I need to tell you..."

As Li Tianyi played and operated the device, his already depressed mood worsened after the person on the other end of the phone finished speaking.

After the person on the other end of the phone finished speaking, Li Tianyi said, "I understand, Uncle," and then hung up the phone and put his headphones back on.

Okay, let's finish this game first.

After playing for another hour and completing the daily quest, Li Tianyi finally left the group, took off his headphones, and sat in front of the computer for a while in a daze—he seemed to have something to do.

After thinking for a while, Li Tianyi finally had a flash of inspiration and remembered what he needed to do. He quickly picked up his phone, found a number in his contacts, and dialed it.

The radio waves reached a room in a five-star hotel in the High-tech Zone.

The curtains were drawn, and the room was pitch black and completely silent except for the soft sound of breathing. It was very quiet.

The customizable ringtones, currently only available on high-end mobile phones, suddenly broke the silence.

"I'll play Chopin's Nocturne for you, to mourn my dead love..."

After ringing for a while, a hand finally emerged from under the covers in the darkness and slammed the call back.

I had just turned off the call when it rang again.

With a mumbled, indistinct sound, the hand finally answered the call and brought the phone to its head.

"Miss Lan, something's happened!" Li Tianyi's voice came from the other end of the line.

"What is it?" the person on the other end asked, his eyes still closed.

"Qianmin University has decided to let the Beiming Community in!"

Upon hearing this news, the person on the other end seemed to take two seconds to process it before understanding its meaning, and their eyes snapped open.

She sat up abruptly, turned on the bedside light switch, and the room lit up.

Under the warm, dim light, you could see that the girl on the bed had an average appearance, at most considered pretty, but her skin was very good. It was clear that it wasn't just because she was young; she probably spent a lot of money on skincare.

If Shen Kang were here, he would recognize that the "Miss Lan" on the bed was the strange "rich and beautiful" woman he had met in the administration building a few days ago when he first arrived at Qianmin University.

"Didn't you say you rejected them all before? Why did you suddenly change your mind?" Miss Lan asked, her eyes now fully open.

"He's come up with something new again..."

On the other end of the phone, Li Tianyi recounted in detail what Li Chen had told him, leaving nothing unsaid.

However, when Li Chen told Li Tianyi, he only mentioned that Shen Kang had come up with a Miao embroidery plan and convinced others. He felt it was unnecessary for Li Tianyi to know about Fang Tianming and the white glove, so he didn't mention it.

What Li Tianyi is talking to Miss Lan about now is naturally only the Miao Embroidery Project.

After listening to what Li Tianyi said, Miss Lan remained silent for a long time.

After waiting for a while, and seeing that there was still no response, Li Tianyi finally couldn't help but call out, "Miss Lan? Miss Lan?"

"I'm here."

"Well, even if that Beiming Community can come in, they are still outsiders and not as familiar with Qianmin University as I am. So I think we can still continue with this forum, and we are sure we can beat them in direct competition!..." Li Tianyi said on the other end.

Miss Lan didn't say anything, she just listened.

Only after Li Tianyi finished speaking did she say, "Okay, very confident. Good luck then. I'm a bit busy lately and won't be available for the next few days, so please don't contact me."

"...What about the investment?"

"Let's talk about it when I get back. That's all."

Ms. Lan hung up the phone immediately after saying that.

On the other end, hearing the dial tone, Li Tianyi paused for a moment, then blurted out "Damn it!" with a helpless expression.

The Ms. Lan on the other end of the phone was someone he had only recently met through a friend.

Li Tianyi could tell from her accent that Miss Lan was not a local of Yangcheng. He didn't know exactly where she came from, but he did know that Miss Lan was rich, extremely rich.

Moreover, she's not only rich, but also has great style.

Li Tianyi knew quite a few rich kids, but compared to Miss Lan, they all seemed rather pathetic.

What impressed Li Tianyi the most was a sentence Miss Lan once said: "Only a bumpkin would drink 82 Lafite."

Back then, in Li Tianyi's circle, the best wine was the 82 Lafite. Although no one knows where that idea originated, it gradually became the prevailing perception.

As a result, what they considered "the best" was seen by Ms. Lan as "something only a bumpkin would drink," creating a significant difference in their social standing.

It was also under Miss Lan's influence that Li Tianyi started drinking Romanée-Conti—of course, he couldn't afford it himself, and the only time he drank it was when Miss Lan treated him.

Li Tianyi still remembers that when he first drank Romanée-Conti, Miss Lan asked him with a smile if it was different.

Li Tianyi had never even tasted a 82 Lafite, but to avoid appearing ignorant, he still pretentiously remarked, "It is indeed different, much more fragrant and mellow."

There are other small things like this; in any case, Miss Lan lives a very elegant and classy life.

Besides having an elegant and sophisticated lifestyle, Ms. Lan is also quite interested in her career.

At that time, Li Tianyi was preparing to start a campus forum.

This inspiration came from the Beiming Community.

After Beiming Community entered Qianmin University through the cooperation project between Xianyu.com and Nuanyang Society, Li Tianyi was one of the few early users of Qianmin University.

After spending a few days on the website, especially in the Yangke University section, the main base of the Beiming Community, Li Tianyi really liked it and then had an idea—could he make a website like that himself?

So Li Tianyi really prepared to get started.

Li Tianyi didn't hide this from anyone; instead, he talked about it as a topic of conversation with friends in the industry. Of course, he claimed that the website's concept was entirely his own.

After meeting Miss Lan, Li Tianyi naturally brought up the matter again during their conversation, using it as a topic of conversation.

Miss Lan didn't seem to care much at the time, but Li Tianyi, not wanting to be looked down upon, went on to say a few more detailed things.

Miss Lan became interested, especially in Li Tianyi's idea of ​​blocking Beiming Community and creating her own campus forum to use it as a shell for growth. She even said she wanted to invest.

"...Just running a campus forum isn't quite enough. Didn't you say that website also has a physical store? If we're going to do it, let's do it together, we'll run a physical store too! Don't worry about the money, I'll invest."

Li Tianyi was extremely excited: initially, due to insufficient funds, he only wanted to create a campus forum. If Miss Lan was willing to invest, he could completely replicate the Beiming Community model, operating both online and offline, which would be even better!

So the two hit it off and started working on the plan.

Unexpectedly, their mission failed before it even began. The Beiming Community couldn't stop them, and upon hearing this, Miss Lan immediately said, "Don't contact us yet."

Li Tianyi stared at his phone, which had already been disconnected, feeling very frustrated.

He felt that even if he couldn't stop the Beiming Community from entering, as long as Miss Lan was willing to invest, he wouldn't be afraid of direct competition...

Meanwhile, Miss Lan had already gotten out of bed, drawn back the curtains, and stood by the window in a silk nightgown, looking at the white daylight outside.

After watching for a while, she picked up her phone and made a call.

As soon as the call connected, her previously calm face turned dejected, and her voice became dejected: "Mom... that guy surnamed Shen is a bit... I threw him away."

She thought for a moment longer and raised the number in her mind a little higher, "Three hundred thousand was thrown away, all gone..."

Her tone was one of frustration, self-blame, and regret.

Just from her tone, you could completely feel her complex emotions of resentment at herself for being so useless.

The voice on the other end of the phone said a few words.

Miss Lan responded with an "Mmm," then said, "There's another one, with a better chance. But that's a head-on collision, and the investment would probably be even greater... one million?"

When she heard the word "one million" coming from the other end of the phone, her eyes lit up with excitement.

But she had good body control and her voice was steady, revealing no sign of her current abnormality, only a kind of "surprise under frustration".

"...Okay, I understand... um..."

After talking for a while longer, Ms. Lan finally hung up the phone.

Then, she could no longer contain herself and suddenly jumped up on the spot, shouting "Yay!" with excitement on her face.

After the jump, she was still excited, unable to sit still, pacing back and forth, muttering, "Three hundred thousand, one million... three hundred thousand, one million!..."

She didn't add the two numbers together, since they were different:

She didn't invest a single penny in Li Tianyi's case, but reported 300,000 yuan to her mother, so that 300,000 yuan was already her money.

That million was going to be spent; it wasn't even her money.

These two should not be confused.

Of course, even this million-dollar sum that's about to be spent can be justified. It's just a business run by two college students the same age as us; why would we need so much? With cost reduction and efficiency improvements, spending about 70% should be about right.

Miss Lan paced back and forth, calculating in her mind and muttering to herself, but the numbers she was muttering to her had changed.

"Three hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand, three hundred thousand... three hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand, three hundred thousand... six hundred thousand, seven hundred thousand..."

As she muttered to herself, Miss Lan couldn't help but smile, unable to suppress it, and the image of Shen Kang's face appeared in her mind.

Handsome, so handsome! As handsome as the God of Wealth!

Miss Lan's affection for Shen Kang skyrocketed.

Fortunately, she didn't lose her temper and quickly calmed down. She then drew an X on Shen Kang's face in her mind and deliberately turned cold, glaring at him as if Shen Kang were standing right in front of her.