Chapter 110 By a Twist of Fate

e results were not as good as short periods of study; I once tried to see far by standing on tiptoe, but my view was not as broad as when I climbed high."He deeply understood this sentence. Ancient wi...Chapter 110: Accidental Coincidences

The life continued as usual, appearing calm on the surface but with hidden waves beneath. Su Cen at Nan University could feel a change in his circumstances since he had been reborn.

In the past, he thought life was so tranquil that nothing would stir it up; it was natural to graduate from high school and then university, entering society as something taken for granted. The national發改委's regulation of oil prices, fluctuations in vegetable and meat prices, exchange rate adjustments—these were all high-level games and compromises seemingly unrelated to him.

Now, although Su Cen's life still looked calm on the surface, it was far from monotonous. He could enjoy the atmosphere and environment of university while simultaneously leading his business ventures left and right like a hidden economic powerhouse behind the scenes. For example, the world-renowned plan to acquire shares in World of Warcraft was quietly underway.

The venture capitalists in Silicon Valley would never have imagined that when they were eagerly waiting for Facebook to begin its second round of funding, someone planning to plunder American capital would be merely two young men in their twenties; one of them a Chinese student at Nan University across the ocean.

Acquiring 150 million RMB worth of World of Warcraft shares was quite challenging. The acquisition would be carried out under the name of Facebook Chinese, with Su Cen contributing 80 million RMB from his own resources expected to be in place by year-end. The rest needed assistance from American Facebook, which was also a significant amount; 95 million RMB was not an insignificant sum.

Since the amount that might need to be contributed by American Facebook could be larger than Su Cen's self-raised funds, some balancing measures had been set out by Facebook’s management concerning the three million shares of World of Warcraft equity that Facebook Chinese would hold.

For instance, there was an agreement allowing American Facebook to unconditionally acquire 500 thousand shares from Su Cen at a low strike price for World of Warcraft, along with rights to dividends and corresponding proportions equal to those of Facebook Chinese.

This proposal had been proactively put forward by Su Cen. When the scheme was prepared, even the top executives at American Facebook felt optimistic about it, agreeing unanimously without any objections.

Dustin also expressed his excitement, saying, "I can hardly wait. Among my Harvard alumni friends are some Warcraft fans; this summer, we had gatherings at the Harvard Posse Club. They often talked to me about Blizzard and Vivendi. They even mentioned how their political father once proposed a bill on protecting virtual property online... After we acquire the shares of World of Warcraft, I can't wait to see the look on their faces when their image as sophisticated Harvard aristocrats shatters."

蘇燦明白，公司越大，到了他這一步，更要注重各方麵權衡。他和馬克·紮克伯格都不是當年在美國單憑熱血搞出Facebook的青年了，雖然中美臉譜是一家，蘇燦既是臉譜中文的董事長，也是美國臉譜的第二大股東和二號人物。手心手背都是肉，但畢竟親兄弟也有分梨吃肉的矛盾，冇有人是聖人，更冇有人願意在長期吃虧的情況下付出。

在臉譜中文中，蘇燦有絕對的控製權，紮克隻占有臉譜中文四分之一的股權。這次針對魔獸世界的出資，美國臉譜網還要出大頭，如果冇有一些追償機製，美國臉譜高層起碼也會或多或少有些意見。

儘管利益分配是蘇燦負責的，但如果厚此薄彼冷落了美國臉譜，蘇燦幾乎能夠預料到達斯汀、美國女孩凱瑟琳等Facebook網元老和高層心裡會如何看待他的偏心。他們會不會很受傷地認為，在中國他就要將美國臉譜邊緣化。

臨近返校節的這幾天，無論南大還是北大園區都比較熱鬨，有些場麵甚至不亞於開學時車水馬龍的情景，社會名流從各地彙集於此。

泡桐樹擋著陽光透入的小道上，經常能看到一些罩著黑外套、三三兩兩走在草地邊談興正濃的中年人。他們看上去都麵帶笑容，然而不定就是在某個地方政壇的高官，或是一些企業集團平時不苟言笑的掌門人。卻在這個躋身國內前五名的大學校園裡每個人都一副毫無城府和氣的樣子。大部分人都懂得如何利用這樣的聚會廣結人脈，擴展對自己部門或者企業的有力關係。

畢竟誰都冇有像蘇燦那樣重生者先知先覺的能耐，在發展生存上除了對自己所在領域的精通之外，還要時刻掌握環境與生存空間的變化，諸如政策風向的改變、有利於己的資訊渠道及見縫插針的行業機遇等。而這些隻能通過開闊人際交往獲得的情報網絡——國人俗稱的人情關係來完成。

"Why aren't you attending the NDU Homecoming Festival I believe if you were to attend, you would stand out as a prominent figure among your peers. At least several forums might show preference towards you..." During this period, Big Pineapple Holdings continuously raised funds and monitored the operation of the capital chain in order to complete the large-scale acquisition of Blizzard shares for Su Can's business interests. Lin Guangdong called to report on the situation and joked with Su Can, "I heard that recently Facebook China received a visit from high officials of Xuhui District Government and Vice-Mayor of Shanghai. It seems Qiao Shuxin and his team are quite adept at this."

"That's true. We've managed to secure some policy support and attention which can reduce unnecessary troubles and burdens, making it easier for Facebook China to develop," Su Can didn't participate in the reception, but he knew that obtaining official support was crucial when running a business domestically. He understood why Facebook China could receive such special treatment, and it couldn't be separated from Tang Wu's astonishingly influential yet low-key grandmother, Mu Laotai. It might have been due to her behind-the-scenes efforts that Facebook China received preferential treatment.

"Actually, you might want to consider arranging a press conference at Nanjing University's Homecoming Festival. I can make that happen for you. The platform provided by Nanjing University is quite good; just look at their actions—they are actively working on the card of 'campus entrepreneurship' to attract人氣 and compete with Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Domestic top universities have been proclaiming their lofty goal of becoming world-class institutions, but they haven't achieved that status yet after nearly two decades of declarations. If you step forward, at least in terms of knowledge-based wealth creation by university students, it would bring us closer to the level of world-class universities."

Just like Gates is to Harvard and Larry Page is to Stanford, Warren Buffett is to Columbia University—should Facebook successfully acquire World of Warcraft and secure record-breaking funding in the US, the name 'Facebook' will spread like a virus. And just as those who have influenced global economics and politics, Su Cen and Mark Zuckerberg could become renowned figures.

"Warren Buffett once said that if you find three great companies, your life will be equally great," Su Cen smiled. "I don't want to be great; I'm content with a modest fortune."

Lin Guangdong scolded over the phone, "Your single command has forced us to muster 80 million yuan within a deadline. You have the annual three billion yuan turnover of Dunhuang and Sishan Stationery, which dominates provincial capitals nationwide, along with Facebook Chinese and Facebook in America boasting two hundred thousand members. Can this be called contentment with a modest fortune I find it hard to accept your pretense of poverty."

After hanging up the phone with Su Cen, Lin Guangdong left his office surrounded by transparent glass walls for the lower floors where Bolo Media Shanghai Company was transformed from an old factory and now felt like a modern bar. The upper floor was reserved for offices, while the lower floor featured lounges with sofas. Two women dressed differently were smiling at him in one of these lounges.

They were Wang Yue's deputy general manager Ren Ying from Dunhuang Group in Chengdu and others who had returned from Sishan Stationery’s Zhao Mingnong, bringing back the funding plan for phase two.

The recent magazines he handed over to Chen Kaiwei. Lin Guangdong was now focusing on raising 80 million yuan within three months from two industry fronts to fund the acquisition of World of Warcraft.

Thinking about how Su Cen's crazy idea and single command had put the nerves of hundreds of people at his end on edge, while over at Nanjing University, those behind the scenes were enjoying a superior lifestyle, Lin Guangdong was torn between feeling unbalanced and helpless, leading to an ironic smile.

Witnessing firsthand how Su Cen transformed unimaginable ideas into solid foundations these past few years, he had seen breakthroughs in tough situations that opened up new horizons. And at only twenty-something, he managed to gather around him people like Ren Ying, Jiang Ming, Wang Yue, Zhao Mingnong, Qiao Shuxin, and Zhao Hao—individuals with unique backgrounds and rich experiences. What kind of gravitational pull did this represent

The golden scales are not creatures of the pond, this made Lin Guangdong believe that Su Cen, with these industrial clusters gathered around him, would have an even more limitless future.

Since the last time when Song Zhen invited him to dinner on Hengshan Road and their staged encounter with Lin Luoran, recently Su Cen has been attending meetings at Facebook's Chinese headquarters. He often runs into Song Zhen at Nan University during these times.

Running into Song Zhen at Nan University does not mean seeing her; it is the imported Jaguar XKR that she drives and which hasn't entered the Chinese market yet. Although there have been many luxury cars雲集 in Nan University recently, Su Cen's Bentley might seem ordinary now, but this Jaguar’s highly technological, appealing appearance always attracts people to stop and stare.

Every time Su Cen passed by as a passerby and saw the sports car parked here, he thought that Song Zhen was being too flashy. However, considering her life story, she probably had already grown used to such attention. For her, perhaps subtlety and flamboyance were not so different.

This time when Su Cen returned from outside, having nothing urgent to do for a while, he walked closer because the tinted windows made it impossible to see inside the car. He wanted to check if Song Zhen was in it. Last time on Hengshan Road, Lin Luoran suddenly appeared and pretended to have an intimate relationship with Su Cen, claiming that she didn’t want him to make a mistake. But if seen through by someone like Song Zhen who could see through everything, would she think this was a way of making progress by retreating

Seeing no one inside the car and about to leave, he was called back by Xiao Xu coming from behind.

Xiao Xu had just finished class and was here waiting for Li Han to play basketball. He saw Su Cen returning from outside and looking into the car, patted his shoulder with a smile and said, "This is quite a nice car! I've seen it several times in recent days when going up and down to classes at the northern district. Our department has talked about it; apparently, the person driving it is Song Siming's daughter from Senchuan Group, a legendary noblewoman. We haven’t seen what she looks like, but some jokingly say they’d just hang around this car pretending to run into her and strike up conversations... Hehe, you have ulterior motives..."

"No, I'm just looking," Su Cen said somewhat awkwardly as he shook his head. Suddenly Xiao Xu waved towards the side, and Li Han came running out from the main entrance of the gymnasium. It seemed he had won a match and was in high spirits; finding Su Cen there too put him in even better spirits, so he jogged over and threw the ball they were holding with one hand to them.

Su Cen reached out to catch it but Xiao Xu beat him to it. He just managed to brush against the ball's surface, changing its direction; then BAM! It hit the Jaguar’s glass.ng for me." There was silence on the other end of the line; Su Cen could imagine Tang Wu standing below her dorm building, holding the phone and looking somewhat dazed.“What are you doing there” she a...