mosphere and immediately stood up with his wine glass in hand, saying a lot of nice words to Xiao Fei, which slightly eased the tension.Xiao Fei gave a cold snort, glaring at Cen Quanming. He thought...Chapter 22 The Fireworks All Over the Sky (Part 1)

The circle of entrepreneurs from prestigious schools ultimately aims for successful entrepreneurship. In this materialistic world, the sole indicator of whether a person is powerful or not has always been their influence.

A person's influence over resources and situations determines their power. Everyone hopes to strengthen themselves through success, then achieve their dreams, guide certain directions, and even help friends or eliminate rivals with ease.

There are numerous ways to gain influence—enter politics, engage in commerce, or travel for studies. These methods allow them to become powerful and wealthy while realizing their ideals, much like how a great wizard from Harry Potter has infinite magic at their disposal.

Hence, everyone strives not to be left behind; why should they be controlled by others Why should they be inferior to others If I join a company alongside someone else, why would my treatment be worse than theirs Why can prominent figures before them command with authority while they have to speak softly. The driving force behind the operation of this world's civilized gears largely stems from the imbalance caused by disparities between people.

Duke was also like this; he had been restless every day since moving to America because he was envious. His powerful rival Xiao Jiao stood in his way—it wasn't the first social network, but it had become incredibly successful and was flourishing with unprecedented development.

Thus, he would hear about Facebook everywhere—among high school and college students' chats near the company, forums, even idle chatter at society elites' business banquets. Yet nobody knew that he founded Social Millions. Every day when he woke up, he saw media reports on e (E Corporation), which mostly served to highlight how rapidly it was developing compared to them.

He couldn't deny that the massive entity loomed like a mountain ahead of him, pressing down heavily on his heart. Each morning brought shareholder and investor complaints, making sleep difficult. Such internal injuries were born from constant suppression.

But life still had to move forward; he didn’t expect that even returning home for this alumni gathering in hopes of escaping Sequoia Capital's nagging would prove futile—he couldn't shake off the shadow of that American hand reaching across the Pacific. After Zhang Yaqi finished speaking, everyone fell silent, mulling over his words.

Duke's complexion had already turned slightly pale, but his outward appearance did not betray any inner agitation. He slowly stood up from where he was seated; this movement alone seemed extremely abnormal to those familiar with him. Staring at Zhang Yaqi and forcing himself to remain calm, he said, "Before I came here, indeed, a friend told me an interesting little rumor. You’re not going to tell me that this rumor is true"

Zhang Yaqi casually extended his hand to place it on Su Can’s shoulder, saying, "You’ve always wondered why... [content missing] This year, we invited one young member specially. That's the reason." There was a moment of silence at Tsinghua before someone suddenly burst into laughter.

The one who laughed was a woman in an evening dress that made her look plump. Her stubby fingers held up a glass of wine and took a sip, then sneered condescendingly, "Aren’t you all being too presumptuous Facebook is the mainstream social tool for American youth. The number of registered users on this network broke through one million last month, which is an inevitable trend in development. Many of my friends in Europe are also connecting with each other through this network. They were among the earliest university ID users on the most popular social network in America, and now that its user base has broken through the one-million mark, you at Nan Da University want to throw a celebration"

The woman’s words prompted laughter from many people. But some found it hard to laugh. Such starkly different reactions—one group sneering while another was unable to laugh upon hearing certain rumors—made for an odd scene indeed. The woman apparently noticed this unusual situation, and her smile did not come off as unrestrained or excessive.

She said, "I don’t know what kind of a company you’re trying to link it with. For example, if Bill Gates gave a speech at Nan Da University, do you expect us to hold press conferences for Microsoft’s new products"

Su Can felt Zhang Yaqi tighten his grip on his shoulder slightly, and then heard Zhang Yaqi say, "If you frequently log in to Facebook, if you’re observant enough, perhaps you could notice a comment under the homepage."

A Tsinghua senior brother smiled and said, "This isn’t Dan Brown’s novel. We aren’t interested in playing with these riddles that mix philosophy and science."

The woman who had spoken earlier seemed to be trying to prove her impressive memory. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke up again: “You are browsing the network created by… [content missing] …we will connect the world through him.”

Zhang Yaqi draped his arm around Su Can’s shoulder and picked up his wine glass, facing the line of people across from him. The brown hue of the red wine made everyone’s shadows look bizarrely distorted. "Ah, that’s what I wanted to say. That SUCAN, right here in front of you—Su Can."

Duke turned around and picked up his coat from behind, his gaze fixed on Su Can as he panted through his nose, “I remember there are a few things I need to take care of; I’ll have to leave now.” It wasn’t hard to understand why. Facing an opponent who had pushed his company almost out of the American market with seemingly insurmountable strength, and then seeing half of its founders here in China, Duke felt immense pressure that he could not escape from. This suffocating sense left him breathless; looking at Su Can across from him made him feel deeply hurt and ashamed. Naturally, his subconscious reaction was to avoid the situation as everyone would.

He was about to leave when the ABE founder, Bing Jianfeng, pulled him back and whispered, "Stay with us. You’re not allowed to leave early."

The two founders of ABE were watching Su Cen curiously. One of them, Ke Mengfei, stood up, extended his hand towards Su Cen for a handshake, saying, "I've heard much about you. This year's financing in Silicon Valley was quite a spectacle; everyone thought it would be a major company that got the investment opportunity, but surprisingly, it turned out to be The Washington Post Group. Back then, people thought they had lost their minds. However, by下半年，他們已經逐步顯示出他們的遠見卓識。不管怎麼說，那是一家不錯的公司，我們可能會去登錄的。也許有合作的機會。”“你們在安全領域是專家，也許將來我們可以深入合作。我很期待！公司的市值甚至超過了…”

These two had been sitting here with an air of superiority since they arrived, looking down upon everyone present as if they were kings surveying the masses. Not only did they treat Nan University like that, but even towards Tsinghua University, it was no different. They would only talk when people bought them drinks, and never mentioned anything about company operations or seeking investments because everyone was on a completely different level. Everyone knew this, yet seeing these two take Su Cen seriously for the first time made many realize his capabilities and potential even if they didn’t know much about Facebook.

After shaking hands with both of them, Su Cen looked at Du Ke with each word carefully pronounced, "You just said you had something to do. Why isn't it done yet" The whole place went silent.

Du Ke was so angry that his lips trembled as he picked up his coat and said, “One day, my millions of friends will surpass your E! Social networking will never be dominated by you!” Then he grabbed the keys to his BMW and left. This time, even Ding EG’s senior management couldn’t stop him; many only saw his back as he stormed out of the hall in a rage.

Chen Lingshan stared at Su Cen right now and suddenly felt that this young man had become unfamiliar, with an intimidating aura and brilliance. That summer sea, so many stories from those years—they all grew apart, each heading their own way, meeting again to find everything changed.

If life only stayed as it was in the beginning, how would Nalan Xingde describe his feelings at this moment

No one wanted to make things awkward and unpleasant except for Su Cen who never followed convention. So after Du Ke left, everyone still managed forced smiles but couldn’t forget those suddenly cold eyes of Su Cen’s. Wang Tie experienced the substance of courage for the first time, seemingly a tangible product.

"I don't understand, since your network with Zuckerberg has already been so successful, why do you even come here I’ll say something that might make you laugh—could it be that you specifically came to Nan University just to intimidate us from Tsinghua" The slightly plump woman in a black tuxedo smiled and said after overcoming her initial surprise. However, her eyes shone brightly as they stared at Su Cen.

Chen Lingshan silently cursed the woman, thinking to herself that her smile was so unpleasant it even had crow's feet. Please stop being nauseatingly flattering. Does she really think that at eighteen years old, she can have a strong attraction to teenage boys

At this moment, she noticed Wang Tie’s gaze beside her. The person looked at Chen Lingshan, feeling the discontent and resentment in her eyes. He kept criticizing himself inwardly for getting involved with such a beautiful woman only to end up being embarrassed by Su Cun's arrogance. Now, even though Tsinghua University and Nanjing University appeared calm on the surface, many people were secretly mocking him.

On one hand, he was acting on behalf of a beautiful lady, while on the other, he was fighting for Tsinghua’s collective honor. How did it come to this where he couldn’t find his place

"Haha, Su Cun, you're here." A group squeezed in; they were Zhao Hao, Sun Zhiyi, Yang Qidong and a few other unaffiliated individuals from Tsinghua University. Seeing them enter, the upper echelon of Tsinghua breathed a sigh of relief and thanked their lucky stars that someone had arrived to break the awkwardness caused by Su Cun's identity.

"Old Zhao, Mr. Zhang, I must announce that today is a day worth celebrating. Our company will receive investment from IL; Sun Zhiyi, Old Yang Yang Qidong, our companies will all be receiving investments from Su Cun! Shouldn't we toast to this"

Today, Zhao Hao seemed to have drunk too much and didn’t notice the rather strange expressions on the Tsinghua University team’s faces. Yet, he still invited them to raise their glasses in response.

The woman who had just asked Su Cun for a favor now smiled at him with understanding and said, "I think I understand why you came here today."

Everyone on the Tsinghua University team looked unsure of what to do as Zhao Hao patted them on their shoulders. An executive committee member managed to crack a smile but it was bitter.

This was an absolute humiliation. Now, in addition to having the founder of Facebook emerge from Nanjing University, they had also received investments for TEG members from three consecutive cities, leaving them no choice but to accept it. It was like someone who wasn’t a bottom (in LGBT context) being forced into that role out of necessity.te, it also disappointed some girls who had taken an interest in him. From this point onward, even if someone wanted to pursue Su Can, they would inevitably be looked down upon from a status perspecti...