Chapter 123: Somewhat Interesting

The people at Baidu have been nearly driven mad these past few days.

Rumor has it that a strange contagion has broken out among the senior management: green-eyed monster syndrome.

It has reached the point where the first thing these executives do upon arriving at the office is to check the data for Yiting.com and Tieba. When they see the constantly climbing numbers on Tieba, they cannot help but be consumed by envy.

A few days ago, they had just prepared to copy the Tieba model. Leveraging their own advantages, they launched an "All-Star Tieba" to target the perceived weakness of Yiting's Tieba, which only focused on singers. However, by the time their technical development team had not even finished drafting the requirements, Tieba had already launched their own version.

This left the company's executives and technical leads spitting blood in frustration. Soon after, Tieba made an even more brilliant move: allowing users to create their own Tiebas.

Zhou A tried out this feature and easily created a "Zhou A Tieba." He found it incredibly interesting and, thinking of his wife, spontaneously created one in her name as well, exclaiming, "This is awesome! Absolutely awesome!"

The Vice President also tried it out. He liked playing badminton in his spare time, so he tried to create a "Badminton Tieba." To his surprise, someone had already created one a few days ago, and it had already garnered over two thousand followers, along with numerous posts discussing techniques and equipment. He was deeply shocked by Tieba's ability to aggregate users based on shared interests, idols, and pursuits. He even felt that the current version of Tieba alone could be valued at fifty million or more.

At that moment, he looked at AO1, a site he had also been following, and realized the site he once held in high regard was pathetic in comparison. Just like Baidu Search at the moment, this navigation site could not retain users; they would arrive, stay for a few seconds, and then go elsewhere. It was such a painful experience!

User retention and stickiness had always been Baidu's Achilles' heel. Viewed through that lens, Tieba was a lifesaver—a stroke of genius! An inspired idea! But why wasn't it Baidu's idea?

He immediately reported to the President, hoping to acquire Tieba at any cost, preferably bundling Yiting.com as well. However, his decision-making authority was limited, and such matters required the board’s approval. A shareholders' meeting needed to be called immediately to discuss it; time was of the essence!

In truth, the current Baidu was not the "tall, rich, and handsome" giant of the internet; they were still in their infancy. They were currently desperate for other platforms to provide search engine services for. Although founder Robin Li had brought back significant investment from Silicon Valley and had subsequent capital infusions, they had burned through a lot of cash, and their business model had not yet been truly solidified.

Ultimately, Baidu was still feeling its way across the river. Taking a large sum of money to make an acquisition now was a risky move, hence the need for shareholder discussion. If the shareholders unanimously decided to buy, they would inject more capital if the company funds were insufficient. If they decided against it, even having enough money in the bank wouldn't help.

Meanwhile, Li Mu took time on Saturday to visit his rented apartment and check his email on his computer.

There were several companies currently interested in Tieba.

NetEase and Sina were both very interested and hoped to meet with Li Mu in person.

Li Mu only communicated through representatives online to get a rough quote, but he was dissatisfied with the valuations. They all wanted to bundle Yiting.com and Tieba together, but none of the offers exceeded thirty million.

Li Mu politely declined, citing that he was still considering his options. In his heart, he preferred to sell to Baidu, because he understood a simple truth: to get the best terms, you must sell to those who need the product most. Selling a comb to a monk might sound impressive, but it didn't align with market principles.

...

Toward noon, Su Yingxue called Li Mu to ask what he was doing. When Li Mu said he was surfing the internet, Su Yingxue asked if he wanted to have lunch together, and Li Mu agreed.

They met at a restaurant outside the school. Li Mu closed his computer, checked his appearance in the mirror, and headed out.

As soon as they met, Su Yingxue asked, "Do you have anything on this afternoon?"

Li Mu didn't answer and asked back, "Why?"

Su Yingxue said with some hesitation, "I have a few junior high classmates at school who are insisting that I attend a gathering for people from Nansu Province this afternoon. I don't really want to go, but I can't get out of it, so I wanted to see if you would be willing to go with me."

Li Mu asked in surprise, "You have junior high classmates here?"

Su Yingxue nodded. "I attended Jinling Experimental Middle School for junior high; I only returned to Haizhou for high school."

Li Mu then remembered—it had been so long that he had forgotten Su Yingxue had attended the best junior high in Jinling. Jinling Experimental Middle School had always been a cradle for students at Jinling University, housing both junior and senior high sections, and its college entrance exam success rates had always been the best in the province.

Her classmates from there would likely be top-tier students. Besides, Renmin University admitted at least fifty or sixty students from Nansu Province annually across all majors, so it was perfectly normal for a few of her classmates to be there.

Li Mu calculated in his mind and said in surprise, "Wouldn't that make this gathering hundreds of people?"

Su Yingxue nodded. "Logically, there should be that many, which is why the organizers usually hold separate events. This time, they are mainly inviting us freshmen, with a few representatives from the sophomores, juniors, seniors, and the graduate school, so it should only be a few dozen people."

Li Mu smiled slightly. "Sun Jian from my dorm is also from Nansu. He asked me yesterday to go with him, and I agreed."

"Really?" Su Yingxue was delighted and quickly said, "That's great! I really don't want to go, but I can't say no, so it's perfect that you'll be there."

Li Mu hadn't seen Su Yingxue since classes started, so he asked what she had been up to. Her reply was much like Zhao Ziqiu's: besides classes and self-study, she spent her time in the library. Su Yingxue mentioned that she could choose electives in the second semester of her freshman year, and she wanted to prepare in advance.

After hearing this, Li Mu asked awkwardly, "You've finally made it through your senior year of high school; don't you want to relax?"

Su Yingxue smiled. "Didn't I already have summer break?"

"Is that the same thing?" Li Mu pouted. "University isn't high school. There's no need to turn yourself into a study machine."

Su Yingxue thought for a moment, stuck out her tongue, and said, "But if I don't study, I don't know what else to do. What should I do? I can't just lie in the dorm sleeping after dinner every day, right?"

Li Mu surrendered, realizing he couldn't grasp the world of top students. He laughed and said, "You're right..."

The gathering was scheduled for two in the afternoon, reportedly at a booked-out "Bifengtang." After lunch, Li Mu and Su Yingxue strolled around outside the school until it was nearly time. Li Mu called Sun Jian to meet at the south gate, where he and Su Yingxue waited.

Sun Jian arrived quickly. Seeing Li Mu and Su Yingxue together, he paused for a moment, but realized this famous campus beauty who had recently become a sensation was Li Mu's high school classmate, so it made sense she was also from Nansu. He didn't find it strange.

Li Mu introduced Sun Jian to Su Yingxue, and the three of them headed to Bifengtang.

When they arrived, two upperclassmen were stationed at the door with a small table. They had already collected information on freshmen from Nansu Province and created a list. Regardless of whether they had received an invitation, any freshman from the Class of 2001 at Renmin University from Nansu could attend.

As soon as Li Mu, Su Yingxue, and Sun Jian arrived at the registration desk, they noticed the two upperclassmen staring blankly at Su Yingxue.

One of them stood up quickly and said with a smile, "Oh, it's Yingxue! Please, come right in!"

Su Yingxue pointed in surprise at two students who had just registered and paid to enter. "Don't we have to pay?"

The man said hurriedly, "The vice president of our regional association, Wu Shuai, has already paid for you."

Su Yingxue frowned. "Who is Wu Shuai? I don't want him to pay for me." With that, she reached for her money.

The man blurted out, "Oh, you don't know Wu Shuai? He's the heartthrob of our School of Economics. He's from Jinling, and he..."

"Here, for the three of us."

Su Yingxue didn't give him a chance to continue, placing a hundred-yuan note on the table.

The man looked embarrassed. "President Wu has already given the word, and we've already accepted the money he paid for you. If we take your money now, it won't be easy to explain later. Besides, it will mess up the accounts; it's hard for us to deal with extra money, you know?"

Li Mu interjected, "Money is a problem when there's too much of it? Then just give that payment to the next student in line."

Li Mu pointed to a young man behind him and said, "Hey man, you don't need to pay. A senior named Wu already covered it."

"Uh?" The young man was stunned, and the two registration staff looked at each other. Li Mu pulled out a hundred-yuan note, took back Su Yingxue's money, handed his own to the man, and tapped his finger on the table. "Hurry up and give me ten yuan change. What are you thinking?"

"This..." The two were extremely awkward. They exchanged a glance, and the one collecting the money reluctantly pulled out ten yuan and handed it to Li Mu, then brought out the registry. "You two, please register."

Li Mu thought, *There are three of us, are you blind?* But when he looked at the registry, he saw they had already checked Su Yingxue's name. Li Mu despised them in his heart, found his own name, checked it, and then seeing Sun Jian, Sun Jian pointed to his own name: "Mine is here."

Li Mu nodded, checked Sun Jian's name as well, and handed the booklet back. "Anything else? Can we go in?"

The man said quickly, "Just a moment." He pulled out three numbered tags, handed them to Li Mu, and said, "One tag per person. Take these and go straight to the second floor."

Li Mu nodded, took the tags—50, 51, and 52—and handed 51 to Su Yingxue and 52 to Sun Jian.

Once the two receptionists saw them leave, they looked at the registry and found Li Mu's name based on his checkmark. One of them muttered to himself, "Li Mu... this kid really knows how to act tough!"

The other chuckled, pointed to the hometown listed next to Li Mu's name, and said, "See that? He's also from Haizhou. He must be Su Yingxue's high school classmate. And he doesn't look bad either. President Wu has a competitor this time."

"This is getting interesting..."