Chapter 152: Fleeing in Panic

Zhang Qing stared at Li Mu, who was getting closer and closer, a wave of disappointment inevitably welling up in his heart. Li Mu was alone; he hadn't walked out with his roommates.

A momentary hesitation flashed through Zhang Qing's mind. He had initially wanted to temporarily give up and wait for another time when Li Mu and his roommates were together before making a move. After all, the nature of a gang beating was far more severe. However, upon second thought, Sun Tan had kept telling him that it was a matter of utmost urgency, because once Li Mu got 3321 off the ground, no one would be able to touch him anymore. Although Zhang Qing was not exceptionally bright, he could read between the lines. Even Sun Tan was worried about Li Mu growing powerful, which proved that 3321 was truly formidable. Once Li Mu succeeded in establishing 3321, he would possess the ultimate shield, and trying to cause trouble for him in the future would be as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Having figured this out, Zhang Qing dared not delay any further. Otherwise, in the event that Li Mu forged an invulnerable golden body through 3321, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Qing stepped forward to meet Li Mu. When he was still twenty or thirty meters away from Li Mu, a man suddenly emerged from the roadside, cutting in between the two of them and walking briskly toward Li Mu.

Li Mu was solely focused on walking and hadn't noticed Zhang Qing approaching him. Suddenly, a figure darted out diagonally in front of him, causing him to instinctively come to a halt. At that moment, the figure in front of him laughed heartily and said, "Brother, didn't expect this, did you?"

Li Mu was stunned for a moment before realizing that the person standing right in front of him was none other than Song Liang.

"Brother Liang, how did you..."

Li Mu was dumbfounded. Although he had spoken with Song Liang on the phone previously and they had agreed to sign the contract in Yanjing, he never imagined that Song Liang would show up directly at his university without any prior notice, and right underneath his dormitory building, no less.

Song Liang laughed heartily, stepped forward to pat Li Mu on the shoulder, and smiled, "I hadn't originally planned to come today, but Tianming's father happened to be coming to Yanjing to attend tomorrow's Top 50 Real Estate Summit and insisted that I accompany him. So, I naturally had to oblige."

Li Mu then said, "You should have given me a call."

Song Liang waved his hand. "Your older brother here was just idle and felt like taking a stroll, and by the way, give you a surprise. Got any free time? Let's go grab a drink somewhere."

Li Mu smiled. "Alright, my treat. You're not allowed to fight me for the bill."

Song Liang smiled as well. "I'm the God of Wealth coming to deliver money to you; buying a late-night snack is small change, so you're definitely paying."

As the two of them were talking, Zhang Qing unobtrusively closed in. He didn't recognize Song Liang, but he could tell that the two men definitely knew each other and had a good relationship. That was fine too; if he could provoke the two of them into a physical fight, the mission would be accomplished. Taking a beating himself would allow him to exact revenge and draw closer to Sun Tan. It was worth it.

Walking past Li Mu in long strides, just as he brushed shoulders with him, Zhang Qing fiercely slammed his elbow into Li Mu's side. The impact caused Li Mu to stagger, nearly falling over, not to mention the sharp pain in his left arm.

Which bastard walks without eyes? He managed to bump into me on such a wide road, Li Mu thought to himself. Lifting his gaze, well, well—it was actually Zhang Qing.

Li Mu didn't think too much of it, simply considering it a coincidence.

Having bumped into Li Mu, Zhang Qing locked eyes with him and immediately started cursing at the top of his lungs, "Are you fucking asking for a death wish? How dare you block your Grandpa Qing's path?!"

Li Mu instinctively frowned.

Had this kid taken the wrong medicine or lost his mind? Wasn't he being quite well-behaved after getting beaten up last time? What kind of wind was blowing him the wrong way today?

Before Li Mu could even react, Zhang Qing cursed again, "Fuck your mother, I'm asking you a question. Are you fucking mute?"

A wave of anger surged within Li Mu. This bastard bumped into him and then started hurling abuses without even an apology. This was intolerable. He could almost not control himself from delivering a slap across the other's face. However, right before Li Mu could make a move, Song Liang, standing to the side, suddenly delivered a ferocious slap across Zhang Qing's face. Frowning, Song Liang said, "Was your mother just giving birth to you? Unbred piece of trash."

Zhang Qing was struck by Song Liang, feeling a burning pain on his cheek, yet deep inside, he felt a surge of excitement. Excellent! The only fear was that they wouldn't strike. Once they struck, everything else would fall into place! Now it's your turn, Li Mu!

Therefore, ignoring Song Liang who had just hit him, Zhang Qing continued to curse, "Li Mu, you coward..."

"Slap!"

Song Liang delivered yet another fierce backhand slap, then shoved Li Mu aside. Standing in front of Zhang Qing, Song Liang unzipped his handbag, pulled out a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills, waved them in front of Zhang Qing's face, and said with a chilling expression, "There are about four or five thousand yuan here. I'll give you two choices: either take the money and get lost, or I'll use this cash to hire a couple of guys from the streets to tear your mouth apart."

Zhang Qing was dumbfounded.

His original intention had been to provoke Li Mu and make Li Mu hit him. He never expected that this person, who looked like a friend of Li Mu's, would slap him twice in a row, and then suddenly pull out such a thick stack of cash and utter those words. Zhang Qing looked closely at Song Liang; the man's attire was extremely sophisticated, and he carried an aura of refined elegance—he looked every bit the successful businessman. Moreover, carrying several thousand yuan in cash casually in his bag further convinced him that Song Liang was no ordinary person.

Song Liang's tone was calm, but his expression was exceptionally gloomy. Zhang Qing didn't doubt for a second that the man in front of him was joking. He just didn't know how to respond to Song Liang's words. He didn't dare take the money because he couldn't figure out what kind of person Song Liang was, let alone whether taking these few thousand yuan would turn into falling into some sort of trap. However, the second half of Song Liang's words made his heart skip a beat. A few thousand yuan could buy many things nowadays; it might not necessarily be enough to hire a hitman, but finding plenty of people willing to cripple someone casually was practically guaranteed.

Zhang Qing suddenly found himself in a dilemma, never imagining he would encounter such a terrifying character whose mere presence struck fear into his heart.

At that moment, Song Liang pulled a set of Mercedes-Benz car keys from his bag, jingled them in front of Zhang Qing, and said with a look of utter disdain and coldness, "If you don't get lost within three seconds, you'd better start looking carefully all around you—front, back, left, and right—every time you step out of the school gates and cross the street from now on."

Upon hearing these words, Zhang Qing turned around and bolted.

The other party wasn't like him; he had come with a premeditated plan to dig a pit for Li Mu, but the other party hadn't planned to intimidate him. Since that was the case, he couldn't afford to provoke a man who casually carried thousands in cash and Mercedes keys by any stretch of the imagination. If he didn't run and ended up being flattened by a Mercedes one of these days, he wouldn't even have tears left to cry.

Watching Zhang Qing flee in panic, Song Liang smiled faintly and said to Li Mu, "You see, sometimes learning a few worldly tactics from society might just come in handy."

Li Mu nodded and smiled. "That kid's face turned green from fright."

Song Liang smiled and asked, "Do you have bad blood with that kid?"

"I beat him up once."

Song Liang nodded and said, "I've been standing here for over twenty minutes. He's been around the whole time. I don't know how long he was here, but it was definitely longer than me. The moment he saw you coming, he walked right toward you. He was probably looking to cause trouble."

Li Mu frowned. "He must have taken the wrong medicine. This isn't called looking for trouble; it's called asking for a beating."

In Li Mu's view, Zhang Qing shouldn't have possessed the nerve for this, which made his behavior today all the more baffling.

On their way out of the school gates together, Li Mu recounted his past grievance with Zhang Qing to Song Liang. Upon hearing the story, Song Liang's eyebrows knitted tightly together. "He waited here for so long today; it shouldn't have been just to bump into you. The moment he collided with you, he started spouting wild nonsense, probably trying to provoke you. Knowing that provoking you might result in a beating, yet still choosing to do so—that's not normal human thought logic. When things are abnormal, demons are usually at play. You'd better be cautious."

Li Mu nodded. "I also feel something is amiss. I'll find a way to figure it out later."

Song Liang smiled and said, "You need to stay alert and not be careless; otherwise, you might easily fall into someone else's trap. Today's abnormal behavior from this guy might just be him setting a trap for you, except his acting skills weren't good enough—he tried a bit too hard and was too impatient."

Pausing for a moment, Song Liang continued, "Actually, dealing with a person like this is very simple: just spend a little money to get to the people around him. Once you do that, whatever he's plotting will become crystal clear. Sometimes, dealing with kids his age requires a direct and crude approach; you can't play strategic games with them because it wastes too many brain cells. Matters that might take days to figure out can often be resolved with a little money. You have to learn to use means."

Li Mu nodded. Song Liang was right. Sometimes he tended to complicate things. When it came to worldly experience, he naturally couldn't compare to Song Liang, who had been struggling and thriving in the real estate industry for so many years.

Li Mu chose a Yuanyang hot pot restaurant outside the school gates, and the two ordered some beer. After a bottle of beer went down, Song Liang asked Li Mu, "Have you offended anyone at school?"

Li Mu smiled bitterly. "How do you define 'offended'? For example, if someone likes Su Yingxue, and after being rejected repeatedly, starts to harbor jealousy and resentment toward me—what can you do when you run into such a jerk?"

Song Liang nodded with an understanding expression and asked, "With Muyecai Technology valued at fifty million, could it be that this has made people jealous?"

Li Mu shook his head. "I haven't told any of my classmates about Muye. Only my childhood friend knows."

Li Mu then thought of 3321. He hadn't hidden anything about this project; from the very beginning, he had been leading a group of people and doing it in a grand, public manner. Could this have offended someone?

However, even if this had offended someone, it shouldn't have provoked someone of Zhang Qing's caliber, right?

Seeing Li Mu deep in thought with a furrowed brow, Song Liang couldn't help but ask, "What are you pondering?"

Li Mu then told Song Liang about his undertaking with 3321.

Song Liang listened for a long while without speaking, staring straight at Li Mu with eyes that made even Li Mu feel a bit creeped out.

"Brother Liang, why do you keep staring at me like that?"

Song Liang composed himself and asked Li Mu solemnly, "Xiao Mu, do you want to go into politics in the future?"

"Why do you ask that?"

Song Liang said, "Renmin University is inherently the cradle of politicians; many students who graduate from here go into politics. Furthermore, this 3321 project you're running is practically a rocket you've built in advance for your future political career."

Li Mu said awkwardly, "I didn't have any political or money-making aspirations when I started 3321. I mainly hoped to accomplish something that would be of practical help to contemporary college students."

Song Liang said earnestly, "Brother, you must be clear about one thing: the potential political significance of this 3321 project of yours is enormous."