Chapter 156: Balancing Both Offense and Defense

The entire Dormitory 606 suddenly entered a state of high alert.

Sun Jian suggested that everyone restrain their behavior, avoid breaking any school rules, and temporarily refrain from arguing or getting into physical fights with anyone.

Although this suggestion felt a bit stifling, it won the approval of the majority. Li Mu, however, was somewhat displeased. He believed that hiding was never the solution to such problems; if one wanted to resolve an issue, they had to switch from defense to offense.

Li Mu carefully analyzed the current situation. His biggest threat was neither Zhang Qing nor Wu Shuai, but Sun Tan. Sun Tan was a local from Beijing, had connections with the school administration, and reportedly came from a well-connected family. Only he had the potential to truly interfere with Li Mu.

Fortunately, Li Mu had left no vulnerabilities for Sun Tan to exploit. Failing to find any flaws in Li Mu, Sun Tan had no choice but to resort to Zhang Qing, trying to make him start trouble and provoke Li Mu. This showed that although Sun Tan desperately wanted to drive Li Mu out of Renmin University, he could not find a way to strike for the time being.

Looking at it from the reverse perspective, Sun Tan was eager to launch an attack, while Li Mu's defense was airtight, leaving Sun Tan with no spare energy to cover his own flaws.

His Student Assistance Association had plenty of problems of its own. If Li Mu were to launch an offensive by targeting the Association's vulnerabilities, it would be equivalent to a fire breaking out in Sun Tan's own backyard. If the Student Assistance Association lost public support at Renmin University or even became a target of universal condemnation, Sun Tan would find himself overwhelmed. Once the Association collapsed, his own prospects would be utterly ruined.

More importantly, following Song Liang's reminder, Li Mu had realized the political influence of 3321. This made him firmly believe one thing: although Sun Tan was a local tyrant with school connections, and currently had a slight handle on Li Mu that could potentially get him expelled, as long as Li Mu made 3321 a massive success, the school administration would turn a blind eye even if Li Mu slapped Sun Tan right in front of them.

Therefore, Li Mu needed to grasp both firearms and body armor simultaneously—one hand on the gun to eliminate the enemy, and the other on the armor so the enemy could find no way to strike back.

After figuring this out, Li Mu asked Xue Jianfeng, "Has that batch of computers ordered by the Student Assistance Association arrived yet?"

"Not yet," Xue Jianfeng shrugged. "My deposit was even refunded by them."

Li Mu asked, "When are they expected to arrive?"

Xue Jianfeng thought for a moment and said, "It should be in the next couple of days, definitely before Friday."

"Good." Li Mu nodded and said, "Jianfeng, help me keep an eye on this. Let me know as soon as they arrive."

"Got it!"

Sun Jian guessed Li Mu's intention and tentatively asked, "Li Mu, are you planning to take the initiative?"

Li Mu smiled faintly without hiding anything. "The best defense is offense. The Student Assistance Association has so many issues; if we make a fuss out of them, it will be more than enough to give them a headache."

Sun Jian hurriedly said, "The Student Assistance Association has organized over a hundred students to participate in the recording of the Happy Dictionary show this Saturday. They are covering transportation and a lunch, recording two consecutive episodes from morning to afternoon. There must be something fishy going on there too, right?"

Li Mu nodded. "By television station standards, everyone should be getting at least a few dozen yuan in labor fees."

Liu Nian said indignantly, "Then those amounts must be made public when the time comes, so the students who were scammed can go settle accounts with them."

Li Mu smiled and said, "Don't rush. Let them make a big profit first. Don't make any rash moves before that batch of computers arrives."

...

Recently, Sun Tan had been somewhat restless because of Li Mu and 3321. The title of one of Beijing's Top Ten College Students was of great significance to him and could not be lost. However, he still couldn't find any dirt on Li Mu, and that fellow Zhang Qing hadn't made any effective progress either, leaving Sun Tan extremely anxious.

Wu Shuai was also anxious. He had thought that with Sun Tan stepping in, he would soon see Li Mu pay a heavy price for everything, but he hadn't expected even Sun Tan to fail in finding a breakthrough. The situation had suddenly reached a stalemate.

At this point, Wu Shuai had entirely handed over the heavy responsibility of revenging against Li Mu to Sun Tan. Although anxious, he had many other matters to attend to and had to split his focus to handle them. Coincidentally, the dealer in Zhongguancun they always cooperated with called to say the goods had been mostly allocated—a total of 230 machines that could be delivered to the campus for installation on Thursday afternoon.

Upon receiving the call, Wu Shuai was immensely excited. The purchasing power of freshmen and sophomores combined was extraordinary. Two hundred and thirty desktop computers had been ordered across various configuration tiers. On average, however, the transaction price per machine was around 6,000 yuan, and they could get a commission of at least 600 yuan from each machine.

Doing the math, flipping this batch of computers would yield over 100,000 yuan. Calculating based on the profit-sharing model Sun Tan had previously set, it would be about 140,000 yuan. Sun Tan would take 50%, which was 70,000 yuan; he himself would take 25%, amounting to 35,000 yuan; and the rest would be distributed among the other members of the Student Assistance Association.

Thirty-five thousand yuan was more than his parents' annual salary combined, and it was the largest sum Wu Shuai had ever earned. Yet, in terms of total sums, this 35,000 yuan only accounted for one-third of Wu Shuai's total income over the past year.

The Student Assistance Association had many ways to make money. Sun Tan pocketed 200,000 yuan here in a year, and Wu Shuai had made a lot by following him as well. Starting from last year, not only did he no longer need his family to pay for his tuition and living expenses, but during the summer vacation, he even gave 10,000 yuan to his family, which had thrilled his parents so much that they told everyone how promising their son was, capable of making big money even before graduating from college. As a result, Wu Shuai had harvested endless praise, and his vanity and confidence swelled day by day.

Seeing that another 35,000 yuan was about to hit his account, Wu Shuai hung up the phone and immediately called Sun Tan. Learning that Sun Tan was at his rented apartment off-campus, Wu Shuai left his dorm directly to find him.

Sun Tan had rented a two-bedroom apartment off-campus and spent most of his time living there rather than in the dorm. Leveraging his influence at the school, Sun Tan had reportedly deflowered four or five young girls from Renmin University here over the past year or so, rolling in the sheets every few days to his heart's content. Sometimes, when tired of playing with girls, he would just play games and surf the internet here by himself, living an immensely cozy life.

Sun Tan had been in a bad mood these past two days, so he hadn't called any girls over to keep him company. When Wu Shuai called saying he had matters to discuss, Sun Tan directly told him to come over.

As soon as Wu Shuai stepped through the door, he said rather impatiently, "Brother Tan, the dealer called. The machine allocations are almost all set, and they'll come for installation on Thursday afternoon. You'll need to give the security guards a heads-up so the truck can enter the campus. Also, he found ten installation workers; between setup and testing, it might run pretty late. If the dorm management has any issues, you'll have to step in."

Sun Tan nodded. Although his mood wasn't great, money still had to be made. He asked Wu Shuai, "Did he say when we'll settle accounts with them?"

Thinking of the money, Wu Shuai grew excited and said, "He said we should notify the students who ordered machines in advance to prepare cash. When he collects the cash that day, he'll deduct the 500-yuan deposit per machine, and we can take that money directly."

"That's not enough," Sun Tan frowned and said. "Only 500 per machine? I originally negotiated a 12% commission with him. How are we settling the rest?"

Wu Shuai hastily replied, "We can go to his shop on Friday to settle the rest."

Sun Tan nodded. "That's more like it. These past two days, I talked to a Giant bicycle dealer. He got a batch of substandard bikes through irregular channels. The price is very cheap, but he doesn't dare sell them out of his own storefront, so he wants our help."

Wu Shuai quickly asked, "At what price?"

"Seventy percent of market price," Sun Tan said. "If it exceeds a hundred bikes, sixty-five percent. I've looked at the bikes; you can't tell there's anything wrong with them unless you inspect them closely."

Wu Shuai immediately calculated in his head: "Selling a hundred bikes shouldn't be a problem. Getting them at 65% and selling them at 90% leaves a 25% profit margin. The cheapest Giant bike costs around 300, and better ones go for 600, 700, or even a thousand. Let's calculate based on an average price of 500 per bike across a hundred bikes—that's 50,000 yuan. A 25% profit is around 10,000 yuan. That's not bad at all!"

Sun Tan let out an "en," waved his hand, and said, "Tomorrow I'll give you his number, and you can talk to him in detail."

"Deal." Wu Shuai nodded heavily.

Sun Tan suddenly sighed and said, "That Li Mu is still going to be a bit troublesome for a while."

Wu Shuai asked, "What? Still can't find any flaws?"

Sun Tan nodded and said, "That kid Zhang Qing didn't find an opportunity."

Wu Shuai casually dropped a hint: "I heard they're launching their parent-bidding event on Friday, which ends at noon on Saturday. By Sunday, they should already be sending students over to employers' homes to tutor their children."

Sun Tan's brows instantly furrowed into knots.

The biggest problem was that 3321 simply couldn't be stopped. If they couldn't stop it and couldn't find any dirt on Li Mu either... right now, 3321 had only gone viral at the student level, and the school administration hadn't paid attention yet. Once he grew big and strong, the administration would definitely take notice. At that point, he would undoubtedly become a golden signboard for Renmin University, and who would still be able to touch him?

Sun Tan stood up and began pacing back and forth in the room with rising agitation.

He could only blame 3321 for being too good of a project. From its conception to its model, from the website to promotion, from students to parents, from mainstream values to media attention, it claimed every single advantage. Such a phenomenal project was practically born invincible; how was he supposed to defeat it?

Seeing Sun Tan deeply troubled, Wu Shuai offered an idea: "Brother Tan, do you think there's any possibility of buying 3321 from Li Mu?"

"Buy it?" Sun Tan frowned. "How much would that cost?"

Wu Shuai pondered and said, "Building the website, hiring people for promotion, and all that—Li Mu must have invested at least 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, right?"

Sun Tan asked again, "How much do you think he'd sell it for?"

"Hard to say," Wu Shuai scratched his head. "Still, with his initial cost of over 100,000, he should be willing to let it go for several hundred thousand. After all, he'd be doubling his money."

Sun Tan contemplated for a moment, clicking his tongue. "Since we can't do anything to him right now, talking to him might not be a bad idea. We can test his psychological expectations. If the price is right, buying it is also a good option. If I really manage to get my hands on 3321, I'll bundle it together with the Student Assistance Association, and then have my family figure out some media connections to promote it. The results will definitely be massive..." (To be continued.)