Chapter 160: Grand Momentum

On Thursday afternoon, two vanloads of cargo drove through the main gates of Renmin University and headed straight for the dormitory area. Over a thousand freshmen stood watching as large and small cardboard boxes were continuously unloaded from the vehicles, feeling deeply excited.

The more than two hundred computers ordered through the Student Assistance Association for the university students had finally arrived. These computers would benefit at least a hundred dormitories, naturally drawing widespread attention. Coupled with the spectacle of two hundred machines being unloaded on-site, many students exclaimed in awe that the Student Assistance Association was truly extraordinary; such a massive undertaking was probably something only they could pull off.

Right now, the reputation of the Student Assistance Association among Renmin University students clearly overshadowed Li Mu’s 3321.

When Li Mu’s 3321 had first started its campus promotional campaign, it indeed created quite a buzz. However, 3321 was ultimately an O2O platform that integrated online resources and provided offline services. The most crucial metric to prove an O2O platform's strength was its order volume. Because 3321 had not yet officially launched its online bidding process, its influence had gradually begun to wane over these past few days.

In stark contrast, the Student Assistance Association leveraged this grandiose setup to dramatically elevate its prestige.

Naturally, Sun Tan did not let slip this prime opportunity to boost his reputation. He came to the scene in person, climbed into one of the vans, and took the initiative to unload the boxes himself. This display of both capability and personal involvement drove countless young women into utter adulation.

All the students who had ordered computers waited right there. Sun Tan called out names one by one according to the labels on the boxes. The students whose names were called could pay on the spot and take their machines away, while the technicians responsible for assembly would later visit dormitories one by one based on the distribution list.

Every student who received a computer was ecstatic, expressing their gratitude to Sun Tan without exception. Wu Shuai stood on the third-floor dormitory balcony, his face cold as he watched everything unfold, burning with rage.

Originally, he should have been the one sharing the pedestal of worship alongside Sun Tan. Yet now, although he had voluntarily withdrawn from the student union, Sun Tan still felt it was not enough. Sun Tan even intended to post a message by the Yishao Pond claiming that Wu Shuai had been expelled from the student union for violating its disciplinary codes. If Sun Tan had not been so preoccupied with this batch of computers, that post probably would have been published long ago.

At the mere thought of this, hatred welled up in Wu Shuai's heart—hatred for Li Mu went without saying, but besides Li Mu, he also hated Sun Tan.

Li Mu had gone out in the afternoon, visiting Makino Technology’s office to sign an equity transfer agreement with Song Liang. Song Liang purchased a five percent stake in Makino Technology for two point five million, of which five hundred thousand went directly to Li Mu personally, while two million was deposited into Makino Technology’s corporate account.

As soon as the contract was signed, Song Liang immediately had his finance department in Haizhou wire the funds. Coincidentally, Baidu wired their payment on this very same day as well.

With four million from Baidu and two million from Song Liang, Li Mu’s Series A financing injected six million in cash into Makino Technology’s accounts, while also padding his personal bank account by one million two hundred thousand, which included eight hundred thousand from Baidu and four hundred thousand from Song Liang.

After signing the contract, Song Liang returned to his hotel. Since he and Ye Tianming’s father were heading back to Jinling that evening, he did not have time to linger. After taking a taxi to drop Song Liang off at the hotel, Li Mu called Kong Lingyu; it was time to bring the core team to Beijing.

Kong Lingyu and the team had long been prepared for the move to Beijing, waiting only for Li Mu’s single command.

Given that Friday required the launch of 3321's online bidding, Kong Lingyu split the team into two. He left a routine operations team in Jinling and arranged for the rest of the staff to fly to Beijing on Saturday. The office space in Beijing was already fully secured, complete with office furniture. Once they arrived, they only needed to purchase a batch of computers to immediately take over the work of the members left behind in Jinling, allowing the Jinling contingent to catch up as soon as possible.

Having finalized the plan with Kong Lingyu, Li Mu headed back to Renmin University. On the way, he received a phone call from Xue Jianfeng, who informed him that his classmates had already received their new machines.

After clarifying the dormitory building and room number, Li Mu asked Xue Jianfeng to wait for him there, and headed straight to his classmate's dorm the moment he arrived on campus.

When Li Mu arrived, Xue Jianfeng and the six occupants of the dorm were gathered around the brand-new computer, admiring it from all angles. The installation technician had just left after setting up a few currently popular standalone games, and everyone was now watching the owner of the machine play Red Alert.

The moment Li Mu walked in, several people in the dorm recognized him. Xue Jianfeng hurriedly made introductions, saying to the others, "I want to build a desktop PC myself, so I asked Li Mu to come over and give me some advice."

Because of his work on 3321, Li Mu enjoyed a prominent reputation among the freshmen, so everyone treated him with great courtesy. Li Mu exchanged greetings with the group, and then feigned curiosity as he walked around to the back of the computer to inspect the monitor. It was from a relatively niche domestic brand called Haofu. Upon closer inspection, the color of the back cover and the front bezel differed slightly; the back cover was brand new, while the front bezel had a yellowish tint—something that required close scrutiny to notice.

Looking at the mounting screws on the monitor's casing, they clearly were not the ones used by the manufacturer in the factory. The brazenness of modern refurbishment stunned Li Mu. It was likely that the vast majority of users simply did not understand hardware at all, which explained why dishonest merchants dared to be so blatant.

Next came the computer case, a very generic Century Light model bundled with the power supply; nothing seemed amiss there.

Li Mu opened the side panel of the case and inspected it carefully. Even with his amateur level of knowledge, he could tell that the ASUS motherboard had extremely crude workmanship, with rudimentary capacitor components. The overall quality fell far short of a major manufacturer's standards, leading him to conclude that this was not a refurbished part, but a standard counterfeit.

The memory stick was 128 megabytes, a Hyundai brand, showing no apparent issues. The graphics card also looked acceptable at first glance. However, the optical drive looked highly suspicious from the inside. Viewed from the front, the tray cover and the Sony logo appeared to be of decent workmanship, but the rear half was exceptionally crude, with plastic parts even retaining burrs and flashing—fake to an outrageous degree.

Li Mu picked up the specification sheet and compared it with his prior knowledge of hardware prices. On the surface, the machine's configuration and price matched the quotes reasonably well. However, the refurbished monitor, counterfeit ASUS motherboard, and fake Sony optical drive alone accounted for a black-market profit margin of at least over a thousand yuan. As for whether there were problems elsewhere, that was beyond his amateur capability; only a professional could tell.

After a brief inspection, Li Mu had a clear grasp of the situation regarding this batch of computers. The young man who had purchased this computer asked him, "Li Mu, you run your own website, so you certainly know more about computers than I do. Do you think this computer was worth buying?"

Li Mu smiled faintly and replied, "I don't know much about hardware either, but judging by the spec sheet and the price, it really does seem worth it."

The young man nodded. "Then I can rest easy."

Without rushing to leave, Li Mu took out his phone and quietly sent a text message to Zhao Kang. Then, turning to Xue Jianfeng, he said, "Come on, let's go downstairs and have a chat with President Sun so he can order one for you too."

Knowing that Li Mu was just making conversation, Xue Jianfeng nodded anyway. "Alright, let's go ask him."

Sun Tan was still busy distributing machines when Li Mu approached. Noticing him coming, Sun Tan called a student union member over to take his place on the truck, walked up to Li Mu, and smiled. "You're here, Li Mu. Our Student Assistance Association frequently holds activities like this, which are immensely helpful to our freshmen and sophomores. Once you join the student union later on, I'll hand all the responsibilities of the Student Assistance Association over to you."

Sun Tan assumed that Li Mu was merely a glory-seeking opportunist; otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to create 3321, nor would he have demanded to become a head of a student union department when negotiating terms with him. It was rare for a freshman to officially join the student union, let alone become a department head straight away. If Li Mu really managed to secure a department head position during the first semester of his freshman year, goodness knows how many girls would throw themselves at him.

Li Mu smiled faintly. "My roommate wants to buy one too. I wonder when the Student Assistance Association will host another group assembly event like this?"

Sun Tan replied, "We usually only organize it once a semester, so the next one probably won't be until next semester. But given our relationship, don't you worry. I'll personally have a word with the boss and have him put together a custom machine specifically for your roommate. The price will be the same as everyone else's, and it'll definitely be cheaper than buying it from a shop yourself!"

Xue Jianfeng quickly chimed in, "Then thank you, President Sun. Actually, I signed up for this batch too, but that Wu Shuai insisted on returning my deposit just because I room with Li Mu..."

Sun Tan immediately retorted, "That guy's character is problematic; he has already left the student union."

With that, Sun Tan glanced at Li Mu and added, "The student union discovered numerous disciplinary violations by Wu Shuai and decided to expel him. I'll issue a formal notice once I finish dealing with all this."

Knowing that Sun Tan's remarks were meant for his ears, Li Mu nodded with a smile, while inwardly calculating the timeline. Zhao Kang's exposure of the Student Assistance Association would surely break faster than Sun Tan's formal notice. When Sun Tan faced a massive credibility crisis by then, it remained to be seen whether he would still have the bandwidth to care about Wu Shuai.

A few minutes earlier, someone had published a post by the Yishao Pond titled: "Thanks to Senior Sun Tan and the Student Assistance Association for Fulfilling My Computer Dream!"

The body of the post was filled with sycophantic flattery toward Sun Tan, essentially elevating him to the status of a selfless Lei Feng dedicated to serving his fellow students, while portraying his Student Assistance Association as an exceptionally noble and great philanthropic group.

As soon as the post went live, numerous users began commenting. Some echoed the original poster's flattery, calling the spectacle of two trucks entering the campus and hundreds of computers being unloaded magnificent, and praising Sun Tan as exceptionally handsome and awesome. Others agreed with the original poster's views, believing that Sun Tan and the Student Assistance Association were thoroughly commendable. Meanwhile, a few felt the flattery was far too blatant, arguing that a computer was merely a couple of hundred yuan cheaper than outside prices—was there any need to grovel to this extent? Others still suspected that the Student Assistance Association might not be all that noble, speculating that they probably pocketed a tidy profit from this assembly scheme.

In short, opinions varied, though the discourse remained relatively civil with no overly aggressive language appearing—until a user named "Skin Flayer" dropped a single reply that instantly turned the entire Yishao Pond upside down.