Free Web NovelChapter 278: Chapter 211: Growth Is a Lifelong Matter
This campus wasn’t very big. After all, every inch of land in Peng City is worth a fortune, and this wasn’t the main campus of the favored local institution, Peng City University.
The branch campuses of several well-known universities shared a single university town.
"Tsk. It’s been years since I left campus. Now, I’m back!"
As they got closer to the school, Lu Ming suddenly let out a sigh filled with a sense of grandeur.
Lin Chu glanced at him, pressing his lips together.
’What’s so great about school?’
For him, it really wasn’t a place full of fond memories. There were few high-spirited moments; instead, most of his time was spent in embarrassing poverty.
He’d had a sweet romance, but he was always on edge. Even taking his girlfriend out for a meal meant checking in advance for sales and hoarding coupons.
To put it more bluntly, he couldn’t even afford Durex, so he used A-Bang or got free ones from the family planning box at the hospital.
Of course, a guy like Lu Ming was definitely different.
He was a second-generation rich kid, after all.
’He probably drove a sports car to school. A "campus heartthrob" of that caliber was an absolute cheat code on campus.’
"Hahaha..."
Lu Ming glanced at Lin Chu and suddenly realized that Brother Chu’s university days probably weren’t as glorious as his own.
"When I was in college, I started a business. I did e-commerce and part-time jobs and was making several hundred thousand a year. I was living the life."
"That Porsche? When I bought it, my dad only chipped in a token two hundred thousand. I paid the majority," Lu Ming continued to brag.
Lin Chu chuckled. "Impressive. What were you doing back then?"
Lu Ming replied, "Click-farming, managing models, selling stockings, and organizing groups to go to bars. Wherever there were pretty girls and money to be made, that’s where I went."
Lin Chu: ...
’A bad seed from the start.’
They looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
They reached the campus security booth, had their identities verified, and drove in. A banner welcoming the new MBA students was already hanging at the entrance to the auditorium.
At the check-in desk, Lin Chu signed his name, received his student ID, and pinned it to his chest. Then, he and Lu Ming strode into the auditorium, full of confidence.
’The feeling was both familiar and strange.’
’It had only been three years, give or take, since he graduated from college, but he had already lost contact with many of his former classmates.’
’He’d lost his QQ account once, and with it, many contacts.’
’His phone had been smashed once, leading to a new WeChat account and a new phone number.’
’After a few incidents like that, the number of people he could contact had dwindled.’
’Besides, he had been a complete nobody back then, an inconspicuous presence in class that no one really paid attention to.’
’Even now that he’d struck it rich, he hadn’t heard any news from his classmates. There hadn’t even been a reunion.’
’Lin Chu didn’t know if one was never organized or if they had simply forgotten about him.’
’But now...’
’Things were completely different.’
’Lin Chu could now fully understand why people who got their bachelor’s from a second-tier university but then got into a prestigious graduate school would always mention the famous school first when introducing themselves.’
’From now on, the first thing on his academic record would be updated to "Peking University MBA."’
’This kind of behavior might seem a bit tacky, but it definitely counted for something.’
’He paid for it, after all!’
’Five hundred thousand!’
"There’s a saying: ’One cannot possess youth and the awareness of youth at the same time.’ But I think there’s a bug in that saying."
"Isn’t that us right now? We have the awareness of youth, and we’re living our youth by being students again."
Lu Ming suddenly spoke up again after they entered.
Lin Chu glanced at him and couldn’t help but shake his head and smile. ’What’s there to be so sentimental about?’
"Who knows where you heard that? Probably made up by some social media account. I’m forever eighteen, forever young, and I refuse to be defined by anything."
Lu Ming: ...
"How about we make a bet?"
Hmm?
Lin Chu looked at him casually. "What’s the bet?"
Lu Ming, looking intrigued and getting carried away, said, "Let’s have some fun. We’ll go back to our college days and start a business. Ten thousand yuan each as starting capital. No using any resources from our current identities. We start from scratch. Two years from now, when we graduate, whoever has earned more has to call the other one ’Dad.’"
Lin Chu shot him a look. "That’s childish. I’m not betting."
’What was there to bet on?’
’It was a complete waste of time.’
’With his current understanding of business, making money after securing your first pot of gold and making money while starting from scratch to get that first pot of gold were two completely different methods. The experience from one didn’t apply to the other, and vice versa.’
’What a joke!’
Lu Ming sighed, gave him a helpless look, and didn’t say anything more. In his heart, he didn’t really care that much anyway.
’It was just a joke to begin with, after all.’
As things stood, Lin Chu was definitely a celebrity in their class.
After they entered the auditorium, many classmates quickly came over to greet him, pulling him into a flurry of pleasantries.
Lu Ming decisively slipped away, found a seat with the best view, and activated his "beauty radar," scanning the class for any striking girls.
He scanned the room. Ptooey!
’Barely any interest.’
...
Meanwhile, Lin Chu was exchanging pleasantries with a group of people and met his "leadership team."
The three vice class presidents were Chen Yuanxing, Li Fangfei, and Zhang Xiao.
Chen Yuanxing was 38, tall and well-built. Dressed in a suit and leather shoes, he had the air of an elite professional.
Lin Chu chatted with him for a bit and learned that he had been the board secretary for a listed company in the chemical industry. He had since resigned and was currently unemployed, so he figured he might as well study and recharge.
Zhang Xiao was the director of a local venture capital fund in Peng City, but he had also left his job to study and seek a new career path.
’Although that’s what they said.’
’However, from the looks on their faces, Lin Chu could faintly sense a feeling of discontent. It seemed like a mid-life crisis, or maybe they had even been laid off.’
’Middle-aged men at this age were truly under the most pressure.’
After chatting with some other classmates, Lin Chu was surprised to find that there were quite a few people in similar situations.
Most of them had been high-level executives, or at least mid-level managers. But with the economic situation in the last two years, many companies were cutting salaries, and even more were laying people off.
’Once you reach a certain age, you command a high salary but lack the drive of younger employees. If you don’t have a core competency, you could find yourself in a crisis at any moment.’
’Besides, in the current job market, if someone really had a stable job and was at the top of their game, who would come to study for an MBA?’
Thinking about this...
Lin Chu felt a growing sense of understanding.
’Heh, what was this?’
’A league of disappointed men?’
’At the same time, however, another idea was brewing in Lin Chu’s mind.’
’For him, these were all ready-made candidates, and he would be spending the next two years with them.’
’Providing timely help is always better than just adding to someone’s success.’
’Come on, let me take a good look and see who’s worth cultivating!’
...
After a period of mingling, everyone took their seats.
This year’s MBA program had a total of 60 full-time students and 400 part-time students. Naturally, everyone was invited to the opening ceremony. After all, they were all "customers."
At this moment, the guest speakers on stage were university professors, teachers, invited officials, and renowned entrepreneurs.
The biggest name among them was Li Bin, a famous Peking University alumnus, founder of NIO Automobile, worth tens of billions, and who had been featured on Forbes and CCTV.
Watching him on stage, exuding such high spirits as he spoke, Lin Chu couldn’t help but let his imagination wander.
’It was actually pretty good to attend an event of this caliber.’
’It really made you realize how many people in this world were more badass than you.’
’Although, in his own small circle, he was already badass enough.’
’But he was still a long way from reaching that level of status.’
’And...’
’To reach that level, you definitely couldn’t rely on just eating, drinking, and having fun.’
—’You had to have a lot of employees.’
—’You had to create value for society.’
As he thought about this while listening to the speech, Lin Chu opened his phone and jotted down these two points again.
To be honest, as he wrote this, Lin Chu felt an instinctive annoyance.
A deep annoyance.
’After all, it’s hard.’
’Really hard.’
’But...’
’Did he really not want it?’
"Hooo..."
Lin Chu let out a long breath. ’Two years. I hope I can use these two years to completely sort out this problem.’
’Perhaps this was the greatest value this MBA program held for him.’
’After all, growth is a lifelong journey.’
Even Xiaoluan had sent him a long email this morning. The main theme was self-reflection—reflecting on her attitude, summarizing her thoughts, and promising to control her temper, improve her emotional intelligence, and become a good girl who was loved by all.
’Even she was growing!’
...
...
