Chapter 152 Situation

s too conservative and unwilling to reform or progress. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been in a position where his unit could barely afford to pay him as he approached retirement."Dad, your mindset is o...Chapter 152: The Situation

Tang Wu seized the opportunity during her holiday to take over operations of Facebook Chinese in the company, handling commercial planning within the internal structure. She quickly got up to speed. This area had a few renowned figures from the industry who were hired away by Facebook Chinese; one of them even knew a relative of Tang Wu's family and was quite incredulous when they first met her.

If you talk about influence, Tang Wu’s parents’ generation isn’t particularly influential in Shanghai. However, Tang Wu’s grandmother, Mu Qian, is someone who rarely appears in the media or gives interviews unless absolutely necessary—she leads a life of seclusion and低調行事。實際上，這也與當前中央黨校的作風有關。

In 2003, Central Party School was still cloaked in an air of mystery. There were rumors that in the arrogant city of Beijing, drivers drove most cautiously at certain places, and the answer was always around the Central Party School area. Regardless of what level or sign a vehicle displayed, it would clearly yield to pedestrians because those pedestrians could potentially be future state councilors.

As China’s most mysterious university, it wasn’t as open to public visits as in later years, and its management of students was not as strict either. Naturally, there were some lingering negative societal trends and unresolved issues carried over from society that weren’t as enlightened or open as they would be later on. However, this didn't diminish its influence within the political sphere at all. Mu Qian’s subordinates might already have a large number of students in high positions who wield significant power. In terms of influence, for those who reach a certain level, the name Mu Qian was already thunderously renowned to them.

When the sound is great, it is rare; at this time, Tang Wu, the young granddaughter studying at Nan University under Mu Qian’s tutelage, actually went to work at Facebook Chinese, an organization founded by students and professors from Nan University. When this information was known by those truly in the know, how astonished they would be.

In their eyes, Tang Wu should be one of those so-called children—especially with Mu Qian’s political career steadily advancing, under her current position, her granddaughter, though not a super-cultivated flower, could still be considered a local belle.

However, this girl, who should have been extraordinary, studied at Nan University like any other student in an ordinary department. Her resume didn’t feature anything particularly eye-catching or shocking to the world; it was always praised by her class teachers and headmasters, naturally becoming class president, study committee member, school excellence award winner, city excellence award recipient, and provincial excellence award winner. There were no major awards that could immediately label her as a "prodigy" or "genius," but she was that kind of girl who stood high above the rest in both class and school yet within reach for everyone during their student years.

Every day at school, they hoped to meet her and look forward to perhaps having a conversation with her next semester or the one after that.

In university too, she should be pursued by many prominent figures in the campus community, eventually graduating towards an even more glorious destination.

But the reality is that even during the time when her grandmother Mu Qian was at the level of a bureau-level official, she had just been born in that small coastal city, Xiahai. Her parents, no longer under the family’s protection, were merely low-ranking civil servants scrambling for their child's milk money.

When she grew up gracefully in that remote southwestern city, Mu Qian became a provincial-level leader, while her mother Mu Xuan, after over a decade of climbing and struggling within government agencies, finally sat firmly at the level of deputy bureau chief. Her father had gone from struggling to make ends meet for survival to becoming an entrepreneur himself.

But she was still the girl who had to take care of herself during her parents' long absences, cooking instant noodles for herself, packing her bags, studying ahead and reviewing lessons. She would then leave home every day from a bus stop by her house to go to school and start a new day of learning in preparation for the college entrance exam so that she could enter a prestigious university in the future. Unlike other children with similar backgrounds who no longer worry about their academic performance or even their life trajectories.

She was still the girl who would occasionally daydream, think about her future, blush at boys, and grow small thoughts while also experiencing some worries.

She had seen her cousin's family living a wealthy life in Shanghai and witnessed the glamorous side of certain people in front of others within their family system. She was aware of the main conflicts between her own parents and grandparents. From conversations with her family members, she understood the risks and life struggles on another level for both her parents and her grandmother.

But none of this affected her quiet life in a small town. It did not affect her as she boarded the bus from one end of the station to go to a school that held countless people's fates.

The only time things changed was on the day before graduating junior high when, in turning around, she met Su Can under the sun wearing a white shirt and looking very thin yet flustered.

"Your Uncle Tang Guozhong is an old classmate and friend of mine. We have a good relationship. A few months ago, we were discussing internet topics together. Nowadays, doing business in isolation won't work either. If you want to learn about commercial operations, Uncle Zhao will definitely help you wholeheartedly. I've been involved in the successful IPO roadshows of several large companies; as for experience, Uncle Zhao isn’t being modest. Otherwise, Mr. Qiao wouldn't have come recruiting."

Zhao Yanbin, who knew Tang Wu through Facebook's Chinese platform, had a good relationship with Tang Wu’s third uncle. When Tang Wu came to Shanghai to study, she had met her family once.

In Tang Zongyuan's generation of the Tang family, there were one or two capable individuals, and Tang Wu's third uncle was one of them. The Tang family went back three generations of ordinary people from around Chengdu. There weren't any major figures in their family until this generation. Originally, it wasn’t different from Mu's family background. If not for the fact that Tang Wu’s third uncle scored high enough to enter university in Guangzhou, he might have stayed near Chengdu. When he was poor during his studies in Guangzhou, he lived off the support of his married father and his aunt until graduating; afterward, he remained in Guangzhou, entered the banking system, and is reportedly now a division-level branch manager at China Merchants Bank – a typical example of a city-dwelling phoenix male who climbed up step by step. Last year, he was transferred to Shanghai where Tang Wu met him along with her family; at that time, his wife gave Tang Wu a red envelope containing 5000 yuan.

However, since graduating from university, Tang Wu's third uncle had hardly returned to Chengdu or visited Tang Wu’s home. There was very little interaction between them, and Mu Xuan described him as having typical snobbish behavior.

In the past when he wanted to fly while attending university, it was around the time that Tang Wu was four years old. Mu Xuan struggled with frugal living expenses but still managed to send 200 yuan to cover some of his costs; however, this amount was far from enough for a plane ticket, so he harbored resentment towards Tang Wu's parents ever since then. This caused everyone at home to know that besides being beautiful and dangerous, the wife of Tang Zongyuan also had a wicked heart. In reality, Tang Wu’s parents' combined salaries in government agencies were only 400 yuan per month, which was barely enough for her tuition fees.

After graduating from university, Tang Wu's third uncle basically didn’t step into Tang Wu’s home except for occasional phone calls to know the basic situation. In fact, Tang Wu's family had less contact with relatives on her father's side compared to Mu Xuan's side. Over all these years, although Tang Guozhong knew that Mu Xuan was a child of an official, he hardly had any relationship with him or his family. Aside from this, he didn’t know anything about Tang Wu’s home situation. He thought that both Tang Zongyuan and Mu Xuan were still struggling in government agencies, which would be much lower than his current status and position in Guangzhou and Shanghai.

Only last year when he learned that Tang Wu was studying at Nanjing University did he gradually come to know the situation of her brother Tang Zongyuan's family. Her aunt Mu Xuan had already become a division-level official in Chengdu’s judicial system. Currently, Tang Zongyuan was doing real estate business across three regions, and their household could be considered wealthy. Only then did his attitude change immediately and he gave Tang Wu the red envelope.

It's not about seeking help from the Tang Wu family in the future; rather, it’s purely because my perception has changed dramatically since I used to think they were from a different world and looked down upon them.

At that time, Su Cen joked with Tang Wu when counting the five thousand yuan inside her red envelope, but she shot him a glare and said, "I don't like this third uncle of mine."

It turned out that the deputy director in charge of business operations at Facebook China was actually my third uncle's classmate. Zhao Yanbin had quite an impressive reputation within the industry; he worked for IBM for twelve years before retiring as a vice president overseeing planning and maintenance for Greater China. He was very skilled in commercial operations and had accumulated substantial popularity and influence in the industry. It’s no surprise that Facebook China would recruit such a person, given its own vast potential.

Tang Wu didn't visit the company much before this, but when Nan University's summer break started and she hadn't rushed home yet, Zhao Yanbin took the initiative to bring up their relationship. From his perspective, Tang Wu was extremely aloof; they had only met once for a meal together, and unless he made an effort to befriend her, she would never initiate any kind of closeness.

Zhao Yanbin's experiences were indeed valuable and useful to Tang Wu, so she naturally wouldn't reject him. She conversed with Zhao Yanbin out of gratitude.

Finally, Zhao Yanbin tentatively asked, "The chairman of the board at our company seems quite interested in you—is he your boyfriend"

Tang Wu was taken aback; she had no intention of making their relationship public within the company. She didn't want others to think that there were special favors due to her unique connection with Su Cen, and instead wanted to earn recognition through her abilities alone. The reason why so many people with significant potential entered the company because of Su Cen was something Tang Wu had never anticipated in her previous career plans. She now hoped to experience the feeling of creating history at Facebook China; it felt as if she were walking in his footsteps.

But when Zhao Yanbin's expectant eyes looked back at her, she nodded slightly with a bitter smile.

Zhao Yanbin finally understood why the seemingly enviable Tang family daughter would work for Facebook China during the summer break. He repeatedly said "oh" and nodded enthusiastically, his expression seemingly enlightened but also deeply understanding something significant. Then he added, “Greylock, Axel, and other companies have just invested six million three hundred thousand dollars in Facebook, gaining about ten percent equity. We expect to receive two million dollars from American Facebook, which makes us a billion-dollar enterprise considering we recently surpassed one million registered users on the Chinese mainland. This kind of development can no longer be described as rapid—Mr. Chairman Su Cen has excellent foresight.” His words were loaded with double meanings.

Tang Wu smiled brilliantly in response to Zhao Yanbin's lingering remarks, thinking that through him, she might finally put a stop to her third uncle Tang Guozhong’s daily attempts to introduce eligible bachelors around her and use it as an opportunity to open doors for himself.

Zuckerberg had a speaking engagement at Cambridge University towards the end of the month. After completing his schedule in Shanghai on the twenty-second, he headed to Pudong International Airport.

Since there were no direct flights from Jiaxing Town to London, he would first fly to浦東 (Pudong) and then transfer to another flight or transportation to reach London. Su Cen, Tang Wu, Qiao Shuxin, Yu, and others went to the airport to see him off. Zuckerberg carried his luggage while his Harvard roommate and Facebook's vice president of operations, Moskowitz, was reviewing tickets and travel documents. The accompanying group bid farewell one after another to the higher-ups at Facebook.

The checkpoint time had arrived, and Zack turned to leave but paused, turning around to walk back towards Su Can and standing in front of him. Su Can was half a head taller than him; his slightly curly hair and freckled face gazed intently at Su Can before looking over at Tang Wu beside him. A complex look passed through his eyes as he said, "I have often thought about whether I would be willing to swap my current position and identity with you if given the chance. Later, I realized that the answer is definitely yes. Although I can write code that brings thousands of people from all over the world together, I cannot find someone like you among these people."

Tang Wu smiled at Su Can and said, "Who says people who study engineering are rigid Zack is clearly more romantic than someone else."

Su Can rubbed his nose and corrected her, saying, "He’s actually a psychology major with minors in classical literature and theology."

Zack smiled then patted Su Can on the shoulder. He said, "What I want to say is that I can handle all of this. Although things may look bad right now, there will come a day when I must do these things because Facebook will grow into an enormous company, bigger than you could imagine. I need to become someone who can control such a behemoth; I am not satisfied with what has been achieved so far and am focused on the tasks that remain unfinished. Most people set milestones for their careers and take breaks after reaching them to celebrate, gaining a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. But for me, these things do not exist."

Su Can wanted to tell him that broadcasting private news could cause major trouble and was wrong, and he also wanted to help dismiss Doug, the vice president who was abusing his power in America, and adjust internal personnel clashes. However, Su Can still had to admit that there was some truth to what Zack said; they both needed to become people capable of managing a vast commercial empire, but this couldn't happen by forcing it.

He could not directly tell Zack what was right or wrong and how things should be done.

Because he wouldn’t always be there to guide him.

Hence, Zack, now the CEO of a company worth six hundred million dollars, faced Shanghai's chilling wind, which concealed an ever-changing situation. He then boarded the flight bound for London.

In early February, with Spring Festival approaching, Su Can and Tang Wu returned to Rongcheng. At this point, Su Li Cheng had already passed through the vice-mayor appointment by the Phoenix City Standing Committee and taken up his post in Phoenix City ahead of them.

Ceng Ke was waiting for Su Can’s return in Rongcheng so they could head to Phoenix City together.

During this period, however, a far-fetched piece of news came in, complicating the already intricate situation before Su Can even more.g that someone was in a hurry and approaching. The two individuals wielding sticks immediately became alert and looked towards the entrance of the alley with suspicion.Su Cen suddenly darted out and s...