It was nine in the evening.
Li Chenghao arrived at the school and immediately headed for the dormitory building where Gao Fei lived.
As soon as he got out of the car, Professor Liao Kexun, the deputy head of the research and development group, also arrived.
"Old Li!"
"Are all those students assembled?"
"They are!"
Liao Kexun replied, then looked at the male dormitory building ahead and asked curiously, "You're gathering a group of students for a meeting in the middle of the night, not going to the lab first, and you suddenly came to the dorm? What exactly happened in the lab?"
"Let's talk as we walk!"
Li Chenghao waved his hand and strode towards the dormitory building.
Liao Kexun, walking beside him, said no more and quickened his pace to catch up.
Just as he was wondering if Old Li had suddenly called a meeting because of some new order from above, the answer he received sent a chill down his spine.
"Gao Fei really quit?"
Liao Kexun, having grasped the general course of events, was stunned and asked in disbelief.
"The report has already been placed on Old Xu's desk, do you think I'm joking?"
Li Chenghao sighed inwardly and continued irritably, "I told you back then not to bring students into the group, but you insisted that these students needed to broaden their horizons and contribute their meager efforts to the country.
And now, look. Their horizons haven't broadened, nor have they contributed. Not only have they formed cliques behind our backs, but they've also directly driven Little Gao away!"
Hearing the dean's angry voice, Liao Kexun dared not provoke him and silently accepted the reprimand.
The students might not have seen Gao Fei's contribution to the research and development project, but as the deputy head, he was well aware of Gao Fei's importance to the R&D group.
Simply put, one Gao Fei could be used as a team.
When faced with various programming challenges, Gao Fei could solve them individually in a short period.
Moreover, the main system was written according to the system template provided by Gao Fei. As long as he was present, he could promptly fix any loopholes or problems that arose in the system.
Liao Kexun never expected that a group of students would collude to ostracize Gao Fei, let alone push him away.
The research and development group's most valuable asset had been driven to voluntarily withdraw by ignorant students.
It was no wonder Old Li was making such a fuss, his phone calls filled with veiled barbs and simmering anger.
On the fifth floor, in front of room 512.
Li Chenghao took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his face, and said in a low voice, "Later, I'll play the tough cop, and you play the soft cop. We have to keep Little Gao here, no matter what. And we should keep a few of those students too; some of them have decent abilities."
"Alright, don't worry, we're old partners!"
As he spoke, Liao Kexun stepped forward and knocked on the dormitory door.
However, after several knocks, the door remained tightly shut, and there was no response from inside.
The knocking soon drew the attention of students from other rooms.
A student from the adjacent room poked his head out and, seeing the dean, Li, and Professor Liao from their faculty, said, "Dean, Professor, Gao Fei and the others left this afternoon; they're not in the room."
"Do you know where they went?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems they won't be back tonight. Old Gao is apparently treating them to an outing."
Liao Kexun thanked the student, and after he retreated back into his room, he looked at the dean who had personally come to invite them and said, "Why don't you give Little Gao a call?"
Li Chenghao nodded, took out his phone, and dialed Gao Fei.
Ring, ring, ring!
The phone rang with a busy tone.
However, after two calls, there was no answer.
The last call was directly hung up. When he tried again, the phone was already turned off.
Li Chenghao put down his phone and smiled helplessly, "Well, looks like our comrade Gao has turned off his phone and is ignoring us. Alright, let's go back to the lab for the meeting!"
Liao Kexun sighed inwardly and followed the dean away.
...
Off the coast of Kyoto, a luxury yacht floated on the dark sea.
The next moment, the yacht's lights flickered, illuminating the night.
The pulsating, energetic DJ music broke the silence of the sea.
On the yacht.
A group of young men and women swayed to the beat of the music.
Five men, shirtless and wearing beach shorts, were surrounded by a group of young, beautiful women in bikinis.
Fueled by alcohol and music, the hormones on the yacht surged.
As one song ended, two of the men sat down on a sofa to talk.
The other three men continued to mingle with the ladies in the crowd.
"Little Gao, Feihe Entertainment is now your company. What's the next step?"
"Hank is highly likely to arrive in China next month. If the deal goes through, the movie might start filming immediately.
If you, Old Wang, want to get involved, we can talk about profit sharing!"
"Forget it. Last time I filmed a movie, it caused the stock price of Wang Corporation to fluctuate, and my old man almost killed me with a knife.
However, if your movie is promoted on our Vanke cinema chain, we can discuss movie scheduling, profit sharing, and other matters."
The two men talking on the sofa were Wang He and Gao Fei.
Mentioning cinema chains and profit sharing, they shared a knowing smile and didn't delve further; these were industry secrets.
As for the other three men, they were Zhang Cheng, Li Shuishui, and Xu Mingyang from their dormitory.
After a brief discussion about the film company, Wang He brought up the cosmetics factory.
He took a deep drag from his cigarette and said, "By the way, Little Gao, your cosmetics factory has been operational for almost a month. Why has there been no news?
Are you planning to export or not do domestic business anymore?"
"The overseas market is still a long way off. Currently, the cosmetics factory's operations are solely domestic."
"If it's domestic business, given your style, there must be some activity. Are you planning to make a fortune in silence?"
Gao Fei took a sip of his drink and said with a wry smile, "My reputation is still on thin ice. Any slight stir, and the public opinion that we've finally managed to suppress will surely resurface.
If I were to promote the factory's cosmetics now, even if I didn't cooperate with others and just opened a direct sales store, people might break the glass at night.
So, the cosmetics factory's business can wait. I'm not short of money anyway."
Wang He cast a meaningful glance at Gao Fei.
He had heard from Jin Qiqi about Yu Min's actions before her arrest, hiring people to spread rumors. This matter had indeed had a significant impact.
But knowing Gao Fei,
this kid would never just sit back and let himself be branded as a gangster.
"Tell me honestly, do you have a way to resolve the impact of the rumor-mongering?"
After a moment of thought, Wang He couldn't help but ask.
Gao Fei subtly shook his head and sighed, "What way can I have to solve it? Even trying to use some connections to suppress public opinion would lead to endless suspicion and severe criticism from netizens.
The solution is to let time dilute everything."
Looking at his seemingly detached demeanor, Wang He couldn't help but shake his head, "No, you're not confronting it, and it's very suspicious. You must be plotting something."
Just as the two were probing each other regarding the public opinion storm,
the music on the yacht stopped, and Li Shuishui, Xu Mingyang, and Zhang Cheng, along with the ladies who had been dancing earlier, walked over laughing.
Their probing was immediately interrupted.
An hour later, the yacht docked.
The ladies in bikinis, draped in jackets, disembarked and boarded the waiting private cars.
Of the four brothers from the dormitory, apart from Gao Fei and Xu Mingyang, who had a girlfriend, Li Shuishui and Zhang Cheng each had a young lady with an arm around them as they boarded the vehicles arranged by Wang He.
Tonight, the two were preparing to transition from boys to men.
Now that they were off the ship, Wang He no longer mentioned the rumor incident. However, as he was leaving, he suddenly said, "Little Gao, I'll be joining the Wang Corporation next month, primarily in charge of the commercial plaza business.
I don't know what solution you have for this uproar, but if your cosmetics factory wants to open direct sales stores, I'll reserve prime locations for you in Vanke commercial plazas across the country. We can discuss prices and other details."
"Then I'll thank you in advance, Brother Wang!"
"Looking forward to your good news!"
Gao Fei knew that Wang He was testing whether he had a way to resolve the ongoing rumors online.
His choice to remain silent was due to the promise of prime locations in malls nationwide offered by Young Master Wang.
Why had the products from the cosmetics factory been delayed?
Besides the impact of the gangster rumors,
another reason was that he didn't want to find partners for the cosmetics but rather to do direct sales himself.
As long as he could thoroughly resolve the online public opinion, when the cosmetics were launched, cutting out intermediaries and operating as direct sales stores would yield substantial profits.
Watching Wang He's car gradually drive away, Gao Fei then took Xu Mingyang and left.
...
Two hours later, at the east gate of Jingda University.
Gao Fei's car, with its hazard lights flashing, was parked by the roadside.
Inside the car, only he and Guo Yue, in the driver's seat, remained.
Xu Mingyang had gotten out halfway, to meet his senior student girlfriend with whom he was interning.
After about six or seven minutes, a figure emerged from the east gate and walked towards the car's location.
The person was Liao Chang, the operations and technical director of the Hive Station system.
As soon as he reached the car, Gao Fei rolled down the window, took out a password-protected USB drive from his bag, and handed it over. "Senior Liao, please deliver this to the Dean for me tomorrow.
Also, please convey to the Dean that I will return for the final exams at the end of the semester, but I might be busy clearing my name from the public opinion storm recently and cannot return to school for now!"
"Okay!"
Liao Chang said no more, nodded, accepted the password-protected USB drive, asked for the password, and turned back towards the campus.
As the driver, Guo Yue, saw his boss roll up the window, he wisely started the car and left.
On the way back to the investment company.
As soon as Gao Fei opened his phone, multiple missed call notifications and messages from Dean Li and others popped up on the screen.
He only gave them a cursory glance before pressing the power button to turn the phone off.
Whoosh!
As the car window opened, a blast of hot air rushed in.
"Old Guo, give me a cigarette!"
Guo Yue was startled, then quickly handed over the cigarette pack and lighter.
Gao Fei lit the cigarette, took a deep drag, and glancing at the surprised Old Guo, said, "Old Guo, you put in a lot of effort regarding Yu Min's case. The matter is over now. Have you thought about what industry you want to get into?"
"I'm not sure yet, but driving for you is fine too!"
"Anyone can do the job of a driver. Besides, I've already promised Qing Ge that I'll help you make a name for yourself in Kyoto."
Upon mentioning Hu Qing, Guo Yue fell silent.
Gao Fei exhaled a puff of smoke and continued, "I recently allocated another hundred million yuan to the investment company. There aren't many investment projects at the moment, so you should take advantage of this ample funding to think about what industry you want to pursue."
After a moment of hesitation, Guo Yue finally spoke, "Actually, boss, I've already thought about what project to undertake.
Yu Min's 'Heaven on Earth' is being prepared for auction, isn't it? I want to take over that place."
Hearing that he wanted to take over Yu Min's 'Heaven on Earth', Gao Fei couldn't help but frown.
"Take it over to continue running it as a nightclub?"
"Yes! I've even thought of a name for it: Buckingham Palace!"