Chapter 167: Chapter 97: I’m Not Your Father
Hu Guangyuan stood by, his heart pounding with excitement as he listened.
’Brother Dong’s rhetoric is incredible!’
"Hold on a second..." Chen Yuan said.
"You’re the one begging for money, so how can you be so self-righteous? I’m not your fucking dad. Do I owe you something?"
Passersby turned their heads, staring at Chen Yuan and Li Dongyang.
Li Dongyang froze, never expecting Chen Yuan to say something like that.
"Could you watch your mouth!"
"I’m already watching it. I don’t have 2,000, but how about two bucks? I’ll give it to you for free."
"You!"
Li Dongyang clenched his fists in anger. ’This isn’t how the script was supposed to go at all.’
"You heard it at the meeting. The president asked me to come discuss this with you."
"We never said we wouldn’t discuss it. The result of our discussion is that we don’t agree. Is there a problem?"
Li Dongyang was speechless. Hu Guangyuan stood frozen, not saying a word. As people passed by, he was too embarrassed to even lift his head.
"Let’s go."
Chen Yuan called out, and Jiang Shuyi and He Xiaoxi left with him.
"If you don’t give up the money, I’m going to the president!"
"It won’t work even if you go crying to your daddy."
Chen Yuan ignored him and strode away, leaving Li Dongyang’s pride shattered.
Standing nearby and being stared at by other members of the Student Union, Hu Guangyuan was also starting to feel the humiliation.
"Brother Dong, what do we do now?"
"We’re going to the president!"
"Okay."
...
「Friday arrived in the blink of an eye.」
Chen Yuan was having lunch with Song Jianye.
Chen Yuan was treating because Song Jianye said she couldn’t keep fudging her accounts anymore.
But Song Jianye was very considerate. When it was her turn to treat, she would take them to Cafeteria No. 3 for a good meal. When Chen Yuan was paying, she would choose the cheaper Cafeteria No. 1 or No. 2.
After they finished eating, they had some time to spare. Chen Yuan planned to walk Song Jianye to the gate and wait for Zhou Jianye to pick her up for her driving lesson, then he would head back for his gym class.
They ran into Li Weihao right as they were leaving the cafeteria.
"Xiaochen."
Seeing Li Weihao walking towards them, Chen Yuan went up to him.
"Brother Hao."
Instinctively, Li Weihao’s gaze fell on Song Jianye.
She was one of the top-ranked campus belles, and he often saw people discussing her on the school forums. But after all this time, it was his first time seeing her this up close.
’She’s even prettier in person than in her photos.’
Li Weihao quickly shifted his gaze back to Chen Yuan.
"I heard you and Li Dongyang got into an argument on Wednesday."
"It didn’t quite get to that point. Brother Hao, you’re not here to ask for money on his behalf, are you?"
"No, I just want to understand your situation. If we go ahead with this event, how much can you guys contribute?"
Chen Yuan could tell he was being sounded out, so of course, he couldn’t tell him the truth.
"Maybe just a few hundred yuan. It’s a drop in the bucket, so I don’t think it would make much of a difference. Besides, this event isn’t very interesting anyway," Chen Yuan said.
"If it goes well, everyone’s happy. But if it goes badly, not only will it be a waste of manpower and resources, but our school’s reputation will be ruined, and the Youth League Committee advisors will have something to say about it."
Li Weihao fell silent. What Chen Yuan said was exactly what he had been thinking.
The event was indeed a good idea. If done well, it would bring both fame and fortune; the opposite was also true. After all, coordinating with so many schools, different departments, and various students would be an incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive task.
’But this Chen Yuan has a good head on his shoulders. The fact that he could think of all this shows he sees things more clearly than others.’
"Is it because you’re not optimistic about the event, or because you can’t come up with that much money?"
"I’m not optimistic about it," Chen Yuan said firmly.
"For an event this big, you need a budget of at least 20,000 to start. Trying to get it done with just 5,000 yuan is a joke."
Li Weihao looked at Chen Yuan in surprise. "You can even figure that out?"
"Someone in my family works in publicity. I’ve been hearing about this stuff since I was a kid."
Hearing this, Li Weihao started to see Chen Yuan in a new light. Having family connections like that already put him ahead of ninety percent of the students.
’His way of thinking must have been influenced by his family too.’
As for what Li Weihao was thinking, Chen Yuan understood that as well.
He was leaning towards holding the event. If it succeeded, it would count as one of his accomplishments.
’That son of a bitch Li Dongyang knew the External Relations Department had earned 2,000 yuan, so of course he, as the president, would know too. He definitely wanted the department to cough up all the money.’
But he was more tactful than Li Dongyang, not so brazen about it.
"Senior, have a Coke."
Just as Li Weihao was wondering how to bring it up, Song Jianye came over with two bottles of Coke.
She gave one to Li Weihao and the other to Chen Yuan.
"Thanks."
"You should thank Chen Yuan," Song Jianye said quietly.
Li Weihao was genuinely envious. ’She’s beautiful and so perceptive. How did this kid get so damn lucky?’
Chen Yuan was also a little surprised. He hadn’t expected Song Jianye to take the initiative to buy drinks.
’Kinda nice.’
"Brother Hao, if we really are going to do this event, our External Relations Department definitely can’t come up with that much money. Even if it only requires 5,000, that’s still a lot of pressure on the Student Union. Besides, that’s not how you should go about it anyway."
"Then how should we go about it?" Li Weihao was eager to hear Chen Yuan’s ideas.
Chen Yuan thought for a moment and said:
"We could hold a new media competition. We’d have the classes of the Student Union members be the main participants. They would create accounts on short-video platforms and shoot videos showcasing the school’s unique academic programs. Then, we’d get the Youth League Committee advisor for the Student Union to officially endorse it. We can cook up some gimmick related to new media and AI, call it ’Embracing the New Wave’ or something. The Student Union puts up 3,000 for the budget, we buy the advisor a couple cartons of cigarettes, and then..."