When Li Mu, accompanied by Lawrence and other Harvard leaders, visited the century-old Harvard campus, Li Mu's assistant, Li Ziwei, was very busy.
At this time, the news of Li Mu's angry confrontation with the Yahoo reporter had been spreading on the Internet in the United States, which won Li Mu unprecedented support. The staff of Silicon Valley immediately fed the public opinion on the Internet to Li Ziwei.
As Li Mu's personal assistant, Li Ziwei immediately recorded the feedback from the company's staff and waited for the right time to report to Li Mu.
However, Li Mu really didn't have any free time at all. Lawrence was enthusiastically introducing every brick and tile of the Harvard campus to him along the way. The media reporters followed him all the way, and the fanatical students also followed him all the way. Everywhere they went, they would attract a large group of students to watch. Therefore, the scene was very big, and it was constantly expanding.
After two hours of visiting, it was finally dinner time, and Li Mu finally relaxed.
Harvard arranged for a dinner party to be held for Li Mu and his entourage in the school's banquet hall. Next to the banquet hall was Harvard's cafeteria, which was very similar to the Hogwarts restaurant in Harry Potter. Fortunately, because the banquet hall had to entertain Li Mu, it was temporarily not open to students and other staff, which finally gave Li Mu a relatively quiet space.
Before dinner, more Harvard leaders that Li Mu had never seen before came. Lawrence personally introduced them to Li Mu one by one, and said to Li Mu, "Harvard also has a Chinese vice president, who specializes in capital planning and project management. He was originally on a business trip in Washington, but when he heard that you were coming, he specially came back today. He should be arriving soon."
Li Mu didn't expect Harvard to have a Chinese vice president. The female Chinese official who had been accompanying him before was said to be a legal consultant of Harvard, but her position wasn't very high.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged Chinese man in his forties stepped into the banquet hall. As soon as Lawrence saw him, he hurriedly greeted him, "Hey, Andy, come here!"
The Chinese man called Andy nodded to Lawrence with a smile and strode to Lawrence. Lawrence hurriedly introduced him to Li Mu, "Li Mu, this is the Chinese vice president I mentioned. His English name is Andy, and his Chinese name is … sorry, I'll let Andy introduce you himself. I really don't know his Chinese name."
The middle-aged Chinese man extended his hand to Li Mu warmly and said to Li Mu in very standard Mandarin, "Hello, Li Mu, I've long heard of your name. My name is Xie Huairu, Ru from Confucianism."
Li Mu carefully sized up Xie Huairu. Although he was certain that this was the first time he had met him, there was an indescribable familiarity to him. However, he just couldn't put his finger on why.
Xie Huairu's figure was thin. Although he was a bit old, he still had the delicate features of a scholar, and his smile was very amiable. At a glance, he looked like a rather elegant person. Li Mu shook his hand and said politely, "Mr. Xie's Mandarin is very standard. You must have stayed in the country before?"
Many of the Chinese Americans under the age of fifty were born in America. Their parents had come to America from Hua Xia during the war-torn years, and they'd probably never set foot on Hua Xia soil. Generally speaking, it was very difficult for those who hadn't lived in Hua Xia to speak such standard Mandarin.
This was because most of these Chinese Americans had a strong Guangdong and Min accent, which was closely related to their parents' generation. Most of the people from Hua Xia who had come to America decades ago were from the southeast coast. When they came, Hua Xia didn't have any concept of Mandarin yet, so they came to America with their native accents. This accent was naturally passed on to their children. Xie Huairu's accent was completely that of a Central TV anchor. Li Mu couldn't even tell which province's accent was in his Mandarin.
Xie Huairu also knew that his standard Mandarin was a bit exposed, so he smiled and said to Li Mu, "I immigrated to America more than ten years ago, and I've lived in the country for the past twenty years."
Li Mu gently nodded and smiled. "No wonder your Mandarin is so standard."
Li Mu didn't show any special expression on his face, but he was very shocked inside. Xie Huairu, a Chinese American who had just immigrated to America more than ten years ago, was actually able to reach the position of Harvard's vice president. Furthermore, he was in charge of capital planning and project management. It was really a bit surprising.
Although Li Mu didn't know much about Harvard's organizational structure, he could infer from the work that Xie Huairu was in charge of. Among the vice presidents, the power in his hands was probably second only to the executive vice president. It was really amazing to have such achievements in a dozen years.
Xie Huairu smiled and asked Li Mu, "What's your impression of Harvard?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Very good. After all, it's a world-class academic palace. An ignorant and incompetent student like me can only worship and look up to it."
Xie Huairu laughed and said, "It's true that Harvard is a world-class academic palace, but you're also the target of envy for all the major academic palaces in the world. Everyone hopes that their campus can have a legendary student like you. When the latest global university rankings are released at the end of the year, the National People's Congress's ranking will at least rise by dozens or hundreds because of you. This is secondary, the key is that the popularity of Harvard has increased too much. Now, from the leaders of Harvard to the faculty and students, who doesn't know about the People's University?"
Li Mu was particularly surprised by Xie Huairu's words. He didn't expect that because of him, his alma mater, the National People's Congress, would become more famous in the world. Li Mu suddenly remembered that Su Yingxue had mentioned Harvard's National People's Congress exchange program to him some time ago. He couldn't help but ask, "Did Harvard take the initiative to cooperate with the National People's Congress on an exchange program because of this?"
Xie Huairu nodded and said with a smile, "It's mostly because of you. At that time, Harvard hadn't contacted you yet. The school wanted to see the difference between the students of the National People's Congress through the exchange program."
Only then did Li Mu figure out about the exchange program. Originally, he didn't understand why the world's top university would take the initiative to cooperate with the National People's Congress on an exchange program. Xie Huairu's explanation made a lot more sense.
As they were talking, the dinner party was about to begin. President Lawrence invited Li Mu and the others to sit on both sides of a long table that was at least ten meters long. Lawrence sat in the center, and the first seat on the right was the seat he reserved for Li Mu. It showed how much importance he and Harvard attached to Li Mu.
Before Li Mu took his seat, he was still looking around. He had told the school staff to arrange for Mark Zuckerberg to attend the dinner party, but he hadn't seen him yet.
As he was thinking, the Chinese female official came in from the side door with a nervous Mark Zuckerberg. Li Mu immediately saw Mark Zuckerberg, who had changed into a suit. He hurriedly waved at him and greeted him enthusiastically, "Hey, Mark, here, sit next to me."
Lawrence was quite happy to see that Li Mu was so attentive to an ordinary Harvard student like Mark Zuckerberg. He could also see that Li Mu didn't have much in common with himself and the other Harvard staff. After half a day, they basically only talked to each other out of courtesy. He only chatted with Xie Huairu for a while, but that should also be because Xie Huairu was Chinese. In addition, the young Mark Zuckerberg that Li Mu treated with the most enthusiasm was.
In Lawrence's view, Li Mu seemed to be quite congenial with Mark Zuckerberg. It seemed that they already had a personal relationship. In this way, if Harvard needed to have any interaction with Li Mu in the future, they would have a direct link to contact Li Mu.
In fact, Lawrence's background was quite extraordinary. Before taking charge of Harvard, he was once the Vice President of the World Bank and the Treasury Secretary of the United States. He was a big shot who was extremely proficient in economics. With his background, no well-known entrepreneur could make him pay so much attention, except for Li Mu.
It was also because he knew too much about economics that Lawrence admired Li Mu very much. He had studied many of Li Mu's business initiatives and was amazed by Li Mu, especially Li Mu's 3321. In his eyes, it was simply a genius new business model. At this time, Lawrence had not heard of the sharing economy, let alone the O2O model, but this did not hinder his admiration for 3321.
Lawrence had always had an idea. He hoped to introduce 3321 to Harvard, and even to all the universities in America. This time, the founder of 3321 was here, and he was prepared to bring up this idea at the banquet. If he could let Li Mu directly create an American version of 3321, that would be the best. If Li Mu was not willing, it did not matter. He would strive for him to give the authorization, and let Harvard be responsible for building an American version of 3321.
At this time, Li Mu had just called Mark Zuckerberg to his side and briefly introduced him to the Harvard leaders present. Mark Zuckerberg was extremely nervous. The core leaders of Harvard University were finally gathered in this banquet hall today. He was just an ordinary student, and under this kind of situation, the pressure was really not ordinary.
Seeing Mark Zuckerberg's nervous expression, Li Mu whispered to him, "Mark, be more confident. If you can't even handle this kind of situation, how will you walk to the peak of your life in the future?"
Mark Zuckerberg looked at Li Mu gratefully, feeling wronged in his heart. This kind of situation today is already the peak of my life. I am at the peak of my life, how can I not be nervous?
However, because of Li Mu's comfort, Mark Zuckerberg's mentality slightly eased. After sitting next to Li Mu, Lawrence called for the waiter to serve the dishes.
The waiter brought all kinds of American food to the table. After Lawrence said a few words of invitation, he announced the start of the dinner. The atmosphere was especially harmonious, and even Mark Zuckerberg gradually relaxed.
Lawrence took the initiative to clink glasses with Li Mu. After taking a sip of red wine, he told Li Mu what he was thinking, "Li Mu, I am especially interested in your 3321. This is really the most thoughtful and most meaningful new business model I have seen in the past few years. I have an idea, and I hope to invite you to open an American version of 3321. I wonder if you are interested?"
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