Chapter 157: The Vice President's Olive Branch (4/4)

Su Mu completely failed to grasp the deeper meaning hidden in Lily’s words.

Over the past few years, his business ventures had been smooth sailing. While he had encountered minor problems, none were serious, stemming mostly from peer competition.

The pack of wolves represented by Wall Street looked down on the companies Su Mu had founded. Those who harbored jealousy lacked the strength to deal with him, and let alone the Vice President, he didn't even know the Governor of California.

Though his financial power had risen, his network of connections remained the same. He kept to himself while developing these companies, rarely attending various social gatherings. Su Mu had no desire to go, and likewise, no one invited him.

It wasn't until the second half of last year that the media and businessmen gradually began to pay attention to Su Mu, with his appearance in The Wall Street Journal being the best proof of this.

Because founding a computer brand violated terms with IBM, Penguin and Spider developed independently in the Silicon Valley region. Meanwhile, Go-Shopping Supermarkets, eyed hungrily by a group of retail chain giants, had slowed its expansion to deliberately avoid competing directly with large enterprises. Yet, the domestic American market was only so large, and disputes still inevitably arose.

As the domestic American market shrank, a group of retail chain enterprises, including Su Mu, were now trying to explore overseas markets. Among them, Walmart moved the fastest, while Europe's Carrefour was expanding into the US. As for Go-Shopping... its plans remained on paper.

Lily was on the verge of being driven crazy by Su Mu’s thick skull. She had spelled things out quite clearly, yet the guy in front of her still hadn't caught on, clearly basking in the sarcastic implication of his "good luck" and even feeling pleased with himself.

If it were anyone else, she wouldn't have bothered saying so much. But Lily held a fond impression of Su Mu, whom she had known since childhood. She believed he must have endured a lot of hardships and bullying to rise from an ordinary person to where he was today...

Were there really no Black people who had struck it rich in America over the centuries?

That wasn't the case. Even if clever Black people accumulated wealth to a certain level, it would eventually be carved up by others. In American society, the social standing of Chinese people was even lower than that of Black people.

Lily could already foresee the fate of Su Mu's companies if they were targeted by truly powerful capital tycoons.

Not wanting her old classmate to blindly stumble into trouble, Lily ultimately couldn't help herself and told him, "Do you know about An Wang, the one who contracted a terminal illness and forcibly handed his company over to his son?"

"I know."

Mentioning him made Su Mu think of the six thousand-odd dollars his grandson had tossed out of a car window; how could he possibly forget?

"Then do you know that his company lost over two hundred million dollars in the past two quarters?"

Lily tried to explain the principle to Su Mu as bluntly as possible: "If Mr. Wang were Jewish, his Jewish friends would help him. If Mr. Wang were a white person like me, his white friends would help him, and the company would never have fallen into its current plight. What I'm trying to say is that you are Chinese, and you lack sufficient support. There are not many successful Chinese people in American business and politics, which is why you must work harder to manage your own connections. With your intelligence, can you really not understand how much help knowing a president can bring you?"

Su Mu wasn't stupid; he understood instantly.

After a brief moment of reflection, he realized that if he ran into trouble, the people capable of helping him were indeed few and far between. He should thank his lucky stars if they didn't kick him while he was down.

Go-Shopping Supermarkets had Phil Helberg and Mr. Senna helping to manage it, and Penguin Computers had the shrewd Blake to run it. He possessed vast wealth, yet lacked sufficient strength to protect himself.

It was fine as long as nothing went wrong now, but the moment trouble struck, he would become the second Wang Computer Company, plunged into a tragically isolated state. This fortune was so immense that even Su Mu felt like a juicy piece of meat, already enough to tempt many people.

Su Mu was not the kind of person unaccustomed to taking advice from others. He said, "I understand, thank you. Do you think Vice President Bush is guaranteed to win?"

"Who knows? Among all the candidates, his prospects are the greatest. Several major voting blocs, including Texas and California, are supporting him wholeheartedly, and President Reagan is also rallying votes for Mr. Bush. I see no possibility of him losing. Besides, he is my godfather, so naturally, I have to help him secure campaign funds."

Stopping slightly, Su Mu continued walking shoulder to shoulder with Lily and joked, "You hide things really well. How did a rich kid like you end up studying at Castelar? It looks like I have no choice but to sponsor his campaign funds—not to curry favor with your godfather, but just making you happy should solve all my troubles."

Lily laughed happily. "Then you'll have to work harder. I'm serious; you must make yourself look stronger. Poor people in the slums dare to kill for twenty dollars, let alone hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth."

"However, you don't need to worry too-too much. I'll tell you in advance: my godfather's itinerary this time includes the intention of meeting you. Congratulations, you are no longer completely weak. You have fantastic resources, like the crowd of users who use email, and you are also Chinese. I know they traditionally dislike voting for presidents and pay zero attention to politics. He hopes to gain support through you."

She didn't mention why she went to study at Castelar, and Su Mu tactfully refrained from pursuing the question. With a brilliant smile, he replied:

"It's a true honor. It's not that Chinese people dislike voting; it's that you guys used the wrong approach. Empty benefits promised in words are useless; we Chinese prefer tangible, practical benefits—the kind you can actually see. Perhaps I can help, but Spider Company cannot get involved. The vast majority of current email users belong to the upper strata of society and dislike having their minds manipulated. I'd be cursed out."

"Lyon, you really didn't waste your time studying psychology..."

Su Mu smiled.

He had never mentioned what his major was, yet Lily knew.

He guessed that the Vice President's campaign team had most likely investigated him. It was said they even researched what color ties and what style of shoes to wear, so it was only natural that he had been investigated if they wanted to use him to rally votes from the Chinese community.

On the other hand, regarding Miss Lily, Su Mu couldn't guess whether today was a chance encounter or a deliberate move to talk to him about this matter. She had always been a very smart girl, and extremely serious—Su Mu had known that since middle school.

In his heart, he hoped it was just a chance encounter. If he was being used, he would feel disappointed, to a greater or lesser degree.

The reason for his disappointment mainly stemmed from not wanting Miss Lily, who had once accompanied him to seek justice for old Mrs. Lin, to turn into one of those politicians. That word had long since become derogatory, and nobody liked a girl with too much scheming in her heart.

Many male students were attracted by Lily's pretty appearance, making Su Mu the minority. The vast majority of people who saw her walking alongside Su Mu subconsciously assumed Lily was a very snobbish girl.

This was similarly a prejudice against Chinese people. Yale's white students would feel proud of their white peers' achievements, yet they would never feel proud of Su Mu's success; they merely regarded him as a rather impressive alumnus, and nothing more.

At that moment, pointing at a building, he said to Lily, "The coffee over there is quite good. You can go try it. How have you been lately? I haven't been back to Castelar in a long time..."