Chapter 122: Pretending Backfires

Despite his reluctance, Li Dong eventually gave his room number. The group chatted a bit more, with Lin Yang constantly complaining about how unfair it was that they stayed in five-star hotels while he had to return to a poor neighborhood.

Hu Yue, apparently fed up, finally snapped, "VERSACE! Do you think I'm ignorant? Pretending backfires, don't you know that?"

Lin Yang was baffled. What did that mean? Throwing English at him as if he weren't just a primary school graduate?

Just as he was about to ask for clarification, Hu Yue's phone rang. After a brief conversation, she hurriedly said, "We'll talk later, my boss is here. I have to go meet her!"

As Hu Yue rushed off, Lin Yang scratched his head and asked, "Li Dong, what did Hu Yue mean with that English phrase?"

Li Dong forced a laugh and dodged, "She said you're handsome, so don't act pretentious."

"Really?"

Lin Yang was full of doubt, sensing something was off but unable to pinpoint what it was. 

Worried that Hu Yue might expose the truth later, Li Dong quickly dragged Lin Yang upstairs.

In the room, Zhou Haidong and Zheng Long were watching TV. When they saw Li Dong enter, they quickly stood up, but he motioned for them to sit down.

Lin Yang's clothes had been washed and dried, and after changing back into his own, he said, "Old classmate, it's getting late. I'll head out now."

"Alright, let's keep in touch."

Li Dong kept it brief. Although he wanted to help Lin Yang, there wasn't much he could do if Lin Yang insisted on staying in Beijing.

Anyway, according to history, Lin Yang would likely return to Pingchuan this year or next, and Li Dong could help him out then.

This was the first real friend Li Dong had encountered since his rebirth, and he didn't want him to suffer too much.

…

When Lin Yang went downstairs, he ran into Hu Yue again. But this time, she wasn't alone; she was accompanied by a mature woman in her thirties.

Seeing Lin Yang, Hu Yue whispered something to the mature woman, who then nodded slightly and walked away.

As her boss left, Hu Yue sighed in relief. Looking at Lin Yang, she irritably said, "You're something else. I call you out for pretending, and you go and change your clothes. Do you think I won't recognize you just because you're in different clothes?"

Lin Yang had a big question mark over his head. What did that mean? While it was in plain language, why couldn't he understand it when put together?

Seeing Lin Yang's confused expression, Hu Yue fumed, "Lin Yang, are you looking down on me? No one's asking you for favors, so why change your clothes?"

Lin Yang finally understood!

So it was all because of the clothes. Lin Yang wasn't stupid, and he immediately realized that Li Dong had definitely tricked him earlier.

Seeing that Hu Yue seemed genuinely upset, Lin Yang hurriedly explained, "The clothes weren't mine. This set is mine. The ones I wore earlier were borrowed from Li Dong. Is there something wrong with that?"

"And what did you say that 'V' thing meant?"

Hu Yue scrutinized him, sensing that Lin Yang wasn't lying. Though puzzled, she didn't press further and instead explained, "Versace, you know?"

"Versace!"

Lin Yang wasn't an idiot; he knew the brand. After a long pause, he finally said, "Could it be fake?"

Hu Yue was puzzled by his reaction but responded with a hint of irritation, "No way it's fake. I may not have money to buy it, but I've seen plenty of it."

"Can I ask, roughly how much would it cost?"

"Not sure, but maybe around twenty thousand," Hu Yue replied casually.

Lin Yang looked miserable, full of regret and frustration.

"What's wrong?"

"I remember spilling some wine on it during dinner."

"It's okay, you can just dry clean it."

"And then I spilled some oil on it while eating barbecue."

Hu Yue's face twitched. Really? Wearing that to eat barbecue?

Before she could respond, Lin Yang continued in utter despair, "And then I accidentally scratched it on the table. Li Dong said it was fine since it was old clothes."

There was one more thing he didn't mention. He had planned to take the clothes back to wash them and return them, but Li Dong said that since they were old and had a tear, he just threw them in the trash!

Hu Yue couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.

Lin Yang glared at her, asking for advice, "Hu Yue, what should I do? Should I pretend not to know or buy a new set for Li Dong?"

"Do you have the money?" Hu Yue teased.

Lin Yang gave her a wounded look. Everyone knows not to ask hard questions! If he had the money, would he be in such agony? If he had the money, he'd buy a new set for Li Dong without hesitation. He was only this torn because he was broke!

But Hu Yue didn't press the issue and instead asked curiously, "Lin Yang, is Li Dong really our classmate?"

"What do you mean?" Lin Yang was confused again.

Hu Yue scolded him, "Lin Yang, have you gotten dumber? I remember you being pretty smart in middle school, but now you're getting stupider!"

Lin Yang looked wronged. How did he get stupid?

Ignoring him, Hu Yue continued, "Back in middle school, we didn't have any rich kids, did we?"

Lin Yang shook his head. He hadn't heard of any, and they went to a pretty mediocre middle school. Rich kids wouldn't have gone there.

"Exactly! And this Li Dong stays in a five-star luxury suite, wears Versace, and I don't have any memory of him at all. How could he be our middle school classmate?"

Lin Yang finally started to get it, and a trace of doubt appeared in his eyes.

What Hu Yue said made a lot of sense. Why didn't he have any memory of Li Dong?

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yang suggested, "Should we go check?"

Hu Yue nodded. Of course, they should check. What was this Li Dong's purpose in pretending to be their middle school classmate?

But even if he had an ulterior motive, it must be aimed at Lin Yang. Could it be that Li Dong had developed a crush on Lin Yang?

Hu Yue shuddered at the thought and started giving Lin Yang a strange look.

…

Li Dong had no idea about the conversation between Hu Yue and Lin Yang, or Hu Yue's thoughts. If he did, he'd probably want to die.

At that moment, Li Dong was on the phone with Gu Honglou. 

Gu Honglou had moved quickly. Li Dong had contacted him at noon, and by evening, he had already received feedback.

On the phone, Gu Honglou regretfully informed Li Dong that the acquisition attempt seemed to have failed.

"Can you tell me why?" Li Dong asked calmly.

"Mr. Li, you might not be aware of the current shareholding situation at Baidu. Besides Robin Li, the largest shares are held by several investment companies, and these companies definitely won't sell."

Li Dong understood this. These investment companies were waiting for a big payday after the IPO, so they wouldn't sell now.

"As for Baidu's top executives, Liu Jianguo, Zhu Hongbo, and others, they hold very few shares, less than one percent. I contacted them, but they were all very firm in their refusal to sell," Gu Honglou explained further.

Li Dong frowned slightly. Was this acquisition doomed to fail?

Perhaps sensing Li Dong's disappointment, Gu Honglou added, "There is still one person who holds a large number of Baidu shares. If you can find him, you might be able to achieve your goal."

"Who?"

"Xu Yong!"