Chapter 6: Who is Stirring Up Trouble Behind the Scenes? (Part 1)

"It's almost nine o'clock, why hasn't Brother Sun come yet?"

Yawning, Yang Fei glanced toward the door again, then grimaced, turned his face, and complained irritably to the person beside him: "Brother Sun sent a mass message yesterday afternoon telling everyone to arrive early today. We were all here before eight, but look at him, he still hasn't shown up."

"You're the impatient one!"

Zuo Nan, sitting next to him, didn't even look up at the sound. Fiddling with his phone, he took over the conversation with annoyance: "In our current situation, who doesn't understand what's going on? If nothing goes wrong, he's just coming to announce the dissolution. What difference does it make if he comes early or late?"

Yang Fei's face dimmed; clearly, he had the same thought. After a long while, he shook his head, "It's just a pity for everyone, having been busy for three months..."

This remark was met only with a bout of silence from Zuo Nan. After a good while, he irritably placed his phone on the table in front of him, slumped over onto the table, and fell silent.

……

Standing at the stairwell on the third floor of an old office building within the old campus, Sun Cheng hesitated for a long time before gritting his teeth and walking toward an office a few steps away.

Just as he reached the doorway of the office, he felt several gazes land on him simultaneously, and his face couldn't help but burn.

"Brother Sun, you're here!"

Seeing a young man with chubby cheeks stand up to greet him, with undisguised anticipation in his eyes as he looked at him, it made Sun Cheng's heart ache.

This young man was named Yang Fei, a junior in Computer Science one year below him. Like Sun Cheng, he was a student at Nandu University of Technology, and probably the person here who had the best relationship with him.

What Yang Fei was anticipating, he naturally knew better than anyone, but the moment he thought of this, Sun Cheng felt a sharp pain in his heart.

"How did it turn out like this?"

Unable to help but ask himself this question, Sun Cheng swept his gaze over the five people in the office, feeling his nose suddenly grow sore.

Three months ago, Sun Cheng's ambition was so great. He had once unreservedly shown his confidence, boasting to more than one person around him, "This is an era full of miracles, and success favors those who are prepared. We may have nothing today, and we may still be poor tomorrow, but we have dreams and, more importantly, actions. The future will surely repay our efforts today a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"

He had said these words more than once—to himself, to others, and even to his teachers.

Now, perhaps in the eyes of those people, he, who had already stepped both feet into the gate of failure, was probably just a fool with terminal middle-school syndrome.

But, he was so unwilling to accept this!

Forcing back his increasingly sore nose, Sun Cheng took a deep breath and walked into the office, meeting the expectant gazes of the few people.

"I'm late because of some things, and I've delayed everyone's time! I won't waste words; you should have guessed why I asked everyone to come here today, right?"

Sighing, he had to face what he had to face. Dragging it out would not only screw himself over, but it would also be irresponsible to everyone here.

Therefore, after quickly composing his mood, Sun Cheng looked calmly at Yang Fei, at Zuo Nan, at Lu Yu, and at every young person in this office whose name he knew, and said calmly: "This year is my graduation season. Like everyone present, I am a young person full of vigor, ideals, and aspirations. With a plan prepared, three months ago, I, along with two roommates and another senior of yours, collaborated to formulate a startup project and applied to the school for startup support, hoping to carve out a world that belongs to us young people!"

Having said this, he paused and smiled at the silent group.

"Although I don't want to admit it, the result is very bitter. I failed, and I lost very miserably—so miserably that today I have to stand here and say 'I'm sorry' to everyone present who once placed their hopes in me."

Sun Cheng had a dream he wanted to realize no matter what, but he also understood better than anyone how difficult it was to achieve. So, from a long time ago, he had been racking his brains planning how to get himself closer to success.

Thus, three months ago, he took the lead in pulling in two classmates and another roommate from his dormitory. The four of them joined forces to create a startup plan and applied to the school for startup support.

Perhaps their proposal was well-made enough; after a brief review, the school actually approved Sun Cheng and his team's application. They not only cleared out an office in the old teaching building on the old campus for their temporary use but also provided five desktop computers and thirty thousand yuan in support funds.

At the beginning of the startup, everyone was truly working with great enthusiasm.

Of the original four people in the team, Sun Cheng had the worst technical skills, so he wasn't responsible for development. But he was eloquent and the initiator of the startup, so everything from personnel recruitment and daily management to fundraising was his responsibility.

Thinking about it now, although that period was bitter and tiring, it was full of happiness amidst the bitterness.

Unfortunately...

"I'm sorry!"

Bending over and lowering his head, Sun Cheng bowed and apologized seriously to Yang Fei and the five of them, including Zuo Nan.

"All the mistakes are mine. Perhaps this startup plan was wrong from the very beginning!"

Thinking of the flash drive in his pocket and that as-yet-unconfirmed suspicion, he felt even more pain in his heart, his teeth clenched tightly together, unable to separate.

Clearly, Sun Cheng's humble attitude made the young people present recall his past care for them.

And so, seeing him bowing and apologizing with such sincere words, and taking all the blame upon himself without making any excuses, Yang Fei, who had the best relationship with him, couldn't sit still and was the first to stand up to speak up for him.

"Brother Sun, what are you saying? In our current situation, who doesn't understand? If it weren't for that guy Huo Miao being blinded by greed, it wouldn't have turned out like this no matter what!"

"Huo Miao..."

Hearing the name 'Huo Miao' from Yang Fei's mouth, Sun Cheng opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing and just shook his head slightly.

Huo Miao was his classmate and one of the original four members of the startup team. He was a technical expert that Sun Cheng had spent a lot of effort to pull into the team because this person had programming skills that were no worse than a professional's.

Half a month ago, as one of the four veterans of the original team, Huo Miao had someone deliver a resignation letter and never came again. Later, when he heard that he had joined another startup team, there was a period when it really made Sun Cheng grit his teeth in hatred.

But now, he also realized that the startup plan the original few had formulated had problems from the start and was far from something a small team like theirs could achieve.

Huo Miao might have started a bad trend and accelerated the collapse of this team, but after thinking everything through, Sun Cheng instead felt he should thank him.

If Huo Miao hadn't left so decisively, he might still have held expectations for this startup project and run around everywhere to raise money to pour into it.

If that had really happened, he feared he would have lost even more miserably than he was now.

Sighing, Sun Cheng was silent for a long while before saying the words that had reached his throat: "The project was proposed by me. At first, I only saw the potential of cross-platform operation for smartphone games and hoped to develop an emulator with better compatibility that also took into account the usage habits of our countrymen. Unfortunately, I only saw the prospects and neglected the development difficulty. Without an investment of over a million and half a year or even longer, failure was inevitable!"

"Several key technical pillars have left, and the follow-up development funds have been cut off. Having reached this point, I pondered for several days before making the decision. Perhaps it is time to say goodbye to everyone."

Having said this, he bowed to everyone again, "I'm sorry to everyone. I promised everyone so much, yet I didn't achieve a single thing. Now, I can't even afford a farewell meal. Really, I'm sorry!"

This bow was bent deeply, and Sun Cheng didn't straighten his back for a long time.

There was silence in the office. After a while, a sobbing sound came; it was the only young girl among the few who had covered her mouth and started crying softly.

Afterward, no one spoke. But footsteps began to appear—one, two, a burst—walking straight out of the office door until they could no longer be heard.

Throughout the process, Sun Cheng kept his body bent in a bowing posture and never raised his head.

After a long time, after reaching out to wipe away the tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes, he thought everyone had already left, so he raised his head again, only to discover unexpectedly that there was still one person left in the office.

"Yang Fei?"

Sun Cheng sniffled his sore nose, suppressing the thought that had just emerged of having a good cry by himself.

"Brother Sun..." Yang Fei sighed, "The team has dissolved, don't be sad. Actually, none of us blame you. Because we all know, you are the one who suffered the most!"

Sun Cheng was silent!

During the three months of the startup, for the sake of the dream in his heart, he had borrowed anywhere from three to five thousand to as much as ten or twenty thousand from several roommates he had known for three years in his dormitory.

To maintain the team's daily expenses, he had not only borrowed ten thousand under his own name from a campus loan platform, but also borrowed another fifty thousand in the name of his startup project; calculating it all, the debt he now carried was no less than nearly one hundred thousand.

Now that the startup project had failed, his roommates were gone, and the friendship had run its course, all the rights and wrongs, and every bit of the debt, would fall onto Sun Cheng; he was truly the most miserable one.

Yang Fei clearly read his current mood from his dim eyes and pale complexion; he opened his mouth, intending to offer a few words of comfort, but the words wouldn't come out when they reached his lips, and after hesitating for a moment, he sighed and said in a low voice, "Brother Sun, I've left the keys on the table for you. You are a man who does great things; one failure counts for nothing. If there is anything you need me for, just call my phone!"

Seeing him nod woodenly, the young man turned around and took a lingering look at the office where he had stayed for several months, then left as well.