Chapter 2779 - 2841: Huaxia Business School

Sophia had already been sent by him to Black Province to investigate. With Sophia’s current strength, she actually didn’t dare get close to the Zhao Family’s core areas, which showed just how powerful the Zhao Family really was. Sophia was best at assassination and hiding in the shadows, and even she couldn’t get close, so the information she sent back was limited.

But it wasn’t all bad news. They couldn’t pry into the Zhao Family’s secrets, but Sophia still had some ways with other families. She infiltrated two or three of them in succession, gathered intel for a few days, and got some information. The Zhao Family’s ambition was really huge. These families being unified had to contribute people, effort, and money. According to each family’s assets, the richest even had to put up ten billion. Ten billion — that was top-tier family level, and on top of that this was cash support.

With that much money, what is the Zhao Family scheming? Planning to crush their business rivals? Definitely more than that, because they first used Martial strength to force these families to submit.

After Li Yifei discussed it with the women, he told them all to be careful. If Sophia couldn’t dig up any real secrets, then she should stop probing for now and come home to secretly protect Su Mengxin and the others, just in case the Zhao Family suddenly made a move. You can’t do without precautions against others. The Zhao Family stirring up such a huge commotion, wanting to invade Ning Province—if they don’t target the Li family, that’s impossible. The Li family was the number-one family in Ning Province; once the alliance formed by the Zhao Family invaded Ning Province, the Li family would be the first to bear the brunt.

As for Li Yifei himself... he really couldn’t stay home for more than a few days, because the business school was about to start classes, and a new semester was about to begin. After discussing it with Su Mengxin, they had already signed him up half a month ago.

Of course, normally Huaxia Business School wouldn’t allow such last-minute registration. Don’t look at Li Yifei as the richest man in Ning Province and the Li family’s businesses being fairly large; but in Huaxia Business School... he really didn’t count as some especially important figure. It was thanks to connections that Su Mengxin managed to get him in last minute.

Whether he wanted to go or not, Li Yifei had to go. Like they’d said before, this was a chance to make friends. As the family head, Li Yifei had the responsibility to help the Li family get to know some people. Who knew when that might come in handy.

Huaxia Business School was located at the Yangtze River Estuary, in Haicheng. This international metropolis had been proposed more than ten years ago by a Chinese richest man, who called for the establishment of a high-level business academy for Chinese people. The school had four programs: MBA, Finance MBA, EMBA, and Executive Education. The MBA program was a full-time English-taught course. More than 45% of Huaxia MBA students had the chance to go to business schools in Europe and America as exchange students.

Outwardly, they claimed that this business school, whether in thesis quality or faculty lineup, was ultra-luxurious, hiring top domestic and foreign scholars and professors, with economic scholars especially welcomed.

On campus they hired dozens of internationally renowned scholars who had taught at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, Columbia University, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, University of California, San Diego, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Darden School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Rochester, University of Washington, Princeton University, University of Minnesota, European School of Management and other business schools in Europe and America and Asia.

They also had partnerships with many schools around the world and engaged in mutual exchanges.

Of course, that applied to ordinary students. So-called ordinary students were those who were admitted through normal exams and had the qualifications to enter Huaxia Business School to study and further their education. As for people like Li Yifei, that belonged to a specially opened class, generally only recruiting major entrepreneurs whose assets and qualifications had to reach a certain level. Just talking family wealth, this cohort might see Li Yifei as the richest, at least among the few at the top; but in terms of academic background, Li Yifei might be a bit weaker.

"Not the weakest, though. This one guy who started out in dairy, he’s in his fifties now and only has a primary school education!" Su Mengxin held a file and was giving Li Yifei a brief overview before he set out.

"Primary school? The dairy brand on the market?" Li Yifei was a bit surprised. Seeing Su Mengxin confirm it, he couldn’t help laughing: "I thought my education was already the lowest, didn’t expect someone lower than me. That’s really..."

"A low diploma doesn’t mean low culture. Your actual cultural level can’t be compared with the average graduate student. Just being able to fluently master so many languages—go ask around, which graduate student can do that? There aren’t many across the whole country." Su Mengxin glared at him, somewhat unable to stand his self-deprecation.

Li Yifei chuckled, scratched his not-so-long hair, and said, "That’s just me being modest. Think about it, everyone gathered together are successful entrepreneurs. When they bring up their education, he’s a graduate student, he’s some MBA, that one’s a specialist in some field. Then you get to me... oh, I’m a weapons expert, proficient in all kinds of weapons, can use them smoothly to kill. You think those people won’t stay far away from me?"

"No seriousness at all!" Su Mengxin was torn between laughter and tears. She elbowed Li Yifei, then pointed at a column of names on the list. "These are the ones I marked—entrepreneurs with potential, or already well-known, at least with some say in their field. You can pay attention; if it works out, it’d be good to make friends with them!"

"Let me see!" Li Yifei took the list. Behind the names were detailed notes; for example, after the positions, there was a string of simple profiles. This term there were a total of twenty classmates; counting Li Yifei, who was added in last minute, that made twenty-one—fourteen men and seven women.

"These seven names are pretty good." Li Yifei scanned through and nodded.

Su Mengxin gave a charming smile and winked at Li Yifei. "Hubby, the seven women this term are either extremely capable business prodigies or famed for their beauty. Look at this Chang Meng, she’s a well-known talented woman from Peking University, also the campus belle of that cohort. When you get there, you can take her down!"

"Come on, don’t mess around. Take what down, wife, I’d be hiding from that kind of person." Li Yifei said.

"What, you think she’s not good enough? She works at one of the top-three internet companies in the country, and her position isn’t low. Going to business school is just to add some gold plating." Su Mengxin rolled her eyes at Li Yifei.

Li Yifei shook his head. "No matter what she is, that has nothing to do with me. I only have you all in my heart. Having you already is the luck of several lifetimes for me. Besides, how can it be that I like any woman just because she’s pretty? Wouldn’t that make me a stud horse?"

"You think you’re not already? What did you do last night, you know very well." Xu Yingying walked in holding the baby. She’d just finished breastfeeding, so the baby was in a good mood. Hearing that, Li Yifei turned his head and said, "Don’t talk nonsense in front of the child!"

"So you do know what shame is." Xu Yingying said, unconcerned.

"Ahem, we’re talking serious business here!" Li Yifei faked a few coughs. He had gone a bit wild yesterday, but that was also because he was about to leave home, so it was inevitable that he’d get a little crazy. Still, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, he was leaving. Even though he didn’t have to be at the business school every day—he wasn’t in a full-time program—most of it was about networking, eating and drinking and such.

Xu Yingying walked over for a look. This list was something she and the other women had put together. The information wasn’t hard to find, but it was harder to compile. Looking over the names, Xu Yingying pointed to a man named Zhang Bai and said, "Hubby, once you get there, you can talk to this guy. He started from scratch and is now a big shot in the domestic internet world, and in a high-tech niche sector. We’d wanted to invest in him back then, but we were a step too late. It’s only been two years and he’s already grown his company to a scale of several billion. I’d guess in another one or two years he’ll hit the ten-billion mark. That’s very rapid growth."

"Oh? That impressive?" Li Yifei became a bit interested. Su Mengxin nodded. "Mainly because what he’s doing has great prospects. We’re all quite optimistic about it!"

"Alright, I’ll go get to know him." Li Yifei nodded.

"Ah ah!" His son spoke up right on cue, interrupting the three of them. They looked at the baby, who reached out his hands, wanting Li Yifei to hold him.

Taking his son into his arms, Li Yifei said, "Anyway, I’m only leaving tomorrow, so there’s no rush. I’ll just say one thing—wives, rest assured. Your husband has already washed his hands of the criminal world and retired from the jianghu. I absolutely won’t provoke any more men and women; from now on I’ll just live life with you all."

"The main point is the women, not the men." Su Mengxin said.

"Exactly, I won’t provoke women anymore. So please rest assured: while I’m away, I’ll definitely keep my zipper under control and not give it any chance to fool around."

"Mainly, it’s fine if you sneak a bite, just don’t bring anyone home. Where’s your former free-and-easy style? These past years you’ve basically fallen for any woman you met. That’s no good." Su Mengxin sounded like she was being sincere, but Li Yifei knew there was a hidden trap. If he dared nod like an idiot, the one who’d suffer would definitely be him. So he hurriedly said, "How could that be? It wasn’t like that before either. Besides, I’ve already turned over a new leaf. The current me only loves you all, I’m a brand-new me!"

"Enough, brag too big and you’ll sprain your tongue. Alright, go coax the kid to sleep. Mengxin and I need to talk business." Xu Yingying spat lightly at him.

Li Yifei nodded, carried the child upstairs, and the two women downstairs began discussing some business matters. The Li family had decision-makers, but for big issues they usually discussed first, then Xu Yingying or Su Mengxin would make the final call, to minimize mistakes.

Of course, as long as it’s business there’s no such thing as guaranteed profit with no loss, no matter the level. The Li family wasn’t without losses. If they were always making money, that’d be what was truly strange.