American History 1988
Chapter 169 - 163 Notice in the Newspaper

Chapter 169: Chapter 163 Notice in the Newspaper

Dean, awakened by two phone calls, could only get up early to prepare for his return to San Francisco.

Poor guy, he hardly slept last night; the party broke up after three in the morning.

Even though Jennifer Connelly was eventually taken away by his mother Irin, Dean still had a pretty wonderful night with her.

"Hey, buddy, looks like you came back empty-handed last night," Valentine, who had already packed his luggage, couldn’t help but laugh with schadenfreude upon seeing Dean panting heavily.

"Valentine, didn’t you turn in early?" Dean was a bit puzzled. How did he know he returned alone?

With a satisfied smile in response to Dean’s curious gaze, Valentine boasted, "I tipped the hotel reception 20 US Dollars to keep an eye on when you’d return and whether you were alone."

"Why?" said Dean, spreading his hands in confusion. He wasn’t a celebrity, and Valentine wasn’t paparazzi.

Instead of answering Dean’s question, Valentine turned his gaze toward someone behind Dean. "Your turn, Anna."

As Dean turned around, Anna reluctantly took out 50 US Dollars, "Taking a lady’s money, that’s not the slightest bit gentlemanly, Valentine~"

"Haha," the shamelessly proud Valentine flaunted the bills in his hand, "Look, that’s a fine investment; I’ve already got a 1.5x return."

"So you guys were betting?" Dean, who finally caught on, realized what was happening.

"Anna thought you’d wake up in some Hollywood chick’s bed this morning, but I thought not. Turns out, I won," Valentine said.

Valentine stuffed his luggage into the trunk and then casually clapped his hands, "Go! Guys, it’s time to head back to our main base."

Dean faced Anna, unsure whether to be happy for Valentine or to feel sorry for the 50 dollars.

Dean just shrugged; this couldn’t exactly be considered coming back empty-handed since he had Jennifer’s contact details in his pocket.

Los Angeles is very close to San Francisco, with just an hour’s flight between them.

Dean and his party took a flight back, which was the best choice.

In less than three days, this business trip had already entered its final stage.

No sooner had Dean settled into his airplane seat than he began eagerly searching around his seat.

Ah-ha! It wasn’t until he saw the familiar logo on the headrest and the familiar advertisement on the tray table that Dean was ready to catch up on some sleep, contented.

Indeed, Byte Software’s ads had filled all the space around the seats.

Flush with funds, Byte Software didn’t cut back on their flight advertisements. On the contrary, the number of contracted flight routes kept increasing.

"Are you looking for this?" Seeing Dean’s searching behavior, Anna helpfully handed him a few newspapers.

Faced with the newspapers thrust into his hands, Dean could only smile and nod his head, "Thanks~".

All right, before catching some more sleep, it wouldn’t hurt to have a look through the newspapers first, so he could catch up on the latest news.

The Los Angeles Times, "Mr. Hundred Million sweeps Los Angeles—charm from a Silicon Valley founder!"

WTF? Dean instinctively felt something was off.

"Last night on ’The Late Show with David,’ a special guest was welcomed.

He’s a Stanford student, he founded a software company nearly worth a hundred million, he has a handsome and charming face, he’s even under twenty, he is Dean Price!

But this founder, so young as to cast doubt on his real identity, now has a new title: Mr. Hundred Million!

If you missed out on last night’s laugh-filled talk show, make sure not to miss this afternoon’s rerun.

This young man used his humorous and witty language to explain the patent dispute between Byte Company and Bell Corporation.

We all know that their lawsuit has been closely followed by the tech community on the West Coast.

Honestly, I didn’t have much of an impression of Byte Company before, but after watching last night’s show, I must admit I was charmed by Dean Price.

He’s mature and wise beyond his years, quick-witted and unpretentious, humorous and knows how to please the audience.

I even saw something in him called ’social responsibility.’

Yes, that’s the kind of social responsibility most entrepreneurs have forgotten.

And the comedic performance of Dean Price on the show was also a hit with the younger crowd.

This guy from Ohio had the spirit of a hippie."

Alright, that was enough for Dean, closing the newspaper with suspicion.

Even the remaining parts he hadn’t finished reading, as well as the handsome photo of himself on the show, went unadmired.

"Anna, it’s not April Fool’s today, is it?" Dean asked, looking at the Los Angeles Times in his hand, "I just participated in a talk show, that’s all."

The Los Angeles Times is not a regional paper like the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s the third-largest newspaper in the US, right behind The New York Times and The Washington Post.

With a circulation of over a million copies, many politicians and business people read it, having much more social influence than a talk show.

Hearing Dean’s sigh, Valentine, who had just been busy on the phone, turned around triumphantly, "A talk show, ah?"

Dean spread his hands innocently. Had he said something wrong?

Valentine shook his Motorola, "Do you know what Brad just told me? ’The Late Show with David’ attracted over three million viewers last night!"

"Wow~" This time Dean was truly astounded, "Over three million viewers?"

"Yeah!" Valentine gripped the Los Angeles Times and shook it emphatically. "That’s why they’re reporting on you, buddy!"

"OK," Dean finally began to grasp the situation, a smile slowly forming on his face, "So does this mean Byte Software is about to become famous?"

Although it wasn’t the front-page headline of the Los Angeles Times, being featured in the business news section was not too shabby either.

"We’re famous now, Dean!" Valentine was more up to date with the news, "Just now, I got at least three calls from Dune Road, all inquiring about Byte Company’s financing situation."

Sequoia Capital is Byte Company’s lead investor, which is no secret in Silicon Valley.

Those peers now want to get on board too, but unfortunately, it’s a bit late.

Dean glanced at his Motorola, okay, he had already turned it off before boarding.

At this moment, Anna, who had been organizing various messages for him, handed him a newspaper.

"What’s this?" Dean asked curiously upon seeing the colorful cover.

Anna shrugged without answering, gesturing for him to look for himself.

Hollywood Reporter, "Innocent girl Jennifer Connelly has a chance encounter with tech upstart, the two quickly fall in love."

The accompanying photo showed Dean helping Jennifer into a car, and from the background, one could tell it was dawn.

The brightly-lit villa behind them added to the readers’ imaginations.

This was clearly a shot of them leaving the love nest after spending the night together, caught by the paparazzi.

Dean rubbed his temples with some distress, not all the news in the paper today was good.

"Relax buddy," Valentine said with a knowing look that men understand, "This is normal coverage in the entertainment industry, and besides, that girl looks quite nice, it’s your loss if you let her go empty-handed."

"Well, fame brings not just good news, but trouble too," Dean could already foresee that he would become the target of journalists’ pursuit for a while.

As he was preparing to rest, a flight attendant approached with a smile, "Mr. Price, may I get you something to drink?"

"A glass of water, thanks," Dean replied nonchalantly.

After the flight attendant walked away, Anna mocked him with a teasing look, "Boss, did you notice?"

"What?" Dean, who was adjusting the recliner, looked up in confusion.

"She knew your name," Anna’s eyes almost spelled it out.

Because of the talk show, or because of the newspaper? Dean shrugged indifferently.

While they were talking, the flight attendant returned with the tray, "Mr. Price, here’s your water, have a pleasant journey~"

Along with the water glass placed in front of Dean was a napkin with a string of digits clearly written on it.

Dean looked up, the flight attendant winked at him and then casually left the area.

"Wow, a girl delivered to your door. Look at that face, and that figure, I’m even drooling just looking at her," Anna’s sarcastic voice came from beside him.

Dean leaned back in his seat, pulled down his eye mask, and went to sleep!

...

"Gardener, pool maintenance, cleaning service, newspaper delivery, security company, satellite TV, dry cleaners..." Martin passed the documents in his hand to Dean one by one.

"All these personnel have been contacted; just sign here, and they’ll start working tomorrow. The furniture and appliances you ordered will also be delivered soon."

Dean weighed the list in his hands, a thick stack about a pound in weight.

He shook his head, these signatures had to be his own. Taking out a pen, Dean started signing each page until his wrist ached and he finally finished them all.

Upon disembarking from the plane, Dean’s first destination was to go home. Stanford was on break, and many facilities in the dorms couldn’t be used.

The villa he had previously arranged was now fully processed, so naturally, this was where Dean would stay.

He imagined there might be reporters waiting at the arrival hall, but that didn’t happen. Come on, he wasn’t a Hollywood star.

An appearance on a television show and an article in the Los Angeles Times were not enough to warrant such treatment.

After all, Dean was just a businessman.

After sending Martin out the door, Dean dropped his luggage and lay down on the spacious sofa.

Layers of softness instantly enveloped him, much more comfortable than the hard leather sofa in the dorm.

The only drawback was the hot summer weather; Dean lay on the sofa and started to sweat after a short while.

That’s right, we have a pool.

With a jolt, Dean bounced up from the sofa and started stripping.

Soon the near-naked Dean was left with just his boxers. But just as Dean was ready to dash outside,

The damned phone rang, shit! He had just turned on his phone no more than ten minutes ago!

"Hello, this is Dean Price... Dan Rosen? The San Francisco Chronicle?... Oh~, of course, I remember... No problem, I’ll make time for it."

Well, it turned out that he wasn’t without media attention. Look, here it was.

The reality was not just one coming forward, but it seemed they had all made an appointment.

The Examiner and several San Francisco TV stations called one after another in the next half hour.

They all did so for one thing: to interview Dean.

Regarding these invitations, apart from the Chronicle, Dean temporarily neither accepted nor declined; he needed to consult his company’s PR team.

Dean wasn’t familiar with the media world, this required specialists to handle.

Just before jumping into the pool, Dean took the last call from Bill Dreaper.

"Uncle Bill, yes, I’ve returned to Silicon Valley... OK, I’ll visit you tomorrow."

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