The Way of Restraint

“It’s very difficult to find any leverage against the Feng family domestically. I’ve gone after them more than once myself. But it’s not just me — even Mingxia Group and Hedao Group know how threatening the Feng family’s Haoyu is to them, and they’ve both been looking for evidence against the Feng family. Yet they’ve found nothing. You know how powerful these two groups are. If they can’t do it, we have even less chance.”

Zhang Jinchuan was also at a loss.

“Do these two groups have any experts at the Living Dead level?” Su Jie asked.

“Of course not.” Zhang Jinchuan shook his head. “Do you think people like that grow on trees? Such figures are rarer than presidents. Only a freak like you could step into that realm in just over a year. I have no idea how you managed it. I consider myself quite intelligent — my IQ tests far exceed normal people — I’ve been training since childhood and received true transmissions, yet you’ve left me far behind.”

“Without the Living Dead level, they lack sufficient capability. If Mingxia and Hedao would cooperate with me, pooling their intelligence resources and personnel to work together, finding evidence of the Feng family’s crimes shouldn’t be too difficult, should it?” Su Jie asked.

“That’s impossible.” Zhang Jinchuan shook his head. “Mingxia and Hedao are competitors. They fight bloody battles in every industry — they can’t cooperate at all. You know the nature of their business competition. Besides, Mingxia only sees Hedao as its rival. Although Haoyu is large, it’s not on their level. Neither will join forces against Haoyu — in fact, both Mingxia and Hedao would like to win over Haoyu to deliver a fatal blow to their opponent. You’ve seen this over the years. These two giants battle each other in the marketplace, and Haoyu plays both sides, gaining quite a few advantages.”

“I’ve certainly noticed. I’ve actually studied business quite a bit,” Su Jie nodded.

“I know that. If you went into business, I’d probably have a headache,” Zhang Jinchuan said. “But your focus is on cultivation — that’s why you’re purer than me. If I gave up business and focused on cultivation like you, I’d probably have reached the Living Dead realm by now.”

“Gain and loss go hand in hand,” Su Jie nodded. “I’ve noticed a phenomenon: when two giants go to war, it’s often the third and fourth parties that die.”

“Exactly. Supergiants aren’t easy to kill, but when they fight, they completely disrupt the market ecosystem, and the smaller companies can’t survive. Take my video industry — it’s all about burning cash. Mingxia and Hedao keep spending on subsidies, subsidizing content creators and users. They buy premium content and copyrights, so users flock to them. The second- and third-tier video sites can’t compete, they lose users, and naturally go under.” Zhang Jinchuan nodded. “But now Haoyu Group has transformed. They’re no longer relying on low-end user entertainment — they’ve shifted to high-tech intelligent software manufacturing, with their own independent core technology. You can’t crush them with cash-burning subsidies anymore.”

“That’s precisely why Haoyu appears even more frightening in the eyes of Mingxia and Hedao,” Su Jie nodded. “I trust the judgment of Xia Shang and Liu Shi.”

“What’s your plan?” Zhang Jinchuan asked.

“You’ve secured investment from Mingxia. I hear Xia Shang speaks very highly of you — he made the decision to invest right after your first meeting. I’d like you to arrange an introduction,” Su Jie said, revealing his true intent.

“That’s no problem. In fact, if I simply mention that you’re Larry’s bodyguard, Xia Shang would be very happy to meet you. But you need to think about how you’ll persuade him once you meet. He’s not interested in martial arts — he’s interested in technology. Liu Shi, on the other hand, is a taijiquan enthusiast himself. He surrounds himself with martial arts masters and practices regularly. Although his skill isn’t great, his passion exceeds that of many professional practitioners. You could meet him first.” Zhang Jinchuan made a suggestion.

“The taijiquan martial arts exchange in Japan next month — I’ll be attending to support Old Master Chen of Hunyuan Taiji. I hear Liu Shi will also be there. I shouldn’t have trouble meeting him then,” Su Jie said. “But before that, I need to meet Xia Shang.”

Liu Shi was the founder and chairman of Hedao Group, another legend in the business world. Older than Xia Shang, he was deeply passionate about martial arts, especially taijiquan. He practiced almost constantly, though his actual skill was mediocre. But his theoretical knowledge was extensive — he had even built a dedicated building for taijiquan research, gathering many experts to study.

Currently, the largest private enterprises in China were Mingxia and Hedao, both at the trillion-yuan scale, ranking in the global top ten.

But the core technology of these two companies lagged far behind Larry’s. Both companies rely on their massive user base rather than genuine high technology to succeed.

However, both companies recognized their weaknesses early on and are investing heavily in technology to catch up.

“I don’t think you can persuade Xia Shang. He’s an extremely shrewd man, and he’s very safe in China — he doesn’t need any serious security,” Zhang Jinchuan warned again. “Xia Shang’s time is very tight. If I waste his time without something groundbreaking, he’ll be very unhappy. Getting another meeting with him afterward would be difficult.”

“I’ve studied his personality as well,” Su Jie nodded. “I know arranging this meeting will cost you a lot of favors and resources.”

“That’s nothing. I’m worried that Xia Shang might say things that upset you,” Zhang Jinchuan said. “He can be very blunt at times. When I first met him, a few words nearly made me explode with rage. But I held back, and that’s how I earned his approval. You’re different from me — back then I could endure humiliation because I was weak. But you can’t be humiliated — you’re at the Living Dead realm, you’re ‘transcendent.’ To put it bluntly, at your current level, even a president would treat you with courtesy. And deep down, you actually regard yourself as above the mundane world. No matter how much money and power Xia Shang has, in your eyes, he’s just an ordinary person. I fully understand this mentality. If I had reached the Living Dead realm back then and Xia Shang spoke to me that way, I’d probably have shown him what’s what — he knows nothing about real power. And domestic wealthy businessmen, protected by China’s excellent public security, have no idea how dangerous the world can be. Larry has been attacked multiple times — he deeply understands the value of security personnel. Xia Shang has no such understanding and doesn’t value it. As for Liu Shi, although he loves martial arts and taijiquan, it’s cultural and self-cultivation for him — not the baptism of blood and fire. He lacks that awareness. The mindset of these two men means you have little value to them, so a meeting would largely be ineffective. They’re different from Larry in this regard.”

Hearing Zhang Jinchuan’s analysis, Su Jie fell into contemplation. He knew Zhang Jinchuan was right.

If he met with a wealthy businessman like Xia Shang, their psychological frameworks would be mismatched, creating significant barriers.

Deep down, Su Jie did believe that even if Xia Shang was worth hundreds of billions and controlled a trillion-yuan conglomerate, he was still just an “ordinary person.”

And in Xia Shang’s eyes, Su Jie was just a wet-behind-the-ears kid with nothing to his name. Martial arts skills meant less than nothing — a few security guards with tasers and riot shields could turn him into a dead dog.

Their worldviews were too divergent.

Unlike Larry, who had survived multiple assassination attempts, belonged to the Spiritual Assembly, and had established a life sciences laboratory — he knew that “transcendent” people existed in the world, which was why he treated Su Jie with such respect.

“It seems I might have been lacking in subtlety,” Su Jie said with a self-deprecating laugh. “In that case, we need another way to persuade Xia Shang.”

“You overestimated them, thinking that as top business figures, their vision would be on par with Larry’s,” Zhang Jinchuan said. “But my guess is they don’t have Larry’s breadth of experience. Of course, that’s just my speculation — only they know the truth. Maybe their horizons are broader than I think. Do you still want the meeting?”

“Yes, I still want it,” Su Jie nodded. “But the approach needs to change.”

“How?” Zhang Jinchuan asked.

“Not with me meeting him directly — you meet him, and I’ll be there as your bodyguard,” Su Jie said. “In Xia Shang’s mind, you’re already a business prodigy. If you have good ideas to discuss with him, he’ll be happy to see you. At that point, you can casually mention that I’m Larry’s bodyguard, back in China to protect you. That will pique his interest — far better than approaching him directly. To be honest, if you asked him to meet me, there’s a ninety percent chance he wouldn’t bother.”

“A clever indirect approach. Very interesting.” Zhang Jinchuan said. “Speaking of which, I actually do have some good ideas to discuss with him. I think he’ll be quite interested — especially regarding some overseas market expansion projects.”

As the wealthiest man in China, Xia Shang was not easy to meet. Even prominent socialites couldn’t always secure an appointment, let alone an unknown young man.

The only credential Su Jie had now was being Larry’s bodyguard — and that was it.

Larry knew how valuable this bodyguard was, but Xia Shang did not.

“Right now, only Mingxia and Hedao can move quickly against Haoyu. I’ll try to set up a meeting with Xia Shang — but there’s only about a sixty percent chance I can secure one,” Zhang Jinchuan said. “The key is whether I can successfully spark his interest. Otherwise, a second meeting will be very difficult.”

“I trust your ability in this regard. If you couldn’t handle this much, you wouldn’t have built such a large company. When it comes to business, I truly can’t match you.”

And so Su Jie and Zhang Jinchuan finalized their strategy.

Related← Previous ChapterChapter 229: The Scientific Spirit☰Table of ContentsNext Chapter →Latest Chapter