Yangcheng. Provincial Government Compound!
Inside a two-story villa, Li Yi sat on the sofa with his legs crossed.
Across from him, Zhou Rui sat upright with a serious expression.
“Are you saying those bastards at the British-owned conglomerate are out there smearing my name all over the place?” Li Yi asked, furrowing his brow.
“Yes. Right now, more than half of the newspapers and media outlets across Hong Kong are reporting on matters related to you, and the coverage doesn’t seem very favorable. According to our intelligence, the root cause of this whole affair stems from your takeover of the Lai family’s real estate projects!”
“That’s to be expected. After all, that side is still under the control of the British, and they’re unlikely to be very friendly toward an uninvited guest like me!”
Li Yi was well aware of this reality.
Zhou Rui nodded and said, “Right. According to reports from our people, right after you took over the Lai family’s real estate projects, the stock and property markets on Hong Kong Island crashed again.”
“Property prices, in particular, plummeted by another third. So, on the surface, it looks like you didn’t make any money by taking over the Lai family’s projects—you might even have lost money. That’s why the newspapers and radio stations controlled by British-owned conglomerates started making snide remarks.”
“Oh, what did those bastards say?” Li Yi asked indifferently.
“They said your investment acumen isn’t all that great. That so-called ‘investment genius’ is just hype—and even…”
“Don’t worry about it. I won’t let it bother me!” Li Yi said.
“They even went so far as to say you’re nothing more than a country bumpkin who got lucky, someone who didn’t even finish junior high—what real talent could you possibly have? In short, they’ve torn you to shreds.”
After saying this, Zhou Rui glanced at Li Yi with a look of concern.
He had personally investigated Li Yi and knew that while the newspapers and magazines across the room were being rather vicious, much of what they said was actually true.
Take Li Yi’s educational background, for example—he really hadn’t even finished junior high school. So Zhou Rui was genuinely worried that Li Yi might not be able to handle such provocation and suddenly lose his temper.
However, to Zhou Rui’s surprise, Li Yi didn’t get angry at all upon hearing this; instead, he flashed a meaningful smile.
“I didn’t expect these bastards to have done their homework so thoroughly—they even found out I didn’t finish junior high. Interesting!”
“You’re not angry?”
“Why should I be? They’re not making it up—I really didn’t finish junior high!”
Li Yi had never considered his educational background to be anything to be ashamed of. Not finishing junior high and never attending college didn’t mean he was a failure or a nobody.
Someone like him naturally understood that academic credentials didn’t equate to ability, and he knew all too well which was more important.
People with high academic credentials but low ability certainly don’t look good, but the opposite isn’t true—what’s there to be ashamed of if you have low academic credentials but high ability?
“But they say your investment skills are just average—that you’re no investment genius…”
“Haha, that’s even less worth getting upset about!”
Li Yi continued, “First of all, I’m certainly no investment genius, and I don’t care about that kind of meaningless flattery. Hearing that kind of talk too often only leads to self-indulgence—it does more harm than good.”
“Second, I don’t think their comments are necessarily a bad thing for me. There’s absolutely no need to let such remarks send me into a rage—it would only cloud my judgment!”
Li Yi wasn’t the type of young up-and-comer who cared about others’ opinions of him, let alone fought tooth and nail over some meaningless title.
He’d long since come to terms with such things. “Investment genius”? “Stock market god”? Let whoever wants those labels have them—as long as it doesn’t get in the way of him making money.
Besides, he really wasn’t some investment genius—he was just on a winning streak!
Zhou Rui frowned and said, “What do you mean by ‘it’s not a bad thing’? How could it possibly be a good thing when they’re working so hard to smear you?”
“Who knows!”
“Huh?”
Li Yi smiled and said, “They say the dog that bites doesn’t bark. Since the dog has already started barking, there’s nothing to be afraid of. We just need to be on guard. If it comes down to it, we can always grab a stick and chase that dog around to beat the crap out of it.”
“The real fear is that this scoundrel will stay silent and work behind the scenes, hiding to cause trouble.”
Zhou Rui thought about it—he had to admit, that made sense.
“So what do we do now?”
“It’s not ‘we’—it’s me!”
Then Li Yi said again, “Your job is to deliver that shipment of gold safely to Old Huang’s men, and then just wait to get paid—you don’t need to go over there!”
“Okay, so what are you planning to do? When are you heading across to the other side?”
“Send a telegram right away to my brother-in-law and the others. Tell Old Huang to send a boat over tonight to transport the gold—and bring me along too!” Li Yi said, his words coming as a surprise.
“Aren’t you going to enter the port through official channels?”
“No, I’m going to sneak across!”
“But… why?” Zhou Rui asked, puzzled.
“Open attacks are easy to dodge, but hidden threats are hard to guard against. Who knows how many people are waiting for me over there right now? I’m not going to let them get their way!”
Having spent half his life in the cutthroat world of business, Li Yi understood all too well that the business world is just like a battlefield.
And whether in business or on the battlefield, the best way to defeat the enemy is to strike when they least expect it!
If he walked over brazenly, he’d be their prey, with every move under their watchful eyes.
But if he slipped in unnoticed, without anyone firing a shot, then he would be the hunter, and others would become his prey.
The choice between being the prey or the hunter was clearly a no-brainer.
“Alright, I’ll get in touch with our people over there right away. I’ll let you know once everything’s settled!” Zhou Rui said.
“Alright, I’ll contact them right away!”
With that, Zhou Rui hurriedly left Jiang Shiying’s small villa.
After watching Zhou Rui leave, Li Yi fell into deep thought.
He hadn’t expected the people from the British Capital Group to resort to such tactics.
It wasn’t that the tactic was particularly clever—it was just too low-brow and lacked any real sophistication.
Using magazines and television to smear others and stir up trouble with rumors—he’d seen it all before.
Besides, aside from swaying the uninformed masses, these tactics couldn’t possibly inflict any real damage on him or Starry Sky Company.
If it were him, he certainly wouldn’t waste his time on such futile efforts.
Moreover, Li Yi was confident that the British-funded group wouldn’t be foolish enough to think such underhanded tactics could bring him down.
Clearly, this was likely just a smokescreen they’d put out; their real trump card was yet to come.
And that was precisely why he hadn’t made a public appearance on Hong Kong Island.
They say the bystander sees things most clearly. He intended to slip into Hong Kong unnoticed and watch these scumbags put on their show from the shadows.
When those bastards let their guard down, he would suddenly appear and catch them off guard.
At that moment, he would use his strength to show them that genius isn’t just talk…
…….