The God of Wealth starts with doing whatever you want

7:00 AM, Executive Lounge on the Top Floor of the Shilla Hotel Seoul.

Lee Ki was dressed in a sharp suit, but his face was so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.

He was holding a freshly printed equity change report in his hand, his fingertips turning white from the pressure.

"Xu Yun...Xu Yun..."

He practically spat out the name through gritted teeth.

Just three hours ago, Samsung Group's risk control department sent an emergency alert.

Through a series of complex cross-operations using offshore accounts, a Cayman Islands-registered fund company acquired 0.8% of Samsung Electronics' outstanding shares in batches over the past 48 hours, and then sold them all before the market opened this morning.

This inflow and outflow not only netted the fund over 20 billion won, but more importantly...

The timing of the transaction was terrifyingly precise, coinciding perfectly with the quiet period just before Samsung was about to release its quarterly financial report.

All the clues pointed to the Chinese businessman who had been sitting across from him just three days earlier, smiling and agreeing to sign the cooperation agreement.

"represent……"

Li Ji's assistant cautiously pushed the door open and said in a slightly trembling voice, "We've already checked. Mr. Xu Yun and his two assistants... checked out at 10 pm last night and took all their luggage with them."

"Where's the surveillance?"

Li Ji retorted angrily, "Did you check the surveillance footage?"

"The surveillance footage shows that they left in a car arranged by the hotel, but the license plate was temporary..."

The driver said that, as requested by the passengers, they would get off near Cheongdam-dong.

Li Ji suddenly turned around and slammed the document onto the table with a "thud".

"Find him! Turn Seoul upside down, find him no matter what!"

"But it represents..."

Faced with her boss who was giving her work, the female assistant could only bite the bullet and say, "Mr. Xu's phone has been switched off since last night."

Lee Ki-jae: "..."

Just then, the door to the lounge was gently pushed open.

Choi Soo-young walked in wearing a light gray business suit, carrying a folder in her hand, with her usual polite smile on her face.

She came this morning to deliver the preliminary promotion plan for the "small bread" product in the South Korean market, as instructed by Xu Yun yesterday afternoon.

"Good morning, Representative Li."

She bowed slightly and said, "This was at Mr. Xu's request—"

Where is Xu Yun?

Li Ji interrupted her, his voice as cold as ice.

Cui Xiuying was taken aback, not knowing what had happened, and asked in confusion, "President Xu? Shouldn't he still be at the hotel? We agreed to discuss this at nine o'clock this morning..."

"He ran away."

Li Ji approached step by step, his eyes sharp as knives, and questioned, "You really don't know?"

"They...they ran away?"

Cui Xiuying was completely bewildered and replied, "Representative Li, I don't understand what you mean. Why did President Xu... run away?"

Li Ji stared into her eyes, trying to find a trace of pretense.

But the confusion in Choi Soo-young's eyes was so real; it was a kind of bewilderment that came from being completely out of the loop.

She even carried the grievance of being suddenly questioned.

"You didn't know that he profited from Samsung's stock market through offshore funds?" Lee Ki asked, enunciating each word clearly.

Cui Xiuying's face turned pale instantly.

"W-what harvesting? Mr. Xu is just here to do food business. He told me..."

"What did I say to you?" Li Ji pressed.

"They said...they wanted to cooperate with the Shinsegae Group to introduce 'mini bread' to South Korea..."

Cui Xiuying's voice grew softer and softer.

Because she suddenly realized that her understanding of this Chinese businessman might be limited to the side he was willing to show.

Lee Ki stared at her for a full ten seconds before finally waving goodbye.

"You go out."

"Representative Li, I..."

"go out!"

Clutching her folder, Choi Soo-young practically fled the executive lounge.

In the corridor, she leaned against the wall, her heart pounding.

What exactly did Mr. Xu do?
These days, she was originally just Xu Yun's full-time housekeeper at the hotel, but as she got involved in some things, she seemed to have become his secretary.

But now, Representative Li suddenly tells him that General Manager Xu has run away?
Inside the lounge, Li Ji took a deep breath, took out his phone, and dialed the number he knew by heart.

"The number you dialed is currently switched off..."

He dialed three times in a row, unwilling to give up, but each time he heard the same message.

"good very good."

Li Ji was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

suddenly……

He suddenly remembered something and shouted angrily, "New World Group... Lee Young-ae!"

……

At 8:20 a.m., a black Mercedes-Benz suddenly braked in front of the New World Group headquarters building.

Li Ji pushed open the car door, not even taking his coat, and rushed straight into the lobby.

The receptionist recognized the representative from Samsung's hotel division and quickly stood up to greet him.

But he completely ignored it.

Lee Ki asked with an unfriendly expression, "Which floor is Representative Lee Young-ae on?"

"Representative Li is in a meeting. Do you have an appointment?"

"tell her."

After trying to calm himself down, Lee Ki of Samsung said, "Just tell her I have something very important to discuss with her, now!"

"Okay, Representative Li."

Five minutes later, Lee Ki was led by his secretary to the meeting room on the 28th floor.

Every minute he waited felt like he was being roasted over a fire.

He also kept replaying every detail of his interactions with Xu Yun in his mind.

The man's smile, his seemingly casual questions, and his suspiciously quick and agreeable attitude when he agreed to my request.

It's all an act.

The door opened.

Lee Young-ae walked in wearing a dark blue suit skirt, her hair neatly pulled back, and a formulaic smile on her face.

"Representative Li, what brings you here so early?"

Her tone was calm, and her eyes showed no emotion.

Li Ji stared at her and asked directly, "Tell me, where is Xu Yun?"

"Xu Yun?"

Upon hearing this, Lee Young-ae tilted her head slightly, seemingly recalling the name, before asking in return, "Oh, that Mr. Xu from China? What happened to him?"

"Stop pretending to be stupid."

Li Ji stepped forward and said coldly, "I already know what happened yesterday. He helped you secure your position! What kind of deal did you make?"

Lee Young-ae sat down on the sofa chair and gestured for him to sit as well.

"Representative Li, I don't understand what you're saying."

Mr. Xu did visit our company and discussed some potential collaborations regarding food imports, but that was normal business dealings.

She paused, then continued, "And if I remember correctly, Mr. Xu first came into contact with Samsung, right?"

"You were staying at your hotel, weren't you? Why are you here looking for someone who's disappeared?"

"..."

Lee Ki-jae's expression turned even uglier.

"He manipulated Samsung stock through offshore funds, embezzled 20 billion overnight, and then disappeared this morning."

He stared intently at Lee Young-ae and roared, "You really don't know?"

Lee Young-ae picked up her teacup and gently blew on it.

"Representative Li, first of all, I regret the fluctuations in your company's stock price."

Secondly, Mr. Xu Yun is an adult, and his financial operations are none of my business.

at last……"

She looked up and casually said with a smile, "He told me yesterday afternoon that he would be going back to China tonight."

At this time, he should already be at home in China.

"Return to China?"

Li Ji suddenly stood up, disbelieving: "You're just going to let him go like that?"

"if not?"

Lee Young-ae put down her teacup and replied calmly, "He is my business partner, not my prisoner. If he wants to go back to his country, can I stop him?"

"Partner?"

Lee Ki sneered, trying to sow discord, "Representative Lee, you'd better think this through. If this person can treat Samsung like this, he can treat you the same way."

You think he partnered with you because he valued the New World Group's strength? He's after the resources you possess; he'll use them and then discard them!

"Thank you for the reminder, Representative Li."

Lee Young-ae gently stroked the rim of the teacup with her fingers and said, "However, this is my business, so you don't need to worry about it."

"you--"

Lee Ki was so angry he almost vomited blood.

"Don't think I don't know your husband is dead, right?"

Lee Ki suddenly spoke up and threatened, "Do you believe I'll expose this?"

“Go ahead and tell me, see who believes you.”

Lee Young-ae stood up, a gesture of seeing her off, and said coldly, "Representative Lee, if there's nothing else, I have a meeting at ten o'clock."

Li Ji stood still, his chest heaving violently.

He knew that he had come for nothing.

Lee Young-ae is clearly not telling the truth.

Or perhaps she genuinely didn't know Xu Yun's entire plan.

But the humiliation of being tricked and looked down upon gnawed at his reason like a venomous snake.

"You will regret this."

He left after saying those final words.

The door to the reception room was closed.

Lee Young-ae stood still, a complex expression finally appearing on her calm face.

She walked to the window and watched the black Mercedes speed away below, disappearing into the traffic.

Then he chuckled softly.

No wonder he was in such a hurry to go back; it turns out he was ripping off Samsung of a huge sum of money in the stock market.

Lee Young-ae took out her phone and opened that familiar chat window.

The last message she sent was the single word "okay" from last night. After a moment's hesitation, she typed: "Samsung's Lee Ki is coming to see you."

Then send it out.

But the other party did not reply.

Seeing this, Lee Young-ae put away her phone and gave a self-deprecating laugh.

Perhaps he won't even think about me anymore after he goes back.

It's obvious without even thinking that countless beautiful women surround him in his own country.

What did she, a widow he had used and then discarded, have to do with that he still care about?

……

At 3 p.m. that day, at Samsung Group headquarters, in the strategic conference room.

A dozen or so people sat around the long conference table, the atmosphere so heavy it was almost palpable.

The person in the main seat is Lee Ki-jae's direct superior, who is also the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics.

"...0.8% of the circulating shares were manipulated right under our noses. What was the risk control department doing?"

The vice president's voice wasn't loud, but every word felt like a whip lashing at the faces of everyone present.

Lee Ki sat at the end of the table, head down, without saying a word.

He knew today was his trial.

"Representative Li."

The vice president suddenly called out names.

"Yes."

Lee Ki looked up at the expressionless vice president, his expression conveying a sense of guilt.

"You were the one who brought Xu Yun in, and you were the one who negotiated the cooperation. Now that this has happened, what explanation do you have?"

All eyes turned to them.

Lee Ki felt his throat was dry. He took a deep breath, wanting to make a final struggle.

“Vice President, I admit there was negligence in the background check, but the information Xu Yun provided was very complete, and his company in China is indeed powerful. Our assessment at the time was…”

"The assessment concluded that he embezzled 20 billion?"

The vice president interrupted him, displeased, "And it's on the eve of the financial statement quiet period!"
Do you know how much this will affect the group's reputation?

This morning's financial news already led some to speculate whether there were internal problems.

There was silence in the conference room.

"Effective today, Lee Ki will be transferred from his position as representative of Hotel Shilla."

The vice president gave him no chance to explain and announced expressionlessly, "Go to the hotel division in Jeju Island and start over as manager. The representative of Shilla Hotel will be taken over by Manager Park."

"..."

Lee Ki-jae's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Although he had expected this outcome, it was still hard to accept when he actually heard it.

Jeju Island... that was practically exile.

I finally managed to squeeze into the core circle of high-level executives!

"Vice President, I..."

"Meeting dismissed."

After the vice president finished speaking, he got up and left.

As people got up and left, some cast sympathetic glances at Li Ji as they passed by, while most remained indifferent, as if it were none of their business.

In companies of this caliber, a single mistake can be enough to ruin one's career.

Li Ji was the last to leave the meeting room.

Outside the glass windows of the corridor, the Seoul skyline gleamed in the afternoon sun.

Three days ago, he was standing on the top floor of the Shilla Hotel, feeling that he was about to close a big deal and take another step forward in his career.

Now, it's all over.

He took out his phone, looked at the still-off number, and suddenly laughed—a bitter and manic laugh.

At the same time, at an altitude of 30,000 feet.

On the private jet flying from Seoul to Shanghai, Xu Yun was comfortably leaning back in the spacious seat, closing his eyes to rest.

Yu Xuan sat next to him, holding a plate of cut fruit. She picked up a piece of melon with a toothpick and gently brought it to his lips.

"Mr. Xu, would you like some fruit?"

Xu Yun opened her eyes, took the food, chewed it twice, and nodded in satisfaction: "Our Xuanxuan is really good at taking care of people."

On the other side, Lin Wanzhou was looking at financial news on a tablet.

Suddenly, he looked up, smiled, and said, "The news from South Korea has come out."

"What did you say?"

"It is said that Samsung Electronics' stock price fluctuated in the morning, and some analysts speculate that it was due to abnormal trading caused by internal issues."

"Oh?"

Xu Yun took the tablet, glanced at it, and then laughed, "You reacted pretty quickly, but they can't trace it back to me."

The equity structures of those offshore companies are enough to keep them busy for half a year.

"But Mr. Xu."

Yu Xuan said with some concern, "Samsung won't let this go, will they? And there's Lee Ki, the representative..."

"Li Ji is currently in a precarious situation himself."

Xu Yun ate another piece of fruit and said, "For a big company like Samsung, someone always has to take the blame when something like this happens. He's the person directly in charge, so he can't escape responsibility."

Yu Xuan wasn't a businessperson. She looked at Xu Yun seriously and asked, "Boss, I've always wanted to ask you why you chose this time to take action against Samsung?"

Although we made 20 billion, we also completely offended them. If our other Q products want to enter the Korean market in the future...

Xu Yun smiled and retorted, "Who said we were going to enter the South Korean market?"

Yu Xuan was stunned.

"Then, what about the cooperation you discussed with the New World Group before..." Yu Xuan asked, puzzled.

"That was a treat for Lee Young-ae."

Xu Yun adjusted the angle of his seat and explained, "It's also a smokescreen for Samsung. They must think that my ultimate goal after all this trouble is to open up the Korean market through Lee Young-ae."

So now, they'll be focusing all their attention on the New World Group, watching to see if we'll make any further moves.

Lin Wanzhou suddenly realized: "So you actually..."

"Actually, I never intended to sell any 'mini bread' in South Korea."

Xu Yun picked up the thread, "At least not in the short term. The main objectives of this trip to South Korea are twofold: first, to squeeze some money out of Samsung, and second, to establish a connection with Lee Young-ae."

Yu Xuan still didn't quite understand: "But Representative Li...don't you like her quite a bit?"

Xu Yun glanced at her and smiled: "Liking is liking, business is business. Li Ying'ai is a smart woman. She knows I'm using her, but she also needs me."

After Park Ji-hoon's downfall, her position in the Shinsegae Group was not secure. But with me as an outsider, those who want to touch her will have to think twice.

He paused, then added, "Moreover, I left her a way out. If she really has nowhere else to turn, she'll know who to turn to."

"You have a truly malicious mind."

After listening to this, Lin Wanzhou couldn't help but shake her head and say, "So all that naivety you showed before was an act."

Yu Xuan smiled awkwardly to the side; only Brother Lin would dare to say such a thing about Xu Yun.

"You know nothing!"

Xu Yun laughed and cursed, "I call this strategic planning and winning from afar. If you're so capable, can you earn me 200 billion won within a week?"

Lin Wanzhou: "..."

Damn, when it comes to making money, he has to admit that Xu Yun is a real monster.

Suddenly, Xu Yun seemed to remember something and took out another cell phone from his bag.

That was a temporary number he used in South Korea, which he only turned on before getting off the plane.

Sure enough, there were more than a dozen missed calls, most of which were from Li Jizai, and two were from unknown numbers.

And a text message from Lee Young-ae: "Lee Ki-jae from Samsung is coming to see you."

He smiled, didn't reply, but instead pulled up Choi Soo-young's number in his contacts and dialed it.

The phone was answered after three rings.

"Mr. Xu?"

Choi Soo-young's voice was clearly flustered as she asked, "Where are you? Lee Ki was representing him this morning..."

"I know."

Xu Yun said in a relaxed tone, "Don't be nervous, listen to me now."

"You definitely can't stay at Samsung anymore. Lee Ki is in dire straits himself, but it's highly likely he'll take his anger out on you."

"..."

A soft gasp came from the other end of the phone.

"However, I have a plan for you."

Xu Yun continued, "Go to New World Group now and find Representative Li Ying'ai."

Just say I sent you. She'll arrange a position for you, responsible for the promotion and sales of 'little bread' in the Korean market.

"But...but Mr. Xu, can I really do this? I've never done this before..."

"you can."

Xu Yun interrupted her and said with a smile, "You've worked in Samsung's hotel division for five years, so your understanding of the high-end consumer market in South Korea is deeper than most people's."

Lee Young-ae needs someone knowledgeable, I need someone I can trust, and you are the most suitable candidate.

Trust me, working for Lee Young-ae will give you a much brighter future than staying at Samsung. Besides the executive salary, there's also a year-end bonus. What do you say?

There was a long silence.

Then, Cui Xiuying said gratefully, "President Xu, I...I trust you, I'll go over now."

"Okay, send me a message when you arrive." Xu Yun hung up the phone.

After listening to this, Yu Xuan couldn't help but ask, "President Xu, are you really going to let Cui Xiuying take charge of the Korean business? But didn't we say we wouldn't be doing business in the Korean market..."

"Not doing it now doesn't mean we won't do it later."

Xu Yun closed his eyes again and said, "First, let Cui Xiuying gain a foothold with Li Ying'ai and build up the channels and team."

When the time is right...

For example, after about six months, when domestic production lines and capacity have increased, the Samsung issue has faded, and Lee Young-ae's position in the group is secure—then we can officially enter the market.

Lin Wanzhou pondered: "So Cui Xiuying is... a pawn planted in advance?"

"You could say that, otherwise why would I have a hotel butler with me all the time?"

Xu Yun smiled and said, "Doing business is like playing chess. You can't just look at the present move; you have to think three or five moves ahead."

Yu Xuan said with some admiration, "President Xu, you're really amazing."

"Honey, you're amazing! Hurry up and feed me some grapes!"

"Okay." Yu Xuan blushed, peeled a grape, and put it in his mouth.

Xu Yun: "Mmm, it's really sweet."

"..."

Watching the two lovey-dovey people, Lin Wanzhou couldn't help but roll her eyes and turn away.

Out of sight is pure.

Then, he made a video call to his wife.

It's been a week since I left, and I'm starting to miss her. (End of Chapter)