Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 395 Head-on Confrontation with Lü Yao
Liu Tongxiong smoked all night and finally decided to confront Lü Yao head-on.

He certainly knew how to maximize his profits, and he knew that his decision was irrational, but Liu Tongxiong also knew that even if he failed, he would only have offended Lü Yao.

In business, how can you avoid offending people?

Moreover, in the business world, when you offend someone and stand on the opposite side of that person, it means that you have automatically taken sides against that person.

"Once you choose your side, your allies and your opponents are naturally determined."

After studying Lü Yao, Liu Tongxiong discovered that Lü Yao had indeed risen very high, becoming a figure who floated above the earth and below the heavens. However, judging from the recent events that Lü Yao had encountered, he was not without trouble.

As long as he can take the act of "offending Lü Yao" to the extreme, then naturally Lü Yao's enemies will come to his aid in dealing with Lü Yao.

If we can bring down Lü Yao...

He would certainly become very famous in the business world.

What does this mean?

He was an unknown local tyrant who killed a renowned young master in the martial arts world with a single move. At that time, fame and status would naturally follow. In the land of Dongda, fame and status are more important and valuable than money.

Perhaps he can use this opportunity to help himself and even his family advance further.

Ambition began to burn quietly in Liu Tongxiong's chest.

After extinguishing the last cigarette, Liu Tongxiong silently went to the washroom to clean himself up. Although he hadn't slept all night, Liu Tongxiong seemed unusually energetic at this moment. His quietly burning ambition seemed to have injected endless strength into his tired body.

Having tidied himself up, Liu Tongxiong quickly booked the next first-class flight to Mianyang, Sichuan, so he could meet Li Ziqi immediately.

In this exchange, Li Ziqi's attitude is very important.

In his collaboration with Li Ziqi to date, Liu Tongxiong believes his performance has been outstanding, and he has maintained a very good working relationship with her. In addition to providing daily creative encouragement, Liu Tongxiong has also done a very good job in distributing the profits from the commercial orders that Li Ziqi has received in recent months.

Liu Tongxiong was certain that he had a good impression of Li Ziqi. He was very confident that he had a better chance than Lü Yao in winning Li Ziqi's heart, even though Lü Yao had already contacted Li Ziqi beforehand.

After finally boarding the plane, in the relatively comfortable environment, a strong drowsiness instantly overwhelmed Liu Tongxiong, allowing him to quickly fall asleep. The plane from Hangzhou to Mianyang also took off soon, and he would be able to land in Mianyang in no time.

……

In a restaurant outside the Engineering Physics Research University in Mianyang.

Lu Yao was chatting with Lin Yongzhen and Cheng Xinyu while waiting for breakfast.

During the wait, Lü Yao remarked, "Mianyang is truly a place where hidden talents abound. There are five national-level research centers and 30 provincial-level research centers here, as well as an astonishing two thousand small and medium-sized technology enterprises. All of this is thanks to Mianyang's outstanding scientific and educational development."

Who would have thought that Mianyang, a small and little-known city, has as many as 18 scientific research institutes?

The renowned Ninth Academy is located here, and many major breakthroughs in high-tech fields in China have also been achieved here.

However, this is also a consistent characteristic of the University of Tokyo: good things are always kept hidden, and truly amazing things are often low-key and unknown. This habit is actually somewhat bad.

In today's Western-dominated world order, being low-key, reserved, humble, and polite is not enough. How long have those rule-makers in the Western world been taking off their pirate outfits, putting on suits, and pretending to be civilized? Deep down, they are still afraid of power but not of virtue. Simply implementing benevolent rule is not enough; they still need to demonstrate dominance.

Just like later, when China showcased a series of weapons that exceeded the West's expectations, such as strategic strike weapons with global coverage, orbital airborne troops, and tanks serving as central nodes in drone swarms.
This fifth-generation warfare model, which goes beyond the fourth-generation warfare model, immediately brought many people to their senses.

Unfortunately, those at the University of Tokyo who understood this principle were never able to gain the upper hand, which severely delayed the process of demonstrating their skills.

Lin Yongzhen watched Lü Yao speak eloquently, her eyes filled with a smile and a tender gaze. Men are so strange; when they talk about national affairs and international situations, they become eloquent and animated. Although she also cared about those things, Lin Yongzhen's concern for those matters stemmed from her own interests.

Few people consider these issues from the perspective of a major power.

After Lü Yao paused for a moment, Lin Yongzhen smiled and said, "Perhaps in the future, your thoughts will resonate with those who should hear them."

Lü Yao waved his hand and laughed, "Garlic bird, garlic bird."

Reaching that height would take far too long, and Lü Yao had little confidence in it.

Hearing Lü Yao's strange accent, Lin Yongzhen, Cheng Xinyu, and Lü Yao's phones lit up at the same time. The three of them raised their eyebrows slightly, then picked up their phones and glanced at them. Lü Yao spoke first: "Liu Tongxiong has set off from Hangzhou and is heading towards Mianyang."

Cheng Xinyu added, "And it was a very early flight, so he seemed to be in a hurry."

Lin Yongzhen stared at her phone for a long time. After processing the information on her phone, she smiled and looked at Lü Yao: "That's interesting. Liu Tongxiong talked to people in his circle about you yesterday. Some people advised him to cooperate with you, while others advised him not to back down. Then, last night, the lights in Liu Tongxiong's house were on all night. This morning, when the housekeeper went to clean the room, she found a lot of cigarette butts in his room."

Both Lü Yao and Cheng Xinyu were a little confused.

After gathering his thoughts, Lü Yao said, "Wait, Sister Yongzhen, what exactly do you do? Are you involved in intelligence work in such detail?"

Don't be fooled by Lin Yongzhen's few simple words; the workload behind them is considerable and the difficulty is not low. The fact that Lin Yongzhen can maintain such intelligence capabilities in her current situation shows that she still possesses unknown resources, like a dark abyss lurking beneath the surface.

During their conversation, the restaurant owner brought out the breakfasts that Lü Yao and his group had ordered.

While stirring the freshly served chicken soup rice noodles and gently blowing on the noodles on her chopsticks, Lin Yongzhen chuckled and said, "What's so meticulous about this? You haven't seen truly impressive intelligence work."

As she spoke, Lin Yongzhen pointed to the napkins on the table and said, "If this store gets involved in a very big and very dangerous crisis, then even this pack of napkins on the table will not be spared. Where this pack of napkins was bought, when it was bought, where it was produced, what the raw materials are, how many of the same batch of products are left, how many have entered the market, and so on will all be listed in detail and then analyzed by specialized intelligence personnel."

"These are just the most basic; the most outrageous are the 'psychological and behavioral prediction models' that relevant departments have developed for individuals."

Lin Yongzhen took a bite of rice noodles and mumbled as she ate, "That kind of predictive model is extremely powerful. Ordinary people are completely transparent under that model. Even many top-trained professionals have several special predictive models waiting for them."

Cheng Xinyu was stunned and only exclaimed after a long while: "Wow!" Lu Yao, on the other hand, was very interested in this kind of thing: "I watch a lot of American blockbusters, especially the Bourne series. Are the agents in them really that awesome?"

He felt that Lin Yongzhen must have had contact with those secret agents.

Lin Yongzhen did not give a clear answer, but said vaguely, with a hint of cunning and playfulness, "It's a mix of truth and falsehood."

Lu Yao didn't delve into the issue. He looked back at Liu Tongxiong's question. According to the information Lin Yongzhen provided, Liu Tongxiong had been smoking all night and, after much deliberation, decided to confront him head-on.

After Cheng Xinyu came to the same conclusion, she couldn't help but shake her head and praise, "I'm starting to think this guy is pretty brave."

Impulsive actions without thinking are reckless.

But impulsive actions born from careful consideration are courageous.

Courage is not a matter of wisdom or ignorance.

After leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed and thinking for a moment, Lü Yao roughly grasped Liu Tongxiong's train of thought: "This guy is not only brave, but also very smart. This is a great example of turning a small investment into a huge one, a 'bicycle turning into a motorcycle' maneuver."

Lin Yongzhen smiled and said, "Yes."

Cheng Xinyu's perspective and thoughts weren't as profound, so she was as anxious as a weasel in a melon patch: "Huh? What do you mean? What does it mean?"

Lin Yongzhen patiently explained as if teaching a little sister: "This Liu Tongxiong thought about it all night and must have come up with a way to deal with us. If he only relies on his own strength, it won't be enough. But he is very smart and wants to be a pawn."

Lu Yao added, "Do you know about Hai Rui's memorial to the throne during the late Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty?"

Cheng Xinyu nodded: "I know."

This matter is so famous that it has been passed down through the ages, and Cheng Xinyu did study some Ming Dynasty history in order to improve herself.

Lu Yao then added, "Think about it, Hai Rui was just a minor seventh-rank official back then. How could such a small official cause such a stir inside and outside the court? There must have been someone who wanted him to make such a big fuss so that he could make such a big fuss."

"He was the gun that was used as a pawn."

Being used as a tool may not sound very smart, but truly smart people will find opportunities to turn themselves into a tool.

Because someone who truly lacks a gun and wants to use it should at least upgrade it to achieve their goals, right? Like adding a bipod, a scope, or a suppressor.

In the process, doesn't the gun itself become more and more refined?
Cheng Xinyu understood. She raised an eyebrow and clicked her tongue, saying, "This Liu Tongxiong is quite bold."

Lu Yao nodded in agreement, saying, "Yes, and the reason he came to Mianyang so early is to try and win over Li Ziqi. He has been working with Li Ziqi for so long, so their emotional foundation, cooperative foundation, and trust foundation are definitely much stronger than ours."

"From Liu Tongxiong's perspective, he is not without a chance of winning."

Cheng Xinyu began to worry: "What if he really achieves his goal? Wouldn't all our efforts have been for nothing?"

After Lü Yao and Lin Yongzhen's charade, Cheng Xinyu actually felt that they were at a disadvantage.

Lin Yongzhen laughed and said, "So what if we've worked for nothing? Even if we failed to win over Li Ziqi, everything we did was normal business behavior. Liu Tongxiong's plan is based on our taking action against him. As long as we ignore him, he can't do anything to us."

Lu Yaochong gave Lin Yongzhen a thumbs up: "Sister Yongzhen is truly my Zhuge Liang!"

Lin Yongzhen rolled her eyes happily and said, "Let's eat quickly, the rice noodles are getting cold. We still need to visit some technology companies here later."

Lü Yao laughed heartily and said, "Okay."

The reason they wandered over to the Institute of Engineering Physics was to discover some technology-based industries in Mianyang that could be cooperated on and cultivated. In Lü Yao's mind, there were many wonderful ideas from the future.

If there are companies in Mianyang that are involved in these research projects, then cooperation is certainly an option.

After finishing breakfast, Lü Yao and his group continued to wander around Mianyang. Liu Tongxiong, who had rushed to Mianyang, went straight to Li Ziqi's house from the airport without stopping for a moment after getting off the plane.

He had already figured out how to deal with the crisis coming from Lü Yao.

When they finally arrived at Li Ziqi's house, it was already past nine in the morning. When Liu Tongxiong knocked on the door of Li Ziqi's house, Li Ziqi and her family had just finished eating. When Li Ziqi opened the door and saw Liu Tongxiong suddenly appear, she said with some surprise, "Mr. Liu...you've come."

Liu Tongxiong keenly noticed the change in Li Ziqi's attitude, which made him even more certain that Lü Yao had already come to Li Ziqi's house first.

But it's okay.

Liu Tongxiong didn't mention Lü Yao's matter. Instead, he smiled brightly and said, "Yes, I came to see you. How's work lately? Is there anything I can help you with?"

In the early days, Li Ziqi did not have a filming team. She did all the filming, editing, color grading, and voice-over herself. As she became more and more popular and faced more and more criticism, she began to use a filming and editing team, and the efficiency and quality of her video production did indeed begin to improve rapidly.

Regardless of whether the filming team primarily focuses on Li Ziqi's hands and feet, the final content and effect of the video are still determined by Li Ziqi herself.

So when Liu Tongxiong said that, Li Ziqi habitually replied, "Everything is fine, there's nothing in particular that I need help with."

Liu Tongxiong entered the courtyard, sat down, and took the initiative to say, "Ziqi, we've been working together for a while now, and the results have been quite good. You're gaining more and more fans across the internet, and everyone really likes you. I'm in charge of business operations. Would you like to take this a step further?"

Liu Tongxiong, who is familiar with Li Ziqi, immediately said: "Of course, this further step is just to facilitate our later cooperation. You will still control the production of video content! The current short video market is a huge blue ocean market, and the pace of the Internet is particularly fast. We must seize the opportunity."

A strange, awkward feeling suddenly rose in Li Ziqi's heart. She tentatively asked, with a hint of uncertainty, "So how can we take our cooperation to the next level?"

(End of this chapter)