I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 294 Su Cheng's Disguise

The next morning.

Long Ruoli sat in a coffee shop on a street corner, gazing at the bustling street scene outside through the glass window.

Today she wore a neat ponytail and spent an hour doing a meticulous makeup look. Instead of cheap, powdery blush, she chose a carefully selected apricot color, like a blush coming from her skin.

She wore a simple off-white linen sleeveless vest with a V-neck that perfectly revealed her collarbone, and the smooth shoulder line accentuated her beautiful neck and arm lines.

She paired the outfit with high-waisted khaki linen wide-leg trousers. The trousers were draped and loose, creating soft, natural folds as she crossed her legs.
The most striking detail was the mint green silk scarf wrapped around her neck, as thin as a cicada's wing and as soft as a cloud.

On her wrist was only a thin, matte gold bracelet that occasionally shimmered as she smoothed her hair, understated yet exquisite.

Her gaze lingered on the window for a long time, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the cool glass, her mind seemingly captivated by something.

Long Ruoli did not expect the final result to be like this; Tianyan's punishment of Su Cheng was still too harsh.

Yesterday, when President Su was throwing a tantrum, Long Ruoli rarely spoke.

It wasn't that she didn't want to explain for Su Cheng, but rather that she didn't have much of a say.

Among Su Tianyan's people, only Bai Zihua could say a few words; Su Tianyan could at most explain on behalf of Bai Zihua, who was being blamed.

soon.

A woman dressed neatly and walking with a brisk pace pushed open the door and entered the coffee shop.

After looking around, she first went to the bar and ordered an iced latte, then sat down in front of Long Ruoli.

"Mr. Long, the matter you asked me to investigate has yielded results."

"The address of this Shadow Investment Company is in Selamat, but it is registered in the Cayman Islands. It has an audit certificate and license issued by the European Union and uses a North American gateway. The backend IP of 'I Tell You' was transferred in Cyprus."

Wei Qing reported the intelligence information she had gathered to Long Ruoli. While she was showing Long Ruoli the files, the waiter brought over the latte she had ordered.

Wei Qing carefully set the latte aside for the time being, afraid that the ice water seeping through the glass would contaminate the case file.

Is this buyer really that mysterious?

Long Ruoli and Wei Qing shared the same conclusion: there must be something fishy going on behind this.

However, Wei Qing is still unable to determine who is actually in control behind the scenes.

"Can't your Ministry of Internal Affairs find it either?"

"We can find it, but it might take some time. We'll have to go there in person."

"Does this make sense? What if they're using proxy IPs?"

"Yes, I know it's most likely a proxy IP, but we still need to go and check out the places where it's actually being used, so we can find some clues."

“Alright, Team Leader Wei, you’re the best at this, I’ll leave it entirely to you.” Long Ruoli readily approved the funding for Wei Qing’s team. “I’ll approve the budget for this time.”

"If you find any substantial evidence, report it to me immediately. After this matter is resolved, I will give you a substantial bonus from the group."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Long."

Wei Qing put away all the files before reaching for his iced latte.

After further conversation, Wei Qing left the coffee shop.

Long Ruoli did not leave after Wei Qing left. She remained sitting by the window, sipping her half-full cappuccino.

Long Ruoli quickly synthesized the information she had gathered in her mind.

She had a vague guess in her mind, but she didn't know if it was accurate, so she asked Wei Qing to take action.

Her request for Wei Qing to investigate was not Tianyan's idea, nor the group headquarters' idea, nor Bai Zihua's idea; it was her own initiative.

It should be emphasized that Long Ruoli dared not make any rash moves before the investigation results were released.

Long Ruoli seemed to be deep in thought, and she soon discovered an undeniable truth.

Wei Qing, Bai Zihua, Su Tianyan, or even the Crown Prince Su Cheng—no matter which one of them is chosen individually, it seems that none of them possess as much intelligence information as she does.

Let's not even talk about Tianyan. He hadn't thought about it in that direction, or even considered investigating the buyer. He and Secretary Bai were focused on Su Cheng's behavior, not Shadow Investment Company.

You could say they didn't care about Shadow Investment Company at all, which is why they didn't think about it carefully.

Needless to say, Wei Qing knew the least. She thought she was only conducting a background check and investigating potential conflicts of interest, and she knew nothing about what happened afterward.

Su Cheng didn't know as much as I did.

Long Ruoli's guess was... Could Su Cheng be the mastermind behind this "Shadow" investment?

At present, she is only speculating and has no substantial evidence.

If we have to look for evidence, the successive departures of Wang Zhiying and Chen Suna are a suspicious point, as both of them have connections with the young master.

Wang Zhiying is the Crown Prince's business partner.

Chen Suna was the Crown Prince's former ambiguous love interest.

The two left the group one after the other and went abroad.

Long Ruoli seemed to have thought of something, pushed the cup aside, and started flipping through the files that Wei Qing had brought again.

There are no problems with funding.

However, there seem to be some suspicious points in the itinerary.

Wang Zhiying and Chen Suna purchased tickets to Selamat one after the other, one for noon and the other for early morning, at different times and on different flights, but both were operated by Emperor Airlines.

"Why did they both go to Selamat?"

Long Ruoli remembered that Wei Qing had just mentioned that Shadow Investment Company was located in Selamat, which was indeed related.

However, this doesn't prove anything, nor does it establish any necessary connection between them.

Because it's acceptable on the surface.

Wang Zhiying felt 'suppressed' by herself, and then decided she didn't want to work there anymore and resigned directly from the group.

As the president's assistant, Chen Suna found it difficult to continue her work after the president's departure, so she simply resigned.

It seems like there's nothing wrong with the two of them agreeing to go on a trip to Selamat together.
The subsequent flight information cannot be found; it's not their responsibility.

It made sense, but Long Ruoli still felt that something was off.

If the two wanted to conceal their travel information, wouldn't it have been simpler to buy tickets from other airlines? Why did they specifically choose Emgrand Airlines?
The plane ticket might just be a smokescreen, meant to get her to check and dispel her doubts.

wrong!

Her intuition told her that Su Cheng must be involved in this.

Perhaps Su Cheng really is the mastermind behind "I Tell You".

Long Ruoli suddenly frowned.

"If this condition holds true, then I'm in trouble..."

……

……

Office of the leader of Group Seven.

Su Cheng was reviewing the report Zhao Peng had submitted to him, while he himself was making a simple business summary.

have to say.

It's really great to slack off at work.

Especially earning a salary from the old man and then doing his own thing.

Unusually, Su Cheng was energetic without needing coffee, and the more she worked, the more motivated she became.

Dopamine is the best stimulant Su Cheng has ever used.

"I'll Tell You" earned 3441 million in just one week, with a VIP membership activation rate of around 47%.

This data is incredibly alarming compared to other internet platforms. Even compared to JD.com's Plus membership, Boxer Group's 88VIP, or other similar discount cards, this membership activation rate is still phenomenal.

Su Cheng believes that if the membership rate is maintained at around 45% and no less than 20%, then "I Tell You" will be an unshakeable top-tier show in the industry.

Once you've established yourself firmly, no one can beat you in this field.

Jingzhou has successfully validated Su Cheng's business practices; the next step is to promote the "meal subsidy + VIP" reciprocal model nationwide.

They're targeting boxers and Dong Ge's (Liu Qiangdong's) lower-tier market.

Related hotels and accommodations also need to be put on the agenda, otherwise Dong Ge will have to take action in a few years.

Cultural and tourism-related items constitute the majority of the product's business.

Catering, hotels, and scenic spots can all be included in their business scope, and Su Cheng has already begun to have Zhao Peng send people to develop related fields.

Don't say things like "take it slow" or "rushing will only lead to trouble"—that's all nonsense.

Speed, ruthlessness, and accuracy are the keys to success.

Who wouldn't want to devour the other's entire market overnight?

Su Cheng now needs to seize all the strongholds before all the major and minor capital entities can react.

He neither wants to see nor has the capability to participate in the kind of massive battles between ride-hailing and food delivery services, which burn through tens of millions of dollars a day.

However, even if someone wanted to challenge Su Cheng to a costly duel, it wouldn't work.

Because they're not even in the same field.

"I'll Tell You" dealt a huge blow to group-buying platforms such as Meituan and Dianping.

However, they couldn't hit Su Cheng because "I'm Telling You" and "Meituan" are not inherently in conflict, since Su Cheng doesn't sell group-buying packages at all, and many users have both apps.

How to choose a restaurant? Watch "I Tell You," or use group buying or platforms like Meituan.

The real conflict between the two software programs, and what affects them, is the commission they take from merchants' traffic.

The emergence of "I'll Tell You" will gradually eliminate all the bad restaurants. No matter how much you promote them, consumers won't go because the reviews are so bad, and going there would be a waste of money.

Merchants are not making money, and neither is the platform.

Good restaurants don't need to promote customers at all, or they're only willing to spend a little money to promote a little bit of customers.

These platforms will either need to pursue a more premium content strategy or make a protective acquisition of "I Tell You," otherwise their revenue will definitely decline sharply.

Su Cheng didn't pay much attention, but it seemed that the stock price declines of platforms like Meituan in the past two days had exceeded the normal fluctuation range.

Secondly, there's the issue of rapid export.

It can be promoted in developed countries in Europe and America, and even throughout Asia.

This thing is popular all over the world; it's not just unique to China, foreigners like it too.

He'll earn euros and dollars then.

That's what Su Cheng thought, and that's what she did.

He has already sent Xiao Chen to the EU to obtain the license, and he believes that the company can go public in less than a year.

In the past few days, in addition to remotely operating "I Tell You," Su Cheng has also been paying close attention to other case files being processed within the team.

Su Cheng tried to screen some other excellent assets, preferably those that could help drive traffic to "I Tell You" or provide support in other aspects, assets that could smoothly and significantly increase the influence of the main product.

However, Su Cheng hasn't found it yet, but that's okay, there's still plenty of time, she'll definitely find it if she searches carefully.

If all else fails, you can refurbish it and resell it to make a profit.

The success of "I Tell You" brought Su Cheng considerable economic benefits, but it also had negative impacts.

According to the group's principles, Su Cheng bears no responsibility.

But the old man definitely wouldn't think that way. He would absolutely believe that he had made a huge mistake and then curse him behind his back as a good-for-nothing.

He still had no idea how the old man would deal with him...

Therefore, for the next period of time, Su Cheng will have to diligently fulfill her responsibilities as team leader and focus on handling the case.

He needs to find a suitable case to optimize and improve, preferably one that will bring good revenue to the group.

The main purpose is to make up for the loss in my score.

You can't just pluck out feathers; that would seem too suspicious and would easily raise suspicions that he's transferring benefits to others.

When it was time to leave work, Su Cheng hummed a little tune.

He drove Ye Li's Volkswagen Magotan to the underground parking garage and then went to a high-end restaurant for the appointment.

Yes.

Tong Xin asked him out for dinner that evening, and Su Cheng, in a good mood and free at the time, agreed.

"Brother Cheng, I'm here!"

Tong Xin waved to Su Cheng from the square. Although they were far apart, Su Cheng easily recognized him by his figure.

Tong Xin has a slender frame typical of teenagers, with soft and smooth shoulder lines and no sharp angles. Wrapped in a simple cotton and linen shirt, she appears even thinner and lighter.

"Come on, Bo Cheng, let me take you to get something delicious to eat!"

"What's delicious?"

"You'll see in a bit, lots of people say his food is delicious."

Su Cheng: ???
"You didn't search for it using 'I'll Tell You', did you?"

"Huh? You even know that? Cheng-ge, have you used it too?"

that is not.

He made this.

Su Cheng replied with a grin, "I used it, and it works great."

Tong Xin chose a Cantonese restaurant, and after they sat down, the two began to chat about their recent situations.

Su Cheng also took the opportunity to admire Tong Xin's delicate and pretty face.

His skin was as clean and delicate as Su Cheng's, with no visible pores, like a piece of mutton fat jade, always exuding a fragile purity.

Tong Xin has delicate features, a very soft facial contour, and long, slender eyebrows that resemble two light, distant mountain peaks, exuding a natural gentleness.

He exudes a kind of temperament and charm that is free from affectation and rooted in his own bone structure and appearance.

Su Cheng inwardly lamented his disappointment, as gender was a fundamental issue for him.

Xiao Nan's mother can only be a brother.

"Brother Cheng, I'd like to have a good talk with you tonight, because I have to leave tomorrow."

"Huh?" Su Cheng asked in confusion, "Weren't you just transferred to Jingzhou?"

"Yes, there are field missions."

"Where are you going?"

Tong Xin paused. It seemed like she couldn't say this, but since it was Su Cheng, she might as well tell him. It didn't seem like a big deal.

"Qing is going to Cyprus, I'm going to Selamat, and a colleague is going to North America."

Su Cheng felt a little uneasy after hearing what Tong Xin said.

Wait a moment.

What is this?
How come all three locations are related to his pseudonym?

Could someone be investigating him?!
(End of this chapter)